The Maison Symphonique de Montréal was basically built from the inside out, most of the attention being devoted to the hall itself. Designed primarily for unamplified music performance, it can accommodate recitals, chamber groups and symphony orchestras, thanks to adjustable systems that tailor the stage size and acoustical environment with motorized reflectors and sound-absorbing fabric. (Though the Orchestra, led by Music Director Kent Nagano, will occupy the hall for 240 days of the year, other groups such as the Orchestre Métropolitain, the Pro Musica Society and I Musici will also make it their new home.) With a seating capacity of 2,117 (including 200 seats in the choral seating area, a nice way to bring chamber musicians and audience closer together), the hall follows the “shoebox” design, delivering a superior acoustic environment as well as an enveloping sensation to those who first set foot in the Quebec beech-wood clad space. Though the listener may not realise it, the auditorium meets noise criterion N1 – no noise can be perceived by the human ear. The hall, a “box within a box,” is separated from its surroundings (including the metro line running below) by rubber and steel pads. Mechanical and electrical systems are designed as well not to generate any audible noise; air-conditioning, for example, comes from vents placed at the base of each seat.
Yet I was not expecting to hear that question from Tateo Nakajima, partner in charge and lead acoustics designer of the project. When I mentioned to him that I was more interested in how the hall was to blossom in a year or so, the acoustician seemed pleased. For him, the inauguration of the hall should not be perceived as a finish line, but as the starting point for the orchestra to learn to work under new conditions. This is why he wanted Richard Roberts, Concertmaster of the orchestra since 1982, Paul Merkelo, Principal Trumpet since 1995 and Marianne Perron, Director of Music Programming, to join him on stage in a somewhat informal discussion on the subject. Whether it takes “one minute or a hundred years,” as Nakajima jokes, the length of the process is rather irrelevant. “It’s a very artistic process, an artistic dialogue. Ultimately, the important thing is to create something that allows the musicians to do what they are supposed to do,” he explains. “I think there is a challenge for acoustic design today because we demand of our orchestras and of ourselves more authenticity, more personality and a differentiation of colours. As we look at designing rooms, we have to allow for that variation of interpretation, but at the same time, it is impossible to design a room without an idea of what you want it to sound like. It would be foolish of us to pretend we’re designing on a white piece of paper; it’s a prepared canvas, rather.”
Richard Roberts admits he was bowled over from the very first moment he stepped into the new hall. “Even if we agree that acoustics are not an exact science, the fact is that Tateo and his company have a great track record. We knew something good would happen, but when I walked in and started playing, I knew it exceeded my expectations already. It’s not just the sound; it’s the quantity of sound. We can produce more sound – and a better-quality sound – with less effort and hear more of what we can do. If you were to buy a good Stradivarius today, it would take a good year – or more – to get used to it, to know its ways. The hall becomes our instrument now, and even though we have the luxury to be able to adjust the sound with panels and move them around for different repertoires and necessities, we still have to adjust our playing, as we would if we were to be on tour, except now we are on tour in this hall, for the rest of our careers, I hope,” he says.
Paul Merkelo agrees and explains that he had to rethink his perception of sound. “This space amplifies much more what we are doing and I really think that details have become the important thing in my playing. We need to think about how this hall carries our sound, find the shading of the sound, the different colours that we can use, and the articulations,” he explains. “Since day one of this season, I have adjusted my personal practicing to find ways to be a little more subtle with the space, to use it together with my instrument. For me, it’s a question of two things: resonance of sound – by that, I mean, feeling the vibration of your instrument and how it carries – and enjoyment of your sound, because in other halls one could play a note and not really know what the end result was. Actually, when I built my practice studio in my basement, I intentionally deadened the sound. I added carpeting, put anything to absorb the sound, to recreate how I felt playing in a dead acoustic. My cat is completely horrified, but now I look forward to go practice upstairs in my living room because it feels more like our new concert hall!”
During the first few weeks, fairly dramatic changes were made to the settings of the adjustable acoustics elements by Artec as everyone got to know the hall, but adjustments have since been more subtle. “Over the first season, the changes will become less and less frequent,” Nakajima says. “We like to let a certain number of weeks go by, have everybody get used to the hall, get feedback, listen to different repertoire and then do a little bit of this or a little bit of that. The rate of change at the beginning is very steep but soon it calms down and then we arrive at a very stable place.”
A former violinist and conductor himself, he continues to be fascinated by how musicians adjust their playing naturally from one day to the next. “Musicians have come up to me in the last few days to ask me ‘Have you changed something?’ though nothing was touched. What we are starting to notice is that something has happened, players are more relaxed or musical intent is absolutely together,” he points out. “You are playing the same way really, but suddenly something clicks and it blooms.”
“When structuring the programs, it is often a journey through dramaturgy but an acoustical experience as well,” Marianne Perron emphasizes. “I think the warmth emanating from the hall and the acoustics will give the audience a chance to better appreciate this. Instead of just hearing sound, we are now able to follow the music and realise that sound can be felt more physically. It is interesting to attend rehearsals and discover how the orchestra makes these acoustics its own in certain repertoire and to hear things you have never heard before because of poor acoustics. This is something music lovers, the community, will be able to appreciate.” The new hall’s acoustics have played a decisive role in the conception of the 2011-2012 and subsequent seasons. That has meant bringing back a recital series (featuring Lang Lang, Hélène Grimaud, Menahem Pressler and Evgeny Kissin), chamber music concerts (the Borodin Quartet performed during opening week), and the presence of guest orchestras (this year the Mariinsky and the New York Philharmonic). “We have a fantastic setting!” she says.
Time will tell but already the acoustics seem generous to the strings, make the winds’ attacks crystal clear, bring a real tenderness to pianissimos and can blow the listener away in fortissimos, as experienced in Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie. “When you play with 100 players, you are in a wave of sound, you have to know how you fit in,” sums up Roberts. “It is part of an evolution, it does not happen overnight; but it is a very exciting process.”
Classic FM Magazine, November 2011
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