Berliner Philharmoniker, Berlin, Germany 🇩🇪
Acoustic and Sounds of the Philharmonie
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In this, the demand for a reverberation time of two seconds proved the least of his problems. Reverberation is something that can be calculated. It depends in part on a whole series of factors affecting the more or less sound-absorbent properties of the materials used, including the seating. But above all it depends on the volume of the hall. The deciding factor in calculating the reverberation time is the average air space per person. In the case of a capacity of 2,250 seats, the “acoustically necessary” volume of the Philharmonie’s auditorium is 26,000 cubic metres. (It is “necessary” in order to achieve the required air space of around 10 cubic metres per person.) The precondition for this was achieved by raising the height of the ceiling, which stands at 22 metres above the platform.
Vineyard terraces, clouds and pyramids
A more serious problem was that of ensuring that the musicians could hear each other. This contact is naturally easier to achieve in a hall whose platform is framed by straight walls than in a space that is open in every direction. Cremer once explained the underlying problem by reference to two skiers, one of whom follows in the other’s tracks in new snow: “If there were no reflexes,” the man at the front would be able to understand the man behind, but the latter “would understand virtually nothing”. In view of the specific directional characteristics of particular instruments such as violins, trumpets and especially the human voice (acousticians speak of “preferential direction”), the Philharmonie auditorium required the reflections to be graded in a specific way. These reflections are perceived by the musicians as the room’s response. In order to prevent the sound from being dispersed in only one direction, reflective surfaces, projecting gradations and balustrades were fitted to the “vineyard terraces” behind and on both sides of the podium; Cremer also demanded that a reflector be fitted above the orchestra as the ceiling of the hall is too high at this point to reflect back the sound and disperse it.
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The “pyramids” that are fitted around the edges of the ceiling and that are packed with material to absorb low frequencies serve this same purpose. Edgar Wisniewski has emphasized the “countermovement between the rising rows of the stalls and the shape of the ceiling as it glides down”, as a result of which the sound waves “are necessarily diffused in a highly concentrated form to the most distant seats as well”. These measures have all played an important role in ensuring that listeners in the blocks of seats behind the platform are more or less equally able to hear the music emanating from the middle of the hall.
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