Having gone to three concerts at the new Symphony Center during the past week, I must say that I agree totally with your assessment of the acoustics in the remodeled facility. My wife and I have been seated on the main floor, the lower balcony and the upper balcony. Our feeling was that the upper balcony, where we heard Beethoven’s Ninth, had the best acoustics. Last night’s concert was, for us, a disaster. We were in row H, right side, on the main floor. I must say that we have enjoyed seeing two of the world’s best violinists in the past week. Unfortunately, we paid to hear them. During the performance, I had this strong urge to stand up and yell to soloist Maxim Vengerov, “Just move back towards the orchestra about 15 feet!” There was a definite sense that there was an invisible curtain drawn across the front 15 to 20 feet of the stage. Everything behind that line was excellent, outstanding, but everything in front of it was virtually inaudible. Vengerov’s Strad sounded, to us, like a $99.95 special from K mart: thin, tinny, weak.
Thanks for listening. I greatly appreciate your commentaries.
