Favourite concert halls?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I too notice the boundaries of Britain have been extended by many thousands of miles.

[BBMmk2]

Well, I can safely say that I do have a soft spot for the Royal Albert Hall(London), but I do rather like Birmingham SH. When I played there, goodness!!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I too notice the boundaries of Britain have been extended by many thousands of miles.

"Wider still and wider"?

King George's Hall, Blackburn
The Free Trade Hall
Leeds Town Hall
The Clothworkers' Centenary Concert Hall, Leeds
RFH
Barbican
RAH
The Dome, Brighton

... not all for their acoustic properties, but all for so many treasured memories.
St Paul's Hall, Huddersfield

[LeMartinPecheur]

Anyone else familiar with Trebullett Baptist Chapel nr Launceston?

I wouldn't bother mentioning it were it not for the fact that Krysia Osostowicz of the Dante Quartet always says that this very, very ordinary-looking place is the best acoustic for a string quartet concert that she's ever found.

More than 10 yrs ago she and her quartet played an impromptu concert there as a thank-you to the local community after a special joint family holiday on a nearby farm. From this started the Dante Festival which I've plugged elsewhere on these boards. Sadly, the chapel only seats about 150, certainly well under 200, which isn't enough for any of their full festival concerts these days But they still use it for open rehearsals

[Tony Halstead]

1. Victoria Hall, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent
2. The Sage, Gateshead
3. Free Trade Hall, Manchester - unfairly maligned because the bar was too cramped!

unfortunately I don't yet know the Sage but I totally agree with you about the Victoria Hall, Hanley ( sorry for omitting it from my 'hitlist') and of course the superb, magnificent Manchester Free Trade Hall where I first cut my teeth as a horn player in 1956 as the 4th horn in the Chetham's School Orchestra.

I don't believe that the marvellous acoustics of the FTH were simply a product of the 'Barbirolli Effect'.
As a teenager in the 1950s/ 1960s I used to go to the Halle Summer Proms and marvelled at the clarity and richness of sound in the hall, whether the Halle was conducted by Handford, Barbirolli, Weldon, Leonard, Lindars or any other maestro.

That it is now, sadly, an HOTEL must be one of the saddest and most depressing results of cultural vandalism that the North-West of England has ever endured.

[slarty]

[QUOTE=waldhorn;316375]unfortunately I don't yet know the Sage but I totally agree with you about the Victoria Hall, Hanley ( sorry for omitting it from my 'hitlist') and of course the superb, magnificent Manchester Free Trade Hall where I first cut my teeth as a horn player in 1956 as the 4th horn in the Chetham's School Orchestra.

I don't believe that the marvellous acoustics of the FTH were simply a product of the 'Barbirolli Effect'.

That's not something that I could judge, as I only ever heard Barbirolli conduct there, and I played in it twice, and always marveled at the sound in the hall.
I am glad to know that it was the hall, and not just JB, although he made every hall that I ever heard him in sound better including the Kingsway Hall, another now forgotten
glorious venue, but mainly for recording.

[Lordgeous]

No votes for the Snape Maltings?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

No votes for the Snape Maltings?

Not yet - and strike me with a feather cosh for a buffoon for missing it out.

[verismissimo]

Several decades ago I several times visited the Fairfield Halls in Croydon and thought it had the best acoustic for orchestral music in London. Any good today?

I also like very much the small hall at Blackheath for chamber music, tho the large hall's acoustic there was unimproved by the replacement of the original springy dance floor with a much harder wood (and the introduction of air conditioning), both against my advice!

[verismissimo]

Another not yet mentioned in despatches is the wonderful concert hall of the Barber Institute of Fine Art at Birmingham University.

[Barbirollians]

Sheffield City Hall is not great acoustically but it is where I heard many fine performances in the 1980s as a student ( and quite a few dreary ones ) and its restoration is a great success.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

With all this Free Trade Hall appreciation, does anyone like its replacement?

[amateur51]

Not yet - and strike me with a feather cosh for a buffoon for missing it out.

As Beefy said about Symphony Hall, Snape's badly sited at 120 miles away. I love arriving there and going to a concert but convenient for public transport it is not.

[rauschwerk]

As Beefy said about Symphony Hall, Snape's badly sited at 120 miles away. I love arriving there and going to a concert but convenient for public transport it is not.

Snape Maltings is very well sited for me, thanks very much - 25 minutes from my door. Certainly a favourite of mine.

Sheffield Crucible Studio - very dry but giving an extraordinary intimacy to chamber music. Peter Cropper observes that the performers have the audience's full attention from the very first note.

[Stanfordian]

With all this Free Trade Hall appreciation, does anyone like its replacement?

Hiya Eine Alpensinfonie, In a word Yes!