You have to applaud the ambition of the Sydney-based Omega Ensemble. Clarinettist David Rowden formed the group back in 2005 to present an eclectic array of chamber music chosen from across the centuries, and so far they have enthralled and entertained with an imaginative mix of music. Along the way they have even managed to commission Australian composers to write and arrange for their flexible line up. Currently City Recital Hall ‘ensemble-in-residence’, this concert was no exception, offering a pair of challenging re-workings of German heavyweights Wagner and Strauss, a relative Mahler rarity and a new work by leading compositional light (and broadcaster) Andrew Ford.

Perth-based composer James Ledger was the man tasked with the arrangements, and on the whole he did a fine job with a fiendish brief. That the Strauss came off better than the Wagner was more a case of its suitability to an 11-player adaptation than the skill of the arranger. The Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde is a big musical beast, and in its original orchestrations it’s often cited as one of the pieces that changed the course of music history. Hearing it launched on solo cello with wind quintet playing the famous...