 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Gregory Smith ★2017
Date: 2006-11-27 20:00
Rarely do I agree with any music critic. On this occasion the critique is not of or about music but of acoustics.
Sadly, in this case, his final analysis is absolutely correct.
Gregory Smith
http://www.gregory-smith.com
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Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2006-11-27 23:22
A savvy concert-goer will learn where to sit and where not to sit.
Not so lucky are the players who have to sit day-in and day-out in the same dead spots on stage.
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Author: Gregory Smith ★2017
Date: 2006-11-27 23:44
Unfortunately there are few places anywhere in the hall that does the orchestra justice for the player *or* the listener.
Gregory Smith
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Author: Koo Young Chung
Date: 2006-11-28 00:03
This is so sad but it is true.
Each time I go to CSO concert I wish the acoustics were better.
Mainly it is the structural design of the stage.It is half dome shape.
Any sound from the center stage goes out and comes back to near the stage center area not to the audience. To make it better they install dozen convex glass panels facing down but I don't think they help at all.
You can hear weird combination of harsh sound not coherent warm sound.
They improved the look but they should have torn down the old builing and
built new one. It would have cost more but $120 million for this sound?
I'm sure they are one of the worst sounding hall in the world.
On the other hand Lyric Opera House(in Chicago) has a wonderful acoustics.
At any seat you hear the singer's voice and orchestra very well.
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Author: LarryBocaner ★2017
Date: 2006-11-28 13:19
During the brief tenure of Artur Rodzinski as CSO music director in the mid-1940's he incurred the wrath of the orchestra's board of directors by advocating that they abandon Orchestra Hall in favor of the Auditorium Theater -- a couple of blocks away. I haven't played in the "new, improved" Orchestra Hall , but as a member of the Civic Orchestra, and as an usher at Orchestra Hall 1949-51 I had many memorable experiences there. I remember that among the ushers the plum assignement was to the second balcony (the cheapest seats) where the sound was likely to be the most satisfying. And it could be very satisfying, listening to players like (young) Bud Herseth and Phil Farkas. Solo clarinetists in those two years were Mitchell Lurie and Iggy Gennusa!
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Author: Gregory Smith ★2017
Date: 2006-11-28 21:39
Yes! Iggy, Mitchell, and Bud all raved at one time or another (the subject inevitably came up) that the acoustics in the original Daniel Burnham designed Orchestra Hall were nothing short of magnificent - for both audience and players alike.
The particular two years that you mention, the orchestra was looking for a new music director and each week brought a who's who list of the world's most famous and gifted conductors with their eyes on the job.
One can hear the beautiful sheen and detail in the sound on each and every recording up to the middle of Martinon's relatively short tenure as music director, succeeding Reiner in 1964.
In 1966 the association gutted the hall by removing much of the reflective plaster and wood above the orchestra in that famous "arch" area that is the hall's insignia of sorts, then installing air conditioning ducts for the newly expanded subscription seasons that took them into the early summer. It was an acoustical catastrophe that the hall has never recovered from.
Gregory Smith
Post Edited (2006-11-28 22:36)
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Author: diz
Date: 2006-11-28 22:45
Such a simple thing, too ... the shoe box shape works so well as an acoustic: Concertgebouw is a classic example. The Sydney Opera House Concert Hall is also an acoustic disaster and it's fan shaped, go figure.
Without music, the world would be grey, very grey.
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2006-11-28 23:25
Sometimes acoustic engineers wreak havoc in the process of trying to improve..there are a number of halls in North America that have suffered such a fate...
Amsterdam's Cocertgebouw is a fantastic hall to play in and listen in no matter where you are.
Check the Concertgebouw web site with the superb video of Mengelberg getting a super legato in the Oberon Overture by Weber from the Horn and strings in the opening!!
David Dow
Post Edited (2006-11-28 23:27)
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Author: Gregory Smith ★2017
Date: 2006-11-29 14:03
My experience has been that the (still) three greatest halls of the musical world for classical orchestral music are Boston Symphony Hall, The Vienna's Musikverein, and The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. There are a few halls around the world that have their attributes but none that have the comprehensive positive qualities of these three.
Gregory Smith
Post Edited (2006-11-29 14:06)
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