Where is the best place to sit in a concert hall?

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Okay, SO...  I have a couple of questions to ask you guys...


Where's the best place to sit in a concert hall?

How come the lid is almost never taken off the piano in solo recitals when people sit like all Around the pianist.  For example, Evgeny Kissin's solo recital at the royal Albert hall.  Why wasn't the lid just taken off?!  Which leads to my next question...
 
This confuses me soo much!  You know like the seats that are on the left side of where the pianist sits?  I think they're called the mezzanine boxes or something?  WHY THE HECK TO PEOPLE SIT THERE?!  When the lid is up, the sound is directed AWAY from where they're sitting!  So why do they sit there?!  Shouldn't that like be the worst place to sit?!?!  And why does that place hold the most expensive seats?!  Everywhere else the seats cost like five dollars but if you can manage to find a seat in the special area that's not already bought, they cost like 500!  And you can't even order them online, you have to call, what the heck?!  Why are they so popular?

Since the sound is loudest the closer you are to the pianist, how come the amount of seats are narrow in the front but wider in the back?  Couldn't the concert hall charge more if the hall was shaped the opposite way?!  Where the most seats are in the front, and it gets narrower in the back?



This is really confusing, and I need answers, especially to the third question.  Is there something you guys are hiding from me?

[p2u_]

Where is the best place to sit in a concert hall?

You may be surprised, but for a piano recital, the best seats are also the cheapest: the center and higher up. If you sit too close, the sound goes over your head and you miss a lot. If you sit to the side, same thing; the sound passes you by and you miss the richness of it. Not even to speak of when you sit behind the back of the pianist or to his/her left.
P.S.: You may want to sit closer to copy the pianist's fingering, but if he/she plays the minute waltz in thirds or the Revolutionary in octaves, then you will be out of luck...

Paul

[j_menz]

Where's the best place to sit in a concert hall?

The piano bench.

As to the rest, it depends on the acoustics of the hall, and the various viewpoints.  Ideally, you want 1st the best sound and 2nd the best view.

Of course, if you are there primarily to be seen, you want to sit where people have the best view of you.;