It seems Syneysiders get excited about any new opening in town. A local friend took me to IvyBar (on George Street near Martin Place) on Friday. The sign "No hard hat required" next to a building site did not fill me with confidence ...
We duly climbed the stair case to the venue - essentially a large bar counter attached to an ex-office atrium. Was it stylish? It was hard to tell. Was the crowd fabulous? Hardly - everyone tried to look so cool it was painful. And the music and noise boomed right up and down the atrium which made it loud rather than atmospheric.
What's the fuss? I couldn't work it out. The drinks were of box standard selection and quality. The bar staff didn't really care - no smile. Yet when we left, the queue (see below) went round the block! The only deduction I could make was NEW = HIP.
Those of us London-centric folks easily forget there are great concert halls in other parts of the world. I remember as a young kid buying DG LPs with von Karajan on the front cover conducting the Berlin Philharmonic. So as my first visit to the city, a visit to the Philharmonie to listen to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra was a must. Ivan Fisher started the evening's concert with Haydn Symphony 88. A light and delightful work. As I'd expected, the acoustic of the hall was amazing - probably a good 2.5 second of reverberation - and much more generous than the Royal Festival Hall in London. The strings sounded sweet and the timpani came through clearly with definition. The audience was then treated to Béla Bartók's Seven Pieces for Choir and Chamber Orchestra: the Berlin Phil reduced in size occupying only half of the stage while the Netherlands Youth Choir took the other half. These young performers (all female) sang in Hungarian from memory - not easy at all - and rea...
Comments
Post a Comment