Though Kyung Wha Chung’s recital in Perth the other day passed without incident, the same was not the case in London where, between movements of a Mozart sonata at the Royal Festival Hall, she drew attention to a coughing child - many other members of the audience were also coughing - by telling the girl’s parents that it would have been better to wait until she was older before bringing her to a concert.
After such a put-down, reported the critic of The Times, the atmosphere in the hall turned toxic. No doubt, after a ten year absence from the concert platform caused by a damaged finger, the famous Korean violinist was in a high state of tension. Audiences can be irritating, as the conductor Michael Tilson Thomas recently made plain when a similar incident involving a child occurred during one of his concerts in America.
But coughers will always be with us, and singling out an inoffensive child for remonstrance sounds like over-reaction to me. And to The Times, which reduced its estimate of her recital to a two-star rating.
5 December 2014
From what I have read about this incident during Ms. Chung's recital, there was an excessive amount of coughing throughout the evening. There also seems to be some confusion about what exactly she said to the mother of the child who had not only been coughing but also fidgeting and giggling. One member of the audience sitting nearby wrote that the words were, "Don't you think you could get her some water?" Writing in the Arts Desk website, the critic David Nice, albeit sitting further away, agrees this is what he thought he heard. In the rather poor acoustics of the Royal Festival Hall, I really cannot believe most of that audience would have been able to distinguish clearly what Ms. Chung had said unless she had shouted it at least mezzo forte, which seems not to have been the case. Yet commentators who were not there have made up their minds and now damn her for what she might not have said!
ReplyDeleteBut this and other recent similar incidents raise several issues. One is that recitals in particular do require a quiet environment so that everyone in an audience may enjoy them without disturbance. Another is the respect of the audience for performers who can be - and sometimes are - put off by excessive disturbance - witness the several mobile phone ringing controversies at concerts. (In a later reply, since this is already overlong, I will recount the extreme measures Rostropovich went to when he was disturbed during a recital!) Yet another is the age at which children should be permitted to attend concerts.
I know of some concert halls that prohibit children under 6, other than for specific young people’s concerts. Yet it is clearly impossible for any concert hall management to check the exact age of any member of an audience. Besides, such a regulation could be seen to discriminate against single parents unable to have someone look after their child. Sadly it’s impossible to cover all bases. The only solution to that problem would be for concert venues to consider the introduction of a crèche!
On the broader topic of coughing, I do believe many in the ‘coughers brigade’ are really quite selfish. Certainly a cough can come on unexpectedly. But few seem to realise the disturbance this causes to other members of audiences. When I worked in London in 1969 and 1970, I was able to attend quite a number of concerts and opera performances despite my minuscule salary. I believe it was at LSO concerts that the programmes had a message printed in a box on the front cover reminding patrons that the sound of a single cough has the same effect in a quiet concert hall as a French Horn playing 'forte'. Those who anticipate they might need to cough were politely asked to place a handkerchief on their knee so its sound could be quickly and easily muffled. Concise, practical and very much to the point! An example that I believe every concert venue should make mandatory!
I am not sure if the presence of a handkerchief would have prevented the recent incident at the RFH. It surely would, though, have ensured far less disturbance from general coughing throughout the evening.