Jeff Wright wrote:

>I guarantee this, If any member of the audience coughed, or spoke
>out louder than was normal, Sir Thomas Beecham would either stop the
>performance, and wait for silence to resume, or he would chastise them or
>he would just stop and leave the podium.  I just loved him.  So You know
>the English audiences in that time were well behaved and very attentive.

I'll probably get yelled at for this, but here goes...if the advocates
of original performance practice were to really recreate the atmosphere
of what concerts were like, no-one should be upset with some noise in the
hall.  Indeed, clapping between movements, shouting out opinions during
the performance, demanding that a movement be repeated, eating, coming
and going, sleeping, and other "decadent" behaviour should be not only
tolerated but encouraged!  The tradition of reverant silence and
disapproving frowns at anyone who so much as twitches is, as I understand
it, relatively recent.  Me, I kind of like it when an audience claps
between movements.  Shows they like what they're hearing.

Dave Runnion
Mallorca