St Paul's Cathedral | O for the Wings of a Dove | 2015

This wonderful live performance is by the Choir of St Paul's Cathedral. It was conducted by Andrew Carwood with Simon Johnson on the organ. The treble soloist is Gabriel Ali.

Apart from his oratorios perhaps the best known and most popular of Mendelssohn's small-scale choral compositions in the English-speaking world is Hör mein Bitten (Hear My Prayer). It's modern popularity stems from a very famous recording made in 1929 by the boy soprano Ernest Lough with the choir of Temple Church of the Mendelssohn-approved English version of the hymn and to this day it's seen as a vehicle for gifted trebles. I've no idea how many recordings of 'O for the wings of a dove!' (O könnt’ ich fl iegen wie Tauben dahin) there are floating round the place but I suspect it's rather a lot.

Mendelssohn composed it between May and July 1844, it's a paraphrase of the first seven verses of Psalm 55 and is the canvas on which Mendelssohn engages in some very expressive word-painting. It's in two parts which resemble a recitative and an aria – the aria being 'O for the wings of a dove!' It's a beautifully crafted piece of music which amply repays the time spent listening to it in its entirety. I love how he uses the chorus to emphasise the poignancy of the text by repetition and elaboration, and how he uses them as a background to the aria. (Saturday Chorale)

The photo montage is a montage of a number of services at St Paul's including the funeral of Margaret Thatcher.