SOME conductors have the X factor that makes a very obvious difference not just to the musicians, but to the audience as well.

Aleksandar Marcovic is quite clearly that category.

Belgrade-born Marcovic, with his infectious personality and off-the scale-exuberance, led the BSO at the New Year Johann Strauss Gala once again and he took the packed house with him every step of the waltz.

The annual concert, which mirrors events in Vienna, is the BSO tribute to the Strauss family. Marcovic is a big fan.

He told the audience they were the original pop idols, a veritable music factory churning out some of the most enduring and popular of waltzes, polkas, gallops and marches. Johann II was the global music superstar of his day.

While Vienna was the heart of European music in the 19th Century, home to everyone from Beethoven to Mozart and Schubert, it was the Strauss family who established the greatest legacy in the Austrian capital.

The concert opened with the Overture from Die Fledermaus and closed with the Blue Danube, of course.

In between there were numerous Johann and Josef favourites including Roses from the South, Vienna Blood, Delirium Waltz and Tritsch-Tratsch Polka.

Johann's ambitious and sophisticated Indigo and the Forty Thieves was rapturously received and the audience loved joining in, at the conductor's insistence, with Kalman's Gypsy Princess and the obligatory, rousing, encore, Radetzky March.

Soprano Rebecca Bottone was stunning on several pieces, especially Village Swallows.

But the bouncy Marcovic, charming, charismatic and witty and telling anecdotes and background stories to the music throughout, stole it. A brilliant showman of a conductor.

The music of Strauss is warm, cheerful and full of joy. It puts a smile on your face.

A great start to the New Year.