Episode 4

Synopsis

1989: Twentieth Anniversary

Series of performances marking the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, featuring German orchestras from both sides of the wall and revolutionary music.

The Berlin Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel perform works by Rachmaninov and Stravinsky. Conductor Kurt Masur reflects on how close protesters in the East German city of Leipzig came to tragedy and conducts Beethoven's incidental music to Goethe's play Egmont. Beethoven depicts in music Goethe's libertarian hero Count Egmont, his faith in his fellow man and his resolute opposition to tyranny.

The link stays literary with Liszt's tone poem Tasso - Lamento e Trionfo. Torquato Tasso was a 16th-century Italian poet and the subject of works by both Goethe and Lord Byron, who, in turn, is the inspiration behind Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony.

Rachmaninov: The Isle of the Dead
Berlin Philharmonic
Gustavo Dudamel (conductor)

Stravinsky: Violin Concerto
Viktoria Mullova (violin)
Berlin Philharmonic
Gustavo Dudamel (conductor)

2.50pm
Beethoven: Egmont - incidental music
Melanie Diener (soprano)
Orchestra National de France
Kurt Masur (conductor)

Liszt: Tasso - Lamento e Trionfo
BBC Philharmonic
Gianandrea Noseda (conductor)

3.50pm
Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony
Orchestre National de France
Kurt Masur (conductor).

Broadcast

1. Fri 13 Nov 2009
   14:00
   BBC Radio 3