A deep dive into Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture

Last year we took part in Musical Masterpieces, a Sky Arts docuseries, supported by The Space, unpacking the music and stories of perennial favourites of the classical repertoire. In our episode, presenters Myleene Klass MBE and Errollyn Wallen CBE explored Felix Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture. Mendelssohn’s music evokes the wind and waves of a memorable trip he took to the Isle of Staffa, and the grandeur of Fingal’s Cave.

10 January is the anniversary of the Berlin premiere of the final version of this beloved piece. Today we release the complete recording, made at St Jude’s Church in Hampstead Garden Suburb specially for Musical Masterpieces, on our YouTube channel.

You can watch Musical Masterpieces on the Sky Arts channel on NOW TV. Our Principal Conductor Santtu-Mattias Rouvali, members of the Philharmonia, and Scottish tenor Nicky Spence give their insights into the music. Composer Errollyn Wallen invites Myleene Klass into her home in a remote Scottish lighthouse to take a close look at how Mendelssohn creates his masterly evocation of the sea. Journalists Tom Service and Jessica Duchen discuss Mendelssohn’s life and career, the Grand Tour that took him to the Hebrides aged just 20, his correspendence with his sister Fanny where he first shared the theme of his overture, his wish to capture the impression of “oil, seagulls and dead fish” in his music, his friendship with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and more.