First Night of the Proms - Part 2 BBC Proms

Welcome to the First Night of the Proms 2016 ? and welcome back

if you've been with us for the first half on BBC Two.

Sol Gabetta has just given a wonderful performance

And it well down very well indeed. She said how much she had been

looking forward to playing it here at the Proms. And we certainly

appreciated very much indeed. And now I think we're

going to get an encore. Sol Gabetta, playing and singing,

Dolcissimo from Gramata Cellam - "The Book" - by the Latvian

composer Peteris Vasks. What a wonderful experience that

was. Sol says that she loves the way that

singing gives a new perspective She and the composer Peteris Vasks

have built a successful musical partnership - four years ago,

he wrote a cello concerto for her, and she has recently

recorded an album of his music. What a wonderful reception she has

got here, her first time at the Proms. Something tells me that she

is going to be back. In a few minutes Sakari Oramo

will be joined by the mezzo-soprano Olga Borodina and the giant forces

of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, and the BBC

National Chorus of Wales It's Prokofiev's dramatic

and powerful cantata, But before that, I've got time

to tell you about some of the highlights to come in this

122nd season of the BBC Proms. There's a huge range of concerts

to enjoy all across the summer It is the result of an enormous

amount of planning ? and the excitement started

for me as I prepared It is April now, so that is three

months before the start of the promise. And then we will have

nearly 100 concerts before the Last Night Of The Proms in September.

There is no way you get quite so close to the music. It is like The

Planets - you can hear the tiniest sound. I could go on about the

Strictly Prom, but I want. There is even a Latin flavour to the Last

Night Of The Proms. You will be able to hear Steve in a car park in come

OK, could you go into your position for me? So, there is radio, TV and

online. But if you can get inside, that's where you really want to be,

for the atmosphere. To be here, with this Orchestra, it is a huge gift.

Boris Godunov, with the Royal Opera House, at the Proms - don't miss it!

The real fun takes place inside the hall.

Just some of the highlights to come ? all those Proms will be broadcast

live on BBC Radio 3 and many of them on TV and online, too.

Here on BBC Four, we'll be with you on Fridays and Sundays ?

and after the Olympics, we'll be back with a full week

There will be the Requiems by Mozart, Faure and Verdi.

Great orchestral classics conducted by Bernard Haitink,

Daniel Barenboim, Marin Alsop and Sir Simon Rattle.

Mozart played from memory, the David Bowie Prom,

the Strictly Prom ? to mention just a few.

Over on BBC Two, I'll be back hosting Proms Extra

on Saturday evenings, starting next week, and don't forget

iplayer and online, where you might like to catch the Gospel Prom,

or the talented musicians of the National Youth Orchestra.

Phew! I hope you're keeping up.

And if you're not, you can always go to the proms website,

bbc.co.uk/proms, where there is a wealth of information

about the festival, and special features, too.

Back now to this evening, and Prokofiev's Cantata depicting

Russia's great medieval warrior Alexander Nevsky.

It began life in the 1930s as a film score, which Prokofiev

wrote for the famous Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein.

Here's tonight's conductor Sakari Oramo.

The film which Prokofiev wrote this music for, a film directed by Sergei

Eisenstein, is one of the great products of the Soviet film

industry. And of course, Stalin was very keen on making different kinds

of art to serve the purpose of building his ideal Communist

society. It is so quintessentially Russian. You hear the Orthodox

Church hymns, the folk music, the dancing, the dance where you dance

with your bottom almost on the floor! Prokofiev was under great

pressure to compose a patriotic score. Eisenstein called it the

perfect fusion of film and music. He was so impressed that he thought

Prokofiev should write the music first for the film's most famous

moment, the battle on the ice, and then HE would make the pictures fit.

The battle on the ice Picts the two sides, the invaders and the

Russians, musically, very separately. -- depicts. So you get

sort of overlapping music which could be from a different piece.

Towards the end of the piece, there is this great big scene which could

be, and by Sergei Eisenstein seen one of his operas, with the choir

and orchestra together praising Alexander Nevsky for what he has

done. It is all very glorious. And I think the way he has orchestrated it

is something like a textbook of Russian orchestration. If you have

seen the film, all the better. You can imagine the pictures and the

atmosphere. But if you haven't, it really doesn't matter. You just

engulf yourself into this wonderfully rich and elaborate

score. So, here comes Sakari Oramo with

soloist Olga Borodina to conduct the BBC Symphony Orchestra

and Chorus and the BBC in Prokofiev's cantata Alexander

Nevsky. And they'll be joined later

by the mezzo-soprano Olga Borodina. Sakari Oramo conducted the BBC

Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and the BBC National Chorus

of Wales, with mezzo soprano Olga Borodina,

in the cantata Alexander Nevsky It's the first of two great Russian

works in the opening If you tune to Radio 3

at 7.30 tomorrow night, you'll be able to hear a concert

performance of Mussorgsky's Not to be missed.

As the applause continues to ring out here at the Royal Albert Hall

for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, it is worth noting that this was not

pock pock's first. And there is the wonderful Valery

Gergiev. A marvellous performance in the movement there.

Prokofiev would go on to collaborate with the director Sergey Eisenstein

Another bow from Sakari Oramo there. He has had a very good year.

In May winning the prestigious Conductor of the Year Award.

Worth giving a nod to the wonderful Chorusmaster, Adrian Partington.

And there he is. Well, that brings us

to the end of the First Night of the Proms 2016 -

but there's lots more to come. Here on BBC Four this coming Sunday,

there will be a performance of Faure's Requiem and other choral

classics with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

and the Choir of King's College, And of course, you can hear

all the Proms live on BBC Radio 3. But for now, from me,

Katie Derham, and all of the BBC Music team here at the Royal

Albert Hall, good night.