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Unter Donner und Blitz op324
by Johann Strauss II (1825–1899)
Johann Strauss II
Unter Donner und Blitz (Thunder and Lightning) Polka-schnell, Op.324
Written ten years after Tritsch-Tratsch, Unter Donner und Blitz is possibly an even more inspired quick polka than the earlier work. Certainly, it offers a whole series of brilliantly witty observations on the meteorological situation - a roll of thunder in the opening bars followed by a flurry of evasive activity, a hectic middle section where the storm rages in lightning cymbal clashes and bass-drum thunder claps, and a final section which betrays not the least sign of a dampening of the irrepressible Viennese genius for having a good time.
From Gerald Larner’s files: “Unter Donner und Blitz op324”