Tripe ?

[MrGongGong]

Norms at it again

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/privatisation-is-the-best-option-for-the-south-bank-centre

followed by

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/in-defence-of-the-southbank-centre?fbclid=IwAR2fqEltRxxllb-PL_OeC0ioX3K_CNmr-WklnmMD-ZjAHrapxTcBmwtrKj8

[teamsaint]

Since norm refers to the grants they receive, here is the most recent report.

https://bynder.southbankcentre.co.uk/m/c213ad2d3c952e4/original/Southbank-Centre-Annual-Report-2018-19_SIGNED-FINAL.pdf?_ga=2.75109978.937037845.1591896836-1477226437.1453932797

I have no idea how this ( their finance) compares with other comparable organisations, but on the face of it, an £18m pa grant for what is the country’s leading arts venue seems reasonable enough.
I’m not all that keen on the current model for arts funding( not that I have a better alternative ready to go , but as it goes, it doesn’t seem profligate.
Some dubious names among the non execs though..........

[rauschwerk]

Just two points:-

1) South Bank programming was much more interesting in the 1960s when (presumably) public funding was a good deal more generous;

2) Privatisation is not going to help the RFH acoustics!

[jayne lee wilson]

Anyone here able to comment on the RFH pre and post the 2007 Modifications (advised by no less an acoustician than Lawrence Kirkegaard)....?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Festival_Hall#The_2007_renovation

Anyway "current models for arts funding" are out the bloody window now.....

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jun/10/orchestras-might-not-survive-after-coronavirus-pandemic-uk-conductors

[teamsaint]

Anyone here able to comment on the RFH pre and post the 2007 Modifications (advised by no less an acoustician than Lawrence Kirkegaard)....?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Festival_Hall#The_2007_renovation

Anyway "current models for arts funding" are out the bloody window now.....

https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...-uk-conductors

Well the minister for Culture sounds as if he is fighting his corner. I really hope so. The interview with him the other day was worth reading, IMO.

( Everything is out the window now, it seems.....)

[MrGongGong]

Anyone here able to comment on the RFH pre and post the 2007 Modifications (advised by no less an acoustician than Lawrence Kirkegaard)....?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Festival_Hall#The_2007_renovation

How long have you got?

I did several things in the hall both before and after.
I know several folks who were involved and met the acousticians and went to some of the acoustic tests etc

SO the quick answer is that the acoustics are now much more even and resonant.
Before (due to the way that some of the building was made ..... it's easier to put panels on a wall if you put battens on it first but that makes a bass trap etc ) the volume level dropped off massively under the balcony... now less so
The acoustic diffuser that was above the stage didn't work and (after much wrangling with the 20th Century society as it was part of the listing) has gone.
On the stage you can now actually hear what other people are playing... almost impossible before BUT for those ensembles who play there a lot it might have been part of what gave them their unique sound?

and so on etc

Lebrecht knows F-all about it and has been soundly taken apart by those who do on social media.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Anyone here able to comment on the RFH pre and post the 2007 Modifications (advised by no less an acoustician than Lawrence Kirkegaard)....?

I've followed this story for much of my life. I was brought up in the Stockport area, and our annual holidays were usually in North Wales. In 1958, we went to Fairbourne, near Barmouth, and we bumped into a family that included a boy I recognised from my primary school. My father recognised his father and they chatted for a while. 12 years later, when I bought my first hi-fi record deck (a Goldring/Lenco GL75), the same man delivered it, and my father told me: "That's the man we met in Fairbourne. Do you remember him? He sorted out the acoustics of the Royal Festival Hall." This puzzled me at first, as he seemed to be heavily into electronics, not natural acoustics. Then I learnt that he'd been part of the team who had created and installed the enhancement system.
I've attended a few concerts in the RFH over the years, and it's always sounded ok, but in 1985, I auditioned a large scratch orchestra to perform at the hall on Easter Monday, along with a vast choir for a new work. As I was involved in orchestral part copying and was orchestral manager for the few days leading up to the performance, I wasn't going to be doing any actual playing in the performance, but in the end, grabbed a barely legible vocal score and learnt it fast for the RFH final run through. That was the day I discovered the hall's deficiency. I felt as though I were singing in a field, with socially distanced players and singers around me, who I could hear, but felt isolated from. I'm sure the others felt like that too. But the recording made of the event sounded great.

The Wikipedia article says the enhancement was switched off in 1998, so I'm presuming the premiere of Elgar/Payne Symphony no. 3 was the only time I heard a concert there without electronic wizardry in action. I haven't been there since. I suppose I should, but I've been spoilt by the Sage and Symphony Hall.

[gradus]

My RFH experiences are confined to listening from 1961 onwards so I've listened to the sound of the hall from many different seats in its several acoustic treatments but to be honest, as an audience member and not a performer it's always sounded pretty much the same to me, generally poor in the terrace under the balcony, much better in the grand tier but best in the middle stalls, although most interesting in the Choir simply through feeling more part of the performance. I've always liked the place, its where I've heard the orchestral concerts that I've most enjoyed, especially those given by the incomparable Pierre Monteux and the LSO.