“50 Best” Wiener Philharmoniker!
This 3 – CD set contains 50 tracks from the finest EMI recordings of the famous Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, under some of the world’s greatest conductors including Wilhelm Furtwängler, Herbert von Karajan, Rudolf Kempe, André Cluytens, Riccardo Muti and many others.
CD-1, called THE STRAUSS FAMILY, contains some of the best-known waltzes and polkas by the inimitable Viennese composer Johann Strauss II and other members of his family. Among the waltzes are Wiener Blut (‘Vienna Blood’), Wein, Weib und Gesang (‘Wine, Women and Song’), G’schichten aus dem Wienerwald (‘Tales from the Vienna Woods’) and An der schönen, blauen Donau (‘The Blue Danube’) that was used so effectively in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
CD-2, called ON HOLIDAY, takes its name from a famous LP on which most of these pieces were originally released. The composers come from all over the world: Smetana and Dvorák from Czechoslovakia, Kodály and Lehár from Hungary, Sibelius from Finland, Ravel from France and Vivaldi from Italy.
The last CD, called CLASSICAL MASTERS, brings together a program by the greatest Austrian and German composers from the Classical and Romantic period, beginning with Mozart’s much-loved Eine kleine Nachtmusik. Popular works by Schubert and Mendelssohn follow, and the disc continues with one of the most instantly recognizable themes in classical music – the first movement of Beethoven’s powerful Fifth Symphony. The collection concludes with Brahms’s splendid Variations on a Theme by Haydn, popularly known as the St Anthony Variations.
In February, 2010, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra will be on tour. I adore this group, and I’m going to hear two of their concerts in Berkeley, California.
Here is the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in W.A Mozart’s Overture to “Le Nozze de Figaro”:
Tags: Vienna Philharmonic, Strauss, Smetana, Dvorak, Mozart, Brahms