Carnegie Hall

High spirits and sweet melodies are Mendelssohn’s trademarks. His Violin Concerto opens with passionate exchanges between soloist and orchestra, followed by a gentle second movement that sings tenderly and a finale that is an effervescent romp with exuberant violin runs. The incidental music to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream captures the play’s poetry—excerpts of which you will hear in David Hyde Pierce’s narration—and rustic humor. Listen for the orchestrated donkey brays in the Overture, a quicksilver movement depicting the fairy kingdom, and the famous Wedding March.