TimesLeader.com

Rieu and company delight with an evening of glorious music

By BRAD PATTON | For The Times Leader

Even though the man on stage is the No. 1 classical artist in the world, it felt more like a rock concert at the Wachovia Arena Friday night.

World-renowned violinist and conductor Andre Rieu brought his Johann Strauss Orchestra to Wilkes-Barre Township Friday, playing his high-energy and highly-entertaining blend of classical music, marches and show tunes.

The performance had everything -- dancing girls, three talented divas, three extraordinary tenors, a nearly 50-piece orchestra that played more than 78 instruments and a generous helping of world-famous songs.

About the only things missing were the guitar solos, smoke machines and laser show.

Rieu, the 59-year-old maestro from the Netherlands, was an expert showman from the moment he led his musicians down the aisle to the tune of “Seventy-Six Trombones” to the final notes of an exquisite version of Brahms’ “Lullaby.”

Like other “PBS phenomena” such as Daniel O’Donnell and Celtic Woman, Rieu has found fame and fortune by following phenomenally-successful television specials with phenomenally-successful concert tours. Last year alone more than 700,000 people went to see and hear Rieu.

But don’t think his appeal ends with concert-goers and public-television watchers. He also dominates the Billboard magazine classical charts.

His “Greatest Hits” collection is currently No. 8 on the Top Classical Albums listing, while “Live in Vienna” sits at No. 12. Three other albums finished in the Top 25 for all of 2008, with “Radio City Music Hall: Live in New York” finishing No. 3 for the year. Rieu reigned in 2008 as the No. 1 classical artist according to Billboard, having charted eight different albums throughout the year.

He certainly fills a niche, one that few -- if any -- others could. Much like Liberace did more than 50 years ago, he makes classical music more friendly for the masses by dressing it up with the showmanship of a Las Vegas style performer.

That showmanship was on full display Friday as Rieu, elegantly attired in a dark tuxedo with tails, performed selections from his more than 30 year career on a stage lined with red and white flowers.

His musicians were also elegantly attired, the men in black tuxedos with white ties and tails and the women in pastel-colored floor-length gowns.

“Good evening, and welcome to a whole evening filled with music,” he said following the third number. “Music is the most beautiful thing we have in life, am I right or not?”

Later in the first set, he added that love may be even more beautiful than music because “there would be no music without love.”

With that, the orchestra played a wonderful rendition of “My Heart Will Go On” from “Titanic,” a tune Rieu called the “most beautiful love ballad of our time.”

Following an intermission, the male members of the orchestra returned to the stage without their female counterparts. The women then appeared, dressed in traditional Dutch costumes, and treated the audience to some authentic clog dancing.

When the ladies left the stage, Rieu yelled, “Hey, boys, we are alone!”

The male musicians then produced various bottles of liquor and beer as the brass section played an oom-pah sounding song called “Musik, Musik.” The boys had a grand old time until the ladies, now back in their gowns, returned to their instruments.

After all that frivolity, the orchestra went right back to being serious musicians as Rieu’s three tenors (one from Hungary, one from Germany and one from Australia) did a marvelous aria from Puccini’s “Tosca.”

Rieu, expertly playing his Stradivarius violin built in 1667, then lived up to his nickname “King of Waltz” with a glorious version of Strauss’ “Blue Danube,” which caused more than a few couples to get up and dance in the aisles.

“We are slowly coming to the end of the concert,” he said before living up to his other nickname, “King of Encores.”

The encore section of the evening’s performance lasted more than 20 minutes as the eager crowd continuously called out for “one more” and Rieu and his cohorts were happy to oblige.

“We had a lot of fun on stage, and we hope you had a lot of fun too,” he said before leading his musicians into another number as a multitude of colorful balloons descended from the rafters.

Many people thought it was over following a gorgeous version of “America the Beautiful,” which had the audience singing along, many with tears in their eyes.

That was followed by a rousing rendition of “Stars and Stripes Forever” and a very solemn and touching “Amazing Grace,” complete with bagpipes.

The highly-entertaining evening finally came to a close with a lovely “Lullaby.”