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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