0:00:27 > 0:00:30Tonight, music that changed the course of history,
0:00:30 > 0:00:34Beethoven's epic Eroica, his Third Symphony,
0:00:34 > 0:00:37and it promises to be a cracking night.
0:00:37 > 0:00:39We are joined this evening by some real Proms favourites -
0:00:39 > 0:00:42conductor Sir Mark Elder and his Manchester-based
0:00:42 > 0:00:43Halle Orchestra.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47Now, Sir Mark Elder is famed for his interpretations of Elgar,
0:00:47 > 0:00:50and later, he will be joined by British mezzo-soprano Alice Coote
0:00:50 > 0:00:53for Sea Pictures, Elgar's orchestral song-cycle
0:00:53 > 0:00:57exploring the fascination and fear inspired by the sea.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01But first, Berlioz's swashbuckling Corsair Overture,
0:01:01 > 0:01:04depicting the adventures of pirates on the ocean waves.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07So, rather a nautical theme to the first half of tonight's concert.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10Well, exactly! At the first performance of Sea Pictures,
0:01:10 > 0:01:13the singer Dame Clara Butt, she actually dressed as a mermaid!
0:01:13 > 0:01:15I hope there won't be any such dressing up
0:01:15 > 0:01:18- for tonight's performance. - Somehow, I doubt it! I do!
0:01:18 > 0:01:20So, what or who is a corsair?
0:01:20 > 0:01:25Now, a corsair is a private individual or ship
0:01:25 > 0:01:29authorised by government to attack a foreign vessel in a time of war.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32So, we're talking pirates, essentially.
0:01:32 > 0:01:37And Berlioz, this wildly-imaginative French Romantic composer,
0:01:37 > 0:01:39that's so up his street. I mean, just to give you a snapshot
0:01:39 > 0:01:43of Berlioz as a person, he falls in love with a girl,
0:01:43 > 0:01:45they get engaged, she calls it off. He goes after her
0:01:45 > 0:01:49dressed in a maid's outfit, with two pistols. He's determined
0:01:49 > 0:01:52he's going to kill her and, then, completely changes his mind
0:01:52 > 0:01:53and goes on holiday in Nice, instead!
0:01:53 > 0:01:57So, this music is saltier than the sea itself! It's a wonderful piece.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01And, basically, it was inspired when he stayed in Nice in a tower
0:02:01 > 0:02:05and there, he became absolutely fascinated by pirate romance novels.
0:02:05 > 0:02:07And he called the piece...
0:02:07 > 0:02:10Well, the first title was The Tower Of Nice.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12He fiddled around with the title of this piece,
0:02:12 > 0:02:16tried all sorts of things, and he eventually settles on the title
0:02:16 > 0:02:20of a very famous poem of the day by Lord Byron, The Corsair.
0:02:20 > 0:02:22And this poem was so popular, it was read by everybody.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25It sold 10,000 copies on the first day of sale.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29So, piracy definitely in the air and Berlioz seizes on all of that.
0:02:29 > 0:02:34Now, Rodney, as a singer, Berlioz, to me, is always so operatic.
0:02:34 > 0:02:36He wrote operas, he wrote a requiem mass.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38Even though there is no singer in this,
0:02:38 > 0:02:41it's still an intensely theatrical, dramatic piece.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43It's great, because he has this ability
0:02:43 > 0:02:46to tell a story without words. It opens with this flourish,
0:02:46 > 0:02:49it's almost as if a champagne bottle has just been popped open
0:02:49 > 0:02:52and it foams everywhere, like waves crashing on the sea.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55As we sit bolt upright in our seats for this wonderful voyage,
0:02:55 > 0:02:58a voyage of discovery, a voyage of jeopardy, darkness,
0:02:58 > 0:03:00but don't forget, it all ends triumphantly.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03It's an important piece of concert drama.
0:03:03 > 0:03:05- And a great curtain-raiser.- Exactly.
0:03:07 > 0:03:09APPLAUSE
0:03:09 > 0:03:14So, buckle your swash. Here comes Sir Mark Elder,
0:03:14 > 0:03:18to conduct the Halle in Berlioz's Corsair Overture.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29SILENCE DESCENDS
0:12:07 > 0:12:08PIECE ENDS
0:12:08 > 0:12:11APPLAUSE
0:12:19 > 0:12:22Berlioz's Corsair Overture, performed here at the BBC Proms
0:12:22 > 0:12:26by the Halle, conducted by Sir Mark Elder
0:12:26 > 0:12:29and led tonight by Lyn Fletcher,
0:12:29 > 0:12:31a totally fizzing way to open a concert!
0:12:31 > 0:12:33Truly virtuosic playing from the Halle.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36Tonight's voyage is well and truly under way.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47Well, we stick with the maritime theme next
0:12:47 > 0:12:50for Elgar's orchestral song-cycle, Sea Pictures.
0:12:50 > 0:12:53One of this country's great vocal artists is joining the Halle
0:12:53 > 0:12:56this evening and Sir Mark Elder. It's the mezzo-soprano, Alice Coote.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00Now, Rodney, Alice has this remarkable voice, doesn't she?
0:13:00 > 0:13:02It's amazing and what struck me earlier on
0:13:02 > 0:13:04in the rehearsal is that she has such vocal power
0:13:04 > 0:13:06and, more importantly, pathos.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09I believe that these are essential components to a great show.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13And, as a mezzo, what you want is a fantastic bottom to your voice
0:13:13 > 0:13:16and she has this incredible low register
0:13:16 > 0:13:18and so fruity and rich and amazing up at the top.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20It's a voice that goes all the way across.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24She just gets a great chance to show it off in this song-cycle.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27She does and she really inhabits the role of storyteller.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30You can see that in her physicality and, in fact,
0:13:30 > 0:13:33she grew up this music. I spoke with her earlier on
0:13:33 > 0:13:36and she said that she remembered listening
0:13:36 > 0:13:38to Dame Janet Baker's recordings
0:13:38 > 0:13:41and this piece of music is really important for her.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44As a fan of Elgar, I know you've sung Elgar before, as a soloist
0:13:44 > 0:13:47and in the chorus, what is it that he gives a singer to do?
0:13:47 > 0:13:50He gives the singer the opportunity to really convey
0:13:50 > 0:13:53the emotions to the audience and, obviously,
0:13:53 > 0:13:56with the subject matter, these are five wonderful songs
0:13:56 > 0:13:59by different poets - one is, in fact, from Melbourne.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02So, we get songs from England and down under.
0:14:02 > 0:14:06How important is it, as a singer, then, to be singing in English?
0:14:06 > 0:14:09It's a gift for Alice Coote, singing in her mother tongue.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12And I believe it's the perfect way to communicate,
0:14:12 > 0:14:13especially at the Proms.
0:14:13 > 0:14:17APPLAUSE
0:14:17 > 0:14:20So, here comes the mezzo-soprano, Alice Coote,
0:14:20 > 0:14:23to perform Elgar's Sea Pictures, with the Halle,
0:14:23 > 0:14:26conducted by Sir Mark Elder.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35SILENCE DESCENDS
0:14:51 > 0:14:59# Sea-birds are asleep
0:15:01 > 0:15:11# The world forgets to weep
0:15:11 > 0:15:20# Sea murmurs her soft slumber-song
0:15:20 > 0:15:28# On the shadowy sand
0:15:29 > 0:15:40# Of this elfin land
0:15:46 > 0:15:51# I, the Mother mild
0:15:53 > 0:15:58# Hush thee, O my child
0:15:58 > 0:16:06# Forget the voices wild!
0:16:06 > 0:16:11# Hush thee, O my child
0:16:13 > 0:16:17# Hush thee
0:16:28 > 0:16:32# Isles in elfin light
0:16:32 > 0:16:36# Dream, the rocks and caves
0:16:36 > 0:16:42# Lull'd by whispering waves
0:16:42 > 0:16:44# Veil their marbles
0:16:44 > 0:16:51# Veil their marbles bright
0:16:51 > 0:17:00# Foam glimmers faintly white
0:17:00 > 0:17:07# Upon the shelly sand
0:17:07 > 0:17:14# Of this elfin land
0:17:20 > 0:17:30# Sea-sound, like violins
0:17:30 > 0:17:39# To slumber woos and wins
0:17:39 > 0:17:51# I murmur my soft slumber-song
0:17:51 > 0:17:58# My slumber-song
0:17:58 > 0:18:13# Leave woes, and wails, and sins
0:18:17 > 0:18:23# Ocean's shadowy might
0:18:24 > 0:18:26# Breathes good-night
0:18:26 > 0:18:30# Good-night
0:18:30 > 0:18:38# Leave woes, and wails, and sins
0:18:38 > 0:18:40# Good-night
0:18:40 > 0:18:43# Good-night
0:18:44 > 0:18:53# Good-night
0:18:58 > 0:19:07# Good-night
0:19:13 > 0:19:17# Good-night
0:19:17 > 0:19:27# Good-night. #
0:19:45 > 0:19:46SONG ENDS
0:20:07 > 0:20:13# Closely let me hold thy hand
0:20:13 > 0:20:21# Storms are sweeping sea and land
0:20:21 > 0:20:31# Love alone will stand
0:20:37 > 0:20:42# Closely cling, for waves beat fast
0:20:42 > 0:20:49# Foam-flakes cloud the hurrying blast
0:20:51 > 0:21:01# Love alone will last
0:21:05 > 0:21:11# Kiss my lips, and softly say
0:21:11 > 0:21:17# Joy, sea-swept, may fade today
0:21:20 > 0:21:27# Love alone will stay. #
0:21:35 > 0:21:37SONG ENDS
0:22:04 > 0:22:13# The ship went on with solemn face
0:22:13 > 0:22:22# To meet the darkness on the deep
0:22:23 > 0:22:33# The solemn ship went onward
0:22:33 > 0:22:43# I bowed down weary in the place
0:22:43 > 0:22:49# For parting tears and present sleep
0:22:50 > 0:22:58# Had weighed mine eyelids downward
0:23:03 > 0:23:10# The new sight, the new wondrous sight!
0:23:10 > 0:23:15# The waters around me, turbulent
0:23:15 > 0:23:23# The skies, impassive o'er me
0:23:24 > 0:23:33# Calm in a moonless, sunless light
0:23:33 > 0:23:40# As glorified by even the intent
0:23:40 > 0:23:51# Of holding the day glory!
0:24:08 > 0:24:13# Love me, sweet friends, this Sabbath day
0:24:14 > 0:24:19# The sea sings round me while ye roll
0:24:19 > 0:24:30# Afar the hymn, unaltered
0:24:30 > 0:24:41# And kneel, where once I knelt to pray
0:24:41 > 0:24:49# And bless me deeper in your soul
0:24:49 > 0:24:57# Because your voice has faltered
0:25:02 > 0:25:11# And though this Sabbath comes to me
0:25:11 > 0:25:19# Without the stoled minister
0:25:19 > 0:25:28# And chanting congregation
0:25:29 > 0:25:40# God's spirit shall give comfort
0:25:40 > 0:25:47# He who brooded soft on waters drear
0:25:47 > 0:25:57# Creator on creation
0:26:01 > 0:26:07# He shall assist me to look higher
0:26:09 > 0:26:15# He shall assist me to look higher
0:26:15 > 0:26:22# Where keep the saints, with harp and song
0:26:22 > 0:26:30# An endless, endless Sabbath morning
0:26:30 > 0:26:37# An endless Sabbath morning
0:26:40 > 0:26:46# And, on that sea, commixed with fire
0:26:46 > 0:26:52# On that sea, commixed with fire
0:26:52 > 0:26:56# Oft drop their eyelids raised too long
0:26:56 > 0:27:05# To the full Godhead's burning
0:27:05 > 0:27:17# The full Godhead's burning. #
0:27:41 > 0:27:43SONG ENDS
0:28:11 > 0:28:18# The deeps have music soft and low
0:28:18 > 0:28:27# When winds awake the airy spry
0:28:27 > 0:28:35# It lures me, lures me on to go
0:28:35 > 0:28:41# And see the land where corals lie
0:28:41 > 0:28:54# The land where corals lie
0:29:00 > 0:29:07# By mount and mead, by lawn and rill
0:29:07 > 0:29:16# When night is deep, and moon is high
0:29:18 > 0:29:24# That music seeks and finds me still
0:29:24 > 0:29:32# And tells me where the corals lie
0:29:32 > 0:29:46# And tells me where the corals lie
0:29:46 > 0:29:58# Yes, press my eyelids close, 'tis well
0:29:59 > 0:30:09# Yes, press my eyelids close, 'tis well
0:30:11 > 0:30:14# But far the rapid fancies fly
0:30:14 > 0:30:17# To rolling worlds of wave and shell
0:30:17 > 0:30:30# And all the land where corals lie
0:30:32 > 0:30:38# Thy lips are like a sunset glow
0:30:39 > 0:30:48# Thy smile is like a morning sky
0:30:48 > 0:30:57# Yet leave me, leave me, let me go
0:30:57 > 0:31:03# And see the land where corals lie
0:31:03 > 0:31:13# The land, the land
0:31:13 > 0:31:28# Where corals lie. #
0:31:48 > 0:31:50SONG ENDS
0:32:29 > 0:32:35# With short, sharp, violent lights made vivid
0:32:35 > 0:32:40# To southward far as the sight can roam
0:32:40 > 0:32:44# Only the swirl of the surges livid
0:32:44 > 0:32:48# The seas that climb and the surfs that comb
0:32:48 > 0:32:53# Only the crag and the cliff to north
0:32:53 > 0:32:57# And the rocks receding, and reefs flung forward
0:32:57 > 0:33:02# And waifs wrecked seaward and wasted shoreward
0:33:02 > 0:33:10# On shallows sheeted with flaming foam
0:33:19 > 0:33:23A grim, grey coast and a seaboard ghastly
0:33:23 > 0:33:29# And shores trod seldom by feet of men
0:33:29 > 0:33:34# Where the battered hull and the broken mast lie
0:33:34 > 0:33:44# They have lain embedded these long years ten
0:33:44 > 0:33:47# Love!
0:33:47 > 0:33:50# Love!
0:33:50 > 0:33:56# When we wander'd here together
0:33:56 > 0:33:59# Hand-in-hand!
0:33:59 > 0:34:06# Hand-in-hand through the sparkling weather
0:34:06 > 0:34:18# From the heights and hollows of fern and heather
0:34:22 > 0:34:37# God surely loved us a little then
0:34:37 > 0:34:47# The skies were fairer and shores were firmer
0:34:47 > 0:34:54# The blue sea over the bright sand rolled
0:34:55 > 0:35:02# Babble and prattle, and ripple and murmur
0:35:03 > 0:35:15# Sheen of silver and glamour of gold
0:35:15 > 0:35:29# Sheen of silver and glamour of gold
0:35:39 > 0:35:46# So, girt with tempest and winged with thunder
0:35:46 > 0:35:51# And clad with lightning and shod with sleet
0:35:51 > 0:35:56# The strong winds treading the swift waves under
0:35:56 > 0:36:00# The flying rollers with frothy feet
0:36:00 > 0:36:04# One gleam like a bloodshot sword-blade swims on
0:36:04 > 0:36:10# The skyline, staining the green gulf crimson
0:36:10 > 0:36:14# A death stroke fiercely dealt by a dim sun
0:36:14 > 0:36:24# That strikes through his stormy winding-sheet
0:36:26 > 0:36:30# Oh, brave white horses, you gather and gallop
0:36:30 > 0:36:34# The storm sprite loosens the gusty reins
0:36:34 > 0:36:39# Oh, brave white horses, you gather and gallop
0:36:39 > 0:36:46# The storm sprite loosens the gusty reins
0:36:46 > 0:36:51# Now the stoutest ship were the frailest shallop
0:36:51 > 0:36:56# In your hollow backs, on your high arched manes
0:36:56 > 0:37:01# I would ride as never man has ridden
0:37:01 > 0:37:08# In your sleepy, swirling surges hidden
0:37:10 > 0:37:17# I would ride as never man has ridden
0:37:17 > 0:37:21# To gulfs foreshadowed
0:37:21 > 0:37:23# Through strifes forbidden
0:37:23 > 0:37:30# Where no light wearies and no love wanes
0:37:31 > 0:37:37# No love, where no love
0:37:37 > 0:37:49# No love wanes. #
0:38:03 > 0:38:04PIECE ENDS
0:38:04 > 0:38:06CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:38:19 > 0:38:22Oh! Edward Elgar's Sea Pictures performed by Alice Coote,
0:38:22 > 0:38:24with Sir Mark Elder and the Halle,
0:38:24 > 0:38:28every fibre of her being impressed within these songs.
0:38:28 > 0:38:30APPLAUSE CONTINUES
0:38:33 > 0:38:36Alice Coote, such a wonderful singer.
0:38:36 > 0:38:39This is a woman who, as a teenager, was a punk.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42She had everything, she had the black hair and the white face
0:38:42 > 0:38:43and the blue lips - the whole works.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46And she says, for her, life was always about drama.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49She is someone who is just intensely comfortable on the stage,
0:38:49 > 0:38:53who really, as we said earlier, inhabits the spirit of this music.
0:39:07 > 0:39:10Sea Pictures was first performed at the Proms in 1900,
0:39:10 > 0:39:12the year after it was composed,
0:39:12 > 0:39:16and it was done 15 times in its first decade and, in total,
0:39:16 > 0:39:18it's had 54 performances at the Proms.
0:39:21 > 0:39:24CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:39:25 > 0:39:29It's absolutely packed in here tonight, unsurprisingly.
0:39:29 > 0:39:31A great orchestra, great conductor,
0:39:31 > 0:39:35wonderful repertoire and a fantastic soloist.
0:39:35 > 0:39:38I know we were joking a bit about Clara Butt in her mermaid's outfit.
0:39:38 > 0:39:41I absolutely love the fact that I think Alice Coote is wearing
0:39:41 > 0:39:44this beautiful dress coat that looks like a crashing wave.
0:39:44 > 0:39:48It was incredibly dramatic and she makes everything feel theatrical.
0:39:52 > 0:39:55So, we've had an overture, we've had a song-cycle.
0:39:55 > 0:39:57The concert night also features work
0:39:57 > 0:40:00by the contemporary composer Helen Grime. It's called Near Midnight.
0:40:00 > 0:40:03You can watch it exclusively on the BBC iPlayer.
0:40:03 > 0:40:06It's in our New Works collection. Do check it out. We'll be adding
0:40:06 > 0:40:08to that as the season goes on.
0:40:08 > 0:40:12But next tonight, Beethoven's epic, iconoclastic Eroica,
0:40:12 > 0:40:14his Third Symphony.
0:40:14 > 0:40:16A symphony that eclipsed every other that came before it,
0:40:16 > 0:40:19in size and ambition. It marked a complete sea-change in music
0:40:19 > 0:40:23and established Beethoven as a Romantic genius for all time.
0:40:23 > 0:40:27So, we're talking about a seriously important piece of music, here.
0:40:27 > 0:40:30Well, we think it's an extremely serious piece of music,
0:40:30 > 0:40:34quite rightly, but when they first heard it in 1805,
0:40:34 > 0:40:37most of the audience were completely baffled by it.
0:40:37 > 0:40:39It was hugely long, it was very complicated,
0:40:39 > 0:40:43somebody described it as a "piling up of colossal ideas" -
0:40:43 > 0:40:46it was just impossible to make sense of.
0:40:46 > 0:40:49You have to imagine that this is an audience who had grown up
0:40:49 > 0:40:52on symphonies by Mozart and Haydn - very elegant, beautiful works.
0:40:52 > 0:40:54The first movement of Eroica is longer
0:40:54 > 0:40:56than some complete Haydn symphonies.
0:40:56 > 0:40:59So, it's just a, sort of, genre-busting exercise.
0:40:59 > 0:41:02And it's a symphony that is genuinely revolutionary,
0:41:02 > 0:41:05not just in terms of shattering the old styles,
0:41:05 > 0:41:07but in the scale of its ambition -
0:41:07 > 0:41:11turning music into a personal and political drama.
0:41:11 > 0:41:14And this is a man who was always deeply connected to what
0:41:14 > 0:41:16was going on politically.
0:41:16 > 0:41:19Yeah, he was a great believer, and ardent fan, of Napoleon,
0:41:19 > 0:41:22in fact, and he very much upheld the French ideals
0:41:22 > 0:41:25of liberte, egalite and fraternite.
0:41:25 > 0:41:29He had originally wanted Napoleon to be the hero of this work.
0:41:29 > 0:41:32It's called the Heroic Symphony. That all went slightly awry.
0:41:32 > 0:41:35It did, because he declared himself emperor...
0:41:35 > 0:41:39That's Napoleon, not Beethoven, who should've declared himself emperor!
0:41:39 > 0:41:42But Napoleon did declare himself emperor and marauded across Europe.
0:41:42 > 0:41:45Exactly. Beethoven flew into a blind rage and, in fact, tore out
0:41:45 > 0:41:48the dedication page and finally inscribed it,
0:41:48 > 0:41:49"to the memory of a great man".
0:41:49 > 0:41:52And worth remembering that this is written against the background
0:41:52 > 0:41:54of increasing deafness.
0:41:54 > 0:41:58Just a few years before he wrote this symphony, sort of 1802-ish,
0:41:58 > 0:42:01he writes this very famous letter, the Heiligenstadt Testament,
0:42:01 > 0:42:05which is where Beethoven suddenly realises he will be profoundly deaf
0:42:05 > 0:42:06for the rest of his life.
0:42:06 > 0:42:10It's essentially a, sort of, suicide note, written to his brothers.
0:42:10 > 0:42:12He never sends it, but it's a heartbreaking letter,
0:42:12 > 0:42:16where he is just suddenly facing a wall and has to push through it.
0:42:16 > 0:42:18Yes, it's extremely sad.
0:42:18 > 0:42:20And, in fact, very brave of Beethoven,
0:42:20 > 0:42:23as he comes to terms with an affliction
0:42:23 > 0:42:25that some would argue that, really, as a composer,
0:42:25 > 0:42:27he cannot afford to have.
0:42:27 > 0:42:29Well, Sir Mark Elder, tonight's conductor,
0:42:29 > 0:42:33has described the Eroica as being "on the threshold of another age".
0:42:33 > 0:42:35I met up with him earlier today
0:42:35 > 0:42:39and asked him why he thinks this work is so revolutionary.
0:42:39 > 0:42:43Well, it's the first symphony that had a big idea, isn't it, really?
0:42:43 > 0:42:46The two symphonies he'd written before it were wonderful
0:42:46 > 0:42:47and they were steeped in the tradition
0:42:47 > 0:42:51that he'd taken from Haydn, from the previous generation.
0:42:51 > 0:42:54They've got a sense of humour, great beauty of melodies.
0:42:54 > 0:42:56But, right from the beginning of Eroica,
0:42:56 > 0:42:58you realise that he's taking you into another world.
0:42:58 > 0:43:03And the whole of the exposition, which is a long exposition,
0:43:03 > 0:43:05is on a different scale,
0:43:05 > 0:43:09and I think he's trying to find the way
0:43:09 > 0:43:12to portray heroism in music, in sound.
0:43:12 > 0:43:16It's very often spoken of this middle-period, heroic Beethoven.
0:43:16 > 0:43:19Does it feel to you like this is a, kind of, mission statement?
0:43:19 > 0:43:21I suppose, even from the opening chords,
0:43:21 > 0:43:25- this is a symphony that is meant to mean something.- Yes, absolutely.
0:43:25 > 0:43:30I think he wanted to shock everybody into listening in a different way.
0:43:30 > 0:43:31Because after number three,
0:43:31 > 0:43:33the Fourth is such an incredible contrast
0:43:33 > 0:43:36and then you've got the dynamism and battle of the Fifth,
0:43:36 > 0:43:37then the Pastoral Symphony.
0:43:37 > 0:43:41It was as if he wanted to stretch what a symphony could be.
0:43:41 > 0:43:43He wanted to take his orchestra -
0:43:43 > 0:43:47three horns, interestingly, not two or four, three -
0:43:47 > 0:43:50very interesting writing for the timpani,
0:43:50 > 0:43:52great writing for all the woodwind
0:43:52 > 0:43:56and he wanted to stretch the audience's imagination
0:43:56 > 0:44:00and get them to think afresh about a symphony could be.
0:44:00 > 0:44:04And he chose, as the object of his imagination,
0:44:04 > 0:44:07the figure of the Consul, Napoleon Bonaparte,
0:44:07 > 0:44:10not the Emperor. He didn't like that.
0:44:10 > 0:44:13What, for you, if there is a moment in this symphony,
0:44:13 > 0:44:15is the most challenging part of it?
0:44:15 > 0:44:20I think controlling the pulse of the music is the hardest thing, really.
0:44:20 > 0:44:21Giving it space,
0:44:21 > 0:44:24and yet, giving it momentum.
0:44:24 > 0:44:28So, the answer to your question is bars one to the end, really.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32APPLAUSE
1:01:05 > 1:01:07MOVEMENT ENDS
1:01:07 > 1:01:10MURMURING
1:01:18 > 1:01:20SILENCE DESCENDS
1:15:53 > 1:15:55MOVEMENT ENDS
1:15:55 > 1:15:56MURMURING
1:16:03 > 1:16:05SILENCE DESCENDS
1:21:41 > 1:21:44MOVEMENT ENDS
1:21:44 > 1:21:47MURMURS
1:21:51 > 1:21:53SILENCE DESCENDS
1:33:18 > 1:33:19PIECE ENDS
1:33:19 > 1:33:22LOUD CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1:33:41 > 1:33:45The exhilarating close of Beethoven's Symphony Number 3,
1:33:45 > 1:33:50The Eroica, one of the great milestones in music history.
1:33:50 > 1:33:53First performed in public, Vienna, 1805,
1:33:53 > 1:33:56played here at the Proms in 2014 by the Halle,
1:33:56 > 1:34:01led tonight by Lyn Fletcher and conducted by Sir Mark Elder.
1:34:05 > 1:34:07What a way to end tonight's voyage!
1:34:07 > 1:34:10Beethoven taking us to new heights - simply breathtaking.
1:34:22 > 1:34:24Well, we were saying earlier, mixed reviews
1:34:24 > 1:34:26when this was first heard, but Beethoven's close friend,
1:34:26 > 1:34:29Ferdinand Ries, just saw the score of Eroica
1:34:29 > 1:34:32and was immediately overwhelmed.
1:34:32 > 1:34:34I believe that he said that
1:34:34 > 1:34:37"Heaven and Earth must tremble beneath it" when it is performed.
1:34:37 > 1:34:39CHEERING
1:34:42 > 1:34:44CHEERING
1:34:46 > 1:34:48CHEERING
1:34:51 > 1:34:54CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1:34:58 > 1:35:00CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1:35:14 > 1:35:19LOUD CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1:35:19 > 1:35:20Well, that's it for tonight
1:35:20 > 1:35:23and don't forget that every Prom is live on Radio 3
1:35:23 > 1:35:26and there's plenty to explore on the Proms website.
1:35:26 > 1:35:29And don't forget to watch Proms Extra over on BBC Two
1:35:29 > 1:35:33tomorrow night, with Katie Derham, at the new time of seven o'clock.
1:35:33 > 1:35:35And tune in to BBC Four on Sunday
1:35:35 > 1:35:38for a very special Battle Of The Bands,
1:35:38 > 1:35:40as jazz greats come to the Proms.
1:35:40 > 1:35:42There'll be Gregory Porter and Clare Teal - fabulous!
1:35:42 > 1:35:44Swing music from the '30s and '40s,
1:35:44 > 1:35:48Count Basie and Duke Ellington - what more could you want?
1:35:48 > 1:35:49But, for now, from all of us
1:35:49 > 1:35:52- here at the Royal Albert Hall, good night.- Good night.