Not that you were paying attention, but a recital this past Tuesday night in London caused a bit of a ruckus in the UK press, because one child was evidently coughing up a storm at one point, which caused the violinist in the recital, Kyung-Wha Chung, to administer some sort of rebuke. Quite a bit of the intertubes criticism has been leveled at Chung, but in fairness, some voices have also leaped to her defense (OK, defence). More, sort of, below the flip.....
First, a few reviews:
(a) Erica Jeal, The Guardian
(b) Ivan Hewett, Telegraph
Relevant excerpts, respectively:
Jeal: "Exasperated by an avalanche of adult coughing between movements, Chung calmly upbraided some parents for bringing along a young child who dared to cough too."
Hewett: "....when one child in the audience fidgeted, she icily suggested to the parents that they should come back when their daughter was older."
Hewett's characterization puts a really harsh-sounding spin on the situation. Interestingly, though, if you read the comments below Jeal's article, a more nuanced picture emerges:
"'teddypark123: "However much you try and vilify her put-down, I felt it was necessary for the increasingly frustrating delay to the second movement of the Mozart. She took the coughing in good humour at first, but when the audience continued (perhaps even deliberately) to cough, you could tell she was getting rather annoyed. Finally, when there was a moment of silence for her to start, alas, the child coughed a clearly infected croaky cough one is all too familiar with this winter, right into the left ear of K.W.C. I certainly do not think she made reference to the child's age - I heard, 'maybe someone can get her some water'.
Some may think this was harsh from the violinist; I for one, was grateful for her chiding as it did leave the audience fighting much harder not to cough than before and from a more personal point of view, I may have escaped everybody's colds."
'AKEHunt': "I have a different viewpoint on the coughing issue; K-W Chung gave a superb lesson in good manners, consideration for others and common sense. I didn't sense the "tension" you mention; rather it was a relief. She'd courteously achieved what most concertgoers would wish for; we had wonderful concentrated music-making thereafter."
'JMC2009': "I was there too on Tues eve. Interested parties just need to know -
1. The child was coughing persistently, as much as 1 minute uninterrupted. If I had been seated near there would have been something said. Its coughing risked dominating the event for a full RFH.
2. The level of coughing from the whole audience was unacceptable. It can be controlled and, as proof, the level went down dramatically when K W Chung make her complaint. In winter requests need to be made to the audience as I have seen at Wigmore Hall, notices and announcements about control, water, and cough sweets. It does actually work.
3. Her complaint was quiet measured gracious fair and appropriate. The child was interfering with her concentration by sound and by being within eye-shot.
4. The way the incident was reported shows all the characteristics of classic journalistic spin, exaggerated language, tendentious moral comment slid in as reporting, lack of facts, going for the 'drama'- of which in fact there was little.
5. Next layer of confusion - on-line pompous over-reaction, witness some of the comments below, fed in part by dodgy reporting including your correspondent."
Interestingly, though, in the
Telegraph, even though Hewett generally did not care for Chung's performance, his harsh characterization of the coughing comment aside, he elaborates a lot more on that incident, and much more favorably inclined to Chung
here:
"I could hear this particular child from right across the other side of the hall, for some minutes. Chung was actually very patient, and though her tone was pretty icy when she finally lost it, she was perfectly polite. But all the biens-pensants are now joined in strident protest against Chung, as if her mild request to the parents (who should have known better) was an act of cruel repression. "
Hewett began as follows, with a subsequent segue into sociocultural pontificating:
"The rumpus over Kyung-wha Chung’s mid-concert rebuke to some parents of a fractious child is deeply odd, and more than a little absurd. We all know, deep down, that it’s really not a good idea for small children to be taken to concerts that are too long and complex for them to enjoy.....
As I say, we all know this, but we have to pretend we don’t. That’s because we’re in the grip of a new ideology about children, which is just as suffocatingly unbalanced as the old one. At one time the rule was: children should be seen and not heard. Now the rule seems to be: children must be allowed to "be themselves" on all occasions, even if the occasion is a top-rank event in one of the world’s great concert halls, where conditions of quiet concentration are essential for performers and audiences alike. Saying "shush" to a child is now taboo.'
The "biens-pensants" term that Hewett uses to mock the Chung-bashers would apply very well to one particular commenter on Jeal's review, 'John Belarus', who says at one point:
"Kyung Wha Chung may thank her lucky stars I wasn't there. After such a demeaning remark towards I child, I would have sung along and clapped my hands at every note she played."
'John Belarus' pretty much troll-commented through the article, which "AKEHunt' rebutted as follows:
'You've repeated this ad nauseum so often it suggests you have a separate agenda: "The Child is God." Ms Chung reproached the parents perfectly reasonably; it was ruining the enjoyment of a couple of thousand people who'd paid to hear the music. The parents should have been more responsible and considerate in such a situation. Ms Chung also requested that a front-row person put away their camera, (recording not very discreetly). It was a superb lesson in good manners, common sense and consideration for others. Thereafter, we had a wonderful atmosphere and no interruptions. Your priorities are skewed, but maybe you don't like music that much.'
Obviously I wasn't in London for this concert and can't comment directly on it from first-hand witnessing or experience. If anything, as I have to remind myself in cases like this, it's not really the kid's fault, because s/he doesn't really know any better. It's more bad judgment on the parents' side, as they should have known better, even if they want to 'better' the child with attending events like this.
I've certainly had the experience of hearing many classical concerts generally, where on too many occasions, a spectacularly ill-timed cough ruined the atmosphere of the music, especially during a quiet passage. (It's also just as bad when one dolt can't let the music linger for several seconds in silence, before either shouting "Bravo" too soon or starting to applaud, but that's a topic for another day.) In fairness, I'm certainly not immume to a coughing or hacking spell, although I like to think that precisely because I'm a regular classical concert attender, I'm particularly sensitive to the need to minimize coughing, especially at the worst possible moments. Granted, where I sit in Powell Hall, in the peanut gallery, I tend to be on my own, so I wouldn't be disturbing others close by. But in a hall with really good acoustics, it's easy to hear coughing or hacking from a fair distance away.
So in this case, it does some good to peel beyond the immediate headlines to find out more about what happened, although in the case of writing concert reviews, it is a given to try to get those articles done as quickly as possible. Sometimes nuance does get lost that way. Fortunately, from other people who were there besides the reviewers, it was very useful to get added nuance from those commenters.
With that, time for the usual SNLC protocol, namely your loser stories for the week......