Refurbished Festival Hall reopens

It has taken two years and more than £100m but the newly refurbished, Royal Festival Hall on London's South Bank doesn't look very different.

The interior of the iconic building has been taken apart and put back together piece by piece - but the biggest change is in the acoustics.

For years, musicians have complained about the quality of the sound - now the South Bank's directors are confident they have a concert hall fit for the world's greatest artists to perform in.

It remains unmistakeably the Royal Festival Hall, for its many loyal patrons, a much missed old friend.

And that rare thing - a great 1950s building - and as such Grade 1 listed.

After two years of refurbishment, it looks superficially much as it always has. This has been a subtle, absolutely reverential restoration.

Inside - there's much greater clarity - more space. Much of the clutter has gone - the book shops, the CD and card outlets. There is a renamed restaurant. Skylon supplants the People's Palace.

And the Wilton carpet is brand new - an exact replica of the original 1951 design by the London County Council team.

But it's the auditorium that matters above all else. The orchestra of the age of the enlightenment was rehearsing this morning.

Visiting orchestras have long had to tolerate the dry, cold, flat acoustics. Simon Rattle allegedly once quipped that within thirty seconds of playing there, he lost the will to live.

But now he and everyone is making happier noises.

Happier noises

The press conference was a tad self-congratulatory. And why not? - they've raised the £100m - half of it from the lottery - and delivered the project, on time and pretty much on budget.

Sat among them - Larry Kirkegaard - aged 69 from Chicago - among the world's leading acousticians.

Larry has helped improve acoustics in concert halls from New York's Carnegie Hall to Kuala Lumpur, and is about to start work at the Sydney Opera House. He has had some 20 years to think about the Festival Hall - two years to implement his ideas.

The press conference might have also benefited from Larry's expertise.

It was an acoustic nightmare - as someone observed. Microphones failed - the guy on sound desk looked anxious - and to compound matters, the public address system started booming out.

Also at the press conference was someone old enough to have attended the first concert at the Festival Hall back in 1951.

The music critic - Denby Richards - aged 83. The music critics have yet to gauge the new acoustic - and won't until the first concerts next month.

The expectation is that it'll take resident and visiting orchestras awhile to get used to the new sound.

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