FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY Symphonies No.3 & 4 Freiburger Barockorchester, Pablo Heras-Casado

Holiday postcards.
Or were they? In later life, Mendelssohn always opposed the use of the terms ‘Scottish’ and ‘Italian’ for his symphonies in A minor and A major respectively, as if to emphasise their qualities as ‘pure’ music. Yet they were directly inspired by his European Grand Tour of 1829-32: from the gloomy ruins of Holyrood Abbey to the sun-drenched landscapes of Rome and Naples, his imagination fashioned masterpieces that have seldom been surpassed for their sense of orchestral colour, vividly brought out here by the period instruments of the Freiburger Barockorchester.