For Sir John Barbirolli and his Hallé Orchestra, their love of and sympathy with music of the Strauss dynasty was total – as we hear in this collection of highlights from the Proms in 1967, 1968 and 1969.
On the first CD in this double-album, the second of Haydn’s six ‘Paris’ symphonies is followed by four works by Johann Strauss II – the Overture to Die Fledermaus, the Emperor Waltz, the Tritsch-Tratsch and the brilliant Perpetuum Mobile – in which performances Barbirolli and the Hallé judge the civilised expressions throughout to a nicety. There follows Richard Strauss and his Der Rosenkavalier suite. Then we have Franz Lehár’s waltz Gold and Silver a magical performance where the audience hum along.
On the second CD we have highlights from the 1967 and 1968 concerts and include The Gypsy Baron Overture, Tales from the Vienna Woods, Roses from the South and The Blue Danube, interspersed with three polkas and the brilliant Perpetuum Mobile. A ‘bonus’ track has an encore of the Lehár’s waltz Gold and Silver from Proms on 29 August 1953.
