Philharmonic Ball: Music by Johann and Josef Strauss.(Sound recording review)

Philharmonic Ball: Music by Johann and Josef Strauss. Willi Boskovsky, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. LIM XR24 019.

In the booklet insert, Winston Ma, the owner and producer of the high-end label First Impression Music, tells us that friends encouraged him to "have at least one of Johann Strauss's Waltz albums from the Decca catalog since these are such famous recordings." Looking high and low for the best possible representative of the series, he settled on Willi Boskovsky's album Philharmonic Ball from 1959 to do up in the XRCD remastering process. It's certainly hard to argue with his choice.

Boskovsky conducted the Vienna Philharmonic's famous New Year's concerts for twenty-five years, from 1954-1979, and in the late 50s Decca wanted to produce an album of music that reflected the kind of program such an event would include. If you are a fan of Mr. Boskovsky, of the Strauss family, or of the Vienna Philharmonic, this album is among the best things you can find. Nobody did the Strausses better than Boskovsky, and no orchestra knew or played the Strausses better than the VPO. Among the selections, you'll find the familiar--the "Blue Danube" and "Voices of Spring" waltzes, "Auf der Jagd," "Pizzicato Polka," "Perpetuum Mobile," and the less familiar--"Ohne Sorgen, "Transsktionen," among others.

Now, here's the thing: In the past four or five decades, Decca engineers have themselves remastered Boskovsky's early material many times over, and you will find the recordings on this LIM disc in various Decca collections at much lower cost. You just ...