Andre Rieu anyone?

Should have writtent this a while ago but being 'clinically hypothyroid' just haven't had the energy. 

First came across Andre Rieu at the Royal Variety Show last year when he and his orchestra (the Johann Stuass orchestra) played for the Queen and it was wonderful.  Not only was he greeted with gasps of amazement as the curtain drew back but with appreciative applause the minute he began playing, it was wonderful.  In amongst all the wailing wannabees of the pop world and the acrobatic endeavours of the gymnastic acts and the hilarious routines of the comics came this little piece of TV nirvana.  A full orchestra with ladies in period dresses and men in suits from the same era, all guided by this amazing man, this violinist with shoulder length hair and a gleam in his eye.  In England, we, like the seemingly backward lot that we are sometimes, have never heard of Andre Rieu, or to give him his full title: Andre Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra, the Waltz King of Europe.  This man is in his 60's and tours constantly!  (he has a fleet of tour buses and 2 planes; well you try ferrying a full orchestra, their instruments, costumes and make up etc without all that) and his concerts sell out faster than anyone else's.  After listening to him I too am a fan, and I'm not really surprised that his tickets sell out within minutes of going on sale.  He brings a lightness and humour to the music, it is not stiff and staid and all stiff upper lip nonsense.  No, it's fun, it's really uplifting and it's happy.  Andre says he likes to make people smile and be as happy as he is.  Not only do this wonderful ensemble play classical music, waltzes etc, they play modern tunes, show tunes and tunes from the movies, it is a joy to listen to.  I have a few of his CD's and DVD's and I'm hoping to get more as money allows but if you need to be uplifted, or just want to listen to some real music played with love and attention to detail then you really should listen to Andre Rieu, go and watch a DVD or try and get a ticket to a show.  People are encouraged to dance at the concerts and it's such a wonderful sight to see as there is no age barrier everyone is welcome and all are encouraged to dance.  Not this moronic stuff the kids do these days, this is proper dancing where people dance 'in hold' unless Andre is playing Zorba the Greek and then it's every man and woman for themselves!

I'm so glad I was watching the Royal Variety last year or I would have missed this amazing act, where people were walting in the aisles and I can honestly say I have never seen that at the Royal Variety Show! in all the years it been going, so had I missed that I would have been like the rest of us, and remained ignorant of this amazing man and his orchestra.  Incidentally a BBC text programmer for the Ceefax pages proudly exlaimed that 'An unkown Dutch composer was No 1 in the album charts with his new CD Forever Vienna.'  A few hours later I was happy to see it had been changed to Andre Rieu is No 1 in the album charts etc; even at the BBC he had not been heard of by this particular programmer but thankfully someone else had heard of him and corrected the mistake.

If you'd like to know more about Andre Rieu (his name is pronounced Ondrey Reeyou, visit his site at http://www.andrerieu.com/ and enjoy (I know you will).

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