Wiel bleibt Wien
Waltzes of Strauss family, Joseph Lanner and Johann Schrammel
Thomas Christian Ensemble
Dabringhaus und Grimm, MDG 603 1466-2
***
Here's an unusual release. Conjuring images of Old Vienna, the Thomas Christian Ensemble gives us a collection of polkas and waltzes from the 19th and early 20th Centuries. Thomas Christian plays the lead violin for the ensemble, which originally came into existence as the Vienna String Quintet--a standard string quartet plus double bass. It sounds as though most of these pieces were conceived for a small orchestra, but re-orchestrations and transcriptions were common at the time, and it's no stretch for there to be chamber versions of this music.
The performances here sound authentic and apt. Tempi are spirited, and the musicians play like a well-oiled machine. I have a number of recordings from D&G, and they're always wonderfully engineered; this is no exception.
It's wandering a bit afield from my normal mode, but this is light and high-spirited music, and it's a welcome diversion.
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