VIENNA ART ORCHESTRA

Compositions by the popular ‘king of waltz’ Johann Strauss, arranged for a jazz orchestra? Matthias Rüegg, conductor and composer of the renowned Vienna Art Orchestra (VAO) proved that he could do this on New Year’s Day of 2000 in Vienna, right after the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra performed this killing repertoire in the usual way. Prolonged because of success: annually the VAO takes up this project again in which they searched the entire Strauss family for jazziness. ‘[Rüegg] keeps things expertly on the boil by changing the tempos and rhythms and with scores that push his virtuoso ensemble to the limit, not least on The Blue Danube, the opening bars of which elicit uproarious applause.’ (The Guardian).