Daniel Barenboim: Orchestra seating

I remember Kubelik telling me that I need to change the seating of the orchestra. Under Kubelik, the orchestra always sat with separated first and second violins. Then under Solti, the violins sat toegther on the conductor's left with the cellos to the right, on the outside. When I came, the violas sat on the outside instead, which made many musicians unhappy. The cellists were especially disappointed because they were used to sitting to the conductor's right and they felt they had more room and independence that way. I felt that the sound and balance in the strings were not right, however, and opted for the more traditional 'German' seating, with violas oustide and the cellos inside, facing out, giving a fuller picture of the bass.

I had always had doubts of dividing the first and second violins. FIrst of all, with the second violins on the conductor's right, they would be playing in the wrong direction - their instrument facing away from the audience. Second, the problem of the ensemble, especially in unison or octave passages, would be greater because of the difficulty in hearing from one side of the stage to the other. Later after we rebuilt Orchestra Hall to correct this deficiency, I became more convinced that the advantages of separaing the violins were greater than disadvantages. NOw the violins sit as he first suggested with cellos and violas between them and the basses behind the first violins. Actually the communication between the violins is better when they are seating opposite sides, because the passages of unisons or octaves you get the sound from the whole width of the stage, which makes up for any lack of direction. Most importantly, the proximity of the cellos and basses to the first iolins gives the whole string section a fuller and more harmonic sound, and in addition the violins sound rounder and more beautiful in the high register when the bass is next to them, almost like a support