The Great Waltzes: The Essential Collection
Johann STRAUSS II, Pyotr Il’yich TCHAIKOVSKY, Émile WALDTEUFEL, Franz LEHÁR,
Iosif IVANOVICI, Adolphe ADAM, Aram KHACHATURIAN, Richard STRAUSS
Full track listing at end of review
rec. dates and locations not provided
NAXOS 8.578041-42 [70:47 + 76:50]
This is a very well-chosen budget-priced selection of “The Great Waltzes”.
Indeed, almost all other compilation albums of this type would drive me to
distraction with obvious items omitted; this is one ‘hits’ collection which
did not make me pull out a pad and paper and begin plotting out my own list
of “great waltzes”. To be honest, I requested to review this set partly in
anticipation of the frustrating, geeky, but curiously enjoyable hours I would
waste deciding what would make the cut on my own “Great Waltzes” disc and
how much music would fit on each disc.
But that did not happen. Naxos has really chosen an intelligent menu of twenty
waltzes for this two-disc set, and programmed them wisely. The creators have
astutely limited the amount of Johann Strauss present to give a more diverse
picture, and also because a set of “Great Strauss Waltzes” would run to five
or six discs. I can only really think of two waltzes I would put on a “twenty
best” list which are not here: Carl Maria von Weber’s Invitation to the
Dance and Maurice Ravel’s genre-busting La valse.
Lehár’s Gold and Silver leads off; we’ve got waltzes from three Tchaikovsky
ballets, his Serenade for Strings, and Eugene Onegin; Johann Strauss
makes five appearances; Aram Khachaturian gets to put a word in; and everything
is capped off by the first waltz sequence from Der Rosenkavalier, by
the other Strauss, Richard. There are also three “one hit wonder” composers:
Adolphe Adam’s Giselle is honored, as is Iosif Ivanovici’s Danube
Waves, and Émile Waldteufel’s lovely Les patineurs which is joined,
surprisingly, by three considerably less famous Waldteufel tunes. The obscurities,
it turns out, are just as enjoyable, although their big tunes perhaps slip
a little more easily out of the memory. I found them a pleasant surprise.
As for the performances: anybody familiar with Marco Polo’s enormous discography
of Viennese dance music will know roughly what to expect. They are good, and
very danceable, but not world-class by any means in the departments of glamour,
sparkle, or personality. All but four of the selections feature the Slovak
Philharmonic, the Slovak State Philharmonic, the Slovak Radio Symphony, and
the (Slovakian) Strauss Festival Orchestra, ensembles which, along with the
Slovak Sinfonietta, my father calls collectively the “Bratislava Kitchen Ensemble.”
It’s unfair because they most certainly are not playing in a kitchen, but
they are not the best ensembles ever to tackle this music, the conductors
were sometimes poor (Alfred Walter was frankly dire), the engineers who recorded
them did not always do a flattering job, and the original releases sometimes
had a faint air of desperation about them. “Johann Strauss’ Most Famous Waltzes”,
from the early 1990s, optimistically changed conductor Ondrej Lenárd’s first
name to André.
The shortcomings are especially obvious on CD 1, tracks 2-4, three waltzes
which really emphasize the French horn (Tchaikovsky’s “Waltz of the Flowers,”
Strauss’ Blue Danube, Waldteufel’s Les patineurs). The Slovak
horns of three different orchestras present these main tunes in typically
wobbly fashion deep in the muddy slosh of the acoustics, making these the
most pedestrian performances in the set.
On the other hand, all of the works are paced well – perfect, as I noted,
for actually dancing. And there are genuinely good performances here: Tales
from the Vienna Woods is well-done by Ondrej Lenárd (sans zither,
though), Andrew Mogrelia’s expertise in ballet makes the extract from Sleeping
Beauty a delight, and the two Lehár pieces are very well done. I do regret
to report, though, that Strauss’s humungous, indeed symphony-sized introduction
to Wine, Women, and Song has been cut out.
One more regret, and it is a major one: the first run of discs released, including
my review copy, accidentally omitted Ivanovici’s Danube Waves, instead
substituting a re-run Lehár’s Gold and Silver. I have notified Naxos
and they have taken immediate action; all digital and downloadable copies
contain the right files, and subsequent printings of the discs will be corrected.
That first batch, though, might still be on shelves. Digression: In the mid-1990s,
I picked up a two-cassette pack of Johann Strauss hits and discovered that,
through a printing error, the “Treasure Waltz” was included no fewer than
three times!
This is a good introductory set for those newcomers who want a waltz fix.
It is a very good, cheap album for people learning to waltz who want some
background music for their lessons. As an introduction to specific composers
or styles, though, The Great Waltzes falls short. If you want two discs
to sum up the spirit of Vienna, for example, find the two “Carlos Kleiber
conducts Strauss” discs recorded at the 1989 and 1992 Vienna Philharmonic
New Year’s Concerts, the best Strauss programs I know. Naxos Historical has
an excellent “Lehár Conducts Lehár” CD with many of that composer’s classic
waltzes and overtures. In March of this year, I gave a delighted review
to a Johann Strauss Society CD of music by Iosif Ivanovici, which proved that
“Danube Waves” is just the beginning of his marvelous output.
As one-stop shopping for the waltz novice, though, this is a handy, well-curated
selection. It is also a useful survey of Marco Polo’s vast dance music collection.
If Naxos ever wants a two-disc set of the forgotten Viennese masterworks,
I hope they will contact me. I know where a few of the best treasures are
hidden: the utterly ingenious Ritter Pasman Waltz on Johann Strauss
Edition Volume 26, the indeed droll Drollery Polka one volume later,
the Seid Umschlungen, Millionen waltz (dedicated to Brahms) on Volume
19, Franz von Suppé’s frantic little Tantalusqualen overture, or the
two waltzes Karel Komzák dedicated to various girls of his acquaintance. If
you like what you hear on The Great Waltzes, there’s an impressively
huge body of work waiting to be discovered out there. And if you really are
just discovering the joy of the waltz, I envy you for the delights you are
about to encounter!
Brian Reinhart
see also review by Andrew
Morris
A well-programmed and decently played selection of, truly, the great waltzes
Full track listing:
CD 1
Franz LEHÁR (1870-1948)
Gold and Silver, waltz
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra/Michael Dittrich
Pyotr Il’yich TCHAIKOVSKY (1841-1893)
Waltz of the Flowers, from The Nutcracker
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra/Ondrej Lenárd
Johann STRAUSS II (1825-1899)
On the Beautiful Blue Danube, waltz
Strauss Festival Orchestra/Ondrej Lenárd
Émile WALDTEUFEL (1837-1915)
The Skaters, waltz
Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra/Kosice, Alfred Walter
Franz LEHÁR
The Merry Widow Waltz
Richard Hayman and his Symphony Orchestra
Pyotr Il’yich TCHAIKOVSKY
Waltz from Act I of The Sleeping Beauty
Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra, Kosice/Andrew Mogrelia
Johann STRAUSS II
Emperor Waltz
Strauss Festival Orchestra/Ondrej Lenárd
Pyotr Il’yich TCHAIKOVSKY
Waltz from Serenade for Strings
Vienna Chamber Orchestra/Philippe Entremont
Johann STRAUSS II
Tales from the Vienna Woods
Strauss Festival Orchestra/Ondrej Lenárd
CD 2
Johann STRAUSS II
Voices of Spring
Strauss Festival Orchestra/Ondrej Lenárd
Émile WALDTEUFEL
Tres jolie
Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra/Kosice, Alfred Walter
Pyotr Il’yich TCHAIKOVSKY
Waltz from Swan Lake
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra/Michael Halász
Iosif IVANOVICI (1845-1902)
Danube Waves, waltz
Budapest Strauss Ensemble, István Bogár
Adolphe ADAM (1803-1856)
Waltz from Act I of Giselle
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra/Ondrej Lenárd
Pyotr Il’yich TCHAIKOVSKY
Waltz from Eugene Onegin
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra/Ondrej Lenárd
Émile WALDTEUFEL
Estudiantina
Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra/Kosice, Alfred Walter
Émile WALDTEUFEL
Solitude
Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra/Kosice, Alfred Walter
Johann STRAUSS II
Wine, Women, and Song (abridged)
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra/Ondrej Lenárd
Aram KHACHATURIAN (1903-1978)
Waltz from Masquerade Suite
St Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra/Ondrej Lenárd
Richard STRAUSS (1864-1949)
Waltz Sequence No 1 from Der Rosenkavalier
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra/Zdenek Kosler