Andre Rieu with the Johanna Strauss Orchestra Scotiabank Saddledome

Everyone knows that Johann Strauss Jr. was the waltz king. Although the salad days of the Viennese waltz are now a century old, a new waltz king has emerged, who conducts his own Johann Strauss orchestra and has reinvented the idea of a sentimental tune for all seasons and seasoned it with dry wit. His name is Andre Rieu, and at this point in his career, with a shelf full of CDs and DVDs and international broadcasts, he is truly the latter-day king of the waltz.

Saturday evening's concert in Calgary was the first stop on a whirlwind tour of North America that, in many ways, was a variation of the concert given here a few years ago. While it would be a tad churlish to call it a formula, there is a basic pattern to these concerts.

The larger waltzes by Strauss form the spine of the evening, in this case Voices of Spring and Vienna Blood, capped by The Blue Danube, here treated more playfully than seriously. In between are novelty numbers that feature regular soloists such as the three tenors, as well as solo spots for new talent. A liberal dose of playful patter by Rieu, a master of this sort of thing, makes it all go down as smoothly and as easily as a glass of Baileys.

The three tenors, the same three as before, were still impressive, singing with well-focused, high quality voices in arrangements similar to the other famous three tenors. A highlight in this respect was the peppy, well-known German song Heut' ist der schonste Tag (Today is the most beautiful day), familiar to anyone steeped in German popular music. Another fine moment was the closing number of the first half, an arrangement by Rieu himself of a popular operetta number by Emerich Kalman from The Gypsy Princess.

Comedy was well to the fore in the polka by Josef Strauss featuring an anvil as a musical instrument - a first, I should think. That was counterbalanced by two exceptionally wellsung solos, the first, The Vilja Lied from The Merry Widow, and the second, the always effective Don't Cry for me Argentina. Both of the ladies who sang these numbers had excellent voices and a winning performance style.