Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Concert 2020

[ahinton]

Why would anyone really want to go to this?

Answers on a postcard, please!

Save mailing charges and ask some of those who do!

[Petrushka]

Why would anyone really want to go to this?

Answers on a postcard, please!

I certainly would! I'm most definitely not from the 'Davos brigade' but I have been to a Vienna Philharmonic performance in the Musikverein (Mahler 3 in 2008 conducted by Bychkov) and it sounded fabulous, one of the great concert experiences of my life. Regarding the NYDC, being at that concert, on that day, with that music played by that orchestra, in that hall, in that city, well it doesn't get much better.

The only downside is that the conductors aren't Boskovsky, Karajan or Kleiber, undisputed masters of this repertoire. I say every year that Manfred Honeck (a former VPO player too) would be the ideal conductor for this. Why are the VPO not taking any notice?

[Alison]

Going back to Karajan, presumably this was quite an event at the time. Was it reported that he’d been asked before 1987 and not accepted till then?

[Petrushka]

Going back to Karajan, presumably this was quite an event at the time. Was it reported that he’d been asked before 1987 and not accepted till then?

After Clemens Krauss died in 1954, the VPO chose their concertmaster, Willi Boskovsky, to take it on as a short term measure. In the end he conducted it until 1979 and it was very much his domain. Upon Boskovsky's retirement due to ill health the orchestra was faced with a dilemma. Herbert von Karajan was tied to the Berlin Philharmonic and relations with the VPO were not as strong as they once had been. The VPO therefore turned to Lorin Maazel in 1980.

By the end of the 1980s Karajan's relationship with the Berliners had deteriorated and he began to conduct the VPO again. It was at this point that the orchestra invited him to conduct them in the 1987 New Year's Day Concert.

[Alison]

Thanks Pet, very interesting. I should really read Richard Osborne’s book.

[vinteuil]

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Why would anyone really want to go to this?

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I certainly would!

... I think quite a lot of us here would pay good money not to attend the Viennese New Year's Day concert : perhaps therefore we shd club together to fund Petrushka and Alison to attend so that we don't have to.



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[LHC]

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... I think quite a lot of us here would pay good money not to attend the Viennese New Year's Day concert : perhaps therefore we shd club together to fund Petrushka and Alison to attend so that we don't have to.



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Well if the rest of you are paying, I’d happily join Pet and Alison as I too would love to see this concert in the hall.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I certainly would! I'm most definitely not from the 'Davos brigade' but I have been to a Vienna Philharmonic performance in the Musikverein (Mahler 3 in 2008 conducted by Bychkov) and it sounded fabulous, one of the great concert experiences of my life. Regarding the NYDC, being at that concert, on that day, with that music played by that orchestra, in that hall, in that city, well it doesn't get much better.

The only downside is that the conductors aren't Boskovsky, Karajan or Kleiber, undisputed masters of this repertoire. I say every year that Manfred Honeck (a former VPO player too) would be the ideal conductor for this. Why are the VPO not taking any notice?

I would certainly go to a VPO concert there but preferably symphonic repertoire . On Honeck I could not agree more . I think he and his Pittsburgh band rather outclassed some more “illustrious” orchestras in a recent Mahler outing at the Proms. Perhaps the Musikverein might book them...

[Petrushka]

Thanks Pet, very interesting. I should really read Richard Osborne’s book.

Yes, it's a 'must read'. You should also try the DVD of the Boskovsky era to get a picture of how the NYDC was in those days. I have a spare copy so please PM me if you are interested. It includes the whole 1974 second half and various pieces from 1963 to 1979. Some of the ballet sequences (not many fortunately) are impossibly amateurish and cheesy but the real difference between then and now is the huge amount of fun and laughter. The Viennese humour can sometimes be a bit heavy handed and not travel well but it is way more enjoyable than the rather dour presentation we get now!

[Petrushka]

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... I think quite a lot of us here would pay good money not to attend the Viennese New Year's Day concert : perhaps therefore we shd club together to fund Petrushka and Alison to attend so that we don't have to.



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All contributions gratefully received!

[Zucchini]

... I think quite a lot of us here would pay good money not to attend the Viennese New Year's Day concert : perhaps therefore we shd club together to fund Petrushka and Alison to attend so that we don't have to..

Agreed. And let's make sure it's a special year with Andre Rieu playing some violin solos & Anne Widdecombe leading the dance bits & Claudia Winkleman presenting & causing half the males of the VPO to have heart attacks ...

[LHC]

Agreed. And let's make sure it's a special year with Andre Rieu playing some violin solos & Anne Widdecombe leading the dance bits & Claudia Winkleman presenting & causing half the males of the VPO to have heart attacks ...

I think you’ve got confused; that’s the Programme for next year’s LNOP.

[ahinton]

... I think quite a lot of us here would pay good money not to attend the Viennese New Year's Day concert : perhaps therefore we shd club together to fund Petrushka and Alison to attend so that we don't have to.

No one has to...

[vinteuil]

No one has to...

... is that a fact?




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[ahinton]

... is that a fact?

Well, put it this way, I've never encountered or even heard about press-gangs going around Vienna shouting at people "ve hef veys of making you attend das Neujahrskonzert!" but perhaps I missed out there...