Waltzes (Vienna Café Music) by the Philharmonics.

It's a little tricky to figure out the name of this disc unless you happen to know about the particular Vienna group that calls itself "The Philharmonics." Then you can see that the name of the disc is simply Waltzes. But of the 10 numbers presented on the disc, only 5 are Strauss waltzes. I'm going to call this title Waltzes (Vienna Café Music) by the Philharmonics.

Musicians on this disc are Tibor Kováč (first violin), Shkëlzen Doli (second violin), Thilo Fechner (viola), Stephan Koncz (cello), Ödön Rácz (double bass), Daniel Ottensamer (clarinet), František Jánoška (piano), Walter Auer (flute), and Christoph Traxler (harmonium).

Here are the selections on Waltzes (Vienna Café Music) by the Philharmonics:

1. Johann Strauss II Kaiserwalzer

2. Fritz Kreisler Marche miniature viennoise

3. Johann Strauss II Schatzswalzer

4. Johann Strauss II Rosen aus dem Süden

5. Fritz Kreisler Schön Rosmarin

6. Fritz Kreisler Caprice viennois

7. Johann Strauss II Wein, Weib, and Gesang!

8. Tibor Kováč Yiddische Mame

9. Johann Strauss II Lagunenwalzer

10. Leopold Godowsky Alt-Wien

Directed for TV by Tilo Krause; photography directed by Nyika Jancsó; audio production by Joachim Müller; executive production by Maria Stodtmeier and Paul Smaczny. Released 2011, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A-

The total time for the music on this title is 62 minutes, which is enough for a music CD but not enough for an HDVD that can hold 4 hours + of music video. There is also a 10 minute bonus devoted to a curious footnote: all of the Strauss waltzes were arraigned for chamber orchestra by Arnold Schönberg, Anton Webern, or Alban Berg. It's ironic to learn that these gents, collectively the ultimate junk-yard dogs of modern music, came up with such delicious confections of melodious, harmonic, danceable cafe music. And why did these avant-guarde musical de-constructionists write for coffee house entertainment? Well, as explained in the keep case booklet, to make money by pleasing the public in order to support themselves and their revolutionary efforts to scrap melody, harmony, and rhythm in Western music. On the back of the keep case is a picture of a poster advertising a concert on May 27, 1921 where 4 waltzes from this disc were played by an orchestra including Schönberg, Webern, and Berg followed by on auction of the original arrangement scores.

The Philharmonics group consists of star players from the Vienna Philharmonic augmented from time to time by guests. They slum with fare ranging from Vienna favorites to Latin Jazz to Gypsy and other folk music. For this record they rented the famous Café Sperl on Gumpendorfer Strasse. The musicians wore modern casual clothes (not a historic depiction of the 1920s). Special guests of Café Sperl depict café patrons while the band plays on with a slightly out-of-tune upright piano that maybe really belongs to the house.

My impression is that in the past (and maybe still today) at lot of waltz and similar music was heard in Vienna cafés performed by small groups. I have on my shelf a once-treasured CD of such music played by the Alexander Schneider Quintet and called The Beautiful Blue Danube.

But I doubt that many café patrons have heard anything like The Philharmonics. This is a fairly large group of virtuosos playing scintillating arrangements in an unbelievably vivacious manner. This is not background music. If The Philharmonics would really show up at the Sperl, nothing else would happen---the cooks would come out of the kitchen, tourists would swamp the place from the street, and the regulars would sit there with their mouths handing open. The performance is that strong; both the video and audio recordings do full justice to the material.

I mentioned my "once-treasured" Blue Danube CD---now that I've seen and heard The Philharmonics, that CD  sounds positively dreary. This Waltzes (Vienna Café Music) by The Philharmonics is the perfect demo disc for any home theater---it will get rid of the teen-agers, but everybody else will adore it.

The only problem with the disc is the nagging thought that, as good as it is, isn't this a missed opportunity? Why only 60 minutes of music? Isn't there a lot more other music that could have been included? What did Vienna café music really sound like? How different were the aggressively brilliant Schönberg arrangements from other scores that were popular in 1921? Why not show several cafés? Did patrons dance in the larger venues?  And why not try period costumes to give a feel for what life was like in the days when Vienna was home to giants? Why not take full advantage of the astonishing resource we have in the high-definition video disc? So now to a grade. The music on this title is so good, it has to get an "A." But because the program is so short, I knock it back to "A-."

Update on Tuesday, April 3, 2012 at 3:11PM by Henry McFadyen Jr.

Andrew Lamb reviewed this title in the April 2012 Gramophone at page 60. Although the editors state that this show is available in Blu-ray as well as DVD, it appears Lamb didn't know that and that he only saw the DVD. Lamb praised the title, but his praise to me seemed faint. Would he have been more enthusiastic had he seen the HDVD version? This is just another sad example how clueless the magazine reviewers tend to be about  entertainment technology.