Strauss, J, II: An der schönen, blauen Donau, Op. 314 (The Blue Danube Waltz) - DVD video

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

This compilation DVD features the best performances of Viennese classics from the BBC television archive, spanning a vintage period in the history of the Viennese Night Proms concerts: 1974 – 1979.

Audiences at the Viennese Nights rival the enthusiasm of Last Night Prom audiences, a tradition that has been part of the Proms concert season since 1947 and which draws concert goers from all over the world.

Classics featured on this DVD include the Blue Danube Waltz, Radetsky March and the Csardas and Laughing Song from Die Fledermaus, performed by Sheila Armstrong, who made her Covent Garden debut four years prior to the performances recorded here.

The characteristic Viennese waltzes, polkas and overtures are performed with exuberance, good humour and panache by these three great conductors. Both Susskind and Loughran recorded Strauss and other Viennese composers for EMI, with Loughran succeeding Sir John Barbirolli at the Hallé where Viennese Nights are still a strong tradition.

These performances, released for the first time on DVD, will appeal to a wide cross section of the public with branding targeted at the large Viennese/Strauss market, currently dominated by André Rieu.

1DVD

Sound format: LPCM stereo/enhanced mono

Picture format: 4:3

Running time: 86’

Subtitles: n/a

Menu languages: English

Booklet languages: E/F/G

Region code: 0

Territory Restrictions: None

Directed by Brian Large

After three decades of collaboration with the Vienna Philharmonic, Zubin Mehta made his New Year’s Concert debut, which instantly achieved legendary status.

"It’s easy to hear why they keep inviting him – Mehta brings a knowing discretion of touch, freeing the amazing Vienna Philharmonic to weave its customary magic” (BBC Music Magazine)

First release in 5.1 DTS Surround Sound

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

Seen by millions on TV worldwide, the Wiener Philharmoniker’s New Year's Concert from Vienna is one of the best-known classical events in the world. - A perennial best-seller with 102,000 CDs and 45,000 DVDs sold in 2010.

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 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 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.

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.