Strauss, J, II: Perpetuum Mobile, Op. 257

The music of Johann Strauss reflects an elegance and refinement typical of Vienna. It inspires us with a joie de vivre and an almost irresistible urge to dance. The ensemble Anima Eterna Brugge and its conductor, Jos van Immerseel, invite us to spend a delightful moment in Strauss’s company and theirs, with delicacy and feeling, conviction and emotion. Keeping as close as possible to the original score, they enable us to hear these pieces as they were intended by the composer.

Herbert von Karajan was a master of the Strauss style. Here for the first time are all three of his Strauss recordings from the early 1980s – beautifully conceived programmes of waltzes, polkas and marches, including all the favourites – compiled together in a generous 2-CD set.

In the Free Trade Hall, at Belle Vue and in the Royal Albert Hall the Viennese Nights were occasions which gave intense musical pleasure and also had a remarkable atmosphere of bonhomie. Sir John could relax, but he never relaxed his artistic standards and he treated the waltzes and polkas as masterpieces of their kind which demanded and deserved top rank treatment. His recording sessions on 30 and 31 December 1966 included Johann Strauss II’s Blue Danube waltz, Perpetuum mobile and Gypsy Baron overture and Johann Strauss I’s Radetzky March in Gordon Jacob’s orchestration. To these are added Strauss II’s cork-popping Champagne Polka and the Thunder and Lightning Polka. No Barbirolli Viennese evening would be complete, of course, without Lehár’s Gold and Silver waltz (1902), performed with especial sumptuousness.

From the 1957 Pye sessions come six items by Franz von Suppé, the Austrian composer and conductor of Belgian descent who sealed in Vienna in 1835 where five years later he became third conductor at the Theater in der Josefstadt. In 10 years there, he wrote over twenty scores, including Morning, Noon and Night in Vienna, in which he proved himself in the line of Johann Strauss I. He moved to the Theater an der Wien in 1845 as one of its chief conductors for the next 17 years, after which he went to Kaitheater in 1862 and the Carltheater in 1865 where he remained until his retirement in 1882. His Queen of Spades overture was for a one-act comic operetta, first staged in Berlin, and The Jolly Robbers (Banditenstreiche) for yet another in 1867. Perhaps his best-known and most popular pieces are the Light Cavalry overture and the Poet and Peasant overture. Of all his stage works, only Boccaccio is seen with any regularity today, although he was regarded in his lifetime as Vienna’s answer to Offenbach. But the overtures survive and are ideal Barbirolli Viennese material.

The other Strauss in this album is the German, Richard. He is represented by Barbirolli’s suite of waltzes from his most popular opera Der Rosenkavalier which Barbirolli often conducted with the Covent Garden touring company in the 1930s. Sir John never conducted this particular compilation in the concert-hall although he often conducted a suite, probably arranged by Artur Rodzinski, which includes the Presentation of the Rose and the trio in orchestral disguise and can be heard on ‘Barbirolli at the Opera’ (SJB1004). It is interesting to note that Strauss himself made only arrangements of the waltzes for concert performance. Barbirolli recorded this rarity of his own in the December 1966 sessions for Columbia Studio 2. Sir John made two recordings of Schubert’s Great C major Symphony, the first in December 1953 (Barbirolli Society SJB1020) and the second (issued here) in June 1964, also for HMV.

This 2 CD set includes Steuermann’s historic recordings of Schoenberg’s complete works for piano solo, as well as works and arrangements by Steuermann himself. “How wonderful that Steuermann’s recording of piano pieces by Schoenberg is at last available again; it is the classic model for the interpretation of these works.” Alfred Brendel

The annual New Year’s Concert from Vienna, seen by millions on TV worldwide, is the best-known classical concert in the world.

Georges Prêtre returns to Vienna’s illustrious Musikverein to conduct a compelling programme that combines adored classics with no less than four intriguing premieres. Idolized in Vienna, the legendary French maestro, Georges Prêtre (who first came to eminence for his recordings with the great Maria Callas) is a leading expert on and interpreter of the music of the Strauss family.

Berlin 1950/1952

Ferenc Fricsay's love of the waltzes by Johann Strauss II exemplifies his opinion that there is no difference between ‘popular’ and ‘serious’ music but, if needs be, between good and bad music.Thanks to his own musical education and his first post as conductor of a military band in Szeged, he was very familiar with the repertoire and the musical world of 19th century Vienna.When the 34-year-old was called to post-war Berlin in order to help rebuild musical life in the western part of the destroyed city as director of the newly founded RIAS Symphony Orchestra, he passionately performed the music of Strauss from the outset.This is also documented by his ravishing recording of Die Fledermaus [see audite 23.411]. This CD presents a representative cross-section of the most beautiful and famous waltzes and polkas by Strauss recorded between 1950 and 1952, issued here for the first time. In these, not only do Fricsay's (in)famously precise rehearsal methods become perceptible but also his unique talent of improvisation, i.e. an art of interpretation where the highest degree of precision becomes completely natural, and spontaneous, music-making.