Salute to Vienna: Starting With a Fizzle

"Salute to Vienna" bills itself as the "World's Greatest New Year's Concert," a questionable slogan on two counts. For one, the world includes Vienna, and the Salute to Vienna performance of Central European waltzes, polkas and operetta arias on Sunday afternoon in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall did not surpass the Viennese New Year's concerts that inspired it.

In addition, the performance felt as much like a carnival as a concert, as conductor Andras Deak talked to the audience, conducted its hand claps and danced with members of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (which played under the name Strauss Symphony of America for the occasion) in between stints at the podium.

That was a pity, as the dance music Deak conducted must receive careful attention in order to sound properly carefree and effervescent. In Josef Strauss's "Delirium" waltz, Deak rushed the ends of phrases and made the rhythm into a plodding tread; one would have struggled to waltz to it, though six members of the Hungarian National Ballet made other graceful motions in front of the orchestra. Polkas were occasions for gimmicks; when Deak brandished an umbrella during Johann Strauss Jr.'s "Thunder and Lightning," the resultant chuckles overshadowed a lackluster performance.

Tenor Zrinko Soco and soprano Olga Szilagyi did better by the arias, drawn from operettas by Strauss Jr., Franz Lehar and Emmerich Kalman. These singers were fun both to watch and to hear, an elusive combination for much of the rest of this salute to Vienna.

-- Andrew Lindemann Malone