Sir JEG faces down Hamburg rowdies
OrchestrasFresh from the Coronation in London, Sir John Eliot Gardiner flew to Hamburg on Sunday to preside over Brahms first and third symphonies with the Concertgebouw orchestra.
The audience, however, was more interested in other things and JEG threatened to walk off.
Here’s what we know:
He almost canceled the concert because part of the audience wanted to celebrate the traditional port anniversary that was going on outside. The Elbphilharmonie’s general manager Christoph Lieben-Seutter had to come on stage and announce that the public had better be quiet in the hall, otherwise the conductor will leave – he really will..
It seemed to work.
But JEG still didn’t look best pleased.
It makes no sense that people pay for a ticket then spend their time disrupting a concert. Why bother attending in the first place? Belgium has a very strict policy and you get reminded at every theatre before a performance to shut down your phones.
JEG always looks grumpy
He doesn’t look grumpy. He IS grumpy.
But can be a sweetie to work with.
Well, if JEG storms off then he shouldn’t be paid and the audience should have their tickets refunded. Any questions?
Yes, why was there a contingent at the concert hall wanting to celebrate a port anniversary? I would have wanted my money back as well, but not because of the conductor. Any questions?
If the audience comes to make noise and party during a concert,they shouldn´t come to a Brahms concert.No questions.Period.
Unless it’s the Akademische Festouvertüre.
The Brahms orchestral piece that Karajan never recorded!
Imagine the song: How many flowers can you get to grow, in an English country garden. And then: How many players can you get to play, for an English c*nt called Gardiner.
Remarkably offensive and stupid comment. Suppose you are a better musician.
I was in the Musikverein once when a band was playing in the adjacent Resselpark. The noise disturbance was horrendous and very noticeable during the quiet passages of the symphony. 120Euro for a seat for ‘crash bang’ from outside!!
I normally feel sorry for people who have to settle for ‘crash bang’ but on this occasion I was extremely annoyed.
He’s an ill-mannered a@* when everything’s going well. This is not a rare occurrence.
This is a growing problem in the UK for Theatre Plays and Musicals. Small groups of Drunk or Drug takers frequently spoil it for the others. Not so much with Classical Music Concerts yet. Selfish idiots should be forcibly removed by bouncers.
I’m not sure I want to go to concerts with bouncers….
Well, obviously still lots of people want to visit the Elbphilharmonie as a place to be rather than for listening to a concert. I remember a instagram conversation: I am at the Elbphilharmonie! – Wow, that’s cool! How is it? – Awesome, and the concert didn’t disturb too much…
Question is, what’s a HIPster like Gardiner doing conducting Brahms anyway? Go back to your Monteverdi and whatnot and leave the Romantic repertoire well enough alone. Oh, and Beethoven too while you’re at it, mkay? Thanks.
I’ve been in the audience on both nights. Most people were perfectly quiet and attentive, but the bad manners of a few can spoil it for all the others, artists and careful listeners alike.
> part of the audience wanted to celebrate the traditional port anniversary that was going on outside.
You like a good gossip, don’t you? It’s not as if there were revellers in the audience. Gardiner had been irritated by loud coughs. The Abendblatt’s music critic also mentions some wheezing noise, which I myself didn’t hear. At one point during a silent, carefully performed woodwind passage, someone released another undamped cough, and Gardiner turned his head and gave a short angry glance over his left shoulder.
There were all sorts of interfering noise throughout the performance on Sunday – coughs, sneezes, murmurs, at least one phone chiming, and even some prominent hissing noise caused by the hall’s ventilation system, which thankfully stopped well before the interval.
> The Elbphilharmonie’s general manager Christoph Lieben-Seutter had to come on stage and announce that the public had better be quiet in the hall, otherwise the conductor will leave – he really will..
That was on the second night, not an immediate reaction. He did his best remaining diplomatic.
> It seemed to work.
Yes, to some extent. Between movements, there was still a lot of noise and some person blew their nose with a flatulent sound, as if to mock the concert hall director’s appeal.
> But JEG still didn’t look best pleased.
Maybe. But during the final applause, he returned to the stage again and again, acting cheerfully with the orchestra and kindly bowed to the audience.
Years ago, in some interview, Gardiner mentioned that JS Bach ‘didn’t suffer fools gladly’. Similary, I think Gardiner himself, at 80 and with all his artistic achievements, is very right not being shy putting music in first place and demand some attentiveness from his audience.