A few thoughts on the new Walt Disney Hall.
Nov 09 '03
The Bottom Line Listen, and you will see :)
A few thoughts and impressions of Los Angeles' latest darling, Walt Disney Hall, and why I believe that music lovers and fans of great architecture world wide will rejoice. But first a brief synopsis of how this hall came about.
In 1987 Lillian Disney gave 50 million dollars as a gift towards a new concert hall in honor of her late husband, Walt Disney. An international architectural competition was held, and in 1988 Frank Gehry of Los Angeles was selected as the winner. I well remember the Los Angeles Times pictures of his winning model, and it was IMHO by far the best of the lot.
Needless to say I was very disappointed three years later when he showed a model of his final plans, as it bore no resemblance whatsoever to his design with which he won the competition. I was mollified somewhat by virtue of the fact that it was stressed time and again that absolutely no expense would be spared in making sure that this hall would deliver top-notch acoustics, and hence the best sound that modern acoustics could deliver. This elusive goal was the task of Tokyo based acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota, who would work closely with Mr. Gehry on the main halls design to satisfy the Disney families' request in making this a world class venue. Known not only for its outstanding design, but also for equally outstanding acoustics.
The concert hall was to built in downtown LA on 3.6 acres of land owned by the county of Los Angeles, and would become the new home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. As is customary in any large scale project like this, there is enormous bickering and red tape that needs to be overcome before anything actually gets done, and by the time the first blow had been struck, Lillian's generous gift had almost doubled in size due to interest payments on it. One of the main sticking points was that the city insisted that most, if not all the money should be in the bank before giving the final green light. Unrealistic to be sure, but the delay did help in allowing extra time in order to raise most of the necessary funds. Unfortunately, it also contributed towards ballooning costs and the final tab was approximately $274 million. I should also mention that fund raising seemed to come to a standstill about halfway through the project, and that is when local real estate billionaire Eli Broad stepped in and his contacts and enthusiasm ensured the financial success of this huge project.
This is not a very large hall, seating only 2,265 compared to the LA Philharmonics old home since its completion in 1964, the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion (often chosen as the venue for the Academy Awards), which can seat about 1,000 patrons more. Although Walt Disney Hall is not large, fortunately the same can't be said about its huge underground parking lot which has room for about 2,400 cars. The two main disadvantages of the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion is not only its size, but also the fact that it was built as an all purpose hall. Jack of all trades and master of none, so to speak. Meaning that the sound was mediocre at best and terrible at its worst.
When I sold high-end stereo systems almost 15 years ago, I had the privilege of going to rehearsals there quite often as a few orchestra members were customers of mine. I remember trying out various seats in the empty hall while they were rehearsing, and although some seats offered better sound than others, none of them could really be described as sounding great.
I kept up on the news of the hall, and when I found out that this year would be the grand opening, my daughter and I became inaugural subscribers as soon as subscriptions went on sale. I chose the least expensive subscription which is four concerts in the baroque series. A few of the benefits of subscribing is not only a break in price for the concerts versus buying the same tickets individually, but other little perks that are offered to subscribers like a *sneak peak* of the hall before it opened to the general public, previews of upcoming events etc.
This past August I sent in my request to take them up on their *sneak peak* offer, and as my father-in-law was visiting from South Africa, I took him with me. This was the first week of October, only a couple of weeks before the halls grand opening. I was really looking forward to it as the LA Times had been publishing pictures, apprising their readers of the halls progress. I have to admit that the pictures didn’t do any more for me than the scale model that was shown all those years ago of the final design.
So, a few weeks ago on Saturday night we drove down there just to see what $274 million buys you these days. Right off the bat I have to admit that I would make a terrible architect. I know that you’ve all heard this cliché before, but the pictures really do not do this incredible building justice. I was really impressed. In fact, I was really surprised at how impressed I was because I honestly didn’t have high hopes when I went down there. Those of you who are familiar with Gehry’s design of the Guggenheim museum in Bilboa Spain, will know what I’m referring to.
Unlike his building in Spain, this one is covered in sheets of stainless steel and not titanium. Even although it was only a few weeks from its grand opening, it appeared to me as if it was only about 95% done. Mostly little cosmetic things, the restaurant etc. The inside of the hall is in stark contrast to the outside. Very quiet, elegant and subdued. Lots of natural wood paneling everywhere. Both escalators and elevators to ferry patrons to the various levels.
The black tile in the bathrooms was a disappointment to me, and out place with the rest of this elegant hall. The other negative that caught my eye, like the new Getty Center in Bel Aire, this hall doesn’t seem to be too wheelchair friendly. As my downstairs neighbor is a paraplegic, I do pay attention to these things in case he asks me about going to such places. Having said that though, I did notice a patron in a wheelchair when we attended our first concert a few weeks ago, but more about that later.
Like the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, the audience surrounds the orchestra. The seats have a pleasant floral pattern, but their orange and green color scheme doesn’t do anything for me. Unlike the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion, this hall also has an organ. Both my father-in-law and I really enjoyed the preview night, as there were only about 100 people there and we basically had free run of the place. So we walked around exploring the hall until we were too tired to take in any more.
The sound, Gary! How does it sound?
Okay, okay. For those of you that are into these things, I’m sure that you’re all dying to know how it sounds. Well, my daughter and I attended our first concert two weekends ago, so here is my first hand report.
Our subscription seats are behind the orchestra and to their left. The hall that night, its first general performance after three gala evening performances to celebrate its opening, was about 95% full. I assumed that the empty seats were due to people who unexpectedly had other things crop up and so were unable to attend. The concert was with Murray Perahia as conductor and soloist with the Academy of St. Martins-in-the-Fields. A short Mozart Adagio and Fugue, Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto, Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto #5 and Mozart’s Symphony #41 ( the ‘Jupiter’ symphony). A diverse program which would give listeners a reasonably good picture of the halls acoustic capabilities.
I know that you’ve probably heard all these superlatives before, but the sound was really amazing. Especially to those like me who were accustomed to the muddy, confused, stifled sound of the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion. Although only a small chamber orchestra – about 35 players – they had no problems filling the hall with their beautiful tone. The bass is especially strong and vibrant with an exciting dynamic impact. The audience was so excited and appreciative that when the soloist finished his cadenza at the end of the first movement of the Beethoven, they burst into thunderous applause. While I didn’t recognize whose cadenza Mr. Perahia played –only parts of it sounded familiar to me – he really poured out his heart into it, giving it his all. What a pleasure it was to hear all the notes for a change.
For the Bach they put the piano’s sound board back on, and this gave it a fuller more distinctive tone. The flute and violin solos during this piece were well served by the halls ability to project the high notes effortlessly. The clarity of the contrapuntal tunes made it so much more enjoyable.
While I would have preferred a fuller sound with a bigger impact that a larger orchestra would have delivered to better serve Mozart’s Jupiter symphony, it was still a most enjoyable experience. And Mr. Perahia, almost dancing in time to the music while he was conducting, only enhanced my enjoyment.
Even the audience seemed to be especially well behaved on this night, and there was no excessive coughing, sneezing, moving etc. I think that the sheer transparency of the hall encourages patrons to behave, otherwise they probably feel that everyone would know who was causing the disturbance and stare at them. And that’s saying a lot as these are really not the most comfortable seats I have sat in. Mark Swed, the music critic for the LA Times, found them too tight. I found them okay in that regard, just not enough room in front of me to stretch out my legs, and I’m only 5’ 6”!! But the magnificent sound more than made up for the uncomfortable seats.
The only negative thing I could say about the sound is that the dynamic range of the middle notes (around middle ‘C’ and slightly higher) seem a little muted in comparison to the lower and higher notes. I’m not an acoustician, so I have absolutely no idea why this is so. My feeling is that once the cement dries and the hall settles, a process that will take a couple of years, the sound will improve even further. After then it might require minor tweaking, but at least it’s a far cry from Verizon Hall in Philadelphia which required two years of heavy tweaking before they were able to coax acceptable sound out of it.
There’s no question in my mind that sloppy musicians who miss notes and/or play the wrong ones, will not be well served by this hall. All their mistakes will be ruthlessly exposed due to its exceptional clarity. On the other hand, musicians like my favorite violinist, Anne-Sophie Mutter, will absolutely love this hall. She tends to play on the soft side and her exquisite tone is not well served by most halls.
I would love to hear how this hall handles a massive complex piece like Dvorak’s rarely recorded or performed Requiem. And now that they have an organ, perhaps we’ll even get to hear Bach’s Toccata and Fugue In D Minor and even Saint-Saëns incredible Symphony #3, the Organ Symphony.
The final million dollar question that some have raised, and rightfully so IMHO. Couldn’t this money have been better spent on a shelter for the homeless, a hospital or some other similar project? There are no easy answers to this complex philosophical question. Keep in mind that most of the donors who gave so generously to this project, already give huge amounts to those kinds of projects too.
In my humble opinion, one can’t put a price on inspiration and when young children from all walks of life come here to hear this timeless music, one never knows. Maybe they might be inspired by the music, maybe by the building or any combination of the above. But if it inspires them to better themselves in any aspect of their life, then surely this expensive project is worth it. The Philharmonic does make an enormous effort to reach out to young school children, as they realize that they are their future audience.
Personally, if I had $274 million dollars to spend, I wouldn’t have spent it on this hall, but now that it’s been built, I’m exceptionally happy that it’s here for all to enjoy. So if you’re in Los Angeles, or plan on visiting soon, I highly recommend making this one of your stops. You won’t be disappointed. Gary.
A couple links:
A picture is worth a thousand words, so just copy and paste these into your browser.
The first one has 11 pages of pictures, just click on the thumbnails for larger images. The pictures of the (almost) finished hall are on the last page
http://www.musiccenter.org/wdch/g_const_01.html
For comparisons sake I have also included a link to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilboa Spain.
http://www.guggenheim-bilbao.es/ingles/home.htm
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watchdr_2000
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Member: Gary C.
Location: Los Angeles
Reviews written: 19
Trusted by: 38 members
About Me:
Dad - Both the best job and hobby a guy could ever ask for!
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