Meh he's a smug git, who disregards any music he doesnt play.

I don't like what he does.
He plays classical muzak.

However many other people do like him.
So good on him and them.

bogarde73 wrote on Jul 22^nd, 2015 at 3:13pm:
Oh I see, yes I thought you were saying that you were in Sao Paulo and attended his concert there.  So I assume it was on TV. Pay TV? I don't get pay TV 

issuevoter wrote on Jul 22^nd, 2015 at 10:19pm:

Though I image seeing it live there in Vienna would be something quite different. I imagine Andre Rieu might be a little too soft core for Soren but I would think he could enlighten us as to how it would be an experience on quite another level when experienced live, especially in one of those old Viennese Hapsburg ballrooms.

ImSpartacus2 wrote on Jul 22^nd, 2015 at 10:57pm:

His repertoire is mostly operetta and a little kitchy but I wouldn't knock it. I am amused and a little bemused by seeing the 60s baby boomers grooving along to Strauss.

But perhaps the Strausses were the Rolling Stones of the late 19th century. The emotional repertoire of the music is the same as that of mass pop music.

When I have experienced a full opera I have wept.

That's classical music.
That's not Andre

Sprintcyclist wrote on Jul 26^th, 2015 at 8:37pm:
Anyone in particular you can recommend.  I gots to see at least one top class opera before I die. 

ImSpartacus2 wrote on Jul 26^th, 2015 at 8:42pm:



I often think it is better if you do NOT know the story


Madame Butterfly, Swan Lake (HAS to have the music by Tchaikovsky)

bogarde73 wrote on Jul 22^nd, 2015 at 3:13pm:




Andre Rieu is a showman who likes to combine Strauss with horseplay and novelty acts, and that's why he's regarded as a cheap populist and a pariah amongst 'serious' Strauss lovers. 

Over the years I've recorded most of his concerts onto DVD for my elderly widowed Dutch neighbour.

Nowadays I only concentrate on his annual concerts at Maastricht. If I was living in the UK I would have been making an annual pilgrimage to Maastricht to soak up the music and wallow in the atmosphere of several thousand people from all over Europe enjoying his concerts.

That's the problem with living at the arse-end of the world (Paul Keating, 1990) - we're so far away from the smörgåsbord of cultural activity across the length and breadth of Britain and continental Europe.

It's like we're living on The Planet of the Apes (Charlton Heston, 1968) and have to receive everything second-hand through the internet. 

I forgot --- Andre Rieu concerts have been playing on Sydney's SBS TV station for months now, every Saturday evening.

SBS (channel 44)

I've just checked, and I see they do re-runs of his Saturday shows during the week.

link

Also, have a listen to Helmut Lotti. I have all his DVDs - If you can get hold of his "From Russia with Love" you won't be disappointed.

Incidentally, Andre Rieu and his orchestra played a piece written by actor Anthony Hopkins (Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs) - while he was sitting in the audience with his wife. It wasn't bad.

That's right issuevoter. There's no "right" & "wrong" in music or indeed any of the arts.
I get pleasure from a wide range of music. Some I dislike intensely, so I just don't listen.

bogarde73 wrote on Jul 27^th, 2015 at 9:55am:


Yes, and for those that like him, enjoy.

'Elvira' was an all-time favourite of mine.

My grandmother loved operetta from the day she was taken to a performance as a little girl and I loved my grandmother - so I will not knock Andre and operetta even if it is not my thing.

I can see how people have an enormous enjoyment of it and that tells me that they are are the kind of people I could spend a very pleasant afternoon with. 

Anyway, what's NOT to like???



Watch it to the end....





You can't knock this.


What a girl.

I only have to hear the first few bars of some arias and I'm feeling the emotion.

Soren wrote on Jul 28^th, 2015 at 8:24pm:


Oh, Annas amazing.
Will listen to it at home with good sound

Yep, that is one of the best examples of "goosing" I have ever heard.

Sprintcyclist wrote on Jul 30^th, 2015 at 4:08pm:


Its great, but I have to hear it in context. Students might interpret it as melodrama. Passion and romance are not exactly fashionable these days. The arts are full of cynicism.

A full La Boheme.

Watch and realise why opera is about what can be only sung, not said.