New Year's Concert in Vienna 2008 ~ Pretre

Georges Pretre (Conductor), Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: Georges Pretre
• Audio CD (February 12, 2008)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Decca
• ASIN: B000XH2BJI
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #109,652 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Johann Strauss II Napoleon March, op. 156

2. Josef Strauss "Village Swallows from Austria" Waltz, op. 164

3. Josef Strauss Laxenburg Polka

4. Johann Strauss I Paris Waltzes

5. Johann Strauss I Versailles Gallop

6. Johann Strauss II Orpheus-Quadrille, op. 236

7. Joseph Hellmesberger jr. Kleiner Anzeiger Gallop, op. 4

8. Johann Strauss II Overture from "Indigo and the Forty Thieves"

9. Johann Strauss II "Enjoy Life" Waltz, op. 340

10. Johann Strauss II Bluette--French Polka, op. 271

11. Johann Strauss II Chit-Chat Polka, op. 214

12. Joseph Lanner Hofball-Tänze Waltz, op. 161

13. Josef Strauss The Dragonfly Polka, op. 204

14. Johann Strauss II Russian March, op. 426

15. Johann Strauss II The Parisian--French Polka, op. 238

16. Johann Strauss I Chinese Gallop, op. 20

17. Johann Strauss II The Emperor Waltz, op. 437

18. Johann Strauss II The Bayadere Polka, op. 351

19. Josef Strauss Sport Polka, op. 170

20. Johann Strauss II "On the Beautiful Blue Danube" op. 314

See all 21 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

The New Year's Concert in Vienna has been a glorious tradition for over six decades. A best-selling classical event, the concert has a unique global appeal. It has been broadcast on TV and radio to over 50 countries, and is viewed by tens of millions of people all over the world. The 2008 New Year's Day Concert will be conducted by the eminent conductor Georges Prêtre, the first French conductor to receive this honor. The concert program for January 1, 2008 will be the customary collection of Strauss delights, but this time with a French theme. Receiving its first performance at a New Year's Concert, Napoleon March op. 156 by Johann Strauss II will open the program. The traditional encores of Blue Danube Waltz and Radetzky March will be joined by the Sport Polka as a nod to the European Football Championship to be held in Vienna in 2008. The Summer Olympics in Beijing is also being saluted by the orchestra with an early work of the elder Johann Strauss, his exotically colored Chinese Gallop.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yet another splendid New Year's Concert from the Vienna Philharmonic, April 27, 2008

By 

John Kwok (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: New Year's Concert in Vienna 2008 ~ Pretre (Audio CD)

Distinguished French operatic conductor Georges Pretre was definitely an odd choice to lead this year's concert at Vienna's venerable Musikverein, but he demonstrates a warm affinity for the Viennese waltz tradition in this rather well-played concert. With the possible exception of the Blue Danube Waltz, I thought Pretre was absolutely superb in conducting the Wiener Philharmoniker, though perhaps it was more the Wiener Philharmoniker, not Pretre himself, who understood quite well the rich musical textures of J. Strauss II's scores. Nonetheless, this has to rank among the better New Year's Concerts in recent memory, even though I regard as more memorable both of Harnoncourt's concerts conducted earlier in this decade, as well as Mehta's exceptional 2007 concert. And yet, as I have noted before, Pretre demonstrates that he is a fine interpreter of the Strauss family's music, which is represented here by works composed not only by Johann Strauss II, but also several pieces - including the traditional encore "Radetzky March" - by his father Johann Strauss I and by his brother Josef Strauss. Following in the wake of Warner Classics (Teldec) and Deutsche Grammophon, Decca has wisely opted to present the entire concert in this two CD package.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Never, ever... dissappointed with this series :-), May 27, 2008

By 

Ron Lee (MA, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: New Year's Concert in Vienna 2008 ~ Pretre (Audio CD)

I started to listen to classical music by the New Year Concert of the year 2003... after that I tried to collect all the concert in this series. Even though they play almost the same songs year by year... but they sound to me very different... love them all !

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Nice Presentation, April 22, 2008

By 

Ken Bailey "mikoyan" (Ypsilanti, MI United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: New Year's Concert in Vienna 2008 ~ Pretre (Audio CD)

A friend of mine turned me on to the New Year's Concerts a few years ago. I started to get these starting with the 2002 Hybrid SACD version. I usually don't catch the live broadcast when it's on PBS, but the few times I have, it has been amazing especially when they show the scenes of Vienna.

This year they had a French conducter and that was evident as one of the songs had the Can Can in it. The rest of the songs were very well selected and sounded very good. I love the tradition of ending every concert with the Blue Danube and the Radetsky March (except for one year when the world was too unpleasant).