Orchestra captures magic of Vienna

New Year in Vienna, Halle Orchestra, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester

THE orchestra filed on stage immaculately turned out as befitting a New Year concert, followed by conductor John Wilson who took his position with a flourish and invited his audience to join in a Viennese celebration.

What followed was an invigorating programme of familiar music, from the master of waltz, Johann Strauss, the ever-popular Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and a handful of other composers.

Toe-tapping and hand clapping was the order of the day, in the Saturday afternoon concert which marked the 50th anniversary of the first New Year’s Viennese concert at Manchester’s Free Trade Hall.

Wilson promised music played on that first night, along with some new additions, before he turned and gathered the orchestra in his arms to weave his own special magic and tease out some magnificent sounds.

The world-famous orchestra did not disappoint, with crisp, clear sounds interwoven by romance and accompanied in a number of pieces by soprano Emma Ball, including arias from Mozart and Carl Zeller.

Wilson always entertains his audience with delightful anecdotes of both the music he has chosen and its composers.

We learned that Strauss was a form of “pop star” of his time, along with the rest of his family, who were band leaders of their era, before he once more became a puppet of the music to enthral with his quest for perfection.

It is always a pleasure to watch Wilson get the best from his orchestra, and a privilege to watch master musicians at work and hear the wonderful music they create.

Emile Waldteufel’s “Les Patineurs (Skaters’ Waltz)” was a particular delight, with the music speaking through the instruments to create a vision of a cold winter’s day with people skating in gay abandon, and festive bells conjuring up images of ponies drawing a sleigh as they trot through the snow.

The concert came to a rousing end with Johann Strauss’s “Furioso: Quick Polka,” and his masterpiece, “The Blue Danube,” faultlessly played.