Following their much-praised Schubert recording (‘the most thrilling account of Schubert’s last symphony’, BBC Music Magazine), Maxim Emelyanychev and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra are reunited for their highly anticipated second album on Linn, this time performing Mendelssohn’s Symphonies Nos. 3 & 5. Inspired by the natural beauty of Scotland – and what better way to celebrate SCO’s 50th anniversary in 2023 than the ‘Scottish’ Symphony! – No. 3 has a fiery character well suited for the ‘dynamic, energetic and exciting to watch’ conductor Maxim (The Guardian). Despite its numbering, No. 5 (known as the ‘Reformation’) is an early work which evokes the struggles and triumph of Protestantism. Its final chorale based on Luther’s much celebrated ‘Ein feste Burg’ draws the album to a reaffirming end.