No jokes next week at Vienna’s New Year concert
NewsFranz Welser-Möst, in his first interview about the forthcoming Vienna extravaganza, says the world situation does not justify levity. ‘There will be no jokes. There will be a short speech, but we’ll wait until the end. Nothing is prearranged, who knows what else will happen in the world this year.’
He goes on to say that much of the Strauss family legacy remains untouched. ‘I have everything that Johann and Josef Strauss and Joseph Lanner wrote at home. During the pandemic, before I was invited to conduct the New Year’s concert, I often browsed through my library and discovered great things. When I was then invited, I asked for a list of all the pieces that had ever been played at the New Year’s concert to be sent to me. Seventy percent has never been played! Of course, as with Mr. Mozart, not everything is at an exalted level. Enough but at the highest level.’
Read on here.
Bravo,Franz! Looking forward to the concert.
This whole event is a massive joke and the perfect illustration of what is wrong with classical music in today’s society. Adding even more jokes would be redundant.
Any concert has aspects of what’s wrong with society; always did. Some concerts also have good or great music making. We can choose where to focus our attention. (As an angry young man, I was fiercely critical of Karajan for his past and passed up the chance to hear him conduct the BPO in Mahler’s Ninth Symphony, around the time when he made the legendary recording: my loss.)
Since Willi Boskovsky’s retirement in 1978, Vienna’s New Year’s Day concerts have seldom reached the quality of his days, not to speak of Clemens Krauss’s. Nevertheless, their quality is still high. The choice of at last part of their programs is thoughtful—Franz Welser-Möst is not unique in this respect.
We can find a lot to enjoy in current Vienna’s New Year’s Day concerts… especially if we don’t focus our attention to their Nazi origin, and don’t compare the performances to the best of the past:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHekMJ-2WBs
And we should remember that in this glorious recording from 1929, the VPO definitely included several wonderful ill fated Jewish musicians.
Are you sure it was your loss? One of the core problems is the reflex to impose over conductors a messianic stature. It is a symptom of weakness, and a phenomenon parallel to societies looking for the strong man to solve their problems.
Take away Karajan’s Mahler 9th from the universe. The universe is unchanged.
Classical music is toxic and needs to be put aside for a new form of music, made for today’s world.
No
Yes, it was my loss. I can tell from the recording.
My Karajan/BPO story is from the early 80s, when I was a student in Vienna. I had the privilege of hearing the VPO live many times, in concert and at the State Opera. They could sound very different, depending on the conductor. Under Karajan they had “his” sound we all know from recordings, with all its positives and negatives. Under some other very famous conductors they sometimes sounded unremarkable. So I am convinced that conductors can make a difference, even though many of them are overrated.
“Classical music is toxic and needs to be put aside for a new form of music, made for today’s world.”
Some bad trolling. Ramblings nonsense.
Over to you then! Get cracking!
I agree with your sentiment about the inappropriate stature of some conductors and, even, your link with fascist solutions … but you lose me with your claim that ‘a new form of music, made for today’s world (sic)’ … is needed …
Thanks for posting Erich Kleiber’s wonderful recording of Künstlerleben, Petros. His son did a pretty good job too…
https://youtu.be/QETmaErf-4U
Nobody is making you watch it. We’re all different. I’d much rather watch this, than yet another program glorifying John Williams.
Apples to oranges. John Williams may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but he knows his craft. His long and productive career is worth celebrating. Maybe it is also worth celebrating first class film music by other composers who did not achieve the fame they deserve.
My point exactly. You can watch John Williams and I’ll choose not to. As an f.y.i., TCM aired a terrific biopic on Max Steiner. For my money, he was the real deal.
Steiner was the least individual of the golden Hollywood era…Korngold,Rozsa,Tiomkin,Waxman,Alfred Newman,and later Alex North and Jerry Goldsmith were much more interesting….John Williams is the last giant,who also writes fantastic works for the concert hall…Let us and him enjoy his indian summer. At his age,every good day,every new score,every concert is a gift from God…An encore granted by God.
Which “god” ?
American-speak again by any chance?
I’m so tired of the “apples to oranges” response to the slightest suggestion that some artists merit more attention and deserve more praise than others. Benjamin Britten versus Karl Jenkins? Hey, apples to oranges. Franz Schubert versus Taylor Swift? Apples to oranges, Dude. To defend Williams on the grounds that he knows his craft is to damn him with the faintest of praise. I should hope he knows his craft; don’t we all?
“Apples to oranges”…How about = “We hit the ground running” ?
New Year’s concert celebration transcend all comments. It is still alive as a European cultural icone.
Incidentally, the Strauss family composed music for entertainment. In mmm if you really wanna label Strauss music with contemporary perception, you may call it dance music.
Whatever art makes you feel rising above common daily emotions and thoughts, it is worthily art, regardless comparisons.
Right on, Barry!
Yes, turn it off! Not compulsory.
How’s the new years concert a joke? Waiting with baited breath for this well thought out response..:
FWM announcement not to make a joke is already the best joke in 2023
When the VPO refused to cancel Gergiev’s Carnegie Hall concerts, until they were cancelled for them: THAT was no joke!
No Jokes? What a waste…Franz worst than most seems such the entertainer…..this bad pun apart, his concerts are always interesting because of the rare repertoire, and he’s well documented and will be even more in the future in the Sony CD set which includes all new years concert repertoire with WPO and different conductors which has been updated once already. He has a transparent and light style in this music, maybe just taking everything too seriously as his comment confirms it and refusing some vulgarity , some hush hush, some canaille accents it should contain….i will listen to it.
Do the Austrians have a sense of humour?
I don’t about now but Mozart certainly did.
Someone has had too much saus at the Christmas party.
No jokes needed. Everything is in the music.
I agree with Herr Welser-Möst, but it might be worth noting that the New Years Concert was established during WWII to give the public a bit of relief from the gloom and horror of war. It could be seen as an example of Gelassenheit, a characteristic that distinguishes Austrian culture from Germany. One could say that in Austria, serenity is a serious matter.
Don’t Bavarians also have some Gelassenheit? (I have heard Germans bash the Bavarians, though the only specific criticism was about yet another Strauss: Franz-Josef).
Yes, the Austro-Bavarian cultures are very similar, though the Bavarians drink a lot more beer, and are a bit more problematic when they decide to conquer the world. (Sorry, a bit of levity.) I prefer the lilting Austrian dialect.
Bavarians wanted to conquer the world ???? I think you had too much Budweiser….
Munich is where Hitler established and built his career as a politician, and where he formulated his plans for world domination. He eventually built large political support in the city with these ideals, and Munich became the springboard for his German chancellorship. This history, of course, isn’t too popular in Munich which would prefer to forget it all.
I should also note (for the deniers) that people knew what Hitler’s plans were. He spelled them out in black and white in Mein Kampf.
Sounds like the Scots and the English! Hahahaha!
Yes, it served its purpose and I was the first to watch it, bit now it’s getting so boring and is outdated for general consumption. The BBC have the sense to broadcast only the second half knowing it’s too early for us Brits to.sing along with The Blue Danube at 10am after a Scottish Hogmanay until 5am along with bagpipes and whisky!
*NO viola players will be targeted for off color humor, even though they should be.
IF at all possible, do try to make it a point to attend and enjoy this Viennese Tradition at some point
in your Life.
Too expensive and sold out by 2nd January by the rich.
Yes, the top prices are high, but they are much lower on the two editions of the concert (on 30 and 31 December) which precede the famous one on New Year’s Day but – afaik – have the same programme and conductor.
Tickets for all three are allocated by a ballot, which I have been entering, without success, for decades. But I have no reason to believe that that is not a genuine and fair process, oder?