Enjoy the first day of the new year with Classic 107 and Daniel Barenboim leading the Vienna Philharmonic in their annual New Year's Concert.

For six years running Maestro Daniel Barenboim conducted the Vienna Philharmonic on this most traditional of concerts. Classic 107 is going to take you to the first year Barenboim was ever invited to conduct this event in 2009.

Some of the highlights include the overture to Johann Jr.'s A Night in Venice and a string of "exotica" (especially Tales from the Orient and the Spanish Waltz by Hellmesberger) that run through the first half of the concert.

Listen also for the intense, driven account of the finale of Haydn's "Farewell" Symphony, chosen doubtless to mark the bicentennial of the great Austrian's death. The solo string playing in the last page achieves a memorable gossamer shimmer. Barenboim barely lets the final sounds die away before launching into the quick polka "So ängstlich sind wir nicht!" which attentive listener's will recognize as Papacoda's entrance song from A Night in Venice.

Other highlights include Johann Sr.'s Zampa polka, with its vaguely Balkan twists, the extraordinary delicacy of the Alexandrinen polka, and Josef Strauss's gorgeous, expansive, and rarely heard Music of the Spheres waltz.

Barenboim's readings of The Blue Danube and Radetzky March are also invested with a warmth and vitality, and, in the case of the march, a striking dignity that render them among the most memorable in the entire series of New Year's concert recordings. 

 

Tune in New Year's Day starting at 10:00 AM.

 

The rest of the day will feature the best in classical music with minimal interruptions. Enjoy! 

Regular programming returns Friday with the Classic 107 crew starting in the morning with guest host Andrea Ratuski on Morning Light (6:00 AM - 10:00 AM)

 

From all of us here at Winnipeg's Classic 107 and Golden West Radio, we wish you and your families a safe and peaceful 2015.

Thank you for making Classic 107 the soundtrack for your life.