Simon Rattle and the new London concert hall...

[Nick Armstrong]

Interview with Rattle re. his plans for the LSO coming up on BBC News at 10....

[Beef Oven!]

London is the most dynamic city on the planet. Nearly 9 million people, 20 million visitors per year, the heart of theatre land, concert land, The Proms, the nerve centre of the UK, a GDP the size of Sweden’s, The Queen lives here, Big Ben, the most football stadiums, the richest people, some of the poorest, culturally, racially, ethnically more diverse than anywhere in the UK, over 300 languages spoken in our schools, The Notting Hill Carnival ............... a new concert hall is small fry and a no-brainer. Let’s get on with it.

[Simon B]

Judging by the apoplexy-inducing scale of the hike in ticket prices sneaked out with a garnish of weasel words in today's LSO season announcement, they're trying to raise the £500,000,000 for a new gaff solely from ticket income! Either that or Rattle's in line for the kind of emoluments others working in the square mile wouldn't quit in protest at.

Cheapest stalls 16/17 - £10, 17/18 - £15
Mid stalls/circle 16/17 - £42, 17/18 £55! These were £35 until a few years ago. What the ?!?!?!

No way is this just to cover the cost of instituting a "£10 secret seat" scheme given that there are currently rafts of £10 seats in the balcony which are going up by 50% next year anyway.

I was clearly naive to think that the LPO were extracting the Michael with an 18% increase last year. Surely the LSO and LPO haven't suffered the kind of swingeing funding cuts e.g. the CBSO have been repeatedly clobbered with unless it was in a blaze of no publicity whatsoever. So what gives? Are the players insisting on being paid in hard currency like Euros or Dollars from now on?

If they do find an oligarch with a spare half a billion quid down the back of his/her sofa with which to build a new hall a.k.a. ego monument, none of the little people will be able to afford to go and show their gratitude at this rate...

[teamsaint]

I must have deleted the LSO announcement , if it was emailed out.

I tend to buy cheaper seats, as £50/60 for a best stalls seat is out of my range, and it means I can go to more concerts. The Secret Seat is a terrible idea, IMO, just one more layer of nonsense. Have cheap seats or don't would be my view, and make them easy to book.

Perhaps the LSO/Barbican don't think there is any competition. Oh well, there are more concerts that I want to go to than I have the time and money to get to, and not just classical, so somebody else might benefit.

I can see the logic of hiking best seat prices. Demand is more elastic, and they do tend to sell for almost any concert, at prices up to £60, and more for the really big names. Pricing elsewhere in the hall(s) is different though. The RFH frequently has huge swathes of seats in the mid price range ( £30 ish) empty, with the real cheapies and " signature seats " sold out. I'm not sure if this tends to apply at the Barbican, but I'm certain that the RFH would do better , for some less popular concerts ( and that is many of them) to offer good value upgrades from bottom to mid price seats.

I guess that those setting prices look around, at prices at " comparable" events, EG rock music and Football. Rock music prices ( especially for long established acts) seem to have rocketed in the last year or two, and footy ( especially Premier League) is notoriously expensive. But if that is the comparison they are making , it is pretty much irrelevant, and in any case, a ticket price doesn't necessarily reflect attendance. Sadly, I quite often decide not to go to what I consider to be overpriced concerts in Salisbury, ( Public Image £35 for example), precisely because I can do more that I want to do with my concert money.

[Richard Tarleton]

Piece in The Times today - Rattle saying the Barbican too cramped for much of the music he'd like to put on there. Richard Morrison recalls Abbado in 1982 saying "Where does the choir go? Why no organ? How can I conduct Mahler here?"

Petrushka and I were both at the legendary Mahler 3 with Haitink/BPO on 27.9.2004. Unlike Pet, we were seated in the front row. We discovered that the stage had been extended forwards, so that it was on a level with our chests - we had to edge into our seats, our knees were under the stage and could only see the second violins (sitting just above us) and Haitink's right profile.

[gradus]

Presumably the RFH and Albert Hall are out of the question when it comes to large-scale forces being used?

[MrGongGong]

Presumably the RFH and Albert Hall are out of the question when it comes to large-scale forces being used?

Don't be daft
"everyone" knows these are hopeless and Simon "needs" a new sparkly one so he can perform Henze

He said modern masterpieces such as Boulez’s Rituel and Henze’s The Raft of the Medusa could not be performed on the Barbican’s stage.

(Guardian today)

[Richard Tarleton]

Presumably the RFH and Albert Hall are out of the question when it comes to large-scale forces being used?

Well, Sir Simon says some large-scale works are better suited to the Albert Hall....but the Albert Hall is far from, well, ideal, is it? I've been quite a few times over nearly 50 years and find it (at the risk of offending regular prommers) a horrible concert venue.

[Cockney Sparrow]

Albert Hall - sound is ok only in certain areas, works well for Mahler 8, Verdi Req, War Requiem and Berlioz Messe Des Morts (but again outside certain seat areas it will be less than wonderful).

Not been much to RFH since the refurb, and I'm not sure about the acoustic but it can't accommodate large forces.

I'm with Abbado, Rattle and Beef O - replace the Barbican, the City of London should not find itself left behind its international competitors. Otherwise the nearest concert venue with a decent acoustic would be Birmingham Symphony Hall (or Snape Maltings......).

[vinteuil]

.


... probably cheaper to provide all potential listeners with decent hi-fi (I'm sure Jayne Lee Wilson could advise... ) and let them listen at home.

[MrGongGong]

the nearest concert venue with a decent acoustic would be Birmingham Symphony Hall (or Snape Maltings......).

Or Kings Place, Cadogan Hall, Milton Court etc

The "decent acoustic" argument is largely nonsense

[Warlock]

Is Rattle the first ever "snowflake" conductor?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Is Rattle the first ever "snowflake" conductor?

Don't be ridiculous! It's practically a Job Spec!

[teamsaint]

London is the most dynamic city on the planet. Nearly 9 million people, 20 million visitors per year, the heart of theatre land, concert land, The Proms, the nerve centre of the UK, a GDP the size of Sweden’s, The Queen lives here, Big Ben, the most football stadiums, the richest people, some of the poorest, culturally, racially, ethnically more diverse than anywhere in the UK, over 300 languages spoken in our schools, The Notting Hill Carnival ............... a new concert hall is small fry and a no-brainer. Let’s get on with it.

the Queen lives in Windsor, not far from Bryn, doesn't she?

[gurnemanz]

London is the most dynamic city on the planet. Nearly 9 million people, 20 million visitors per year, the heart of theatre land, concert land, The Proms, the nerve centre of the UK, a GDP the size of Sweden’s, The Queen lives here, Big Ben, the most football stadiums, the richest people, some of the poorest, culturally, racially, ethnically more diverse than anywhere in the UK, over 300 languages spoken in our schools, The Notting Hill Carnival ............... a new concert hall is small fry and a no-brainer. Let’s get on with it.

... but fewer bankers