Composer of the Week - Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) - Revivals, Revisions and Religion

Throughout his life Mendelssohn championed the music of his predecessors, including a remarkable revival of Bach's St Matthew Passion in 1829. Donald Macleod investigates this driving force, as well as Mendelssohn's obsessive revisions of his own compositions. Part of Radio 3's Composers of the Year 2009 season. O Mensch, bewein dein Sunde gross (Bach: St Matthew Passion, arr. Mendelssohn) Chorus Musicus Das Neue Orchester Christoph Spering (conductor) Opus 111 CD1 t24 Prelude and Fugue in E minor, Op 35 Benjamin Frith (piano) Naxos 8.550939 CD1 t 1 and 2 Symphony No 4, Op 90 (Italian - Revised 1834 version with first movement from original version) Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra John Eliot Gardiner (conductor) Deutsche Grammophon 4591562 CD1 t 1,9,10,11 Thanks be to God! (Elijah) Edinburgh Festival Chorus David Jones (chorus master) Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment Paul Daniel (conductor) Decca 4556882 CD1 t22.