Strauss, J, I: Der Carneval in Paris, Galopp, Op. 100 (The Carnival in Paris)

An album of lively waltzes and other dance music, consummately performed by Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Concentus Musicus Wien.

With rarely-heard dance pieces by Mozart, Lanner, and Johann Strauss I.

On his new album, Walzer Revolution, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Concentus Musicus Wien turn their attention to a selection of dances by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Josef Lanner and Johann Strauss the Elder himself, in order to give it a new interpretation in the spirit intended by the composers.

Harnoncourt, who more than any other conductor of our time represents a revolution in the way works are performed and in the reception of music, traces the line from the dances of Mozart to 19th-century dances that were profoundly characteristic of the society of that time.

Thanks to his typical practice of performing the works in a historical manner, he succeeds in making this dance music an authentic listening experience that is constantly denied to us by the usual modern orchestration. The purpose of the resulting album is not only to convey the true joy of listening but also to narrate music history.

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.

Perhaps no composer is more associated with a city than Johann Strauss II with Vienna. Indeed it is hard to consider Vienna without thinking of the waltz, and the waltz empire is dominated by the Strauss family. Johann Strauss I & II, Josef Strauss, and Eduard Strauss produced a seemingly inexhaustible supply of melodies which have entranced not only the dancers of the world, but also its musicians and music-lovers from the 1840s to the present. Whilst much of their music has never been out of the recorded repertoire, so prolific was their output that a quantity of top-rate music was forgotten over the years.

Jack Rothstein recorded three volumes of such rarities in the 1980s and ’90s, which comprised music by the Strauss family and their contemporaries. So enjoyable and tuneful are these ‘Vienna Premieres’ that it is impossible to understand just why they had been neglected. Time and time again one is amazed at the un-flagging inspiration which seemed to come so easily to composers of this period, who produced consistently high-quality light, entertaining music, beautifully crafted and orchestrated. Jack Rothstein was a master of this music. Appointed Musical Director of the Johann Strauss Orchestra in 1976, he was steeped in the distinctive performing style associated with this repertoire for years before making the pioneering digital recordings collected here. It is the first time that these three unique CDs have been gathered together in one convenient and inexpensive box.