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The Hebrides Overture: Mendelssohn's melodious cave

Tom Service explores the story behind the very first orchestral tone poem and one of the best-loved pieces in classical music: Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture.

Tom Service explores the story behind the very first orchestral tone poem and one of the best-loved pieces in classical music: Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture. Cave expert Prof Stuart Jeffrey shares his insights into Fingal's cave (which inspired Mendelssohn to write his overture), from its many famous visitors over the years to its extraordinary - and sometimes disconcerting - acoustic.

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29 minutes

Last on

Fri 28 Oct 202216:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Pipes and Drums of The Black Watch

    Traditional: Sleep Deaire, Sleep

    • SCOTDISC.
    • 191018051402.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave) - overture Op.26

    Performer: Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. Conductor: Kurt Masur.
    • BERLIN CLASSICS.
    • 0002452CCC.

  • James MacMillan

    The Confession of Isobel Gowdie for orchestra

    Performer: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Osmo Vänskä.
    • BIS.
    • BIS CD-1169.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave) - overture Op.26

    Performer: Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. Conductor: Kurt Masur.
    • BERLIN CLASSICS.
    • 0002452CCC.

  • Pipes and Drums of The Black Watch

    Traditional: Sleep Deaire, Sleep

    • SCOTDISC.
    • 191018051402.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave) - overture Op.26

    Performer: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
    • LSO LIVE.
    • 0765.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave) - overture Op.26

    Performer: Swedish Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Thomas Dausgaard.
    • BIS.
    • 2166.

  • Richard Wagner

    Der Fliegende Hollander - opera in 3 acts

    Performer: Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Daniel Harding.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
    • HMM 90225051.

  • Johannes Brahms

    7 Fantasies Op.116 for piano

    Performer: Paul Lewis.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
    • HMM 902365.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave) - overture Op.26

    Performer: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
    • LSO LIVE.
    • 0765.

  • Pipes and Drums of The Black Watch

    Traditional: Sleep Deaire, Sleep

    • SCOTDISC.
    • 191018051402.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave) - overture Op.26

    Performer: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
    • LSO LIVE.
    • 0765.

  • Rebecca Hickey

    Beata viscera - monophonic conductus

    • NAXOS.
    • 8.557340.

  • Pipes and Drums of The Black Watch

    Traditional: Sleep Deaire, Sleep

    • SCOTDISC.
    • 191018051402.

  • Niels Wilhelm Gade

    Echoes from Ossian - overture Op.1

    Performer: Danish National Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Dmitri Kitayenko.
    • CHANDOS.
    • CHAN-9422.

  • Hamish MacCunn

    Land of the mountain and the flood - overture Op.3

    Performer: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Martyn Brabbins.
    • HYPERION.
    • CDA 66815.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave) - overture Op.26

    Performer: Swedish Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Thomas Dausgaard.
    • BIS.
    • 2166.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave) - overture Op.26

    Performer: Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. Conductor: Pablo Heras‐Casado.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
    • 2325DI.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave) - overture Op.26

    Performer: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Herbert von Karajan.
    • WARNER.
    • 4769012.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    Mendelssohn/X-Dance: Hebridean Fantasy

    Performer: X-Dance.
    • BALLO E MUSICA.
    • (unknown).

  • James MacMillan

    The Confession of Isobel Gowdie for orchestra

    Performer: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Osmo Vänskä.
    • BIS.
    • BIS CD-1169.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave) - overture Op.26

    Performer: Swedish Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Thomas Dausgaard.
    • BIS.
    • 2166.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave) - overture Op.26

    Performer: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
    • LSO LIVE.
    • 0765.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 23 Oct 202217:00
    BBC Radio 3
  • Fri 28 Oct 202216:30
    BBC Radio 3

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