Prom 51: Weir, Schumann and Elgar with the BBC Symphony Orchestra

Live at the BBC Proms: Sakari Oramo conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Elgar's Violin Concerto with soloist Christian Tetzlaff, plus a Judith Weir world premiere, and Schumann.

Presented by Martin Handley, live from the Royal Albert Hall, London

Judith Weir: Begin Afresh (BBC commission: world premiere)
Robert Schumann: Symphony No. 1 in B flat major, ‘Spring’

c.8.10pm INTERVAL: Martin Handley is joined in the Radio 3 box by David Owen Norris to discuss the origins and enduring influence of Elgar's Violin Concerto.

c.8.30pm
Edward Elgar: Violin Concerto in B minor

Christian Tetzlaff (violin)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sakari Oramo (conductor)

Elgar’s boldly virtuosic Violin Concerto was one of the few works he admitted to being proud of: ‘Awfully emotional! Too emotional,’ he said, ‘but I love it.’ A deeply personal work, its title-page carries the enigmatic inscription ‘Herein is enshrined the soul of .....’. Distinguished German violinist Christian Tetzlaff is the soloist, following in the line of Fritz Kreisler, for whom the concerto was written. Schumann’s ‘Spring’ Symphony reflects the freshness and drive that seized the composer around the time of his marriage. Begin Afresh, a new commission from Master of the King’s Music Judith Weir, also celebrates new beginnings, inspired by Philip Larkin’s poem ‘The Trees’.

02:38 Judith Weir: Begin Afresh
22:30 Robert Schumann: Symphony No 1
56:25 Interval: David Owen Norris on Elgar's Violin Concerto
01:20:25 Edward Elgar: Violin Concerto in B minor