A Visit to Lincoln Center

4/23/06 | republicanprofessor

[Republicanprofessor]

I haven't posted one of my art or architecture essays for a while. Quite often it is easy to disdain the ugly simplicity of the modern skyscraper style. But I found Lincoln Center most surprisingly stunning.

What do you think? Have any of you ever been there? Are you intrigued now to visit?

[Republicanprofessor]

Art ping.

Let Sam Cree, Woofie, or me know if you want on or off this Art Ping list.

[Republicanprofessor]

Art ping.

Let Sam Cree, Woofie, or me know if you want on or off this Art Ping list.

[Republicanprofessor]

Art Appreciation/Education Ping list.

This list is slightly different from the regulart Art Ping list (which I mistakenly pinged twice...sorry about that.)

If you want on or off this ping list, which is mostly essays of art interest, let me know. If you want to see other essays which I have written, check out my homepage.

[Publius]

It took a long time for Avery Fisher Hall to get "corrected" acoustically. There was a very long article in the New Yorker back in the Eighties that might still exist in its archives.

By the way, what opera did you see?

[Republicanprofessor]

We saw "The Marriage of Figaro." Not quite as tuneful overall as Verdi, but a fun opera nonetheless.

[PghBaldy]

Great post & pictures. I've never been there, but always liked the architecture. Thank you for a lovely respite from the world's woes.

[Bahbah]

I think you will enjoy this lovely essay.

[Pharmboy]

Thanks for a great report. I have attended several performances over the years at the Opera House and Avery Fisher Hall. The acoustics at Avery Fisher are dead. Big problem.

[Republicanprofessor]

It is too bad that the acoustics at Avery Fisher Hall are poor. Shouldn't that be the first priority in design?

[Sam Cree]

I have to agree that those are beautiful buildings. Though I like much of modern architecture anyway, with it's emphasis on simplicity. And at least in modern architecture, beauty and skill are still considered virtues, to my knowledge. OTOH, some of the stuff I see going up around here in Miami is pretty awful.

[Republicanprofessor]

I have to say that as close as I've ever gotten to Miami is watching CSI: Miami. I have never been a city person, but I must say the producers sure make Miami look beautiful and glamorous there.

[MinuteGal]

In the olden days when I was a kid, my mom would drop me off at grandma's on Saturday afternoon. Gram and I would listen together to the Metropolitan Opera presentations. I literally learned opera at her knee.

Grandma was born in Germany in the late 1800's. She told me every hamlet in Germany no matter how small or poor seemed to have its own concert haus and operetta company. The country was totally into music. My grandmother passed on her love of musical culture to me and I'm forever grateful. I still listen to the Met on Saturdays just like I did when grandma was sitting in her chair sewing and darning.

I live in Florida now. My area is rather a dry hole for opera.....but Ruth Eckerd Hall a half-hour from me in Clearwater puts on some passable opera. Sarasota, the home of Cong. Katherine Harris, has opera worth the two-hour drive. I saw Die Fledermaus there and really enjoyed it.

I appreciate the photos above so much. Opera, operetta, ballet and classical music are a great part of my life.

I hate today's music!

(......ducking!)

Leni

[Sam Cree]

I guess Miami has its share of beautiful buildings, though IMO, a good many of them tend to be private residences, such as the Charles Deering Estate (now a county park) above. But I was referring to my distaste for the ever sprouting MacMansions, along with the Levittown type of cheap housing that is coming so quickly now. However, I guess those things are a plague other places as well. I happen to also think that the Miami Dade Municipal Building is beautiful, though I think it inappropriate for a goverment center to occupy such an imposing structure. Can't find a picture of it for some reason.

[Sam Cree]

Behind the Miami Ave sign

[Publius]

Some of the great PBS broadcasts of "Live from the Met" are now available on DVD from Amazon. I have a whole bunch of them.

[Pharmboy]

One would think, but they missed the boat. They redid the place after it was done hoping to improve the acoustics, but it didn't do much. Their failure was a bit of a scandal here...NY audiences (as well as the NY Philharmonic) knew it.

[finnman69]

I live right near by Lincoln Center so I have the ability to view it weekly.

The NY state Theater is by far the best piece in the complex. The entrance hall is very good, also filled with great modern art. It's a glorious warm space, with bronze fillagree railings and a gently arcing balcony.

I find the rest of the complex to be mediocre at best. The plaza is semi-successful.

The Vivian beaumont building to the right rear of Lincoln Center is also a very good 60's brutalist building with bold expressed structure integrated with ceiling lighting.

.

[P.O.E.]

Don't forget to mention the Chagalls in the entryway.

[finnman69]

BTW

The entire complex is set to be completely transformed and redesigned.

This is just part one
http://www.lincolncenter.org/redev/home.asp?session=ECD1&version=&ws=&bc=99