Strauss (Johann II) Polkas

 Day 108

Strauss (Johann II) Polkas

Patronesses Polka op 286

Ricardo Muti

Klipp-Klapp Polka Op 466

Lorin Maazel

Freikugein Polka Op 326

Claudio Abbado

Im Krapfenwald Polka Op336

Carlos Kleiber

Diplomaten Polka Op 448

Mariss Jansons

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

These recordings were all made at the New Year’s concerts given by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. I always try to catch each broadcast and they attract a huge world-wide television audience. Over the years a star roster of conductors have featured. They really are curious events. You have this very well dressed audience, many of whom look as if they would rather be somewhere else, listening to this music very solemnly and then clapping to order in the Radedsky March at the end - indeed I suspect some of them come to the event just to join in the clapping. The TV cuts away from time to time to show ballet - often quite incredibly kitsch. The whole thing is quite bizarre.  But I watch because of the endless stream of good music.

Johann Strauss II takes pride of place, and rightly so. He was a master of this sort of music and was admired by many composers, including Brahms and Schoenberg. Orchestral players generally hate playing Strauss Waltzes - particularly 2 violins who get endless bars playing on the 2nd and 3rd beats - and the complex patterns of repeats and da capos can be very tricky navigate. But the music is wonderful = the Blue Danubue alone has at least half a dozen melodies that any composer would have been proud to write.

For this project I chose not Waltzes but 5 of the many of Strauss’s Polkas. There are two types of- Fast and Slow - the second group generally being called French Polkas. All of them were great fun but more than that they show evidence of musical craftsmanship of the highest order. Everywhere there are little melodic or harmonic twist and turns which take you by surprise, the orchestration is subtle and the melodic invention inexhaustible. And Strauss is certainly the master of the coda.  So a really enjoyable 20 mins or so of music to brighten the day.