In praise of Willi Boskovsky

A few years ago I was lucky to be invited by White Label for EMI (as was) to write the liner notes for a re-release of Willi Boskovsky's survey of the waltzes, polkas and gallops of the Golden Age of Johann Strauss II and his coterie. The recordings have formed the backbone to my current History of the Waltz course at City Lit, which sadly finishes next week. Boskovsky's not trendy. He cannot compete with the endless issues of recent New Year's Day Concerts on disc, though it is his example that the likes of Jansons, Welser-Möst and Barenboim emulate.

Boskovsky is, for me, the echt waltzer. His Wiener Johann Strauss Orchester plays with a style and panache, as well as a heart, that is often lacking from the big blockbuster approach of so many revered symphony orchestras. There is not a whiff of 'throwaway encore' condescension in Boskovsky's performances, neither is there an attempt at faux grandness, both true of the operetta accounts too. I feared that Warner Classics might ditch EMI's re-release programme of the former Electrola recordings – the Fritz Wunderlich highlights box is an absolute gem – but it appears that it has be rebranded as the Cologne Collection and now Suppé's Boccaccio joins the ranks with Boskovsky's fabulous Die Fledermaus and discs of Léhar and Kálmán. If there were ever such a thing as authentic performance, Boskovsky is it.

Tweet