May 31, 2026
Three concert halls were built between 1870 and 1900 according to the then-emerging science of acoustics: Musikverien on Vienna, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and Symphony Hall in Boston. The three shoe-box design halls are still considered the finest sound experience. While having been to concerts at Boston and the Concertgebouw, I had not attended a performance at the Musikverien (1).
An amateur Orchestra from Liepzig and one from Vienna were here on this Sunday morning performing Tchaikovsky's 6th (Liepzig) and Subelius' 2nd (Vienna) Symphonies. An usher standing by a stack of programs seemed reluctant to sell me one. "Only in German," was his curt reply. But he accepted my €3.50 and gave me a copy (2).
There were many tourists at the performance gawking and taking pictures of themselves in the ornate hall. The halls in Amsterdam and Boston are significantly less gilded. From the first notes of the Tchaikovsky piece, I was amazed at the acoustics. Being in the middle at the back of the hall, the music was perfectly blended, but I could pick put the individual instruments when I wanted to as well.
The Leipzig orchestra was arranged differently than usual, with the first and second violins opposite, rather than next to, each other to accentuate the theme passing between them in the third movement (3). Tchaikovsky's 6th (4) switches the normal final Allegro movement to the (normally slower) third movement, causing many in the audience to applaud before the end of the piece, which the conductor cut off by quickly starting the final movement.
While unfamiliar, Sibelius' 2nd Symphony was relatively easy to follow, and popular with the audience. The performers from both orchestras stomped their feet for their conductors, seemingly quite happy with both conductors' leadership, and to be performing in this hallowed venue.
(1) I had been to a chamber music performance at a side hall at the Musicverien a numver of years ago. In the main hall that night, they were rehearsing Mahler's 3rd. I poked my head in but was soon shooed away: "Come back in two days if you want to hear us."
(2) Perhaps he disapproved of my hiking T-shirt and a week's beard growth. My translation app had no problem with the German text in the program.
(3) The double basses were opposite their usual location. I watched with interest as the bassists from Liepzig wiped off the instruments I assumed belonged to the Vienna players, and move them to their accustomed position, stage left. Basses are very large and unwieldy.
(4) Coincidentally, I had recently listened to a podcast about the piece, with which I was already somewhat familiar.
