In this Cleveland hall, classical music is king (and ancient Egypt meets the jazz age)

CLEVELAND - Above, the ceiling was done up in silver, beige and blue like frosting on a wedding cake. Below, at the lip of the stage, a tall man in a black suit and white bow tie leaned forward with a tip.

"This is going to be something," said Mark Jackobs, one of the Cleveland Orchestra's viola players. "This is a freight train."

Jackobs, who has played in the room for 25 years, knew just how the sound would flood Severance Hall, one of North America's most admired classical music venues.

This was my first concert in the hall, so I had plenty of questions. But before I could ask more, the lights dimmed in the 1,920-seat auditorium, and we rushed to our seats.

Conductor Franz Welser-Most raised his baton. A hundred musicians, including Jackobs, snapped to attention. The train, also known as Prokofiev's Symphony No. 3, was leaving the station.

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INSIDE THE HALL