NEW YEAR'S CONCERT 2008
Music of the Strauss family, Josef Strauss, Hellmesberger and Lanner,
with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Georges Pretre.
with the
Vienna State Opera Ballet
DECCA DVD VIDEO B 0010693 TT: 150 min + 25 min. UEFA documentary
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'BEST OF NEW YEAR'S CONCERT"
A compilation of performances recorded during New Year's Concerts from
the last thirty years with conductors Carlos Kleiber, Mariss Jansons,
Seiji Ozawa, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Willi Boskovsky and Riccardo
Muti
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON DVD VIDEO 00440 073 4422 TT: 116 min.
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BRAHMS: Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68. Symphony No. 2 in D, Op.
73. Symphony No. 3 in F, Op. 90. Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98.
Berlin Philharmonic Orch/Herbert von Karajan, cond.
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON DVD VIDEO 004400734386 (2 disks) TT: 161 min.
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The New Year's Concert of 2008 conducted by Georges Pretre, the first
French conductor to lead one of these annual events, was one of the best
ever — a total delight in every way.
It included six works receiving their first performances at the event:
Johann
Strauss's French polka Parisien, Paris waltz, and Versailles galop,
and his son's Napoleon march, and Orpheus quadrille,
as well as Josef Strauss's Laxenburg polka. Pretre was not a
newcomer to Vienna.
He was
principal
guest
conductor of the
Vienna
Symphony
from
1986-1991,
and
had conducted
at
the Vienna
State Opera. His infectious good spirit pervades the concert and everyone
has a great time, with the Vienna Philharmonic in top form. The DVD offers
Brian Large's Director's Cut version that includes several dance sequences
with the Vienna State Opera Ballet, a performance by the Spanish Riding
School, plus a danced documentary on UEFA (Union of European Football
Associations). A totally enjoyable disk, both visually and sonically.
The "Best Of" DVD offers highlights from nine New Year's Concerts between
1975 and 2007, with conductors Willi Boskovsky, Mariss Jansons, Carlos
Kleiber, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, and Seiji Ozawa.Also
we have performances by the Vienna State Opera Ballet, and some scenes
of Vienna that add little to the proceedings. As a sampler, it's OK.
Brian Large directed most of the videos and did his usual fine job. The
5.l surround sound is artificial but adequate.
If you'd like to spend well over two hours watching an expressionless
Herbert von Karajan conducting with his eyes closed, get DGG's set of
all four
symphonies
of Brahms recorded with the Berlin Philharmonic early in 1973. These
are edited from a series of live performances before invited audience,
interspersed with studio sessions of instrumental close ups that were
edited into the final films. These are magnificent performances of the
Brahms symphonies, all favorites of the conductor (he made the first
of his many recordings of Symphony No. 1 in 1943 with the Concertgebouw
Orchestra—intriguing to note that tempi are almost exactly the
same in 1973 as they were 30 years earlier). Karajan's DGG audio recordings
of
these symphonies with the Berlin Philharmonic are available at less than
half the cost of this DVD two-disk set.
R.E.B. (May 2008)
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