Last evening, I was driving to see and hear the Georgian Chamber Players in concert at the Atlanta History Center’s McElreath Hall, looking forward to experiencing this wonderful assemblage of musicians in an unfamiliar space, at least to me. I was listening to my favorite classical music station (KVNO, from Omaha), and they were playing Dvořák’s Slavonic Dance No. 2 in a full orchestral version. I knew I would hear the same piece as a piano duet in a few minutes, so it seemed fortuitous.
I walked into the auditorium, and several things struck me within seconds. First, the space is simple, luxurious, and decorated in pleasant shades of blue. Second, the stage is elevated about six feet from the auditorium floor, putting about half of the rows below it; thus, half of the audience would be looking up at the performers. Third, and most important, was the sound deadening in the room.
With ample sound insulation on the walls, plush carpet, and a velvet proscenium curtain, noise from the adjacent lobby disappeared; they were absorbed by the almost anechoic properties of the auditorium. I realized that this extraordinarily dry acoustic was in marked contrast to Spivey Hall, where I attended another recital over the weekend.
With ample sound insulation on the walls, plush carpet, and a velvet proscenium curtain, noise from the adjacent lobby disappeared; they were absorbed by the almost anechoic properties of the auditorium. I realized that this extraordinarily dry acoustic was in marked contrast to Spivey Hall, where I attended another recital over the weekend.
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