Robert Hughes is best known for the numerous short orchestral pieces that were composed in the three decades following WWII and it is during this period that most of his stylistic development as a composer occurred. Although his compositions demonstrate the influence of various late 19th century European and English sources, these are extended by the composer's own sense of drama and almost inexhaustible taste for chromatic inflection.
Essay for orchestra is characteristically dark and powerful from the outset. The ominous opening gestures alternate with periods of exotic, even sensuous instrumental interplay before an increasingly restless middle section led by woodwinds intervenes. The mood of the opening and its themes are then recalled.
Essay for orchestra is dedicated to the Argentine conductor Juan José Castro who had worked with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in the early 1950s and had given much support for the composer's work.