Vienna Philharmonic
For the first time in history, a female group sang at the New Year’s Concert, in which an environmental organization tried to display a banner
A New Year’s concert by the Vienna Philharmonic should be faithful to tradition, and the one this year that begins was so to the extent that there were polkas, waltzes and music by the Strauss brothers. There were no surprises in this regard, although there were two novelties: the frustrated protest by an environmental group and the participation for the first time in its history of a girls’ choir.
Directed by the Austrian maestro Franz Welser-Möst (Linz, 62 years old), who already conducted the orchestra in the 2011 and 2013 editions, the Philharmonic performed this Sunday in the Golden Room of the ‘Wiener Musikverein’, which was packed with public.
The musicians performed 15 pieces in the main program, 14 of which had never been performed in the event’s 83-year history. Only the waltz ‘Aquarelas’, by Josef Strauss, had been included in the repertoire of the concert corresponding to the year 2002. «I want to show that many wonderful treasures are hidden here that are worth unearthing. It’s an exciting voyage of discovery for me and I think people will listen and say, “Wow, why haven’t we heard this before?” the director said a few days before the concert.
Instead of the usual march, Welser-Möst broke the ice with a fast polka, a composition by Eduard Strauss, entitled ‘Who’s going to dance?’ From there the orchestra attacked famous pieces from the Strauss dynasty and other Viennese authors of the time, such as Carl Michael Ziehrer, Franz von Suppè and Josef Hellmesberger. All this accompanied by the participation in three compositions of the Vienna State Ballet, with the choreography of the British Ashley Page.
Custom rules, so the recital ended with several pieces of gratuity, among them the essential ‘Prosit Neujahr’
In the second part, the Philharmonic performed the overture to the comic operetta ‘Isabella’, by Franz von Suppè; the waltz ‘Perlas de amor’ and the ‘Polka de Angélica’, by Josef Strauss; the fast polka ‘Up and Away’, by Eduard Strauss, and the French polka by Josef Strauss ‘Joyful Courage’. It was at this time that a historic premiere took place. For the first time in this concert a girls’ choir could be heard, that of the ‘Wiener Chormädchen’, who raised their voices together with their famous colleagues from the ‘Vienna Boys’ Choir’. According to a teletype from the APA news agency, local police officers aborted an attempted protest by six activists against climate change during the break. The environmental organization Última Generación reported that its members intended to display a banner with the slogan ‘Two more years’, to demand that politicians act urgently against the environmental crisis.
Custom rules, so the recital ended with several pieces of tip. The first of these was ‘Galop de los bandits’, by Johann Strauss Jr., followed by the essential ‘Prosit Neujahr’. All agree with the words of Friedrich Nietzsche invoked by the director: “Life without music would be a mistake.”
#Waltzes #polkas #choir #girls