Proms Extra: Episode 2 BBC Proms


Proms Extra: Episode 2

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ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS

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Hello, and welcome to Proms Extra.

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Tonight it's all eyes and ears on Mozart, Walton, and Scott Walker.

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And we have another simply thrilling Chord of the Week

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from David Owen Norris.

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It's been two whole weeks since the Proms started

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and this week we went back in time.

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Ladies and gentlemen...

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-..and others.

-LAUGHTER

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ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS

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PROMS MUSICAL MONTAGE

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SHE SINGS

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# ..Why the war is going on

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# And on and on

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# Why the war is going on

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# Why the war is going on. #

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Pow!

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APPLAUSE

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Not at all a bad week, was it?

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And it's not a bad sofa, joining me tonight are the conductors

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Xian Zhang and Jules Buckley and the violinist Tai Murray.

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Welcome all of you, lovely to see all of you here.

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Xian, you've got your Prom with the National Orchestra of Wales

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tomorrow, are you excited?

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-Are you looking forward to it?

-Very much so.

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And this time we have a very big chorus with us,

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it's about 180 people.

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Made up with two choirs, one from Birmingham

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and the other one from Wales. We are very excited.

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We're doing James MacMillan's

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A European Requiem which is a European premiere.

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And the other work is, of course,

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the most famous Beethoven Ninth Symphony.

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So I am very excited.

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And, Jules, we'll talk about Scott Walker later on in the programme,

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but, meanwhile, how's your Charlie Mingus rehearsal going?

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Everything is revving up very nicely, I'm happy to say.

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Metropole Orkest is on fine form

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and we've got artists coming from as far afield as the States.

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We got Kandace Springs, Christian Scott and obviously home-grown

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talent in the likes of Shabaka Hutchings so we're feeling good.

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Excellent.

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And, Tai, you played here for the first time in the Proms

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last year, great excitement.

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Is it a bit more relaxed this year?

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You can come and just enjoy some concerts, right?

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Yes, I can come and enjoy the experience from the outside.

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-Fantastic.

-Have you seen some good ones?

-I have.

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I saw the Scott Walker Prom on Tuesday.

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Unbelievable, I am sitting next to the conductor.

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It's almost as if we planned it, you know.

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Well, it is lovely to have you all here, settle back, we are

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going to take in our first piece of music from the Chamber

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Orchestra of Europe, conducted by Bernard Haitink,

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with violinist Isabelle Faust playing Mozart's Third Violin Concerto.

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Isabelle Faust playing Mozart's Third Violin Concerto, accompanied

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by the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, conducted by Bernard Haitink.

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Tai, it struck me that that was a very elegant,

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rather pared-back performance by Isabelle, what did you make of it?

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I love the way that she speaks Mozart.

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It's... I find that many people sing Mozart very well,

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but the way that she articulates every note and articulates

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every phrase and obviously the way that she just enjoys it.

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Isabelle Faust is one of my role models, has been

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throughout my development and I loved the performance.

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She had some very particular cadenzas written for her, I understand.

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Ooh. Wow! They were written...

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I had a question about who wrote them

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because in the first movement cadenza there was a moment where

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I was hoping it would go into the Pink Panther and it didn't quite.

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-So, I enjoyed it.

-That would have been a story!

-Yes.

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Now, let's just turn our attention from Isabelle to

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-Bernard Haitink, Xian, he is 88 years old now...

-Yes.

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-He's just getting started.

-Yes!

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Have you met him? Do you know him?

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I had the chance to meet him once.

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He was doing a concert of a Beethoven symphony with

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the LSO on tour.

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In, I believe, Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center.

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I went to his dressing room afterwards to congratulate him

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and that was the first time I met him.

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And he talked to me in such a gentle way, very softly,

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but he looked at me right in the eye.

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I was a very young conductor back then, a very young girl.

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I was very impressed just by the fact that he would

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take that time to talk to me and we talked about the Beethoven,

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about the symphony, I was very touched by it, so ever since...

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Of course, also, his recordings of Mahler has always, always been

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one of my really favourites and so I have really great

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memory of this man and completely adore him.

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I mean, Jules, do you see yourself still conducting when you're 88?

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I hope so.

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I'm not sure I am going to be in peak physical form like Bernard,

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but I'm going to try my best.

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It's interesting in a way, isn't it, that orchestral musicians often have

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a sort of the natural cut-off point of 65 for a retirement in a way

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through the job? But conductors and soloists alike, they just

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keep going until, you know, until the bitter end, I suppose.

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-Until the baton drops.

-Yeah, that's it.

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Let's go back to the Mozart because Xian, of course, you famously made

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-your debut as a conductor conducting Mozart, opera in that instance.

-Yes.

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Does it still give you a thrill to conduct works like the Violin

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-Concerto that we have just heard?

-Absolutely.

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Mozart, I really believe, is one of the hardest composers to

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-interpret and to perform because... Don't you agree?

-I would agree.

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To most musicians, Mozart's music is so transparent,

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it has to be so refined, it has to be so natural.

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To be natural is the hardest thing to do in life

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because we learn this,

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we learn that, but to be natural is actually the most difficult.

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For that, I find it always very challenging, actually, to do Mozart.

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Is that a challenge you find as a performer as well, Tai?

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I would agree very much with what you're saying.

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The whole natural thing, to be organic,

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to be yourself but yet be him, or be whoever you have decided he's

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trying to represent in the particular piece.

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-Sometimes...

-Yeah.

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Sorry, sometimes we get to talk to audience after concert and

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they will say, "That sounded so natural, so easy. That was very easy, right?"

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But... Actually, in fact, usually that's very hard to make it sound

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natural and organic.

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-That's the challenge but when it works...

-Yes.

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..magic happens, right?

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Well, if you want to see the grand master Haitink at work,

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then go to the BBC iPlayer, you'll find this Proms performance with

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Haitink and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

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Now, cast your mind back to 7th September 2013

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and the Last Night of the Proms.

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It was a night of firsts,

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Marin Alsop became the first woman to conduct

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the Last Night of the Proms and

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it was also the first time that anyone had heard this...

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MUSIC: Masquerade by Anna Clyne

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Composed by Anna Clyne, that piece of music is called Masquerade,

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and it's part of the new look Proms titles all over the BBC.

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So, you'll be hearing it a lot.

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As you can see, we like nothing more than a makeover

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here at Proms Extra so we headed up to Salford,

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home of the BBC Philharmonic,

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where, under the baton of conductor John Wilson,

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they were recording the new Proms theme tune.

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ORCHESTRA TUNES UP

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One of the exciting things about being a composer, or challenges

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too, is when you are composing, it's very solitary, you are by yourself.

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You are at your piano working away and then suddenly you are in front

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of 90-100 musicians, bringing this music to life

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so it is always a mix of excitement and also a little anxiety,

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just hoping that it is going to sound as you imagined it to sound.

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From the top, one, two, three.

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MUSIC PLAYS WITH DRAMATIC FLOURISH

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One of the challenges in rearranging Masquerade for this purpose

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was to find moments where the music would synchronise precisely

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with the visuals.

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So if you got a sudden change of shot,

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you want the music to shift at that same point.

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So, the images impose a structure on the music.

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Not bad?

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I'm wondering, actually, if they should hold forte

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-and then come down, actually.

-Let's try it.

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When you're recording it, you have to make sure the timings are exact.

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31, just give me some click, please.

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CLICKING

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One, two, two, two.

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The way we do that is that the conductor has the click track

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which is like a metronome which he'll hear through an earpiece.

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Through that we make sure that these things align perfectly

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and that the timing is precisely 20, 30 or 40 seconds.

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Each of these different musics opens with a very distinct sound,

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which is the sound of a whip crack.

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CRACK!

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That very percussive opening gesture that sets in motion

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the strings with these fast scale.

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One, two, three.

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MUSIC ERUPTS

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These sort of fanfare-like brass sounds that give a sense of joy and wonder.

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So, that then sort of blossoms into the imagination that comes to

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life at the Proms, at the Royal Albert Hall

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and how to really evoke that through music.

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-Yeah, it's better.

-It's the best two chords as well.

-Yeah.

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Bravo, everybody, thanks very much. Thanks...

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Phew!

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And that is a little insight into the new Proms makeover.

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You've all recorded, it's a fascinating process.

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Tai, is it one you enjoy?

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Yes and no, because what is missing in a recording is the vibe of

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the audience, the energy,

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the synergy that is created by the amount of people in this space.

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And so when you are in a recording situation, in a studio,

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without that audience, it is

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how you create that spinning top without them being there.

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I totally agree with that.

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I've done many recordings over the years where we will take that

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project and put it live and sometimes

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we've actually ended up releasing the live version instead

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of the stuff we slaved away for three days in the studio to record.

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-Yeah, yeah.

-It often gets very technical.

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You guys were just talking about the challenge of working to

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a click track, that seems a very unmusical process somehow?

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Yes, sometimes when we do film scores, you have to follow...

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That's just...

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That's much more challenging than opera or ballet,

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anything, your company, you have to follow a clock.

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That wouldn't, you know...

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I mean, generally, the theory is that you have three takes

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or at least in my world, if you're doing often what would be

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shorter pieces, you've got about three takes to nail it.

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Once you go past the third take, the energy naturally starts to

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diminish so you need to try, as Tai said, to keep this energy up and

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really imagine that you're live

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and sort of performing to an audience to try to get that peak.

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Yeah. Really usually the best is that run-through actually.

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From beginning to end, the run-through usually is the best.

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Always record the rehearsal.

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You can always retouch, yes,

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but the run-through usually has a better flow.

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It's the same with demos for artists,

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with a lot of artists, with the demo you can never get it.

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Oh, wow. Well, we've got no more makeovers but still to come here on Proms Extra...

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I don't think so anyway! David Owen Norris and his jumbo chord,

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and we go behind the scenes at the Royal Albert Hall

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with tenor Stuart Skelton

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and at the end of the show, we've got a performance by Tai,

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which will be marvellous.

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First though,

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for two decades, Sir Malcolm Sargent was the colourful,

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chief conductor of the Proms until his death in 1967.

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He was a great believer in bringing classical music to the masses,

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and he played a big part in bringing the Proms to a TV audience.

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To mark the 50th anniversary of his death, last week's Proms Extra

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guest, Sir Andrew Davis, recreated Sargent's 500th Prom from 1966.

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It was shown last night on BBC Four,

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and we have a clip, and, yes, it is in colour.

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That was Sir Andrew Davis conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra

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in a performance of Popular Song from Walton's Facade.

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Other pieces in that Prom honouring Malcolm Sargent

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included Elgar's Cockaigne Overture, The Perfect Fool by Holst

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Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra.

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Xian, it was quite a festival of English music.

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There was Berlioz and Schumann as well,

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but there was a lot of this English sound world.

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Is it one you like and are familiar with?

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Erm, I would...

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I like it very, very much, but actually this is the kind of music

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you don't get to hear that much outside the UK, which is a shame.

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I always find this kind of music has a lot of humour and charm in it.

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That makes it very British or English, however you call it.

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Outside the UK, really we don't get to play it often.

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-Shame.

-It is a shame!

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We don't play a lot of English composers' music.

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Britten, Elgar, that's pretty much what you hear,

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but really not enough.

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-It's all going to change after tonight, I can see it.

-It should.

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Tai, was Walton's Facade a piece that you knew and liked?

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Absolutely, yes. I think I was introduced to it

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in my middle teens at some point.

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Fast forwarding a few years.

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I love ballroom dancing and so this,

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-as a sort of a parody of all those dances...

-My kind of girl.

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..I love it.

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No, it's a highly entertaining piece from start to finish

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and I think Sir Andrew Davis was the perfect conductor

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as well on that occasion. I don't know if you agree.

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I would agree.

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I think that the charisma of his mannerisms perfectly seemed

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to mirror the music as it went along.

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Of course, if no-one has told him this before,

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he absolutely has that TV thing down, you know.

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THEY LAUGH

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I tell you the other thing that struck me,

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because I was at the Prom and enjoyed it very much,

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but also you go back 50 years,

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I think there were seven or eight pieces of music in the programme.

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It felt like the Last Night of the Proms, almost.

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We're so used to having maybe three works

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and it's quite a nostalgic trip.

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Is it one that you would like to see more of now,

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to reintroduce a longer, more varied programme, shorter pieces?

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I think that's a great idea.

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I really think, actually, we should also reduce

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the general timing of a concert.

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This one was long, though.

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Not only shorter pieces, more pieces, shorter pieces,

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and slightly shorter concert. I think.

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In a way, I think it works better for modern-day life.

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What do you think, Jules, would you agree with that?

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I think that there's definitely an element of truth in it.

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I think sometimes 75 minutes as a concert

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often for an audience feels better than 90.

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But, in a way, regardless, how you're going to piece together

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a programme of many short pieces is always a challenge

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and for that you always need to bear in mind who is the audience

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and what are they coming for, and you want to try to take them

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on a trip that really reaches the feeling of an arrival point

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when often the pieces themselves might not necessarily be

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so related to one another.

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-May I ask a really silly question?

-Hit me.

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When you're putting together shorter pieces, do you ever think

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this piece stopped on this note

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so the next one has to start on this note.

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-Sure.

-Really?

-Yeah, yeah.

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When I do programming, I should really think about that.

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Like keys, tempos.

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-Keys, I've thought.

-Vibe.

-OK, yes.

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But the note, hm, very interesting.

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I suppose I'm sometimes able to take liberties

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with the music I'm often working in,

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so I might create segues with the orchestras on the spot,

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we'll work something out as we did on the Scott concert,

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-but I'm not sure I could take those liberties with...

-Tchaikovsky.

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-Tchaikovsky.

-He's not around to ask, to be fair.

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He wouldn't probably mind.

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True.

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Well, we've just heard a little snippet of Walton's Popular Song

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so we're going to delve a little bit further into that music,

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courtesy of Proms Extra's keyboard wizard, David Owen Norris.

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HE PLAYS DISCORDANT CHORD

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Quite a shocking discord

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but actually our chord of the week

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is just the end of William Walton's Popular Song from Facade.

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HE PLAYS PASSAGE FROM POPULAR SONG

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Facade is a series of brilliant parodies of musical styles

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current in the 1920s, and I think Walton got the idea

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for this chord from a little piece published 100 years ago

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in the middle of the First World War while Walton was studying at Oxford,

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Nola by Felix Arndt.

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HE PLAYS PASSAGE FROM NOLA

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Now, that chord...

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is a dominant seventh...

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with an extra note,

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and Walton, the young tearaway, thought what if that extra note

0:20:010:20:04

had a dominant seventh all of its own?

0:20:040:20:07

And then I can play them together.

0:20:070:20:09

And then I can add an extra note!

0:20:110:20:14

But why was he thinking of Nola in the first place?

0:20:150:20:18

Well, here's Nola.

0:20:180:20:20

HE PLAYS PASSAGE FROM NOLA

0:20:200:20:23

And here's Popular Song, practically Nola upside down.

0:20:230:20:27

HE PLAYS SIMILAR PASSAGE FROM NOLA

0:20:270:20:30

Here's a riff from Nola.

0:20:310:20:33

Here's a riff from Popular Song.

0:20:360:20:38

In fact, they are so similar that you can simply weave them together.

0:20:410:20:45

Nola.

0:20:450:20:47

Popular Song.

0:20:490:20:51

And even both at once.

0:20:560:20:58

We love him. We just love him.

0:21:030:21:05

The Don of the chords will be back on Proms Extra next week

0:21:050:21:08

with his notes on Beethoven's 9th Symphony, well, you can't miss it.

0:21:080:21:11

Now, I did want to ask all of you but I think

0:21:110:21:14

I'm going to just focus on you, Tai, I'm putting you on the spot.

0:21:140:21:17

How do you respond after you finish performing? What do you do?

0:21:170:21:21

Do you have any little rituals?

0:21:210:21:22

Yes. As soon as I walk offstage, especially if things have gone well,

0:21:220:21:26

-I do a happy dance which I will not demonstrate right now.

-Oh, shame.

0:21:260:21:29

Which looks very happy, I think.

0:21:290:21:32

That's my thing.

0:21:340:21:36

And then I just, you know, maybe I go have a glass of champagne,

0:21:360:21:40

which is always nice.

0:21:400:21:42

And just decompress. It takes a while before the adrenaline disappears.

0:21:420:21:46

I can't go and take a nap after a concert, it's not possible.

0:21:460:21:50

I am slightly distraught that you're not going to do the happy dance

0:21:500:21:54

but the reason I was asking this is in the last series,

0:21:540:21:57

we asked pianist Stephen Hough to tell us how he got ready

0:21:570:21:59

for his Proms concert but we wanted to know what happens after a show.

0:21:590:22:02

This time, Proms Extra persuaded tenor Stuart Skelton to let us

0:22:020:22:05

follow him before and after his performance of Beethoven's Fidelio.

0:22:050:22:09

It's euphoria.

0:22:130:22:15

I don't think there's any other word for it.

0:22:150:22:17

Performing live is everything.

0:22:190:22:21

The bringing the audience along with you.

0:22:210:22:23

Making them love you, making them hate you,

0:22:250:22:27

making them fear for you, making them feel for you.

0:22:270:22:30

You've given of yourself to the point

0:22:300:22:32

where when you're done, there's nothing left.

0:22:320:22:35

When I'm singing, I'm actually quite fastidious

0:22:380:22:41

about protecting my voice.

0:22:410:22:42

One of the things I get constant teasing about from my colleagues

0:22:420:22:45

is that I don't drink 72 hours before

0:22:450:22:48

any performance or any rehearsal with orchestra,

0:22:480:22:52

just to make sure that little tiny bit of gristle

0:22:520:22:55

and cartilage in there behaves itself

0:22:550:22:56

for the two or three or four hours you're on stage.

0:22:560:23:00

The euphoria for me is all about anticipation

0:23:000:23:02

of that first martini and a couple of cocktail onions.

0:23:020:23:05

I'm genuinely serious.

0:23:050:23:07

You can almost taste the cold gin, you know.

0:23:070:23:11

I've put a beer in here for afterwards.

0:23:110:23:13

It's staying cold for the time being.

0:23:130:23:15

Shh!

0:23:150:23:16

HE VOCALISES

0:23:220:23:25

If you sing a note and the voice cracks or splits, or doesn't sound,

0:23:260:23:29

pick yourself up, get up, keep going as if nothing happened.

0:23:290:23:33

There's not a singer on the planet that can remember any word

0:23:330:23:36

from a decent review, but we know word for word

0:23:360:23:39

everyone that slated us, every time without fail.

0:23:390:23:43

And then you go home, you obsess over it for 24 hours

0:23:430:23:46

and then you realise you're the only person that cares now

0:23:460:23:49

so you might want to stop and suck it up, daffodil.

0:23:490:23:52

His first note, there's nothing underneath him, it's just the voice,

0:23:550:23:58

that's what was everyone in, makes that space very small very quickly.

0:23:580:24:02

# God. #

0:24:040:24:16

And there is no do-overs, there's no Mulligans,

0:24:180:24:20

so you should feel empty at the end, a physical exhaustion.

0:24:200:24:25

It's euphoria, it's relief and being able to be with your colleagues

0:24:250:24:28

and come off the stage and look at each other

0:24:280:24:30

and know that what you gave was everything you had to give.

0:24:300:24:34

Hiya.

0:24:360:24:37

Hot, sweaty. Really good.

0:24:370:24:40

Everyone is obviously very happy, it was a terrific performance.

0:24:400:24:44

We're just ecstatic.

0:24:440:24:46

Good show, what a reaction from the crowd, eh?

0:24:460:24:49

MUSIC: Back In Black by AC/DC

0:24:490:24:54

Exhilarating.

0:24:580:25:00

Cheers.

0:25:000:25:02

I'll come back to that later.

0:25:040:25:06

Cover the glasses up. I'll take them down to the photo shoot.

0:25:060:25:09

It's a good day. A really good day.

0:25:090:25:13

Come along for the ride, guys.

0:25:130:25:16

It's like after work drinks.

0:25:160:25:18

Whatever job you do, on a Friday night,

0:25:180:25:20

the office group or whatever, let's head down to the pub

0:25:200:25:23

for a couple of rounds. It's exactly the same thing.

0:25:230:25:25

You just happen to have other people here

0:25:250:25:27

and your job just happened to have been in front of 6,000 people.

0:25:270:25:30

Here you go. Cheers.

0:25:300:25:32

Part of what we do is connecting with an audience

0:25:320:25:34

when you're performing.

0:25:340:25:35

I think the other half is connecting with the audience

0:25:350:25:38

when we're not performing, and the way to do that is just to be you.

0:25:380:25:43

How are you? Hiya.

0:25:430:25:44

How are you? Hiya.

0:25:440:25:47

Hiya. How are you doing?

0:25:470:25:49

'And I try to get changed into civvies.

0:25:490:25:53

'I need to get back to real life.

0:25:530:25:55

'I'm nobody.'

0:25:550:25:57

I'm the guy headed to the bar for the first martini

0:25:570:26:00

just like everyone else.

0:26:000:26:01

See you later, guys. Bye-bye, thanks!

0:26:050:26:07

The wonderful Stuart Skelton, and I can tell you

0:26:140:26:16

that you can see him performing in Beethoven's Fidelio tomorrow night,

0:26:160:26:19

BBC Four at 9:30, straight after Xian Zhang's Prom which is at 7:30.

0:26:190:26:23

And if that's not enough of the man,

0:26:230:26:25

he's going to be here in the studio with me next week

0:26:250:26:27

and we are all looking forward to the drinks after the show already.

0:26:270:26:32

Now, let's turn to the man behind Proms such as Quincy Jones,

0:26:320:26:35

the Radio 1 Ibiza Prom, the Urban Prom, Jamie Cullum, and so forth.

0:26:350:26:38

Jules, you're the man. You conducted the Scott Walker Prom

0:26:380:26:41

just this last week.

0:26:410:26:42

-Was it fantastic?

-It felt good.

0:26:420:26:45

I have to ask the question,

0:26:450:26:47

because not everybody will know about the genius of Scott Walker,

0:26:470:26:50

tell us a little bit about the man, the artist.

0:26:500:26:52

Scott Walker is an artist who originally was in a group

0:26:520:26:56

called the Walker Brothers.

0:26:560:26:59

He was brought to public fame through this group.

0:26:590:27:02

And at a certain point in the mid '60s, he just decided

0:27:020:27:05

he wanted to break away and do his own thing.

0:27:050:27:09

He therefore set about recording a series of solo

0:27:090:27:12

albums in a very short period of time, like 1967-70.

0:27:120:27:16

And he teamed up with an incredible arranger called Angela Morley

0:27:160:27:21

who at that point was writing stuff for the BBC Big Band

0:27:210:27:23

and the BBC Radio Orchestra,

0:27:230:27:25

and also another guy called Reg Guest.

0:27:250:27:28

And between them they basically crafted these albums which have

0:27:280:27:32

gone on to become cult albums because what's unique about

0:27:320:27:37

Scott is that he makes an album, he puts his heart and soul into it.

0:27:370:27:41

He listens to it, so the legend goes,

0:27:410:27:44

he listens to it once and then moves straight on to the next album.

0:27:440:27:47

So he never performs it, he never listens to it again.

0:27:470:27:50

And this music has never been performed since 1967

0:27:500:27:53

and another legend has it that in '70, he was offered

0:27:530:27:57

an orchestra and the Albert Hall,

0:27:570:27:59

but for whatever reason it didn't happen so it's something

0:27:590:28:02

I think a lot of people have been waiting a long time to hear.

0:28:020:28:06

Well, let's not keep them waiting any longer.

0:28:060:28:08

It's time to see a little bit of the Scott Walker Prom right now.

0:28:080:28:11

# It's raining today

0:28:110:28:13

# But once there was summer and you

0:28:160:28:20

# And dark little rooms

0:28:220:28:25

# And sleep in late afternoons

0:28:300:28:34

# You are all right now

0:28:360:28:39

# So stop a while behind our smile... #

0:28:410:28:51

# My life's a meaningless pursuit of meaningless smiles

0:28:520:28:59

# Why can't God touch me with a sign

0:28:590:29:03

# Perhaps there's no-one there answered the booth

0:29:070:29:12

# And Death hid within his cloak and smiled... #

0:29:120:29:19

# Plastic palace Alice

0:29:190:29:22

# Blows gaping holes to store her fears

0:29:240:29:28

# Inside her lover's head

0:29:280:29:32

# Listen, they're laughing in the halls

0:29:360:29:42

# They rip your face with lies

0:29:420:29:46

# To buzzing eyes you cry for help

0:29:460:29:51

# Like gods they bark replies. #

0:29:510:29:58

The stars there paying tribute to Scott Walker with

0:30:010:30:04

Jules Buckley conducting the Heritage Orchestra.

0:30:040:30:06

Schooling an audience into the genius mind of Scott Walker

0:30:060:30:09

who we hear was there, and indeed we have proof.

0:30:090:30:12

One of the soloists Susanne Sundfor tweeted this picture of her

0:30:120:30:14

and John Grant with Scott Walker after the show saying

0:30:140:30:17

she got to meet her hero and, Tai, you were there,

0:30:170:30:20

tell us what your impressions of it were?

0:30:200:30:23

Emotional, actually. Quite emotional.

0:30:250:30:28

All the performances were incredibly touching.

0:30:280:30:31

But also it was an education for me

0:30:310:30:35

because I grew up listening to so many great rock, pop singers.

0:30:350:30:41

Huge ballads, Broadway and just the realisation of the impact

0:30:410:30:47

that he had on all of these different artists and art forms.

0:30:470:30:51

It means quite a lot to music in all of its forms, I think.

0:30:510:30:55

And just to be a part of that audience that was so emotionally

0:30:550:30:58

engaged and so happy to be there and enjoying themselves so much.

0:30:580:31:03

It was fantastic and I thank this man sitting right here.

0:31:030:31:06

Jules, you were saying artists were queuing up to be part of this

0:31:070:31:10

Prom but it's not just about the singers,

0:31:100:31:12

though even though their performances were marvellous.

0:31:120:31:15

The orchestra was very much centre stage in all these arrangements.

0:31:150:31:18

Yeah, absolutely.

0:31:180:31:19

On one album of Scott's, Scott 3,

0:31:190:31:21

there's a track called It's Raining Today.

0:31:210:31:24

And what's very interesting is that at the time, think about it,

0:31:240:31:28

'67, you have no references, you have no Spotify, you don't

0:31:280:31:32

have CDs, you can't really delve into these classic

0:31:320:31:35

pop albums to find some orchestral inspiration, so,

0:31:350:31:40

Angela Morley came up with this crazy atonal cluster chord

0:31:400:31:44

that's a combination of string harmonics, string trills,

0:31:440:31:47

some wind notes that are fading in and out.

0:31:470:31:50

And that abstractly works against this tonal and very,

0:31:500:31:54

sort of, more melodic guitar bass, sort of groove.

0:31:540:31:58

That track alone stands the test of time against so many pop albums,

0:31:580:32:04

Radiohead, Anohni, Last Shadow Puppets,

0:32:040:32:07

Marc Almond, you name it, they've all been influenced by Scott Walker.

0:32:070:32:11

And none more so than David Bowie

0:32:110:32:13

who once, on radio Scott Walker phoned in

0:32:130:32:16

and wished him happy birthday and he wasn't even able to speak.

0:32:160:32:20

This is the gravity of the man we're talking about.

0:32:200:32:23

So I think for many people in the audience, there was this cathartic

0:32:230:32:27

feeling, you know, they were waiting to hear these tracks because it was

0:32:270:32:33

a revolutionary type of production technique

0:32:330:32:36

in that day and age. It was orchestra up front

0:32:360:32:39

instead of the...

0:32:390:32:41

often, sort of wallpaper style at the back thing you get.

0:32:410:32:44

Xian, is this a style of music you'd like to conduct?

0:32:440:32:47

I think nowadays conductors do all genres, all sorts.

0:32:490:32:54

We do film scores, we do ballet, dances, waltzes.

0:32:540:32:59

Of course, anything. Tango.

0:32:590:33:03

I just performed with Indian musicians and the sarods, all sorts.

0:33:030:33:08

I think they're all connected, eventually. All forms are connected.

0:33:080:33:12

It's just wonderful hearing what the Proms comes up with very year

0:33:120:33:16

but particularly you, Jules. Is there anything on your list now,

0:33:160:33:19

genres you've yet to bring to the hall?

0:33:190:33:22

I was thinking about Eminem, actually.

0:33:220:33:24

No, seriously speaking, actually, Flying Lotus would be awesome.

0:33:250:33:29

Anderson Paak, someone like that.

0:33:290:33:32

An artist that's absolutely at the forefront of what's going on

0:33:320:33:35

at this point in time.

0:33:350:33:37

And you mentioned Eminem because I know, Tai, you want to work with him.

0:33:370:33:40

I am a huge fan, yes.

0:33:400:33:42

-I am looking forward to that day. It's coming.

-We could team up.

0:33:420:33:46

Absolutely.

0:33:460:33:47

-You said that now on air.

-Let's shake on it live on TV.

-OK.

0:33:470:33:53

-I love it.

-Fantastic.

0:33:530:33:55

If you want to see Jules at work, head to the BBC iPlayer

0:33:550:33:58

where you will find the Scott Walker Revisited Prom in all its glory.

0:33:580:34:00

This is also a good time to remind you that besides the iPlayer,

0:34:000:34:03

the Proms can be consumed in all sorts of ways,

0:34:030:34:05

there's the Proms website, every concert is broadcast

0:34:050:34:07

live on Radio 3, and the Proms has gone all modern and got

0:34:070:34:10

itself a weekly podcast presented by the comedienne, Vikki Stone,

0:34:100:34:13

which is great.

0:34:130:34:14

All of that is yours to feast on, do it responsibly.

0:34:140:34:17

Earlier in the show, you saw the tenor Stuart Skelton

0:34:170:34:19

winding down after his performance in Beethoven's only opera,

0:34:190:34:23

Fidelio and you can see that on BBC Four tomorrow at 9.30.

0:34:230:34:26

Here's a clip.

0:34:260:34:27

MUSIC: Fidelio by Beethoven

0:34:280:34:31

Juanjo Mena, conducting Fidelio on BBC Four tomorrow night at 9.30,

0:35:140:35:18

and Stuart Skelton is coming to join me in the studio next week

0:35:180:35:21

so do tune in for that.

0:35:210:35:22

It's a week of voices as Proms highlights to listen out for on Radio 3 include

0:35:220:35:27

Finnish folk music at Cadogan Hall.

0:35:270:35:29

We've got the conductor William Christie and the Orchestra

0:35:290:35:32

and Choir of the Age of Enlightenment coming together

0:35:320:35:34

to perform Handel's oratorio, Israel in Egypt, and there's

0:35:340:35:38

a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie on Friday.

0:35:380:35:41

That's also on BBC Four at eight o'clock

0:35:410:35:43

which is handy because we're reviewing it next Saturday

0:35:430:35:45

on this show.

0:35:450:35:47

Now, I'd like to thank my guests,

0:35:470:35:49

Xian Zhang and Jules Buckley. Good luck, Xian, for your Prom tomorrow.

0:35:490:35:52

-Thank you.

-Very much looking forward to that one.

0:35:520:35:55

Lots of excitement about that Prom, I must say.

0:35:550:35:57

Jules, all the crew want to carry your baton to the

0:35:570:35:59

Mingus Prom cos it's the only way they are going to get tickets.

0:35:590:36:02

Actually, it's funny you say that cos I left it in the hall

0:36:020:36:05

after the Scott concert.

0:36:050:36:07

-No.

-If anyone's seen it, it's about this long.

0:36:070:36:11

We're on it, we'll find it.

0:36:110:36:12

And thank you to violinist Tai Murray who is playing the show out with Humoresque

0:36:120:36:17

by Sibelius, accompanied by her pianist Fiachra Garvey.

0:36:170:36:20

Goodbye.

0:36:200:36:22

MUSIC: Humoresque by Sibelius

0:36:220:36:26

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