Last night Leela and I attended a concert on the campus of OSU -- three varied works masterfully performed by the Leipzig String Quartet. The first and third offerings were classic works by Mozart and Brahms, both elegantly rendered and warmly received. The second was String Quartet No. 3 "Jagdqartett" by Jorg Widmann (born 1973). It began with all four musicians vigorously swishing their bows in the air and then yelling. The piece progressed through blatantly dissonant runs, aggressive sawing at the strings, odd percussive flourishes, and more rhythmic hollering. It was a very energetic piece, and for me, the spectacle of these virtuosi executing it with such precision alone made it worthwhile. I did, however, feel sorry for the instruments; at the end, all four bows were partially shredded (thankfully this was just before the intermission). As for the piece itself, I must credit my boisterous parrot, Ava, for helping me attain, over the years, a profound appreciation for iconoclastic musical conceits of this sort. Two old men sitting next to me obviously had not benefited from any such tutelage. As the piece came to an end, the two conspicuously withheld their applause. Then one said to the other in a voce hardly sotto: "Just as sh*tty as I thought it would be! Typical contemporary German crap! I want my money back."
Recent psychological experiments have shown that people tend to appraise products more highly when the cost is higher, even in cases where two otherwise identical products are offered for evaluation. For example experts will insist that the wine poured from an expensive bottle is superior to the same stuff served in a bottle featuring a cheep sticker. Well, perhaps this doesn't apply to musical performances. By implication, the gentleman who wanted his money back paid something for the concert. We, on the other hand, got our tickets free from a friend, and I left thinking I would have gladly paid the full $25 ticket price for this experience. More data needed.
