The concert opened with two pieces by Richard Strauss. His serenade for 13 Wind Instruments in E flat Op 7 1881, and his Suite in B flat Op 4 1884.
Strauss wrote them at a young age; at the ages of 17 and 21. Musicologists have commented that in the first piece his father’s influence as a strict classicist is clearly heard. But it is still very much present in his second piece. The horns are redolent in a rich timbre dominating the lyrical woodwinds.
The marriage of the two..brass and woodwind.. produce a sound rarely heard on the Sydney concert stage, producing an aural image of comfort and security with a hint of darkness and languor. In part it was a reflection of the era. The 1880s were a time of great social reform in Germany with Otto von Bismarck, the “Iron Chancellor” introducing pensions, accident insurance and medical coverage.
Strauss was to go on and achieve great fame as a conductor spanning a career from the 1900s to the Reichsmusikkammer in Nazi Germany to his death in West Germany in 1947.
Anton Dvorak, the composer of the third and last item on the program, also achieved worldwide fame, conducting in 1893 at Carnegie Hall his own work the Te Deum. His Serenade in D Minor B77 OP 44 composed when he was 37 is quite the opposite of the Strauss works. It is a lively romp celebrating bohemian life and joie de vivre. First heard at a concert of his works in November 1878 , at a time of his life when he could not have been happier. It was his fifth wedding anniversary and he and Otika had just had a daughter.
The works were all performed by a Sydney Symphony Orchestra in miniature, and as is to be expected were of the highest calibre. It is all part of bringing classical music to a wider audience . The City Recital Hall is in the middle of the Sydney CBD .The concert commencing at 7pm was a little more than an hour in duation, enabling patrons to have an early night, to spend with family or to relax in preparation for work the next day.
It is a brave gambit but judging by last night’s audience it seems to be succeeding.
This concert at the City Recital Hall on the 7th August 2025.
