CD REVIEW – ANDRÉ RIEU
Jewels of Romance
CD [65:07] & DVD [approx. 65.00] 7444754886863

Hooray for André! Here is this year's injection of recorded joy to the nation's mood in these troubled times from the Dutch maestro and his wonderful 50-strong Johann Strauss Orchestra. He has chosen melodies for the CD album which touch his heart in the expectation that they will touch ours.

The third track out of 16 on the disc is a traditional Ukrainian folk song, Nitsch Jaka, featuring choir member Anna Reker (whose homeland it is), Mastreechter Staar and Great European Male Choir. Starting with Indian Love Call, other tracks include Morning has Broken, Eric Coates' By the Sleepy Lagoon, Paul Simon's Sound of Silence, Nights in White Satin, Charles Chaplin's Smile, Everything I do (I do it for you), Waltz from Coppelia by Delibes, The Rose and Vocalise (Theme from the film The Ninth Gate) both featuring soprano Micaëla Oeste and Lullabye (Goodnight, my Angel) written by Billy Joel.

The bonus DVD has a further 14 items taken from concerts in New York, Vienna, Amsterdam and the famous Vrijthof Square in Maastricht. These include Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Music of the Night, Over the Rainbow featuring the stunning soprano Mirusia Louwerse, Bizet's The Pearl Fishers' Duet featuring the magnificent Platin Tenors, Red Rose Café, Jeremiah Clarke's Trumpet Voluntary, Can't Help Falling in Love, What a Wonderful World and a very special bonus track: Voila! sung by 15-year-old Emma Kok.

The booklet lists all the members of the orchestra and I notice that the pianist is no longer Stéphanie Detry who, originally as a violinist, had been with Rieu for 23 years, occasionally casting aside her yellow ball gown to tap dance on the piano lid.

There is really nothing more a reviewer can add to another sparkling Rieu release, except to say it will surely sell in shedloads of discs, downloads and streams.

© Peter Burt, December 2023