tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post1522345910269638638..comments2024-03-26T15:57:13.443+00:00Comments on On An Overgrown Path: How about an experimental plugged-in Prom?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-27216640991461514062017-05-31T01:56:47.867+01:002017-05-31T01:56:47.867+01:00Oh dear I think you have been taken in by the spin...Oh dear I think you have been taken in by the spin regarding the Soundbox in San Francisco. Meyer Sound did a super job yes, of turning an INAPPROPRIATE SPACE for musical performance into A BARELY ACCEPTABLE ONE! I have been to a couple of performances there. One was great the other not so great, but that had a great deal more to do with the performers and the music than either the space or the vibe.<br /><br />I live in San Francisco and we are blessed with three appalling spaces for the three main categories of classical music performance. An opera house and chamber music venue, built in the 1930's that are sound suckingly huge (capacities, well over 3,000 and about 1,000) and a symphony hall with a capacity of about 2,700 that was built on a square lot resulting in a square concert hall that even Meyer Sound couldn't rescue. Appalling sound!<br /><br />I have not yet been to the Elbe Philharmonie (capacity 2,100) or the new hall in Paris (capacity 2,400) but I have been to the Disney Hall in Los Angeles (capacity 2,200) and the sound there was OK just like the sound in the Festival Hall in London (capacity 2,500) is OK. However I recently attended a concerts in the Vienna Konzerthaus (capacity 1,800) and the Vienna Volksoper (capacity 1,300) and the Wigmore Hall (capacity 550). There is just no comparison between the excellence of the experience in these three halls compared to the huge halls with their vast capacity that greed has created.<br /><br />So, I have come up with a plan! From now on when a new concert hall is planned and superstar architects are hired their brief is to COPY THE KONZERTHAUS, THE VOLKSOPER and THE WIGMORE HALL. EXACTLY! We will agree to pay them the same fee that they would earn presenting us with rubbish, but they have to copy one of the great halls.<br /><br />So, what do you think? Will Nouvel, Gehry, Herzog and De Meuron, Schwartz, etc. etc. go along with the idea?Robinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16770784847518182538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-78853297972961165932017-05-26T05:36:21.303+01:002017-05-26T05:36:21.303+01:00Temples of sound - "When the issue of amplifi...Temples of sound - "When the issue of amplification came up at a Hollywood Bowl patrons' breakfast in 1935, one man strongly admonished the institution against attempting 'to improve God's perfect handiwork'" - http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-ca-fred-vogler-20140817-column.htmlPliablehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10616598845886342325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-61085086906814303902017-05-26T00:04:23.724+01:002017-05-26T00:04:23.724+01:00Forgive my lack of knowledge but I seem to recall ...Forgive my lack of knowledge but I seem to recall Humphrey Burton explaining that, when he was at the Hollywood Bowl, selective amplification was what they did. What's food for the Humphrey.. Graemehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11007306140530173428noreply@blogger.com