New Year's concert
The New Year’s concert of Vienna Philharmonic usually takes place at 1.Jan every year. Although the concert of this year was ended a few days ago, I can still remember the wonderful melody, as if I just heard it. It left endless aftertaste in the audiences.
The first New Year’s concert in Vienna was held in the Sylvester night in 1847, which was conducted by the famous composer Johann Strauss, Sr. As the New Year’s bell rang, the orchestral played a piece by Josef Haydn as the best wishes for the coming year. And then they played a song by John Georg Scherzer, which supposed to become a folk song later. Next I can imagine that they began to play something really joyful, like waltzes, Polka, Gallops, etc. The concert turned completely into a dancing party. The audiences rose and danced in a happy mood, whirling around the dance floor. Some pieces were asked to give an encore and the party lasted until dawn…
Yes, this concert, which was held 155 years ago, was the origin of the New Year’s concert of Vienna Philharmonic. Thanks to the scientific and technological progress and innovation since the 80s, people from the whole world can be able to enjoy the concert and share the happiness coming along with it. Most of the pieces performed in the New Year’s concert were composed by the Strauss family and they are usually very popular. And today he can still touch souls with a kind of music that seems to live forever. The concert is always wonderful, sunny, elegant, colorful, meaningful, influencing…
It’s a kind of beauty, which shows the wonder of the nature through music.
It’s a kind of beauty, which shows a harmonious ensemble from the special style of every different instrument.
It’s a kind of beauty, which shows so many astounding, heart-shaking music pieces, from the notes to intervals, from the intervals to the whole, and at last makes an electric effect on the audiences.
It’s a kind of beauty, which comes from the heart and the musical understanding of the conductor and every musician there.
It’s a kind of beauty, which comes from the fantastic paintings of the Schönbrunn palace, an inspired world woven by light and beauty, seeming to come to life along with the music.
It’s a kind of beauty, which comes from the melody, the dances, the ballet-dancers, the life, the philosophy and the culture.
And the concert in 2012 was something really special. The conductor was Mariss Jansons, who also conducted the orchestral in 2006. The beginning was quite fresh. If you’re also a fan of the New Year’s concerts, you’ll surely discover that there were three new pieces — “Vaterländischer Marsch”, “Rathaus-Ball-Tänze” and “Entweder – oder!; Polka schnell”. It was quite funny to hear some familiar melody. “Vaterländischer Marsch” began with the enthusiastic melody like the “Radetzky-Marsch”. Then there followed some marches from different periods, just like the soldiers being inspected. In the “Rathaus-Ball-Tänze” there was also some similar melody as “an die schöne blaue Donau”.
After the pause, “Copenhagen Steam Railway Gallop” was also something new. It made me somewhat think about the other two gallops written by the Strauss family. But it sounded different. At first the cello stroke a tender and soft note and made the atmosphere like parting… Then there came different sounds, bells, whistling, buzzer… But the composer made a complete journey by train with different instruments. If you hear it carefully, you’ll feel as if you would experience the train, from the start, acceleration to moving ahead in full speed. The music turned faster and faster, which changed the color too, it just became brighter and brighter. The horizon seemed to be broadened chiefly, too. I’ve never heard that piece before but I think I really like it.
Another thing I’d like to mention is the sleeping beauty suite from Tchaikovsky. I guess I never heard a piece by Tchaikovsky in a New Year’s concert. The two pieces from the suite suited the concert quite well. The Panorama sounded mellow and blur, the waltz was gorgeous… Maybe the best pieces from the suite.
Victor Hugo said that the architecture is frozen music. (“Notre Dame de Paris”) In the New Year, the soul of the wonderful concert seemed to be frozen in the house of Musikverein and created really consummate artwork.
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever, and so was the concert of the Vienna Philharmonic.
