0:00:05 > 0:00:08Hope, disaster, joy and oblivion.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11We're going on an orchestral odyssey into the emotional abyss
0:00:11 > 0:00:13in one of tonight's masterworks -
0:00:13 > 0:00:16Gustav Mahler's Sixth Symphony.
0:00:16 > 0:00:18It's an appropriately momentous piece for a Prom
0:00:18 > 0:00:23that's been designated by UNESCO as the 2014 UNESCO Concert For Peace,
0:00:23 > 0:00:26this year, when we're marking the 100th anniversary
0:00:26 > 0:00:29since the outbreak of World War I.
0:00:29 > 0:00:31But, this is a vertiginously challenging symphony,
0:00:31 > 0:00:33technically, and above all, emotionally.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36And it's conducted by a musician
0:00:36 > 0:00:39who has "risk" as his essential musical DNA,
0:00:39 > 0:00:41and at the tips of his fingers.
0:00:41 > 0:00:45And, with an orchestra who only rarely play together.
0:00:45 > 0:00:49Valery Gergiev conducts the World Orchestra For Peace.
0:00:49 > 0:00:51But before he and the orchestra get to the Mahler,
0:00:51 > 0:00:53they're taking on a work
0:00:53 > 0:00:57of sheer orchestral virtuosity and sumptuousness.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00Richard Strauss's symphonic fantasia on his opera
0:01:00 > 0:01:01Die Frau Ohne Schatten.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04But, believe me, tonight at the Proms, anything could happen.
0:01:32 > 0:01:34I've just heard the World Orchestra For Peace
0:01:34 > 0:01:36rehearse for the very first time,
0:01:36 > 0:01:39Strauss's Symphonic Fantasia on Die Frau Ohne Schatten.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42Now, to be honest, it sounds a bit like what it is,
0:01:42 > 0:01:45which is 102 individuals from 78 orchestras in 32 countries.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48It's a bit like a collection of ingredients
0:01:48 > 0:01:50that are meeting each other, but not quite coming
0:01:50 > 0:01:53together in that full gastronomic - or musical - experience,
0:01:53 > 0:01:55and they've only got two days for that to happen.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58Now, one of the orchestras, one of the countries represented, is Australia,
0:01:58 > 0:02:00the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
0:02:00 > 0:02:02The leader of the second violins is Monica Curro
0:02:02 > 0:02:05and she's the co-principal leader of the second violin section
0:02:05 > 0:02:08in this performance of the Strauss in the World Orchestra For Peace.
0:02:08 > 0:02:10I'm going to find out from Monica Curro what it's like to be part
0:02:10 > 0:02:15of this thrilling, and rather dangerous, orchestral experience.
0:02:15 > 0:02:17The orchestra is an unusual creature
0:02:17 > 0:02:20where it's made up of
0:02:20 > 0:02:24extremely proficient and extraordinary soloists
0:02:24 > 0:02:27and leaders and concert masters.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29So, there's a lot of instruction
0:02:29 > 0:02:31which doesn't have to come from anybody
0:02:31 > 0:02:34because the level of proficiency is very high,
0:02:34 > 0:02:36but also the level of listening.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39And so, they're not used to following anybody
0:02:39 > 0:02:43they're used to leading people and you have to listen to do that.
0:02:43 > 0:02:44So, everybody's listening.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47You can almost see the listening, it's that palpable.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51Is that when you get lots of leaders trying to lead? You would think so.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55But it's not, actually. Because, what happens between every piece
0:02:55 > 0:02:57is this vastly different seating.
0:02:57 > 0:02:59So, there's never an alpha person,
0:02:59 > 0:03:03because the person who will lead the Strauss, for example,
0:03:03 > 0:03:05will be on the fifth desk for the Mahler.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09So, it's all very egalitarian and collegial
0:03:09 > 0:03:12and everyone's just there to make it really good.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15It's just a very auspicious occasion.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18In the middle of all that textual complexity of Strauss's music,
0:03:18 > 0:03:21are there any particular moments that we should listen out for?
0:03:21 > 0:03:24Mostly from you, of course, but anywhere else in the orchestra?
0:03:24 > 0:03:28There's a moment that starts in bar one and finishes at the end
0:03:28 > 0:03:30because it's incredibly hard.
0:03:30 > 0:03:34There are billions of notes, and I was talking to the viola players,
0:03:34 > 0:03:36we were lamenting how it's not really in our contract
0:03:36 > 0:03:39to have to play that high. But, Strauss didn't care.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41We are right up in mouth position,
0:03:41 > 0:03:44I'm getting a bit of vertigo, actually, on my part!
0:03:44 > 0:03:47But, yeah, it's definitely challenging,
0:03:47 > 0:03:49especially, as you say, in two days.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53And it's throughout, is unrelenting. It's relentless.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55Relentlessly complicated
0:03:55 > 0:03:58and the texture is so thick, as well!
0:03:58 > 0:04:01You just can't... If you lose it, you're going to lose it.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04You're going to be lost for half a page!
0:04:06 > 0:04:10And there are lots of fairytale dimensions for us to get lost in
0:04:10 > 0:04:13as listeners, to Strauss's music, too.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16But there's no need to worry too much about the opera's story.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20It premiered in 1919 and Strauss made this fantasia in 1946.
0:04:20 > 0:04:24The story's about an immortal fairy who tries to steal
0:04:24 > 0:04:27the shadow of a human woman, but she fails in her quest,
0:04:27 > 0:04:30thanks to an epiphany of compassion.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33But, forget about all that, and instead luxuriate
0:04:33 > 0:04:34in the orchestral high wire act
0:04:34 > 0:04:37that we're going to see in the next 20 minutes or so
0:04:37 > 0:04:39and hope that the players of the World Orchestra For Peace don't,
0:04:39 > 0:04:41in fact, get lost.
0:23:52 > 0:23:54PIECE ENDS
0:23:54 > 0:23:57APPLAUSE
0:25:00 > 0:25:02MURMURING
0:25:02 > 0:25:04Well, frankly, I'm astonished.
0:25:04 > 0:25:06That journey from the first rehearsal of that piece that
0:25:06 > 0:25:09I heard this orchestra, to what we've just heard is like comparing
0:25:09 > 0:25:12a group of individuals to a fully fledged Strauss orchestra.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15Of course, it's a huge feat the players, including Monica Curro.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18Monica, how were those billions of notes for you?
0:25:18 > 0:25:22The funny thing is that you think that it's going to be horrendous
0:25:22 > 0:25:25and, like you said, we've only had a couple of days,
0:25:25 > 0:25:27but it was just divine. It was divine.
0:25:27 > 0:25:32I'm flanked by this Spanish genius here,
0:25:32 > 0:25:34and this Concertgebouw monster here.
0:25:34 > 0:25:36Nothing could possibly have gone wrong.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39It was just so divine, the sound.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43Being in a part of that level and world of sound was just...amazing.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46How has it happened? I mean, watching Gergiev conduct
0:25:46 > 0:25:48and watching you all move together. as well,
0:25:48 > 0:25:51I don't know if there's a little fairy dust sprinkled
0:25:51 > 0:25:54on that magic toothpick with which he's conducting you tonight.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57How is it actually happening?
0:25:57 > 0:26:00Are you aware of what's...? How this is actually possible?
0:26:00 > 0:26:04I think there's a completely different level of concentration
0:26:04 > 0:26:05at the gig rather than at the rehearsals.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08In the rehearsals, you're thinking about your own thing,
0:26:08 > 0:26:09and the nuts and bolts,
0:26:09 > 0:26:13and "Maybe that fingering wouldn't have been so good as that other one."
0:26:13 > 0:26:16And, "Oh, I have to listen out for the violas there,"
0:26:16 > 0:26:19But inner dialogue conversation completely stops in a concert.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21It's just play.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23And everyone just goes...
0:26:23 > 0:26:28It's like being, I don't know, hit by the wave or something.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31Monica, thank you. Listen, I've got to let you prepare
0:26:31 > 0:26:33for the next behemoth on this programme.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35Oh, that's easy compared with...!
0:26:35 > 0:26:37That's my bread-and-butter! I don't do opera.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40That's unbelievable! That shows what this orchestra is capable of.
0:26:40 > 0:26:41Monica, thank you. Thanks.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44This Prom also featured the European premiere
0:26:44 > 0:26:51of Roxanna Panufnik's Three Paths To Peace,
0:26:51 > 0:26:53Next, Mahler's Sixth Symphony.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56Now, this is a work that conductor Valery Gergiev knows intimately.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59He's conducted it many times all over the world
0:26:59 > 0:27:01over the last couple of decades.
0:27:01 > 0:27:06But you can't take any performance of this piece for granted,
0:27:06 > 0:27:07I met him at rehearsals and asked him
0:27:07 > 0:27:10what kind of challenge this is,
0:27:10 > 0:27:16to put together this enormous symphony
0:27:16 > 0:27:19Yes, there is a challenge. You need a good orchestra.
0:27:20 > 0:27:22There is no chance you can make a good orchestra
0:27:22 > 0:27:24if musicians do not hear extremely well.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27They have to understand each other and hear.
0:27:27 > 0:27:33That's how you make music together.
0:27:33 > 0:27:35Here, and you listen.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38And then, they listen to the one who is maybe 20 metres away,
0:27:38 > 0:27:40but you listen all the time.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43You can't make a good concert if you don't hear.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47And, of course, Mahler, his Sixth Symphony
0:27:47 > 0:27:50has this anxiety, even fear, sometimes
0:27:50 > 0:27:54that something terrible can happen.
0:27:55 > 0:28:01That's why his Sixth Symphony sometimes is called "tragic".
0:28:03 > 0:28:09There are many moments which are clearly nothing to do with tragedy.
0:28:09 > 0:28:14He's so close to nature and the beauty of the landscape.
0:28:14 > 0:28:16When you have cowbell,
0:28:16 > 0:28:19and cowbell just transports you completely,
0:28:19 > 0:28:21takes you somewhere else.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24The cowbells are in the first movement,
0:28:24 > 0:28:27as a vision in the first movement,
0:28:27 > 0:28:30they are a lot of the slow movement and in the finale, too.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34Yes, and I think this symphony does not...
0:28:37 > 0:28:40..predict any historical events, but...
0:28:40 > 0:28:43So, it's not a premonition of the First World War, you don't think?
0:28:43 > 0:28:46No, I don't think particularly this symphony.
0:28:46 > 0:28:47I think in this symphony,
0:28:47 > 0:28:52you hear something what doesn't make people feel protected,
0:28:52 > 0:28:57feel comfortable, feel very well placed, you know?
0:28:59 > 0:29:01Ain't that the truth!
0:29:01 > 0:29:02This symphony contains some of
0:29:02 > 0:29:05Mahler's most hallucinogenically nightmarish music,
0:29:05 > 0:29:08above all, in its half-hour long finale.
0:29:08 > 0:29:10But in the three movements that come before it,
0:29:10 > 0:29:14there are images of grotesque playfulness in the scherzo,
0:29:14 > 0:29:17of uneasy alpine tranquillity in the slow movement that comes second.
0:29:17 > 0:29:20And the very first movement, you'll hear a dark march
0:29:20 > 0:29:23right at the start of the symphony that drives the music on
0:29:23 > 0:29:27to soaring heights of expressive intensity and passion
0:29:27 > 0:29:30and down to lows of implacable torment.
0:29:30 > 0:29:34And the whole symphony ends by consigning its hero and us,
0:29:34 > 0:29:39as its listeners, to a fate of horrifying and tragic desolation.
0:29:39 > 0:29:42Prepare yourselves for the next 80 minutes of music,
0:29:42 > 0:29:44just as these musicians are preparing to take you
0:29:44 > 0:29:48on a journey of musical and existential discovery.
0:29:48 > 0:29:51APPLAUSE
0:53:02 > 0:53:04MOVEMENT ENDS
0:53:04 > 0:53:06APPLAUSE
1:47:55 > 1:47:57PIECE ENDS
1:47:57 > 1:47:59APPLAUSE
1:48:12 > 1:48:15CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1:48:48 > 1:48:51CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1:49:01 > 1:49:04LOUD CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1:49:25 > 1:49:28It's difficult to know how to respond to the experience
1:49:28 > 1:49:32of living and dying - metaphorically, at least -
1:49:32 > 1:49:34through Mahler's Sixth Symphony.
1:49:34 > 1:49:37Applause seems a bit weird to me. I mean, what are we applauding?
1:49:37 > 1:49:40Our own emotional wreckage? The end of all things?
1:49:40 > 1:49:44Questions that don't have easy answers.
1:49:44 > 1:49:48But perhaps that's the point of this work and this concert.
1:49:48 > 1:49:51We're all left with this challenge with how we deal with the trauma
1:49:51 > 1:49:54of the symphony individually, ourselves,
1:49:54 > 1:49:56and collectively, as an audience, as a community.
1:49:56 > 1:49:59And maybe that's the connection between this Prom,
1:49:59 > 1:50:03this orchestra, the World Orchestra For Peace,
1:50:03 > 1:50:05and some wider idea of peace.
1:50:05 > 1:50:08That is up to us what happens next.
1:50:11 > 1:50:15APPLAUSE CONTINUES