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NEW YEAR S CONCERT - THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION: A CELEBRATION OF THE WORLD S MOST POPULAR CLASSICAL MUSIC EVENT
Contains all 319 works ever performed at the concert over its 75-year history
A unique collection of musical highlights performed live under 14 great conductors
Includes 25 previously unreleased recordings from the ORF s broadcasting archives as well as a special CD with 13 new recordings by members of the Wiener Philharmoniker, capturing music from the concert s early years not recorded at the time
Famous waltzes and polkas by the Strauss family
Rarities by Berlioz, Brahms, Haydn, Mozart, Rossini, Verdi and others
Includes the world-famous encores An der schönen blauen Donau and Radetzky March as well as selections from the New Year s Concert of 1941
In celebration of the 75th anniversary of the greatest media event in classical music, the Wiener Philharmoniker and Sony Classical release the complete edition of all the 319 works ever played at the New Year s Concerts. Performed in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein between 1941 and 2015, these iconic live performances are being issued for the first time in a single box set of 23 CDs.

The great tradition was launched on New Year s Day 1941, when Austrian conductor Clemens Krauss presented an all-Strauss-family concert with the Philharmonic in spite of his fears that the after-effects of New Year s Eve might have a detrimental influence on attendance . His concern proved unwarranted. Until his death in 1954 except for 1946 47, when Josef Krips took his place Krauss shaped the concert s profile. In those years it was broadcast only on radio. Under Krauss s successor, Philharmonic concertmaster Willy Boskovsky who directed the concert no fewer than 25 times, standing with fiddle in hand as Johann Strauss himself had done , the TV broadcasts began and soon became an event enjoyed by audiences all over the world.

Since 1980 the Philharmonic has invited leading conductors to join them in Vienna to usher in the new year. From 1980 to 1986, and again in 1994, 1996, 1999 and 2005, Lorin Maazel was on the rostrum. He was followed by Herbert von Karajan (1987), Claudio Abbado (1988, 1991), Carlos Kleiber (1989, 1992), Zubin Mehta (1990, 1995, 1998, 2007, 2015), Riccardo Muti (1993, 1997, 2000, 2004), Nikolaus Harnoncourt (2001, 2003), Seiji Ozawa (2002), Mariss Jansons (2006, 2012), Georges Prêtre (2008, 2010), Daniel Barenboim (2009, 2014) and Franz Welser-Möst (2011, 2013). This distinguished roster all with special ties to the orchestra as well as a special flair for Viennese music conducts the Wiener Philharmoniker on these discs in 319 compositions from the musical dynasty founded by Joseph Lanner and Johann Strauss in the 1820s, then carried on triumphantly by Strauss s sons Josef, Eduard and, of course, the Waltz King Johann II. Recently, the Strauss-Lanner core repertoire has been broadened with music by figures including Mozart, Schubert, Weber, Brahms, Berlioz, Suppé, Offenbach, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Wagner and Richard Strauss. All of which, needless to add, is included in this set.

CD 23 is made up of stylish new recordings of eleven Strauss-family works that were given only a single performance, under Clemens Krauss or Josef Krips, during the early years of the New Year s Day Concerts occasions that were not recorded. (Two selections are included here from that first 1941 concert under Krauss, which was recorded.)

The accompanying booklet contains a new essay by Dr. Clemens Hellsberg long-time Philharmonic violinist, historian and former president as well as images from the orchestra s archives.