The Sunday Prom: Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra BBC Proms


The Sunday Prom: Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra

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Tonight at the BBC Proms, a programme of Turkish Delights from

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an orchestra making their first ever visit to the UK.

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The Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra.

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The orchestra is just 15 years old, and the players are young too, an

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average age of 35. Almost all of them are Turkish and the orchestra

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performs on both sides of the border straddling Asia and Europe. No

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surprise that music inspire bid the Orient colours the programme with

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the sounds of the czars. Holst by Mozart, Handel and Respighi.

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Alongside a brand-new violin concerto by Professor Professor

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Professor played by Daniel Hope. First though, an orchestral fantasy

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by Russian composer, Ed Balls, called Islamey. It was so fiendishly

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difficult that the composer couldn't play it himself!

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It features traditional melodies from the Caucasus, the mountainous

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region between Asia and Europe bordered by Turkey with Balakirev

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made adventurous expeditions to track down folk tunes. The word

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Islamey refers to a traditional dance of the Muslim tribes which is

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apparently accompanied by the percussion stylings. There you go!

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It was turned into a spectacular showpiece by one of Balakirev's

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students who used every trick in the book to bring out all the colours of

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the orchestra. And here to conduct Balakirev's

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Islamey is the Istanbul flock orchestra, the principal conductor,

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Sascha Goetzel. A rather tremendous flourish with

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the fancy cuffs, that was Sascha Goetzel conducting the Borusan

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Istanbul's flock in a lovely, lively start to the first UK debut. That

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was Islamey by Balakirev. Next we have music from a British

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composer who's perhaps more aassociationiated with outer space

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than the Orient. Holst. The planet is his most famous orbing central

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masterpiece and often eclipses his other work. He was hugely interested

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in eastern ideas and music. He studied literature, spent holidays

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in Algeria, heading out into the desert on his bike to collect folk

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tunes. His piece, Beni Mora, which we are going to hear next was

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intended as music for a ballet which never materialised. The third

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movement, it has no fewer than 31 repetitions of the first phrase

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which has a strange hypnotic effect. Sascha Goetzel, the conductor,

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returning to the stage, to conduct the Borusan Istanbul Northern Rock

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in Holst's Beni Mora. -- Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra in Holst's

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Beni Mora. Holst's work, Beni Mora.

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That title, Beni Mora comes from the Garden of Allah, inspired by that,

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the work was premiered in 1912 and the first performance was a success,

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a wonderful quote from the critics who were baffled by the exotic music

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one wrote "we do not ask for the girls to dance to this in Langham

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Place". As Sascha Goetzel brings the whole

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orchestra to their feet, we could reflect again on the love Holst had

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for anything from the East. He was fascinated by the whole region. From

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Algeria to India. He composed two operas based on Hindu legends.

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Next, a brand-new work by Gabriel Prokofiev, the grandson of Sergey

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Prokofiev. Previously, he's written concertos for bass drum and it may

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surprise you to learn he's taken a traditional one for the violinest.

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Daniel Hope is the violinist. This The two of them got together to

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chat earlier about the concerto. We call it 1914, rather than make it

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a war concerto so the work looks at the hole year and we get the

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optimism before the war broke out. That's why it started in a playful

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march. In the third and fourth movement, your role is more

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representing the soldier on the ground and the tragedy really of the

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war. I wrote that bit for you knowing how

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you play and what might appeal to you and I hope that that's working

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for you. Very much so. A lot of it speaks to the kind of musical

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language that I love. Yes. You have the lyricism but also the rhythmical

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fighting. You had me, in a sense, be a soldier coming to battle against,

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you know, 100 people. It's a very active piece for me. I

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have to keep my wits about me all the time because there are all sorts

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of colours going on. It was interesting being in the hall, you

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hear so much more in a great hall like this, so all the colours that I

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didn't necessarily hear in the rehearsals, are now coming through

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to me. So again, it's changing the way I view the piece, the way I jump

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in on it. As we come to the very end and you

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are hovering on your dying note really that then becomes this white

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noise. Yes. And I really like how you have interpreted that. You could

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see it, really high, you know, so I had the think, how am I going to do

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it. I'm high so I'm thinking, go even higher into the ether somehow.

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How are you feeling about tonight's performance and become here? Well,

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obviously very excited. I mean, you know, it comes in we'ves. There's

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nerves as well. This is still the first full performance, proper

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performance of this piece and it's pretty heavy because it's in the

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Royal Albert Hall and it's the Proms, you know, you can't escape

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those nervous feelings but I am really excited and we have had a

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really good rehearsal so I feel that's given me the confidence. I

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feel like I'm terrified but I'm thrilled! How about you? I'd say

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about the same. When you go out there for the very first time and

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play a new piece, it's like you are launching a child out into the world

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and you never know what is going to happen, so it's that mixture of

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nerves and excitement, happiness being here but will everything be

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OK. There's a lot of energy tonight it's going to get close to an

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explosion. APPLAUSE

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And there he is, Daniel Hope. Our soloist tonight with the conductor,

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Sascha Goetzel, to perform Gabriel Prokofiev's concerto 1914.

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MUSIC: Gabriel Prokofiev's Violin Concerto, "1914"

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Technical wizardry. Exciting, emotionally draining work

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by Gabriel Prokofiev. Violin concerto number one, 1914.

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Sascha Goetzel leaving the stage there with Daniel Hope after that

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performance by the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra.

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The perspective often changes from personal views to individual

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characters to wider historic and mittical aspects often quite

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quickly, like fast edits in a film, he says. That cheer, you can hear,

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is for Gabriel Prokofiev, there he is. She a really exciting young

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composer, very much in demand. Quite the musical man, long association

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with Daniel Hope. And, as Gabriel continues to thank

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the orchestra for that premier of his new work, he said earlier, you

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know, a particular image stuck in his mind when he was writing this

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which was from the battles of the frontiers early on in the First

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World War when the French cavalry, many dressed in colourful uniforms,

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were mowed down by German machine guns and he said that epitomises the

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old world being destroyed by the modern and that was the sound he was

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trying to create. The Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic

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Orchestra are making a flying visit to London for this programme. The

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Turkish players are utterly passionate about the music they

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perform and very proud of what they have achieved together as an

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orchestra so far as I found out when I met up with a couple of the

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players during rehearsals today. This is a young orchestra and you

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don't often tour outside of Turkey, so how is it being here in London?

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It's great. It's wonderful. Touring is nice itself, but being in London

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and to be a part of Proms and to play in Albert Hall is really

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fascinating. You were telling us, the last time you were here, you

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were with the Gustav Youth Orchestra, so how is it different

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here today? Yes, it's 17 years ago actually in 1997. It was like a

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miracle for me to What either audiences like in Turkey for this

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kind of programme? Actually, they enjoy our programme. I am also proud

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because there are always so many young people enjoying us. It is

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great. So a good atmosphere and lots of enthusiasm for Western classical

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music. For the prom is, was it exciting for you to be here? It is a

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very big thing for the orchestra and for Turkish classical music also.

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Rascal music is very new in Turkey. -- fascicle music. It started in

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1923 after the Republic was established by Ataturk. It took a

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long time to build up a classical music culture in Turkey. This is the

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proof of the success of the music of Ataturk, so we feel proud. I hope we

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come again and again, and also to other festivals in other big cities

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in Europe. And what are you looking forward to particularly tonight,

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coming to the Albert Hall for the first time? I am waiting for 6000

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people! And there certainly is a large and

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appreciative audience for them in the Royal Albert Hall tonight. Next,

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proving that an interest in eastern sounds is nothing new, the Borusan

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Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra performed the overture to an opera

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by Mozart, the abduction from the seraglio. It might not be the most

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authentic oriental music, but at the time, it caused a real stir. The

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overture reaches exotic percussion and gives a good impression of the

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music of Turkey, as seen through the eyes of an 18th-century European. It

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massively popular, despite famously being exercised by the Emperor

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Joseph II as having too many notes. There is the conductor, Sascha

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Goetzel, to conduct Mozart's Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, performed

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by Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra.

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MUSIC: "Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail" by Mozart.

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APPLAUSE Sascha Goetzel, conducting the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic

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Orchestra in Mozart's overture to the Abduction From The Seraglio,

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which is pretty standard 18th-century fare when you look at

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the plot. You know the kind of thing, European

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nobleman rescues pretty girl from wicked eastern pasha, but the music

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is lovely, isn't it? Next, we have two very different is

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portraits of none other than the Queen of Sheba, an exotic and

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mysterious woman of power whose story can be found in the Bible and

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the Koran as well as in Turkish and Persian paintings. In the old

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Testament, the story goes that the Queen hears of Solomon's fame and

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falls in love with him, far, so she decides to set out to Jerusalem to

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meet him. The Bible says she came with a very great train of camels

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that bore spices, gold and precious stones.

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And it is this a rival that we are going to hear now, set to music by a

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George Frederick Handel and arrange for orchestra by Sir Thomas Beecham.

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MUSIC: "The Arrival Of The Queen Of Sheba" by Handel.

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Lovely, the conductors Sascha Goetzel, enjoying that performance

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from the back of the stage. The players of the Borusan Istanbul

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Philharmonic Orchestra are on their feet to perform Handel's arrival of

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the Queen of Sheba. Performed at weddings the world over, that piece

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of music is one of Handel's most famous pieces. It even featured at

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the opening ceremony of London 2012. famous pieces. It even featured at

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Next, we have another portrait of the same Queen, but this time from

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the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi. His old rate owes less to

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the Bible and more to the story in the Koran in which the Queen is

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named Dale Kiss, and the story goes that Solomon could talk to the

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birds, one of which flew back from the kingdom, telling him of a queen

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who sat on a throne of gold and silver. So Solomon, obviously,

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who sat on a throne of gold and invited her to visit him. The ballet

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was hugely ambitious and lasted well over an hour, with 600

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was hugely ambitious and lasted well deploying an orchestral augmented

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with sitars and wind machines. The concert we are about to hear is a

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bit more practical, but it still captures the exotic and erotic world

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of the Queen of Sheba. Conductors Sascha Goetzel, full of

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beans to conduct Respighi's Queen of Sheba.

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MUSIC: "Belkis, Queen of Sheba" by Respighi.

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The final orgiastic dance, bringing to an end Respighi's Queen of Sheba.

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What a showpiece for the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, and

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what a showpiece for the conductor as well. He has got some moves!

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Tremendous animation, really expressive. He was not clowning

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around. A wonderful rapport with the orchestra. Sascha Goetzel. A

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wonderful response here in the Royal Albert Hall. The first performance

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of that ballet was a huge success, with the audience apparently in a

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frenzy of excitement. A mighty horde of young men and girls, warriors and

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slaves of every race and colour, rising up in orgiastic dance. This

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was the offstage trumpet we heard towards the end of that. There is in

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fact another Ethiopian version of the Queen of Sheba story. We have

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heard two of them today, but there is a third. She is considered to be

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the mother of Ethiopia, a fact that would have escaped those in the

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1930s as Italy was taking over Ethiopia.

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And amongst the many legends surrounding Belkis, Queen of Sheba,

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in the Islamic tradition, my favourite one is that her mother

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cavorted with a goat was pregnant. That meant the Queen of Sheba had

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very hairy legs. All of them enjoying the moment

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here, their first ever prom, their first-ever UK performance. Ladies

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and gentlemen, of course, we cannot go back to the Bosphorus without the

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music of the Bosphorus. This is a historic moment, a Turkish orchestra

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for the first time at the BBC Proms. You have been the most incredible

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audience we have experienced. You have been the most incredible

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all believe, as music lovers and musicians, that music does not just

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reward us. We all want to exchange cultures, want to share, not being

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afraid of it, but learning from each other,

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afraid of it, but learning from each offer. This is

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afraid of it, but learning from each here. This is what we believe. We

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This orchestra is a union of most of better place.

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This orchestra is a union of most of the finest musicians of Turkey, and

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we want to play for you now one of the most famous pieces in Turkey. It

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we want to play for you now one of starts from the far east and goes

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all the way through Turkey, and then we arrive in Istanbul from our

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hearts, from our souls, to give you what you deserve, the best possible

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excitement in music of all time! The most famous piece of Turkish

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classical music. That was written in 1943, full of the sounds of

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classical music. That was written in traditional Turkish music and a gift

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to us from the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, on the first

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occasion, the very first time they have performed at the Proms. And

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that is it for now at the BBC Proms. Wonderful debut from the Borusan

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Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sascha Goetzel. Every

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concert is live on BBC Radio 3 and next week, on BBC4, there are four

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concerts from the programmes, starting on Thursday with music by

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Mala and John Adams. For now, good night from all of us

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