Album and big plans

Rainhard Fendrich returns to the spotlight

Just under a year before his 70th birthday, Rainhard Fendrich returns to the limelight: initially with his Symphonie Schönbrunn live album.

(Bild: Universal Music, Felix Plehn Krone KREATIV,)

In July 2022, Rainhard Fendrich made an energetic return with Christian Kolonovits and the Salzburg Philharmonic Orchestra for a special orchestral set in front of Schönbrunn Palace. The album will soon be released on CD and vinyl, and the soon-to-be 70-year-old has planned his big comeback for 2025 - including a new studio album.

Austropop and the grand gesture - that has often worked very well in local music history. The last time was with the constellation of Rainhard Fendrich, Christian Kolonovits and the Salzburg Philharmonic Orchestra. This triumvirate took to the open-air stage in the Ehrenhof in front of Schönbrunn Palace on July 3, 2022 and made for an unforgettable evening. In the heart of Vienna, one of the city's greatest musical sons presented his colorful oeuvre from around 40 successful years in a completely new guise and proved that the humorous Strizzi also fits the opulent coat. "It's quite something to perform with a classical orchestra," recalls Fendrich of the great show, "the air is on fire. It's rock'n'roll in a completely different way."

Digging into the past
Under the banner "Rainhard Fendrich - Symphonisch in Schönbrunn", the recording of the iconic performance will now be released for fans and collectors on May 31 as a double CD, triple vinyl or 2-CD+DVD edition. Now even those who were unable to get tickets or were prevented from attending for various reasons can immerse themselves in the experience. Even the preparation for this evening was special for Fendrich. "I listened to all my records and thought about which of my songs would be suitable for a classical orchestra. While digging through my past, I had the fascinating experience of asking myself what I actually wanted to say with some of the lyrics I wrote more than 30 years ago."

Arranger and creative partner Christian Kolonovits, who had already worked closely with Fendrich in the 1980s and played a decisive role in shaping his successful career, played a key role in the discovery process. "I saw Rainhard live in St. Pölten in the 80s and we hit it off straight away," recalled Kolonovits in the Krone interview, "we started working together and ended up working on seven albums in a row. Each album had its own identity and produced hits. We had an incredible run." The two performed symphonically at the start of the Vienna Festival in 1992. Back then, in front of around 60,000 people on Vienna's Rathausplatz with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the Schönberg Choir. The Schönbrunn Show 2022 brought both artists full circle 30 years later.

Yesterday and today
"Basically, this concert was something like a reunion or a coming together on a higher level," explains Kolonovits, "the show basically covered Rainhard's entire spectrum and a lot of the program had never been orchestrated before." For example, the three songs "A winzig klaner Tropfen Zeit", "Die Welt ist groß" and "Die Erde", which come from different eras, were combined into a medley. "All the songs deal with the same topic and it was very interesting to think about what the 26-year-old Fendrich had to say about it and what the 'old' one is thinking about today." Due to Kolonovits' absence from Austria, the two greats often worked together in advance via video conferencing. For example, Fendrich arranged the song "September is my time" in the style of Gershwin or transformed the iconic "Tango Korrupti" into a saloon tango.

In addition to the great anthems and classics such as "I Am From Austria", "Weus'd a Herz hast wia a Bergwerk", "Es lebe der Sport" or "Haben sie Wien schon bei Nacht geseh'n", the less expected moments such as "Zwischen eins und vier" or "Sonntagnachmittag" were particularly impressive. Fendrich was more than enthusiastic about the symphonic experiment. "It was nice to see that this understanding between Christian and me led to this result." Three quarters of a year before his 70th birthday, another circle closes for Fendrich. He is returning to the stable of industry leader Universal Music, where his unique career began to flourish in 1980 with his debut "Ich wollte nie einer von denen sein". The albums between 1986 and 2019 will be reissued and provisions have been made for the future.

Ready for the anniversary year
2025 will be the big jubilee year for the Viennese hit supplier. A good six years after his last studio album "Starkregen", Fendrich is not only announcing a new studio album with brand new songs, but after his 70th birthday he will also go on a big anniversary tour to mix the as yet unknown new songs with the greatest hits from his lavish CV. Until then, you can once again wallow in pleasant nostalgia with the sumptuous symphony package and realize the powerful expressiveness of Fendrich's cult songs from almost 45 years of career, even in a more refined guise. After a long creative break, we can certainly expect a lot more from the living Austropop legend. Possibly the eleventh number one studio album in a row. Every album since 1991 (!) has been at the top without exception ...