Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Most spectacular concert venues in the world

What would be on your list? I'm talking mostly about the architectural qualities/beauty/significance of the space and not the acoustic qualities and hoping you'll add a YouTube video or picture showing the hall.

I've been to Carnegie Hall countless times including for a performance of the Mahler Symphony of a Thousand, but that hall seems far less spectacular then the Royal Albert Hall in London. Some would say that Carnegie makes up for its relative lack of size by its immense historical significance.

From the Royal Albert Hall:

Jerusalem at the Proms 2006
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ0oCmDXrVk

Bemjamin Grosvenor at the opening night Proms concert
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvc8W_c7DbM

Lang Lang solo concert at the Proms
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uAtPdfEAKg

The Royal Albert Hall is definitely the most impressive concert venue I've ever been in (with a cavernous acoustic to boot), but I haven't been in some other impressive European venues like the Großer Musikvereinssaal, Vienna, or the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, or the Großer Saal, Berliner Philharmonie - though none of them can compare in size to the RAH.

http://youtu.be/StWyYa8PQSk
www.youtube.com/user/BerlinPhil
http://youtu.be/psyAnLWLXe4

I'd always say "Carnegie" for #1 because I find it impossible to separate out its history from other details. BTW I'm surprised you'd characterize it as having a "relative lack of size." I guess that's a huger criterion (no pun intended) for you than for me, and our standards are very different. I think Carnegie is plenty big, and moreover, I hardly consider size a criterion at all for what you asked about.

In fact, as my runner-up to Carnegie, I'd give a nod to the Monte-Carlo Opera House, which is pretty small. I don't know if they have piano recitals, but why not....

I've been to quite a few in the States, but for me, the "spectacular" ones were the outdoor venues like Tanglewood, the Sheep Meadow in New York City and Millenium Park in Chicago. The combined ambiance of city lights, good food and wine, sparkling stars and snuggling next to someone special tops all the indoor venues. (Hearing the 1812 Overture with the sound and smell of real cannons at Tanglewood was memorable to say the least!)

There's much to be said for that. I've been to a couple of the ones you mentioned and I didn't experience them quite that way, but at a similar thing in Milwaukee (of all places!), in their annual "Summerfest," hearing Van Cliburn play the Grieg Concerto amidst the open country space, with country lights and with city lights in the background, and the rest of what you said, I'd have to say it beat Carnegie Hall and the Monte Carlo Opera House.

Torna a Surriento, a Neapolitan song by Ernesto de Curtis, written in 1902, sung in this video by Luciano Pavarotti

Vide'o mare quant’è bello,
spira tantu sentimento,
Comme tu a chi tiene a' mente,
Ca scetato 'o faie sunnà.
Guarda gua' chistu ciardino;
Siente, siente sciure arance:
Nu profumo accussi fino
Dinto 'o core se ne va…
E tu dice: "I’ parto, addio!"
T’alluntane da stu core…
Da sta terra de l’ammore…
Tiene 'o core 'e nun turnà?
Ma nun me lassà,
Nun darme stu turmiento!
Torna a Surriento,
famme campà!

Vide'o mare de Surriento,
che tesoro tene nfunno:
chi ha girato tutto 'o munno
nun l'ha visto comm'a ccà.
Guarda attuorno sti Serene,
ca te guardano 'ncantate,
e te vonno tantu bene...
Te vulessero vasà.
E tu dice: "I' parto, addio!"
T'alluntane da stu core
Da la terra de l'ammore
Tiene 'o core 'e nun turnà?
Ma nun me lassà,
Nun darme stu turmiento!
Torna a Surriento,
Famme campà!

I'd throw in the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/...birth-will-bring-tiers-to-your-eyes.html

Though I can't say I've been to many, Royal Albert is the very definition of astonishing. It was so amazingly magical inside; I didn't want to leave.

Nice thread! Opéra Garnier in Paris is breathtakingly beautiful, by far my favorite among the places I have been so far:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palais_Garnier

The Palau de Musica Catalana in Barcelona is a spectacular venue in the art deco style.

You people need to get out more. Those old relics are history.

The theatre at the Usupov palace is my pick. It is small enough for a piano recital . It has a C. Bechstein concert grand in white that goes vwry well with all the gold leaf. If you would like to see it , go to . youtube .Rene Fleming and Demitri Hvorostovsky at the Usupov Palace. They are not bad singers.

You're saying that modern glitz and bling supplant historical gilt and opulence?

Cheers!

"Modern glitz and bling" is putting it kindly. Plain 'ol "ugly" works for me.

I prefer smaller halls with smaller settings.

Generally I don't like the big-loud stuff so much. It very quickly get muddy, only the very best orchestras with extremely good timing and relatively dry hall can make it work for me. And without trumpets please, once they set in I need my ear plugs and that really does not help what I hear.

That hall has wonderful sound.

Every time I'm in the Disney I get very, very hungry. For some unknown reason I can only think of McDonald's super sized fries.

All in all, my favorite is the Golden Hall in the Musikverein in Vienna, both visually and aurally. The acoustics are superb! It's tasteful in a restrained, but glorious, way.

Segerstrom Hall in Costa Mesa is a very nice venue. Excellent acoustics.

I had seen this venue before and thought it was quite incredible. I wonder why the have such a wide aisle going down the center. Perhaps to help the audience get a better view of the stage?