Sat front row at the symphony...

I think that most people who see performances in Concert / Symphony Halls will disagree with you on the front row seat as the best seat in the hall.  Be it clamshell like here in Chicago or shoe box (I prefer), like Boston, surprisingly up in the rafters, the gallery seats sound the best but for many reasons, sitting closer most people will prefer.  Solti used to listen to the orchestra from the gallery.  Also, Heinz Hall used to be a movie theatre and it went through many revisions to make it properly project sound from the orchestra to the seats. Typically the front of the first balcony, somewhere in the middle of the main floor as long as you don't sit underneath the balcony is fine.  In Symphony Center, Chicago, the first row at least used to be cheaper than the seats behind it.  I remember years back my brother and I made a last minute decision to have an early dinner downtown at Russian Tea Time and we got hammered on vodka, vodka flights with various zakuski.  When we heard that Gidon Kremer was performing at Orchestra Hall we made a last minute dash to get seats and we did;  front row, just left of the center seat.  Can't count all the performances I've seen there but it was my first time in the front row and it was fun, to say the least.  Drunk and sitting right below Kremer and Barenboim, recliners would have been better suited but we certainly got an in your face performance.  It was so loud,  rosin and horse hairs were drifting down on us, plus Gidon gets excited and stomps his feet during the performance and even subtle voice cues from Daniel.  It was a performance to remember and I'd do it again

vitussl101,

As you said, "When we heard that Gidon Kremer was performing at Orchestra Hall we made a last minute dash to get seats and we did;  front row, just left of the center seat.  Can't count all the performances I've seen there but it was my first time in the front row and it was fun, to say the least.  Drunk and sitting right below Kremer and Barenboim, recliners would have been better suited but we certainly got an in your face performance.  It was so loud,  rosin and horse hairs were drifting down on us, plus Gidon gets excited and stomps his feet during the performance and even subtle voice cues from Daniel.  It was a performance to remember and I'd do it again."

You said it best, better than myself.  Your vivid writing style communicates the vivid sound and performer antics.  There is nothing like the front row for all that.  Rows 5-8 are merely polite dilutions of that.  Rows 5-8 are better for balance, but which performance will you remember--in your face excitement, or polite balance?  You've been seated further back many times, but THIS ONE you will remember and you will do it again.  

Conductors like Solti know they get the most excitement from their stage position on the podium.  But they listen further back for different purposes.  They want to hear how the large orchestra projects to distant locations, so they can judge how a typical distant listener hears all the instruments.  They learn about acoustics and balance of various instrumental groups, so they can modify their conducting approach to suit the thousands of audience members.  

A few times I couldn't get front row center, and had to choose extreme right or extreme left.  If I got left, then the violin section's backs blocked the sound, and it was veiled.  Most soloists are to the left of the conductor, so strictly speaking, my best seat is front row, 1 or 2 seats to the left of center so I will be closest to the soloist.

@dabel - I've been to the shell, but not for symphony.  We did see the Commodores, War, and George Benson there.  Great show!  Sure we'll spend more time at the Shell as summer comes along, but really enjoy the 5 minute drive home from CCPA.

Adolf Herseth, the spectacular trumpet soloist with The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, once told a story in a radio interview with Bill [?] Russo about Fritz Reiner who, in my opinion, was the most important conductor the orchestra ever had.  Apparently, Reiner decided that the brass section was "killing everything" and advised them to "cut it in half".  He went out into the hall and listened to the results of his instruction and was pleased.   However, when he returned to the podium, his instructions were soon altered as he continually asked for more and more from the brass section to which he had just given instructions to the opposite.  Herseth said that it didn't take long for the brass to be playing the same level that had been playing previously !  It seems that the podium in Orchestra Hall was located in a "null" that no one realized existed until Reiner experimented with his fabulous brass section !   Podiums are apparently not the best spot in the house from which to listen.  Whodathunkit ?

@7452jf,

I thought as much ... ;-)

Yeah, there is much to be said for within walking distance. Sure beats the Embarcadero drive south (at times) when something such as the California Center for the Performing Arts sits so close by.