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Title: Josef Strauss and the Family Formula.
Review: London-born violinist and conductor John Georgiadis is in charge here, exhuming and enlivening long-forgotten dance music from the pen of Josef Strauss. After he was bulldozed into joining the family dance-music business, engineer-trained Josef (1827-1870) proved to be the most industrious of all the Strauss family during the remainder of his short life. I reckon, having collected and listened to all the volumes so far issued in this Marco Polo Josef Strauss Edition, that inspiration and innovation did not always keep up with his gruelling work schedule. Reliance on the family formula seems evident in most of the items on this CD, where you'll find a spanking little march, three waltzes, a quadrille and a variety of polkas, heard best at concert hall volume so that subtle lifts in rhythm and phrase and the skilful orchestration are heard to best advantage.
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