need classical music be so serious??

i've been to so many po faced concerts recently, with the wholeorchestra in white tie and tails looking terribly serious and terribly bored, and i couldn't help thinking that they should really be enjoying themselves so much more.

this reminded me of the wonderful and inimitable Victor Borge, and I wanted to share this video with you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8R0ZwYvXpg&feature=related

Borge was not only a superbly gifted  pianist and wonderful musician,  but also a fantastic comedian who reminds me that music is supposed to be,among other things FUN!

that's such a wonderful clip.

here is another, with comedian Danny Kaye conducting the new york phil. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKgBLJO_5nA

The difference here is that Kaye is not a musician, but such a natural performer and has a musicians characteristics down so well that he carries it off (better than most conductors in fact!)

marvellous stuff!

Responding to the initial point, not all orchestras play it 'po faced'.  You should try the London Chamber Orchestra, resident at St John's Smith Square.  These guys know how to have a good time while delivering fabulous performances.  They rock, they swing, they've even been known to twirl the double bass - and that's just while they're playing a Beethoven symphony! 

it is nice to see orchestras enjoying themselved, but i agree that many of the british orchestras do look quite bored. i always likewatching the berlin phil, or the lucerne festival orchestras,you can see that they just love being there. and need i mention the riotous simon bolivar youth orchestra?

going back to the musician/comediansm here's another, with Dudley Moore playing Colonel Bogey in the style of Beethoven. genius! (and the look on his face at the end)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GazlqD4mLvw

sorry, me again, just wanted to share another Dudley Moore clip in the same vein:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPykIzmXj4s

wonderful parodies of Britten and Pears and Weill/Brecht

I am not sure that how musicians look when they are playing is really relevant to the effectiveness of a performance which can only be responsibly judged on sound and its concomitant feeling.  This modern obsession with visual presentation is nothing but a distortion and paradoxically makes it harder for people to access the transformational aspects of music.  Music is an expressive art not merely a commercial commodity.

I agree with your position on the modern obsession with visual presentation, but that wasn't my argument here - I was just commenting on the fact that a great many british orchestras don't seem to be enjoying themselves whatsoever. How can anyone play the finale of Mozart's jupiter without a smile or rush of excitement, it's sad to see it done as a workaday thing where players are probably wondering whether or not they'll make the last train. I can't stand LangLang esque showboating, but a total lack of enthusiasm from the players can't help but rub off onto the audience.