Salle Pleyel is an important concert hall in Paris. (from Wikipedia:) An earlier salle Pleyel opened in December 1839 at nº 22 rue Rochechouart; it saw the premieres of many important works, including the second (1868) and fifth (1896) piano concertos by Saint-Saëns, and Ravel's Pavane pour une infante défunte and Jeux d'eau (April 5, 1902) and Sonata for Violin and Cello (April 6, 1922). Its replacement, a 3,000-seat hall, was commissioned in 1927 by piano manufacturer Pleyel et Cie and designed by Gustave Lion. The inauguration concert by the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, with Robert Casadesus as soloist and Igor Stravinsky, Maurice Ravel, and Philippe Gaubert as conductors, included music by Wagner, Manuel de Falla, Igor Stravinsky, Paul Dukas, Debussy, and Ravel. A fire ravaged the interior of the hall on 28 June 1928 and the renovation cost made it impossible to repay the loan to Crédit Lyonnais bank, which eventually took over the property and reduced the seats to 2,400.
From 2002 to 2006 the hall underwent major renovation. The acoustics of the hall and the public and service areas were improved and seating decreased from the post-fire 2,400 seats to 1,913. |