2018 New Year's Concert (Riccardo Muti, Conducting)

Riccardo Muti leads this year’s jubilant concert, offering an illustrious gathering of waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and marches. Muti’s affinity for the Viennese lilt comes across with lush authenticity, especially in the perennial Tales from the Vienna Woods, the equally hypnotic Roses from the South, and a marvelous novelty, the Myrthenblueten of Johann Strauss II.
The various marches project a direct nobility and pomp requisite to the occasion, opening with Entrance March from Der Zigeunerbaron. Lesser known, the Festmarsch celebrates the wedding of Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria and Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma. For an unusual romp, try Johann Strauss Sr.’s William Tell Galopp, which provides the “Lone Ranger” finale of the Rossini overture, amended with 16 new measures. The Johann Strauss II Quadrille on themes from Verdi’s A Masked Ball has a courtly energy and natural Italian buoyancy. The gifted Franz von Suppe gave us his infectious Boccaccio Overture. Alfons Czibulka, a military bandmaster, pays homage to Crown Prince Rudolf in his charming Stephanie-Gavotte. From the talented Josef Strauss, we have a rarity, Wiener Fresken.
Throughout the evening, the marvelous VPO strings, trumpet work, zither, harp, flute, cymbals, and snare drum make the musical effects live in vibrant Technicolor. The crisp attacks in the polkas Leichtes Blut and Eingesendet – the formal end of the concert—literally ricochet with simmering energy. Muti’s first encore, Unter Donner und Blitz, explodes with circus pageantry. He then—accompanied by trembling strings of the Danube waltz – makes the obligatory address to the Viennese, and segues into the eternal On the Beautiful, Blue Danube. The rousing Radetzky March of Johann Strauss, Sr. immediately invites admiring clapping and foot stomping.