If there is one
musical event that comes around with unfailing annual inevitability
it is the Wiener Philharmonker's Neujahrskonzert. I dutifully
tuned in on New Year's Day out of habit, musical compulsion
and the desire to catch Mariss Jansons in action once again.
As a live concert I enjoyed it, but - almost inevitably - upon
revisiting it some items fare better than others for repeated
hearings.
All the expected
critical phrases can be applied to the playing: technical polish,
velvet-like ease of playing in the strings, wonderfully weighted
and phrased performances. One might think that this concert
showed the Vienna Philharmonic on autopilot as well as their
natural compositional territory. Well, I don’t get a sense of
players on autopilot here. Watching the live concert relay it
was noticeable how many players were watching Jansons, which
serves to show that he is a conductor that always leaves something
in reserve for the concert itself. So many times I have heard
players say that even after they’ve rehearsed with him, they
are never quite sure of what will happen on the night. The finely
paced and voiced readings set this apart from most other Vienna
Philharmonic New Year concerts, with the possible exception
of Carlos Kleiber, who – like Jansons – brings something uniquely
special to the party.
The Viennese sweetmeats
presented here are no strangers to Jansons: he describes them
as ‘music that speaks through my mind and soul and body’. Indeed
the association between conductor and music goes back to his
father Arvid, who often conducted this repertoire. If today
Mariss’s enviable reputation rests on interpretations of altogether
heavier repertoire - Shostakovich, Mahler, Bruckner, etc - he
demonstrates here that lighter pieces are every bit as deserving
of his probing interpretative approach.
The performances
fizz along - one glass of champagne after another; as well they
might, given that the occasion is optimistic and the precursor
to the consumption of great quantities of champagne by the VIPs
lucky enough to attend in person. Their involvement too is for
the most part restrained - except where tradition dictates otherwise
– applause is minimised – and only once or twice did it disrupt
the mood generated by Jansons and the VPO.
The opportunity
to kick off the Mozart celebratory year was not missed, and
Jansons turns in a sensitively phrased Figaro overture,
though why it does not appear at the start of Part II is a mystery.
The item that follows, Lanner’s Die Mozartisten Walzer,
I suspect will either be taken by listeners as musical sacrilege
or just schmaltz. However, on its own terms it is decently performed
– and finds a kindred pair, one might say, in Johann Strauss
II’s Künstler-Quadrille which also takes off where many
another composer stops.
My only serious
criticism is one that holds if one were to listen to these discs
straight through with any frequency. Disc 2 starts with seven
pieces that are from Johann II’s pen, and with a further eleven
elsewhere, other composers get rather marginalised even though
they have good things to offer. However, there is variety in
the musical forms represented, and this goes some way to balancing
the equation.
In Deutsche Grammophon’s
rush to release the discs some nine days after the concert some
corners were cut – no track timings are provided, for example
– but the booklet does contain glossy pictures of the maestro
and orchestra caught during rehearsal. More than can often be
said of live recordings, a sense of occasion is palpable. I
enjoyed the sense of fun Jansons brings to it all, though anyone
planning on taking a mobile into his concerts would do well
not to follow Jansons’ own example in Eduard Strauss’ Telephon
Polka. A thinly disguised comment to concert audiences everywhere,
given the near global reach of this concert?
With traditions
duly observed and the playing captured with faithful fizz sonority,
Jansons’ first Neujahrskonzert proves an uplifting tonic on
cold winter nights.
Evan Dickerson
Wiener Philharmoniker/Mariss
Jansons
