Andre Rieu and The Johann Strauss Orchestra Come Home to Maastricht, 2018

The complete annual summer concert of the greatest festival orchestra in the world, The Johann Strauss Orchestra, led by Andre Rieu, in the town square Vrijthof in their home town of Maastricht, The Netherlands, 7 July 2018.

Love in Maastricht André Rieu 2018.jpg Above the Maastricht audience: An audio recording of the entire Rieu & JSO 2018 concert. Don’t you wish you could be there with a glass of beer in your hand?

From their rousing entrance to the tune of “76 Trombones” by Meredith Willson (that’s two l’s, thank you) to their invariable sign-off pieces: the Maastricht city anthem; Strauss Sr’s “Radetsky March”; “An der schönen blauen Donau” (of course); (no Shostakovich’s Jazz Waltz No 2 this year, though—here’s the 2010 performance on YT); “Can’t Help Falling in Love” (from “Plaisir d’amour” by Jean-Paul-Égide Martini, 1784); Austrian composer Robert Stoltz’s “Adieu, mein kleiner gardeoffizier”; and the Rocco Granata standard “Marina” (played every year at the San Gennaro Festival in Little Italy, NYC), there’s two hours here of sheer delight, not to mention drinking and dancing. It’s always a special afternoon when I get to play the entire Maastricht concerts for me and Mister Grumble, I open a bottle and dance around the room and he grins and drinks. Just like in our old commune back in San Francisco in the 70s.

The program (with comments, if any, as they come to me):

0:02 : 01. “76 Trombones” / Meredith Willson
5:38 : 02. “Old Comrades” (Alte Kameraden) / Carl Teike
10:25 : 03. “Granada” / Ernesto Lecuona
15:47 : 04. “Tiritomba” / Guglielmo Cottrau
20:20 : 05. “Nessun Dorma” / Giacomo Puccini
27:07 : 06. “Snow Waltz” (Schneewalzer) / Thomas Koschat
34:39 : 07. “Pie Jesu” / Andrew Lloyd Webber
41:18 : 08. “Olé Guapa” / A Malando
47:40 : 09. “You’ll Never Walk Alone” / Rodgers & Hammerstein
53:45 : 10. “Clog Dance” / Traditional
56:21 : 11. “Trompeten Echo” / Slavko & Vilko Avsenik
57:41 : 12. “Anton aus Tirol” / Vili Petrič
1:00:33 : 13. “You Raise Me Up” / Josh Groban
1:08:05 : 14. “Lara’s Theme” / Maurice Jarre
1:12:27 : 15. “Meadowlands” (Poliushko Polie) / Lev Knipper, Viktor Gusev
1:16:24 : 16. “Kalinka” / Ivan Larionov
1:20:12 : 17. “Caro Nome” / Giuseppe Verdi
1:29:05 : 18. “On the Beautiful Blue Danube” (An der schönen, blauen Donau) / Johann Strauss Jr
1:36:21 : 19. “Amigos Para Siempre” / Andrew Lloyd Webber
1:41:44 : 20. “Radetzky March” / Johann Strauss Jr
1:44:26 : 21. Strauss & Co. (medley) / Strauss Jr, Franz Lehar, etc
1:47:54 : 22. “Libiamo” / Giuseppe Verdi
1:52:28 : 23. “Zorba’s Dance” (Sirtaki) / Mikis Theodorakis
1:56:04 : 24. “Macarena” / Los del Río
2:00:18 : 25. “La Bamba” / Ritchie Havens
2:02:32 : 26. “Can’t Help Falling In Love” / Peretti-Creatore-Weiss (from “Plaisir d’amour” by Martini)
2:05:39 : 27. “Het Wilhelmus” anthem of Maastricht / Adrianus Valerius
2:07:40 : 28. “Maastricht, City Of Jolly Singers” / Armand Preud’homme
2:10:28 : 29. “Adieu, Little Captain Of My Heart” (Adieu, Mein Kleine Gardeoffizier) / Robert Stoltz, Ralph Benatzky)
2:14:11 : 30. “Marina” / Rocco Granata