Munich does U-turn and calls for new concert hall
mainNine months after the city council decided to spend millions on a refit of the irredeemably unsightly Gasteig (pictured), it has now responded to a campaign led by Anne-Sophie Mutter to build what the city has lacked since 1945 – a decent-sized concert hall with a world-class acoustic.
There are two favoured sites one behind the Ostbahnhof, an area presently occupied by factories, and the other west of the Hauptbahnhof, where the postal sorting office sits.
Possibly not the best choice. But it’s a start. Mariss Jansons and his radio orchestra will be delighted.
London, meanwhile, has miserably failed to publish Sir Nicholas Hytner’s report, submitted two months ago, on whether there should be a new hall in the heart of the City to replace the inadequate Barbican.
While the Bavarians have a transparent, public debate, the Brits make decisions behind closed doors. There has been no testing whatsoever of London opinion on whether a new hall should be built, and where.
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