Andre Rieu's Performance Inspired Waltzing
Review » The talented orchestra's show was alternately delightful and insipid .
By Robert Coleman
Special To The Tribune
Updated: 06/26/2009 05:02:56 PM MDT
Andre Rieu performs at Usana Amphitheatre this week.
West Valley City » André Rieu is the 21st-century incarnation of Johann Strauss Jr. -- he even named his orchestra for the Austrian waltz king. But after leading his fifty-plus musicians, he dashes off to any number of locations around the world instead of just across town to another Viennese Ball.
The globe-trotting maestro's Thursday-night performance at a windy USANA Amphitheatre (the concert was delayed 30 minutes as a storm passed by) was alternately insipid and delightful. For this 30th-anniversary tour, Rieu included audience favorites such as Strauss' waltz "The Blue Danube," which had audience members dancing in the aisles -- some accomplished and some obviously taking baby steps. And Rieu didn't make it easy, occasionally stopping the colorfully dressed musicians like a game of musical chairs.
But for every charming or musically stirring moment, such as their stylistically impeccable performance of Franz Lehar's "Gold and Silver Waltz," there was something less than desirable. Such as a syrupy rendition of "Time to Say Goodbye" by Australian soprano Marusia Louwerse; overwrought bass drum beats during "E lucevan le stelle" from Puccini's opera "Tosca," sung slightly out of tune by two tenors, and a strange but good-natured Dutch clog dance featuring all of the orchestra's women wearing wooden shoes.
One of the evening's stand-out performances was the "Doll Song," from Offenbach's "The
Tales of Hoffmann," sung with pristine coloratura by Brazilian soprano Carla Maffioletti. Dressed as a wind-up doll, she sang and danced across the stage until her spring wound down, forcing a stage hand to wind her up again.
The "Radetzky March" by Strauss' father led the concert into a series of seven encores. One, Verdi's famous "Libiamo" from the opera "La Traviata" had champagne splashing across the brass section, soaking one of the trumpet players. The crowd clapped, waved their arms and swayed with the music, becoming more animated when they could see their faces projected on the giant screen behind the orchestra. Rieu's unaccompanied violin quieted the raucous behavior as he played "America the Beautiful," and the audience poignantly started to sing along.
The orchestra is no Vienna Philharmonic, but its talented musicians play with precision and panache, and they seemed to have little need for the scores on their ornate music stands. After countless nights of playing the same program, the musicians' eyes were on each other as they interacted in sometimes comical ways.
Their fine clarinetist entertained with rubber-faced double-takes, mimicking the singers and even downing a glass of champagne in one gulp. Fortunately, as long as the musicians were amused, the audience seemed happy to follow along.
Posted by Moderator Jeanine Ann at Friday, June 26, 2009 7:41 PM 
Categories: 2009 Concerts
Tags: CONCERTS
Categories: 2009 Concerts
Tags: CONCERTS
Thank you, Jeanine Ann for finding this article that was published here in the Phoenix area.
I think I may have met Robert Coleman at the end of the concert.
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