February 21st, 2008
The swanky atmosphere Sunday morning was slightly impaled by a grammar blooper in the program. But never mind. Wikitravel proclaims:
Concertgebouw
Famous for its orchestra and its accoustics (among the top ten in the world), this is the world's most frequently visited concert hall.
I have to say I'm starting to suspect it's the staff authoring this glowing review. Personally I wasn't all that impressed with the acoustics. The large performance hall is a venerable interior with profuse decor, however the technological realization seems to have evaded modern technology. The chamber orchestra was not heard terribly well in the rear half of the hall, which seems a bit amateurish from a sound technology perspective in this day and age.
But for just 15 bucks it wasn't bad value for money, even though I expected more from the venue.
I realize the common denomination is Molto Allegro but Allegro Molto is not wrong, it's just not generally used.
Not familiar with the acoustics of the building myself.
Good to know. I still think it's a blooper though, see how they used both forms in the program in different places.
Oh right. Well that's no good then. Consistensy is all.
Last time I was there was for a concert by Argentine tenor Jose Cura, way back in 1999. Back then the accoustics were very good. At least that's how I remember it. I think they renovated the place in the mean time. Perhaps that adversely affected the accoustics.
I was there last year and was not that bad, though it was not a classical concert. I usually visit the best halls when I travel (and I do tend to travel a lot) and this one was not any worse from most I saw in Europe (e.g. Helsinki, Warsaw, Prague, Moscow newest hall, Seville of late). Though again, it was some jazz stuff (acoustics are a different thing then) and secondly its far away from the real gems, e.g. Berlin, Vienna and I have to say also Budapest new fabulous hall. (http://www.mupa.hu/index.jsp)
Martin - great blog :)
btw, just checked wiki and few other places - they also give it Allegro Molto ;)
It definitely was not a mistake. These are tempo indications as given by the composer. Haydn used "Allegro molto" and Mozart used "Molto allegro".