In a “wish you were here” moment, Mendelssohn wrote a letter to his family which he decorated with the first notes of the Hebrides Overture: “In order to make you understand how extraordinarily the Hebrides affected me, I send you the following, which came into my head there.” Gianandrea Noseda conducts the NSO in Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture, the composer’s musical description of Fingal’s Cave, a natural wonder, “with its famous hexagonal rock columns and astonishing acoustics.” (National Trust for Scotland website).
July’s NSO Showcase also features Beethoven’s 8th Symphony. In an interview earlier this year, Gianandrea Noseda told us that it is one of his favorites. “It is a bonsai symphony, but one of the biggest, [and noisiest]. The 8th is the shortest, but it is the one where you feel you are at the edge of the cliff. So, you have to be careful because it’s easy to fall down.”
The program ends with fireworks provided by Stravinsky in the complete Firebird ballet.
Join us Wednesday evening, July 3rd at 9:00 for the perfect summertime celebration. The concert streams all month long here.
WETA Passport
Stream tens of thousands of hours of your PBS and local favorites with WETA Passport whenever and wherever you want. Catch up on a single episode or binge-watch full seasons before they air on TV.