Search - Mehta, Vpo :: New Year's Concert 1990

A surprise hit from Mehta, full of joy and brio

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 10/17/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This 1990 New Year's concret from Vienna is much more fun than the ones from Maazel, Muti, Harnoncourt, Kleiber, or Ozawa. In fact, in terms of sheer joy an affection, I haven't heard its like under Karajan or Abbado, either, much as I admire them. This evening actually sounds like a holiday celebration. There is lightness and sparkle in everything being played. And the excellent sonics make the orchestra sound sweet and immediate.



What a surprise from Metha, who long ago fell from the first rank of conductors and often flirts with being a hack. Here he shows his Viennese training, and one remembers that Decca had him recording with the Vienna Phil. at the outset of his career. The program features 72 min. of polkas, marches, and three big waltzes: Wiener Blut, Tales from the Vienna Woods, and of course the Blue Danube to wrap things up before the audience gets to join in for the Radetzky March finale."