# Are Classical Shows too Sterile?



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Do they lack strong passion to ignite the soul for the most part?

I'm sure there are always moments throughout a show when it is clicking on that divine level, but on the whole, do you think they are too sterile for far too many performers?


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

Gosh, what a potent bunch of nonsense!

When you are seated in that concert hall right behind the conductor, and it seems as if sparks were flying off his baton, and music illuminates the whole world, and you forget to move and hardly even dare to breathe for fear of destroying that magic - is that sterile? What are the performers supposed to do during the concert - show cartoons?


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

SiegendesLicht said:


> Gosh, what a potent bunch of nonsense!
> 
> When you are seated in that concert hall right behind the conductor, and it seems as if sparks were flying off his baton, and music illuminates the whole world, and you forget to move and hardly even dare to breathe for fear of destroying that magic - is that sterile? What are the performers supposed to do during the concert - show cartoons?


A complete disregard of the topic seems silly to me.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

How exactly have I disregarded your topic?


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

Lang lang is indeed sterile compared with Sviatoslav Richter.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

TxllxT said:


> Lang lang is indeed sterile compared with Sviatoslav Richter.


Now we are talking...


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## Schumanniac (Dec 11, 2016)

TxllxT said:


> Lang lang is indeed sterile compared with Sviatoslav Richter.


Wonderful example. Lang Lang may dress snappy, move excessively to his music surrounded by a halo of light shows and machined fog... but in the end the best performers deliver better while being entirely introverted and detached from their audience  In CM i'd prefer music to do the talking compared to other genres. Watching Brahms 1st symphony performed like a rock concert would honestly just be. Absurd?

Never the less i think your correct that it may be too stiff for most. But the alternative seems an odd solution :lol:


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

What is a classical show? Does that phrase indicate a craving for flashing colored lights, dry ice and nudity?

Perfect for Bruckner.


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## Gaspard de la Nuit (Oct 20, 2014)

I don't know....concerts can be a little tame and prone to museumification. I really do think there has to be something better than the typical concert venue, which is basically a creation of the romantic era burgeouis audience.


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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

TxllxT said:


> Lang lang is indeed sterile compared with Sviatoslav Richter.


Predictably easy target.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Gaspard de la Nuit said:


> I don't know....concerts can be a little tame and prone to museumification. I really do think there has to be something better than the typical concert venue, which is basically *a creation of the romantic era burgeouis audience.*


Yes, the pre-Romantic tradition of talking, gaming, eating, and throwing vegetables was so much more conducive to music appreciation.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Woodduck said:


> Yes, the pre-Romantic tradition of talking, gaming, eating, and throwing vegetables was so much more conducive to music appreciation.


I, for one, wish violinists would still do those barnyard imitations between movements of boring concertos.


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## Gradeaundera (Jun 30, 2016)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Do they lack strong passion to ignite the soul for the most part?
> 
> I'm sure there are always moments throughout a show when it is clicking on that divine level, but on the whole, do you think they are too sterile for far too many performers?


They lack good programming, that's for sure. Way too much of the old stuff, not enough of the new


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

KenOC said:


> I, for one, wish violinists would still do those barnyard imitations between movements of boring concertos.


Biber did better than that. Grrribbett!


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## laurie (Jan 12, 2017)




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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

laurie said:


>


I don't even know the commercial they are parodying, but it's still good, and nicely transformed into a plug to buy a concert subscription.


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## OperaChic (Aug 26, 2015)

eugeneonagain said:


> I don't even know the commercial they are parodying, but it's still good, and nicely transformed into a plug to buy a concert subscription.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

I want my music to be executed with extreme passion and be perfect. It's very hard to achieve this.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

I think that is why there are performances that "stand out".


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

Overall I do not think they lack passion, as I constantly find that I am much more engaged and moved by a live performance 
However I do think repetition of a small cohort of works to what is the same core audience risks overfamiliarity


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## Harrowby Hall (Aug 8, 2017)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Do they lack strong passion to ignite the soul for the most part?
> 
> I'm sure there are always moments throughout a show when it is clicking on that divine level, but on the whole, do you think they are too sterile for far too many performers?


Did you write this yourself, or did you get someone to write it for you?

Why don't you just come to Birmingham and attend a "show" by the CBSO playing under Mirga?


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## LezLee (Feb 21, 2014)

I automatically thought you meant radio shows. Live ‘shows’ are usually called concerts!


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## fluteman (Dec 7, 2015)

eugeneonagain said:


> I don't even know the commercial they are parodying, but it's still good, and nicely transformed into a plug to buy a concert subscription.


That was terrific. In the lower right of the picture, you can see my former colleague from my college orchestra, James Connors, then our principal cellist, and longtime principal cellist of the Florida Orchestra. The parody is better than the GEICO original, in my opinion.
Edit: As for the original topic, in my opinion, classical music performance has suffered in some ways in the age of high fidelity recording with sophisticated editing techniques. There is often too much emphasis on flawless execution (as if such a thing exists) at the expense of letting the music live and breathe, as if there is some need to reproduce the (artificial, in my opinion) perfection of a recording.
The other side of the coin is, hearing even one or two clinkers in a Beethoven symphony can be distracting when one is very much used to hearing none at all.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

Harrowby Hall said:


> Did you write this yourself, or did you get someone to write it for you?
> 
> Why don't you just come to Birmingham and attend a "show" by the CBSO playing under Mirga?


Mirga is brilliant. I am so sad I missed her visit to Hamburg together with the CBSO!


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