Strauss For Ever

Waltzes and polkas by the Strauss family are a specialty of the Vienna Boys Choir – they are in a sense their musical calling card. Since the early 1920s, the choir has been singing their music; and the choir has participated six times in the traditional New Year's Day concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, which is famous for its Strauss tunes. The boys enjoy singing Strauss; the music is upbeat, rhythmical, fast. However, what sounds easy, requires practice. “Fast music is difficult to sing – there is hardly time to develop a beautiful sound. Every note has to be delivered with the right kind of energy. In that sense, it is almost more difficult to sing a polka than a complicated Renaissance piece.“, says the choir's artistic director, Gerald Wirth. The choir's first recording of The Blue Danube waltz was made in 1933; Geschichten aus dem Wiener Wald – Tales from the Vienna Woods – followed in 1937. In 1939, the choir recorded an entire collection of Strauss pieces in the USA. The choir last recorded Strauss in 1999: High time for a new album – and high time to record the newest additions to the choir's Strauss repertoire. Three pieces out of the current selection have been recorded for the very first time for this album: Matrosenpolka (Sailors' Polka), Banditengalopp, and the eponymous For Ever! The lyrics were written for the boys from Vienna; they are telling the stories of sailors, ghosts, bandits, and hamsters – not to be taken too seriously, but to be heard and

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Details

Format: CD
Artist: Wiener Sngerknaben, Gerald Wirth, Salonorchester Alt Wien
Release Date: 28 September 2018
Genre: Classical Music
Label: DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON (IMP)
Distributor: Universal Music