KOMZÁK, LANNER, MILLÖCKER, STRAUSS, SUPPÉ, ZIEHRER
Overtures, Marches, Polkas and Waltzes
Franz von SUPPÉ (1819-1895)
Overture: Ein Morgen, ein Mittag und ein Abend in Wien (1844)
Overture: Boccaccio (1879)
Overture: Leicht Kavallerie (1866)
Overture: Dichter und Bauer (1846)
Marsch: Fatinitza
Karel KOMZÁK (1850-1905)
Walzer: Bad'ner Mad'ln (1890s)
Walzer: An der schönen grunen Narenta (1890s)
Fideles Wien
Marsch: Echtes Wiener Blut
Marsch: Erzherzog Albrecht (1877)
Carl Michael ZIEHRER (1843-1922)
Overture: Die Landstreicher
Marsch: Hoch und Nieder
Polka: Loslassen
Walzer: Faschingskinder
Schönfeld-Marsch (1890)
Walzer: Weaner Mad'ln
Polka: Das liegt bei uns im Blut
Johann STRAUSS II (1825-1899)
Overture: Blindekuh (1878)
Overture: Eine Nacht in Venedig (1883)
Josef STRAUSS (1827-1870)
Walzer: Perlen der Liebe (1857)
Joseph LANNER (1801-1843)
Walzer: Abendsterne (1841)
Walzer: Jagd-Galoppe
Walzer: Die Romantiker (1841)
Carl MILLÖCKER (1842-1899)
Walzer: Carletta
Traum-Walzer (1894)
Polka: Postscriptum
Wiener Johann-Strauss-Orchestra/Willi Boskovsky
rec. May 1971, May and Oct 1972, Redoutensaal, Hofburg; Simmeringer Hof, Vienna. ADD
EMI CLASSICS DOUBLE FFORTE 5 75676 2 [78.29+77.49]

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A rapid scan through the contents list for this packed pair of discs will confirm a generous shovelful of old-fashioned light classics both famous and peripheral. This repertoire reeks of the era of 78s (in compact form many of these pieces could be squeezed onto one or two sides of shellac) and of the occasional celebrity slum-fest in Vienna. In fairness Boskovsky immersed himself in this music conducting with affable brilliance both the VPO and, as here, lesser ensembles but always with his performances defining 'echt Wienerisch'. To the music ..... that admixture of workaday and eager brilliance.

The Suppé overtures are a strange amalgam of Weber's effervescence and stiff-necked absurdity. Boccaccio has some miraculously fine playing. Its writing is indebted to the Mendelssohn Octet and to Mozart both in the spirit of Nozze and the alla turca manner. Light Cavalry (true George Weldon and George Hurst territory) spins together Rossinian gestures with fanfares from Bruckner and Leonora No. 3 - a melodramatic soup! In Poet and Peasant it is easy to trace the poet in the solo cello with its loving sweet braggartry. After four overtures, a Von Suppé march comes as a surprise but this one has the same Turkish paprika as the Boccaccio overture.

Komzák wrote a waltz of sly charm in Bad’ner Mad’ln but found an emotionally charged ripeness in Narenta. The Komzák marches were haughty, all waxed moustaches and tipsy; quite a contrast with the laid-back polka Das liegt bei uns im Blut.

Johann Strauss II is represented by two overtures: one very famous; the other obscure. Eine Nacht in Venedig here sounds dull by contrast with the jolly Blindekuh. The Waltz Perlen der Liebe by Josef Strauss is sly and wreathed in mercurial charm.

Waltzes by Lanner and Millöcker round out the collection. Of the two the Millöcker works have a certain freshness and inspiration. While the playing is not the dernier cri in tonal opulence it is buoyant and rhythmically lively.

Carl Ziehrer died in the 1920s, the longest surviving of the famous nineteenth century brethren. Landstreicher suffers from a bit of pre-echo. It is a work of hussar bustle and some charming pin-point dancing - heel and toe. In Hoch und Nieder the strings, never opulent in these recordings, here sound strident although they are used cleverly by this practised conductor. Faschingskinder is a real winner with intimate chamber textures drawn from a small ensemble putting across a sedately rounded regal waltz. Listening to the Schönfeld Marsch one can hear the quarry from which Sousa mined his ideas.

Rob Barnett

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