I would like to respond to the current flap about "amplification" at the New
York State Theater, and Janos Gereben's comments about "amplfication" from
the walls and ceiling of a concert hall.  If City Opera's plan is merely to
make the sound from stage and pit louder, the barbarians are indeed at the
gate.  However, as I understand the New York Times article, the intent is
to create electronically that which the State Theater does not possess --
an acceptable acoustic.  I have personally experienced such an electronic
acoustic in the Maurice Ravel Auditorium, home of the Orchestra de Lyon.
The hall was purposely built as a dead room, with many microphones hanging
above the stage (180 is the figure that springs to mind), the signal from
which is then fed to an acoustic-creating computer, whose output (which is
only reverberant -- there is NO direct sound in the mix) is sent to speakers
around the auditorium.  I do not know how many channels of reverberation are
sent to the hall, but given the multiplicity of microphones I would assume
there are many.  I can say from personal experience from the stage (I was
conducting Nelly Miricioiu in a concert performance of Maria Stuarda) that
I was NEVER aware, at any time, of anything unnatural in the room's
acoustic, and had I not been told, would never have suspected electronic
intervention of any kind.  It certainly was no LOUDER than any other hall
of similar size, because there was no amplification of direct sound, only
the creation of reverberant soundfields.  The countertenor Aris
Christofellis (an ardent foe of electronic intervention of any kind) was
in the audience, and agreed that the acoustic seemed completely natural.
Except, that is, for one small oddity -- because the acoustic is created
only from the signal from the stage microphones, coughs from the audience
were not in the acoustic of the room!!  This does mean, though, that the
acoustics of the hall are completely flexible, so that the acoustic could
be altered as appropriate from one suited to classical clarity to a large,
reverberant acoustic suitable for, say, Bruckner.  This does not seem to
me any different in concept from the system of tunable resonance chambers
and dampening panels in use in the universally- acclaimed new hall of the
Birmingham Symphony in England. The other option for City Opera, of course,
is to gut the hall and completely rebuild it.  However, as in the case
of Fisher Hall directly across the plaza, this would be no guarantee of
acoustical success.  Certainly, an electronic acoustic is a much less
expensive option.  The outcome is totally in the hands of Mr. Kierkegaard,
one of the most respected, and artistically successful, of contemporary
acousticians.  Let's give him a chance.  However, if everyone on stage
begins to sound the size of Fasolt and Fafner (not, I hasten to add, the
size of their impersonators in the recent San Francisco Das Rheingold), I
hope the complaints will be loud and long.

Sincerely,

Randall Behr