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Don't Cough, It's Mahler

Email|Link|Comments (1) Posted by Geoff Edgers November 19, 2007 10:20 AM

The never-ending coughing debate continues in the New York Times arts blog. Apparently, Simon Rattle was not pleased with the extra noise during the Berlin Phil's Carnegie Hall gig, and said so. Read the comments, which include audience accounts from the night in question.

I'm of two minds on this. On one hand, who wants a concert to be disturbed by hacks and throat-clearings and cell phone rings? But what do we say to the post-90 set, some of whom can't help but let out a cough during the performance? And pity the fool who tries to unwrap a coffee nip to help soothe the throat. Should these unlucky souls be tossed out onto the pavement?

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More than a few of us backstage (Celebrity Series staff, audience members) agreed that they were impressed by the extended moment of silence that Boston managed after the final notes of "Das Lied von der Erde" died away at Monday evening's Berlin Philharmonic concert. Unanimously, we felt proud of Boston for working hard (2600 people in near total silence, that's hard work!) to preserve the impact of the performance.

Sir Simon Rattle was, apparently, impressed, too. Someone overheard him agree about the audience, saying, "I wanted to hold [the cutoff] longer, but it would have been cheesy."

Posted by Jack Wright November 21, 07 12:42 AM