麻豆约拍

Donald Macleod looks at Mendelssohn鈥檚 trips to Britain in the early 1840s, when he's at the height of his fame, and goes for tea at Buckingham Palace.

Mendelssohn鈥檚 relationship with Britain began when he was 20 years old, when London became the first stop of his Grand Tour. This week Donald Macleod explores the composer's experiences in Britain, considering the mark he left on musical life in these islands, the works he wrote here, and what he got up to in the course of the ten visits he made across his lifetime. Mendelssohn took inspiration from the scenery, but he also got his first professional engagements in Britain, and in return, by the end of his life, Britain lionized him.

By the time of Mendelssohn鈥檚 eighth sojourn in Britain, everyone wanted to meet him, from Charles Dickens and Thackeray, to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Songs Without Words op 102 No 1
Daniel Barenboim, piano

Piano Concerto No 2 in D minor (Mvts 2 & 3)
Danae D枚rken, piano
Royal Northern Sinfonia
Lars Vogt, conductor

Piano Trio No 1 (Mvt 1)
Itzak Perlman, violin
Yo Yo Ma, cello
Emanuel Ax, piano

A Midsummer Night鈥檚 Dream (Nos 5 & 7)
Gewandhausorchester
Ricardo Chailly, conductor

Violin Concerto in E minor (Mvt 1)
Nicola Benedetti, violin
Academy of St Martin in the Fields
James Macmillan, conductor