New concert work: "When the World Was Waltzing" - premieres October 25, 2025

[That_Bloke 179]

11 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DQKoaszjGZi/?img_index=7

 

 

So it looks a bit on the modern atonal side. Yet some of the swirling runs on page 2 suggest a Broadway/Hollywood Overture feel. Intriguing. 

[Tom Guernsey 3,456]

14 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

Well… yes? Honeck has always been listed as the conductor of tomorrow's concert. And I'm sure the Williams piece isn't just for solo violin.

 

Oops. Must have totally missed that piece of information. Thank you! 

[Marian Schedenig 10,855]

Explains though why Williams is full of praise for Honeck. I was only vaguely familiar with him by name before.

[Tom Guernsey 3,456]

1 hour ago, Marian Schedenig said:

Explains though why Williams is full of praise for Honeck. I was only vaguely familiar with him by name before.

Oh well I’d recommend checking him out. His Beethoven, Bruckner, Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich recordings (amongst others) are superb.

[Mr. Hooper 6,958]

3 hours ago, That_Bloke said:

 

So it looks a bit on the modern atonal side. Yet some of the swirling runs on page 2 suggest a Broadway/Hollywood Overture feel. Intriguing. 

I hope it's light on the atonality. Just give me something I can whistle.

[Tom 6,070]

30 minutes ago, Mr. Hooper said:

Just give me something I can whistle.

Fyi, your dance partner might find that annoying.  At least have a mint.  

[pete 1,257]

11 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

And I'm sure the Williams piece isn't just for solo violin.

 

 

It isn't. The first page of the full score is also shown in the video, as well as some of the other pages of the solo violin part.

 

And it was wonderful to read in Williams' notes on the piece stating that he had so much fun writing the piece, especially considering he was working on this just a few weeks ago. Gives me hope he's up for the new Spielberg movie! 

 

[Jurassic Shark 15,578]

13 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

Explains though why Williams is full of praise for Honeck. I was only vaguely familiar with him by name before.

 

He's made some great Beethoven recordings, among others.

[BB-8 5,581]

OK, so this is dedicated to Honeck and Mutter...neither to the Vienna Symphony, nor to the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, nor to Johann Strauß Jr.

[Tom Guernsey 3,456]

3 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

He's made some great Beethoven recordings, among others.

Agreed. I have 5, 6 and 9 (which I think might be all he’s done so far). But all worth hearing. 

[BB-8 5,581]

Back in the 90s / early 2000s, Honeck was Mr Maestro-replace-man. 

[mikal_grig 561]

I hope that someone who is there can “capture” this moment for us? 

[bollemanneke 4,139]

"When the world was recording."

[Jesse 218]

11 hours ago, pete said:

especially considering he was working on this just a few weeks ago

Do we actually know this? Was that not just a speculation? 

[pete 1,257]

37 minutes ago, Jesse said:

Do we actually know this? Was that not just a speculation? 

 

I took this "Bingo"  from Maurizio to be conformation - I assumed he was in the know. And Tim hasn't contradicted that regarding the music he knows Williams had written the day of his book's release Zoom party. Well actually September 2, was a little more than a few weeks ago - I was thinking October 2 for some reason. 

[BB-8 5,581]

22 hours ago, Mr. Hooper said:

I hope it's light on the atonality. Just give me something I can whistle.

"When the Nerd was Whistleing"

 

Forcing myself to get into the right mood, I came across this CD full of Straußian transcriptions and paraphrases...

[Escape_Velocity 23]

On 24/10/2025 at 10:13 AM, Mr. Hooper said:

I hope it's light on the atonality. Just give me something I can whistle.

You can whistle Duo Concertante for Violin and Viola or Conversations if you try hard enough. 

[Mr. Hooper 6,958]

19 minutes ago, Escape_Velocity said:

You can whistle Duo Concertante for Violin and Viola or Conversations if you try hard enough. 

Alright, then just give me something melodious.

[BB-8 5,581]

How was it?

[Mr. Hooper 6,958]

[Ricard 2,438]

[Marian Schedenig 10,855]

Well, I can strike "attend a JW world premiere" off the bucket list.

 

The thing with Strauss is: He had quite a bit in common with Williams, come to think of it. Both are/were supreme craftsmen, writing predominantly "for the masses" and thus remaining mostly in firmly accessible territory without much innovation, while always making good use of modern techniques. Also, both have been accused of always sounding the same - something we in the know generally reject in connection with Williams, but something that does rather apply to Strauss, I think. And that's the problem I have with a full concert of Strauss works: His highlights are fantastic, but the rest, while certainly highly competent, inevitably feels too much like samey padding. The Symphoniker and Honeck certainly played it well though. I could have done with the Sängerknaben though… I'm generally not a big fan of boys' choirs, and here (in the three pieces they participated in) they seemed rather irrelevant and acoustically problematic. I've never fully understood the history between the many different versions of Strauss's works (I adore the orchestral version of the Blue Danube Waltz, but I understand it was originally written for men's choir), but in this case all three pieces seem to have been adaptations made specifically for the Sängerknaben.

 

The Max Richter… sounded more or less like what I expected, not knowing too much of his output. Not sure what any of it had to do with Strauss. The slow movement was *very* slow and *very* sparse, and considering its slowness surprisingly short. All three movements ended by just suddenly ending. The lady next to me seemed to be fighting a losing battle with sleep throughout the piece. Richter himself came out for applause.

 

The Williams didn't seem to be anything too special (not that I really expected it to be), but still one of the meatier pieces of the concert (certainly compared to the Richter). Unlike the Richter, it was actually a waltz, for full orchestra and solo violin, with some virtuoso solo passages and a short cadenza, and no fake ending. Tonal, though from what I recall, it raised the key with each segment. It's mostly comparable to Williams's other "theme" arrangements for ASM, except that it seemed to lack a strong theme, which made it a bit unmemorable, I'm afraid. After another concert half full of Strauss pieces I don't remember much of it.

 

There was a camera setup at the rear of the hall (at the front of the standing area), and a second, unmanned camera behind the orchestra, probably pointed towards the conductor (someone came to adjust it during the intermission). They also had slight spotlights on Honeck and ASM, so I guess there's a chance a video of it might show up at some point.

 

 

[christian 27]

It is very difficult to write or talk about a piece of music that you have heard only one time. I try to give my thoughts I remember having had during this "first time".

 

The Instagram Video of Mutter gave the beginning in parts away. Three strokes. Than a “brilliant” rising up of the orchestra, starting in the violins, culminating into a waltz rhythm. Then a waltz theme occurs in the full orchestra, and finally the violin joins in. Until that point it didn’t sound to me like Williams – neither the Concert Works Composer nor the Filmcomposer, as Williams was here really following rules of the genre of Waltz music. Williams definitely showed in the beginning that he can handle the expectations of the genre, but also his ability to do something new – other than Max Richter, who’s pieces were played before Williams and where I felt Richter could not really get out of his own style, although I really loved his pieces, also for their psychology of form (expecially the ending of each of the three pieces was very well prepared), and their affinity to Electronic Dance music, having also some extremely beautiful harmonic progressions. The next thing I remember is a presentation of the waltz theme in the horns (and other brass instruments). Here the context of the orchestration made it sound like it could fit to many post-Jaws Soundtracks (1975 and the 20 years after that). There I heard also the playfulness of Williams when he works (plays) with his themes. Then I remember the very long Cadence of the Violin, which seemed to be largely atonal or at least chromatic. After that there is presentation of the waltz theme with the violin and orechstra. And this (third) time I could compare it in its lightness to the 60’s Main Titles Williams wrote to comedies. But it sounded also different from that soundtracks. The Waltz theme is using a rhythmic formula that I can recall being used in one of (and maybe many others of) Strauss piece, but I don’t know which one, because I am also not familiar enough with Strauss music to remember his pieces and their names.

 

I still don’t know what the title, especially the “When” in the title refers to. But having read Williams comments and listened to the piece once it would work for me, when the title “When the world was waltzing” would be an imagined movie title, for which this music was composed for.

 

In one sentence: There is something to whistle. But this work is too complex to grasp everything that happens at first listen.

 

[Mr. Hooper 6,958]

12 minutes ago, christian said:

I still don’t know what the title, especially the “When” in the title refers to. But having read Williams comments and listened to the piece once it would work for me, when the title “When the world was waltzing” would be an imagined movie title, for which this music was composed for.

For me, the title just hearkens back to a time when "The Waltz King" was at his most popular, and had everyone dancing.

[Xander Harris 8,516]

Waltz to the Death

[igger6 1,024]

42 minutes ago, Xander Harris said:

Waltz to the Death

 

It's in the past tense, so...Death to the Waltz?

[BB-8 5,581]

"You need a better waltz for this..."

[Trope 1,331]

I could have waltzed more…

[JWG 0]

Hi guys, I’m currently in Vienna having been to the concert last night, I have a recording from my phone, but not sure if I can post it here. 

[Tom 6,070]

Let's waltz a Mutter day.  

[pete 1,257]

Roughly how long is the piece?

[BB-8 5,581]

[Mr. Hooper 6,958]

[Oliver 69 5]

4 hours ago, pete said:

Roughly how long is the piece?

Approx. 5-6 minutes.

[JWG 0]

5 mins ish

[christian 27]

15 hours ago, Mr. Hooper said:

For me, the title just hearkens back to a time when "The Waltz King" was at his most popular, and had everyone dancing.

 

Agreed. Reading the title I would also say, that "when" was when he was in his prime regarding his popularity. Reading the title as referring to a "story" behind the music, I am still left curious, what story Williams would have in mind. But if I read Williams program note as an answer to that, than Williams suggests that he just has gone back in time and given Johann Strauss the orchestration tools, that he was lacking than. And that contrast between this piece and the other Strauss pieces in the concert was apparent.

7 hours ago, pete said:

Roughly how long is the piece?

 

I had no watch and no smartphone. I would say 7 Minutes. It could be longer or shorter, but I think less than 10 minutes. But that is just pure guessing.

[MaxTheHouseelf 360]

ASM posted two short videos of her "rehearsing the phenomenon Walz by John Williams" on instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/p/DQRDefGDAgW/?img_index=5

[christian 27]

34 minutes ago, MaxTheHouseelf said:

ASM posted two short videos of her "rehearsing the phenomenon Walz by John Williams" on instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/p/DQRDefGDAgW/?img_index=5

Yes, I just saw it too. That brought back the memory. I was repeating the rhythm of the melody in my thoughts until today morning, but I had lost the memory of the melody one hour after the concert. I needed that video for remembering.

[MaxTheHouseelf 360]

https://www.instagram.com/stories/viennasymphony/3751327092202542519/

[Maurizio 6,358]

1 hour ago, christian said:

Agreed. Reading the title I would also say, that "when" was when he was in his prime regarding his popularity. Reading the title as referring to a "story" behind the music, I am still left curious, what story Williams would have in mind. But if I read Williams program note as an answer to that, than Williams suggests that he just has gone back in time and given Johann Strauss the orchestration tools, that he was lacking than. And that contrast between this piece and the other Strauss pieces in the concert was apparent.

Williams rarely go full narrative/storytelling-like when writing concert music, even in short occasional pieces like this. However, both the title and his notes reveal that he definitely let his imagination go in picturing a scene from mid-19th century Vienna and pick up the reverberations into the writing. As he talks about in Tim’s book, JW often ponders about the value of the past, its effect on the present tense and the power of nostalgia in evoking experiences we may have not lived personally, but whose echoes are part of our upbringing and cultural DNA. 

[Henry Janislaus Feigensand 587]

17 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

 

I’d like to acknowledge how awkwardly and ridiculously the years have been written.

 

JOHANN STRAUSS

(1825–1899)

 

MAX RICHTER

(1966–*)

 

JOHN WILLIAMS

(1932–*)

[christian 27]

2 hours ago, Maurizio said:

Williams rarely go full narrative/storytelling-like when writing concert music, even in short occasional pieces like this. However, both the title and his notes reveal that he definitely let his imagination go in picturing a scene from mid-19th century Vienna and pick up the reverberations into the writing. As he talk about in Tim’s book, JW often ponders about the value of the past, its effect on the present tense and the power of nostalgia in evoking experiences we may have not lived personally, but whose echoes are part of our upbringing and cultural DNA. 

Thank You. I have to buy Greivings book yet. But I can see how this piece yesterday allowed him to do just that, composing in the present and reflecting on the 19th century and how it formed our music experience until today. Also as Williams was conducting in the Musikverein (reedit:) more than twice he could imagine the room, its acoustics and the city around it for this composition.

[mikal_grig 561]

Sounds great! Did anyone manage to record it? 

[christian 27]

50 minutes ago, mikal_grig said:

Sounds great! Did anyone manage to record it? 

Mutter and Vienna Symphony posted the beginning of Max Richter's piece on Instagram, so there seems to be a recording made of the concert by the organizers. We will find out. Also the rehearsal was partly recorded by the broadcasting company. For the audience it was not allowed to make any recording.

[Amer 2,645]

Dying to hear this one...

[Pawel P. 880]

1 hour ago, christian said:

Also as Williams was conducting in the Musikverein twice he could imagine the room, its acoustics and the city around it for this composition.

 

I understand it was just a kind of shorthand, but actually Williams conducted four concerts at the Musikverein – two in January 2020 and two in March 2022 – even if they were grouped into two visits with identical programs. Each was a separate performance, so saying “twice” isn’t really accurate.

[christian 27]

1 minute ago, Pawel P. said:

 

I understand it was just a kind of shorthand, but actually Williams conducted four concerts at the Musikverein – two in January 2020 and two in March 2022 – even if they were grouped into two visits with identical programs. Each was a separate performance, so saying “twice” isn’t really accurate.

That is correct. He conducted more than "twice". Four times, the rehearsals not counted. I ment to say in two different years, but that was not precise. Thank you.

[Marian Schedenig 10,855]

8 hours ago, pete said:

Roughly how long is the piece?

 

Forgot to mention: About 5 minutes. I checked my watch before and after the piece.

 

4 hours ago, Henry Janislaus Feigensand said:

I’d like to acknowledge how awkwardly and ridiculously the years have been written.

 

How so?

 

4 hours ago, christian said:

Also as Williams was conducting in the Musikverein (reedit:) more than twice he could imagine the room, its acoustics and the city around it for this composition.

 

Maybe. Back in the 70s, he thought of Vienna as (from memory) "dry cake and bad coffee". Which is funny, because Vienna is proud of its coffee house culture and generally critical of American coffee (I'm not a coffee drinker myself). And while the famous "Sachertorte" is indeed said to be rather dry, there's lots of good cake here, too. (Good thing he stayed at the Imperial and not at the Sacher when he was in Vienna for his concerts)

[christian 27]

19 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

Maybe. Back in the 70s, he thought of Vienna as (from memory) "dry cake and bad coffee". Which is funny, because Vienna is proud of its coffee house culture and generally critical of American coffee (I'm not a coffee drinker myself). And while the famous "Sachertorte" is indeed said to be rather dry, there's lots of good cake here, too. (Good thing he stayed at the Imperial and not at the Sacher when he was in Vienna for his concerts)

In 2020 then he seemed to have changed his view. (And also coffee tastes can change) I remember a quote, where he asked himself if the Viennese people even notice the beauty of their city. Which is a good question. I have never seen Vienna as being beautiful at all before leaving Europe for the first time.

And we have to be honest, the city has changed a lot in the last decades.

[Jay 43,956]

On 26/10/2025 at 9:14 AM, Marian Schedenig said:

Back in the 70s, he thought of Vienna as (from memory) "dry cake and bad coffee". Which is funny, because Vienna is proud of its coffee house culture and generally critical of American coffee (I'm not a coffee drinker myself). And while the famous "Sachertorte" is indeed said to be rather dry, there's lots of good cake here, too. (Good thing he stayed at the Imperial and not at the Sacher when he was in Vienna for his concerts)

 

I was in Vienna earlier this year and had some great coffee!  Melbourne is still the best coffee city I've visited though

 

On 26/10/2025 at 9:33 AM, christian said:

I remember a quote, where he asked himself if the Viennese people even notice the beauty of their city. Which is a good question. I have never seen Vienna as being beautiful at all before leaving Europe for the first time.

And we have to be honest, the city has changed a lot in the last decades.

 

I don't know about changes, only having been there once, but I thought it was a beautiful city!  Lots of trees throughout, perfect biking and walking paths everywhere, it was great