Wagner: Siegfried Idyll, Strauss: Horn Concerto no.1, Webern: Langsamer Satz, Haydn: Symphony no.104 'London'

The HCO marked the bicentenary of Haydn's death with a performance of his last, and arguably, greatest symphony.

The other works in the programme belong very much to the great Austro-German tradition, of which Haydn can in many ways be considered the father.  Wagner is represented by the tender and intimate serenade which he wrote for his wife and new-born son, first performed on Christmas Day 1870.  Richard Strauss' father, Franz, was one of the great horn players of his time and played in the premieres of many of Wagner's operas (despite mutual enmity) - he was, therefore, practically born into the Wagnerian tradition. The first of his two horn concertos (here played by gifted young American horn-player, Meredith Moore), though an early work, is already marked by a typically 'Straussian' brilliance and panache.    

Anton Webern, as a pupil of Schoenberg, can also be said to belong to this musical lineage, and his beautiful early 'Langsamer Satz' still breathes the heady air of late German Romanticism.  

This, our sixth UK concert, took place on Saturday, 18th July 2009 at 7.30pm in the church of St Cyprian's, Clarence Gate.