"International acoustics consultant Leo Beranek provides a well-illustrated guide to the world's important concert and opera halls, examining their acoustical quality as judged by conductors and music critics. His descriptions and photographs of 76 concert and opera halls throughout the world provide a handbook for today's peripatetic musicians and music lovers." "In addition, Dr. Beranek tells how composers adapt the style of their music to particular halls and how musicians adjust their playing to complement the acoustics. He also proposes a common language for musicians and acousticians." "The photographs, drawings to the same scale, and architectural and acoustical details on the 76 concert halls in 22 countries yield a gold mine of information pertinent to the design of concert halls and opera houses. The acoustical attributes of those halls, molded by shape, surface arrangements, materials, balconies, boxes, seats and suspended elements, are related to the subjective classifications, thus offering new direction to architectural and acoustical design. Finally, the appendices contain modern acoustical data on 80 concert and opera halls."--BOOK JACKET.