Composer: Hans Christian Lumbye, Eduard Strauss, Johann Strauss, Josef Strauss, Franz von Suppe
Orchestra: Wiener Philharmoniker
Conductor: Zubin Mehta
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Sony
Catalogue: 88875035492
Release: 2015
Size: 532 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
CD 01
01. Ein Morgen, ein Mittag, ein Abend in Wien: Ouvertüre
02. Märchen aus dem Orient, Walzer, Op. 444
03. Wiener Leben, Polka française, Op. 218
04. Wo man lacht und lebt, Schnellpolka, Op. 108
05. Dorfschwalben aus Österreich, Walzer, Op. 164
06. Vom Donaustrande, Polka schnell, Op. 356
07. Perpetuum mobile, Op. 257
08. Accelerationen, Walzer, Op. 234
09. Elektromagnetische Polka, Op. 110
10. Mit Dampf, Polka schnell, Op. 70
CD 02
01. An der Elbe, Walzer, Op. 477
02. Champagner-Galopp
03. Studenten Polka, Polka française, Op. 263
04. Freiheits-Marsch, Op. 226
05. Annen-Polka, Op. 117
06. Wein, Weib und Gesang, Walzer, Op. 333
07. Mit Chic, Polka schnell, Op. 221
08. Explosions-Polka, Op. 43
09. Neujahrsgruß / New Year’s Address / Allocution du Nouvel An
10. An der schönen blauen Donau, Op. 314
11. Radetzky-Marsch, Op. 228
Sony Classical release the much-anticipated annual ‘New Years Concert’ release – The New Year’s Concert live from Vienna is one of the world’s most famous and spectacular classical music events. It is broadcast from the flower-filled Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein on TV and radio in almost 80 countries around the world with over 40 million viewers. The annual New Year’s Day Concert in Vienna has been a major event for more than seven decades. The resulting recordings with works from the Strauss dynasty and their contemporaries are among the most classical important releases available today. For the 2015 concert, the Vienna Philharmonic has invited Zubin Mehta to conduct. This will be the 5th time that Maestro Mehta has ascended the podium. He previously conducted in 1990, 1995, 1998 and 2007.
The institutions of classical music change and evolve, but the Vienna New Year’s Concert presented by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, now in its 76th year, remains a pure tradition. That’s not to say that there’s no new music on the program. The 2015 concert includes five works never played at the concert before, but all are by members of the Strauss family, who as usual dominate the program, and they go to show the size of the unexplored waltz and polka repertory. The famed Zoroastrian conductor Zubin Mehta, approaching 80, was not heard so frequently anymore when this album appeared, less than a month after it was performed. He has conducted the program before, and he remains one of its most successful exponents, pushing the tempos in a way that fits with the festivity of the occasion in such pieces as Accelerationen, Op. 234 (track 8) and the following Electro-magnetische Polka, Op. 80, whose title shows how up-to-the-minute the music of Johann Strauss II was when it first appeared. The live recording, complete with German-language New Year’s toast answered by the players, is one of the highlights of this series. Pick up a copy to have on hand for next New Year’s Eve!