DVD Videos

"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.

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 will be 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

English subtitles.

Music by Johann Strauss II

Choreographed by Roland Petit

Roland Petit’s “Fledermaus à la française”, La Chauve-souris, was originally created for the Ballet National de Marseille in 1979 with Petit’s wife Zizi Jeanmaire partnered by Denis Ganio and Luigi Bonino as the mastermind of the nocturnal escapades.

The action was transferred from the operetta’s Vienna to the Paris of Vaudeville theatres, which was the original source of Johann Strauss’s celebrated operetta.

Directed by Luigi Bonino, Petit’s assistant of many years, who also dances the role of Ulrich, it features two more dancing stars from the “Petit school” in the principal roles: Massimo Murru, the male star dancer of La Scala’s company, for whom Petit had written several ballets and Allessandra Ferri, who counts among the finest ballerinas of today. Awarded with the coveted title of “Prima Ballerina Assoluta” at La Scala, she was once described by Roland Petit as the only rightful successor to legendary Zizi Jeanmaire.

Sound Format: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1

Picture Format: 16:9

DVD Format: DVD 9, NTSC

Running Time: 93 mins

FSK: 0

DVD and Blu-Ray will include a live version of the New Year’s Concert as well as bonus footage: A special tour through Vienna, guided by members of the Vienna Philharmonic plus 3 ballet bonus tracks.

Sony Classical is pleased to announce the release of the recording of one of the world’s most famous classical music events: the 2012 New Year’s Concert with the Vienna Philharmonic. Latvian conductor Mariss Jansons returns to direct the 2012 celebrations after his acclaimed debut in 2006. The live recording encompasses releases on CD, DVD and Blu-ray.

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 a recent resurgence due to the success of André Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra. In 2012 the programme is once again a skilful blend of well-known classics and six New Year’s Concert premieres. As always the concert is bound to end with two traditional encores – the famous waltz The Blue Danube and the Radetzky March.

“It is something quite special: a wonderful opportunity to listen to this music and get to know it. This atmosphere, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Golden Hall of the Musikverein – all that adds up to a long and wonderful tradition resulting in fantastic, very specific music.” Mariss Jansons

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 DVD: NTSC 16:9

Sound Formats DVD: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1, PCM Stereo

Region Code: 0 (worldwide)

Running Time: 64:20 min

Running Time Bonus: 10:05 min

Disc Format: DVD 9

FSK: 0

It has long been a Philharmonic tradition at the New Year to present a program consisting of the lively and at the same time nostalgic music from the vast repertoire of the Johann Strauss family and its contemporaries. These concerts not only delight the audiences in the Musikverein in Vienna, but also enjoy great international popularity through the world wide television broadcasts, which now reach over 50 countries.

For the first time in 2002 the concert was conducted by Seiji Ozawa and the light-hearted nature of the event finds this always engaging conductor at his most impishly playful.

BONUS: Seiji Ozawa Picture Gallery / Vienna Opera Ballet / Spanish Riding School of Vienna / Dance of the machines / Vienna 2002 - Art & Delights

Sound Format: PCM Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.0, DTS 5.0

Picture Format: 16:9

DVD Format: DVD 9, NTSC

Running Time: 109 mins + 34 mins (Bonus)

FSK: 0