Written in 1881, this Serenade in E-flat for 13 wind instruments was written by Richard Strauss when he was only 17 years old. His father, the principal horn player with Munich's court orchestra, had a select list of older composers that he preferred, including Mozart and Mendelssohn, and his father's influence can be seen in his son's work, both in the inclusion of a larger horn section and the use of his father's more conservative musical preferences.

The work is much more than simply a cap...