New Year concert/VPO nyd fwm

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Thank goodness it doesn't have the meaning given in the slang dictionary - http://www.internetslang.com/FWM-meaning-definition.asp

I can only repeat:

[hmvman]

I enjoyed Radetzky more than Danube for once this year.

Still not convinced that FWM is quite a top notcher and yet plenty to enjoy if you were minded to do so.

Even on BBCHD the sound seemed rather airless and without perspective which marred my pleasure somewhat.

A listen again on a HD radio stream beckons this evening.

I agree with you about the sound, Alison. I thought it a bit 'flat' and unengaging. I agree, too, that there's not much 'fizz' with FWM conducting and I felt the same a couple of years ago. But this concert has been a tradition in our house since 2004 and I always enjoy it for what it is: a bit of light-hearted fun and some good tunes (in my humble opinion of course!)

[cloughie]

I agree with you about the sound, Alison. I thought it a bit 'flat' and unengaging. I agree, too, that there's not much 'fizz' with FWM conducting and I felt the same a couple of years ago. But this concert has been a tradition in our house since 2004 and I always enjoy it for what it is: a bit of light-hearted fun and some good tunes (in my humble opinion of course!)

I'm sure that Strauss' waltzes are all good music, well written even though many sound similar but bearing in mind the range of musical masterpieces that the VPO play week in week out I sometimes think that the great machine playing Strauss is comparable to gold-plating a dustbin!

I now dive for cover!

[MrGongGong]

I'm sure that Strauss' waltzes are all good music, well written even though many sound similar but bearing in mind the range of musical masterpieces that the VPO play week in week out I sometimes think that the great machine playing Strauss is comparable to gold-plating a dustbin!

I now dive for cover!

I'm already hiding behind the sofa

[amateur51]

I'm already hiding behind the sofa

Shove UP!!

[Flosshilde]

I'm sure that Strauss' waltzes are all good music, well written even though many sound similar but bearing in mind the range of musical masterpieces that the VPO play week in week out I sometimes think that the great machine playing Strauss is comparable to gold-plating a dustbin!

I now dive for cover!

Who would you prefer to hear playing it?


It might not be great music, but much of it is good music, of its kind. & anyway, it made a very good accompaniment to preparing the veg for Christmas dinner.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

& anyway, it made a very good accompaniment to preparing the veg for Christmas dinner.

Are you a little late or very early, Flossie?

[MrGongGong]

Are you a little late or very early, Flossie?

I thought everyone put the sprouts on on January 1st ?

[Flosshilde]

Are you a little late or very early, Flossie?

Both me & Mr Flossie have had very bad colds & neither of us felt like cooking or eating Christmas dinner on Christmas Day, so the turkey went in the freezer. We're having it today, instead of the traditional steak pie.

[Nick Armstrong]

I agree with you about the sound, Alison. I thought it a bit 'flat' and unengaging. I agree, too, that there's not much 'fizz' with FWM conducting

Always hope for the magic of Kleiber, but FW-M's performances seemed just bland to me (aggravated by the sound perhaps). I lasted about 20 minutes.

V glad to read hautboiste's timbers were shivered, however ... and I'm looking forward to hearing what cloughie, 2gongs and ammy got up to together behind the sofa

[Alison]

Yes I agree Petroc did rather well. On balance a more companionable guide than (poor old) Brian Kay.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Both me & Mr Flossie have had very bad colds & neither of us felt like cooking or eating Christmas dinner on Christmas Day, so the turkey went in the freezer. We're having it today, instead of the traditional steak pie.

Ah, yes! I think I remember you mentioning this elsewhere. Glad the colds have gone and hope you enjoy the roasts. (Roast lamb chez me!)

[DracoM]

Gosh, that 'concert' was real kitsch, mit sahne or what.

And F-WM looked like a befuddled child throughout. That band hardly looked at him once and I bet they could play that entire programme without a conductor. Begin to see why the LPO applied that soubriquet to him.

[Stanfordian]

I love to watch the annual New Year's Day Concert from Vienna. Although this is Franz Welser-Möst's second time I feel that he is rather lacking in personality for this joyous and light hearted annual event. To me he seems like a rabbit caught in the headlights.

[Petrushka]

If I was to use one word to describe my own feeling I'd say 'unengaged'. The VPO seemed oddly unengaged as well; they didn't look as if they were enjoying themselves. Agree that the sound on the HD channel only added to the sense of lack of engagement.

I also have to question the programme running order. We really needed an overture to open. Light Cavalry would have made a great pipe-opener and got everybody in the mood but there are a good number of overtures from Strauss, Suppé or Ziehrer that never get a look in. The Wagner would have performed a similar function in the second half. Any examination of past programmes from Boskovsky, Karajan or Kleiber will show a trajectory that was absent this morning. It would go something like an overture followed by a waltz, then a couple of polkas, one of the great waltzes as a central item, another couple of shorter items, another waltz, a polka, an encore polka, Blue Danube, Radetsky March.

There also needed to be a greater mixture of the familiar and unfamiliar. There is a seeming inexhaustable fund of pieces to choose from but they are not all masterpieces by any means. Some of those this morning were not particularly memorable.