In this fast moving world in which we live, we rarely have the time to sit contemplatively through 40 or 45 minutes of a symphony (I do try to manage it a couple of times a week). It's often a case of listening in the car or kitchen to bleeding chunks, and Radio 3 Essential Classics and most of Classic FM's output consists either of bite-sized musical "lollipops" (as Thomas Beecham called them) or of single movements from symphonies or concertos. I'm incredibly happy that we have so much classical music on the radio (and occasionally on the telly) and I'm not ever going to snobbily dismiss the way it's routinely given to us. But I think we're getting so accustomed to hearing the music in these smaller doses that it somehow seems more natural to applaud after a few minutes rather than wait until we've had three-quarters of an hour or more. All we're doing is gradually abandoning that particular stuffy 20th century affectation. I'm all for it, and what could be nicer that hearing all those sat around you expressing their enthusiasm and enjoyment of great music. I'd rather they didn't cough or chatter through the actual music, however!