Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Great video of a very entertaining orchestra. World Class!
Comment: A great video. The setting of Vienna and
music of this area is outstanding. I will
enjoy this video many times.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Best Andre Rieu Show
Comment: This is a wonderful performance, my favorite of all of Andre Rieu's videos. Combination of beautiful music, breathtaking scenery and sets, and wonderful dancing and costumes. Five stars all the way, very highly recommended.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A romantic performance
Comment: In my opinion, Live in Vienna and Home Coming are his best Videos.The two songs I like best are Wien,du Stadt Meiner Traume(Vienna,City and My Dreams) and "Lippen schweigen" from the Merry Widow.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Absolute Best of Andre' Rieu
Comment: Tastes are, of course, subjective, but, in my opinion, "Live in Vienna" is far and away
the best concert ever performed by Andre' Rieu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra.
(My second favorite would be "At the Schoennbrunn" - Andre' is always at hie best
performing in the Land of Strauss).
I first saw this concert advertiesed by my local PBS channel during one of their fund
drives and assumed that it was one I had already seen (after all, he has certainly
performed in Vienna enough times.) Much to my pleasant surprise the very first selection.
Vienna Citizens" was a waltz I had not heard in 20 years and I had never heard performed
by Andre' Rieu. I remembered it as one of my all time favorite "Strauss waltzes" Imagine
my chagrin when I subsequently discovered that it had been composed by Carl Michael
Ziehrer, a younger contemporary of Johann Straus II. Oh well, it's a beautiful wattz anyway.
Early on a number of young ladies in evening gowns and young men in "Hapsburg" uniforms
performed a visually beautiful "Fledermaus Quadrille" in the sumptious ballrooms of the Imperial
Apartments. Thirty years ago my late wife and I went to Vienna and saw what may have been the
precursors to this group. It certainmly brought back pleasant memories.This was followed by more
waltz music including the "Gold and Silver Waltz by Lehar (another one on my favorites.)
A change of pace was introduced at this point with a Mozart medley during which the
orchestra mirthfully played a few bars of that well known Mozart melody "Twinkle, Twinkle
Little Star" while a large portrait of Mozart "winked" at the audience. Most impressive during
the Mozart segment was the piano solo by a lovely young pianist whose keyboard stylings
were surehanded as well as delicate. I imagined that she played it pretty much the way that
Mozarrt wanted it played
After Mozart we returned to Strauss and his most famous operetta "Die Fledermaus." My
favorite Andre Rieu vocalist, Carla Maffioletti, always bursting with personality, gave us
her lovingly flirtatious rendition of "The Laughing Song" (you guessed it - one of my
favorites). There are fewer more pleasuralbe events in the musical world than watching
and listening to Carla Maffioletti in action.
As I said at the olutset tastes are subjective and my reasons for giving this DVD five stars
is very subjective. How could I give anything less to a DVD that is nothing less than a non-
stop rendition of all my favorite melodies. In addition to those mentioned I'll just list "The Merry
"Widow," "Treasure" waltz, "Morning Papers" waltz and the hauntingly beautiful "Vienna,
City of My Dreams."
The usual cast of Andre Rieu characters are present here including vocalists Karl Moik, The
Platin Tenors, Carmen Monarcha, the lovely Suzanne Ehrens, Roger the trumpet player,
the fellow who does tricks with his trombone, the pretty blonde cellist who always looks
like she's having the time of her life, and, of course, the great Andre' Rieu himself.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Andre Rieu: Live in Vienna
Comment: My wife and I have enjoyed viewing this DVD production very much. We watched it again last night. The music is excellent. The staging is excellent, set in the site of the Vienna palace. The "debutante couples" waltzing on stage and in the Emperor's Ballroom, additional dancers from the Vienna Ballet and Folk Dance Group, scenes from Vienna and Austria, great performances by singers Carla Mafioletti, Carmen Monarcha, Susan Erens, and the Australian Marusia (I didn't get her last name) add to the orchestal excellence of the Johann Strauss Orchestra. I think this DVD is the best one yet that Andre Rieu has produced.
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