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PAN PIPES • WINTER 2018 • sai-national.org 22 A WORLD OF MUSIC By Jayne I. Hanlin P laying his Stradavarius, André Rieu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra began their performance in Phoenix, Arizona by marching into the 5,000-seat Comerica Center to Meredith Wilson's 1958 Seventy-Six Trombones from The Music Man. Of course, there were more than trombones in this parade, and some instrumentalists were also playing their instruments. The musicians included violinists, violists, cellists, bassists, a harpist, a doubler on the bassoon/saxophone and one on the clarinet/saxophone, flutists, an oboist, a tubaist, percussionists, and an accordionist — plus a seven-member female choir. As soon as everyone was in place onstage, Mr. Rieu told the audience that there was one goal that night: to enjoy music! Immediately, I recalled what my late brother, concert pianist Malcolm Frager, said in an interview: "I think people have to go back to just enjoying the music and look up the definition of the verb play as in to play the piano. In almost every language, the aspect/ element of play in performance is something that can't be overlooked: to enjoy—to love making music." André Rieu explained that he began his orchestra thirty years ago with thirteen musicians all dressed in concert black attire. Although the men still wear black tuxedos and white shirts and bow ties, the women now wear flowing and deep- cut gowns in varying hues. He noted that he and his group always have fun not only onstage but when traveling on buses and planes, staying at hotels, and dining in restaurants. He is very proud of Maastricht ("my home town where I live") and mentioned this fact so frequently that later the audience began parroting these words. ere was no printed program for the varied selections that night. Instead Mr. Rieu gave "mini-program notes" as he announced each composition. In addition to the two huge monitors on opposite sides of the stage, behind the orchestra there was a video display reminiscent of Cinerama. e second number was Tales from Vienna Woods, a waltz Johann Strauss Junior wrote almost 150 years ago. Next a soprano soloist sang the aria Yours Is My Heart Alone from Franz Lehár's 1929 operetta e Land of Smiles. Following were two pieces—one ethnic and the other patriotic: Hava Nagila with its Klezmer "scooping-note" style and America the Beautiful with the audience singing (most everyone standing up spontaneously) while a ginormous Enjoying an Evening of Music in Phoenix André Rieu and His Johann Strauss Orchestra

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