GG: a concert without applause

[Michael Arnowitt <arnowitt@sover.net>]

GG writes of concerts without applause.  I tried this (sort of) at some
performances I gave on New Year's Eve ... played about 10 pieces in a row,
music chronologically arranged from the year 1000 to the present, and asked
people not to applaud.  (Of course, they applauded at the end, so it wasn't
quite a perfect realization of GG's idea.)

It all worked very well (except for not being able to have the option of
going off-stage in-between pieces for rest).  Some of the nicest moments at
concerts as a performer is the silence before you start a piece ... the
stillness is wonderful, just to sit there with a lot of people doing nothing
(!) ... anyway, GG was right, it seemed to work not to have the applause
breaking in after each piece; particularly if your program has a good
progression to it, the applause, going off stage, coming back on stage,
rustling programs, etc., does introduce some discontinuities.  Without
applause the concert did seem to flow well.


Michael