BBC Proms Masterworks: Mahler and Adams BBC Proms

Tonight on Masterworks at the Proms, we're kicking off three nights of

live concerts from the Royal Albert Hall, with a programme of music that

celebrates man, machine, and nature, and journeys to parts of your

emotional and physical being that only the

most vital music can access, Gustav Mahler's Titanic First Symphony.

Also, we will hear two pieces by American composer John Adams, the UK

of his Saxophone Concerto, and his Short Ride in a Fast Machine.

Our masterworks journey began with Bach, and reaches the 21st century

tonight with John Adams - frankly, I don't know yet if his Saxophone

Concerto really is a masterwork, a piece that will become essential to

the repertoires of orchestras, soloists,

But this is the crucible where we're going to

find out if the music has got what it takes with you, me, the Prommers

here and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the heroine of last

We are going to start with the five-minute orchestral fanfare,

Short Ride in a Fast Machine. John Adams explains the title of the

piece as follows: You know how it is when someone asks you to ride in a

terrific sports car, then you wish you had not! Applause for Laura

Sammy, the leader of the BBC Symphony Orchestra tonight.

MUSIC: Short Ride in a Fast Machine.

Marin Alsop conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra in John Adams',

Short Ride in a Fast Machine. More from John Adams next with the

UK premiere performance of his UK saxap concerto. With a special solo

performance by Timothy McAllister. We have a shuffle now but I am

delighted to be joined by Anna Meredith. Anna, what are you hoping

for with the saxaphone concerto? It is a double-edged thing. A tricky

element to write for. There are all sorts of cultural things he could be

thinking about. And juggling but if he forgets it, it could be really a

bold and exciting composition. I know from John Adams that he is

thinking of the unique cultural saxaphone that it has with it. He

grew up with it. He attributes pieces to what he has heard from

John Coltrane and many others. Do you think it could be a danger for

you? The idea of a fusion feels scary. You could diluting and not

get the both, the colour of the Orchestra and the grit of the

saxaphone. I am wondering how he keeps the strength of the

combination. It will be fascinating to hear what

you think of it. What about the piece itself? I think it is strong.

I love the big band sound of the saxaphone. The honkiness. The metal

and the shine. But combined with the Orchestra, I can think of a few

piece but generally, I am not sure how well it blends in or masks the

delicacy that you get with other wood wind instruments.

Is there a problem it could be loud and too brash? It is designed to be

loud it is made to be the instruments that is the loudest,

most easy to play instrument that there is, easy is a bit insulting

but there is something about the saxaphone that stands out. To look

at. It feels like a different family. It will interesting to see

how he makes it stand out. There is a huge amount of energy.

Two big movements, a fast section and slow section. And even faster

third. John Adams makes a point, in that the roots of the instrument are

not in the Orchestra it was a military band instrument, developed

in France in the mid-19th century. Maybe there is a reason that there

are not a that man great saxaphone concertos. It will be

are not a that man great saxaphone do. Many would be scared to do this.

It will be interesting to hear this do. Many would be scared to do this.

Well, here is Timothy McAllister. Coming on stage with Marin Alsop.

Well, here is Timothy McAllister. The first performance of this John

Adams' saxaphone concerto. APPLAUSE.

MUSIC: Saxaphone Concerto.

The first performance in Britain of John Adams' Saxophone Concerto.

Timothy McAllister was the saxophonist for whom the piece was

written, and Marin Alsop conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

John Adams said about the saxophone that it is still looking for its

rightful place in the symphony oratory. I wonder if that is the

performance for it. Well, it has been a short ride to

the interval tonight, so I hope you have your tea already brewed beside

you, because now is not the time to leave the sofa. Anna Meredith is

still here, and we will be talking to Timothy McAllister when he has

had time to recover from that performance. There will also be a

special presentation on stage before Mahler's Symphony later on. Did that

vindicate the Saxophone Concerto for you? Especially at the end of the

first movement, he turned the saxophone into the hard edges of the

orchestra. You had that very vocal middle movement. It was very clever

writing. Did you love it? Identity know if I did. John Adams normally

has a transparency of direction, and I found this very fluid. From moment

to moment, there were some brilliant writing, but I couldn't always

follow the narrative. There were a lot of references in the music. A

little West side story, a lot of Stravinsky. Did he succeed in

bringing all together into something of his own? Maybe I wish he had just

treated it as a thing that he had just discovered this instrument,

less about alluding to other staff and more about treating it as

something different. I would have liked more dominance, a little

wilder. Timothy McAllister's performance, there was wildness

there. It felt fluid and confident. He made it seem incredibly easy, he

is a brilliant player. John Adams' Saxophone Concerto is just one of

many new works featured in the BBC Proms this season. The desire for

peaceful human will is is implicit in the two pieces by the West East

Divan Orchestra. Then you have Jonathan Dove's Doire theory about

climate change. Anna, do you have a sense that the music you write, or

this new music, can make a difference, can change the world in

some way? I think it has to be authentic and real to the composer

involved in the project, the commission they are doing. The idea

of someone being given an issue to address that isn't in their heart,

it could end up being hollow. If it is something you believe in and it

has integrity, brilliant. Is it a question of where the music happens.

You have written music for the Last Night Of The Proms in 2008.

Orchestras up and down the country were a video linked to the Royal

Albert Hall. When you know you have an audience of millions of people,

that is the biggest possible stage to try to communicate to people.

Denial is a powerful tool. You can't let yourself worry about it. You

have to do whatever you are going to do, and it was only when I got

there, I thought, good grief! Worrying too much about who it is

for and where it is going to make you paralysed. Or the message. Do

you want music to have a message, just the reverse? Would you rather

there was not a political or social idea? Unless it was a very

particular thing. I love the idea that one performer audience really

gets something from it. If you can get a young audience excited about a

piece of new music, that is a lovely feeling. This is happening right

now, and I'm involved. But new music, and indeed the commissions we

have been hearing at the Proms, are not about big ideas or setting to

the world, they are poetic or abstract. A couple that have struck

us particularly, Helen Grime' Near Midnight. You can hear that when she

has lots of ideas happening at once, she has complicated, fluid material,

but always a sense of clarity of direction. You can always hear her

ear for colour. Let's hear an excerpt from Helen Grime is Near

Midnight. Helen Grimes' near midnight. It is a

piece she wrote for the Halley Orchestra, and they played it as if

they loved it, which they clearly did. That isn't always the case when

you talk about new music. Helen is their composer in residence, and you

can build a relationship with your orchestra. There is a real

dedication and passion. You can really hear that they understand

what she is trying to say. It doesn't sound like anybody else, but

nonetheless touches you immediately. It is really heard and imagined. It

is not how I write, and I mean all of how Helen writes. She is a very

good oboe player herself, she knows what she is trying to do. Another

piece that struck me this season was why one of Scotland's senior

composers, someone who does direct and communicative music. This is

John McLeod's The Sun Dances. John McLeod's The Sun Dances, the

climactic moment where the Gaelic tune takes over the orchestra. The

BBC Scottish symphony orchestra in that case. It is wonderful

storytelling, that piece. It has brilliant narrative, really clear

direction, if operative. You really go with the energy of the whole

thing. It has brilliant energy to it. You can watch those two pieces

and many more on the BBC iPlayer new works collection. And it is

important to get new music to a new generation of listeners, too. Anna,

you are involved in a BBC project called Ten Pieces about connecting

schoolchildren with new music. What is the project? What will the

schoolchildren of the country get from it? It is a brilliant project,

ten pieces of classical music which are starting points for young people

to do their own creative responses. We have Short Ride in a Fast

Machine, and others. Any child can get involved, learn it, there is a

real transparency about writing. The idea is that after learning the

peace and watching the peace, children can make their own pieces

of art, dance, music, whatever they want. So it isn't just about taking

this great work and revering it, it is about making it your own. It is a

starting point for creativity. It is saying, this stuff is being made

right now, my version, your version, they are just as valid. You

mentioned that one of the ten pieces is by John Adams, and it is his

Short Ride in a Fast Machine. Here is a sneak preview of how it is

done. So, for one finely honed musical

machine to another. Saxophonist Timothy McAllister has made his way

here. Welcome. Thank you for that performance. It is not just about

how fast you could play the saxophone, but the number of styles

you have to take on board in that piece. How did it come about? I have

always had a great relationship with Marin Alsop. I work with her in the

summers. I was part of her circle for a long time, and John Newcombe

through that. -- John knew me through that. He got to know my

playing a lot more and what I was capable of. And that was in 2009?

The first concert where he opened his tenure in Los Angeles? And huge

part for you in that piece. The work was commissioned for that occasion,

and they wanted to bring in a specialist for this mammoth

saxophone part, and I got the call. The rest is history. He got to learn

a lot about what I do in my world but I'm very proud of. He tells the

story in his programme notes that it was when he discovered you were a

bicycle stunt guy that he thought, he has so many gifts, I have to

write a concerto for him. What is the relationship there? It made me a

fearless musician. It bred that into me. It is a lot more hazardous to be

a stunned BMX biker than a saxophonist. Bid you have just made

your debut at the Royal Albert Hall. That must feel similar. Quite

possibly. But he knew that from a young age, I was used to putting

myself out there. I think he saw a potential to write for me, and to

put the saxophone in the limelight like this. It is a very special kind

of limelight in the concerto, because it is not, if you like,

simply a classical piece. It is referring to or using techniques of

bebop, a great saxophone jazz player. If you are classically

trained, this is a difficult way of playing -- a different way of

playing. Many people are unable to do both, or do both pretty well.

There are some people who stay in their corner. The piece asks of a

saxophone player to be able to wear a lot of hat. It is not just jazz,

there is pure classical tradition with it, there is Strauss and

Debussy in now. He knew it would be a piece that was truly classical,

but it was that angular, aggressive, technical quality of bop and

post-bop that he was channelling, more so than the great classical

French tradition, for instance. So what kind of challenge has that been

for you? Do you play those styles anyway? I grew up playing jazz. That

was my hook to the saxophone. But very quickly, I fell in love with

the classical side of things. I endeavour to keep both styles in my

playing as long as I could, but my career path took me in the classical

direction. I was very passionate about committing, contributing to

this art, through new music, I have premiered 150 works now. This is my

calling, to be part of the contemporary music scene for my

instrument. What is it about that concerto, you have been playing it

for more than a year. You have recorded it as well. How has it

changed in that time? It is less jittery! It is still jittery,

because that is written into the music, but I have had the wonderful

privilege of doing it with Marin Alsop basically for the last month.

We did it three times in Brazil, and then this week, so she and directly

have a groove here and feel off of each other very well. I certainly

would have hoped to go from the Sydney Opera House to go to the

Royal Albert Hall, that that journey would have led to me feeling

increasingly comfortable, and I think that is what this piece has

taken on now. Does that mean you can find new things in it? Anything

happen tonight? Yes. Tonight I felt like I was doing some different

things with my sound that I hadn't done before, some colour stick

things that I could do in this space and the people in it. I made it

sweeter in places. It takes getting to the point where you are not

worrying about the notes but start to make the piece have some shape to

it. Thinking about this audience, questions here from them. What are

the added challenges that come with playing Adams' rhythms? It works

only if you play it perfectly. If you don't play it perfectly, it is

like playing notes slightly off key. It is something orchestra and

musicians really love about John's music, that it asks that of them.

Sometimes musicians feel that it won't matter if they don't play a

piece right. But John asks for these rhythmic structures to be perfect.

There is a learning curve with every orchestra to get that right, and for

me, it has been this journey beyond hitting the notes, it is a journey

of playing it more and more accurately so that the conductor is

completely comfortable with what I'm doing. That is a challenge that I

have relished, because it allows me to get deeper and deeper into a

piece, and more and more picky. Is this the piece to make the

saxophone's reputation as a concerto, do you think? I would love

to think that it will help. I call on any aspiring and established

composer to write for our instrument, and many have. Many

wonderful composers in the UK have written a wonderful works for hours

instrument. Thank you very much indeed. Someone who believes

passionately in the power of music to change lives is Marin Alsop. She

has reached broad audiences with her educational schemes. She is good to

finish tonight with a masterwork for the late 19th century, Marla's first

Symphony. 100 years ago, this music was not part of the repertoire. I

asked her why. He was pushing the envelope of everything we knew in a

symphony. That was very hard for people to get their arms around in

that moment. Even today, I think some of the symphonies are a

stretch. It is a big meal. You have such huge ambitions that is going to

be longer and more complicated. Where'd you push the envelope of

what the orchestra can do? In particular, when Mahler takes these

huge detours, especially in the finale, and you can feel the

audience, the horse turns around and is headed for the barn. We know

where we are going, we are back... No! We are taking a detours. It is a

moment of complete stillness that Mahler creates in the orchestra in

the middle. How can you create that? He picks the A that the

audiences tuned to. This is a subtle psychological choice on his part. So

it has to appear as though it has always been there, and then, you

start the peace. That is how I believe it has to start. It is

something that has always been there, will always be there, and for

me this is the sound of eternity. Man's existence and Mahler's

existence, because everything he writes, as everyone who is a creator

is somewhat autobiographical. So it is all about that interaction with

the outside world, and the conflict one comes up against, and the

triumph or lack thereof, all the stumbles. And so the whole piece

really is this story of the hero, of Mahler, and how he comes to terms

with dealing with the external world. And do you feel that the

world has changed and when you get to the end of that hugely triumphant

music? That is the goal of great art, to have some impact, and enable

people to feel and to think in a larger way. We bring people out of

their existence with technology, and these insulated lives we lead, and

hopefully connect everyone not only to each other, but to broad ideals.

So, if the BBC Symphony Orchestra are to honour the spirit of risk and

adventure and risk, that make Mahler the most seismic invention since

bait Hove, they will have to play it as it was composed.

Anna, what are the pieces of this that mean the most to you? It is the

exciting sense of unpredictability. You never know where it will go next

and it is such a commitment to a new world. Suddenly in a song, a dance,

it is so unpredictable. I don't understand how he made such

commitment to the passion. He mean it is with real integrity and love

in his writing. There is so much of the world that

leaches into the piece. The Frere Jacques tune in the third move. The

fan ferrics the off stage fanfares, like a military barracks, the

natural world at the beginning of the first movement and all of these

kinds of things. Is that a potentially radical thing. The way

that the music is not cut off from the world but a part of it? It is a

pairing with Adams. With all of the references. You feel he takes

ownership of it. You sense a new world in each bit.

One of the references that we hear in the symphony is to Mahler's

earlier music, like Songs Of A Wayfarer. The first is' Ging Heut

Morgen Ubers Feld, a "I Went This Morning Over The Fields".

And as a little track and field, we have found that the

And as a little track and field, we Christian Gerharher is performing

that very strong in the Pro me, s in 2010.

-- Proms. MUSIC:'

Ging Heut Morgen Ubers Feld. A melody that we will hear again in

a moment in the first movement of Mahler's first symphony conducted by

Marin Alsop. Firstly, she is to receive the Honourary Membership of

the #k7 royal Philharmonic Society. She is very insirational, is that

how she is for you? Absolutely. She is fantastic.

The sense of that commitment in the music. You have to bring the

audiences with you to a certain extent. How, it is hard for

conductors to do that, to programme the music and bring the people with

them. But Marin Alsop is capable of doing that? She has insight, she can

understand what the composer is saying in a piece. She can

communicate that to the people. Communicate what what the composer

has to say about it. Is there a frustration as a

composer, that the premieres here and elsewhere, that the sense of the

music is part of the repertory, is it difficult? You

it. Sorry, here comes Marin Alsop on

stage. Anna Meredith, sorry. Marin Alsop is with Colin Matthews who

will present her with the Honourary Membership of the Royal Philharmonic

Society. Good evening, I am Colin Matthews,

here as a trustie to the Royal Philharmonic Society. It is a

pleasure to award this award to Marin Alsop.

APPLAUSE. Had beenary Membership of the

society is given to exceptional musicians. Awarded fewer than 140

times in the 200 years of the society's history. The first was in

1826. And other famous names have included Beloise, Igor Stravinsky,

Mehudin. Janet Baker, and recently the founder of the Venezuela

Sustainable Orchestra. In making the award, the Royal philharmonic

Society has made the following sitation: Marin Alsop is an

inspiring and distinguished artist. A role model for the 21st century.

As recognised for the programming as for her deep commitment to education

and the development of audiences of all ages. As a Music Director, she

is a generous collaborator that creates a sense of enjoyment and

teem work with her decisions and a warm connection with her audiences,

as all who heard her wise and witty speech at Last Night of the Proms

will agree! APPLAUSE.

From the outset, she has taken professional development into her

own hands, learning from the inside how to lead, direct, administer by

performing her own ensembles. Wherever she goes, she strives for

greater engagement of classical music. From kids from deprived

areas, to giving instruments in after school lessons. All of her

performances here in the UK bring a special occasion to it and the Royal

philharmonic society is proud to present her with this award this

evening. CEDWHITE Thank you. I am truly

honoured to accept this award. Especially here at the Royal Albert

Hall at the Proms, which has such special meaning for me. The royal

fill philharmonic seat commitment to nurturing young musicians and

promoting music resonates deeply with me. The society's core values

of understanding, creativity and excellence are values that I think

we can all embrace, especially today in our shared hope for a more

tolerant and a peaceful world. Thank you all very much. I appreciate it.

APPLAUSE. Marin Alsop, even that short speech,

proving why she is such a deserving recipient for that Honourary

Membership of the Royal Philharmonic Society. This is what was said by

Bernstien by Mahler. If ever theres what a composer of his time it was

Mahler. Marin Alsop's mentor was Bernstien.

It will be fascinating how she shows the symphony, Bernstien was often

wild and indulgent but I think that we will hear something different in

Marin Alsop's performance. I was here earlier, I think that this is a

performance of great coherence as well as great wildness.

APPLAUSE. Marin Alsop on stage to conduct the

BBC Symphony Orchestra and Gustav Mahler's Symphony No 1 in D Major.

MUSIC: Symphony No 1.

. Is there a more scintillating,

shocking, more joyful orchestral music than that? The end of Gustav

Mahler's Symphony No 1 in D Major, conducted by Marin Alsop of the BBC

Symphony Orchestra. APPLAUSE.

Mahler is a contemporary composer. The emotional opening, the his

musical reflection of the world around him make his music speak

directly to us today. Written 120 years ago maybe but this is music of

right now. The applause for that performance!

Well as if there weren't enough, tomorrow night we are opening up a

Proms extravagancea on BBC Four. Starting with bait Hove an at and

10. 15pm our live weekend continues with a special late night Prom with

Paloma Faith.