Music Appreciation!

At the suggestion of Miles' colleague at Ecole des Mines, Samuel Forest, a music enthusiast, we visited three different music venues that Samuel said had been recently built and/or renovated with superb acoustics.  Unfortunately, we didn't have time to attend any performances to check out the sound, but he assured us, it was worth a visit simply to see the architecture.

First stop was to La Seine Musicale, a music and performing arts center located on Ile Seguin, an island on the Seine river in the western suburbs of Paris. The island, home of the former Renault Car Factory, is now a center dedicated to music (concerts and events). It opened in April 2017 and we found the structure fascinating.  Much of the site's daytime energy needs are supplied by a large mobile curved solar panel.

 Auditorium with mobile solar panels 
(you can see the track in the lower right corner)

 Another industrial building near the island 
(see the Eiffel Tower in the distance?)

 Next stop:  Radio France

The building is a classical rendition of the architecture of 60-80's and not very attractive.  However,  it was completely remodeled inside and the auditorium is evidently stunning.


Third stop: Philharmonie de Paris.  This is a cultural institution which combines spaces all dedicated to music. It is composed of concert halls, exhibition spaces, rehearsal rooms, educational services, restaurant and bars.  At the core of this set of spaces is the symphonic concert hall of 2,400 seats opened in January 2015.




 WOW!

Located right next to this amazing auditorium is the Musee de la Musique.  Of the 7000 instruments and art objects in the collection, there are 1000 in the permanent exhibit space.  The museum presents a history of Western music from the 17th century to today and an overview of main musical cultures of the world.

What an amazing place!  With our trusty audio guide, we were able to listen to samples of countless instruments.  Many instruments were so different and unbelievably pretty.  Sorry the blog doesn't have an audio function to allow you, our loyal readers, to hear some of the unusual instruments.

 Epinette (small harpsichord)

Harpsichord (strings plucked)

Clavichord (strings struck)

 Theorbo (part of the lute family)

Snaky horns!

 Double key-board harpsichord

 Guitar

Guitar with tortoise body

Argh!

 English horn

Hurdy gurdy

Another hurdy gurdy

 
 Bagpipe

When I saw these weird horns, I had to consult Google to find out more.  What's with all that tubing?

 Omnitonic horn


  Another one

Omnitonic horns were developed roughly from the late 18th to the mid-19th century as a means for the natural horn to change keys without changing crooks.  A crook, also sometimes called a shank, is an exchangeable segment of tubing in a natural horn which is used to change the length of the pipe, therefore changing the pitch.

Angled clarinet

Fretted harp guitar

Bassoon

Octobasse (super huge)

Accordian

Tubular sitar

















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