Article: Calibrating My Ears at the San Francisco Symphony

[pdvm]

On ‎7‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 11:38 PM, Confused said:

A fine article sir!  Also, it has given me some inspiration, London is a one hour train ride for me, I really should make the effort to visit and listen to something similar myself.

 

As an aside, how impressive is that organ??  I am sure it could be a sub bass monster with the right music.

 

You should.

 

About organs in concert halls: there's a wide variety of power and quality out there. In some halls, the interplay between the organ and the acoustics just don't work as they should. I live in Amsterdam and visit the Concertgebouw regularly, which happens to have a good concert organ.

A few months ago, I attended this very concert:

 

 

The opening statement by the organ blew me away. Seats right in the middle of the hall. The final peroration at the end of the 'Chorus Mysticus' was the loudest thing I ever heard, bordering on painful. An enormous, overwhelming visceral thrill.
The whole concert was one of the most intense musical experiences of my life.

 

Of course, the recorded sound doesn't do it justice, but you can imagine the sub bass...