With the early arrival of warm weather (and strong winds) it was appropriate that for the latest of Sydney Symphony’s Cocktail Hour concerts the main work on the program was Beethoven’s bright and breezy Septet.

The atmosphere in the Opera House’s intimate Utzon Room on the last day of winter was certainly summery, and although the audience was not outside for this six-movement Viennese divertimento, wine was on hand included in the ticket price.

Introductions were made by harpist and ABC radio presenter Genevieve Lang and the one-hour post-sunset recital got under way with a contrasting work in Anton Webern’s slow movement for string quartet Langsamer Satz, which he wrote in 1905 shortly after hearing a performance of Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) that turned the young composer’s musical world on its head.

Schoenberg’s tone poem was inspired by a poem about a woman telling her lover that the baby she is expecting is not his. Anguish and agony turn to reconciliation and the power of love in the dark forest setting.

The back story to Webern’s work is similarly romantic. He and his cousin Wilhemine Mörtl were walking in the mountains and when...