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Note: This Blu-ray Disc (BD) is not compatible with standard DVD players. <br>

PLUS:

- Cast interviews with Thomas Allen, Pamela Armstrong, Håkan Hagegård, director Stephen Lawless and conductor Vladimir Jurowski.

- A feature on the building and architecture of Glyndebourne’s new opera house.

- BBC feature on the Waltz.

- Costume design and cast galleries.

PICTURE FORMAT: 1080i

LENGTH: 198 Mins

SOUND: 2.0 & 5.0 PCM AUDIO

SUBTITLES: EN/FR/DE/NL/ES

The New Year's Concert in Vienna has been a glorious tradition for over six decades. A best-selling classical event year on year, the concert has unique global appeal. It is broadcast on TV and radio to over 50 countries, and is viewed by tens of millions of people all over the world.

The 2009 New Year's Day Concert will be conducted by the Argentinean-Israeli pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim for the first time. From 1991-2006 Barenboim was the principal conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and since 1992 has been the General Music Director of the State Opera Unter den Linden in Berlin. Barenboim's debut with the Vienna Philharmonic took place in 1989, and he has since been a regular guest.

In 1999, Barenboim and the late Palestinian academic Edward Säid founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, in which young musicians from the Middle East and Israel perform together. Among the many awards Barenboim has received, was the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in Vienna in 2006. In September 2007 Barenboim was named as United Nations Peace Envoy.

The concert programme for 1st January 2009 will be the customary collection of Viennese delights, with six first time performances.

The first part of the concert is inspired by the conductor’s biography. For example, the waltz Märchen aus dem Orient (Tales from the Orient), alludes to a modern “fairy tale” – the founding of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, a symbol of inter-cultural tolerance. Other first performances in the first half include J. Strauss II’s Schnellpost-Polka (Express Mail Polka) and J. Hellmesberger’s Valse Espagnole (Spanish Waltz).

The second part of the concert makes constant allusions to the life and work of Joseph Haydn, culminating with the final movement of Haydn’s Symphony No.45 - 'Farewell Symphony'. This is the first time a work by Haydn has featured in the New Year’s Concert programme, and it will launch a year of events marking the bicentenary of the death of this great Austrian composerwho died in Vienna in May 1809. Other first appearances in the second half of the concert include J. Strauss I's Zampa-Galopp and J. Strauss II’s Alexandrine's Polka.

Thielemann’s annual Operetta Gala is THE New Year’s tradition in the making, presenting the sparkling treasures of the popular operetta repertoire – magnificent, familiar music and great artists, a colourful, festive atmosphere, and the most elegant of historic German venues.

A unique occasion, and a unique product offering - welcome 2013 in effervescent style with Christian Thielemann, the Staatskapelle Dresden, vibrant dancers, and a pair of dashing star soloists – Ingeborg Schöpf and Piotr Beczala.

Recorded in Dresden’s magnificent Semperoper, the concert was broadcast LIVE on television on 30 December 2012, and seen by a 1.75-million-plus audience on ZDF, as well as being carried to a potential six-figure audience via key European and Asian satellite affiliates.

Features operetta hits and favourites from Countess Mariza, The Gypsy Princess, Kaiserin Josephine, The Duchess of Chicago and many more

"This was one of the most beautiful New Year's Concerts since Karajan and Kleiber. Franz Welser-Möst knows how the music of the Strauss-dynasty, the music of Lanner and Hellmesberger has to sound" Österreich on the 2011 NY Concert

Sony Classical is pleased to announce the release of the recording of one of the world’s most famous classical music events: the New Year’s Concert 2013 with the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of celebrated conductor, Franz Welser-Möst. He returns to direct the 2013 celebrations after his acclaimed debut in 2011. Maestro Welser-Mőst is the former Music Director of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

The annual New Year's Day Concert in the stunning Vienna Musikverein has been an exalted tradition for more than seven decades and the resulting recordings with works from the Strauss dynasty and their contemporaries are among the classical market's most important releases.

The concert will be broadcast on TV and radio to over 70 countries around the world with an estimate of more than 40 million viewers.

The programme traditionally revolves around waltzes and polkas by the Strauss family (Johann father and son as well as Josef and Eduard Strauss) whose music has enjoyed recent chart resurgence. The proven formula blends well-known classics with premieres of works that have never been performed before at the New Year´s Concert and the result is invariably both joyful and moving. The programme will remain a closely guarded secret until a few days before the event, but it can already be revealed that in 2013 the concert will include more premieres than ever before and probably some unexpected surprises. As is tradition, the concert will include the famous waltz The Blue Danube and the Radetzky March.

Seen by millions on TV worldwide, the Wiener Philharmoniker’s New Year's Concert from Vienna is the best-known classical event in the world

The 2011 concert will be conducted by Austrian-born Franz Welser-Möst - newly installed as the music director of the Vienna State Opera and a favourite with Viennese concertgoers

The New Year's Concert, presented in the glittering Musikverein, features a charming programme that offers perennial favourites alongside some intriguing Strauss premieres. The complete programme will be announced beginning of November

"The Blu-ray Experience" includes opera and ballet highlights from the Opus Arte catalogue, and gives everyone the opportunity to experience the stunning quality of High Definition picture and sound, at an extremely competitive price. Including world-class artists such as Bryn Terfel, Cecilia Bartoli, Anne Sofie von Otter, Jose Cura, Simon Keenlyside and Agnes Letestu, this 60-minute introduction to the world of Blu-ray is a must-have purchase this autumn. Blu-ray offers an outstanding audio and visual experience, with up to six times the resolution of standard definition DVD, and up to 7.1 channels of High Definition surround sound.

Note: This Blu-ray Disc (BD) is not compatible with standard DVD players

The Philharmonics, the ensemble founded by members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, fill the Café Sperl with some of the most authentically Viennese sounds imaginable – the Strauss waltzes that Schoenberg, Berg and Webern arranged and performed in May 1921 to raise funds for their pioneering “Society for Private Musical Performances”.

This is music the players have in their blood, and they maintain the echt atmosphere with Godowsky’s tribute to the city, “Alt-Wien” and a clutch of Kreisler gems, rounding the programme off with a new piece by the ensemble’s leader Tibor Kováč, based on traditional Jewish melodies and Mahler themes, “Yiddische Mame”.

BONUS: How Schoenberg came to arrange waltzes by Strauss

Picture Format Blu-ray: Full HD

Sound Formats Blu-ray: DTS HD Master Audio, PCM Stereo

Region Code: 0 (worldwide)

Running Time: 64:20 min

Running Time Bonus: 10:05 min

Disc Format: BD 25

FSK: 0