Mark Elder Conducts the Halle BBC Proms


Mark Elder Conducts the Halle

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Legendary conductor Sir Mark Elder plus the wonderful Halle Orchestra

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and truly inspiring music from Berlioz, Mahler and Colin Matthews.

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Sounds like the formula for a perfect concert.

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Hello and a very warm welcome from me, Hannah French,

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at the Royal Albert Hall.

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As a musicologist,

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I'm delighted to be indulging my passion and profession this evening

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and we're going to be enjoying some amazing music.

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French early-Romantic Hector Berlioz' Overture King Lear,

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Austrian late-Romantic Gustav Mahler's masterwork Das Lied von der Erde

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and the beautifully poignant Berceuse for Dresden

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by contemporary composer Colin Matthews,

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who'll also be giving an insight

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into his work later in the programme.

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First this evening, Berlioz's King Lear.

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It's 1831 and hothead Berlioz is en route from Rome to Paris,

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where he intends to assassinate his fiancee, also her mother

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who broke off the engagement and the newly intended husband.

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He has a disguise and a plan, but he stops off in Nice.

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He decides it's foolish and, instead,

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he indulges his love of Shakespeare,

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composing an overture to one of the most tragic of tragedies, King Lear.

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It's not a retelling of the play,

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but a general representation of its mood

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with events and characters worked into a logical musical sequence.

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You can hear the strong influence of Beethoven in the opening theme,

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the low strings which begin a long introduction

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start in proud strength, but die away to an abstracted mutter,

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clearly portraying the stubborn, once masterful king.

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Listen out, too, for Cordelia -

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she's represented by the oboe -

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and the entrance of Lear into the council chamber,

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announced on the timpani.

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The intensity of the music certainly mirrors the atmosphere of the play -

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the storm on the heath, the prison scene and, later, Cordelia's lament.

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APPLAUSE

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Sir Mark Elder to conduct the Halle

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with the leader of the orchestra, Lyn Fletcher,

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in Berlioz's Overture King Lear.

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APPLAUSE

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Sir Mark Elder and the Halle in that invigorating performance

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of Berlioz's Overture King Lear in this,

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the 400th year since Shakespeare's death.

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Sir Mark has been musical director of the Halle since 2000.

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It's clearly a lasting relationship with bags of mutual respect.

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Still to come is Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde.

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Often described as a "song symphony",

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it's an emotional rollercoaster into Mahler's feelings

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on love, loss, life and death.

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But before that, we've got the London premiere

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of Colin Matthews' Berceuse for Dresden

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with German cellist Leonard Elschenbroich.

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In February 1945, Allied forces' bombing of Dresden

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destroyed its baroque jewel, the Frauenkirche.

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In the aftermath,

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the church was left in ruins as a stark war memorial,

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but, following the reunification of Germany in 1990,

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it was rebuilt and finally reconsecrated

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just over ten years ago.

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To mark the event, the Friends Of Dresden Music Foundation

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commissioned British composer Colin Matthews

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to write an orchestral piece.

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The result, Berceuse for Dresden for cello and orchestra,

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is a lamenting lullaby that weaves the sounds of the Frauenkirche bells

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into an atmospheric wash of orchestral colours.

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The creative process and the story behind this work

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reflects the theme of reconciliation,

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as Colin Matthews himself now explains.

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I wrote the piece for the rebuilding of the Frauenkirche

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and the concept was to have a German cellist,

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a British composer and an American orchestra -

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the New York Philharmonic - as a sort of gesture of reconciliation.

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EXPLOSIONS

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-NEWSREEL:

-'As night falls, bombers of the British Royal Air Force

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'and darkness of Dresden, the capital of Saxony, becomes a fantasy

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'of the destructive pyrotechnics of the air war.'

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The first performance was one of the most moving experiences of my life -

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to see, in particular, what it meant to the people of Dresden

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to see this symbol, which had been a ruin for so long, rebuilt

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and the gesture of reconciliation

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between the three nationalities was something very special.

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A berceuse is...

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You might call it a "cradle song" and I deliberately chose that title

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and that form because I wanted it to be lyrical for the soloist

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to almost sing with the orchestra.

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I absolutely resisted the idea of writing anything that was fierce.

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I wanted the feeling of reconciliation

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to be part of the piece so although it builds to a big swelling climax,

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the cello writing is never virtuosic.

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It sings along with the orchestra.

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BELLS PEAL

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I wanted to use the bells of the Frauenkirche

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because they seem to be such a symbol of the church

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and they're remarkable.

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Of course, they've all been recast.

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The originals were all completely destroyed

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and I used their pitches - there are eight of them -

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to underlie the whole structure of the piece and then, halfway through,

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the bells themselves come in and gradually build up to a huge peal,

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which almost overwhelms the orchestra.

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BELLS PEAL

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I haven't yet heard it in the Albert Hall itself,

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but the bells have been rearranged

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so that they are on separate tracks

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and will be on speakers from the gallery, where I hope

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they will have the sort of sound as if they were from a cathedral.

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I think that the Albert Hall is the ideal place for it.

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APPLAUSE

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Soloist cellist Leonard Elschenbroich

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with conductor Sir Mark Elder.

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The Halle performing the London premiere

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of Colin Matthews' Berceuse for Dresden.

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BELLS PEAL

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BELLS PEAL

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BELLS PEAL

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APPLAUSE

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Sir Mark Elder and the Halle performing the London premiere

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of Colin Matthews' Berceuse for Dresden -

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the soloist, German cellist Leonard Elschenbroich.

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An exquisite performance

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from the former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist.

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There's Colin Matthews, the composer.

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He was Benjamin Britten's last musical assistant

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and, interestingly, he completed his doctorate on Mahler

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and assisted Deryck Cooke

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on his completion of Mahler's Tenth Symphony.

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APPLAUSE CONTINUES

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This is Colin Matthews' second appearance at the Proms this year.

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His first was for Pluto in the National Youth Orchestra Prom.

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Matthews' Berceuse captures the essence of the place

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and all it stands for now.

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Prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall,

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the ruins of the Frauenkirche became a symbol for the peace movement

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in East Germany - a place where people would gather

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in non-violent protest.

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And back to take a second bow, Leonard Elschenbroich.

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SHE LAUGHS

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He looks like he's being encouraged by the composer.

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Coming up next, the Halle conducted by Sir Mark Elder

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will perform Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde

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with mezzo-soprano Alice Coote and tenor Gregory Kunde.

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Mahler wrote Das Lied von der Erde or The Song of the Earth

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in a frenzied two months in 1908.

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It was a response to a heartbreaking trio of tragedies.

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He'd just left his post as director of the Vienna Court Opera

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under bitter circumstances.

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His eldest daughter had died of scarlet fever and diphtheria

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and he himself was diagnosed with an incurable heart valve defect.

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He found solace in a book of poetry, Hans Bethge's The Chinese Flute,

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which was derived from Tang Dynasty literature, and Mahler was inspired

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to write a series of songs, which he originally titled The Jade Flute.

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The Prommers are in good voice this evening.

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The six songs with soloists alternating tenor and alto -

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or mezzo-soprano, as it is this evening -

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took on symphonic proportions and could have also evolved

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into his Ninth Symphony, but Mahler was superstitious and all too aware

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that Beethoven and Bruckner had died writing their ninth symphonies.

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So, Das Lied von der Erde became known as a symphonic song cycle,

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as it fuses the forces and the form of a symphony

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with a collection of themed songs

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and Mahler returned to numbering symphonies

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when he believed the danger was passed.

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Through Mahler's intense writing,

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the six songs soar the heights and plumb the depths of emotion,

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from meditating and reflecting to celebrating and joshing,

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and, ultimately, saying farewell with poignancy and hope.

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The Halle-Colin Matthews relationship

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also continues in this performance.

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The first song, Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde,

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The Drinking Song of the Earth's Sorrow,

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always presents challenges in the balance

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between orchestra and soloist

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so, in 2012, at Sir Mark's bidding, Matthews re-orchestrated it

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and that's the version we'll be hearing this evening.

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APPLAUSE

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The Prommers giving a warm welcome to our soloists,

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mezzo-soprano Alice Coote and tenor Gregory Kunde.

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Sir Mark Elder with the Halle

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for tonight's performance of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde.

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APPLAUSE

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Sir Mark Elder and the Halle in Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde.

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The soloists - mezzo-soprano Alice Coote and tenor Gregory Kunde.

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CHEERING

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"Imprinted on the atmosphere"

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is how Benjamin Britten described Der Abschied,

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which is exactly how it feels tonight.

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You could hear a pin drop in the Royal Albert Hall

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as Alice Coote's final "ewig" faded into silence.

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Sir Henry Wood was a champion of Mahler's music.

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He gave the British premiere of Das Lied in 1914

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and described it in his memoirs

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as "accessibly modern, but very beautiful".

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CHEERING

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Alice Coote has said Der Abschied would work

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as the soundtrack to her life.

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She used to listen to it

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when feeling disgruntled at music college.

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Such versatility in her voice,

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as well known for singing Mahler and Strauss

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as she is for the operas of Handel.

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And Gregory, this is his Proms debut.

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Such a warm applause for Sir Mark Elder.

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CHEERING

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It's been a busy evening for the woodwind,

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Mahler such a wizard of orchestration.

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He writes so magnificently for them.

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CHEERING

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Mahler's closest friend, the conductor Bruno Walter,

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called Das Lied Mahler's most personal work,

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perhaps the most personal in music.

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And Mahler himself never heard a public performance.

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Well, that's it for this evening from me, Hannah French,

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in the Royal Albert Hall.

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I hope you enjoyed the concert as much as we did here.

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If you've caught the Mahler bug,

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set yourself a reminder for Friday the 2nd of September,

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when Sir Simon Rattle will be performing Symphony No. 7

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with the Berlin Philharmonic

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and the Proms are back on your screen tomorrow evening

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with a Mozart double bill,

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starting with the Aurora Orchestra

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performing the Jupiter Symphony from memory,

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but, for now, a very good evening.

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