By Wayne Lawson

A rare thing happened this past August during the Mostly Mozart festival, at Lincoln Center. At the first of two performances of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, led by Gianandrea Noseda, the music director of Teatro Regio Torino, the audience broke into loud, spontaneous applause after every movement.

The bass soloist was the Russian Ildar Abdrazakov, who had starred at the Metropolitan Opera a few months earlier in Borodin's Prince Igor, which Noseda had also conducted, to major critical acclaim. Asked later about the ecstatic reception of the Beethoven, Noseda said modestly, "I certainly think the audience felt some energy conveyed," adding, "but audiences everywhere will react the same way if the performance is good."

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Source: http://www.vanityfair.com/