Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Concert 2023

[LHC]

Also good to see the girls singing alongside the boys.

Boosts the female quotient by some way too…

10 girls in the Choir and 11 women in the Orchestra, so the ratios of male to female in both are probably about the same.

[JasonPalmer]

Completely forgot about this concert, now have BBC two on....presume it will end up on iplayer.

EE up its that music from 2001, what's all this dancing about,where's the spaceships eh

[Prommer]

One used to be able to zap the ballet and get back to the band?

I am amazed the VPO do not wish to be ‘seen’ playing the Blue Danube. The ballet sequences seem to become more extensive every year.

Or am I imagining all of this?!

[Bryn]

One used to be able to zap the ballet and get back to the band?

I am amazed the VPO do not wish to be ‘seen’ playing the Blue Danube. The ballet sequences seem to become more extensive every year.

Or am I imagining all of this?!

Do you mean this one?

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PDCi3SKWr0)

[Prommer]

Christian Thielemann next year which is, in theory, a good call… but his last one with them was comparatively disappointing.

[Dave2002]

How were the scenes at Melk Abbey done? Is there really no snow there, and much sun, or were those scenes pre-recorded? If so, there would have been considerable synchronisation problems with the live performance.

The concert itself seemed pretty "functional" to me - "we have to do it, and this is what it's going to be". Musically really quite unexciting. Then again, much music is functional - to serve occasions - so in that respect this wasn't unusual.

[oddoneout]

I thought the CGI rather inventive.

I thoroughly enjoyed that part of the TV broadcast, although not being able to make out the music credits at the end was annoying(thank you to EH for identifying one of them - I was part way there as it turned out, much to my surprise as it's not something I'm at all good at) It made a change from the scenery versions of the Tourist Board slot in previous years, pleasant as those are.
Perhaps the fact that I work at an historical site open at the public made this of more interest than for many forumites, and I accept that in some respects it has little to do(other than some form of tradition) with the New year concert broadcast. Thanks to a collaboration with an American college we have an early version of the "building a 3D image and then flying through it" type of display, and things have moved on considerably since then. Bringing the old photos to life with musicians in situ, and juxtaposing the old with the new was I thought very well done - and a welcome lack of nausea inducing frenetic camera work.
Hearing unfamiliar music in the programme I liked not least because it seemed to highlight the old faithfuls which otherwise I tend to find myself rather disengaging from.
The ballet interludes, as always, I could really do without, not least as seeing them dance on gravel and flagstones in ballet pumps makes me wince. If the intention is to highlight the dance nature/origin of the music being played then why not do it indoors in a suitably impressive building, rather than random snippets of heatwave summertime outside locations?

[Ein Heldenleben]

[QUOTE=Dave2002;903968]How were the scenes at Melk Abbey done? Is there really no snow there, and much sun, or were those scenes pre-recorded? If so, there would have been considerable synchronisation problems with the live performance.

I reckon they are pre recorded (leaves are a giveaway) and danced to a playback on speakers of the same piece (obvs ) done by the same orchestra. The ballet tape usually comes in some way into the piece so the person on playback will go off a bar count to press instantaneous start. You are then relying on F W-M live matching the recorded performance. This could be done by feeding a video recording of himself conducting the recording , a click track fed to his ear (unlikely) or relying on his innate musicality to match a previous performance . My guess is they do the last play and hope version. Unlike singing you don’t notice synchronicity issues in ballet so much particularly when the choreography is so generic and frankly cliched.

[hmvman]

How were the scenes at Melk Abbey done? Is there really no snow there, and much sun, or were those scenes pre-recorded? If so, there would have been considerable synchronisation problems with the live performance.

The concert itself seemed pretty "functional" to me - "we have to do it, and this is what it's going to be". Musically really quite unexciting. Then again, much music is functional - to serve occasions - so in that respect this wasn't unusual.

The ballet sequences are pre-recorded. Petroc said during the summer for the first one but from the colour of the trees it looked like early autumn to me. It is a considerable feat of synchronisation by the orchestra at the concert but it may be that there is some 'looseness' in the filmed sequences to allow for it.

This concert is what it is, a light confection for an international audience and as such I enjoy it. After our NYE of entertaining with an early hours bedtime, this concert is a very pleasant way of easing into New Year's Day; I don't think I'm ready for an 'exciting' concert at that stage!

I'm not particularly a fan of the ballet sequences but I do enjoy the filming and the lighting in them. So, all-in-all, I'm happy that this event is much the same each year but it was good to hear so many new pieces this year. Well done, FW-M.

[kernelbogey]

Bringing the old photos to life with musicians in situ, and juxtaposing the old with the new was I thought very well done - and a welcome lack of nausea inducing frenetic camera work.

Rationale was it's the 150th anniversary of the 1873 Exhibition in Vienna.

[LHC]

[QUOTE=Ein Heldenleben;903979]

How were the scenes at Melk Abbey done? Is there really no snow there, and much sun, or were those scenes pre-recorded? If so, there would have been considerable synchronisation problems with the live performance.

I reckon they are pre recorded (leaves are a giveaway) and danced to a playback on speakers of the same piece (obvs ) done by the same orchestra. The ballet tape usually comes in some way into the piece so the person on playback will go off a bar count to press instantaneous start. You are then relying on F W-M live matching the recorded performance. This could be done by feeding a video recording of himself conducting the recording , a click track fed to his ear (unlikely) or relying on his innate musicality to match a previous performance . My guess is they do the last play and hope version. Unlike singing you don’t notice synchronicity issues in ballet so much particularly when the choreography is so generic and frankly cliched.

As we didn’t see the orchestra at all during the Blue Danube, I did wonder if the music relayed over radio and TV for this one piece was a recording from last night’s concert. This would make it much easier to synchronise the pre-recorded ballet sequence with the orchestra’s performance.

In previous years the ballet sequences have been interspersed with live TV shots from the hall, which also allows for easier synchronisation as you can reset the video each time you return to the hall and it is unlikely that any drift in timings will be noticed during a relatively short sequence.

The ballet sequences are usually pre-recorded, although I do remember one year when the dancers performed in the foyer and on the stairs of the Musikverein, and then entered the hall at the end of the Blue Danube. That year they were clearly performing live.

[Ein Heldenleben]

[QUOTE=LHC;903983]

As we didn’t see the orchestra at all during the Blue Danube, I did wonder if the music relayed over radio and TV for this one piece was a recording from last night’s concert. This would make it much easier to synchronise the pre-recorded ballet sequence with the orchestra’s performance.

In previous years the ballet sequences have been interspersed with live TV shots from the hall, which also allows for easier synchronisation as you can reset the video each time you return to the hall and it is unlikely that any drift in timings will be noticed during a relatively short sequence.

The ballet sequences are usually pre-recorded, although I do remember one year when the dancers performed in the foyer and on the stairs of the Musikverein, and then entered the hall at the end of the Blue Danube. That year they were clearly performing live.

Didn’t see the Blue Danube . But what you are suggesting wouldn’t work for the dancers unless last nights performance recording was the same duration as the playback recording used for the ballet sequences and had the same tempo fluctuations . It would be easier to use todays live performance for TV sound as at least that can be adjusted on the fly - particularly if the conductor has a video feed of the ballet . Pretty much like conducting a ballet perf but this time the conductor has to work to the dancers and not the other way round!

[oddoneout]

Rationale was it's the 150th anniversary of the 1873 Exhibition in Vienna.

Yes, I realised that fairly early on, something to do with that book F W-M was looking at (acting isn't his forte, bless him!), and the banners that unfurled over the heads of one of the performing groups... I did find the onscreen info difficult to read (an increasing tendency I've noticed, small pale script over whatever is being filmed, so often a lack of contrast - evidently the look is more important than the function) so some of the detail about specifics went missing; never mind I just enjoyed watching it for its own sake.

[Petrushka]

FW-M seemed much more assured this morning than he has done on his previous occasions at the helm of this concert. Part of that might be due to the fact that so many of the items would have been unknown to the orchestra never mind to connoisseurs of this music like me. This was my 51st NYDC!

Unless they are to be danced live, the music to be used for the ballet sequences is recorded in the summer (a previous interval feature showed Barenboim doing this at Salzburg) and as already noted any differences in synchronization will barely be noticed. I'd be happier if the ballet was ditched but then I remember that the Emperor Waltz at Karajan's 1987 concert was done live and was unexpectedly moving, a real touch of old Vienna. Be assured that the ballet sequences 50 or so years ago were unbelievably naff.

The main takeaway from this morning was the amazing talent of Josef Strauss. Perlen der Liebe and Aquarallen are both tremendous waltzes, the first revealing Josef's introvert, romantic sensitivity, the second energ etic and more extrovert in nature. Lovers of the music of the Strauss Family know that Josef is the most talented one of them all and it was great to have him showcased today.

[RichardB]

I found it very interesting to have all the unfamiliar pieces in the programme particularly since, as Petrushka says, even if he didn't have as many hits as Johann II, Josef's output actually contains a larger proportion of memorable and individual pieces.

I wonder why everyone is so down on FW-M, not just as a conductor of this concert but generally. I hadn't seen him conduct before and I had the strong impression that he conceived his function as getting out of the way of the music and letting the orchestra do what they do best. What more could you want?