So much of the music in this heartfelt yet concise work is about gentle reverence and the satisfaction of requited love. There is a settledness to it, a contented glow. And this glow starts with a glimmer: a motif in the violins that turns around on itself, as if saying the same reassuring word again and again. The woodwind bring in new colours, but this first section is full of calm. There’s even a quote of a lullaby.
We can guess that no idyll of Wagner’s is going to be without passion at some point. Sure enough, the next section is based on a new, more ardent motif that will take centre stage. It starts hesitantly, though, the wind’s first sentences fading into trills in the strings as the words hang in the air.
After a brief pause to take in the magnificent countryside surrounding the Wagner home —you’ll hear a horn call and some birdsong — the passion really starts to take hold, with the main motif declaimed joyfully over surging strings. The intensity doesn’t last for long, however, and the rest of the idyll plays out in the same spirit of gentle wonder in which it began, all the earlier motifs echoed in softer tones and distant harmonies. At just twenty minutes’ playing time, it strikes a perfect balance of passion and restraint.
