Neujahrskonzert 2021 (New Year’s Concert)
Wiener Philharmoniker/Riccardo Muti
rec. Golden Hall, Musikverein, Vienna, 1 January 2021. DDD.
Reviewed as streamed in 24/96 sound.
SONY 19439840162
[2 CDs 104:38] Also forthcoming on vinyl, DVD and blu-ray.
Most years, it’s almost possible to cut and paste the review of the
previous year’s Neujahrskonzert with a few details altered. 2021
was rather different: for starters, the eightieth anniversary concert,
which also marked Riccardo Muti’s eightieth birthday, took place under
conditions almost as difficult as – perhaps more difficult than – the
first-ever event in 1941 with Clemens Kraus at the helm. At least then both
sides knew who the enemy was; the Covid-19 pandemic brings an intangible
and invisible foe, but, 80 years on, we are all on the same side.
The effect of playing to an unseen and largely unheard audience – the
golden caryatids of the Musikverein apart – might well have dampened Muti’s
sixth return to conduct, but both he and, even more, the Vienna
Philharmonic have performed this music often enough to fall back on their
experience. We did hear occasional applause from a selected online audience, not
included on the recording, but many will be pleased that the Blue Danube wasn’t interrupted after the first few shimmering
notes, and there was no introductory snare drum or clapping in the Radetzky March. Without the see-and-be-seen audience, the music
was all.
Recent years have brought increasing numbers of composers not called
Strauss into these concerts, and 2021, as well as including Suppé’s
well-known Poet and Peasant, opened with his Fatinitza
march. That’s one of the works receiving its VPO New Year premiere along
with previously unperformed works by Zeller, Millöcker and Komzák. There
were even unheard works by Johann Strauss I and Johann II. The Zeller work
celebrates the Davy safety lamp, then recently invented for use in mines –
pretty clever to get that into an operetta and a waltz. That and the
Millöcker seem not to be available on any other recording, though there is
one recording of Josef Strauss’s piece with the same title as the latter;
there are a few alternatives for the other works.
The Neue Melodien-Quadrille has appeared before, but its inclusion
was especially apt: the melodies in question are derived from operas by
Muti’s fellow Italians. There’s only one other recording in the catalogue,
from CSSSR State Philharmonic Orchestra (Kosiče) and Johannes Wildner,
either on Volume 13 of the comprehensive Marco Polo Johann Strauss II
Edition (8.223213, download only) or a Naxos selection from that series: Johann Strauss II at the Opera (8.578287). The latter also
includes its predecessor, the Melodien-Quadrille nach Verdi,
Op.112. The recordings in the Marco Polo Strauss series – not just Johann
II, but Johann I and Josef have theirs – are not to be sniffed at, but
Muti’s rather more expeditious approach is preferable. No doubt conducting
the Vienna Phil is more like driving a Mercedes as against the trusty VW of
the Kosiče orchestra.
I always find myself wanting more Josef Strauss than we are given. There
were just two pieces by him this year, but Margherita-Polka,
receiving its first New Year outing, was one of them. Again, the only other
available recording comes from our friends in Kosiče, this time conducted
by Michael Dittrich (Volume 25 of the Josef Strauss Edition, Marco Polo
8.223664). Here, too, Muti drives his well-tuned orchestral machine at a
convincingly faster tempo.
I enjoyed seeing this year’s concert on television on the day, and I have
enjoyed hearing the audio recording. As you might expect, the 24-bit
version which I streamed offers superior sound to the television broadcast,
even with a sound base, but you may wish to wait a little longer for the
DVD or, combining the visuals with high quality sound, the Blu-ray, scheduled
as I write for 29 January 2021. The DVD is advertised as slightly less
expensive than the CDs, the Blu-ray for slightly more. The Qobuz to which I
listened costs more than the CDs as a 16-bit download and more still – more, indeed,
than the Blu-ray – in 24-bit.
One observation can be repeated from last year, or, indeed, from Muti’s last
appearance on New Year’s Day 2018 (Sony 88985470582, 2 CDs, and DVD and
Blu-ray equivalents). This was an enjoyable concert, especially considering
the adverse circumstances, but I don’t expect it to go down as a classic.
For long-term enjoyment, I still turn to the recordings made by Willy
Boskovsky, not just with the Vienna Philharmonic on Decca, but earlier with
his own Boskovsky Ensemble and later with the Wiener Johann
Strauss-Orchester (EMI, now Warner). Decca offer a Double Decca twofer
(4434732, CD and download both good value) and a 6-CD collection of
VPO/Boskovsky recordings (4552542 around £27 on disc, but almost £36 as a
lossless download).
The Boskovsky Warner twofer, formerly a 2-for-1 bargain, is now
ridiculously expensive as a download-only offering (around £30), but its
2½-hour Gemini equivalent can be downloaded for around £11 (3815242). The
Boskovsky collection of Best-loved Polkas is available to download
inexpensively, less than £5 in lossless sound (Warner Inspiration
9997308265, no CD). An identical 59-minute collection of Waltzes on the
Warner Encore label costs £12.88 with one catalogue number and £6.26 with
another – choose the latter (2435752385).
Best of all are the recordings which Boskovsky made with his own Boskovsky
Ensemble: Mozart, Schubert, Lanner and the Strauss Family (Dances of Old Vienna, Decca Eloquence 4826152, 2 CDs, budget
price) and two Alto collections at budget price: ALC1237: Recording of the
Month –
review
– and ALC1227 –
review.
If you can find the rare Vanguard CDs from which the Alto recordings are
taken, and which contain even more goodies, better still. One source is
asking over £1,200 for Volume 1 (Vienna Bonbons). Good luck with
that.
My classics from more recent times include Karajan (2007, DG 4776336,
mid-price) and Carlos Kleiber (1989 DG 0734014, DVD, and 1992 Sony
COLSK48376, download only or Philips E701529, DVD).
I certainly don’t wish to seem to be damning the new recording with faint
praise. I shall not be returning to it as often as to those classics, but
it is very enjoyable in its own right. It very nearly didn’t happen at all;
I’m very glad that it did.
Let's hope that 2022 brings back the audience.
Brian Wilson
Contents
Franz von SUPPÉ (1819–1895)
Fatinitza-Marsch* from the Operetta Fatinitza
Johann STRAUSS II (1825–1899)
Schallwellen
Op.148* (Sound Waves) Walzer
Niko-Polka
Op.228 Polka schnell
Josef STRAUSS (1827–1870)
Ohne Sorgen
Op.271 (Without a Care) Polka schnell
Carl ZELLER (1842–1898)
Grubenlichter* (Davy Lamps) On motives from the operetta Der Obersteiger,
Walzer
Carl MILLÖCKER (1842–1899
)
In Saus und Braus* (Living It Up) On motives from the operetta Der Probekuss,
Galopp
Franz von SUPPÉ
Dichter und Bauer: Ouvertüre (Poet and Peasant: Overture)
Karl KOMZÁK II (1850–1905)
Bad’ner Mäd’ln
Op.257* (Girls of Baden) Walzer
Josef STRAUSS
Margherita-Polka
Op.244* Polka française
Johann STRAUSS I (1804–1849)
Venetianer-Galopp
Op.74*
Johann STRAUSS II
Frühlingsstimmen
Op.410 (Voices of Spring) Walzer
Im Krapfenwald’l
Op.336 (In Krapf’s Woods) Polka française
Neue Melodien-Quadrille
Op.254 (New Melodies Quadrille)
Kaiserwalzer
Op.437 (Emperor Waltz)
Stürmisch in Lieb’ und Tanz
Op.393 (Tempestuous in Love and Dance) On motives from the operetta Das Spitzentuch der Königin, Polka schnell
Encores:
Furioso-Polka
Op.260 quasi Galopp
New Year’s Address
An der schönen blauen Donau Op.314 (The Blue Danube) Walzer
Johann STRAUSS I
Radetzky-Marsch
Op.228
* First performance at a New Year’s Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic
