New Year's Day

THINK of the traditional New Year's Day gala and you'll almost certainly conjure up Johann Strauss and Imperial Vienna.

But it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise if many in the audience found Brahms’ very familiar Hungarian Dances 1,4,5 and Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 to be the highlights of a spectacularly joyful afternoon. And so the Viennese Gala performed by the [music](/leisure/music/) played in the restaurants and coffee houses of Budapest inspired many a composer, including Johannes Brahms and Franz Liszt.