There is something poignant yet uncanny about experiencing music the way people would have consumed it hundreds of years ago. Today, music is everywhere, its accessibility so pervasive and effortless yet largely beyond our control. You can hear the sounds of a full orchestra on your phone, and book tickets for a live performance on the same device without much hassle.

The Australian Haydn Ensemble performing Beethoven’s Eroica at the City Recital Hall. Photo © Oliver Miller

Yet before recorded sound, sitting in the crowd of a live orchestral concert was extremely rare.

More likely, if you were in the affluent milieu, you could only experience the pruned version of a quartet or chamber orchestra, instead of the expansive sounds of a 90-piece set. You’d have experienced Beethoven’s Eroica or Mozart’s symphonies for the first time in the context of a few players much like the concert on Monday night at Sydney’s City Recital Hall, when the Australian Haydn Ensemble continued their streak of presenting chamber arrangements of popular symphonic works.

Wranitzky’s Symphony in C minor kicked off the program, its first movement unveiling the turbulent spirit upon which it is titled;...