Sat front row at the symphony...

Adolf Herseth, the spectacular trumpet soloist with The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, once told a story in a radio interview with Bill [?] Russo about Fritz Reiner who, in my opinion, was the most important conductor the orchestra ever had.  Apparently, Reiner decided that the brass section was "killing everything" and advised them to "cut it in half".  He went out into the hall and listened to the results of his instruction and was pleased.   However, when he returned to the podium, his instructions were soon altered as he continually asked for more and more from the brass section to which he had just given instructions to the opposite.  Herseth said that it didn't take long for the brass to be playing the same level that had been playing previously !  It seems that the podium in Orchestra Hall was located in a "null" that no one realized existed until Reiner experimented with his fabulous brass section !   Podiums are apparently not the best spot in the house from which to listen.  Whodathunkit ?

@7452jf,

I thought as much ... ;-)

Yeah, there is much to be said for within walking distance. Sure beats the Embarcadero drive south (at times) when something such as the California Center for the Performing Arts sits so close by.

My understanding of symphony halls is that the conductor needs to visually communicate with the orchestra, and this is the primary reason why the podium is positioned where it is on the stage. Sound at the podium is secondary, although important, and possibly, the best sounding position. Halls are acoustically designed, for the audience’s enjoyment. This has been my understanding throughout all my years in the music business, and I am not to disagree with anyone. All interesting and welcoming comments above. Enjoy......My best, MrD.

terraplane8bob,

Another point to consider.  Trumpets project the most of all the brass.  They project in a very directional manner, maximum straight to the audience.  The conductor may be off axis and may not get the full beamy energy of the trumpet.  That's the reason the podium could be softer than the direct beam to a significant audience distance.  It is the loudest instrument, esp in the upper midrange 3-4 kHz where the human ear is most sensitive.  When I heard the trumpet beaming to me at midhall center, it was loud and brilliant.  But softer instruments like strings and woodwinds are lost in midhall compared to the stage or 1st row.  Even the other brass instruments are way softer than the trumpet--the trombone projects at a lower angle than the trumpet, the French horn projects behind to the floor, and the tuba vertically.  All these softer instruments get diffused away the more distance their sound has to travel.  But the trumpet is like a directional megaphone.

My Audiostatic 240 electrostatic panel is straight and highly directional.  Heard straight on axis, it transmits the purest sound that way, without HF rolloff.  I don't mind keeping my head aligned straight, to get the beamed sound from the left and right with full toe-in.  All other electrostatics have curved panels, and give flawed off axis sound in a multitude of directions, with resultant time smearing.  This is what happens with all distant seats in the hall.  Only the trumpet survives the distance-induced time smearing.

What was most interesting to me was the Shostakovich 10th.  There were some sections in that piece that were so loud, that it was like I turned up my system as loud as it could go.  I had no idea that an orchestra could play that loud.  I guess the term I am looking for is dynamics.  It can also play extremely soft and quiet.  This is what makes listening to an orchestra live so captivating, IMHO.