0:00:02 > 0:00:05Tonight, encounters with Beethoven. But put aside any preconceptions
0:00:05 > 0:00:07because the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
0:00:07 > 0:00:12and conductor Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla are ready to reintroduce us.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15Welcome to the BBC Proms 2017.
0:00:37 > 0:00:39The most famous four notes in classical music,
0:00:39 > 0:00:43a world premiere inspired by a moment in Toronto airport,
0:00:43 > 0:00:45and a Stravinsky concerto
0:00:45 > 0:00:49performed by a violin virtuoso. What an evening awaits us.
0:00:49 > 0:00:542016 was the 31-year-old conductor Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla's
0:00:54 > 0:00:57first year at the helm of the CBSO.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59Together they dazzled us at the Proms last summer,
0:00:59 > 0:01:03so excitement is really rippling around the Royal Albert Hall tonight
0:01:03 > 0:01:07for what magic they might conjure for us this year.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09Now, the CBSO certainly has form
0:01:09 > 0:01:12when it comes to spotting the brightest conducting talent.
0:01:12 > 0:01:15It was previously home to Simon Rattle, Sakari Oramo
0:01:15 > 0:01:19and Andris Nelsons, and its winning streak continues with Mirga.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22Rave reviews have greeted conductor and orchestra
0:01:22 > 0:01:25since she joined last year and it's a partnership, I think,
0:01:25 > 0:01:28with a real knack for bringing out subtleties and nuances
0:01:28 > 0:01:30in even the most familiar repertoire,
0:01:30 > 0:01:33which certainly bodes extremely well for their performance tonight
0:01:33 > 0:01:35of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37I was present at the rehearsal earlier
0:01:37 > 0:01:40and I cannot wait to hear it in performance.
0:01:40 > 0:01:43Now, I met Mirga earlier today to find out more about
0:01:43 > 0:01:46what they've got in store for us tonight.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50We have this Beethoven sandwich, and then having at first Stravinsky
0:01:50 > 0:01:53and then Gerald Barry instead of ham and cheese
0:01:53 > 0:01:56is a great connection to Beethoven also,
0:01:56 > 0:01:58because...
0:01:59 > 0:02:03..Stravinsky is doing many,
0:02:03 > 0:02:09in a way, classical things in his concerto, although he's also...
0:02:10 > 0:02:15He is also ironic and also funny,
0:02:15 > 0:02:17also very lyrical here and there.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21And also crazy, as Gerald Barry is.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25And Beethoven was definitely crazy, so all these elements together
0:02:25 > 0:02:29have a beautiful range of contrast and relations.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32And we'll be hearing more from Mirga later.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34First though, one of Beethoven's offcuts
0:02:34 > 0:02:38from his opera Fidelio, the Leonore Overture No.3.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41This has become something of an orchestral favourite
0:02:41 > 0:02:44as a stand-alone piece, because it perfectly distils
0:02:44 > 0:02:47the opera's sense of suffering and final redemption,
0:02:47 > 0:02:51as Florestan the political prisoner is eventually freed.
0:02:54 > 0:02:55APPLAUSE
0:02:55 > 0:02:58And the leader of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra,
0:02:58 > 0:03:01Tomo Keller, making his way onto the stage
0:03:01 > 0:03:04for the first piece in tonight's Prom.
0:03:14 > 0:03:18And here she comes, woman of the hour Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla
0:03:18 > 0:03:23to conduct the CBSO in Beethoven's Leonore Overture No.3.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:17:17 > 0:17:22Beethoven's Leonore Overture No.3 performed at the Proms
0:17:22 > 0:17:24by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
0:17:24 > 0:17:27absolutely playing their hearts out
0:17:27 > 0:17:31under their new music director Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla.
0:17:31 > 0:17:35And my goodness, what a radiant presence she is on the podium,
0:17:35 > 0:17:38and what charisma, what infectious dynamism.
0:17:38 > 0:17:43It's no wonder the orchestra is so delighted to have her at the helm.
0:17:50 > 0:17:55Next tonight, it's Stravinsky's Violin Concerto, composed in 1931.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58Stravinsky himself was not a violinist, so he worked with
0:17:58 > 0:18:02the soloist Samuel Dushkin to create the piece, relying on the performer
0:18:02 > 0:18:05to tell him what might even be possible on the instrument.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08This close working relationship between composer and musician
0:18:08 > 0:18:12would be familiar to tonight's soloist Leila Josefowicz,
0:18:12 > 0:18:15who has a distinguished record herself in collaborating
0:18:15 > 0:18:17with some of today's greatest living composers,
0:18:17 > 0:18:21including Esa-Pekka Salonen, Oliver Knussen and John Adams.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24As is often the case in his music,
0:18:24 > 0:18:27Stravinsky wrote this concerto in a neoclassical style,
0:18:27 > 0:18:31but one with a compelling connection to old forms and language.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34Nevertheless, it still sounds newly minted to my ears, at least,
0:18:34 > 0:18:37not least because of a unique chord which acts
0:18:37 > 0:18:40as a kind of passport to each movement.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44When Stravinsky first dreamt up that chord, Dushkin had to go away
0:18:44 > 0:18:46and try it out at home before confirming that, yes,
0:18:46 > 0:18:49it was physically possible to play it.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52Well, I met Leila earlier today to find out more.
0:18:52 > 0:18:54It looked to me like a very difficult thing to play.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58Can you just even give us a sense in your fingers of how you do it?
0:18:58 > 0:19:00You take this finger and you take this finger and you put them
0:19:00 > 0:19:02as far apart as you can.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06And I know my hand isn't the biggest in the world,
0:19:06 > 0:19:09but it's not really about size.
0:19:09 > 0:19:15It's about flexibility. It's sort of like a tribal call or something.
0:19:15 > 0:19:21And he uses this interval to start every of the four movements,
0:19:21 > 0:19:25but each time it sort of brings you in a different direction.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29It's like a marking place, like an announcement of some kind.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32And you hear that the interval's the same
0:19:32 > 0:19:35but then you also understand that each movement
0:19:35 > 0:19:41is like a different journey, so you know that this is sort of
0:19:41 > 0:19:45your beginning and your start and in some way your special chord,
0:19:45 > 0:19:47but that it's going to be morphed
0:19:47 > 0:19:51and you're going to go into a different labyrinth each time.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55APPLAUSE
0:19:55 > 0:19:58The American violinist Leila Josefowicz
0:19:58 > 0:20:02coming onto the Royal Albert Hall stage with Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla
0:20:02 > 0:20:06to perform Stravinsky's Violin Concerto.
0:42:21 > 0:42:25CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:42:35 > 0:42:38Well, earlier Leila Josefowicz told me that she knew
0:42:38 > 0:42:41the very first time she heard that piece that it had things to say
0:42:41 > 0:42:45to her, and hasn't she just communicated those to us
0:42:45 > 0:42:47in that blistering performance.
0:42:47 > 0:42:51Stravinsky's Violin Concerto performed at the Proms
0:42:51 > 0:42:55by Leila Josefowicz with Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla conducting
0:42:55 > 0:42:58the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
0:42:58 > 0:42:59Absolutely magnificent.
0:43:07 > 0:43:09Stravinsky's first sketch for this concerto, by the way,
0:43:09 > 0:43:12dated November 1930,
0:43:12 > 0:43:16was made on the back of his bill from the Doolun Hotel in Amsterdam.
0:43:16 > 0:43:19Not bad for the scribblings on the back of a receipt.
0:43:20 > 0:43:24And not bad for a composer who wasn't himself a violinist.
0:43:34 > 0:43:36I hope she's going to give us an encore.
0:43:36 > 0:43:38CHEERING
0:43:42 > 0:43:46MUSIC: Extract from Lachen Verlernt by Esa-Pekka Salonen
0:46:29 > 0:46:33CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:46:37 > 0:46:41Leila Josefowicz playing an extract from Lachen Verlernt,
0:46:41 > 0:46:46a piece written in 2002 by the multi-talented Finnish conductor
0:46:46 > 0:46:49and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen.
0:46:49 > 0:46:52He described our soloist Leila as "pretty much fearless",
0:46:52 > 0:46:56and I think that's a quality that we've all seen in her tonight.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00Lachen Verlernt, by the way, means "laughing unlearned"
0:47:00 > 0:47:03and it refers to Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire, in which the
0:47:03 > 0:47:07narrator asks the harlequin to teach her how to laugh again.
0:47:08 > 0:47:12Salonen says that he felt this was a moving metaphor for a performer
0:47:12 > 0:47:17helping their audience to reconnect with their emotions.
0:47:17 > 0:47:20Leila Josefowicz certainly bringing out the emotions
0:47:20 > 0:47:22in the Royal Albert Hall audience this evening.
0:47:28 > 0:47:30Well, now for something totally new.
0:47:30 > 0:47:32A world premiere from the Irish composer,
0:47:32 > 0:47:36described as a master of musical anarchy, Gerald Barry.
0:47:36 > 0:47:38The name of the piece is Canada,
0:47:38 > 0:47:42and it features the British tenor Allan Clayton.
0:47:42 > 0:47:44Inspiration struck Barry, he says,
0:47:44 > 0:47:47when he was travelling through Toronto airport, of all places.
0:47:47 > 0:47:49Intrigued? I certainly am.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52Lloyd Coleman went to meet him to find out more.
0:47:52 > 0:47:55Well, it came to me in Toronto airport.
0:47:55 > 0:48:00There's something about Canada that its very normality
0:48:00 > 0:48:02that is exotic to me.
0:48:02 > 0:48:06And when I got through security,
0:48:06 > 0:48:10I was so relieved to have managed that,
0:48:10 > 0:48:12I went to the nearest bar to have a pint
0:48:12 > 0:48:16and immediately the idea of Canada came into my head,
0:48:16 > 0:48:17that it would be called Canada
0:48:17 > 0:48:22and it would be a setting of the Prisoners' Chorus from Fidelio.
0:48:22 > 0:48:23It all... Just like that.
0:48:23 > 0:48:25Why the Prisoners' Chorus, though?
0:48:25 > 0:48:28In Fidelio, when the prisoners come up,
0:48:28 > 0:48:31they come up illegally, because they're not supposed to come up,
0:48:31 > 0:48:33and to have air.
0:48:34 > 0:48:39They're speaking, and Fidelio, the principal character,
0:48:39 > 0:48:43tells them to speak softly because the prison authorities might see
0:48:43 > 0:48:46that they were out of their cells.
0:48:46 > 0:48:51In my piece, the orchestra become the prisoners
0:48:51 > 0:48:55and Allan Clayton becomes Fidelio, the hero.
0:48:55 > 0:49:00And he turns to them and he teaches them how to be quieter,
0:49:00 > 0:49:03and so they begin fortissimo, saying "Canada!"
0:49:03 > 0:49:09And he says, "Speak softly, we are watched with eyes and ears."
0:49:09 > 0:49:14And it did remind me of Edward Snowden and the way we live now
0:49:14 > 0:49:17under constant surveillance and monitoring.
0:49:17 > 0:49:22And finally, this Prom, you've worked with the CBSO a lot.
0:49:22 > 0:49:24They think it should be called Birmingham.
0:49:24 > 0:49:27Is there something exotically normal about Birmingham, then?
0:49:27 > 0:49:30No, well, it's the same syllables, you see. Canada, Birmingham.
0:49:30 > 0:49:32And then I thought, that's quite a good idea, actually.
0:49:32 > 0:49:34And whenever it's played,
0:49:34 > 0:49:38it has to be played in cities which have the right three syllables.
0:49:38 > 0:49:41And it could change title, so it could be played in Liverpool
0:49:41 > 0:49:44or Huddersfield, or it could be in Arsenal.
0:49:44 > 0:49:47They could take it up as a football thing or something.
0:49:47 > 0:49:48So could move around.
0:49:50 > 0:49:52What a brilliant idea.
0:49:52 > 0:49:54I can see that catching on. I nominate Arsenal.
0:49:54 > 0:49:55APPLAUSE
0:49:55 > 0:49:58Well, coming onto the stage to give the world premiere
0:49:58 > 0:50:02of Gerald Barry's piece Canada is star British tenor
0:50:02 > 0:50:05and former BBC New Generation Artist Allan Clayton
0:50:05 > 0:50:08along with Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla
0:50:08 > 0:50:11and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
0:50:23 > 0:50:28Canada! What joy in the open air! Breathing freely again!
0:50:28 > 0:50:30Only here is life!
0:50:30 > 0:50:32Only here!
0:50:32 > 0:50:33Canada!
0:50:33 > 0:50:40HE REPEATS WORDS IN FRENCH
0:50:40 > 0:50:41Canada!
0:50:41 > 0:50:47HE REPEATS WORDS IN GERMAN
0:50:47 > 0:50:49# Canada, what joy
0:50:52 > 0:50:56# In the open air Breathing freely again
0:50:57 > 0:50:59# Only here is life Only here
0:51:01 > 0:51:02# Canada... #
0:51:02 > 0:51:09HE SINGS IN FRENCH
0:51:11 > 0:51:12# Canada... #
0:51:12 > 0:51:16HE SINGS IN GERMAN
0:52:50 > 0:52:52- ALL:- Canada!
0:53:51 > 0:53:53# Canada
0:53:53 > 0:53:55# Canada
0:53:55 > 0:53:58# Canada
0:53:58 > 0:54:00# Canada
0:54:00 > 0:54:02# Canada
0:54:02 > 0:54:04# Canada
0:54:04 > 0:54:06# Canada
0:54:06 > 0:54:09# Canada
0:54:09 > 0:54:11# Canada
0:54:11 > 0:54:13# Canada
0:54:13 > 0:54:15# Canada
0:54:15 > 0:54:17# Canada
0:54:17 > 0:54:19# Canada
0:54:19 > 0:54:21# Canada
0:54:21 > 0:54:24# Canada
0:54:24 > 0:54:26# Canada
0:54:26 > 0:54:28# Canada
0:54:28 > 0:54:30# Canada
0:54:30 > 0:54:32# Canada
0:54:32 > 0:54:34# Canada
0:54:34 > 0:54:37# Canada
0:54:37 > 0:54:39# Canada
0:54:39 > 0:54:41# Canada
0:54:41 > 0:54:43# Canada
0:54:43 > 0:54:45# Canada
0:54:45 > 0:54:47# Canada
0:54:47 > 0:54:50# Canada
0:54:50 > 0:54:52# Canada
0:54:54 > 0:54:57# Canada
0:54:57 > 0:55:00# Canada
0:55:00 > 0:55:02# Canada
0:55:03 > 0:55:05# Canada
0:55:06 > 0:55:08# Canada
0:55:09 > 0:55:11# Canada
0:55:12 > 0:55:14# Canada
0:55:15 > 0:55:17# Canada... #
0:55:18 > 0:55:21- LAUGHTER - # Canada
0:55:22 > 0:55:25LAUGHTER
0:55:33 > 0:55:35# Canada
0:55:40 > 0:55:42# Canada
0:55:45 > 0:55:47# Canada
0:55:50 > 0:55:52# Canada
0:55:55 > 0:55:56# Canada
0:55:59 > 0:56:02# Canada. #
0:56:04 > 0:56:06- ALL:- Canada!
0:56:06 > 0:56:11Speak softly! We are watched with eyes and ears.
0:56:11 > 0:56:14- QUIETLY:- Canada! - Softly!
0:56:14 > 0:56:18- MORE QUIETLY:- Canada. - Softly.
0:56:18 > 0:56:20- MORE QUIETLY:- Canada. - Softly.
0:56:20 > 0:56:23- MORE QUIETLY:- Canada. - Softly.
0:56:23 > 0:56:25- EXTREMELY QUIETLY:- Canada. - Softly.
0:56:25 > 0:56:27- WHISPERING:- Canada.
0:56:33 > 0:56:36LAUGHTER
0:56:36 > 0:56:38CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:56:44 > 0:56:48The world premiere of Gerald Barry's Canada,
0:56:48 > 0:56:51performed here at the Proms by tenor Allan Clayton,
0:56:51 > 0:56:55bringing his customary wit and intelligence to proceedings,
0:56:55 > 0:56:58with the CBSO conducted, once again,
0:56:58 > 0:57:01by their music director Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla.
0:57:01 > 0:57:04CHEERING
0:57:04 > 0:57:06And here comes Gerald Barry himself.
0:57:06 > 0:57:10He's come to London especially from his home in Ireland to see
0:57:10 > 0:57:15this world premiere at the Proms, giving a very warm hug indeed
0:57:15 > 0:57:17to Allan Clayton and Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla.
0:57:17 > 0:57:20Shaking hands with Tomo Keller, leader of the CBSO.
0:57:22 > 0:57:25The audience certainly enjoyed that one.
0:57:25 > 0:57:28CHEERING
0:57:37 > 0:57:40Gerald Barry making reference there to the Prisoners' Chorus
0:57:40 > 0:57:43from Fidelio, the opera by Beethoven.
0:57:43 > 0:57:45He is, of course, at the centre of tonight's Prom.
0:57:45 > 0:57:48Barry's a huge fan of Beethoven's music.
0:57:48 > 0:57:50He says, "No matter how often you hear it,
0:57:50 > 0:57:54"it's always like a messenger coming to you with fresh news."
0:57:54 > 0:57:56What a way to put it.
0:58:01 > 0:58:02Well, speaking of Beethoven,
0:58:02 > 0:58:04we're almost ready for the mouthwatering prospect
0:58:04 > 0:58:09of Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla taking on the momentous Fifth Symphony.
0:58:09 > 0:58:13Its ubiquity now makes it even more surprising that its premiere in 1808
0:58:13 > 0:58:18was an unmitigated disaster, buried in the middle of a four-hour concert
0:58:18 > 0:58:20along with its pair, the Sixth Symphony,
0:58:20 > 0:58:23in an unheated theatre in December in Vienna,
0:58:23 > 0:58:26with the players having had almost no rehearsal.
0:58:26 > 0:58:29The audience were less than enthusiastic.
0:58:29 > 0:58:32Well, somehow I don't think lack of enthusiasm is going to be
0:58:32 > 0:58:34a problem here tonight.
0:58:34 > 0:58:37The Fifth remains a truly exhilarating ride,
0:58:37 > 0:58:41propelling itself from minor to major and from darkness into light.
0:58:41 > 0:58:43When I met Mirga earlier I asked her
0:58:43 > 0:58:47how she and the orchestra approached the world's most famous symphony.
0:58:47 > 0:58:54It is, in fact, much harder to come back
0:58:54 > 0:58:57to the core of a piece we all know very well
0:58:57 > 0:59:00than a new piece,
0:59:00 > 0:59:03first-time, and "Mmm!"
0:59:03 > 0:59:06You work on a masterpiece
0:59:06 > 0:59:11and you let that piece do things with you,
0:59:11 > 0:59:16because it affects you. It changes you, it brings you ideas.
0:59:16 > 0:59:20- And every time we play... - SHE SINGS OPENING NOTES OF BEETHOVEN'S FIFTH
0:59:20 > 0:59:22..again, let's say,
0:59:22 > 0:59:26we've never played that in that moment yet
0:59:26 > 0:59:30with these people, with exactly this combination we have.
0:59:30 > 0:59:35The awareness and the joy of discovering the things,
0:59:35 > 0:59:41or rediscovering the things we knew already, or maybe we heard
0:59:41 > 0:59:43so many times, but, "Ah!
0:59:45 > 0:59:48"This is the same motif!"
0:59:48 > 0:59:50SHE REPEATS OPENING NOTES
0:59:50 > 0:59:53- Or... - SHE SINGS
0:59:53 > 0:59:55..in the last movement.
0:59:55 > 0:59:58All these things hidden between the lines.
1:00:01 > 1:00:04It's about discovering them again and again.
1:00:06 > 1:00:09APPLAUSE And here she comes, Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla,
1:00:09 > 1:00:13to conduct Beethoven's mighty Symphony No.5.
1:30:04 > 1:30:08CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1:30:16 > 1:30:20Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
1:30:20 > 1:30:24with that gloriously fresh take on an old favourite,
1:30:24 > 1:30:27Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.
1:30:30 > 1:30:32What a performance here at the Proms.
1:30:32 > 1:30:36To say that Mirga was dancing on the podium would be something of
1:30:36 > 1:30:41an understatement, this remarkable Lithuanian conductor, 31 years old.
1:30:41 > 1:30:45Her expansive and incredibly expressive physical gestures
1:30:45 > 1:30:49being answered by the orchestra in playing of such intense lyricism,
1:30:49 > 1:30:51such attention to detail, such subtlety,
1:30:51 > 1:30:55and as the work moved into the sunlit triumph of C major
1:30:55 > 1:31:00in the final movement, such absolute and unbridled joy.
1:31:02 > 1:31:06Well, it's not hard to see the bond between conductor and orchestra
1:31:06 > 1:31:08on stage this evening.
1:31:08 > 1:31:12Earlier this year, Mirga said of the CBSO that, not only is the orchestra
1:31:12 > 1:31:17itself a miracle, but that it's made up of 100 individual miracles.
1:31:19 > 1:31:22She looks delighted as she shakes hands with the first desk
1:31:22 > 1:31:25of the violins. What a triumph.
1:32:08 > 1:32:09Here she comes once again.
1:32:09 > 1:32:12I think the Prommers are not just going to let them just slip away
1:32:12 > 1:32:13into the night.
1:32:22 > 1:32:25The deal last year was, "See you in Birmingham!" So see you there.
1:32:25 > 1:32:27LAUGHTER
1:32:29 > 1:32:34MUSIC: Air from Orchestral Suite No.3 by Bach
1:36:13 > 1:36:17APPLAUSE
1:36:20 > 1:36:24CHEERING
1:36:30 > 1:36:34Well, an exquisite way to end this concert, the Air from Bach's
1:36:34 > 1:36:40Orchestral Suite No.3, often known as the Air On The G String.
1:36:40 > 1:36:43So we've heard Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla take the CBSO
1:36:43 > 1:36:46through two of the world's most famous pieces of music
1:36:46 > 1:36:49and enable us to hear them anew.
1:36:49 > 1:36:50What a gift that is.
1:36:53 > 1:36:56Well, the Proms will be back on your screens on Friday
1:36:56 > 1:36:59with two concerts, a big band spectacular with Clare Teal
1:36:59 > 1:37:03followed by Jools Holland and his tribute to Stax Records.
1:37:03 > 1:37:04Do join us then.
1:37:04 > 1:37:07But for now, from me and everyone here at the Royal Albert Hall,
1:37:07 > 1:37:08goodnight.