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The 2001 Vienna New Year's Day Concert was always bound to strike sparks. Having built his reputation in Baroque and early music, Nikolaus Harnoncourt has recently brought his re-creative insights to the standard Classical repertoire. How typical then that he should open proceedings with the original version of the Radetzky March--urbane compared to the familiar version, whose hearty militarism closes the concert in style. In between there's an enterprising selection of Strauss waltzes and polkas from Johanns I and II, the subtle and underrated Josef, and three numbers by Josef Lanner, whose restrained lilt provides the link between Schubert and the Strauss Family. Harnoncourt brings out the rhythmic vigour of this music, the astringent sound of woodwind and brass often heard over the strings, though there's no doubting the expressive sweep of the inevitable Blue Danube waltz. On the DVD: Directed for video by Brian Large, the atmosphere of the occasion comes over in full, aided by the tangibility of 16:9 picture format and 5.1 surround sound--though PCM Linear Stereo is also an option. Three ballet sequences, including a hilarious steam train race to Johann II's Excursion Train polka, are sensibly included as an appendix. Each of the 17 concert tracks is separately indexed, but still-frame histories of the event and of the Musikverein venue, edited from Clemens Hellsberg's booklet article, make for a poor special feature. Why no documentary film? However, this remains the best concert of its kind for almost a decade, and can safely be invested in as such. --Richard Whitehouse
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