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Episode details

Radio 3,25 Dec 2025,109 mins

SeriesProms at Christmas 2025

The Vienna Philharmonic plays Tchaikovsky

BBC Proms

Available for 14 days

Another chance to hear the Vienna Philharmonic perform Tchaikovsky's ‘Pathétique’ Symphony and Mozart's 'Prague' Symphony with conductor Franz Welser-Möst. Recorded at the Royal Albert Hall on 9th September, 2025. Presented by Martin Handley Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony No. 38 in D major, ‘Prague’ Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in B minor, ‘Pathétique’ Vienna Philharmonic Franz Welser-Möst, conductor Franz Welser-Möst and the Vienna Philharmonic round off their Proms visits with two late, great symphonies, each breaking the musical mould. Hot on the heels of The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart’s ‘Prague’ Symphony is animated by the same iconoclastic brilliance, bewitching audiences with a work whose thematic richness, breadth and ambition outpaced any previous symphony. A century later it was Tchaikovsky’s turn to defy convention with his final, ‘Pathétique’ Symphony – whose confessional intensity and turbulent passions conceal a secret narrative known only to the composer. Huge melodies soar and surge, but there’s no happy ending; the symphony closes not with a shout of triumph but a heart-breaking lament.

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Tracklist

  1. Track
    Artist
  2. 1.
    Symphony no. 38 in D major K.504 (Prague)
    Symphony no. 38 in D major K.504 (Prague)
    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  3. 2.
    Symphony No. 6 in B minor, 'Pathétique'
    Symphony No. 6 in B minor, 'Pathétique'
    Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
  4. 3.
    Kornblumen Op.22 no. 1
    Kornblumen Op.22 no. 1
    Richard Strauss