Salle Pleyel

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The Salle Pleyel


A legendary landmark

 

In 1927, the Pleyel piano manufacturer, already more than a hundred years old, confirmed its glory by investing in the construction of a new hall that was entirely devoted to concert music: a vast building was decided upon not far from the place de l’Étoile, with a 3,000 seat auditorium built in a modern style for the period. The Salle Pleyel, designed by the architect Gustave Lion thus opened on October 19th, 1927, inaugurated by a monumental concert combining Wagner, the great names of international music (Falla, Stravinsky) and representatives of the French musical scene (Franck, Dukas, Debussy and Ravel).

A fire ravaged the auditorium less than nine months after its opening. The branch of the maison Pleyel that managed the building never recovered from the financial shock, and so in 1935, reduced to a scale of 2,400 seats, the hall became the property of the Crédit Lyonnais bank that originally granted the loan.

The Salle Pleyel became the most celebrated concert location in Paris. It was there that Stravinsky returned to direct Agon in 1957, then Threni in 1958, and where Otto Klemperer gave his highly intense spiritual interpretations of Mahler’s 9th Symphony and Beethoven’sHeroica. It is there that the Orchestre de Paris took up residence and conquered a wide audience with Daniel Barenboïm. It is there that musicians ranging from Louis Armstrong to Ravi Shankar, from Sviatoslav Richter to Jorge Bolet, from Jascha Heifetz to David Oïstrakh; all of the great interpreters who have marked our perception of music have played.

In 1998, following the financial difficulties of the Crédit Lyonnais, the Salle Pleyel was put up for sale. Its new proprietor, M. Hubert Martigny, chairman of the board of IDSH, awarded the artistic direction of the Salle Pleyel to Carla-Maria Tarditi until it closed in 2002 for renovation work.

 

The new Pleyel
 

The renovations that were conceived and undertaken by IDSH respond to the ambitions of a project to recover the plainness and purity that characterised the original aesthetic of the place. The restoration of the façades, of the hall, of the foyer and the interior of the hall, give the whole a more seductive appearance and greatly improve its comfort.
 

Lost architecture recovered: with respect to the requirements of the Monuments Historiques, the façade, the hall and its rotunda have recovered their quasi original Art Deco elegance. The rotunda is transformed into a vast foyer at the back of the orchestra rows and giving on to the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, provide a complementary reception area of more than 600 square metres, to which two private spaces are added.

 

The re-thinking of playing conditions: so as to be able to welcome the orchestras in residence and invited orchestras at the same time, all the dressing rooms, greenrooms and technical spaces have been reorganised. The building allocated to the musicians, that includes the dressing rooms, the cloakrooms, the recording studio and common rooms, has been rebuilt around a new stairwell to respond to the professional demands of large international orchestras.
 

The design of the auditorium
 

High-performance acoustics: the creation of side balconies has enabled to homogenise sound distribution. They function like louvres, contributing precocious sound reflections and so improve clarity and the sensation of envelopment. The modification of the ceiling and the lateral walls result in a nearly 20% optimisation of the room’s volume and contribute an increase in reverberation time. The playing area has been strictly rearranged in order to receive the audience right up to the edge of the stage and to generate more efficient acoustics. At the same time, in the back of the room, the depth under the balconies has been reduced to diminish the distance between the musicians and the listener, while contributing impressions of clarity and presence of sound.

 

Quality listening: the improvement in comfort levels, an essential part of this renovation, is seen in the installation of new chairs, a reduction in the number of seats so as to give each one more room (1,913 seats compared to 3,000 in 1927) and an improvement in visibility by the re-terracing of the balconies. In the same way, orchestra seating has been lightened and now has a little less than 1,000 seats. At the back of the stage, the choir benches can accommodate some 160 people. The first balcony has roughly 400 seats and the second 300. Each of the four side balconies can seat 19 people.

New stage set equipment: the whole of the stage has been re-arranged with enhanced spatial volume, a larger stage and a redesigned proscenium. These modifications, associated with the addition of powerful technical equipment, notably the installation of an entirely mechanised and mobile stage, facilitate the adaptation of every kind of repertoire.

 

Access


Metro
 

line 2: station Ternes
lines 1, 6, RER A: station Charles de Gaule-Etoile
 

Bus
 

Hoche Saint-Honoré: lines 43, 93 (bus stop in front of Salle Pleyel)
Place des Ternes: lines 30, 31
 

Parking
 

1 Hoche: opposite no. 18, avenue Hoche (max. height 1.90m)
2 Etoile Wagram: 22, bis avenue de Wagram (max. height 1.90m)
3 Ternes: 38, avenue des Ternes
 

Accessibility: The concert hall can be reached by lift. Wheelchair-accessible toilets are available on each floor.