Triqui-Traqui

Commissioned by Gustavo Dudamel for his 2017 New Year’s concert with the Vienna Philharmonic, my Caribbean reinterpretation of Strauss’ famous Tritsch-Tratsch Polka was deemed too osée for the occasion, yet the maestro recorded it that year, not in Vienna but in Caracas, with the fabulous performers of his orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar, and published it on the web as his musical New Year’s greetings card. The gesture was meaningful, and bold. I’m convinced that Johann Strauss, a man immersed in the fashions of his city and his time, would have loved the idea; a musical collage which carries in its banter a very strong aesthetic statement. The lightest and most frivolous things seem to always carry the deepest messages, let us not forget. ...   ... Today, this version of my transformed Tritsch- Tratsch Polka for Symphonic Band created by Steve Boehm, will certainly tickle the Viennese in each and every one of us, and we will be very happy!”