Aug 17, 2026 · 1 hr 31 min · 12 segments
In the latest episode of the 'Classical For Everyone' podcast… Scottish caves and rescuing Bach, becalmed boats and banking intrigue, Shakespearean fairies and a garment sellers' orchestra, a prophet…
[classical music]
And a year after he wrote that, Mendelssohn wrote an overture for the William Shakespeare play A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Now, I played the original version of this written for orchestra back in March in the Shakespeare's Music episode, so today I'm going with something I suspect not often heard.
In 1933, the composer Sergei Rachmaninoff took some of Mendelssohn's music for A Midsummer Night's Dream and transcribed it for solo piano.
He was at the time supporting himself and his family as a touring virtuoso pianist, and in this particular instance created something extremely demanding for himself as he condensed music for an orchestra into something for just two hands.
Here is the pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason with Sergei Rachmaninoff's transcription of the Scherzo from Felix Mendelssohn's music for A Midsummer Night's Dream.
That was Isata Kanneh-Mason with Sergei Rachmaninoff's transcription of the Scherzo from Felix Mendelssohn's music for A Midsummer Night's Dream.
[classical music]
And a year after he wrote that, Mendelssohn wrote an overture for the William Shakespeare play A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Now, I played the original version of this written for orchestra back in March in the Shakespeare's Music episode, so today I'm going with something I suspect not often heard.
In 1933, the composer Sergei Rachmaninoff took some of Mendelssohn's music for A Midsummer Night's Dream and transcribed it for solo piano.
He was at the time supporting himself and his family as a touring virtuoso pianist, and in this particular instance created something extremely demanding for himself as he condensed music for an orchestra into something for just two hands.
Here is the pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason with Sergei Rachmaninoff's transcription of the Scherzo from Felix Mendelssohn's music for A Midsummer Night's Dream.
That was Isata Kanneh-Mason with Sergei Rachmaninoff's transcription of the Scherzo from Felix Mendelssohn's music for A Midsummer Night's Dream.
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