Hertfordshire Chamber Orchestra directed by Paul Barritt

Event information

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) Symphony no. 101 'Clock'

André Caplet (1878-1925) Suite Persane - for wind decet

George Gershwin (1989-1937) Lullaby - for strings

Richard Wagner (1813-1883) 'Der Engel' arr. Mottl; 'Träume' arr. Wagner, from Wesendonck Lieder, for violin and orchestra

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) Symphony no. 4 'Italian'

From Haydn's Clock Symphony first performed to a rapturous London audience in 1794, we stow away to a Persia stylised by French composer André Caplet in 1901. Moments later, it's jazz-crazed New York City after midnight, where muted strings serenade us with a Lullaby only George Gershwin could have written.

​​Paul Barritt stays in contemplative mood after the interval with Wagner's own arrangement of 'Träume', later developed in 'Tristan & Isolde'. Zooming back to Blighty 39 years after our journey began, we're just in time to imagine ourselves at the premiere of Felix Mendelssohn's ebullient Italian Symphony.