Universal Classics to Release the Next Three Vienna Philharmonic New Year’s Concerts
Bradley Bambarger
The Vienna Philharmonic has signed a three-year deal with Universal Classics for recording rights to the orchestra’s popular New Year’s Day Concert， reportedly the world’s largest annually televised musical event. According to Universal， more than 48 million people in 44 countries saw the 2002 broadcast.
The new Universal/Vienna relationship takes effect with the 2003 event， for which Nikolaus Harnoncourt will conduct. A Deutsche Grammophon two-disc set recorded at the concert is scheduled to be released in Europe on 7 January and in the U.S. on 28 January.
The recording rights for the Vienna Philharmonic New Year’s Day Concerts， which traditionally feature Strauss waltzes and other Austrian bonbons， have varied over the years， according to the conductor’s label relationship. Seiji Ozawa led the 2001 concert， and the Philips/Universal CD of that event was an international hit. The disc has sold over 100，000 copies， showing up on classical bestseller lists around the world: it reached reaching the top ten on the pop charts in Japan， where Ozawa is extremely popular， and was No. 1 on the pop charts in Austria.
Universal Classics imprints Deutsche Grammophon and Decca have had a long history of releasing records from the Vienna New Year’s Day Concerts， with notable discs under the batons of Herbert von Karajan， Carlos Kleiber and longtime Vienna Philharmonic concertmaster Willi Boskovsky. A former cellist， Harnoncourt is the first New Year’s Day conductor to have experience playing in the Vienna Philharmonic since Boskovsky.
The Harnoncourt 2003 set will feature the traditional program of waltzes， polkas and marches by Josef Strauss and Johann Strauss I and II， as well as two Hungarian Dances by Brahms and Weber’s Invitation to the Dance as orchestrated by Berlioz.
In a recent interview with journalist Rob Cowan， Harnoncourt said that he has worked at "bringing things closer to the original，" collaborating with Michael Rot， editor of the new Johann Strauss Critical Complete Edition， on restoring Strauss’ orchestrations.
