Live online: Stephen Hough plays Mendelssohn | Philharmonia Orchestra

Mendelssohn spent ten months travelling through Italy in his early twenties. The sunshine, the landscape, the cities and the people delighted him, and luckily for us he distilled all that youthful delight into his Italian Symphony. The music he once described as “blue sky in A major” evokes some of the scenes that made such an impression on him – bright expanses of countryside, dignified religious processions, and hurtling peasant dances.

Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto was also written after his Italian trip, and he gave the first performance himself. In music full of fiery virtuosity, Mendelssohn makes the most of the latest developments in piano-building, showing off the increased volume and range of his instrument. Soloist Stephen Hough is a musician at the very summit of his profession, ‘a physical and intellectual pianistic powerhouse.’ (Glasgow Herald)

To open, Anna-Maria Helsing conducts an exuberant work for strings by New York composer Jessie Montgomery – “a handful of American folk melodies tossed into a strong wind, cascading and tumbling joyfully around one another” (Washington Post).