Philharmonie de Paris

The Philharmonie de Paris opened its doors in January 2015 with seating for 2,400 listeners. Its spectacular architecture is the work of France’s star architect Jean Nouvel; the acoustical engineers were Harold Marshall and Yasuhisa Toyota. As the Bavarian RSO played here for the first time on its European tour of 2017, the hall was completely new to them.

“Paris was an adventure. Here we hear many things that we don’t hear elsewhere, and vice versa. It makes a huge difference whether the hall is empty or sold out.” Carsten Duffin, horn

STATEMENTS OF THE MUSICIANS

“The first time we played Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances here a short while ago everyone was very excited and keen to see what the new hall would feel like. We felt a bit like explorers. I get the feeling in Paris that everything sounds very impersonal and dry. The sound is transparent, but the magic is missing.”

“Paris was an adventure. Here we hear many things that we don’t hear elsewhere, and vice versa. It makes a huge difference whether the hall is empty or sold out.” Carsten Duffin, Horn

“A huge auditorium and crazy, daring architecture. The atmosphere is very bleak; the stalls are entirely in black. Only when the audience is seated does it take on colour.” – Franz Scheuerer, first violin

“A very honest hall, you can’t hide anything. In rehearsal, without an audience, the auditorium sounds like a bell of a horn: you sound loud to yourself but hardly hear your colleagues. A wonderfully homogeneous atmosphere arises when the house is full.” – Natalie Schwaabe, flute

“My position here is very fortunate: I’m surrounded by lots of space; there are no direct reflections from rear walls; and I can hear and see the entire orchestra very well.” – Raymond Curfs, timpani

Exerpt of the rehearsal in 360°

Recording date: 1 February 2017
Rachmaninow, “Symphonische Tänze”
Conductor: Mariss Jansons

The following technical prerequisites apply to this spatial audio:
– On the PC and Mac in the browsers Chrome, Firefox, Opera or Microsoft Edge (in Safari you only hear a “fixed” stereo)
– Android from 4.2 or higher in the Youtube Android app
– iOS, you can only hear a fixed stereo in the Youtube iOS app