| New Year's Concert 2008 / Pretre, Wien Phil. | 
| Director: Brian Large
Actors: Georges Pretre, Wiener Philharmoniker, Ballett Der Wiener Staatsoper, Ballett Der Wiener Volksoper, Lang Lang
Studio: Decca
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.98
Buy New: $17.57
You Save: $12.41 (41%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (8 reviews)
Sales Rank: 19770
Format: Anamorphic, Classical, Color, Dvd-video, Hifi Sound, Ntsc, Surround Sound, Widescreen
Language: German (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 129 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.6
MPN: 001069309
UPC: 044007432464
EAN: 0044007432464
ASIN: B000XH2GR0
Release Date: February 12, 2008
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Description
The New Year's Concert in Vienna has been a glorious tradition for over six decades. A best-selling classical event, the concert has a unique global appeal. It has been broadcast on TV and radio to over 50 countries, and is viewed by tens of millions of people all over the world. The 2008 New Year's Day Concert will be conducted by the eminent conductor Georges Pretre, the first French conductor to receive this honor. The concert program for January 1, 2008 will be the customary collection of Strauss delights, but this time with a French theme. Receiving its first performance at a New Year's Concert, Napoleon March op. 156 by Johann Strauss II will open the program. The traditional encores of Blue Danube Waltz and Radetzky March will be joined by the Sport Polka as a nod to the European Football Championship to be held in Vienna in 2008. The Summer Olympics in Beijing is also being saluted by the orchestra with an early work of the elder Johann Strauss, his exotically colored Chinese Gallop.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 Some first time inclusions August 27, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
With a world-wide TV and radio audience guaranteed and a tradition going back nearly 80 years, the Vienna Philharmonic New Year concerts can now afford to present several first time inclusions selected from the works of the over-worked and over-stressed Strauss Family. Six items in the 2008 program make their first appearance. Two are by Strauss The Father including a waltz with a short introduction that becomes very loud. These two items acknowledge French inspiration, as does Johann The Son's "Orpheus Quadrille", entirely based (not merely providing "echoes" as the booklet writer asserts) on melodies from Offenbach's "Orpheus in the Underworld".
Another first time inclusion is the veteran French conductor Georges Pretre whose selection of tempi changes within the waltzes and polkas are nicely judged even if they remove the music far away from its dance origins.
Those who wish to have the concert in DVD format can access some ballet sequences - distinctly more modern in style than usually provided, but timed to fit the music perfectly.
New Year's concert/George Pretre May 20, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
It was a renewed experience to hear and see this yearly concert by the Wiener Philharmoniker. Always differento but always very happy and enjoyable.
Splendid New Year's Concert From Pretre & Vienna Philharmonic April 29, 2008
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
Distinguished French operatic conductor Georges Pretre was definitely an odd choice to lead this year's concert at Vienna's venerable Musikverein, but he demonstrates a warm affinity for the Viennese waltz tradition in this rather well-played concert. With the possible exception of the Blue Danube Waltz, I thought Pretre was absolutely superb in conducting the Wiener Philharmoniker (Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra), though perhaps it was more the Wiener Philharmoniker, not Pretre himself, who understood quite well the rich musical textures of J. Strauss II's scores. Nonetheless, this has to rank among the better New Year's Concerts in recent memory, even though I regard as more memorable both of Harnoncourt's concerts conducted earlier in this decade, as well as Mehta's exceptional 2007 concert. And yet, as I have noted before, Pretre demonstrates that he is a fine interpreter of the Strauss family's music, which is represented here by works composed not only by Johann Strauss II, but also several pieces - including the traditional encore "Radetzky March" - by his father Johann Strauss I and by his brother Josef Strauss. This annual New Year's treat also features excellent dancing from members of the Vienna State Opera Ballet, culminating in a fine "duet" that concludes within the Musikverein. Fans of the annual New Year's Concert will surely appreciate this latest addition from the Wiener Philharmoniker.
 New Years Concert 2008 April 11, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Not your fault but this particular DVD sound track is not quite up to standard on my Stereo System. Sounds fine on regular TV with DVD Player. Would recommedn 2007 version or one of the Boskovsky recordings.
Superb concert, highly recommended January 14, 2008
7 out of 11 found this review helpful
I have to concur with the positive reviews here. The most wonderful NY Vienna concert since Carlos Kleiber, by far. (Well, Wiener Philharmoniker's having had, relatively recently, the sinister Nikolaus Harnoncourt scientifically massacring Strauss' charming music, with his sledgehammer beat, wasn't exactly stiff competition.)
George Pretre seems to me not boring, rather the opposite of boring. Bringing excitement, as a conductor, does not involve waiving your bloody hair (if you still have it, which as a rule older conductors don't, fortunately) in the air, and waving your arms "passionately," without a good reason, in a plethora of gratuitous visual agitation, with no discernible effect in the sound.
Pretre's genuine conducting mastery is almost without equal among living conductors, insofar he gets more results with a wink or with a nudge than others with huge gestures. He makes the orchestra play exactly as he wants it to play, with at the same time youthful/fresh AND "wise"/magically economical gestures.
Pretre doesn't need to sweat on stage, reminding one of Richard Strauss' dictum - according to which not the conductor, but the audience should be sweating [with emotion]. The precious, well-balanced mixture of precision and flexibility, of warmth and elegance, makes his "2008" Vienna concert indeed the most memorable one since Carlos Kleiber's two (1989 and 1992) concerts. Even without having seen the DVD itself (and thus even before being able to comment on the production values per se), this DVD is on my most urgent "to get" list.
I won't comment on individual works, except for saying that, while Kleiber was perhaps even more inspired in some polkas and in the "Blue Danube," Pretre's version of the Imperial Waltz must be the warmest, most elegant I remember, notwithstanding classics such as Bruno Walter, Krauss, or even Furtwaengler's rare (and monumental) studio recording.
That a conductor as enriching, as inspiring as Georges Pretre is, can still be in such good a physical form at his age is something of a minor miracle, and orchestras everywhere should take full advantage of his being active, before it will be too late.
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