Favourite concert halls?

[Guest]

Moving along from the "love it or Hate it" RAH, let's nominate the best concert halls around Britain.(Including any now gone - EG FTH)

Manchester - the old Free Trade Hall - but this may be to do with the great "Sir John"!

Edinburgh - The Usher Hall - my favourite for either playing in or listening.

Dundee - The Caird Hall - designed after the old Queen's Hall in London(only smaller) but has a superb acoustic.

My favourite modern hall (sorry it's outside Britain) the Philharmonie in Köln, Germany.

[Alison]

The much maligned Royal Festival Hall has always been to my liking given the appropriate seat and music.

[pastoralguy]

The Caird Hall is superb. Its only problem is that it's in Dundee...

[Gordon]

Assuming you mean sound quality and not architecture - Liverpool Phil used to be very nice and warm [when I lived there moons ago that is, they tarted it since] then our local Anvil in Basingstoke is surprisingly good sounding even though it looks dubious. As usual though it depends where you sit.

London always has struggled with good Halls - now I think the RFH is OK and Barbican is much better since they fiddled but even so it isn't perfect - the shape for a start. Wigmore almost perfect for what it does. The old Queen's Hall [RIP 1941, thanks Luftwaffe] was supposed to be excellent also used for recordings, as was Kingsway of course [RIP 1983] but not so much for concerts latterly.

Don't go to the Oxford Sheldonian less you have to.

The palm for orchestral music must be in Birmingham though.

PS I forgot my most recent experience was in Cardiff - a chance visit that got me into the Hoddinott Hall while BBCNOW rehearsals were going on for their proms. V nice indeed.

PPS The Sheldonian is a nice enough place and tolerable for chamber works. Years ago [when daugher was there] I found it stressed for largish bands and the noise from outside when I was there last was a real problem.

[Beef Oven]

It's got a lot to do with what you get used to. For me it's the RFH, RHA & The Barbican.

Had a beer in the Kingsway Hall a few years back, wasn't impressed with the acoustics.

[aeolium]

The palm for orchestral music must be in Birmingham though.

Agreed, and for choral music imv.

I like Wigmore Hall and the QEH for chamber music and piano recitals, and nearer to home the Pittville Pump Room in Cheltenham.

[VodkaDilc]

Don't go to the Oxford Sheldonian less you have to.
.

I'm still working on what this means! The Sheldonian is great for recitals - but also surprisingly good for orchestral concerts, as recent visits by CBSO and Philharmonia have shown. You need to know which seats are comfortable before booking, but good vision, clear sound and stunning architecture make it a firm favourite.
Noise outside can be a problem in term-time (our youngers and betters enjoying themselves!); I'm sure Paul Lewis will not risk a date around 5th November in future.

[salymap]

Musicians moan about the RAH echo, as we all do. However, it amused me, on attending a concert at the brand new RFH, friends in the string sections of the BBCSO complained about the acoustics there. "Too clear, not enough reverberation, showed up every little fault".

It was changed after a bit - any comments from those who play [ed] there?

I loved it after the RAH- RVW6 and Britten Spring Symphony particularly. Oh and the Planets.
Terrific

[MrGongGong]

It was changed after a bit - any comments from those who play [ed] there?

When the acoustic was remodelled the whole building was stripped (I had a look when it was empty and they removed everything) and different materials used as well as changing the size of the organ chamber etc etc

There was some discussion about how the acoustic affects those who play in it frequently. If (as with the old RFH) it's hard to hear the other players on the stage then one will have to listen much more, this will create a different focus in the ensemble. People sometimes talk about how the Philharmonia sometimes have an almost "chamber music" quality to their playing, is this partly to do with playing in a "difficult" acoustic ?
Halls like Birmingham and The Esplanade in Singapore with the remote controlled variable acoustic are interesting because they haven't really been around long enough for anyone to work out how to use them, and there is an issue with who should choose the acoustic setting ?
Having played with the room in Singapore I found it makes a huge difference BUT if you stick a load of brass players in one of the chambers with the door shut and then get them to play while it opens you get a tremendous sound of a kind of swell pedal crescendo with an increase in room size at the same time ! (some of Symphony Hall's organ is also in a similar chamber I think ? )

It will be interesting to hear how the RFH sounds when the organ is finally back and playable at the start of 2014

[salymap]

Thanks Mr GG, that's interesting.

I did however attend the acoustic tests before the hall was opened. A girlfriend from the RAM and I bumped into Dr Ernest Read outside the hall and he gave us his visitors' pass he had just finished with.

So we sat on the platform, heard guns fired, various noises and were shown around avoiding piles of rubble everywhere. It was very interesting.

[Richard Tarleton]

I'm sure Paul Lewis will not risk a date around 5th November in future.

The first time I heard Julian Bream, in Oxford Town Hall (1969) he announced at the start he was moving the first piece in part 2 to before the interval in order to escape the Christ Church bells - but was still caught out.

[Stanley Stewart]

Indeed, the Wigmore Hall, my second home for more than 30 years; unsurpassable. Much affection, too, for the RAH, warts and all. Experience eventually guided me to its safe spots! Happy memories of the New Gallery, Regent Street, during its short duration as a concert venue in the late 70s. A horrendous moment when a persistent cougher made Paul Tortelier crumple and double-over in his chair during his performance of a Bach Cello Suite. He recovered his composure to address the miscreant, "You must be very unhappy to cough during the music". Silence prevailed, thereafter, and M.Tortelier soon had us under his spell again.

Early memories of my youth, post WW2, as I savoured and developed a lifelong experience of concertgoing at the Music Hall, Aberdeen - wonderful acoustic. Was it really 1945/46 when I heard Richard Tauber in recital - the rare accolade of a Scottish audience engaging in rhythmic stamping to endorse their approval - and the novelty of Eileen Joyce changing her dress during the interval break to reflect the mood of the second half of her recital. But it was the Scottish N.O/Warwick Braithwaite who taught me so much. Have to fast-forward more than 30 years to recall my most abiding memory of the Music Hall. SNO/Alex Gibson with Jessye Norman as Sieglinde in the first act of "Die Walkure". Riveting! Friends also encouraged my annual visits by the bait of posh seats for the Scottish Opera season at HM Theatre. A theatre of great beauty, too, on Rosemount Viaduct.

[Zucchini]

Halls like Birmingham and The Esplanade in Singapore with the remote controlled variable acoustic are interesting because they haven't really been around long enough for anyone to work out how to use them, and there is an issue with who should choose the acoustic setting ?

Actually, Symphony Hall has been around a long time - it celebrated its 21st birthday last year! The conductor and his assistant always have the decision on whether or how much the doors to the reverberation chamber are opened. But visiting conductors/orchestras who are unfamiliar with the resources have other things to worry about and will usually consult with Symphony Hall's technical staff.

The reverberation chamber is absolutely massive - 12,700 cubic metres. Its volume is about half the volume of the main hall. It links with additional chambers that surround the hall at a high level. The concrete doors that open from the hall to the chamber each weigh one tonne.

(some of Symphony Hall's organ is also in a similar chamber I think ? )

Yes, some ranks of pipes are in the chamber and the rich echo and some soft atmospheric effects would be unachievable in a conventional hall.

A CBSO member told me that, although smaller, KKL Lucerne is the hall that, acoustically, most feels like home.

..

[MrGongGong]

Thanks Mr GG, that's interesting.

I did however attend the acoustic tests before the hall was opened. A girlfriend from the RAM and I bumped into Dr Ernest Read outside the hall and he gave us his visitors' pass he had just finished with.

So we sat on the platform, heard guns fired, various noises and were shown around avoiding piles of rubble everywhere. It was very interesting.

That's interesting
I was at the tests for the refurbished hall
would be an interesting comparison

Actually, Symphony Hall has been around a long time - it celebrated its 21st birthday last year!
..

21 years ? not really a long time given that folks aren't in there all the time
but I get what you mean

[Stanfordian]

These are my favourite concert halls:
Philharmonie Berlin, Semper Oper house Dresden; Bavarian State Opera House Munich; Philharmonie Munich, Bridgewater hall Manchester; Philharmonic Hall Liverpool; Deutsche Oper house Berlin; Staatsoper Berlin.

The concert hall/opera house that I want to attend a concert/opera at in the next few years are La Scala Milan and Großer Musikvereinssaal (Goldener Saal) Vienna.