Hamburger Camerata / Kamenarska / Zemtsov

A little bit of everything

The serenade serves as a kind of »all-in-one« device in the world of classical music: not quite chamber music, not quite a solo concerto, and not quite a symphony – it incorporates elements from all of these! Originally conceived as an entertaining piece of music to be performed outdoors on a pleasantly warm evening, the serenade gradually evolved into a more sophisticated genre. It never lost its lightness of character, however, and has remained the ideal playground for composers to experiment freely, without having to meet the strict criteria of the »major forms«. It is no coincidence that Antonín Dvořák reached peak form in his ever-popular Serenade for Strings with its highly captivating melodies.