Music critic nabs concertgoer’s phone to keep her off it

Philadelphia Inquirer music critic David Patrick Stearns recently reviewed a Philadelphia Orchestra performance at the Musikverein in Vienna. The piece has been attracting more notice than the average orchestra review, though, due to Stearns's admission that he made a bold move to address a nearby annoyance.

Despite a preconcert warning announcement, one woman pulled out her phone just as Lisa Batiashvili had begun the quiet, slow-burning opening movement of Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1. Only eight rows from the stage, the phone kept beeping and burbling, its owner entranced by it and oblivious to those nearby shooting her daggers.

So the problem was addressed American-style: Yours truly reached over, took the phone out of her hand, and pocketed it until intermission.

Whether or not it's accurate to describe Stearns's approach as "American-style" (have you ever seen anything like that happen in a U.S. hall?), his action won praise from fellow music fans including The Guardian's Tom Service, who writes,

There is such a thing as visual noise, where your attention is drawn by the baleful electric halo of smartphone blue that doesn’t switch off until sometime during the scherzo. Those distracting screens are – for me – just as ruinous as an audible ringtone. In any case: all hail David Patrick Stearns for calling time on smartphone insanity in the Musikverein.

Photo by Japanexperterna (Creative Commons)