For the first time, I have a chance to actually grab a Prom or two due to a short trip to London. Since I don't have the time to queue, I'm currently staring indecisively at the Prom Planner. The rausing circle tickets are enticingly cheap (well, relatively), but are they acceptable acoustic-wise? I know that the Hall won't dazzle me in that regard, I just don't want the orchestra to sound as if they are playing from the bottom of a pond. I have looked through some of the threads of the last years and learned that it is best to stay away from the rear, but haven't found much about the rausing circle. I'm not in love with the idea of choir seats and sitting behind brass and percussion.
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Personally. and this is very personally, I love being in 'O' Stalls, preferably a few rows back. Yes, you get an earful of the heavy brass but the sense of involvement in the music and the performance is fantastic. For some reason, I find it less so on the other side in 'G' stalls which is why I wish that the Proms Planner offered either instead of just Side Stalls. The front of the Circle is surprisingly good, the few times I've been there but, at all costs, avoid like the plague going into one of the boxes. I recall 'hearing' a Prom there once but actually heard nothing at all so bad was it.Originally posted by Demetrius View Post"The sound is the handwriting of the conductor" - Bernard Haitink -
I have extremely limited experience of the Rausing Circle, but in the few times I've tried it, I've found that its very back center (near 6:00 if you consider the stage at 12:00) to work quite well for overall blend of orchestral sound. It's obviously a bit distant, but clear and again well-blended.Originally posted by Demetrius View PostComment
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Sorry about this, but I'm only an Arena Prommer and thus by definition a bear of little brain, but what exactly is the Rausing Circle? At a guess I would say that it's where most of the coughing comes from.
Re acoustics, it's quite noticeable that the immediacy of sound does vary quite a bit, depending how full the hall is. I must say that the best sound is heard from an Arena position slightly to the left front of where the fountain used to be, certainly not at the front rail.Comment
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[FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]Comment
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Ah! So that IS where the coughing comes from!Originally posted by ferneyhoughgeliebte View PostComment
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I hope not!Originally posted by Ferretfancy View Post
I've managed to grab tickets for the W and T parts of the Rausing Circle for Prom 3 and 4. Not sure how the T thing came about, that's exactly where I didn't want to end up :/ Since booking the tickets almost ended in me murdering my bank teller, I'm just happy that i got anything, though.
Thanks to Petrushka and especially to bluestatepromer, hope you are right with the 6 o'clock thing (that would be "T").Comment
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Actually, no more than anywhere else. On scattered occasions, while some coughs have come from Rausing Circle, I've also heard coughs from the ground floor stalls, and, yes, the Arena. The Arena is not a sacred place where Prommers never commit any Proms faux pas, and the only 'sinners' are everywhere else. (And yes, there are coughs from the Gallery too.)Originally posted by Ferretfancy View Post
For Demetrius, hope that 'T' proves satisfactory. At least you'll have the comfort of a seat.Comment
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I mean, its so elitist to make an announcement or advertise in the programme, on posters in the building - suggesting it would be considerate to use a clean handkerchief to stifle the sound (perhaps it would be acceptable if it omitted "clean" - or is it elitist to suppose we all have a handkerchief, clean or not?)Comment
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It's certainly unrealistic, in these days of tissues - which are useless at cough-stifling.Originally posted by Cockney Sparrow View PostComment
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