There were high hopes and then realistic opinions about the sound quality in the five years since Orchestra Hall reopened. Here are some excerpts from previous stories.
“The auditorium [sound] is a work in progress.”
— R. Lawrence Kirkegaard, acoustical consultant to Symphony Center, 1997, before the center’s opening.
“I think the sound will have all the impact it had before but [with] a bit more openness and fullness.”
— Kirkegaard, 1997, before the center’s opening.
“In my most optimistic moments, I think we are going to have one of the three or four truly great halls in America.”
— then-executive director of the CSO Henry Fogel, 1997, before the opening.
“It was disconcerting for the [CSO] players not to hear themselves in the way they were accustomed to hearing themselves. . . . [A problem may be] that the room does not give back to the brasses the loudness they put out. . . . I can’t say the high-frequency string sound has improved. It will [be improved]. It is still being chewed up by the upper [sound chamber].”
— Kirkegaard, Oct. 31, 1997, 27 days after the opening.
“We will not step away until we are happy with [the hall sound] and you, the public, are happy too.”
— Kirkegaard, Oct. 31, 1997.
“There are still some problems onstage that need to be adjusted to ensure that the musicians hear themselves and their colleagues.”
— Fogel, writing in a 1999 CSO program book essay.
“People aren’t comparing the auditorium to what Orchestra Hall was, but to what their ears wish it could be.”
— Kirkegaard, 1999.
“For me, it’s still a work in progress.”
— Kirkegaard, November 2002.
