[CHAIRBOY]

Following the restoration of the City Hall, I can only described the Philharmonic Concert series as scattered. This is in stark contrast to former years when from September to May, we had a Friday night concert followed by one eight days later on the Saturday.
Is this first season since the revamp a 'one-off' and will we return to the previous format with the Halle playing out the main part of the concert programme?
If not, it is a great shame because the Halle, after years of world-weariness, are now playing with verve and enthusiasm under their conductor, Mark Elder.

[Greybeard]

Doubt if you'd get a decent audience for classical music at the City Hall these days. Why risk going down that area of town on a Friday or Saturday night and getting knifed, mugged or spewed over when you can just play a CD in the comfort and relative safety of your own home.

Last Hallé concert I went to there was when Sir John B was conductor.

[LordChaverly]

You raise an interesting question Greybeard concerning the relative merits of live classical performances and performances captured on CD.

I think the conventional wisdom is that a live classical performance is to be preferred, not only for reasons of authenticity, but also for reasons of immediacy. A live performance is, at its best, a memorable event, a form of art in itself. In other words, a CD performance according to this view can only ever be second best.

However, I dissent from this view. There are often too many distractions in concert halls for people to concentrate solely on the music. The acoustics are often quite poor. Visually, there have been no changes in the presentation of the music in live performances for well over a century (still the same men in dark sober suits and women in formal attire). Moreover, unlike in recorded performances, mistakes cannot be immediately corrected or ironed out. I find the intimacy of much classical music requires a degree of concentration which is better achieved in relaxing surroundings (i.e. the comfort of one's own home). We also avoid the exhibitionistic bouts of coughing and the inopportune ringing of mobile phones which have frequently blighted live performances. Nor do we then have to participate in the de riguer ritual of clapping enthusuastically at the end, regardless of the quality of the performance. Moreover, going to a live concert these days is an expensive business.

Without subsidies of various kinds, the live classical concert would probably have gone the way of the music hall years ago.

[CHAIRBOY]

If someone has a definitive answer to my original poser, I'd be pleased to read?
My experience is that the Saturday concerts are nearly always sold out and because Fridays are for a more discerning audience (fewer lollipops being played) there are seats available. However, strong seaon tickets sales always ensured good attendances, thank goodness. If everyone stopped going to concerts, theatres , opera houses etc. the Arts would die. If nobody attended live performances and relied on CD's, there would be no orchestras left to record CD's. Even in the 80's the Musicians' Union paraded stickers saying: "Hear Music, LIVE!".
Finally, the concerts which commenced at 7pm (Sat) and 7.30 (Fri) ended at 9pm and 9.30pm respectively. Are you telling me Sheffield city-centre is as bad as you describe, at those times of an evening?

[Floe]

The Grand Reopening Concert was a sell-out in October. A memorable event marked by a free glass of bubbly for all concert goers.
I have always found these concerts to be very well-attended, despite the poor accoustics in the City Hall, which, sadly, they didn't have the money to address during the reburbishment.
At 10.00pm the City Centre is lively, but safe enough, I would say, Greybeard!
I enjoy hearing other orchestras, it has to be said, and the Hallé have never smiled much when playing in Sheffield. Their 7.00pm finish on a Friday was so they so they could get home quickly. Do you think they make more money elsewhere now that they are playing so much better than in the 70s and 80s?
For a different style of presentation, LordChaverly, try the chamber music concerts in the Crucible Studio.
Informal chat, T-shirts and terrific music.
Sheffield is certainly moving forward with its music programme.
Sorry, Chairboy..I can't answer your question!

[Greybeard]

Sorry Chairboy

I imagine only the City Hall management will be able to provide a 'definitive answer' to your question ? Or perhaps the Hallé road manager ?

I've had two bad experiences after attending concerts/recitals at the cathedral in recent years which have significantly dampened my enthusiasm for venturing into town on a weekend evening.

And sadly I have to agree with most of the points raised by Lord C. I started going to concerts in the City Hall in the 1950s, and perhaps strangley to you, in those days audiences had a great deal more respect for each other, for the music and for the performers than they seem to do these days.

Of couse performers and audiences need live concerts, but these are so often spoiled for many by the loutish behaviour of a minority of concert-goers, pathetic poseurs who seem to attend just to be seen and heard rather than to see and hearwhat the performers have to offer.

[LordChaverly]

Originally Posted by Floe

For a different style of presentation, LordChaverly, try the chamber music concerts in the Crucible Studio.

I agree Floe that chamber music concerts are a different experience (in fact I intended to contrast them with orchestral concerts in my original post). The Lindsays in particular have made a marvellous contribution to classical music in Sheffield with their regular music in the round concerts at the Crucible (even though they have retired as a quartet, the concerts will I believe continue). I love live string quartet performances, not least because of the closeness (in several senses) of the audience and the players, but also because the visual interplay of sound and performance somehow adds an extra dimension to the whole experience in a way orchestral concerts seldom do. I have attended many such events at the Crucible and always look forward to the new programme (as long as they including quartets by Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert and Mozzie, I am happy). The only slight downside for me is audience demographics - the punters tend to be in the older age groups. The young 'uns don't know what they are missing.

[Floe]

Hopefully the Ensemble 360 who have taken over from the Lindsays will rectify this problem. It is always a pity to see that young people are missing out on the beautiful music on offer in Sheffield.
The average age of the new musicians must be under 30 and they are all extremely talented.
The Music in the Round have tried hard to keep the cost of the tickets down and compared to the cost of "popular music" concerts such as Rock and Pop
these tickets are very cheap. While it is nice to know that older people still get out and about and can appreciate the music it would, none the less, be uplifting to see a younger audience taking its place in the studio.

[Pook]

<http://www.musicintheround.co.uk>

[Pook]

www.musicintheround.co.uk

[CHAIRBOY]

Floe, Just to correct your thread, it was a 7.30pm start - 9.30 finish on a Friday. I can't comment on their finances because it's not my sphere. In the 80's when Loughran and the Pole (Scrov) I can't spell his name, were in charge, there was a 'tired' feel about the orchestra. Deja vous, demob happy, call it what you want. They were bored; Manchester, Huddersfield, Bradford and Sheffield etc. playing much the same repertoire. There was also a drinking culture and the Red Lion, Holly St. by the back door of the City Hall was a favourite watering hall but I'm telling tales out of school because I used to know them. Loughran was a 'showman' and they didn't think much of him.
When Arvid Yansons came, there was more respect given and they upped their performance.
Mark Elder has given them the proverbial kick up the backside. I think the leader, Lyn Fletcher comes from Doncaster, and it seems a much younger group of players who are probably glad to have a job and look as if they want to be on the stage, are playing with some vim. I wouldn't know if audition standards have gone up with demand but the word 'transformed' is often used since Elder's arrival. I've always felt that the Halle is 'my' orchestra and I've been watching them since JB was at the helm in the 60's. I regard it as a pity if the concert progamme isn't to return to its former routine?