Strauss, J, II: Wiener Blut Waltz, Op. 354 (Vienna Blood)

“What an advantage DVD provides in comparison with the Philips CD of this concert. Quite apart from the bonus of visual presentation, the DVD offers five numbers omitted from the CD – two of them by Josef Strauss celebrating his 175th anniversary, the polkas Arm in Arm and Im Pfluge and three Johann Strauss numbers, the Carnevalsbotschafter waltz, the Beliebte Annen polka and Perpetuum mobile.
Ozawa is at his most relaxed, naturally idiomatic in his often extreme use of idiomatic pauses and of warm rubato, reflected in his decision not to use a baton, relying instead on the inborn expressiveness of the Viennese players to mould in perfect time. In the Fledermaus Overture, for example, the switches of tempo and rhythm and the affectionate phrasing are immaculately achieved with a mere flutter of the fingers from the conductor.
Even by the standards of this celebratory occasion this was an unusually warm and happy event thanks to Ozawa. And more than anyone since Karajan in his one New Year concert, Ozawa controls the clapping of the audience, limiting it to the proper passages in the final Radetzky March. The direction can't be faulted.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010