BBC Proms: Season 2016, Episode 23

2016 - 23: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Plays Tchaikovsky

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra perform Tchaikovsky's fourth symphony with their new Music Director, 30 year old Lithuanian Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla.

Mozart's overture to The Magic Flute and a new piece by Hans Abrahamsen also feature in this broadcast presented by American soprano Angel Blue.

Written in 1877 Tchaikovsky's fourth symphony famously explores the forces of fate wrestling with human happiness, through music that is tragic, yearning and celebratory.

The curtain-raiser is Mozart's overture to his opera The Magic Flute. The overture packs a punch. Playful inventiveness, dramatic shifts between sparkling melodies, and the famous Masonic three chords which open and punctuate it.

The concert also features the London premiere of Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen's acclaimed new work "Let me tell you". The work features Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan balances vocal dexterity with emotional subtlety to create a powerful interpretation of Hamlet's troubled Ophelia.