The Full Works Concert - Thursday 28 February 2013: Great Orchestras of the World

As the world's most recorded orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra's body of work is truly impressive; tonight Jane Jones introduces works by Vaughan Williams, Gershwin and Mendelssohn

Throughout February we’ve been celebrating the Great Orchestras of the World, and tonight we round off the series on home soil, dedicating the show to Classic FM’s Orchestra in the City of London. Opening with 5 Variants of Dives & Lazarus by a quintessentially British composer, Vaughan Williams, we’ll then head further afield with music by Ravel and George Gershwin, but the centrepiece of this evening’s show is Mendelssohn’s Symphony No.2 – nearly an hour and a quarter to immerse yourself in! 

Ralph Vaughan Williams: 5 Variants of Dives and Lazarus
Conductor: Richard Hickox

George Gershwin: Embraceable You
Violin: Joshua Bell
Conductor: John Williams

Felix Mendelssohn: Symphony No.2 in B flat major (‘Hymn of Praise’), Tracks 1-14
Soloists: Karita Mattila, Elizabeth Connell, Hans Peter Blochwitz
Claudio Abbado conducts the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus

Maurice Ravel: Bolero
Conductor: Valery Gergie

Listen again to this Full Works Concert (for seven days after broadcast)