Our fifth album, releasing in early 2026, features Beethoven's beautiful Septet and the incredible Nonet of Louise Farrenc, both on period instruments with the dynamism of historically informed performance (HIP). It’s the first Australian recording ever of the Nonet, which wowed 1849 Paris and won Farrenc equal pay to her male colleagues at the Paris Conservatoire.

Featuring an all-star cast of international ARCO soloists, this recording by an all-female-led orchestra will continue to raise women composers and Australian performers to international heights.

Recorded on the national 2023 New Perspectives tour, this album will be available in physical, digital and streaming formats.

In the first half of the 19th century, music moved out of the palaces of Europe and into its living rooms, with an explosion in publishing houses making the latest works accessible to everyone from princes to paupers. As with so many developments in music, Beethoven was at the centre of things: his Septet was a huge critical and popular success, and demand for the sheet music was a great boost to his publisher’s business. And it is easy to see why: it takes all the easy charm of a serenade or divertimento, two hugely popular formats at the time – think Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik – and features some exquisite writing.

The piece proved an impossible act to follow; for the next fifty years, only Schubert, with his Octet, wrote any large mixed chamber work of significance – that is until Louise Farrenc’s Nonet, in 1849. Farrenc was a renowned pianist – a child prodigy, an accomplished touring soloist, and first female professor of piano at the Paris Conservatory – yet ironically her most famous piece does not feature her chosen instrument. Instead, scored for a string quartet and wind quintet together, it is full of rich textures and intricate scoring, demonstrating her irrefutable compositional skill.

ARTISTS

Members of Australian Romantic &
Classical Orchestra

Georgia Browne (Paris) | Flute
Tatjana Zimre (Amsterdam) | Oboe
Nicole van Bruggen (Brisbane) | Clarinet
Anneke Scott (London) | Horn
Lisa Goldberg (Gent) | Bassoon
Jenna Sherry (London) | Violin
Stephen King (Adelaide) | Viola
Daniel Yeadon (Sydney) | Cello
Rob Nairn (Adelaide) | Double Bass

PROGRAM

Louise Farrenc (1804–1875)
Nonet in E flat major, Op.38 (1849)

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Septet in E flat major, Op.20 (1800)