The music of the Strauss family remains one of the most popular areas of the orchestral repertory. This remarkable family of six composers created nearly fifteen hundred compositions, notable chiefly for their glorious melodies, but also for their wonderful mastery of the orchestra.

Willi Boskowsky (1909-1991) remains the world's most famous interpreter of this repertoire. Even more than a decade after his death his influence is still profound, his reputation every bit as strong. And this set of five CDs from French EMI tells us why. The feeling for the style is palpable, everything absolutely in its right place, tempi and phrasing immaculately judged.

Of course Boskowsky had recorded much of this music before in performances with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra for Decca. Those recordings received enthusiastic acclaim, while some of these EMI performances with the 'pick-up' recording band, the Johann Strauss Orchestra of Vienna, have had a less universal praise. To some extent that came down to the recordings, but they have come up with great freshness in the new transfers and doubts have been swept away. Warm and rich tone have now become allied with detail as and when required. Such is modern technology and all praise to the EMI engineers. As for the orchestral playing it is committed and idiomatic, and one suspects that the Viennese orchestral musicians on parade here are those same musicians who play for the Philharmonic and the Opera too.

With more than five hours of music in the collection, there is inevitably a mixture of well loved classics - they are all here - and the interesting byways of what as an enormous body of music.. And that is precisely how it should be, because when it is well played this music is hugely enjoyable for the first-time listener. One small worry for the English speaking and reading purchaser of these discs is that the notes are only in French. They are also relatively brief. Therefore the marvellous fund of entertaining stories which lies behind the music is not available unless research is done elsewhere, and this is a pity, even at so appealing a price in the bargain range.

Throughout the set it is clear that both orchestra and conductor (Boskovsky always conducted from the leader's desk with the bow) know and love the music. For the performances are lovingly shaped and warmly stylish, as required. In this context it is only possible to suggest examples as an arbitrary insight into the excellence and fun on offer, but it still must be done. Try the exciting cutting edge of the Thunder and Lightning Polka (CD2) as an example of the fast and spirited numbers, or the quite wonderful warmth of phrasing as Roses from the South (CD1) unfolds its wealth of glorious melody.

The glories of the Strauss family's imaginative and colourful orchestration are heard to good advantage here, and the architectural mastery of the larger waltzes of Johann and Josef is delivered by Boskovsky with the utmost assurance. For example, both the Emperor Waltz and Tales from the Vienna Woods are more than ten minutes in duration, veritable tone poems of structural strength and subtlety. There may arguably be more powerful versions of these scores in the catalogue, but there are none which are more genuinely Viennese.

Terry Barfoot

Return to Index