Prom 63: Taneyev, Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky

Live at BBC Proms: the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Semyon Bychkov. Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony, and Kirill Gerstein joins for Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No.1.

Live from the Royal Albert Hall, London
Presented by Penny Gore

Taneyev: Overture - The Oresteia
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.1

c.20.10 INTERVAL: Proms Extra
Novelist Ben Markovits and Dr Anna Camilleri from the University of Oxford talk to New Generation Thinker Shahidha Bari about Lord Byron and his poem 'Manfred', the story of a Faustian nobleman living in the Bernese Alps who summons seven spirits to help him forget the death of his beloved Astarte. Readings are performed by Samuel West. Recorded earlier as a Proms Extra with an audience at Imperial College.
Producer: Fiona McLean

c.20:40
Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony

Kirill Gerstein (piano)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Semyon Bychkov (conductor)

Continuing his season-long Tchaikovsky Project, which included performances earlier this summer with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Semyon Bychkov conducts an all-Russian programme that climaxes with the composer's vividly programmatic symphony Manfred. Translating the struggles of Byron's hero (who celebrates his 200th anniversary this year) into music proved a challenging task for the composer but the result is a glorious musical epic, full of drama and colour.

Kirill Gerstein is the soloist for Rachmaninov's youthful Piano Concerto No. 1, concluding our cycle of the composer's piano concertos with a work whose stormy beauty is a natural companion for Taneyev's brooding Oresteia overture.