![]() These pioneering studies have accumulated related methodological foundations, and recently, as this article was approaching completion, the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna launched an Austrian Science Fund (FWF) project entitled “Signature Sound Vienna: Quantifying the Signature Sound of the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year’s Concerts,” which would potentially enable the follow-up research on this topic to develop in an even more data-rich and interdisciplinary environment. 2, and found that expressive patterns in timing and dynamics such as the uneven three beats could be identified in various hierarchical levels in this typically waltz-like accompanied genre. One of their particularly relevant outputs was a study in which John Rink, Neta Spiro, and Nicolas Gold investigated 29 performances of Frédéric Chopin’s Mazurka, op. Both papers were more or less inspired by the methodology of recording/performance analysis and performance studies in general, which were initiated in the 1980s and rapidly developed in two successive projects funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council: CHARM (Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music, 2004–09) and CMPCP (Centre for Musical Performance as Creative Practice, 2009–14). ![]() In comparison, the latter was a more comprehensive study with more diversified approaches and will be further expanded on in this research. ![]() The former analyzed the recordings of The Blue Danube from the VNYC 1987, conducted by Herbert von Karajan, and the VNYC 2010, conducted by Georges Prêtre (see table 1A), using Sonic Visualiser and MATLAB, and demonstrated that the three beats of a Viennese waltz are normally played unequally. In recent academic publications, Elaine Chew and I have independently released pilot investigations on the timing features of Viennese waltzes, with empirical methods but relatively small datasets. Is there such a Viennese style in the performance of Viennese waltzes? If so, what are the key features of such a style, and what factors may result in these features? This article aims to provide answers to these questions. However, in musicology, to my best knowledge, this assumption has not been systematically scrutinized on the basis of empirical data. It is the relaxed rhythm it is the organized sloppiness … something that other people can’t do. If I could hear on the radio any waltz played ever, I would know immediately that, first of all, it’s an Austrian orchestra, and most probably the Vienna Philharmonic … It’s not only the sound. For example, the famous conductor Zubin Mehta, who has collaborated regularly with the VPO, once said: In the performance of this piece, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (VPO) seems to demonstrate a distinctive style in their interpretation of Viennese waltzes. As one of the standard encores in the Vienna New Year’s Concert (VNYC), it is heard by an audience of millions worldwide every year and has been frequently performed by orchestras across the world. 314), composed by the Austrian composer Johann Strauss II (1825–99), is widely regarded as the best-known Viennese waltz. The Blue Danube (“An der schönen blauen Donau,” op. In addition, the choreographic factors and the gala circumstances of the Vienna New Year’s Concert may also play a role in the stylistic distinctiveness of Viennese orchestras. Some of these features seem to be associated less with the conductors than with the orchestra’s own performance practice. The results yield the following findings: (1) At the beat level, Viennese orchestras, particularly the VPO, widely employ an uneven 3-beat pattern of “short-long-medium,” whereas non-Viennese orchestras play the three beats with relatively even lengths (2) at the phrase level, the VPO tends to demonstrate much more rubato, which goes hand in hand with “spiral tempo-dynamic shaping” (3) at the sectional level, larger-scale and more structural tempo modifications, especially the “long-range accelerando,” are found in the VPO’s recordings. Focusing on the parameter of timing, it analyzes the rhythm and tempo in 34 recordings of Johann Strauss II’s The Blue Danube, widely regarded as the best-known Viennese waltz. This article sets out to provide empirical evidence of this hypothesis. It is widely assumed that Viennese orchestras, especially the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (VPO), possess distinctive qualities in their performance of Viennese waltzes.
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