Episode 7 BBC Proms

For the final show tonight, we seek redemption with Beethoven.

Get regal with the Queen of Sheba. And we meet the supermodel, 585,

who's more than just a number. It's time for Proms Extra.

Hello and welcome to Proms Extra, the show that looks back on some

of the highlights of the Proms coverage from the last seven days.

Tonight we turn to one of Beethoven's biggest choral works,

we have one of the international orchestral highlights of the season,

plus David Owen Norris gives us one last chord.

It's the last show of the current series of Proms Extra, but in the

Royal Albert Hall they're not ready for the final curtain just yet!

Some of the concerts that happened inside the Royal Albert Hall, both

in rehearsal and in performance. And inside the Royal College of

Music, l have three esteemed guests joining tonight's Proms Extra.

First up, she made her name as a leading cellist, performing

and recording to critical acclaim. In 2007, she swapped her cellist's

bow for a conductor's baton and turns out she's really rather

good at that as well. Making her Proms conducting debut

tomorrow with her orchestra, the Qatar Philharmonic.

It's Han-Na Chang. Our next guest is a first class

trumpeter with legions of fans, and this season who can forget her

performing that new concerto with the China Philharmonic.

We'd like to say she's not one to blow her own trumpet but she

will be, at the end of the show. A warm welcome to Alison Balsom.

And our final sofa guest is also playing on the show tonight.

She made her BBC Proms debut in 1990, and she notched up her 20th

appearance earlier this season. She's a champion of English music

and the Queen of English violinists. It's Tasmin Little.

Welcome all of you. Your first prom tomorrow, how

excited are you feeling, as a conductor I should say? Very

excited, the orchestra and I cannot wait to play. You played here as a

cellist. I remember the stunning audience and the stunning haul. We

always like to talk about how the audience interacts with the

performers on stage, but here you have the audience spilling onto the

stage and this electric involvement, the tension and

concentration motivates me so much, it makes the whole thing great.

Allison you made an amazing film about your experiences weighing the

new concerto and that was a big challenge. -- weighing. It was an

amazing journey and an amazing process. To know I was finishing at

the Royal Albert Hall with this audience you know is going to

support you whatever you are presenting was such an inspiration

for me. The night itself was quite magical because of all the hard work

paying off. Even the composer was thrilled with the evening. A

fantastic place to make a journey towards. All, your 20th performance

at the Proms. I am not sure where the time went. The Proms was the

place that launched me, I made my debut in 1990 and released my first

recursion or -- my first commercial recording. That is what propelled me

in the first part of my career. Such fantastic affection for the

audience. As Alison and Han-Na said, they are incredibly open

audience. Even if you play something they have never heard before, they

will listen with as much respect and excitement as a piece they know very

well. Lovely to have all three of you. We will start by discussing

Beethoven. A question for you - what do you get

when you combine the talents of one of the world's leading

maestros, with his illustrious choir and orchestra, performing one

of the greatest choral works ever? Well according to

the reviews - pure gold. Last night on BBC Four,

Sir John Eliot Gardiner led the Monteverdi choir,

which he founded 50 years ago, into the spiritual depths of Beethoven's

celebrated Missa Solemnis. Let's hear an excerpt now with

the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, and look out for the

early instruments they're playing. That was an excerpt from

Missa Solemnis written by Ludwig van Beethoven, which took him four

years of blood, sweat and tears. Performed by the Monteverdi Choir,

led by Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Beethoven wrote this at the same

time as his ninth Symphony, he considered the Missa Solemnis his

greatest work, do you agree? Absolutely. Beethoven is one of my

heroes. I love his sincerity, his passion, how succinctly he can

express himself, no-frills, right? Every word, he found the perfect new

form, structure for the expression so that the structure, the

expression, the meaning of the peace go hand-in-hand. That is so amazing,

that this composer would never tire of correcting and correcting and

improving. Tamsin, we don't necessarily associate Beethoven with

overt spirituality, is it something the audience can connect to?

Beethoven's music is so powerful, people can take from it what they

want. If Bach is the god of classical music, Beethoven is surely

the giant. They were playing not all block instruments, but certainly of

that era. I would love to hear your view. -- by rock. I love it. It

exposes the mastery of the piece. I am a huge fan of Sir John Eliot

Gardner's interpretations. He makes the music feel so relevant to now,

so present. That is very important. The fashions of how to perform this

music, they change all the time. I adore the way it is being played,

period instruments are just another way of getting closer to what the

composer would have heard. Exposing that as one of many things is so

important to bring the music alive. What I enjoyed about the excerpt we

just heard is the muscle that is prevalent in making this performance

go forward with such energy and commitment and vitality. I am not

sure I see you agreeing, Han-Na! Beethoven's music is so universal,

he is writing for humankind. You can take any kind of instrument and you

will still hear Beethoven's voice. To me, that's the strength of his

genius, his sincerity shines through. As to the period

instruments, being faithful to what the composer heard, I must point out

it may not be the vision or what the composer may have wished for, had he

a choice of instruments, for example, in use today and in use

back then, what would he have chosen? John Eliot Gardiner, one of

the pioneers of bringing period instruments to the music Hall, they

now have a particular sound. How important is it to have these

long-standing relationships with other artists? It's a fantastic

thing to have a long-standing relationship, just as it is

important to work with different people. To have the two is the best.

I have been working with two pianists the 25 years, we know each

other very well. We know what risks we can take. The other person will

be right there with us. You can grow together. Sometimes you can grow

apart. But also I know from the concerto playing I have done over

the years that I have had so many fantastic influences from different

conductors. It all goes to inform the way you play a piece.

You can find this concert, and indeed all of

the concerts that we are reviewing tonight, on the BBC iPlayer.

Now in every big company there is always a chairman of the board.

Here on Proms Extra, we have a Chairman of the Chord.

For the final time in this series here's

David Owen Norris and Chord of the Week, which takes a look at how

three flat notes become the Holy Trinity

in Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. The opening of the creed from

Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. A big Beethoven even that cord, like the

beginning of the Emperor Concerto or the heroica Symphony. You might

think that the evil that cord is simple enough, but so often in

Beethoven it gains meaning from context. -- the E flat cord. Lori

was ind. When Beethoven begins the Creed, it it sounds as if he is

pulling his favourite surprise from D in this case to E flat, which is a

good key because from Mozart to Brahms, E flat with its key

signature of three flats was regarded as the perfect key for the

holy Trinity, the father, the sun and the holy coast. -- the Holy

Ghost. No sooner have we made these connections in our mind, Beethoven

turns a harmonic corner and he says, no, I am not in E flat major, I am

in B flat major. B flat major has only got two flats in the key

signature. So I wonder if Beethoven is giving us a clue that there is

one of the people in the holy trinity that he has his doubts

about. Well, David Owen Norris will be

missed, that was his final chord of the week of the current series.

Still to come on Proms Extra, a review of the Borusan Istanbul

Philharmonic Orchestra and Alison Balsom will be playing the show out.

But right now we have our first performance courtesy of our guest

Tasmin Little, playing a Bach gigue. Tasmin, thank you for that

performance, and Tasmin will be rejoining us soon on the sofa. Now,

last week in our conductor's special, we had the cellist Leonard

Elschenbroich performing in-house judo and seeing him and seeing you

in that clip earlier made me wonder if you miss it and what made you

make the transition from being a soloist to a conductor? Repertoire

is quite small compared to playing piano, so I found myself asking,

where do I go from here? I have been playing since the age of 11. So when

I started at university, how do I did deeper? I want to look at the

stars and not just down a microscope everyday. So I started holding into

symphonies. One day I woke up thinking, I want to perform these

works myself! Rose I started studying and it was a natural

development. And do you still sometimes play your cello? Of

course. I play constantly when I am home. But just for yourself? Just

for myself for the foreseeable future years. Have you ever been

tempted to pick up a bat, Alison? I haven't, because I don't think I

have the qualities to be a great conductor. But it is an incredible

thing to do and it must be so satiating because of your endless

repertoire. Two year you say your repertoire is limited, I am

thinking... ! But I am both and exactly what you mean. You

constantly look for new ways to fulfil yourself and inspire yourself

as a musician. What I find so interesting is, when I was a solo

cellist, I am always fighting myself. This is me playing, I am

responsible for my playing and that is it. I can't get out of myself,

because I am me. But if I am conducting, you give yourself to the

orchestral and they give something back. Sometimes it is totally

unexpected and it is more than the vision you suggested. So you have a

real give and take that I find so different and so satisfying.

Fascinating. We turn now to the work of the American composer John Adams

and the UK premiere of his new Saxophone Concerto, written for

virtuoso lowest Timothy McAllister, conducted by last year's Last Night

of the Proms conductor Marin Alsop, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Here it is. The UK premiere of John Adams'

Saxophone Concerto, performed by Timothy McAllister with the BBC

Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Marin Alsop. Many of us think of

John Adams and we think of his famous piece, the Short Ride In A

Fast Machine, which is awesome, but what did you make of this? What I

loved most about the clip we just saw was Marin Alsop, enjoying

herself and having so much fun. She embodies what she feels about this

music for the orchestral. I love that she has so much energy and

enjoyment. Alison, can I ask you what you made of the Saxophone

Concerto from the point of view of hearing Timothy play new work and

the difference in sound between classical saxophone and Daz

saxophone? Watching that, I wanted to clap. It was amazing. But it is a

completely different world. A taxi driver will say, I didn't know you

could play classical trumpet. I didn't realise it was a classical

instrument. I am sure that happens with saxophone players as well. But

they are so different, it is like learning a different instrument. The

plus added that it is such a great sound for the future and new pieces.

-- the plus side. The saxophone and compared to make fantastic Concerto

insurance. They have the power and can stand up to the might of an

orchestra, but they also have subtlety and different colours, that

is something Timothy shows fantastically well in this piece. He

was extraordinary. Jasmine, do you ever get tempted to move from

classical violin playing to the jazz world? -- Tasmin? It is such a

different technique. For a while, we did some Gershwin and I really

enjoyed that. But I suppose I am too well classically trained, and I find

it difficult to shake that off. I feel like my teachers will work

their finger at me and say, what are you doing? I think it has to be

something you have done from an early age in order to be able to own

that genre. There are people who do it so well, a bit like baroque

playing. There are people who play baroque violin so well. They don't

need to do it in a second-hand way. I think I am better to stick at

doing what I do, playing classical concertos. But I won the whole gamut

from baroque to things that were written last week, so I don't think

I am starved of repertoire. Talking of things written last week, that

brings me to the whole new world of playing a new piece and working with

a composer. We saw your film earlier in the season about working on the

new concerto, and Timothy works closely with John Adams on the sax

Concerto. It must be an honour when a composer approaches you 's

absolutely, especially if it is John Adams! And especially if you have an

affinity with that person. If you feel you think about music in a

similar way, Don Adams has been influenced by many genres of music.

-- John Adams. He does not like to stick within the labels of what is

expected of him, and that is exciting for the soloist. If you are

interested in hearing some new music from this year's Proms, go on to the

BBC iPlayer and you will find lots in the new music collection. I am

full of gifts tonight. Now, the Proms season is filled with

wall-to-wall talent. I have three here. As they know only too well, be

they a soloist or with an orchestra at the top takes a lot of hard work

to perform before a Proms audience of 6000 people. After performing in

the Proms for the last five years, one shining star is moving to make

way for a younger model, but what has been the key to their success?

Proms Extra went to find out. We give them numbers to identify

them, but they are personalities. Number 585 is a gentle monster of a

piano. The way a piano feels and sounds are not separate for us,

travelling from piano to piano. For example, how much weight do you need

to press a key down? This has a big effect. If the action is heavy, you

can't play as quickly. If the action is light, you can play quickly, but

you may have trouble playing softer passages. I have just marked up on

the piano some areas which were slightly too slow, making them fast

again to even out with the rest of the springs. The aim is that all 88

keys respond the same. If you are playing with orchestra as I am

tonight, you need a piano that cuts through with some power, because it

is a big space. But you also want a piano that has the ability to play

absolute key beautifully hushed, mellow sounds, and for that to carry

all the way to the top. Not every piano is suited to being a piano at

the Proms. They have a rough time at the Proms. You need a piano which is

extremely robust. I think they all have a personality, and I have a

whole team of pianos which are all selected for a purpose. It is like a

football team when you have some players that are older, some

younger. And the younger ones are more suitable for something like

that. The older ones are more experienced and more suitable for

recitals and accompaniment. The character of the tone of a piano is

determined by how you prepare the hammerhead. The hammerhead is made

out of wool, with a lot of tension in it. The felt is quite compact.

That is what gives a piano it things, its projection. It allows a

piano to cut through a large hall. You can soften the hammers with

needles. You stick needles in and loosen the felt so that it becomes

fluffy. That means that when it hits the string, it doesn't produce as

much of a ping. You get a more mellow, rounded sound. Piano 585 has

quite a record with the Proms. What characterised the piano is that

almost every pianist likes it. To really know an instrument, you need

two years, which is why some pianists travel with their

instrument. If you encountered a few years later, sometimes you have to

start all over again. I need to move the pianos to different roles before

they do a job for which they are not up to any more. The Prom piano

here, 585, is the oldest of the fleet, so it might well move into

the role of orchestral piano axes. I have brought in a new piano, 131,

which, if it develops nicely over the next 12 months, might be the

solo piano for 2015. Piano 585, which has served the Proms and the

Royal Albert Hall very well. Wasn't it fascinating to hear how much

Ulrich loves his job? He really does. Alison, does your is John have

a number or a name? It doesn't have a name, but it means a lot to me. It

certainly has a lot of personality, so much so that if I'm in a hotel

room or even at home, if I am trying to relax, I can't have the trumpet

anywhere where I can see it. It is not a malevolent presence, but it is

something to be treated with respect and taken seriously, not a thing in

the corner. It has its personality and I have to put it in the

cupboard. Quite demanding. Boy or girl? Boy. Don't know why! What

about you, what do you play? I have a wonderful Italian instrument made

in 1757, the year after Mozart was born. That is the year of my cello,

to! Fantastic! You have to do a Brahms double together. And is your

violin boy or girl? Well, I think it is a boy! I love my instrument. Like

Alison was saying, it has a personality of its own. I talked to

my cello constantly and it is like a living being. But do you ever think

you could have a more fulfilling relationship with another musical

instrument? I could never betray my instrument. It would be a betrayal!

I had a Latin lover of a Stradivarius for about 13 years. You

mean! Sadly, it had to be given back. But for a while, I had two

beautiful instruments. I am a very bad girl. So you have got these

agents which 250 years old. The maintenance, care and responsibility

must be huge. Of course. As a cellist, my cello is always next to

me. Humidity was a big factor. It is so sensitive. It is almost like

caring for a baby. And if you happen to just scratch it ever so

slightly, I would feel so bad. The pang of a guilty conscience for not

taking care of it. I think I can speak the string instrumentalists in

that we feel very responsible for our instrument because that is our

voice. Do you have this as well, Alison? It is so interesting,

because I think I will outlive my trumpets. I will probably wear them

out. But after you two are dead and gone, those instruments will

continue to live on with a new life and a new owner.

We move on now from our guests' instruments to pianists and the

world-renowned artist Lang Lang. He was once described as being the J-Lo

of the piano. I don't know if he liked that description, but he has

performed with leading orchestras and musicians since he burst onto

the scene in 1999. In his very busy schedule, Lang Lang came to visit

Proms Extra to tell us his Proms memories.

And here he is. Lang Lang is in the building. The Proms is the best

festival in the world and it has the best audience. I made my London

debut in 2001, playing at the Proms. I will never forget that. It

is almost like going into the Colosseum in Rome! The music

version. You don't fight, you make music.

I really love when people are standing around the pianos. Everyone

is like this... Quiet. It felt like the time has been stopped. It's a

magical moment. You know, this tension, silent... None of the other

places are like that. I wish I can play at the Proms every night.

The celebrated pianist Lang Lang dropping in to have a little chat.

What do you think it is about Lang Lang that catapulted him from being

a great pianist to this phenomenon and? He is a great communicator. He

is like a man possessed but at the same time he is so engaging. Look at

the following in his home country in China, everyone wants to be Lang

Lang in China. That's really wonderful, because his playing is

flamboyant, incredibly virtuosic... What a role model for young people

to follow someone like him rather than other people we could name! But

we won't, because we are terribly polite! He was a child prodigy, all

of you played very young as well. Do you remember much about those early

days? Did you feel pressure being a child prodigy? I was very fortunate,

Rostropovich was one of my mentors and he sat me down and he said don't

play more than four concerts per month, give yourself as much time as

you possibly can to mature like all other non-musical prodigies. My

prodigy colleagues were playing 120 concerts per year, which means

pretty much every other night. You factor in the told that takes on a

14-year-old. Absolutely. It doesn't allow you enough time to find out

who you are, what you want to express. I am a firm believer that

you can have an incredible instinct for music when you are young but

it's only as you progress through life that you can bring extra things

to the music, things you couldn't possibly have known or felt when you

were 21. No matter how ahead of the schedule you are. Whenever I hear

performers over a length of time, their performance has always become

more interesting, deeper and more exciting. More momentous, I think,

as people get older. You never felt you were missing out on things your

friends were doing? Quite the opposite. I would cite the National

youth Orchestra as the perfect example. Not only were we making

music to a very high level, and doing it intensively for two weeks

at a time, all day, we were also with our best friends, people who I

met there I am still great friends with. It became the soundtrack to

our teenage lives. We couldn't have thought of anything we would rather

be doing than practising to be good enough to do that, that was part of

it. We make the choice to play and we love to play, that is why we are

motivated and passionate. It is not a sacrifice. We chose this life.

This is pro-choice! Last Sunday on BBC Four, the long awaited debut of

the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra hit our screens. Their

performance featured the familiar and be unfamiliar. They held the

audience's attention from the very start. If you have been to a

wedding, you will be familiar with handle's arrival of the Queen of

Sheba. Borusan did the double, they played Handel's version and also

Ottorini Respighi's. Here is his Belkis Queen of Sheba.

One of the many highlights to come out of this year's Proms season. The

Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sascha

Goetzel. I know you are a big fan of Ottorini Respighi. We know the Roman

trilogy a bit more. That piece of work is not played often, and why

not? I can only think of -- it is because of the massive forces. I

adore the piece, I couldn't stop listening to it, it takes you over,

it's amazing. I loved his use of the orchestra. Obviously it is ballet

music, but the way he even opens it, it is supposed to be Solomon's

dream, and the duet between the route and the base Caldara net,

absolutely fantastic colours. -- the bass clarinet. The live recording of

the bird being played and everything, it sounds like he is

always wanting to try new effects, Ottorini Respighi. He really uses

the orchestra as concerto solo instruments. It is incredibly

mysterious, exotic, orgiastic at the end. It's wonderful, I am going to

buy a recording of it. Have you seen Sascha Goetzel conduct before,

Han-Na? No, it was my first time. He is charismatic to watch. He is an

incredible performer. He knows how to make his players play, but also

how to draw the audience in. His visible enjoyment of the whole

conducting process, he makes it look so easy, and yet what he is asking

them to do, it feels very free, it feels like he is spontaneous in this

performance. You can't help but be wooed by him. Han-Na, I wanted to

get your impression of the Borusan, they love their debut, you could see

their energy and their enjoyment. How is your show with the shush

going to be? Are they looking forward to it as much? -- with the

shush going to be? They are so excited. The most important thing is

to play our hearts out, to enjoy every moment of it. If we are having

a good time, the audience will join in. It is to show our passion for

the repertoire we are playing, just being on that stage. A really

exciting time for you. On BBC Four tomorrow night,

as part of the Proms live TV weekend, you can

witness one of the great American ensembles, the Cleveland Orchestra,

making a return to the Proms nine years since their last performance.

That's at 7pm on BBC Four. But now as we enter

the closing week of Proms 2014, there's just time to cast

a reflective eye over the season. We've had the great and the good

on Proms Extra. Just take a look.

No, don't! You are making it so much worse!

People that come and stand in the queue for hours, that shows you you

are doing something really right. It's a pity that the word diva has

come so pejorative. If that is meant to be diva behaviour, guilty!

Guilty! Often I will hear a piece of music that overwhelms me. It could

be about slaughtering puppies, I don't know. A bit of plug-in,

really, we plugged the right thing into the right hole.

We had an enormous thunderstorm. I went back to the trill and then

there was applause and laughter and another thunderstorm. I thought I

should keep it going! I would urge those currently

throwing their shoes at the television to take those pieces of

music associated with men and say, why? I am the bad guy. For me,

Mozart doesn't represent the culmination of all art. Do you know

if John Kavanagh enjoyed my work -- your work? He didn't like my work at

all. It was like airing dirty linen in public. That is what I did all my

life, suddenly it's not there, I am not with a cello, it's a strange

feeling. The joy of playing and making musical decisions, that joy

is amazing. Rarely have we seen a more animated conductor. One of the

critics wrote that he thought he would get the best dad dancing

prize. Where does the time go?

Don't weep, there's still plenty of Proms action

to be had on your screens tomorrow, Thursday and Friday.

Then next Saturday, Proms 2014 bows out with the Last Night

of the Proms, conducted by Sakari Oramo and featuring Janine Janssen

and Roderick Williams, who have all appeared on Proms Extra this series.

Don't forget Radio 3 broadcasts every Prom live.

And you can find this episode of Proms Extra and many

of the works we feature in this programme in the Proms Extra

collection on the BBC iPlayer. And that really is it

from us this year. For now.

My thanks to my guests tonight, Tasmin Little

and Han-Na Chang - good luck with your Prom tomorrow, which will be

on our screens next Friday. And my thanks to Alison Balsom,

who is playing us out with a track from her new album Paris.

Accompanied by Chad Kelly on piano, written by Erik Satie,

this is Gymnopedie No 3. Goodbye!