Elegance

It couldn't possibly be January 1 without tuning in to the Vienna Philharmonic's new year's celebration on PBS.  This musical tradition ushers in the new year with a grace and elegance that make all things seem possible and all efforts beautiful.  This year's presentation, hosted by Julie Andrews, did not disappoint. Over the years, I've come to know the lavishly decorated music hall with its gold leaf-covered surfaces, celestial ceiling murals, bountiful arrangements of roses, and chandeliers each featuring a thousand crystal pieces.  Josef Strauss was the featured composer this time, with a dazzling array of polkas and waltzes on the program. Dancers from the Vienna Ballet brought the elegance of movement to the music, swirling, twirling and pirouetting to the strains of several of the pieces.  The women were particularly beautifully attired in dresses of subtle gold, ice gray-blue and white. One quick polka was illustrated by a couple of dancers in a sketch of black and white.  Another piece was whimsically brought to life by four dancers who livened up the stage with their humorous antics and their costumes that made them resemble kilted jesters, complete with plumed hats, grotesque makeup and argyle socks that went up to the tops of their thighs.  Several of the musical selections were accompanied by video of the Austrian countryside that made me feel as if, any second, I'd be twirling in the Alps alongside Julie Andrews in "The Sound of Music."  The hall may have been glittering and grand, the dancers lithe and graceful, the costuming the stuff of fairy tales and the Austrian scenery majestic, but it was the music that took one's breath away.  From Johann Strauss II's lyrical "On the Beautiful Blue Danube" waltz to Johann Strauss, Sr.'s rousing "Radetzky March," this traditional concert was once again a wonderful way to ring in the new year.