Do or Die

The Philharmonics' film of Second Viennese School arrangements of Strauss waltzes, recorded by Accentus Music in the Café Sperl, was one of my highlights of 2011. This new disc, fresh out on Deutsche Grammophon, finds the septet in equally fine form. Linked by the theme of finality, of life, of the whole Kakania world, the recording is not only a great piece of entertainment – minus two overdressed vocal interruptions – but also a superb musical document.

The Philharmonics are largely drawn from the Vienna Phil. The players' knowledge of and passion for the music of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, predominant here as on their 2011 film, is self-evident. But as well as providing the requisite virtuosity, there's a real sense of fun-loving abandon about the playing, even when captured in a studio. Witty arrangements, one of which features passages from Jenůfa and Der Rosenkavalier, provide showcases for individual talent as well as moments of touching musical insight.

It is a shame that the group or Deutsche Grammophon chose to shoe-horn Patricia Petibon and Piotr Beczala onto the recording. The former's 'Somewhere' from West Side Story fails to learn from Bernstein's (or Kiri Te Kanawa's) mistakes on that infamously unidiomatic performance of the musical. While Beczala's performance of the 'Berceuse' from Benjamin Godard's Jocelyn feels considerably more at home, it too provides a hiatus in an otherwise infectious party.

Much finer are the group's staggeringly tight but interpretatively giddy performances of Piazzolla, a rather camp Danse macabre and František Jánoška's witty Presto Fight, with splashes of Kreisler and Djagno Reinhard. And as the tempo accelerates, and we hurtle towards oblivion, it's hard to resist the do or die atmosphere of this recording. Click here to order a copy.

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