Mysterious thing, acoustics. Despite decades of scientific research and the development of arcane mathematical models to determine how to produce the best-sounding space for live classical music, no one can really predict how a new concert hall will sound in the flesh. But here in Vienna, I think I've found an answer: instead of hard scientific data, what you need is about 50 life-size, gilded, topless female sculptures. They are stationed all around the perimeter of the Goldener Saal of the Musikverein (you probably know it, even if You've not been lucky enough to go there - it's the hall where the Vienna Philharmonic play their New Year's Day Concerts), and since 1870, these impassive visions of neoclassical femininity have watched silently over everything from the premieres of Bruckner symphonies to Leonard Bernstein's performances of Mahler.
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| Goldener Saal of the Musikverein |
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| May, 2012 |
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