I went to a concert last night of the chamber orchestra of the Maribor Philharmonic. The guest soloist, a 73-year-old violinist of former renown, squeaked his way through Bach’s Violin Concerto, BWV 1042 and a Brandenburg concerto before the intermission arrived and I left.

It was quite a disappointment, but while I was sitting in the hall cringing at the occasional squawks I realized that the root of the problem is with the audience, not the performer. No matter how many wrong notes one hits or how sloppy one plays: there’s always hearty applause and a rousing standing ovation at the end. There’s no quality control. No boos or hisses or rocks, or riots. Just applause.

I’ve seen more poor/average concerts than spectacular ones (both in Europe and the U.S.) but the applause level always seems to be, maddeningly, the same.