Viennese New Year with the CBSO – Symphony Hall, Birmingham,

Conductor: Christoph Koncz

We’re a week into 2024, but the spirit of the New Year is still alive in Symphony Hall as the CBSO takes us on a trip to Vienna for the annual New Year concert. It’s a programme that’s sure to warm the heart on a Sunday afternoon in January as the orchestra and maestro Christoph Koncz whirl us back to a more glamorous age. It’s a nicely varied programme with a mix of the obvious Viennese candidates and some less obvious pieces, yet all with either a link to Vienna or an anniversary this year.

What better way to open a concert than with an overture, and there’s surely few Strauss overtures better-known than Die Fledermaus with its lyrical passages interspersed with toe-tapping sections, setting an energetic tone for the afternoon right from the start. This is a feeling that dominates the orchestra’s work for much of the first half, as they also give us the Czárdás from Ritter Pásmán, its slow and intense opening laden with passion before it bursts into the lively dance of the title.

Johann’s brother Josef was also a great composer and he is included here with Dynamiden, written for the Viennese Industrialists’ Ball, then Johann Jr’s Perpetuum Mobile, both adding to a feeling of dynamism before wrapping up the first half with Smetana’s overture to The Bartered Bride. It’s not an obvious inclusion in a New Year concert, being included to mark the 200^th anniversary of Smetana’s birth, and it balances the opening overture well with its sense of urgency and energy, and provides a great showcase for the strings.

With the advertised soloist Francesca Chiejina being unable to perform, we are fortunate to hear a soprano once described as the “living jewel in opera’s crown”, Jennifer France. France has a beautifully clear soprano which soars over the orchestra as she delivers three numbers for us, starting with the famous Meine Lippen from Lehar’s Giuditta. Although not Viennese by birth, Lehar had strong associations with the city and his works feature frequently in Viennese concerts. France has no need of a microphone with the great Symphony Hall acoustics taking her voice to every part of the hall. We also enjoy the popular Puccini piece O Mio Babbino Caro and that staple of many a concert soloist, Lehar’s Vilja from The Merry Widow.

There’s a lively Scherzo from Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony with its driving rhythm, which was premiered in Vienna, and as the concert moves towards its close, Strauss’s Wein, Weib und Gesang – Wine, Women and Song, written for the carnival season and showing sentiments that reflect everyone’s perception of 19^th century Vienna before we reach the finale.

There’s only one way to end a ball in Vienna and that’s with what’s probably the best known of all the many pieces written by the man who became known as “The Waltz King”. The shimmer of strings, three simple notes – it’s possibly one of the most recognisable opening phrases in music, and a piece that shows off the CBSO beautifully as we go into The Blue Danube.

Of course, the afternoon doesn’t end there and we have the expected and inevitable encore with a number that has a place in many a New Year concert, The Radetsky March. It’s a guaranteed way to get the toes tapping as everyone is encouraged to clap along with the rhythm of this popular piece.

Birmingham is truly blessed with a world-class orchestra performing in a top venue in Symphony Hall. This concert sets the tone for what looks like an exciting 2024 to look forward to. A wonderfully pleasant and entertaining way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Reviewed on 7 January 2024