海角大神

The original Waltz King, Johann Strauss II, had five orchestras. On numerous Saturday nights during his musical reign, the maestro would book his various ensembles into five different venues in and around Imperial Vienna. As the evening鈥檚 balls and cotillions began, Strauss would play his violin and conduct 鈥� at the first of these dance pavilions.

Once the dancers were lost in the whirl of waltzing, the maestro would pack away his violin, steal into his carriage, and race to the second venue, where he would arrive to cheers from another ballroom of dancers. He would conduct a few more waltzes, and maybe squeeze in a polka.

Strauss raced about like this all night, until he had led each of his five orchestras.

Two things resulted: Thousands across Vienna were able to tell their friends they had, indeed, danced to the Waltz King. And the Waltz King grew rich.

Yet the wealth amassed by Strauss is a pittance compared to the modern-day King of Waltz, Andr茅 Rieu. The Dutch violinist, who conducts his orchestra 鈥� like Strauss 鈥� while standing and playing his violin, has become a multimillionaire by taking the music of Strauss to hockey arenas and soccer stadiums worldwide.

That Maestro Rieu, who lives in a 15th-century castle, has inspired millions to embrace the classical music of 鈥渄ead white men鈥� in an age of rock and hip hop seems a minor miracle. But his numbers don鈥檛 lie, and there鈥檚 nothing minor about what he鈥檚 accomplished.

Including his breakthrough album 鈥淪trauss & Co.鈥� in 1994, Rieu has sold more than 40 million albums and DVDs. His recordings, not聽including his latest聽聽have garnered more than 500 Platinum and more than 270 Gold awards. In 2009, Billboard Magazine anointed him the biggest solo male touring artist, and he is the only classical performer ever to crack Pollstar鈥檚 TOP 10, which ranks performers by crowd size during tours.

On his recent US Arena Tour, during a stop in Portland, Ore., about 12,000 fans crowd into the Moda Center, home to the NBA鈥檚 Trailblazers. These Andr茅 Aficionados bear little resemblance to a typical symphony crowd. And none seem to care that classical-music purists have called Rieu鈥檚 music 鈥渁ffected,鈥� 鈥渉istrionic,鈥� or 鈥渃onceited.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 pleasant to listen to,鈥� says Janet Holliwell. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of excitement to it. But it鈥檚 relaxing, too.鈥�

She and her companion, Peter Klimuk, have driven 485 miles from Kelowna, British Columbia, to see the concert. Mr. Klimuk explains that the pair have been fans of Rieu for three years, since they watched a concert shown at a Kelowna theater.

鈥淗e鈥檚 a master showman,鈥� Ms. Holliwell adds.

Brian Urban drove his family 277 miles from Lynden, Wash. 鈥淚 first heard of Andr茅 Rieu when I was 13,鈥� Mr. Urban says. 鈥淚 introduced him to my kids 鈥� we got all the DVDs we could watch. Every Christmas we watch his concerts: 鈥楳asricht.鈥� 鈥楲ive in Vienna.鈥� And now my youngest daughter has decided she wants to play the violin.鈥�

Urban has seen Rieu four times in concert: 鈥渢wice in Vancouver, once in California, and now in Portland.鈥�

From 'The Blue Danube' to Michael Jackson

Tickets to Rieu鈥檚 arena concerts instruct concertgoers to 鈥淧lease Be Seated By 6:45,鈥� 15 minutes before showtime. This ensures the crowd will see the maestro lead his 50 musicians and 16 vocalists in a grand entrance, processing to the stage a la Rocky Balboa, buoyed by cheers and applause.

His men wear black tailcoats, the women wear pastel Disney-Princess gowns, each of which cost roughly $4,000 and was designed by the maestro. The stage is bedecked with swaths of silk flowers, the music stands are gleaming-gold ornate curlicues, and behind all of this hangs a stage-width curved video screen.

鈥淚 love to give people something for the eye,鈥� Rieu tells the Monitor. 鈥淚 would not call it a strategy. I just follow my heart. If I love it, hopefully my audience will love it, too.鈥�

And love it they do. Song after song, the arena echoes with applause, cheers, even howls. Part of Rieu鈥檚 secret to getting 鈥渞egular鈥� folk clapping and cheering for classical music: His repertoire includes much outside of the classical canon.

Yes, Rieu thinks waltz 鈥渋s the most beautiful music in the world. But I play much more than waltzes in my concerts. I mix songs like 鈥楤esame Mucho,鈥� 鈥楤allade pour Adeline,鈥� 鈥楪renada,鈥� with waltzes or arias or songs such as 鈥楾hink of Me鈥� from 鈥楶hantom of the Opera,鈥� 鈥楤en鈥櫬� by Michael Jackson, or a medley from 鈥楳y Fair Lady.鈥欌��

Indeed, Rieu鈥檚 program this night is a musical buffet: Puccini鈥檚 aria 鈥淯n bel di鈥� from 鈥淢adam Butterfly,鈥� a zither-led 鈥淭hird Man Theme,鈥� Ravel鈥檚 鈥淏olero鈥� fronted by four snare drummers, a whirling 鈥淏lue Danube,鈥� during which about 50 audience members waltz聽 around the main floor, Leonard Cohen鈥檚 鈥淗allelujah,鈥� set against a video rendering of a Gothic stained-glass window drenched in digital sunbeams, and, what may have been the most rousing tune of the night, Little Richard Penniman鈥檚 hit, 鈥淭utti Frutti.鈥�

Under Rieu鈥檚 direction, the Moda Center feels more like a pop concert than a classical recital. Until the mood shifts and it feels more like a camp meeting. Or, until Rieu addresses the assembly, which he does between every song, and it feels like stand-up comedy. At one point the maestro divides his audience into four sections, and gives each a different pitch to hum: sopranos over here, altos in the middle, basses on this side 鈥� 鈥渁nd the rest of you, the double basses.鈥�

Rieu turns to the Johann Strauss Orchestra as a huge American flag unfurls across the massive video screen. As the audience recognizes 鈥淎merica the Beautiful,鈥� thousands rise reflexively to their feet, place hands over hearts, and sing their four-part discordant harmonies as the pixilated flag flutters. No camp meeting now; for one song the Moda Center feels eerily like Nuremberg. Rieu plays his fans as expertly as he plays his 1732 Stradivarius.

Violins, cellos ... and giant foam hammers

鈥淚 like him because he鈥檚 not like those hoity-toity symphony orchestras,鈥� says one middle-aged women, seated center-stage row nine, to her companion.聽

This is an understatement. At times the concert feels less like classical music and more like a two-hour running gag punctuated by this waltz or that aria. After one orchestral number, when a musician in the front row has been featured, another musician, behind her, rises up and produces a gigantic foam-rubber hammer and beans the featured soloist atop the noggin. Whenever the stagehands in their black T-shirts schlep props onstage, they take formal bows, as if they are the featured soloists. More yuks from the audience. And so it goes: slapstick topped with dollops of orchestral cream.

At least one woman came away disappointed. 鈥淚 feel like he either doesn't trust the strength of his material 鈥� or he doesn't trust his audience,鈥� says Lucia Neare, a theater artist who traveled from Seattle to see the concert. 鈥淭he show tonight included some of the greatest music ever composed, but he doesn't seem to think the music, by itself, is enough to make his audience fall in love with it.鈥�

She hadn鈥檛 expected Rieu鈥檚 concert to be the Vienna Philharmonic. But neither did she expect to see 鈥淟aurel and Hardy Go to the Symphony.鈥� She wonders if Rieu鈥檚 European concerts depend on the same degree of slapstick antics and schmaltzy video his American audiences apparently need.

鈥淭he classical music world often is so snobbish. I don鈥檛 listen to them,鈥� Rieu says of his critics. 鈥淧urists criticize everyone who plays classical music for people in an arena or stadium, for the masses. I do what I feel is right. The only person I listen to is my wife. She believed in me from the beginning. I can鈥檛 tell you how many managers and label people told me, in the beginning, to 鈥榞o home and play for your grandmother.鈥�

鈥淭hey regret that today,鈥� he says, laughing.

'Saturday Night Fiedler'

Rieu is hardly the first classical conductor to employ audacity in the service of popularizing great works. For one, there was Johann Strauss II, who marshaled his orchestras across Europe with fervor not unlike Rieu鈥檚 relentless touring. More recently, Arthur Fiedler and Leonard Bernstein, like Rieu, employed showmanship as well as musicianship to inspire a love for classical music among the general populace.

Though critics chastised Fiedler for 鈥渙ver-popularizing鈥� music, his half-century with the Boston Pops made that orchestra into one of the best known in the United States. He offended purists by arranging condensed versions of the classics, and, like Rieu, he delighted in arranging pop music, notably The Beatles, for his orchestra.

Under Fiedler鈥檚 direction, the Boston Pops Orchestra is said to have made more recordings than any orchestra in the world, with total sales exceeding $50 million. Fiedler鈥檚 1947 recording of Jacques Offenbach鈥檚 鈥淕aite Parisienne鈥� became RCA Victor鈥檚 first long-playing classical album, in 1950. He recorded light classics, Broadway show tunes, even film scores. Fiedler devoted his final album to disco. Its title: 鈥淪aturday Night Fiedler.鈥�

Bernstein assumed leadership of the New York Philharmonic in 1954, a time when anti-communist hysteria and its evil twin, anti-intellectualism, were disparaging all things highbrow, from academic 鈥渆ggheads鈥� to the musical elites.

Unlike Rieu, Bernstein seems to have trusted his material, so much so that he took classical music to American television audiences. He was telegenic before there was such a term, becoming a celebrity, first on the award-winning Omnibus, created by the Ford Foundation to raise the level of Americans鈥� taste, later in 53 Young Peoples Concerts for CBS, and later still, in 1982, by conducting all nine Beethoven symphonies with the Vienna Philharmonic for PBS.

Bernstein labored to help everyone comprehend symphonic music and conducting. He took the orchestra on tours of Europe, Japan, Latin America, Canada and Alaska. For millions, he managed to remove the 鈥渉oity toity鈥� stigma from classical music鈥攚ithout changing the music. 聽Many still consider his Young Peoples Concerts the most influential series of music appreciation programs ever aired on television, and Bernstein became as famous for his educational work as for his conducting.

Fiedler and Bernstein did whatever it took to make classical music more appealing, more accessible, to the widest audiences possible. Now Rieu crisscrosses the planet on a similar mission.

鈥淚n my audience, you will find everyone from the cleaning lady to the professor, families, young and old people,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 am very happy and very proud, of course. Because it shows that classical music is not only for an elite. In music there are no boundaries. Wagner, Strauss, Mozart have written some wonderful music, so have Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, and ABBA.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檇 love to perform with Bruce Springsteen one day,鈥� he adds. 鈥淚 think he鈥檚 fantastic.鈥�

In the Moda Center, when the ninth or eleventh encore concludes, when the last of several thousand balloons have floated to the arena floor, Bruno Jurewicz remains on his feet, still gazing toward the stage, statuesque in his swallowtail tuxedo decorated with an 鈥淎ndr茅 Rieu鈥�-emblazoned scarf about his neck. He has seen three concerts in rapid succession 鈥� in San Diego, in Tacoma, and here in Portland.

An accomplished dancer and a resident of Burien, Wash., Mr. Jurewicz was one of those who waltzed about the Moda Center during 鈥淭he Blue Danube.鈥� Now he鈥檚 waiting to be interviewed by one of Rieu鈥檚 video crews 鈥� there are seven at work during each concert.

When Jurewicz learns that some criticize Rieu鈥檚 slapstick proclivities and soppy video, he says, 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 please everyone. I enjoy the music. I enjoy the scenes on the screen.

鈥淚 went to all three shows to see if he did do the same shows each night. And he did. I loved it.鈥�