Ah, Vienna ... now a New Year tradition

EW Year used to be about Scotland and Scottishness – Hogmanay at the White Heather Club etc – but today more people’s ears are probably tuned into Vienna – and the annual Viennese Whirl from the Orchestra of Opera North routinely attracts one of Huddersfield Town Hall’s biggest audiences of the year.

It was the same at the close of 2016, under the baton of the Opera North’s new music director Aleksander Markovic, who punctuated his precise, lively conducting with a series of amusing and informative spoken introductions – the usual conventions of classical concertgiving are suspended at these relatively informal concerts.

The Andre Rieu factor – with all its knowing kitsch – might play a part in the current popularity of Viennese waltzes, polkas and gallops, but hearing this repertoire performed by a tip-top symphony orchestra such as the Opera North band does help to confirm the expertise and excellence of the scores produced by the Strausses and co-composers of this epoch and idiom.

The excellence is often to be found in the introductory music – designed to allow the dancers to get to their feet, perhaps. In these opening bars, the waltz kings of Vienna often provided some intriguing material. The best example at the latest Viennese Whirl was probably the opening number, Josef Strauss’s Delirien Waltz, which began with some highly dramatic, even melodramatic passages, expertly scored.

In addition to the Brothers Strauss, we also heard from composers who had some actual or idiomatic link to Vienna, such as Offenbach – two items from Orpheus in the Underworld – Waldteufel, Kalman, Stolz and Lehar. It was an interesting, wellbalanced programme, although obligated of course to close with the Blue Danube.

There were two singers – the soprano Ellie Laugharne and the mezzo Heather Lowe.

They had solo songs and also duetted very effectively on the Barcarolle from Tales of Hoffman and in the most intriguing item of the concert, two songs from Ariadne auf Naxos from Richard Strauss.

Both singers have fine, dramatic voices and obvious operatic expertise and experience, evident from their stage presence and emotional immersion in the material.

But there were some balance problems, when the solo voice seemed to be subsumed into a lavish orchestral texture.

Perhaps these were songs designed to be performed by a singer on stage and an orchestra in the pit.

Whatever, the band could have backed off a little at times, but there was never any doubting the quality of the Opera North players, including leader David Greed, who executed some beautiful Gypsy roulades in the Lehar song.