RAMSBOTTOM RECORDED MUSIC SOCIETY

WITH her presentation Vienna – City of Music, member Sheila gave us our own mini New Year concert to mirror the annual New Year’s Day concert given by the Vienna Philharmonic in the Golden Hall of Vienna’s Musikverein.

Sheila opened with two pieces by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who lived in Vienna for a number years, the third movement of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and the first movement of Divertimento in D major.

Franz Schubert was a native of Vienna and we heard his Impromptu No. 3, following which an adopted son of the city, Ludwig von Beethoven, was represented by the Romance No. 2 in E major.

To conclude the first half Sheila played Franz Lehar’s Gold and Silver Waltz by the New London Orchestra conducted by Ronald Corp, a piece that was originally written for Princess Pauline von Metternich’s Gold and Silver Ball in 1902.

The second half of Sheila’s programme was dominated by the name probably most associated with Vienna – Strauss, both father and son.

Strauss junior opened proceedings with his Thunder and Lightning Polka followed by the overture to his operetta Die Fledermaus.

The Austrian tenor Richard Tauber then sang Lehar’s You are my Heart’s Delight from Land of Smiles, after which we heard Johann Strauss II’s waltz Roses from the South.

After an invigorating Radetzky March played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Waltz King himself, Johann Strauss II, concluded the evening with a piece without which no evening of Viennese music would be complete, The Blue Danube.

All members, while resisting the temptation to ‘take to the floor’, thoroughly enjoyed Sheila’s New Year treat.

The next meeting of the Society will be held on Thursday, January 18.

For further details, contact Richard W Hall, by telephone on 01706 824206 or by e-mail r.w.hall45@hotmail.co.uk.