CSO's Shell gets its first hearing

Despite mostly positive reviews from musicians and concert-goers, it remains a work in progress

BY JANELLE GELFAND
The Cincinnati Enquirer
October 12, 1997

Heading into the sixth week of the 1997-98 orchestra season, musicians and music lovers are forming opinions about a new acoustical "shell" surrounding the orchestra in Music Hall.

Has the sound improved? Can musicians hear each other? That is the $1.5 million question.

"Everything was guesswork," says Randolph Bowman, principal flutist of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra."This hall is too big; the stage is too spread out. We're always battling that. This is an attempt to find some solution, given the limitations of what we can do."

Like any new instrument, the CSO's new shell will take some adjustment. First impressions are generally good, but acousticians advise it may take all season before final evaluations are made. For now, it is a work in progress.

"My feeling is that it has already made for a far better brass projection, less edgy and warmer, and the strings are much more cohesive," says Cincinnati composer and Music Hall regular Allen Sapp.

Although splendid for the large choral forces of the May Festival for which it was built, Music Hall has long frustrated musicians who complain about the inability to hear one another. The challenge faced by the CSO was to fix that without adversely affecting the long-praised acoustics.

Basically, a properly designed "shell" helps musicians "blend" the sound of their instruments, so sound is heard harmoniously by listeners.

It also helps musicians play in good "balance," where no instrumental group (such as the strings or the brass) overpowers or sticks out. It helps them play with good "ensemble," or in exact unison with one another.

"We haven't hit it yet; we're still experimenting, and may be experimenting all year long," says Erich Kunzel, the Cincinnati Pops conductor.

The "shell" consists of 11 free-standing, ivory-colored towers arranged in a semicircle around the stage. Each tower has horizontal "shelves" behind a decorative grill, to reflect sound back to the musicians.

Two towers stand in front of the arch, or proscenium; five ceilings with indentations called "coffers are suspended over the orchestra.

The shell was designed by Artec acoustical firm in New York an erected for the opening of the season. The Pops had its first concert Sept. 5, the CSO on Sept. 12. The estimated $1.5 million cost was funded by longtime art patron Louise Dieterle Nippert.

"I am very hopeful that this will be a new step forward for the orchestra, a very important one," says CSO music director Jesus Lopez-Cobos, who led the campaign for a new shell.

Historic Music Hall, built in 1878, is also used by the May Festival and Cincinnati Opera. The problems of adapting a multipurpose hall for symphonic music are legendary.

Music Hall has a proscenium arch, which separates the stage and the auditorium into two different acoustical spaces. Basically the orchestra has had to play "in two different rooms," Mr. Lopez Cobos says.

Mr. Kunzel and Mr. Lopez-Cobos emphasize that they will use the shell differently. The Pops will sit back farther on the stage and the CSO will use the front.

Improving communication

First impressions are mostly positive.

"For the first time, I went out in the (hall) and heard the glow of the Cincinnati Symphony string section," Mr. Kunzel said in early September. "I also heard what was going on in the back of the (violin) section. Before, they were lost in space."

Robert Woods, producer for the CSO and Pops Telarc recordings, gives the new shell a "thumbs up." "For recording, over time we'll do some fine-tuning of the setup. It worked for us well."

The acoustical consultant, Ashley Goodall, stresses that the focus is on how the musicians hear themselves and their colleagues.

"It's important to remember that when you go to a concert, you will only hear a great performance if a great performance happens on the stage," Mr. Goodall says.

He adds: "Wandering around the stage during the week and listening to the musicians, we have succeeded in improving the onstage communication."

If this is true, ensemble problems (playing together) and intonation problems (playing out of tune) should be non-existent.

Christy Holland, a researcher in the physics of sound at the University of Cincinnati and former architectural and acoustical consultant for Cesar Pelli at Yale University, noticed poor intonation and ensemble problems on Sept. 19.

"I think the fact that I noticed them was because of the better acoustics," she said.

For those sitting in the orchestra section, or floor level, the sound is cleaner and sharper. This is because the new ceiling over the stage diffuses sound better to those sitting on the first level.

The sound in the front rows of the balcony, traditionally the best in the hall, continues to be exceptionally good. The gallery's sound, long considered a fine place to hear the music, was louder and brighter in the first weeks.

"We have to do a lot of adjusting"," principal French horn player Robin Graham says. "It's like having a new instrument. We have to learn what it can do and can't do."

Reactions vary

What does the audience say?

On opening night, concert-goer John L. Harrison, who sits in row 15 of the orchestra section, thought the piano in Beethoven's Emperor Concerto was louder than it had been in the past. "We were having a little trouble hearing the strings," he says.

In the gallery, Betty Ann Wolf says, "I've always thought we get the best sound there, and I didn't notice any difference. I did notice some of (pianist) Murray Perahia's lower chords were completely gone; he might as well not have been playing them. But he wasn't overshadowed by the brass, as so often happens when a pianist is up front."

Other concert-goers are ready to move to new seats.

Solveiga Rush, who has attended the CSO for several decades, is distressed that the sound where she sits in the orchestra section is harsh and loud.

"My husband and I had these seats for years, and frankly I'm quite unhappy," she says. "What we have lost is that rich, mellow, tone that we used to have before all the experiments. We were known for excellent sound in Music Hall. Now that sound is probably gone forever."

But Artec's Mr. Goodall is optimistic.

"One thing we have learned, is the amount of adjustment we have is very large," he says. "So although we may not have settled on what we think is final, we do know right away that we have the range within which we want to experiment."

Flexibility is a plus to Ms. Holland, who notes that both the position of the orchestra and of the towers can be fine-tuned. Because she had trouble hearing the strings, she believes the orchestra which sits on the edge of the stage ought to experiment with moving back a few feet.

"I was trying to figure out why the musicians were seated so close to the edge of the stage. I think it might have detracted acoustically, to the inability of the first violinist (concertmaster) to project," she says.

Meanwhile, the musicians are learning to live with the new shell in a hall that they know will never be perfect for orchestral music.

"Despite its imperfections, it's a wonderful old room with a great heritage, and you can forgive it some things," Mr. Goodall says. Pleased, he has suggested they keep the present arrangement through the first of the year.

Mr. Sapp believes the musicians are already adjusting. "It was obvious in the music's dialogue, (the musicians) were hearing each other and adjusting, trying to get balances. But that is what it is supposed to accomplish and I think it has."

Janelle Gelfand
The Cincinnati Enquirer
October 12, 1997

Music Hall has a 30-year history of acoustical treatments:

First shell: A Fiberglass and aluminum multipurpose shell was used in the hall for about 10 years, until 1976. "There was no shell before that as far as I can remember," stage manager Joe Hopper says. Jaffe and Associates of New York installed that shell in Riverbend Music Center, where it is still used.

In 1976, music director Thomas Schippers was concerned about the musicians hearing themselves onstage.

Then, the problems reported in the press were that "the hall lacked resonance ... and it swallows up the lower pitches produced by the orchestra. There's too much echo in the gallery. If you sit on the main floor beneath the balcony overhang, the orchestra sounds as though it's buried under a pillow ... The only really good seats in the hall are dead center in the first few rows of the balcony."

Acoustician for that shell was Paul Veneklasen, a West Coast engineer. It was designed by Design Associates Scenic Studios of Lamberville, N.J., and made possible by a $160,000 gift from the Corbett Foundation.

The reaction? "I'm in shell shock," Enquirer music critic Nancy Malitz wrote.

Musicians were divided as to whether it helped the sound. Visually it was "ghastly," then-assistant concertmaster Andrew Zaplatynsky said. That shell will be sent to Indiana University.

In 1989, music director Jesus Lopez-Cobos wanted clouds (reflectors) so the string section could hear themselves better. Cincinnati Pops conductor Erich Kunzel never used them. The $250,000 clouds, partly funded by the Corbett Foundation, have been destroyed.

"Look" draws mixed response

JANELLE GELFAND
The Cincinnati Enquirer
October 12, 1997

Many people who like the sound are less happy with the appearance of the acoustical shell.

The Artec team, including principal Russell Johnson and design associate Ashley Goodall, conceived the large acoustical tower with Walter Vangreen of Charles Young Architects. Mr. Vangreen, who was a junior project designer in the renovated Corbett Auditorium, tried to reflect the existing classical architecture of the room. For instance, the square coffered areas in Music Hall's ceiling are echoed in the canopies.

"Our interest was to blend the new and the old in such a way that one naturally proceeded from the other," Mr. Vangreen says.

But Thomas Buck, who sits in the orchestra level, says "I wasn't real impressed with the appearance, but I thought the acoustics were significantly improved."

Although the design was "nicely done," he objected to the towers in the front of the stage, covering Music Hall's proscenium arch.

"The building itself is so beautiful, and it looks intrusive," he says.

John Harrison, an interior designer, likes the look of the new ceiling. But the towers he finds "a little strange. I think, unfortunately, they look like armoires. I have the funny feeling I should be putting china in them."

Longtime concert-goer and architect Carl Strauss, who likes the new ceiling, has "a slight objection to the two stage towers that obscure the proscenium. I think it spoils those two lovely entrances onstage, and the decoration above the doors."

"Certainly visual refinements could have been made to soften the very strong visual impact they make," agrees architect Robert W. Dorsey, University of Cincinnati professor of construction science, who finds the towers boxy. "These large elements are competing visually with the players," he says.

But their neutral color is a plus, he adds. "They kept it monochromatic, so that doesn't add more impact."

Visual impression from the gallery and balcony are mixed, because the unfinished top of the canopy, with its wires and cables, can be seen.

"We like to watch the orchestra, and the right-hand tower obstructs our view of the bass players and trombones," UC's Mr. Dorsey says.

New lighting is also part of the shell.

"I think the new lighting helps," says Robert Woods, producer for the CSO and Pops Telarc recordings. "It gives you a sense of the size and depth of the orchestra, and what goes on . . . both sonically and visually."

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