Product Number :ESSG-90314
JAN:4907034226023
[Machine Translation]
Contents
Johann Strauss II
[1] Overture to "Die Fledermaus
Joseph Strauss
[2] Waltz "Celestial Music" Op. 235
Johann Strauss II
[3] Annen Polka Op. 117
Joseph Strauss
[4] Waltz "Rumor" Op. 212
Johann Strauss II
[5] Polka "Sightseeing Train" Op. 281
Johann II & Joseph Strauss
[6] Pizzicato Polka
Johann Strauss I
[7] Annen Polka Op. 137
Johann Strauss II
[8] Polka, Thunder and Lightning Op. 324
[9] Waltz, "Voices of Spring" Op. 410
Johann Strauss II
[3] Annen Polka Op. 117
Joseph Strauss
[4] Waltz "Rumor" Op. 212
Johann Strauss II
[5] Polka "Sightseeing Train" Op. 281
Johann II & Joseph Strauss
[6] Pizzicato Polka
Johann Strauss I
[7] Annen Polka Op. 137
Johann Strauss II
[8] Polka, Thunder and Lightning Op. 324
[9] Waltz, "Voices of Spring" Op. 410
Performers
Kathleen Battle (soprano) [9]
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Herbert von Karajan
[Recording] January 1, 1987, Musikverein Saal, Vienna
[First appearance] Deutsche Grammophon 419 616-1 (LP), 419 616-2 (CD)
[Japanese issue] Polydor-Grammophon F35G20123 (December, 1987)
[Original recording]
[Produced by] Gunter Breest, Michel Grotz
[Recording Engineer] Gunter Hermans
[Super Audio CD Producer] Motoaki Omachi (Esoteric Mastering Center)
[Super Audio CD Associate Producer] Jo Yoshida (ESOTERIC Mastering Center)
[Super Audio CD remastering engineer] Shinya Higashino (ESOTERIC Mastering Center)
[Super Audio CD remastering] August 2025 Esoteric Mastering system, Esoteric Audio Room
[Commentary] Kozo Asazato, Masayasu Komiya
[Planning and sales] TEAC Corporation
[Planning and Cooperation] Tokyo Denka Co.
ESOTERIC's unique Super Audio CD hybrid software
ESOTERIC's reissue series of masterpieces has continuously received high acclaim for its insatiable dedication to the original master sound and the overwhelming improvement of sound quality through the hybridization of Super Audio CDs. The world's first Super Audio CD hybridization has been realized by DSD mastering from the original masters using advanced technology and sensibilities. This time, Deutsche Grammophon is releasing a Super Audio CD hybrid of the best recordings and performances that represent the digital age from Deutsche Grammophon's masterpieces.
The New Year's Concert in 1987, the only time in his life that Karajan, the perfectionist of Viennese music, took the podium.
This is a live recording of the New Year's Concert on January 1, 1987, the only time in his life that Herbert von Karajan, the greatest master of all time, who was the music director of the Berlin Philharmonic at the time of the recording and had many performances and recordings with the Vienna Philharmonic, took the podium.
This concert was held at the beginning of the New Year, and before 1987, the same conductor had been the permanent conductor for a long time, but that year, Karajan appeared for the first time, and since then, various conductors from all over the world have taken the podium every year. The concert became an event that attracted even more attention from around the world. Karajan's appearance was the first of its kind, and he chose singer Kathleen Battle to create the climax of the concert. Two years later, at the age of 81, Karajan passed away, and the New Year's Concert did not take place again. This concert was a "one-time-only" event for Karajan, and this disc is nothing short of a recording of that legendary concert. This disc is a recording of that legendary concert. Enjoy the Viennese music in a performance that only Karajan could have staged.
Karajan's Concerts Ushered in the New Year Era
The New Year's Concert, which the Vienna Philharmonic performs every year on January 1 at its home base, the Musikverein Saal, has a tradition of more than 80 years. It has become one of the world's largest music events, not only televised around the world but also released on live CD and video. The waltzes and polkas of the Strauss family were very popular in Vienna in the 19th century, and the Vienna Philharmonic, the home of the Strauss family, performed them sporadically with famous conductors of the past. The first concert with an all-Strauss program was held surprisingly late, in 1925, the 100th anniversary of the birth of Johann II. Then conductor Clemens Krauss (1893-1954) held the first New Year's Concert in Vienna on December 31, 1939, and the second concert was held on January 1 beginning in 1941.
Krauss, who contributed most to the early New Year's Concerts, conducted from 1948 to 1954, except for 1946 and 1947, when Joseph Klips (1902-1974) conducted immediately after the war. He played the violin and conducted like Johann II the Waltz King until his retirement due to illness in 1979. In 1979, he retired after 25 years of conducting while playing the violin in the world. In 1980, Lorin Maazel (1930-2014), music director of the Vienna State Opera, became the first conductor from abroad, and until 1986 he conducted while playing the violin, sometimes his main instrument.
In 1987, the king of conductors, Karajan, took the podium. The New Year's Concert became a sensation and ushered in a new era of New Year's events worldwide, with a new conductor every year: Claudio Abbado in 1988, Carlos Kleiber in 1989, and Zubin Mehta in 1990.
The Deep Connection between Karajan and the Strauss Family
Karajan, who was born in Salzburg and studied at the Vienna Academy of Music, had the Strauss family's works in his repertoire from early on, and recorded four works with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra during the SP era (1940-42): "The Artist's Life," "The Emperor's Round Dance," "The Gipsy Baron" and "Die Fledermaus Overture" (After the war, from 1946 to 1949, he recorded a total of 15 works with the Vienna Philharmonic and Berlin Philharmonic, including "The Blue Danube," "Flirtatious Heart," "Tritch Tratch Polka," etc. He also recorded a mono LP in the 1950s with the Philharmonia Orchestra entitled "Champagne Concert" and the Strauss Family. In the 1950s, he also recorded a mono LP with the Philharmonia Orchestra entitled "Champagne Concert," a collection of six Strauss family works, and the complete "Die Fledermaus," a comic opera. In the late 1950s, when he was called the "emperor," he recorded "Strauss Concerts" (6 works) and the complete Die Fledermaus with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (Decca), and in the late 1960s and later with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, he recorded the Strauss family's "Strauss Concerts" (6 works) and "Die Fledermaus" (complete works) with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. In the late 1960s, he recorded two collections of Strauss family works (17 works) with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, and in 1980, when the era of digital recording began, he recorded the Strauss family works for Gramophone and EMI as well as Beethoven's symphonies. The Strauss family's works have been recorded in the same way as Beethoven's symphonies.
Although Karajan was deeply involved with Viennese music, this is the only live New Year's Concert he conducted, and the last recording of the Strauss family.
The "Voices of Spring" by a singer who has never appeared in the concert since then.
In the second half of the concert, when the party was in full swing, the singer Kathleen Battle made a surprise appearance. Of the 12 pieces, "Sightseeing Train," "Annen Polka," and "Without Worry" were the first pieces that Karajan recorded, and another piece, "Voices of Spring," was also new to him. Born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1948, she studied at the University of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music before making her singing debut that same year and becoming a member of the Metropolitan Opera in 1978. The year before this concert, she was selected for a TV commercial for Nikka Whiskey and became very popular in Japan. She was a soprano at the peak of her popularity.
Features of Karajan's Gramophone recordings and this live recording
The recording engineer is Gunter Hermanns, who is known as "the man with Karajan's ear. From the 1970s onward, Karajan built a completely different system for concerts and recordings. In recording, he sometimes did not play the entire piece through. In those days when multiple recordings were popular, Karajan would record a section of a movement, or a part for a particular instrument, and then mix them together at trackdown. Hermanns was an indispensable person to mix the recordings and create the sound according to Karajan's intention. Now, the recording is a one-time-only live recording. It is a one-shot recording, although there may have been some minor problems that were made up for in the rehearsal takes. Is there any difference between the usual Karajan sound and here? Is there any change in Hermanns' sound? This is one of the highlights of the recording.
The Vienna Philharmonic's performance of the Strauss family's music was a delightful experience, with a fine-grained, tight sound and a high quality of expression. The Vienna Philharmonic's performance of the Strauss Family's music, with its fine-grained, tight sound and high quality expression, was also excellent. The hybrid disc also offers a clear sense of the character of the performance and the atmosphere of the venue, which is one of the charms of this hybrid disc. (Excerpt from the liner notes of this disc by Kozo Asazato) "In "Voices of Spring", Battle sings, and her clear voice and the tone of the Vienna Philharmonic resound as if to celebrate the New Year. (from the old PROC1787)
"At the dawn of 1987, a big event swept the classical music world...and the music world as a whole: the performance of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Herbert von Karajan made his first appearance at the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Concert. The combination of the famous concert, which has been televised around the world via television and radio, and Karajan, who has been synonymous with "classical music" in the latter half of the 20th century, and the guest appearance of Kathleen Battle, the up-and-coming soprano who was the talk of the town at the time, was a real coup. The guest performer was the up-and-coming soprano Kathleen Battle, who was a hot topic at the time. With all that going for it, it's hard not to be a hot topic."
(Excerpt from the liner notes of this disc by Masayasu Komiya)
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