Neujahrskonzert 2025
Wiener Philharmoniker/Riccardo Muti
rec. live, 2025, Goldener Saal des Wiener Musikvereins, Vienna
Sony 19802875582 [2 CDs: 97]
The first day of 2025 was marked in Vienna with the traditional Neujahrskonzert in the Musikverein. This year Riccardo Muti was invited to conduct for the seventh time, making him the most experienced New Year’s maestro alive. 2025 is the bicentenary of the birth of the Waltz King Johann Strauss II and I hope that as the year goes on this release is followed by others celebrating his joyous art.
As usual, the morning concert was produced for radio and television by ORF and relayed through the Eurovision organisation all over Europe and to many countries around the world, too. Sony have had the rights to issue the concert commercially for many years now, and as usual they have produced a quality product. The booklet notes this year focus on 1848, the year of revolutions. It is a substantial and interesting essay that takes us through all the music and also gives us plenty of context.
The programme includes eight pieces plus encores by J Strauss II, two by his brother Josef and one each by his father, youngest brother Eduard, a member of the Hellmesberger family and notably a certain Constanze Geiger, at the time a twelve-year-old girl of precocious talent. Geiger’s Ferdinandus-Walzer is the first piece composed by a woman ever to be presented at the New Year’s Concerts.
Incurable record collector that I am, it didn’t take too many years for me to complete my collection of Neujahrskonzerts (fewer than twenty for sure). They tend to sell well – they certainly used to anyway- and many of my acquisitions came second hand. I am now the proud owner of a complete set from 1979 to today. The records actually started with the release of the 1975 concert and there was a gap from 1984-86 but on my count that makes this release the 45th commercially produced record. The quality is invariably high and there are very few duds amongst them. My favourite would have to be Zubin Mehta in 1990 and I could wax lyrical on the attributes of so many others but here is not the place for that.
Muti is beloved of the Viennese and a master of this genre. His first New Year’s concert with the VPO was in 1993 and was a classic. He is now 83 years of age and is still regularly conducting them during their subscription season and at the Salzburg Festival each summer. He began this year with the Freedom March written by J Strauss I in 1848. This is quite interesting, as we know father and son were often at loggerheads over the politics of the day (and pretty much everything else actually). Johann the younger favoured the revolutionaries whilst Johann the elder was ever loyal to the monarchy. Perhaps the elder composer penned this work just before all the unrest of that year. As the notes say, we know J Strauss I could hardly have been a fully-paid-up member of the new order, as later on that year he had no problems writing the famous Radetzky March in celebration of the Austrian Field marshal who had just put down the rebellion in Lombardy-Venetia. At 2:40, Freiheits-Marsch is a nice little opener.
The first opportunity we have to hear the Viennese waltz is track 2, the adorable Village Swallows from Austria by Josef. This has been quite popular in recent years, having been chosen by Carlos Kleiber in 1992 and subsequently by Harnoncourt, Prêtre and Mehta. The other waltzes on the billing include J Strauss II’s Lagunen-Walzer, Accelerationen and Wein, Weib und Gesang, all favourites with the orchestra and the audience alike. Muti caresses the music with style and grace and his instinctive timing ensures these waltzes are delivered in the echt Viennese style. Of course, we all know this particular orchestra could play this music very well without a conductor; his job here is more to mould and shape, provide room for the phrasing and basically not get in the way too much. Nice work if you can get it!
The sound in the Musikverein as captured by Sony this year is warm, rich and deep. The hall has legendary acoustics being of the classic shoe-box design. The blend of wood, plaster and plenty of gold leaf makes for a unique resonance. The forty or so life-size gilded caryatids that support the balcony have an acoustic effect as well, believe it or not. They ensure there are more curves than straight walls and corners and make this venue as much a perfect soundbox as any Guarneri or Stradivarius.
Staying with the waltzes (the substantial musical numbers in the programme), I really enjoyed the performance of Josef’s Transactionen,a piece Muti had also included back in 1993. The traditional encore of An der schönen blauen Donau is charming as always, and apart from a warm hum of approval at the beginning, is unmarred by any audience noise. In fact, the editing by Sony is very neat throughout; we hear no applause after pieces and one can enjoy this concert at home without interruption or distraction. Obviously, this does not apply to the very last encore. I am not sure about this but it sounds like Maestro Muti after conducting the first encore: The Bayadère polka forgot to do the traditional “speech”. It sounds as if he starts the Blue Danube, then breaks off after receiving a signal. It is endearing anyway; we all make mistakes. His short message in Italian is about peace, brotherhood and love.
In between the waltzes we have the usual mix of polkas and marches and opening part 2 after the interval the overture to Der Zigeunerbaron by the bi-centenarian. Having lived with the CD for a few days, I can recommend it to put a spring in your step. In my house, we have a quirky habit of taking that years’ Neujahrskonzert on holiday with us in July/August. You would be surprised how well Strauss sounds in sunnier climes and I look forward to this one coming out to the Canaries with me.
I hear that the VPO have secured Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s services for the big day next year. They say on their website that it is part of their mission to work more with younger conductors. He will be fifty by then, which I guess still counts as young in that profession. I do hope, though, that Zubin Mehta might be able to come again, perhaps in 2027 (when he will be 90) – but for now, as they say in Vienna, Prosit Neujahr!
Philip Harrison
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Contents
Johann Strauss I
Freiheits-Marsch op. 226
Josef Strauss
Dorfschwalben aus Österreich op. 164
Johann Strauss Ii
Demolirer-Polka op. 269
Lagunen-Walzer op. 411
Eduard Strauss
Luftig und duftig op. 206
Johann Strauss Ii
Ouvertüre zu Der Zigeunerbaron
Accelerationen op. 234
Joseph Hellmesberger Ii
Fidele Brüder
Constanze Geiger
Ferdinandus-Walzer
Johann Strauss Ii
Entweder – oder! op. 403
Josef Strauss
Transactionen op. 184
Johann Strauss Ii
Annen-Polka op. 117
Tritsch-Tratsch op. 214
Wein, Weib und Gesang op. 333
Die Bajadere op. 351
An der schönen blauen Donau op. 314
Johann Strauss I
Radetzky-Marsch op. 228
