What does Watford mean to you? An unfancied football team? The end of the Metropolitan Line? Elton John? To generations of classical musicians Watford meant only one thing: probably the finest recording venue in the world. Watford Town Hall (now trendily renamed The Colosseum) has played host to the greatest stars in the classical music firmament from Pavarotti and Callas to Menuhin and Rattle. Watford was the location of choice for all the major recording companies (oddly Walthamstow’s Assembly Rooms ran it a close second) and I was reminded of its glorious acoustic when rehearsing there the other day, I was also reminded that the place is in dire straits and a public meeting to determine its fate is set for November 7th.
The history of Watford Town Hall has never been less than chequered. Built at the start of the second world war, it survived Hitler’s luftwaffe only to have to contend with Watford Borough Council who – by overseeing the bulldozing of virtually any building that could remotely be considered worth preserving – ensured that Watford would never top any list of ‘getaway breaks’. Now they – or rather we – are reaping the reward. For all the pleas to turn the place into a ‘fabulous nightspot’ are falling on deaf ears.
The truth is that despite 2 million people living within a 12 mile radius, no one wants to trek out to Watford at night. With a High Street bisected by a flyover (my SatNav was totally bemused trying to negotiate a route to the Town Hall car park) and awash with skateboarding rude boys, even locals steer well clear of the place after dark.
Yet I can’t help feeling sympathy for the impassioned appeal made to his local newspaper by Watford resident Mr. E. Ayers: “The Colosseum is a nationally and internationally renowned concert hall with a wonderful acoustic which makes all the major orchestras use it for recording purposes…Let it remain as a concert hall that music makers can use. Use it for rock and pop concerts, use it as the dance hall it was also designed as, use it as a nightclub, use it as a cinema. The building can be all of these things and everyone who lives in Watford should be proud of this world class facility on our doorstep that we, the taxpayers, own”. Quite.
What makes a great concert hall? Very often the best acoustics were the result of pure chance – although certain rules prevail. The ‘shoebox’ shape enjoyed by Watford will never be bettered – which is why an auditorium like the Royal Festival Hall with its massively wide platform and sky-high ceiling will always struggle acoustically, no matter how many teams of ‘sound engineers’ are brought in to tinker with it. Other factors are just plain common sense. If you furnish a hall in concrete (as at the South Bank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room) its sonics are going to be harsh whereas a generous helping of mahogany (as at the Wigmore Hall) should ensure a warmth of sound in keeping with the beautiful violins and cellos that are so often played there.
Since the art of creating a great concert hall seems almost as mysterious as making a Stradivarius perhaps it is no surprise that they are often discovered in the unlikeliest places. New Zealand, for example, is spoilt for choice with marvellous Town Halls in Auckland, Dunedin and Wellington. In Britain, Edinburgh’s Usher Hall has a wonderful acoustic for orchestral music (although perhaps I should have written had as it is currently undergoing ‘refurbishment’-a dreaded word to those who cherish an acoustic.)
The greatest concert halls possess a combination of acoustics and atmosphere which can generate an unforgettable experience. I count Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Berlin’s Philharmonie and Boston’s Symphony Hall among these treasured buildings. What a pity London cannot boast a comparable venue for orchestral music.
