The rows of golden caryatids of the Musikverein continue to hold the weight of the world, as they contemplate the unfolding of the famous New Year's Concert. They were there when Clemens Krauss and the Vienna Philharmonic opened this musical event, on December 31, 1939, with a hall infested with Nazi swastikas. And there they remained, after the Second World War, when these attractive programmes of short pieces of Viennese dance and operetta from the <>th century became, every first of January, a showcase of Austria's cultural excellence.
These columns in the female form were also present, in 1959, in the first television broadcast directed by Willi Boskovsky. The Austrian public broadcasting company (ORF) then brought it to the screens of nine countries through Eurovision, although today there are already more than ninety with a potential audience of more than one billion. And I'm sure they were also amazed by the shy female presence on their stage, which didn't begin practically until about twenty years ago.
The New Year's Eve Concert is the favorite musical (and television) event on the mornings of January 1st. And in the last four decades it has become a popular rite to start the new year, always hand in hand with RTVE. It maintains an infallible formula that combines one of the best orchestras in the world, under the direction of a famous conductor, with an attractive program of marches, polkas and waltzes by the Strauss family and their contemporaries.
Conductor Christian Thielemann, during rehearsals on Saturday. DIETER NAGL (DIETER NAGL FUER DIE WIENER PHILHARMONIKER)
It also stands out for its celebration in a beautiful room exquisitely decorated for the occasion. With ballet scenes in emblematic locations, a documentary for the intermission about the treasures of Austria and an outstanding audiovisual production. This year it is again the responsibility of the precise and analytical Michael Beyer, who has fifteen high-definition cameras. In Spain, it is broadcast on TVE's La 1, from 11:15 a.m., accompanied by the comments of music journalist Martín Llade. Two hours full of tradition and punctuated by some novelty.
The Viennese Musikverein opens its doors to us
The first thing we see every year, after the Eurovision signal, is the 1870 building designed by Danish architect Theophil von Hansen. A neoclassical gem whose gilded hall is also famous for its legendary crisp and corporeal acoustics. We see it decorated, once again, by the art of the urban gardeners of the city of Vienna who try to find a visual symbiosis with what they have heard. To do this, they have deployed a sea of 30,000 anthuriums, carnations, roses and lilies, whose pinkish and pastel tones will illuminate the golden elements of the Viennese hall to the sound of music.
The unmistakable sound of the Vienna Philharmonic
The New Year's Concert orchestra is made up of the best musicians from the Vienna State Opera, which they join after a three-year trial. It was created 181 years ago to satisfy the philharmonic concerts of the Austrian capital. But it stands out for a refined and unmistakable sound personality that has autochthonous variants of several instruments. An ideal pairing of strings with wood and metal with percussion that fits perfectly with the golds and mattes of the room where they play.
The ensemble is almost exclusively male, although it has been admitting women in the last twenty years, mainly in the string section. There are currently 24 within a group of 145 instrumentalists, although that number will grow if we take into account that 8 of the 13 positions in the orchestra's academy are currently occupied by women. In this edition of the New Year's Concert, the violinist Albena Danailova is once again at the first lectern next to the concertmaster and, among the others, the presence of Karin Bonelli and Andrea Götsch, respectively, as second flute and second clarinet, stands out.
Always a director and this year Christian Thielemann
The Vienna Philharmonic has not had a principal conductor since 1933. He usually invites the world's top performers for every subscription concert, tour, or festival. The New Year's Concert initially had a permanent conductor (Clemens Krauss, Josef Krips, Willi Boskovsky and Lorin Maazel). But, since 1987, it has been changed every year. The first was Herbert von Karajan and he was followed by Claudio Abbado, Carlos Kleiber, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Seiji Ozawa, Mariss Jansons, Georges Prêtre, Daniel Barenboim, Franz Welser-Möst, Gustavo Dudamel, Christian Thielemann and Andris Nelsons.
Although it may not seem like it, the new year's appointment with the Viennese Philharmonics requires a lot of experience, as it is a risky litmus test for any baton. And all of them have previously conducted in several of their subscription concerts. If we take into account that a woman has never conducted one of these prestigious appointments for season ticket holders, it will still be a few years before we see a female conductor at the helm of the New Year's Concert. The women who have conducted the Vienna Philharmonic can still be counted on the fingers of one hand, although their number will grow, in 2024, with the debut of Germany's Joana Mallwitz.
Christian Thielemann (Berlin, 64 years old), who already directed in 2019, returns for the second time in this edition. Next season, the German conductor will become Daniel Barenboim's new successor at the helm of the Berlin State Opera. He has previously been principal conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Munich Philharmonic, as well as the Berlin Deutsche Oper. He has collaborated with the Vienna Philharmonic since 2000 and has recorded with this orchestra a complete one of Beethoven's nine symphonies along with a recent one of Bruckner's eleven. He has two books about his musical experiences with Beethoven and Wagner, although his main musical portrait was written by Kläre Warnecke twenty years ago. A musician who shunned historicist euphoria in favor of the German tradition of Wilhelm Furtwängler and Herbert von Karajan. Admittedly, his musical stature falls short of both. And his conducting shines more with the Bavarian Strauss (Richard) than with the scores of the Viennese Strausses, judging by what we heard in 2019.
Johann Strauss is once again the protagonist
The tradition of the New Year's Concert is related to that dynasty of composers of Viennese dance music and operetta of the nineteenth century: formed by the patriarch Johann Strauss together with his three sons Johann Jr., Josef and Eduard. Last year Welser-Möst gave an unusual prominence to Josef Strauss, but this year we are back to normal with a clear predominance of works by Johann Strauss Jr. in the program (7 out of 18). There is also no shortage of compositions by his brothers Josef and Eduard, which have been shared equally (2 out of 18). And Johann Sr.'s only work is the ubiquitous Radetzky March at the end.
But the New Year's Concert also includes works by other composers who were contemporaries or were related to the Viennese orchestra. This year the fire is opened with a novelty by Karl Komzák Jr., March of Archduke Albrecht, which is part of the Czech equivalent of the Strauss dynasty. But this play was written in Vienna, in 1887, when Komzák Jr. was working as band director of the 84th Imperial and Royal Infantry Regiment. Also included is another novelty by the "Danish Strauss" and great galloping composer, Hans Christian Lumbye, with an example from 1849 that has a more than appropriate title: Happy New Year!
More interesting is the other novelty of the first part of the concert: the beautiful waltz For All the World, by Josef Hellmesberger Jr., who was chief conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic between 1901 and 1903. Also included in the second part is the Polka-Estudiantina from his ballet The Pearl of Iberia, which combines Wagnerism with Spanish exoticism: a plot set in Zaragoza and starring the gypsy Paquita who, fleeing from the governor of the city, dives into the waters of the Ebro, which sound like an imitation of The Gold of the Rhine and where the god Neptune himself is insinuated to him. And there is also a waltz by Carl Michael Ziehrer, a contemporary composer and rival of Johann Strauss Jr. and Eduard Strauss. This year, Citizens of Vienna, which was first performed at the New Year's Concert in 1972, will be heard again.
In this edition, a piece by Anton Bruckner is also added as an exceptional celebration of the bicentenary of his birth: an orchestral arrangement, made by Wolfgang Dörner, of his early Cuadrilla, WAB 121 for piano four hands. This is similar to what was done in the past with other anniversaries, such as in 1991 with Mozart, in 1997 with Schubert, in 2009 with Haydn, in 2013 with Verdi and Wagner, in 2014 with Richard Strauss and in 2020 with Beethoven.
The usual, but with new features
The program of the New Year's Concert 2024 includes a wide range of compositions that have never before been performed at this popular musical event (9 of 18). It is also curious to note that a composition written by a woman has never been performed either. In the first part, there is a predilection for Paris that is perhaps related to the upcoming Summer Olympic Games. There are two compositions, by Johann Strauss Jr., that originated in the French capital: the famous waltz Viennese Chocolates, which unites Viennese elegance with Parisian gaiety and has been heard since 1955 at the New Year's Concert, and the novelty of the Polka from Le Figaro, which was a thank you to the editor of the French newspaper and its score was published in the edition of July 30, 1867.
This alternation of waltzes and polkas is the basic rule of this popular concert. This year there are five waltzes, two in the first part and three in the second. These are the longest and most elaborate symphonic works, where several waltz sections are combined, between a slow introduction and a final coda. Apart from the above-mentioned waltzes by Hellmesberger and Ziehrer, and the aforementioned Viennese Chocolates, by Johann Jr., the two most interesting waltzes are Deliriums, by Josef Strauss, which has been heard in this quotation since 1944 and begins with an evocation of influenza fever inspired by Carl Maria von Weber's The Poacher, and Ischl's Waltz, which is one of Johann Strauss Jr.'s two posthumous waltzes and is new to the New Year's Concert.
Waltzes alternate with shorter pieces, such as polkas, dances of bohemian origin that were very popular in Vienna in the 19th century. This year there are examples of its three variants: the sparkling fast polka (such as Eduard Strauss's Unbraked, which closes the first part, and Johann Jr.'s New Polka Pizzicato, with the characteristic pinched sound of the strings), the elegant French polka (this edition with the aforementioned novelty of the Polka from Le Figaro) and the stylized and harmonious polka-mazurka in ternary time (this time represented with another novelty: The High Fountain, by Eduard Strauss, related to the inauguration of the Hochstrahlbrunnen or High Jet Fountain at Vienna's Schwarzenbergplatz).
The polka-mazurka The High Fountain also aims to show the Vienna Philharmonic's interest in environmental protection. In fact, the president of the orchestra announced, during the press conference last Thursday, December 28, that they have donated 100,000 euros to the Austrian Alpine Association (VAVÖ). For the rest, Thielemann has regained the habit of scheduling a march as the opening of the concert, the aforementioned March of Archduke Albrecht, by Komzák Jr. And it also opens the second part with the tradition of playing the overture of an operetta, in this case Asperilla, by Johann Strauss Jr., a regular at this musical event since 1947.
The Three Tips
It is well known that, at the New Year's Concert, the planned program does not conclude the matinee. There are always three tips, i.e. compositions that are added at the end and outside the program. They have a special character as they have been previously established since 1958: a fast polka that varies every year (in 2024 it will be the Yokey Polka, by Josef Strauss), followed by the most famous waltz, by Johann Jr., by the beautiful blue Danube, and the Radetzky March, by Johann senior. It just so happens that this triad of tips is the same one conducted by Carlos Kleiber, in 1989, perhaps in the best edition in the history of the New Year's Concert.
Two traditions where the public intervenes
There are two traditions assigned to the audience during the New Year's Concert. One is the conductor's New Year's greeting with the orchestra before the waltz Beside the Beautiful Blue Danube. Here it is customary for the audience to interrupt the music with applause at the beginning of the waltz introduction. The conductor proclaims in German: "The Vienna Philharmonic and I wish you..."; and the orchestra adds, "Happy New Year."
The other tradition is the rhythmic clapping of hands in the Radetzky March, by Johann Strauss senior, with which it ends. On many occasions it is performed under the instructions of the conductor. It is what has been left of a musical event where the public behaved in the past in a freer and more natural way.
The world is still not for jokes
During the years when Willi Boskovsky conducted the New Year's Concert (1955-1979) it took on its most festive and amusing status. It was peppered with costumes, gags, and jokes. Its origin is related to the ingenuity of the percussionist Franz Broschek, who performed hilarious dramatizations in some pieces of the concert. From then on, the directors have been involved in amusing humorous winks. If Welser-Möst acknowledged, last year, that the world is not for jokes, the situation has worsened ostensibly with the Arab-Israeli conflict. In fact, Thielemann showed, in 2019, that he is not interested in this New Year's Concert tradition either.
Discovering Anton Bruckner
The concert has two parts with an interval of about 25 minutes where a short documentary about Austria's cultural and natural treasures is broadcast. It is carried out in a format that does not require spoken interventions as it is designed for broadcast in many countries. On this occasion we will watch, from 11:50, a documentary entitled Anton Bruckner. A voyage of discovery, which commemorates the bicentenary of the Austrian composer and has been filmed by Felix Breisach. In this film, we will travel to the Abbey of St. Florian, near the city of Linz, so that two singing children can take us on a journey through the life of the composer. We will visit his native Ansfelden, the spa town of Bad Ischl, the Ars Electronica Center in Linz and also the Musikverein, to listen to various arrangements of his music that will be played by members of the Vienna Philharmonic. And the documentary will end in the Augustinian abbey at the beginning with the two children singing the beautiful motet Locus iste at the composer's tomb.
Dancing Strauss where Franz Joseph fell in love with Sissi
The television broadcast of the New Year's Concert added, starting in 1959, pre-recorded ballet scenes. They feature soloists from the Vienna State Opera Ballet and feature a guest choreographer. This year the Italian choreographer Davide Bombana has returned and the Austrian costume designer Susanne Bisovsky will make her debut in the costumes. The dancers will perform in two pieces during the second part of the concert. We will see the couple formed by soloists Ketevan Papava and Eno Peçi in the Waltz of Ischl., by Johann Strauss Jr., in the surroundings of the Kaiservilla of Bad Ischl, the summer residence where Franz Joseph I met his future wife, Empress Sissi. The scene aims to celebrate that Bad Ischl will be one of the three European Capitals of Culture in 2024. The other scene will coincide with Carl Michael Ziehrer's waltz Citizens of Vienna and will feature five couples. With them, we'll see the most emblematic places of Rosenburg Castle, such as the marble hall, the library or its gardens located between the water lily pond and the falconry courtyard, where demonstrations of this practice of falcon training are still held.
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