Klarinet Archive - Posting 001008.txt from 1998/03

From: avrahm galper <agalper@-----.com>
Subj: STANDING OVATION IN WALES
Date: Wed, 18 Mar 1998 06:25:02 -0500

I thought that in view of the applause discussion I would revive this
little story.

Standing ovation in Wales

Wales is where the Toronto Symphony went for a concert. Cardiff. In a
nearby Cathedral. An old edifice.
It was cold in there. We sat in our overcoats, thats how cold it was
inside.

We always played encores, wherever we went.

The encores were Brahms Hungarian dance #3, Strauss pizzicato polka.
The beauty about these encores was that our conductor, Seiji Ozawa
would choreograph the conducting.
Even if you were deaf, you could imagine what it should sound like.

The sequence was always the same, at the end of the concert, we would
take a bow. Seiji would run off and on a few times and we would start
playing encores.

In this Cathedral before the concert, the Pastor held forth a little
speech and asked the audience to show their appreciation for the playing
by standing up. NO CLAPPING!

So after every piece we played, the assembly stood up silently and Seiji
asked us stand up to acknowledge that.

Guess what? After the end of the concert, the audience stood up and we
stood up also. The only way to get an encore is if the audience were to
stand and sit, stand and sit, stand and sit.
So we got our standing ovation.
And they didn't get any encores!
An early night off!

Avrahm Galper

http://www.sneezy.org/avrahm_galper/index.html