Everything you need to know about the New Year's Concert

Although very few can afford a ticket to the traditional

, everyone has seen the Golden Hall of the Musikverein decked with flowers on television during the traditional symphonic superbowl, whose worldwide audience is around 55 million of spectators.

"Directing here on such an important date is an immense responsibility," Daniel Barenboim tells EL MUNDO.

"Even more so if we take into account how much we have suffered in recent months."

It will be the third time that the 79-year-old Argentine maestro is in charge of leading the Viennese hosts.

The concert will start at 11.15am and will be broadcast live on La 1 de Televisión Española.

A concert with a long (and dark) tradition

Since 1838 Vienna has received the year with orchestral music, but it was not until 1928 that Johann Strauss III took to the podium of the Musikverein to reel off a program dedicated exclusively to the works of his ancestors.

In 1939, director Clemens Krauss patented the idea of ​​a benefit concert (under the heading of Kriegswinterhilfswerk, that is, "Winter Collection for War") that was held on December 31, almost two years after the Anschluss, the annexation. from Austria by German troops.

Joseph Goebbels appropriated the symphonic ceremony as a symbol of the unity of the Third Reich.

In 1946, after World War II, the

began to delude itself of Nazi propaganda and claim the greatness of the Austrian nation.

The secret acoustics of a "shoe hunt"

The excellent soundboard in the Musikverein Golden Hall, the work of the Danish architect Theophil Hansen, is tailored to the millimeter to the needs of one of the best orchestras in the world, making each concert a unique event.

This is due, in part,

.

According to a study by researchers at Aalto University (Finland), the reverberation from the side walls of rectangular rooms enhances both the highest notes of instruments and the concomitant tones of high-volume passages, and as a result the music sounds more dynamic.

Barenboim, a "negotiator" on a diplomatic mission

Daniel Barenboim was

born in Buenos Aires in 1942, but

: Israeli, Spanish, Palestinian and also the one that certifies the vaccination guidelines against Covid.

It will be the third time that the maestro leads the Vienna Philharmonic during the

.

He already did it in 2009 (at the dawn of the financial crisis) and in 2014 (coinciding with the centenary of the First World War) with excellent results, although he acknowledges that he will attend the 82nd edition of the traditional concert with the same nerves as the first time.

"It is not just about directing, but about transmitting a message of hope to the world, and that requires something more than solvency with the baton."

Barenboim is one of the musicians most firmly committed to ending violence in the world, a conductor who has walked Wagner through Israel, invoked Human Rights at the request of the Knesset and founded, together with the intellectual Edward Said, a hybrid orchestra of Palestinian, Israeli and Spanish musicians.

, to whose conflict he has devoted many hours in and out of concert halls.

His status as commander-in-chief of large orchestras has not in the least damaged his brilliant career as a pianist.

In fact, during confinement he had time to record the entire Beethoven Sonatas.

The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

It is not only one of the best sound factories in the world, it is also one of the most airtight.

Anchored in a strong Central European tradition, its music stands resist (although less and less) the diversity of nationalities, genders and races in order to preserve a unique, extremely expressive sound that has its roots in the 19th century.

The darkest pages in the history of this orchestra relate its former members to Nazism, forcing the institution to revoke the honors it granted during the mandate of Adolf Hitler.

Six novelties against déjà-vu

On the lecterns of this 82nd edition of the

, Barenboim and the Vienna Philharmonic will include six novelties: the Phoenix March, The Mermaid and the Polka of the Nymphs by Josef Strauss; Brief news of Eduard Strauss and the waltz The night owls Carl Michael Ziehrer, and the Pixies of Josef Hellmesberger. Among the most recognizable works by the public we find the overture to the operetta The Bat by Johann Strauss (which also contributes to the cause with the famous waltzes The Thousand and One Nights and Newspapers of the Morning) and the waltz of the Music of the Spheres by Josef Strauss, who will close the show.

After the first (secret) tip, there will be the traditional New Year's greeting from Barenboim (encouraging words about the end of the pandemic are expected) and the unanimous cry of the Viennese philharmonics: Prosit Neujahr!

The waltz of

and

be played, pieces that are always played outside the program before an enthusiastic audience that marks the beat between clapping.

For the third consecutive year, the Radetzky March will take the stands in the arrangement signed in concert by the members of the orchestra to replace the most energetic and controversial version of the composer and member of the Nazi party Leopold Weninger.

The Wow Effect: Will Philharmonics Sing?

If in the 2020 edition the organizers hid a pig among the flowers that adorn the Golden Room, this year the surprise is reserved for the first of the tips (it could be the fast polka Hunting for Johann Strauss) and the development of the Ziehrer's The Night Owls waltz, which

It would not be the first time something similar has happened, because in 2016 the orchestra whistled some fragments of the waltz Muchachas vienesas by the same author.

Spanish neigh (in the absence of a director)

Waiting for a Spanish director to assume ownership of the New Year's Concert (the closest we have been to this distinction we owe to Barenboim himself, nationalized in 2002, and to Gustavo Dudamel in his Spanish-speaking capacity as a Latin music reference classical), and after the choreographies commissioned to José Carlos Martínez in the last two editions, this time we will have to settle for

(pronounce: Spanische Hofreitschule), a whole institution in Vienna dedicated to the traditional Spanish technique of dressage of Lipizzaner horses that has been recognized by Unesco as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

A sea of ​​flowers

The Golden Room will once again be adorned, as tradition dictates, with about 30,000 flowers brought from all over the country.

Although the pots and bouquets used to be imported, as a gift, from the Italian city of San Remo, since 2015 the Vienna Department of Parks and Gardens has been in charge of collecting the flowers within its own territory.

This year the pastel tone of various types of flowers will predominate: anthuriums, carnations, roses, lilies, orchids ... "Delicate purple, reddish pink, bright yellow and creamy white will dominate", explains the master florist, Edith Hopf, in charge of growing all these plants and flowers in a sustainable way.

Strauss street worship banned

A few days ago, the Vienna Philharmonic announced

among concert goers (who must present themselves in advance at the doors of the Musikverein with their Covid passport in order , a PCR test and FFP2 mask).

The latest update of the Austrian Government's 2G + regulations limits the capacity of theaters and concert halls to 2,000 attendees, and never after 10 p.m., which is why all New Year's Eve parties have been canceled.

For the first time in decades, the golden statue of Johann Strauss, a ten-minute walk from the Musikverein, will not serve as a meeting point for students who make pilgrimage to the central City Park to pay tribute in case the hangover would allow them to get up early to see the concert.

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