New Year'S Concert Complete / Various New Year'S Concert Complete / Various CD

In celebration of the 75th anniversary of the greatest media event in classical music, Sony Classical released in 2015 a complete edition of all the works ever played at the Wiener Philharmoniker's New Year's Concerts. Performed in the "Golden Hall" of the Musikverein between 1941 and 2015, the iconic live performances were issued for the first time in a single box set of 23 albums. Now, in 2020, this edition will be available as a 26-album extended version, with all the new repertoire from the last five years compiled on three additional albums. The great tradition was launched on New Year's Day 1941, when Austrian conductor Clemens Krauss presented an all-Strauss-family concert with the Philharmonic - in spite of his fears "that the after-effects of New Year's Eve might have a detrimental influence on attendance". His concern proved unwarranted. Until his death in 1954 - except for 1946-47, when Josef Krips took his place - Krauss shaped the concert's profile. In those years it was broadcast only on radio. Under Krauss's successor, Philharmonic concertmaster Willy Boskovsky - who directed the concert no fewer than 25 times, standing with fiddle in hand as Johann Strauss himself had done -, the TV broadcasts began and soon became an event enjoyed by audiences all over the world. Since 1980 the Philharmonic has invited leading conductors to join them in Vienna to usher in the new year. From 1980 to 1986, and again in 1994, 1996, 1999 and 2005, Lorin Maazel was on the rostrum. He was followed by Herbert von Karajan, Claudio Abbado, Carlos Kleiber, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Seiji Ozawa, Mariss Jansons, Georges Pr?tre, Daniel Barenboim, Franz Welser-M?st, Gustavo Dudamel, Christian Thielemann and Andris Nelsons.