Sunday Drive: Strauss, Roses from the South

André Rieu conducts a very cool performance of this old favorite of your Head Trucker's at the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, 2013.  Sixty years ago, I used to play this on the piano.

One would have liked to go to a ball, a real ball, just once.  Sigh.  Alas, my fairy godmother never showed up!  Which is just as well, I suppose - my big Texas feet would never have fit into any glass slipper.

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Sunday Drive: Strauss, The Blue Danube

Click to enlarge.

To help beat the summer heat, I think I will play some waltzes and other delightful things in the next month or so.  The beloved "Blue Danube" is of course at the top of the list, and Strauss wrote many others.  Here it is, as performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1961, with Eugene Ormandy conducting.

My mom used to pick up a record album from a thrift shop or discount store now and then, and though I never remember her playing any of them - maybe she played them when no one else was at home - they were exciting to discover as a lonely only child.  And what little gay boy wouldn't be entranced by the lush music and the fairy-tale picture on the album?

I played and replayed it countless times over the years.  When it had gotten rather scratchy in the mid-1970s, I searched the record stores until I found an 8-track version of the same, which I could play in my car while driving along the blue waters of the beautiful Gulf coast.  Fond memories; I hope you fellas enjoy the inspiration of this masterpiece recording too.

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Sunday Drive: The Blue Danube

A gallery of landscape paintings with captions:  what a lovely presentation to go with the beloved tune.

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Sunday Drive: Strauss, Voices of Spring

A few minutes of springtime joy with one of Strauss's greatest hits, as performed by Andre Rieu and his orchestra in 2011:

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Sunday Drive: Strauss, Roses from the South

You're invited to the ball!  Admission is free, but you'll have to bring your own glass slippers.

Andre Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra perform in Vienna at the magnificent Schonbrunn Palace:

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Sunday Drive: Strauss, The Blue Danube

 

Isn't that the prettiest thing you ever heard? 

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Sunday Drive: Strauss, An der schönen blauen Donau

A few peaceful moments of pure joy and beauty that I think all my truckbuddies will appreciate: André Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra playing "The Beautiful Blue Danube," recorded live in July 2006 at the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna.

Sunday Drive: Strauss, Voices of Spring

A favorite composition of the Waltz King, so right for the merry month of May:

Sunday Drive: Strauss, The Blue Danube

As performed by André Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra, recorded live at the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria, with dancers from the Elmayer Dancing School. Just lovely.

Sunday Drive: The Blue Danube

Performed by the Vienna Philharmonic in their traditional New Year's concert:

Sunday Drive: Strauss, Roses from the South

One would have liked, just once, to go to a real ball . . . .