Customer Reviews

Music from Old Vienna

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This is another one of those Naxos discs that you don't expect, but when you hear it you think: Yes, this is it! Recorded in 1988 at the studios of the Czech recording company Opus, this disc presents music as played towards the end of the 19th century in Vienna by the Schrammel Quartet, a group which became world-famous playing a G clarinet, a bass guitar (thirteen strings and two necks!) and two violins. The music was lost for almost 80 years before being re-discovered in manuscript form by two Viennese professors; here it is played by the Thalia-Schrammeln, a quartet made up of graduates of the Vienna Musikhochschule and who have made it their task to play this music in its original form (as far as this is available), even wearing the traditional clothing during their performances (see the cover illustration). Of course, this is not "serious" music, although apparently Brahms, among others, was enamoured of it; mostly it sounds like a "pop" version of Johann Strauss Jr. with plenty of waltzes, polkas and marches, and for the uninitiated it is quite difficult to tell the pieces apart. But the recorded performance sounds really cute and definitely conveys that light-hearted, sassy Vienna feeling; the engineering is impeccable.

... for not recording more of Thalia Schrammeln. This is some of the best ear candy I've ever enjoyed. This sassy little chamber ensemble makes a nice contrast to the New Year's concerts and the perhaps too-familiar symphony orchestra sound of Viennese music. The only bad thing about the Strauss family is that their greatness tends to blot out the fact that there were others writing worthwhile music in the same genre. Naxos has done a service by bringing us five discs of Carl Michael Ziehrer on its Marco Polo imprint, along with two of Karl Komzak. We could use a lot more of what I might term "Alternative Viennese."

Absolutely beautiful music. Love to listen to the "schrammelmusik" that you often hear in the wine gardens on the outskirts of Vienna in the summer and this CD brings back those memories.

I'm all about 'background ambient' as I find noise (tv, radio, most music) too distracting when I'm trying to work. This qualifies as 'stringed ambient'. Recorded in 1988, unfortunately there appears to be nothing else by them, or so a five minute google search reveals. A shame, indeed.