Charivari (Gruber)

The title of the composition plays with two meanings of the word "charivari": a garland-like traditional folk costume ornament used primarily in the Bavaria region called a charivari, and to noisy rough "cat" music (Katzenmusik).^{[failed verification]} The composition is in one movement and takes 10 to 11 minutes to perform (12 minutes according to the publisher), even though it is generally played together with Strauss II's Perpetuum mobile, making it 14 minutes long. It is scored for a large orchestra, consisting of two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets in B-flat, two bassoons, two horns in F, two trumpets in C, two trombones, one tuba, timpani, a percussion section played by two to three percussionists, harp, and a large string section.^[3]

Various musical styles are played throughout the compositions, ranging from a typical fast polka, as referencing the composition which it is based on, to a waltz.^[4] Gruber begins with a lush Viennese orchestration recalling the late-Romantic musical idiom of Strauss and Gustav Mahler,^[2] but builds up to a crisis:^[3]

In Charivari the 'mask' is gradually allowed to slip, until, in the final crisis, it is torn off. Although the coda hastily restores it, and adds a fleeting reminder of Strauss's 'Wiener Blut', it no longer fulfils its concealing function. The uglier facts of history cannot always be glossed over; and except perhaps for the tourist trade there's nothing to be gained from obsessively harking back to the 'good old days'.

• The Tonkünstler Orchestra performed the piece with Kristjan Järvi for BIS Records. The recording was released in September 2006.^[5]
• The BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Gruber, recorded the piece for Chandos Records. The recording took place in the Studio 7 of the BBC Broadcasting House in Manchester and was released in 2007.^[2]