Sat front row at the symphony...

Mischa Mischakoff was the most esteemed concertmaster of the 20th century.  He was with the NBC Symphony under Toscanini, and I love his solos on those recordings.  When he retired, he was with the Detroit Symphony.  I visited him in Detroit in 1975.  He invited me to hear him at a small private quartet concert.  He preferred his Belgian violin to his Strad.  I declared him the greatest violinist I had heard.  But the socially minded dean of my medical school said, no, Heifetz was the greatest violinist of the 20th century.  Well, everyone sorta knows that, but to really appreciate the finer, subtle qualities of a great artist, you have to be a real connoisseur.  

The Musikverein in Vienna is considered to be the #1 hall, but kudos to you for discovering Detroit as #1.

frogman,

Violin concertos are carefully scored for orchestra realizing the inherent SPL limitations of a solo violin.  For the great concertos, the orch is reduced to pianissimo when the solo violin is playing.  When the violin soloist takes a break, the orchestra plays in all its loud glory.  But the violin is rarely playing when the orch is playing with full sound.  The violin and orch are kinda like respectful politicians letting the other speak while the other only listens.  When politicians are trying to yell at the same time, there is chaos.  It is a legitimate tactic of the recording engineer to boost the SPL of the violin by close miking in order to get more equality between the soloist and orch, even if the natural balance is altered.

Piano concertos live have more satisfactory balance, since the piano is a much larger, louder instrument than the violin, and often the piano joins the orchestra in the full glory of both.

What instrument(s) do you play professionally?

I grew up in Detroit.  One of my friends was a violinist who took lessons from Mishakoff in the mid seventies, and I met him a few times, as he used to lead the Youth Orchestra my buddy was in (they played the Bach Double together).  I went to Medical School in Detroit in the early eighties when they were just starting to restore it.  I didn’t get to hear the finished product until a few years ago, and while the acoustics are wonderful, it’s also visually a wonder as well.

   $700 for a balcony seat in Chicago?  We pay $100 for ours.

   Can’t agree with your comments about Vienna or Amsterdam 

Were these great concert halls used back in the day? Did they figure out acoustics in 1700's? Or is this relatively new? I've never been to a symphony but I'll go one day. 

@brunomarcs 

There have been great concert halls for hundreds of years. Many great ones available to us were built in the 1920’s. They are great acoustically and aesthetically. 
 

I am not sure when I attended my first… probably Chicago in the 1960’s but I highly recommend it. Do not put it off. Do it soon. Find a great hall near you.

I have had the privilege of listening to live orchestra’s in great halls hundreds of times… it has been such a great experience and helped me so much in targeting what I wanted from my audio system.