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
April 2012
“the DVD itself is a colourful evocation of old Vienna that admirably demonstrates the power of DVD to add positively to what one merely hears on CD...The five Strauss waltzes are proficiently played and idiomatically phrased...the whole represents an altogether admirable demonstration of how DVD can combine enlightenment and pleasure to joyous effect.”
Click on any of the works listed above for alternative recordings.
