Earlier this year I attended a concert at the San Diego Symphony. I hadn’t been to a live orchestral concert in a long time and what seemed new to me was noticing a sea of microphones above the orchestra. I counted at least a dozen. I assumed these would be used for recording or live broadcasts. I was wrong. Once the massed violins opened up in the Sibelius Fifth, I was aghast and truly saddened at hearing a congealed, ugly sound permeate the newly remodeled Jacob’s Music Center. I shuddered to think what was going to happen with the Beethoven Emperor. After intermission I observed technicians roll the grand piano onto the stage followed by a microphone stand spouting not one, but two mics in a tree configuration which was placed right up against the piano. But what surprised me then upon hearing the entrance of the massed violins, was the realization that the mics on the violins had been turned off, resulting in the natural sound of massed, warm, rosining bows. The piano, though, was a different story. Heavily amplified so it didn’t matter if you were listening to a Steinway or a Yamaha.
I was so disheartened by the experience, I contacted symphony management who said that the use of amplification is entirely a decision of the conductor. So it appeared I was in a hit or miss situation and cancelled my subscription. Obviously, this makes it impossible to be able to calibrate one’s senses to allow comparison with what one uses at home.
I would be very interested to know whether those of you who attend concerts in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, London, Berlin, Vienna, et. al., have had similar experiences and how long any of these orchestras have been engaging in this kind of rude behaviour as if it’s a rock concert designed to max out ticket sales.
I was so disheartened by the experience, I contacted symphony management who said that the use of amplification is entirely a decision of the conductor. So it appeared I was in a hit or miss situation and cancelled my subscription. Obviously, this makes it impossible to be able to calibrate one’s senses to allow comparison with what one uses at home.
I would be very interested to know whether those of you who attend concerts in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, London, Berlin, Vienna, et. al., have had similar experiences and how long any of these orchestras have been engaging in this kind of rude behaviour as if it’s a rock concert designed to max out ticket sales.
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