Happy New year 2010! Let's waltz!

Ok, I better write this today while I am in a good mood otherwise the way things are going it might well be Easter bunnies we will be talking about and not snowmen ;-)))

But seriously, I started saying at least hello about a thousand times and then work crashed in and life generally became a mess…

So, here is a late but very heartfelt Happy New Year everyone!!! And hope you had a wonderfully peaceful and just lovely Christmas time :-) (assuming anyone is still stopping by around here after all this time…)

I don’t know what people are generally doing on day 1 of each year (other than sleeping, eating and drinking too much) but one of my very favourite things happens every single year just as I wake up to a new year: Neujahrskonzert Wiener Philharmoniker!!! I can’t imagine a better way to start the year and I also can’t remember when I started watching it, way way back anyway.

I never try to find out in advance who the conductor will be, as it is part of the surprise. So this year just like any I dragged myself out of bed and crawled through the house after 4 hours of sleep (ill tell you later what I did that night;-)), dragging my duvet with me and nested myself on the sofa with a glass of cold milk and a slice of last night’s panettone (continued with a glass of champagne and various other own baked sweets, that I am too kind to share more details about….wouldn’t want you drooling all over your keyboards ;-) but well, think chocolate, nuts and a lot of Marillenmarmelade, yum!!!) .

And then came 2 and more hours of sheer happiness at the hand of the extraordinary and absolutely lovely Georges Prêtre!! And the Wiener Philharmoniker of course :-) And Valentino, certo! God, did you see those dresses?? How exquisitely beautiful! How refined, how feminine and how unique and what a nice idea to actually do something special for those ballerinas who always make this concert sparkle with their elegant steps. And I have rarely seen the dancers so elegant, perfectly fitted tails of an absolute black! Bravo indeed. And the flowers!! I looooovee those flowers from San Remo! The previous Neujahrskonzert with Pretre was already one of my favourites, but this years is top of my list definitely! I’ve read somewhere that he said this concert is among other things about making people happy and celebrating music and life. And he was spot on! I liked the light French teasing, the Offenbach, the connections and sweet little musical jokes. We have the whole year to be serious about the world, this is definitely the time for a bit of frivolity. And when it comes with such art and such amazing craft as from the Wiener Philharmoniker who can say no? And part of the pleasure of watching and listening is seeing them enjoy themselves too! And then there was that Patisserie in Wien… which made you want to lick the screen, or almost ;-)

Some people wondered about the program, thinking it too French, but I would disagree, it was done in a complimenting, flirty way only to enhance the effect and the joy it brought. And after all, Paris and Wien have sooo much in common: great music, great food, divine sweets, love of life, beautiful frand buildings and a charming touch of romanticism and decadence and frivolity in which we should all indulge once in a while!

So, here it is for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet! Let’s greet the new year with fun and laughter and good music!


MrPascal1306 thanks for all the videos :-)