Conducted by Zubin Mehta, the Wiener Philharmoniker (Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra) plays Johann Strauss’ Loreley-Rhein-Klänge, Walzer, Op. 154 (Sounds of the Lorelei on the Rhine). From the Heldenplatz in Vienna, May 29, 1999. Published by EuroArts Channel.
This is one of Johann Strauss’s waltzes, and possibly his best loved of all. It includes a distinctive four-note phrase and echo for clarinet and horn in the introduction that preview further treatment in the main waltz. The composition was greeted with huge applause when first performed at a summer festivity in August 1843, attended by over 3400 people. It was a charity event in aid of Vienna’s St Joseph’s Children’s Hospital, held in lovely weather at another of Vienna’s summer entertainment spots – the Wasser- Glacis. This was situated in the former moat around the old Vienna city walls that survived until the late 1850s.