Royal Albert Hall - Love it? Loathe it?

[amateur51]

It always sounds AMAZING when going there early in September after summer visits to the RAH!

[Oliver]

Works well for Mahler and Bruckner....as long as their are no solo voices. I recall a Gurrelieder of a few years ago which I attended and of which I heard very little of the soloists The R3 recording revealed that they'd been rather good.
And Eschenbach's Siegfried of a decade ago was redeemed for me when I left my seat for Act 3 and stood in the arena.

[PhilipT]

Very interesting, but it does not alter the fact that USA demanded repayment from us (on whatever generous terms) and, paranoid about the threat from communist Russia, asked for nothing from Germany (now the only country in the EU without monetary problems)

Well, I'd quibble with that, too. Estonia is doing OK. Also, don't forget that we demanded payment in gold from the Soviet Union for all those arms we sent them in the Arctic convoys.

The consequences of war on national infrastructure are always perverse, anyway. Germany's water and sewerage systems are better than ours because the RAF did such a thorough job. And anyone envious of their other infrastructure projects should take a look here: http://www.spiegel.de/international/...-a-876856.html.

To come back to the RAH: One thing we can all agree on is that if we built it now it would be very different. The massive rebuild about 10-15 years ago brought real improvements (grand pianos no longer enter the Hall wheeled in through the doors on their sides with the legs off; the audience and the performers now have separate loos that don't smell; there's refrigeration in the Arena bars; the air cooling system is an improvement and not so many people faint now, and so on) but at the same time it showed how hard it is to improve an out-of-date building. Imagine, for a moment, one-tenth of the money spent on the Olympics being used to re-build Battersea power station from the ground up as purpose-built concert hall. Now, that would be a legacy.

[MrGongGong]

It's important to remember that the Albert hall was intended to be the
Imperial Hall for Arts and Sciences
and NOT primarily a concert hall

[Demetrius]

Well, the Americans chose to pour money into the rebuilding of their enemy, Germany, and offered nothing to their allies, Great Britain, who protected the USA for more than 2 years

HS

You sure of that?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Plan#Expenditures

over 3 Billion Dollars for Great Britain, over 2 for France, something approaching 2 for Western Germany and Austria. Mind you, helping your former enemy that much is an astonishing thing to do, even if the Marshall Plan was not quite unselfish in its origin. And the higher support of France and England is natural, not going to challange that. Still, the American Money gave the western european countries a leg-up (correct phrase?). How they fared after that was up to them. In recent years, Germany fared well economicly mainly by smothering the economies of their neighbors due to their own and european policies. Postwar financial aid does not really figure into that any more.

As for halls, is it really fair to the RAH to compare it to some of the better accoustics of halls half her size? I interviewed a few people for an article recently, hall accoustics came up and all they ever said was "for its size it is ..."

Oh, and they admonished modern halls as ghastly in comparison to many 19th century efforts.

[Ferretfancy]

So you aren't keen on the RFH then ?
I like the new acoustic very much indeed

I've always loved the RFH, and it's true the acoustics have been improved, but at what a huge cost.In the auditorium all the boxes were taken down and the side walls filled where there had previously been a gap. The entire floor of the stalls, eight inches of concrete, was removed to be replaced by a new floor with a slightly different ramp. The plaster ceiling was also removed and replaced by a new thicker replacement.

It's a miracle of restoration, but the sound still doesn't have sufficient resonance, particularly in the bass, and quality still depends on where you sit. On the good side the performers on the platform can now hear each other better.

I have so many memories of the RFH, and it is still the best building of its period, the river views are superb.

[salymap]

I've always loved the RFH, and it's true the acoustics have been improved, but at what a huge cost.In the auditorium all the boxes were taken down and the side walls filled where there had previously been a gap. The entire floor of the stalls, eight inches of concrete, was removed to be replaced by a new floor with a slightly different ramp. The plaster ceiling was also removed and replaced replacement.

It's a miracle of restoration, but the sound still doesn't have sufficient resonance, particularly in the bass, and quality still depends on where you sit. On the good side the performers on the platform can now hear each other better.

I have so many memories of the RFH, and it is still the best building of its period, the river views are superb.

Goodness, It's years since I saw the RFH - when was the first/main update of the hall ?

WhenI saw the unopened hall in 1951[mentioned on 'Favourite concert hall' thread ]the hall staff were terrribly proud of the'Flying Boxes' as they called them

[PhilipT]

When I saw the unopened hall in 1951[mentioned on 'Favourite concert hall' thread ]the hall staff were terrribly proud of the'Flying Boxes' as they called them

Unforgettably described by Arthur Askey as "It look like a cigarette machine with all the drawers pulled out."

[amateur51]

Unforgettably described by Arthur Askey as "It look like a cigarette machine with all the drawers pulled out."

I think that Pevsner said something similar ... "it looks like a chest of drawers after the burglars have been through it"-sorta ting

Arthur Askey? Nikolaus Pevsner? Who knew?

[vinteuil]

Arthur Askey? Nikolaus Pevsner? Who knew?

... well - did you ever see them together?

(Mind you, I always thought that Eric Morecambe, Michael Fish, and Alfred Brendel were the same person. I certainly never saw all of them together at the same time... )

[salymap]

... well - did you ever see them together?

(Mind you, I always thought that Eric Morecambe, Michael Fish, and Alfred Brendel were the same person. I certainly never saw all of them together at the same time... )

No, now that you mention it vinteuil, neither did I!!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

(Mind you, I always thought that Eric Morecambe, Michael Fish, and Alfred Brendel were the same person. I certainly never saw all of them together at the same time... )

You missed out Philip Larkin.

[cloughie]

... well - did you ever see them together?

(Mind you, I always thought that Eric Morecambe, Michael Fish, and Alfred Brendel were the same person. I certainly never saw all of them together at the same time... )

Alfred Brendel was Michael Bentine, surely.

[Tony Halstead]

Alfred Brendel was Michael Bentine, surely.

Not to mention ROY HUDD?