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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

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BBC Proms

Music: Classical

2024

The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.

The world's greatest classical music festival. Stunning performances, unique collaborations and the sheer joy of live music. Relive 2023's highlights before the new season begins.

BBC Proms: 2010: Prom 21

BBC Proms: 2010: Prom 21: Part 2: Berlioz, Wagner - Part 2

Prom 21

Part 2 Part 2: Berlioz, Wagner - Part 2

2010

Berlioz, Wagner - Part 2

BBC Radio 3 - BBC Proms, 2010, Prom 21, Berlioz, Wagner - Part 2

Act 2 of Wagner's Tristan and Isolde with the OAE and Sir Simon Rattle.

Sir Simon Rattle conducts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment with soloists Violetta Urmana and Ben Heppner in Act 2 of Wagner's Tristan and Isolde.

BBC PROMS 2010

Live from the Royal Albert Hall, London

Presented by Andrew McGregor.

Sir Simon Rattle evokes two iconic pairs of lovers in Berlioz's response to Shakespeare, and Wagner's re-working of a medieval celtic legend, with the distinguished soloists Violetta Urman and Ben Heppner as Isolde and Tristan, accompanied by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Berlioz first discovered Shakespeare through performances of Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet, involving his future wife Harriet Smithson, and these had a deep influence on his work. In his dramatic symphony based on the star-crossed lovers' tale, he pays hommage to Beethoven, and in later life he looked upon this Love Scene as one of his greatest achievements.

Attending one of the early performances of Romeo and Juliet in Paris was Richard Wagner, who later drew inspiration from this for Tristan and Isolde. He became intrigued with the medieval romantic legend at a time when he was enthralled with Matilde von Wesendonck, and he poured some of his most heartfelt passion into the opera. Act 2 is laden with the erotically charged symbolism of Night and Day, with the lovers constrained by propriety in the Day, only able to freely express their desires in the Night.

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde - Act 2

Isolde.....................Violeta Urmana, soprano
Tristan...........................Ben Heppner, tenor
King Mark.................Franz-Josef Selig, bass
Brangane......Sarah Connolly, mezzo-soprano
Melot......................Timothy Robinson, tenor
Kurwenal......................Henk Neven, baritone 
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Sir Simon Rattle, conductor

This Prom will be repeated on Thursday 5th August at 2pm.

BBC Proms: 2010

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

All broadcasts from the 116th season of the BBC Proms

Simon Rattle conducts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in Berlioz and Mahler

Simon Rattle conducts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in Berlioz's version of Romeo and Juliet and Mahler's reworking of the medieval legend of Tristan and Isolde

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BBC Proms

2010

Prom 21

Part 2: Berlioz, Wagner - Part 2

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