I just read the following news report:
In an article in today's Chicago Tribune, John von Rhein discusses Riccardo Muti's speaking to the CSO audience for applauding after the third movement of Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony. "Muti's unspoken point was that their premature applause, though well intentioned, broke the musical continuity and hidden program Tchaikovsky built into his final masterpiece. Some audience members no doubt found his comments condescending, but he made a valid point without bullying the newbies; and it seemed to me that everyone then listened to the finale with a greater understanding of how art and reality mingled so tragically at the end of the Russian composer's life."
For those of you who are unaware, the third movement of Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony ends with a bang, as if it is the ending movement. The final movement is atypical in that it ends softly and slowly, befitting the title of the symphony: The Pathetic. It is no surprise that Chicagoan's applauded when they did. The bigger question regards Muti's slap on their collective wrists for doing so.
Muti might be right about the fact that the applause interrupted the musical flow. However, when he spoke about the point (no matter how politely), what signal did he send to those in the audience? I think he said: You are uneducated. You just ruined this for everyone who is educated. Don't come back until you are educated.
And we in the orchestra world wonder why audiences are getting smaller....
