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Highlights from the BBC Proms, the UK's greatest classical music festival

Highlights from the BBC Proms, the UK's greatest classical music festival.

Memorable performances from the Proms season of classical concerts, recorded in the unique atmosphere of the Royal Albert Hall in London.

BBC Proms on the World Service: BBC Proms 2016: Dvorak's Slavonic Dances with the Berlin Philharmonic

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10/09/2016 GMT

Dvorak's Slavonic Dances with the Berlin Philharmonic

BBC Proms 2016

BBC World Service - BBC Proms on the World Service, BBC Proms 2016, Dvorak's Slavonic Dances with the Berlin Philharmonic

Simon Rattle conducts the much loved dance miniatures that made Dvorak a household name

Andrew McGregor presents the 2016 season of seven specially selected broadcasts from this year's BBC Proms concerts.

DVORAK: Slavonic Dances op.46 (selection)
Julian ANDERSON: Incantesimi (UK premiere)
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Conducted by Sir Simon Rattle

One of Europe’s most distinguished orchestras returns to the Proms with its charismatic music chief conductor and artistic director to perform some of the most toe-tapping music written in the 19th Century - Dvorak’ Slavonic Dances - and a new work by contemporary British composer by Julian Anderson.

In Dvorak's lifetime, sheet music for piano, especially arrangements designed to be played by two people, was the equivalent of today's online streaming: a relatively inexpensive way for music lovers to find out what is new and for the composer, a modest source of income and potential vehicle for renown. So when in 1878 the well-known publishing house of Simrock printed the first set of Dvorak's Slavonic Dances, their success with the piano-playing public quickly led to a request to turn them into the colourful orchestral version we hear in this BBC Prom concert. 

And, to underscore the Proms' continuing commitment to present the best music of today, we hear a new work from one of UK's most talented composers.

BBC Radio 3's Andrew McGregor is joined by Alpesh Chauhan, former assistant conductor at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, a young musician inspired by the remarkable successes that Simon Rattle enjoyed with the CBSO during the formative years of his career.

(Photo: Sir Simon Rattle. Credit: Mat Henneck/EMI)

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Dvorak's Slavonic Dances with the Berlin Philharmonic

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