Watching the New Year’s Celebration with the Vienna Philharmonic on PBS this evening (January 2, 2010) was as mesmerizing for me as it is every year. Strauss waltzes are truly beautiful musical pieces, and extremely difficult for orchestras to perform. The Vienna Philharmonic each year produces these little miracles without flaw every year on this date. I have performed with many orchestras throughout my life (French horn) and I know even the best of orchestras have difficulty with Strauss waltzes. As a hornist, the amount of concentration required to get the never ending “pah pahs” on the second and third beats of every measure is intense. Try tapping your finger with the horns without tapping the “ooms!” Note the many tempo changes. How many variations do you hear in the different sections? Sometimes the second and third “pahs” are exactly on the beat. Other times the first “pah” is anticipated, like this: oom-pah……pah, oom-pah……pah. Watch the conductor and you rarely see him/her conducting the background rhythm; but, the orchestra always gets it right! How is this communicated?

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