The day on which Seiji Ozawa conducted the traditional Vienna New Year's concert 2002 was also the day on which countless Euro citizens lined up at postal agencies and banks to pull fresh euros out of the wall. The Vienna Philharmonic was therefore not only surrounded by the usual sea of flowers on the stage of the Musikverein, but also by stylized euro emblems. It was the first time in the
… tradition of New Year's concerts that a Japanese conductor was allowed to indulge in Viennese panache. That the Viennese like to see this traditional concert as an event of international allure was also evident from the New Year's greetings from the orchestra and the conductor. It seemed like the papal blessing from the square on St. Peter's, because because of the international composition of the Vienna Philharmonic, the New Year's greetings could be heard in more than a dozen different languages. Unfortunately not in Dutch, let alone in Frisian. In addition to the usual evergreens An der schönen, blauen Donau and the Radetzky-Marsch, this concert also contained a number of lesser-known works, such as Joseph Hellmesberger's Danse Diabolique. (HJ)more
