Chris Stanbury

January 6^th 2007

Vienna Night

Chris was only asked last February whether he would like to play for our New Year's Day concert and in effect only had 9 months to put together his program, January 6th was a monumental achievement!!!
Playing his Yamaha Stagea, he opened his program with Vienna Forever which Chris followed with the Vienna Life Waltz by Johann Strauss Jr. (1825-1899), lots of orchestral sounds with a touch of brass, all nicely set to a green/blue background by Keith.
Franz Lehar (1870-1948), was best known as a composer of operattas, The Merry Widow - a romantic musical comedy - was first produced at the Theater-an-der-Wein on December 30, 1905 and saw more than five thousand performances. At one time, it ran simultaneously in five different languages in five different theatres in Buenos Aires. Back to Strauss with the famous Thunder & Lightning Polka (composed in 1868), which was also known as the Shooting Stars Polka at one time. Needless to say Keith created the appropriate weather conditions!
With the weather improving, we had the Voices of Spring, which was originally written as a soprano piece and then re-arranged for piano, however, Chris set this to orchestral sounds for us nicely set to a green background. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart managed to compose a vast amount of music during his short life (1756-1791). Amongst those was the Marriage Of Figaro, premiered in 1786, set in Count Almaviva's castle in Seville in the late 18th Century.
The Kaiser or Emperor Waltz featured next on the program. Franz Liszt next made an appearance. The beautiful sounds of the violin filled the hall by way of the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 which has also been used for the Stella Artois adverts, obviously a popular piece of music!
The polka has its origins in 19th century Bohemia, with the Annen Polka being dedicated to Empress Anna, wife of Kaiser Ferdinand. - 'I've got a tune that will knock 'em - flat,'said Edward Elgar to his friend Dora Penny in 1901, the tune? The Pomp & Circumstance March No.1, which is inexorably linked with the words 'Land of Hope and Glory' and has become a second national anthem.
Refreshments taken and the raffle over, we were looking forward to the second half, which Chris opened with Wine, Women & Song and Roses From The South. These were soon followed by One Day When We Were Young (adapted by Oscar Hammerstein) and an Artist's Life set to a palette of different colours by Keith.
Violins were aplenty for the Pizzicato Polka, composed by Johann Strauss II and his brother Joseph. Johannes Brahms composed a set of 21 lively dance tunes based on Hungarian themes, lasting one to four mins, with Chris playing the one written in 1833.
Franz Schubert then made an entry with the March Militaire, this was swiftly followed by Strauss' Trish Trash Polka, written after a tour of Russia in 1858.
Tales of Vienna Woods was one of Strauss' most famous waltzes, reflecting Austrian Heurigen, small establishments outside Vienna that serve partially aged wine and food associated with the countryside. From the woods we went to the Blue Danube, originally written in 1867 for the Vienna Men's Choral Association, but was adapted by Strauss for orchestra only and performed that same year at the Paris World Fair.
All of us had enjoyed an evening of high-class music to welcom the arrival of the New Year, with Chris concluding his program with Franz von Suppe's Overture from the Poet & Peasant.
The traditional encore for our concert was, of course, the Radetski March, which allows the audience plenty of rhythmic clapping! Our thanks go to Chris for a superb concert; also much enjoyed by his parents Lyn & Colin. And to Ann, John & Doreen who spent many hours making the new flower arrangements - well done. To Keith for his usual high quality of lighting and to the rest of the team.

Why not come along to a Basildon Keyboard Club Concert, you will be made very welcome, have a great evenings entertainment, a complimentary cup of tea or coffee with biscuits and of course experience the delights of live music played on top of the range electronic organs & keyboards by the best players.