Benaroya Hall / Commentary -- Applause For The `Miracle' Of Benaroya

That whooshing sound you may have heard last weekend was the sound of thousands exhaling - in relief.

The $118.1 million gamble has paid off.

Seattle has a dazzling new concert hall in the Benaroya Hall mainstage. The acoustics, fine-tuned by Cyril Harris, continue to surprise the ear with their clarity, presence and brilliance, whether the entire Seattle Symphony or a lone violinist is producing the sound. A beaming Harris told opening-night well-wishers that Benaroya is his favorite among the many halls he has designed, and with good reason: the sound is glorious, expansive and well-defined.

An elated Gerard Schwarz called the opening of the new hall "a miracle, and the greatest experience of my life - after having my children."

As the opening week of concerts unfolded, the hall's possibilities were gradually unveiled. Monday's recital by violinist Kyung Wha Chung and pianist Itamar Golan, for instance, showed that even the smallest sound penetrates clearly into the outer reaches of the hall's interesting nooks and crannies. The recitalists also profit from a slight echo-chamber ambience provided by the empty stage, getting an extra level of reverberation and resonance.

The week had its glitches, however. After the excitement of the opening weekend, with concerts in both the main S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium and the adjacent Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall, the Seattle Symphony's phones were overloaded with

incoming calls.

Many Times readers were told by phone company operators that the box-office line was "out of service." Judy Cites, ticket office manager, said that the volume had abated a little by later afternoon Monday, but that the response was still greater than anyone expected. It took longer than projected, too, for the inaugural-week tickets to be mailed to those who had ordered them long in advance.

Nonetheless, things have gone amazingly well. Last Saturday, the trays of crab meat, caviar and other delicacies circulated efficiently among all the revelers; the pre-concert gala dinner, in a beautifully decorated and lighted tent outside the hall, went off like clockwork, right down to the tiny gilded chocolate violins decorating the assorted desserts.

Now that the main season is beginning in earnest, with two performances this week by the Seattle Men's Chorus (Tuesday and Wednesday, 8 p.m.) and the first subscription concerts by the symphony (starting on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.), audiences should have a chance to explore the various seating options in the hall. The best day of all to do this, of course, is today, beginning at 11 a.m. Today is the free "Day of Music" open house, with nonstop performances by a wide variety of performers (youth, amateur, professional, choral, jazz, folk, solo, orchestral, etc.) in the main auditorium and four different on-site locations.

This is your chance to do your own acoustical testing, especially in the main hall, where there are so many variables. Up on the third tier, it's a little dizzying; you grip the rail the same way Kate Winslet grips the bow rail in "Titanic," only it is sound waves and not wind that will ripple your hair.

The three tiers of boxes, cantilevered and overlapping, are fascinating to explore. Each offers slightly different spaces and sight lines; you often can't see the whole stage, which the orchestra occupies so completely. On the main floor, the sound is excellent and the visibility is better than we're used to in the Opera House. Blessedly, the lighting levels are not quite as sepulchral as they were when the orchestra played in its former home; it's actually possible to read the program notes when the house lights have been dimmed.

Symphony patrons doubtless will need some time to discover their favorite seating areas; the good news is that some of the least expensive seats (high up) also have splendid acoustics. Seats at the far back of the main (orchestra) floor also are excellent; there's no balcony overhang to stifle the sound.

The musicians, too, will need some time to adjust to a new acoustical world. They had to play at much higher volumes in the Opera House in order to be heard, and Schwarz reportedly has been asking players (especially the brass) for less volume in the brighter new hall. But when the score says fortissimo, any self-respecting brass player is going to play fortissimo, and the results are sound levels of almost frightening power and clarity.

When trumpeter Charles Butler plays the "sword motif" in Wagner's "Gotterdammerung," you can feel that sonic sword going right through you. It's thrilling. Audience members are likely to perceive a new level of respect for these players, who now can be heard as never before. The oboes, for instance, sound as if they've doubled in size and sonic richness, with principal Bernard Shapiro pouring out some of the best playing of his career on opening night.

Reports from the musicians suggest some variety in how well they hear each other on the stage (crucial in maintaining good ensemble and balances), but most say they can hear far better than on the Opera House stage. And they, in turn, are blown sideways by the volume of the audience applause. Those acoustics cut both ways: concertgoers are going to have to be much more careful about coughing, shuffling, unwrapping candies and all other sources of noise from the house.

And the musicians are going to need some time, too, to adapt to the differences in what they hear (and how their music is heard). There's much less margin for error, because the individual instruments are heard with such clarity, and every defect in ensemble will be glaringly obvious.

The same goes for the Nordstrom Recital Hall, which opened last Sunday with a program of Mozart symphonies that tested the outer limits of what this 540-seat hall can accommodate. There were around 40 players on the stage; most concerts will have half that many, or less, which should provide less harsh volume levels than those encountered Sunday.

An earlier rehearsal for the "Music of Our Time" concert (performed too late to make our deadline for this section) showed the recital hall to much better advantage, with much more transparency in the sound and clearly delineated, well-blended voices from a considerably smaller ensemble of symphony musicians. Some recent adjustments in the recital hall's acoustical surfaces have reportedly made the hall a little less dry and more reverberant; some further steps in this direction would be welcome.

Much remains to be revealed for both halls, including the future debut of the still-uncompleted pipe organ, whose facade can be seen at the back of the main stage.

We'll know more about each hall as different configurations of performers come forward, but the early indications are more than promising. While few of the international critics in attendance had filed their reports at this writing, informal canvassing at press gatherings netted a chorus of thumbs-ups for the main hall.

Last summer, patron Jack Benaroya said his hope for the hall was that it would be "world class." Benaroya is right: it is. The results will enrich this city's musical life in ways we can only imagine, for generations yet to come.