In Monday’s (8/29) Gazette (Montreal), Arthur Kaptainis writes about the new home of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra: “The new concert hall has not yet opened its doors to the paying public, but the first reviews are in, and they are raves. ‘One of the greatest halls I’ve ever played in,’ said MSO concertmaster Richard Roberts after a full day of rehearsal on Friday. ‘The listeners, of course, are the bottom line. But I am very happy to play there.’ The 29-year veteran said that the orchestra will have to accommodate the ‘superfine’ acoustics of the new facility after years of ‘pumping out’ sound to overcome the dead zone of Salle Wilfrid Pelltier, the central room of Place des Arts where the orchestra has played since 1963. … The conductor of the historic first rehearsals was not [MSO Music Director] Kent Nagano, who is in Italy, but MSO assistant conductor Nathan Brock. The first orchestral music to fill the interior was the fierce and dissonant opening chord of the finale of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. … Most of the musician perspectives were from the stage of the 1,900-seat hall, but principal flute Tim Hutchins was able to listen from the floor during a piece that did not require his services. ‘You could locate all the different instruments, all the different sections, in a positive way.’ ”
Posted August 29, 2011
