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GREAT MOMENTS IN CLASSICAL MUSIC

Sandy Burnett Image Name: Sandy Burnett

In 1831, the brilliant young Felix Mendelssohn spent several months travelling through Italy, as part of a Grand Tour taking him right across Europe.  Musical standards there might have left him cold – he described the opera singers he heard in Naples as ‘the worst Italian ones I ever heard anywhere’ – but the landscapes and people he came across inspired him to write an Italian Symphony as he went, calling it ‘the jolliest piece I have ever done.’ Sandy Burnett explores how Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony balances atmospheric description with musical polish – and boundless youthful energy.

RTÉ lyric fm, Sunday 30th August, 6.30pm-7pm