Just watched Ms. Cochieva perform the Chopin Variations by Rachmaninoff. This piece is a workout to say the least. She plays it quite brilliantly and flawlessly from memory - a solid achievement and a test of real endurance and technique and musicianship- so it came as a surprise when instead of the roaring ovation one would expect, there seemed to be 5 people in the audience -

But this is a kind of deja-vu. It’s happened many other times with fantastic performances- many on YouTube. This performance is pre-pandemic, by the way.

It may not indicate a decline in the genre, but rather that the listening audiences have so many options these days. Is the supply beginning to surpass the demand these days?

Here it is:
https://youtu.be/8HgFx6d8Hxo

On 2/4/2022 12:36 PM, JohnGavin wrote:
> Just watched Ms. Cochieva perform the Chopin Variations by Rachmaninoff. This piece is a workout to say the least. She plays it quite brilliantly and flawlessly from memory - a solid achievement and a test of real endurance and technique and musicianship- so it came as a surprise when instead of the roaring ovation one would expect, there seemed to be 5 people in the audience -
>
> But this is a kind of deja-vu. It’s happened many other times with fantastic performances- many on YouTube. This performance is pre-pandemic, by the way.
>
> It may not indicate a decline in the genre, but rather that the listening audiences have so many options these days. Is the supply beginning to surpass the demand these days?
>
> Here it is:
> https://youtu.be/8HgFx6d8Hxo

Will if that's true, the price of hearing a performance will go down (in an inflationary environment, perhaps only relative to other things).

On 2/4/2022 12:36 PM, JohnGavin wrote:
> Just watched Ms. Cochieva perform the Chopin Variations by Rachmaninoff. This piece is a workout to say the least. She plays it quite brilliantly and flawlessly from memory - a solid achievement and a test of real endurance and technique and musicianship- so it came as a surprise when instead of the roaring ovation one would expect, there seemed to be 5 people in the audience -
>
> But this is a kind of deja-vu. It’s happened many other times with fantastic performances- many on YouTube. This performance is pre-pandemic, by the way.
>
> It may not indicate a decline in the genre, but rather that the listening audiences have so many options these days. Is the supply beginning to surpass the demand these days?
>
> Here it is:
> https://youtu.be/8HgFx6d8Hxo

After having watched the end, I don't think you can tell a thing about the size of the audience.

Besides, how big a crowd would you expect at the Gilmore Keyboard Festival in Kalamazoo, Michigan?