Technically, the Berlin Philharmonic Hall is a restaurant because it has food service…read more
But, no duh, you are here for the music.
* * *
From the standpoint of classical music,
A concert at the Berliner Philharmonie is the peak,
The apex,
The Bach's Mass in B Minor from which everything else is a step down.
When I am not reviewing for Yelp,
I am a classical music fiend.
I have a vast collection at home.
I stream classical music constantly.
I have done classical music concerts all over Europe and the United States.
Whether or not the Berlin Philharmonic is the best orchestra in the world
Depends on what the piece is and who is conducting.
But in terms of concert HALLS themselves,
The Berlin Philharmonie is as good as it ever gets.
Lots and lots and lots of concert halls claim to have good acoustics.
No major concert hall can approach the Berlin Philharmonie for sound quality.
Smoking gun evidence for this all out claim.
There are two halls at the Philharmonie - a great hall for symphonies and a more intimate chamber music space.
The more intimate chamber music space is still bigger than most high school auditoriums.
Both halls are designed as theater-in-the-round.
You can be in the back - with all the instrumentalists turned away from you at 180 degrees -
And you get louder clearer sound than you would in most halls sitting next to the performers.
The only concert space with sound quality to match is Saint-Chapelle in Paris ...
And that is a small stone chapel with just enough room for twenty or thirty people.
(The low hanging curved stone roof and walls work wonders.)
The Philharmonie matches that while being ten times the size.
* * *
Architecturally the Philharmonie is stunning - but there are many many beautiful concert halls in the world.
The Philharmonie is done in unpretentious German modern with an emphasis on polka dots and flying steel staircases.
Of all of the concert halls, this is architecturally the most fun.
* * *
How is the food?
The coffee is wretched.
If you need caffeine before your concert,
Drink a Red Bull before you go.
But the Philharmonie has one brilliant idea.
If you want food, the major food option is canapes.
Most American readers will groan at the thought of canapes
Being the only thing to eat at a concert.
For us, canapes are tiny little snacks on crackers.
You need about thirty of those to make a meal.
Paying five euros for two of them seems outrageous.
* * *
BUT
Heh heh heh ...
GERMAN canapes are made on korn bread.
Korn bread are those thin slices of brown bread
That are microscopically thin but are majorly and totally filling.
You can start your day with two slices of korn bread with something on top
And you are literally good to go until lunch.
The Philharmonie puts all sorts of wonderful things on their korn bread ...
And yes you get two canapes in a serving.
One serving of the Philharmonie's korn bread canapes
And you are ready to sit through Wagner's entire Ring Cycle.
Four operas? Three to four hours each?
Bring it on!
Hell, let's listen to the whole thing two times in a row!
* * *
A plate of the Philharmonie's wonderful canapes,
A half hour looking at the polka dots and the flying staircases,
And then Simon Rattle doing Beethoven's Seventh?
What more do you want out of life?
