Questions about orchestra layout
Fri, Feb 11 2011, 11:59AM
Hi all!
I'm working on a project on "orchestra layout". I noticed that the seating plan depended on a lot of factors, such as the conductor, the playing hall or many others. I'm wondering if there are factors that make the layout different.
Hope you can give me some examples(it would be better if there's pictures or the resources of the files), and I appreciate a lot!!!
Here's my e-mail:genevieve@yahoo.com
Thanks!
Is this to some extent a matter of fashion? It seems to me (rightly or wrongly) that for some reason after WWII first & second violins would be placed together on the left rather being placed antiphonally left & right which was previously the norm. Am I correct & if so how & why did this change come about? One would have thought that with the advent of stereo antiphonal violins would have been the preferred positioning. Conductors such as Klemperer, Monteux & Boult always kept to the old tradition which now seems to be becoming the fashion again.
When Boult recorded the Elgar symphonies for Lyrita he was said to be displeased that the producer insisted on all violins on the left and wrote to the Gramophone on this topic. I can find the review in the archive which mentions this but not the actual comment due to the archive page numbering not being in accordance with the actual magazine page numbering. I would however agree with the reviewer that this music was written with antiphonal violins in mind so how did this widely adopted change come about?