Richard Wagner’s music dramas take centre stage this season, but his music for small ensembles is equally captivating. Siegfried Idyll, featuring birdsong and a lullaby, was a tender birthday gift to his wife Cosima, free from the weight of his grand operas, though its themes later appeared in Der Ring. George Enescu’s lushly harmonic Octet showcases the rarely used combination of eight strings, blending the power of a larger ensemble with the intimacy of chamber music. Together, these works reveal a different, lighter side to the late Romantic tradition.

Chamber music: Wagner and Enescu

AMUZ (Festival van Vlaanderen Antwerpen)

From profound questions to playful dances, from mourning to hope, this concert explores raw emotions through better-known works by composers not often on the programme. Caroline Shaw’s Entr’acte draws inspiration from Haydn’s techniques, while Anton Arensky’s Second String Quartet pays homage to his late compatriot Tchaikovsky. Paul Wiancko’s American Haiku reflects his roots, blending influences from the Appalachian Mountains and Japan. Light and dark weave through this evocative musical journey, performed with heartfelt intensity.

Chamber music: Between light and darkness

The string octet offers the best of both worlds, combining the full resonance of a string orchestra with the soloistic virtuosity and clarity of a chamber music ensemble. Max Bruch, an incurable romantic, composed his swansong, the String Octet in B-Flat Major, towards the end of his life. A few years later, Dimitri Shostakovich would embrace modernity in his Prelude and Scherzo, opus 11. Reinhold Glière’s String Octet in D Major strikes a compromise between the two. While the fiery temperament is indisputably Russian, the lyricism harks back to German romanticism. Enjoy three key early 20th-century chamber pieces.

Minori Yamato

Events

Past events

Jun 14, 2026

Chamber music: Wagner and Enescu · Antwerp Symphony Orchestra

Nov 9, 2025

Chamber music: Between light and darkness · Antwerp Symphony Orchestra

Future and recently performed repertoire

Violin in String Quartet No. 2 by Arensky

Antwerp Symphony Orchestra

Violin in String Octet by Glière

Antwerp Symphony Orchestra

Violin in Octet by Bruch

Antwerp Symphony Orchestra

Violin in Octet by Enescu

Antwerp Symphony Orchestra

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