Walt Disney Concert Hall Los Angeles, California Glatter-Götz Orgelbau/Rosales Organ Builders
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
COVER FEATURE WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA GLATTER-GÖTZ ORGELBAU/ROSALES ORGAN BUILDERS Founded in 1919, the Los Angeles Phil- the needs of the symphony- and opera-going acoustical settings and new organs that harmonic established its home in downtown public. looked beyond the neo-Baroque and Ameri- Philharmonic Auditorium in 1920. This hall In the 25 years following the Chandler’s can Classic. A turning point came in 1991 housed Austin Organ Company’s Opus 156 completion, American taste in musical lis- with the opening of the Meyerson Symphony (IV/66) of 1906. In 1964, the orchestra moved tening experienced a profound transforma- Center in Dallas. Its adjustable acoustics to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in the Los tion. Revolutions in recording and architec- met—and still meet—with a warm reception, Angeles County Music Center. The Pavilion, tural acoustics led to deeper dissatisfaction and C.B. Fisk Opus 100 redefined the sound a proscenium-type multipurpose theater, with the often arid acoustics of the previous of an organ in an orchestral setting. forms one of a trio of performance venues generation’s symphony spaces. During the Since then, virtually every significant new grouped around a central plaza, not unlike same period, the organ’s role as orchestral American concert room has included a pipe Lincoln Center in New York City (which partner underwent similar re-evaluation. Or- organ. Just as telling is the fate of the previ- opened two years later). For many years af- gans of the 1950s and ’60s (such as in De- ous generation’s halls and organs. The De- ter, the idea of an additional symphony hall troit’s Ford Auditorium, New York’s Phil- troit Symphony has returned to its original for Los Angeles seemed unthinkable. While harmonic Hall, and Philadelphia’s Academy 1927 hall; New York’s twice-revised Phil- the Chandler’s acoustics did not generally of Music) stressed mobility, versatility, and a harmonic Hall of 1962 (now Avery Fisher meet with wide acclaim, the Pavilion’s lean sound in the style of the times. By 1990, Hall) is still considered acoustically poor, 3,000+ seating capacity certainly addressed shifting values had produced more favorable with the organ removed; and the Philadel- 62 THE AMERICAN ORGANIST phia Orchestra has moved one city block to had come before. As pictures began circulat- quality that speak a modern architectural the new Verizon Hall, which will eventually ing through fax machines and across the In- language. An organ for Gehry’s hall would house a large pipe organ. ternet, the design—dubbed the “French Fry” not only be the young firm’s largest to date, Los Angeles did not remain aloof from scheme—gained the status of renegade and but a milestone opportunity, with Gehry’s these national trends. Dissatisfaction with spectacle. Having overcome his reluctance, curved facade pipes the pinnacle of irre- the Chandler’s acoustics for symphonic mu- Rosales saw opportunity in the innovative sistible challenge. sic coincided with increasing scheduling de- design. To what other pipe organ would ap- Arrangements with Glatter-Götz and Ros- mands. With symphony, opera, ballet, and ply so readily the public relations dictum, ales were formalized in mid-1998, and con- even the Academy Awards presentation all “There is no such thing as bad publicity”? If tracts were signed establishing Glatter-Götz sharing the hall, daily re-configurations were people were fascinated by the instrument’s as builder and Rosales as tonal director. In costly and cumbersome. Finally, the Pavil- appearance, they might be equally curious addition to building and installing the entire ion had neither an organ nor a suitable loca- about its sound. instrument, Glatter-Götz and his chief engi- tion for one. By the early 1980s, a new sym- When Manuel Rosales and his longtime as- neer, Heinz Kremnitzer, would work with phony hall no longer seemed so implausible. sociate, Kevin Gilchrist, began preliminary Gehry to engineer the spectacular facade. When Walt Disney’s widow, Lillian, gave engineering drawings in 1991, an earth- Manuel Rosales and Kevin Gilchrist would $50 million in honor of her husband’s love of quake-resistant structure was assumed. The supply critical input on stop layout, pipe the arts, the vision for a new hall gained mo- 1994 Northridge earthquake dramatically scales, all details of pipe construction, and mentum. Largely the brainchild of the Phil- confirmed the necessity of such design pa- carry out voicing and tonal finishing. In due harmonic’s then-executive director Ernest rameters. By 1995, the certainties were in course, Michael Barone was engaged as pro- Fleischmann, Walt Disney Concert Hall and place: the skeletal steel structure housing the ject consultant, acting as sounding board and its story are as colorful as the building’s de- organ and anchoring the facade, the position mediator, and bringing both an insider’s per- sign. The selection of Nagata Associates of of the console, and the facade array. Apart spective and a worldview from the wider Tokyo as acousticians was followed by an in- from two downward-facing trumpet pipes, realm of classical music. vestigation of new concert halls in Japan; al- every facade pipe would speak. The unfold- From the outset, the organ was envisioned most every one had a significant, centrally ing design process involved some 20 models. with two consoles, one attached, the other located organ. Architect Frank Gehry, cho- The final version was constructed at 1:10 mobile. In the context of a labor-union-run sen by competition in 1988, accepted the or- scale, measuring about five feet tall, inserted performance space, both are equally neces- gan’s visual centrality as part of the brief to into a master model of the building itself. sary. If only the attached console existed, create a musical environment unlike any (One of the project’s more fascinating aspects judging balances would be difficult. But if other. is how Nagata Associates employed the only a mobile unit were provided, a stage call Stimulated by a $1 million gift from the building model for acoustical testing. Being would be required for any and every use. The Toyota Motor Car Corporation of America, accurate to the point of including 2,265 felt- attached console’s first purpose, then, is to selection of an organbuilder began in 1989. covered lead figures simulating an audience, secure access to the organ at all times. The A committee of Cherry Rhodes, Robert An- the structure was sealed, charged with liquid mobile console affords easy communication derson, and Michael Barone reviewed ap- nitrogen, and used as a sound laboratory to between musician and conductor, and al- proximately two dozen proposals from forecast acoustical response.) lows the instrument to be heard in good bal- American and European builders. Rosales Through this conceptual stage, the organ’s ance. The combination action is common to Organ Builders was selected in the summer tonal design remained subservient to ele- both consoles, allowing easy migration be- of 1990 and engaged on design retainer that ments of architectural consequence. What tween the two. fall. had been established were the facade pipes, An attached console offered the possibility As deliberation commenced, Frank Gehry the basic locations of three manual depart- of mechanical action. It would be inaccurate, made clear his starting point: just as the ments, and the hanging of a 32' Haskellized however, to regard this instrument as a Concert Hall itself bore little relation to tra- open wood outside the steel skeleton (at the tracker organ. In reality it is an electric-ac- ditional architecture, neither should the rear and sides of the case, mounted upside tion instrument with tracker action intro- instrument assume the appearance of a con- down, in ironic accord with an early Gehry duced to the Great, Swell, and Positive. The ventional organ case. Thus began a four-year wish). Beyond that, tonal design and budget Pedal, Llamarada, and many bass registers process of gradual philosophical alignment remained undefined. on the other three manuals are entirely elec- between architect and organbuilder. Rosales Between 1994 and 1998, the Walt Disney tric, as are all couplers. This arrangement proposed various dramatic designs, only to Concert Hall project came close to being affords a sense of connectedness from the at- be rebuffed by Gehry with such questions as shelved, largely because the cost estimates tached console, and a different overall expe- “Can all the front pipes be mounted upside far exceeded initial projections. Several rience from the second console. Moreover, down?” “Could the organ and organist hang forces combined to put the venture back on the attached console serves a visual role; its from the ceiling?” and “How about pipe track. Under the baton of Esa-Pekka Salonen, perfectly symmetrical stopjambs are of a shades of chain-link fence?” Rosales insisted the Philharmonic was enjoying unprece- scale in keeping with the case and the in- all along that the facade pipes be functional; dented popularity, appealing to a broader strument’s resources. Conversely, the mobile any “Organ of the Future” still had to be a age-range through innovative programming console is as compact and low in profile as musical instrument. As Gehry became more and a commitment to modern music. Frank practicable; its radiating terraced jambs grow aware of the possibilities, he saw that the fa- Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, into fins echoing shapes found in the hall. cade held a unique opportunity: one of his Spain (designed later than the Concert Hall Both consoles have a crisp, clean appear- signature shapes—a curvilinear object of but finished in 1997), garnered such stagger- ance, in keeping with Glatter-Götz’s own de- straight-grained Douglas fir—could be ing worldwide acclaim as to lend new cre- sign ethic and the feel of the hall.