Newsday (Nassau Edition) from Hempstead, New York • 4

Reborn Splendor on 57th Street Capacity audience listens to orchestra on opening night of the renovated Carnegie Hall By Barbara Whitaker New York With a flourish befitting a $50-million facelift they turned up the lights last night an the 95-year-old grande dame of West 57th Street In a parade of horse-drawn carriages the dignitaries arrived outside Carnegie Hall which was draped with a red satin ribbon tied in a bow "This not the end It is just a step the beginning of a new era of loving said violinist Isaac Stem at the ribbon-cutting ceremonies Stem is president of the board of Carnegie Hall Not only has Carnegie been restored to its former splendor but a few modem extras were added In the seven months the hall was dark the stage the seating and the floor were replaced The horseshoe-shaped Hall is done in tones of ivory and gold The seats are red velvet and the intricate plaster moldings have been refurbished "The color really reflects the acoustic said Gene Becker a Carnegie Hall board member as he surveyed the work always been a mellow resonant The lobby has been rebuilt at street level increasing its size almost 2 times Elevator service has been upgraded and restroom facilities and lounges throughout the Hall have been modernized A smattering of plaster dust remained near the stage additional evidence of the work that had been done Inside the Hall one of the nuuor differences was the restoration of the proscenium arch which had been covered by curtains and panels since 1946 "I think said City The Sound By Peter Goodman New York The air was chilly and the floors were slippery-new but the sound within the newly renovated Carnegie Hall last night sounded like the old real thing If anything had changed there was a bit more brightness and clarity not quite the warm coziness one remembered But that could easily have resulted from the presence of the bright television lighting which everything shine with an unwonted gleam Carnegie Hall almost breaks the rules It is almost too big too wide and too high to be what it is one of the greatest concert halls in the world "It is right on the edge of being a bad said Dale Fawcett a Toronto conductor and acoustician who recently completed a detailed study of several of the great auditoriums including ends are made of many of the legends Carnegie made seemingly all turned up to celebrate its return First was Horowitz in his surprise appearance Then Leonard Bernstein conducted the piece he wrote for the occasion followed by cellist Yo-Yo Ma mezzo-soprano Marilyn Home and violinist Stem Also on the program was Frank Sinatra After strolling through the concert hall before the performance Stem tried to explain his feelings "How do you tell how your baby Council woman Ruth Massinger after viewing the HalL the warmest light ever been But the real question on mind was how tlw renovation would affect the sound Any concerns about the acoustics dissipated as pianist Vladimir Horowitz a surprise appearance at the gala performing Chopin's Polonaise in Minor and Waltz The opening night gala was attended by a hoet of celebrities and benefactors If Carnegie is the Hall that leg of Music Is the Same ambiance in the hall You have a feeling of internal diTnanainma 80 feetlrmn lip of stage to balcony tiers 85 feet high 857000 cubic feet 100 feet wide according to Fawcett its thick plaster-on-masonry walls its wood-on-wood-sleepers-on-concrete flooring the structure of the seats all contribute to an experience that listeners and musicians alike love Musicians adore it Fawcett said because they hear the music almost as soon as they play within 150 milliseconds "It makes an orchestra sound like he said "You can go to CansBjpe Hall and feel perfectly com- The audience feels the same way responding to the warmth of midlevel and bass frequencies the balance of sound throughout and even the quiet elegance of the feels when you hold it in your arms? There are no words to describe he said During the ribbon-cutting ceremonies Mayor Edward Koch aaid the second opening of the Hall was as important as the first "It has re-established what the first opening was for: a great cathedral for music here on 67th Ticket-holders crowded the balconies overlooking the lobby It was a diverse group Designers Oscar de la Renta and Ralph Lauren violinist It-zak Perlman star Larry Hag-man and singer Judy Collins who hobbled in on crutches "You keep me away from Carnegie Collins said The 2800-seal Hall which originally opened May 5 1891 was filled to capacity tickets cost as much as $2500 "All of this was done for the great ones who are for the great who are coming and for the great who will Stem said earlier in the day "It is the place where all performance standards for America have been set since Over the years the building suffered severs! indignities A subway line was built underneath it the hogany floor was covered with vinyl and a hole was cut in the middle of the acoustic shell for the filming of the movie "Carnegie Private donations have paid for most of the renovation wok but the city has contributed $13 million the US Development Administration $23 million and the National Endowment for tiie Arts $845000 "We are happy that we won but we would have preferred to win on equal-protection said Mary Lou Schloss 38 of Rochester The other defendants were Nikki Craft 36 of Oshkosh Wis Kathleen Reilly 40 Ramona Santorelli 29 Deborah Ann Seymour 34 Elise Tooley 27 and Lynn Zicari 24 all of Rochester Men were barred from removing their shirts in public until 1936 in New York The law was changed after 42 men were arrested for going bare-chested on a Long Island beach NEWSDAY TUESDAY DECEMBER 16 1986 the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam the Musikvereinsaal in Vienna Symphony Hall in Boston and Carnegie But whatever science may say Carnegie Hall remains one of the finest places to hear music and play music in the world Abraham Melzer the acoustician who supervised renovation said: "What can I say more than that practice shows us in spite of that it is one of the greatest sounds ever heard in any hall The dlmawinna seem to be optimal perfect one of the facts that malm it such a great hall" When William Burnet Tuthill the man who designed Carnegie Hall studied the great European auditoriums he knew that the New York building would be larger than the rest (it seats 2816 people) Nevertheless it has what Melzer called "an unbelievable intimacy You feel well the the case to County Court on the grounds that Walz ignored the intent of the law In a planned "topfree on June 21 the seven women removed their tops amid jeering spectators in Cobbs Hul Park They were charged with exposure The September trial attracted expert witnesses from across the country and included such props as a Barbie doll and Penthouse magazines Walz ruled that the charges should be dismissed because the shirtless appearance in pub Charges Dismissed in Topless Protest Case Rochester (UFD A City Ct judge dismissed charges yesterLiy against seven rights activists who peeled off their shirts in a public park to protest a 50-year-old state nudity law which they said was sexist Judge Herman Walz ruled that the "exposure of a law is unconstitutional in the case of the so-called Topfree Seven because it interfered with their freedom of Ion County District Attorney Howard Relin said he will appeal lic had a "minimal effect on public while the women were on-obscene speech cannot be prohibited merely to protect the sensibilities of the Walz wrote adding that the law "is unconstitutional as applied to the decision sets a precedent only in his courtroom Members of the Topfree Seven who bad vowed to appeal their case to the Court of Appeals the staters hadamixe highest court I a a a a a a (1 1 'll V1.