I enjoyed listening to the Brahms Serenade #1 on Friday evening and I experienced the sounds to be very soothing.
Brahms composed this piece in a process of evolution. In it early form it was a nonet for winds and strings, written at the Detmold in 1858, but recast for chamber orchestra during the next year (both versions have been lost, or were destroyed by the composer).
Brahms gave this material its final and surviving form in 1859, adding two more movements to the original four before publishing it in 1860 as his first orchestral work.
Odd as it may seem today, both this and a second Serenade in A, Op. 16, written in 1860 (without violins, only lower strings, winds, and brass) were considered on the cutting edge of modernism!
Here are the members of the Faust Chamber players to perform this music for you:
