Word: boettcher
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...past two decades, symbolized by Manhattan's Lincoln Center, are causing financial trouble for the arts organizations they house. Denver may also learn about the perils of overbuilding. But last week there was no time for such pessimism. The first new structure of the center, the Boettcher Concert Hall, opened to raves from the public and from music and architecture critics. The three days of programs became the kind of celebration that happens when a city decides to do something worthwhile but risky, something that it maybe could get by without, and then makes it come alive...
...Boettcher Hall is typical of the Denver spirit. Part of the exterior walls is also glass, but there is nothing lyrical about them. They reveal a lobby that flaunts not marble or chrome but the building's functional and mechanical workings. On opening night, concertgoers could be heard arranging "to meet up at the duct" at intermission. A few thought they had come in the wrong way and wandered backstage...
Once beyond the pipes and valves, a wholly new experience awaits U.S. audiences. Boettcher is the first "surround" music hall in the country, with 360° seating around the orchestra. There are a few such auditoriums elsewhere-in Mexico City and Berlin-but orthodox acousticians still believe that the best sound is heard in long, narrow rectangular spaces. In Boettcher, there are "terraces" at several levels from which the audience can watch the players from different angles and much more intimately; no seat is farther than 85 ft. from the stage and most are within...
...acoustics are very good, and that is a triumph as well as a vindication for Acoustician Christopher Jaffe, 50. The problem with a circular design is that sound diffuses quickly, bounces around, losing clarity and focus. Jaffe, with the Boettcher architects, Hardy, Holzman, Pfeiffer Associates, has managed to create a lush, integral sound by using such devices as 106 acrylic "reflector" discs suspended from the ceiling and a huge vault below the stage. There are some minor, doubtless correctable difficulties. The bass is not quite rich enough. When Van Cliburn sat down on opening night to slam his way through...
...musicians love the Boettcher. The orchestra is understaffed (83 members, compared with Boston's 105), and they play ploddingly. But as French Horn Player John Zirbel notes, "we will improve almost at once because for the first time we can hear ourselves play. That means better attack and intonation...