Prom 48: Matthias Pintscher and Mendelssohn by Pintscher, Mendelssohn, From (2016/2016), Directed by Bijan Sheibani, Conductor Matthias Pintscher, Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom

Narcissus, the Thespian hunter who fell in love with his own image, inspired Matthias Pintscher to compose his own reflection on ‘the interaction of different groups and their mirror images’, a work for cello and orchestra. Pintscher conducts Reflections on Narcissus here before a semi-staged performance of Mendelssohn’s incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Mendelssohn’s delicate, mercurial and strident music is interspersed with excerpts from Shakespeare’s text to form a centrepiece of this season’s celebrations of Shakespeare’s 400th anniversary.