Over the past 100 years, since the end of World War I,
classical music has brought us together.
In uncertain times, it helped us to make sense of who we were -
comforting us and raising morale.
Along the way, it's created superstars, drawn legions of fans,
and found its way into the lifeblood of the nation.
And as Britain changed, so classical music reflected back
at us who we wanted to be.
By the 1980s, Britain was at a crossroads -
chart-topping pop MTV, shopping, and shoulder pads on the one hand -
Thatcherism, the miners strike, and mass unemployment on the other.
In an era of raging consumerism, classical music would have to
compete for our attention like never before.
Along with recording artist and West End star, Alexandra Burke...
Two things I love in life - football and music.
..I'll be discovering just how classical music cut
through the noise, transforming cities...
We watched this extraordinary building go up.
The whole of Birmingham changed around it.
..reinventing its image, and breaking down barriers.
We'll discover how a new generation of musical superstars were
tearing up the rule book...
What we were doing was breaking new ground.
..venturing beyond the concert hall
and engaging with the world in a fresh, new way.
This was Our Classical Century.
# We'll always be together
# Together in electric...
In 1984, the charts were dominated by the signature sound of the '80s.
# Dreams... #
Synth pop.
# People are people, so why should it be
# You and I should get along so awfully... #
Sandwiched between the electronic grooves of Depeche Mode and
The Human League was a six-year-old French classical composition
reproduced on a synthesiser.
It provided the soundtrack to one of Britain's most
unforgettable sporting triumphs.
And at number ten, "Bolero" by the Mike Reed Orchestra
and Richard Hartley.
And here in their Olympic gold performance, Torvill and Dean.
Maurice Ravel had made it into the charts.
MUSIC: "Bolero" by Maurice Ravel
This was a sensational performance.
I know it so well, yet I wasn't even born when they did it.
"BOLERO" CONTINUES
It's become something that we all know and love so, so well,
a defining moment in history.
And I think it's down to their choice of music.
"BOLERO" CONTINUES
Everybody says, "Well, who thought of it"?
And clearly it was me. SHE LAUGHS
We can't remember, that's the thing. Oh, really?
Jane will admit that it's her. LAUGHTER CONTINUES
It probably was me, actually. I love it.
We first played "Bolero" when we were warming up on the ice
the season before we used it.
To the gentle classical piece of music, just to warm up.
And it was just the right length of time - like, 16 minutes or so.
As the music builds, the intensity builds.
So, it had the, you know, perfect warm up sequence.
And you know, that, I think, in some way got into our brains.
It was really about the nature of the music. Yeah.
Of starting small and intimate - private moment.
You know, it was just about us, we were in this bubble.
But what happens - the intensity grows and grows, the crescendo.
Right up into that last part, when you get the coda.
It just all comes crashing to this final end.
And so, emotionally...
..it was perfect.
"BOLERO" CONTINUES
There were particular points that you could pick out that...
"Here's a certain move.
"Here's a lift that everybody would go, 'Oh, yes!'"
And it lends itself to those moments.
We thought it was perfect - and a few judges did, too.
There we go.
ANNOUNCER: And it's straight across the board! That's it!
Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean have won the gold medal.
But in the Olympic amateur era, winning gold was a budget affair.
To do "Bolero", it needed a full orchestra.
We absolutely did not have the finances to be able to do that.
And so - hence, Richard Hartley came into it.
PLAYS "BOLERO"
A perhaps unlikely collaborator, the composer Richard Hartley
was best known for his work on The Rocky Horror Show.
"BOLERO" CONTINUES
We laid it down one part at a time.
So, we started with the snare drum - which is just a two-bar loop.
Yeah.
And the bass, which is actually just...
PLAYS BASS MELODY
Quite a taxing bassline. It is! LAUGHTER
We used the Synclavier, cos that has a fantastic orchestral library.
Then, bit by bit, we played every single part.
But also, we had to cut it down, because it was still a bit too long.
Nowadays with modern sequences, that would have been easy. But...
I was going to say one of the things about this piece is -
it has to, like, imperceptibly get a bit faster and a bit faster.
Every eight bars, we had to turn this little knob on the Synclavier -
to just turn the tempo by one beat per minute.
One of us had a stopwatch, and one us had the little dial.
And then, somebody else... SHE LAUGHS
It's so Heath Robinson!
"One of us had a piece of string, one of us had a..."
I wouldn't say Heath Robinson, but you know...
So, bit by bit we built this -
so, you know, it's not unlike modern dance music.
That idea that you can record a little tiny bit of something,
and add layers and layers. Yeah.
That's kind of what Ravel's doing anyway, with the piece of music.
What he hated, of course, was it speeding up. Right.
But you evidently thought you knew better than the composer.
I wasn't the only one! LAUGHTER
"BOLERO" CONTINUES
APPLAUSE
CLAPPING IN RHYTHM
Well, the thing that always makes me laugh is that Ravel hated it.
And he said...it was kind of a joke.
It was like an exercise in how to write the most boring piece of music
you could, but make an orchestra sound amazing.
So, he starts with that really boring bassline - and then,
he's sort of adding every instrument the orchestra - until in the end,
you get this, like, overwhelming wall of sound.
Crescendos, and it's like - yeah.
It's a really powerful, effective piece of music. It is, yeah.
It's amazing - out of those two little cords.
But you know, as a child, he was fascinated by mechanical toys.
And his mother used to sing Spanish songs as lullabies.
So, when you think about that...
You get both of those in here. You get both of those in this.
The bassline is like mechanical toys... Yeah, it is.
And the snare drum. HE IMITATES SNARE DRUM
And then, the...
PLAYS MELODY
Sounds like a Paso Doble. Yeah. Yeah?
It's like a sort of gypsy music... and it's kind of sexy.
You know, that hypnotic, sort of mesmeric thing. Yeah.
So, you can imagine people in the front room with the record on.
THEY CHUCKLE
"Come on. Come on, darling - we're ordering a curry tonight.
"We're staying in." Practising the routine?
"Get that Ravel on."
THEY LAUGH
"BOLERO" CONTINUES
You know it's still very endearing to us, every time we hear it.
And we hear it all the time now, as well.
"BOLERO" CONTINUES
It's our signature tune.
"BOLERO" CONTINUES
"BOLERO" ENDS
APPLAUSE
Torvill and Dean's Olympic triumph had propelled Ravel's most
famous work into the pop charts.
Classical musicians began to realise they could be brilliant players,
And they could also be part of that '80s vibe - fun, youthful, sexy.
In an age of fast fashions and new trends,
classical music was becoming catchy.
Ahh, The Four Seasons.
The scourge of anybody who's ever been left on hold,
or been to a shopping centre, or at a lift, or the supermarket -
pretty much anywhere.
It is Antonio Vivaldi's masterpiece.
It's the most recorded piece of classical music ever.
But it had become like a kind of aural equivalent of candyfloss -
not much substance, sickly sweet.
And then, in 1989, a blazing firebrand young musician
took that staid old warhorse of baroque music and reinvented it
for the era of the pop star.
APPLAUSE
Riveting, isn't it?
So, anyways - it starts off nice and formal, and then, like, "Summer" is
like a major shock, because, like -
you know, you kind of picture nice girls in bikinis, and like,
nice beach warfare and stuff.
And that's not what it's about at all - it's like really serious,
aggressive, heavy, hot summer.
Like, so it's not an English summer, or anything like that.
It's like an Italian one.
So, I get pictures of, like, kind of oppressive heat, you know?
Vivaldi suffered from asthma.
Like - so do I, actually.
And like, so I imagined someone, like, really in trouble with the
heat and with no asthma medicine, and, like, having problems
breathing - it's the anger of the heat and the violence of the heat,
and stuff like that.
Nigel Kennedy was a protege of one of the great violinists
of the century - Yehudi Menuhin, and he went to his famous school.
I wouldn't be a classical musician at all if Menuhin hadn't have paid
for all my tuition and lodging, and everything at the school.
Also, he was like a great example, because he was very open-minded.
You know, like when I started playing jazz and stuff.
Some of the teachers started running around in circles, saying,
"What shall we do with this kid? This is like boys' school material!"
You know, all that kind of stuff.
And Menuhin just said, "Oh, let him get on with it".
Kennedy's take on Vivaldi was entirely new.
And the record labels - hungry for their next star -
spotted his potential.
You have this beautiful single with you.
Can we put it on please. Yes, of course.
I remember buying this. Fantastic.
Yeah - I think it's supposed to be the first classical single.
Anyway, it's "Summer" from the Four Seasons.
The reason being is that it was late summer.
MUSIC: "Vivaldi: Summer I" by Nigel Kennedy
Perfect length, as well.
Three minutes, 22 seconds.
See? Vivaldi knew how to write a pop song.
Well, this is the thing - if he'd written it as a seven-minute
movement, I didn't think it would've been quite as successful.
MUSIC: "Vivaldi: Summer I" by Nigel Kennedy
I remember this album.
And I mean, apart from the blazing performance, the really memorable
thing was that this cover did not look like a classical album.
He had the punk aesthetic of the really, kind of, crops. Yeah.
That sort of, you know, spiky hairdo.
We took elements of what you would do for a pop record -
all very straightforward, promotional single, trying to get
artists onto radio and TV as much as you could.
Nigel Kennedy - the violinist who calls himself a "fiddler"
and his concerts "gigs" - starts a national tour today.
And his latest Vivaldi recording is number one in the Classical charts,
and he's the first virtuoso to put a complete concerto
into the pop charts.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Aston Villain himself,
Nigel Kennedy!
APPLAUSE
Hello, welcome to Top Of The Pops - the magic roundabout of music!
MUSIC: "Vivaldi: Summer I" by Nigel Kennedy
What other firsts were there?
What other kinds of things did you decide would be part of
the marketing strategy?
To show how important it was to us, we took out the front four pages
of Music Week.
This has never been done before with a classical artist.
This was usually the domain of Queen or Talk Talk, or Kate Bush.
But this was the first crossover classical record.
What do you think classical music has to offer for kids nowadays?
I think it's like got something to offer to anyone who wants
to listen to more than Clayderman or Jason Donovan.
But why would they get into it? HE CHUCKLES
It's not something - I don't think you get it in school any more.
And a lot of kids' parents won't even be listening to classical music
any more, they'll be listening to The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
Well, I'd be inclined to say that is classical music, you know?
I think the problem is the division of music, like - and there's a lot
to be got out of any music which has proven its worth.
And it's still got people believing in it today.
So, the Beatles are a classical group because they're classic.
It was that transition from the revered feared maestro changing over
to the all engaging musician who had youth on his - or indeed, her - side
and would bring people together.
Nigel Kennedy's "Four Seasons" had the kind of ferocious attack and
passion, and energy and joy that made your hair stand on end,
listening to it - the way he scythed that bow across his violin,
making it sound more like an electric guitar.
If Jimi Hendrix had played the fiddle,
this is what it would've sounded like.
Ten, 100.
As one classical wunderkind was shaking up the recording industry,
another was at the forefront of the changing face of urban Britain.
MUSIC: Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath
The Midlands was at the centre of Britain's heavy industry,
and the birthplace of heavy metal -
music forged in the den of its industrial heritage.
But in 1980, the arrival of a charismatic young conductor with
a passion for Mahler proved the unlikely catalyst for
the transformation of Birmingham.
Problem is that however old or young you are - if you're under 40,
you're still a young conductor, and therefore perhaps slightly suspect.
Simon Rattle's arrival in Birmingham marked a real sea change.
Here was this man with a crazy shock of hair, these loud shirts -
a kind of Tigger-ish enthusiasm for everything that he did.
And rattle had this evangelical zeal,
a sort of missionary fervour about taking music out of the concert hall
and tapping into the emotional bloodstream of the whole city,
taking classical music to everyone.
It was an interesting time for Birmingham,
because the car industry had collapsed
and the politicians on either side were determined to rescue the city -
and they decided they would rescue it through arts and culture,
and services and exhibitions.
They wanted to make a new city.
And we watched this extraordinary building go up, and we watched
the whole of Birmingham change around it, which was thrilling.
This hall is very adaptable, and by no means confined to concert-giving.
For ballet or opera, there's a pit for 75 musicians.
I mean, astonishing to be the sort of focal point - for you and the
orchestra to be part of that enormous urban change, and a sense
of hope being so - and for everybody in Birmingham.
It was so funny, we weren't allowed to refer to the fact that there
was a concert hall in there -
it was a convention centre, and we were called "Hall Two".
There are 2,240 seats on four levels - all providing a good view of
the platform, on which two sets of tiered risers float like hovercraft
on a cushion of air as they're positioned for the performance.
Of course, this was one of the early great modern halls.
And where people had realised that, actually, acoustics is a science,
as well as an art.
There's so much great trickery going on behind the scenes in
this building - there's an acoustic canopy up there that stretches
across the ceiling, and these look like a bit of the wall.
They're actually hydraulically-operated doors that
can adjust minutely to control the reverb in the hall, so you get
almost a kind of graphic equaliser effect in here.
I mean, it's no wonder that this is still the top concert hall
in the UK, and still one of the top ten in the world.
One of the things in a hall like that is that
the sound surrounds you.
And this is a visceral thing.
The new symphony hall officially opened its doors on 12 June, 1991.
And ushered in Birmingham's regeneration with a programme
including Mahler.
Mahler's Second Symphony is known as "The Resurrection".
It's about rising up from the ashes - and that's exactly what this
conductor was doing for the city of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
and the city itself.
It was very funny because when we asked,
"Would the Queen come to the opening concert"?
She said, "Absolutely! But not if you play Mahler."
So, actually, she sent Princess Anne to the concert, who was very sweet,
who said, "I really enjoyed it.
"But the Mahler was a bit of a challenge."
But the Queen came in the morning, and we showed her -
we were all playing, and she said...
"What's that music?"
"Actually, ma'am... this was the scherzo of
"Mahler's Second Symphony."
"Oh...it was rather beautiful."
THEY LAUGH
But there we go!
She'd obviously had a bad Mahler experience somewhere along the line.
Yeah! I said, "Look, we actually cannot change the programming
"of this for the Royal family".
Rattle's time in Birmingham had shown that music could change
the fortunes of a city.
It could also revolutionise the image of sport.
By the dawn of the 1990s, football had become synonymous with
inner city violence and hooliganism.
But as the nation prepared itself for the tension, triumphs,
and tribulations of the World Cup, three majestic, soaring voices
would bring opera to a mass audience, and bring a new passion,
intensity, and beauty to football.
One thing about the World Cup finals that I'm sure won't have
left your mind... and it's this sound.
MUSIC: "Nessun Dorma" by Luciano Pavarotti
It all started when Pavarotti's recording of "Nessun Dorma"
was used for the title sequence of the BBC's TV coverage,
and shot to number two in the charts.
The hero, Calaf, has challenged the cold and murderous Princess Turandot
to correctly guess his name before the morning.
If he wins, she must marry him.
If he loses, he will be executed.
"Nessun dorma", he sings - "none shall sleep".
And finishes with that rousing "vincero" - "I will win".
Yeah!
These highest of stakes seem to match the emotion and the drama
on the pitch perfectly.
We're at the Emirates Stadium, and this place holds so many memories -
not just for myself, but for my family, as well.
This is the stadium where I actually auditioned for The X Factor.
SINGING "NESSUN DORMA"
THEY CHEER
I remember the first time I saw and heard "Nessun Dorma". Yeah.
And the TV was on in the background.
And then, suddenly, cutting right through a conversation I was having
with my wife came the strains of..."Nessun Dorma".
SHE GIGGLES
It was a jaw-dropping moment!
We stood there transfixed. Oh!
Every time you hear that tune - you just associate it with football!
Of course! It's got nothing to do with it, really.
But it really stirs the emotions.
A think it's, like, the way Pavarotti sings... Yes.
..and puts the emotion behind it.
Often you sing along, but you don't really know the words.
And the last few bits, I always just sing, "Shut the door".
But I don't know - "shut the door"?
LAUGHTER
Why would you sing that? Yeah!
But now I've learnt the words, and we sang it today - it's great fun.
As soon as the World Cup '90 was over, we looked for
and found some choral societies.
And we've been singing in choral societies ever since.
Often you hear classical music on the TV, and it's often
related to football.
Italia '90 was the very start of it.
But I think, despite all the operatic singing tunes there's been,
there have been nothing quite as glorious
as Puccini's "Nessun Dorma".
Capitalising on this success,
Pavarotti teamed up with Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras for a
charity concert in Rome on the eve of the 1990 World Cup final.
Tickets for their performance were more scarce than tickets
for the game itself.
The Three Tenors' first performance concluded with a rousing
rendition of "Nessun Dorma" -
sealing the aria's association with football forever.
Oh.
APPLAUSE
The concert was watched by over 800 million viewers worldwide,
and was so well-received that when the recording of the concert was
released it became the biggest selling classical album in history.
The Three Tenors have become pop culture icons.
Does this mean you've become a pop star?
If I am able to become a pop star - my friend, I would be delighted.
If it's possible to bring people to hear operatic Aria in
the multitude that the rock people bring it - it'd be a dream,
if we are able to serve them with good music.
What Pavarotti didn't know is that British football fans had
had a secret love affair of classical music
stretching back decades.
Sir Edward Elgar was very keen Wolverhampton Wanderers fan,
and he frequently cycled from Malvern to Wolverhampton on an old
boneshaker bike to watch the football games.
And on one occasion, Billy Malpass - a legendary player -
scored an amazing goal, and somebody sent Edward Elgar a cutting
from the local press that said "he banged the leather for goal".
Elgar got it and thought, "I'll set that to music".
And so it was, the first-ever football chant was written.
It lay undiscovered for over 100 years until it was unearthed
by the club's historian.
# He banged the leather for goal
# He banged the leather for goal... #
Not the most elaborate of compositions.
This was perhaps the first time football would be linked with
classical music, and it certainly wouldn't be the last.
The Dutch fans, they were singing this...
THEY HUM
Wait... HUMMING CONTINUES
Not yet. HUMMING CONTINUES
Is that Sir Elgar? "Land of Hope and Glory."
# We hate Tottenham Hotspurs
# We hate Everton, too
# We hate Manchester United... #
SHE LAUGHS
# Everyone's a fruit and a nut case
# It keeps you going when you...
No matter the origin, classical music has a habit
of working its way into our ears and not letting go.
I remember playing the Nutcracker...
..in England years ago, and seeing some people behind the audience
looking at each other, going...
# I'm a caprese fruit and nut case....
I'd go, "Yes"!
# Everyone's a fruit and nut case
# If only it could help improve my singing!
# A healthy recreation, not a combination
# Cadbury's Fruit and Nut... #
Good tune, isn't it?
Isn't it just? Those advertisers knew what they were doing.
In 1993, commercial radio spotted a gap in the market -
a new station playing pop song-length pieces to a nation
hungrier than ever to hear classical music.
Good morning, and welcome to Britain's first national
commercial radio station.
This is Classic FM.
I'm Nick Bailey, and this is George Frideric Handel.
MUSIC: Zadok The Priest by George Frideric Handel
MUSIC CONTINUES
On came the red light - Nick Bailey, who was the breakfast presenter,
played "Zadok the Priest".
And although it was before the time of immediate social media response -
there was no Twitter or Facebook, or anything like that -
it still somehow became clear to us within those first few hours
that there was an audience, and actually, a substantial audience.
Classic FM drive time, I'm Petroc Trelawney.
It's a quarter to five -
Sir Edward Elgar's "Cello Concerto in E Minor" is next.
What kind of reaction did you get in the opening months?
The critics were quite sniffy.
It didn't like the fact there were lots of short pieces.
The very idea of playing a piece of classical music
and then having an ad for DHL, or British Airways,
or...or Multiyork, who made sofas, who were one of the big early sponsors.
I did my afternoon show sitting on sofas in a series of Multiyork showrooms around the country
because it was anything...it was anything for...anything for cash.
The audience didn't seem to worry about the ads.
They were used to commercial radio, didn't think about it with ITV.
So that wasn't a problem.
And straight away, people started saying,
"Wow, this is music I can live my life to".
It was exactly what Michael Bukht, the station's founder, had expected.
Detailed research shows 49% of the population really like classical music
if it's played in a popular, easy style.
They don't like the abstruse or complicated stuff,
but they like what they think of as
the popular music that they hear in all sorts of other contexts,
like advertisements and football songs.
That's what they like.
You're listening to Classic FM, the world's most beautiful music.
Michael Bukht, evidently, was a man who had a very clear sense
of what he wanted this radio station to be.
Where you ever issued with a style guide for presenters?
There was never anything written down,
but, I mean, you knew exactly what he wanted.
He wanted minimal links.
And if you talked too much, he installed in the studio a phone
that had a flashing light.
And it wasn't just a kind of light softly going off,
it was like having the paparazzi clicking flash guns in front of you.
And he would phone during links if he thought you'd gone on too long.
And you never needed to pick up the phone because he was the only person who had that number.
And if you did pick up the phone, he'd go,
"It's Michael here, sunshine. Shut up!"
What was the music policy at the station, then?
He wanted things that were earworms, that would be popular.
He wanted composers who people had heard of.
So there was lots of Mozart.
Probably more Mozart than anything else.
It's funny, because I think Bach, then, was considered
slightly less user-friendly than it might be now.
But we did play quite a lot of Bach,
a lot of Brahms, a lot of Dvorak.
There was new music, too.
Famously, Gorecki's Third Symphony,
then became a real mainstream piece for the station.
And I think, as a direct result, sold a million copies.
I'm sure Classic FM had a big role in that.
But it was really about familiarity.
About music that would make you feel good
and about music you'd hum as the day progressed.
What do you think, from the perspective of today,
has been Classic FM's greatest achievement?
I think it did find an audience of maybe a couple of million people
who really had had no exposure to classical music before,
liked what they heard and realised
there was no need to be frightened by it.
I think Radio 3, without in any way reducing its standards,
has, I think, become more user-friendly
and not as exclusive as perhaps it was before Classic FM came along.
So I think it does have a big role in the democratisation
of this great art form.
MUSIC: Wonderwall by Oasis
But some music lovers were proving to be difficult converts to classical.
They had money to spend, they knew what they wanted
and a load of old fogies playing violins wasn't it.
The pervasive slogan of Girl Power
had convinced a generation of young women
that their music should reflect who they were -
powerful and sexy, young and strong.
Oh, yes, look at that!
That's what I call a proper classical album cover.
Look at that, two gentlemen, mullets, polo necks.
And look at this one, Alfred Brendel in his white tie and tails,
looking very tense, playing Beethoven.
Another serious one here. Not many smiles going on, are there?
Yehudi Menuhin communicating deeply through his violin.
This is what album covers looked like when I was growing up.
Classical music would have to have a long, hard look in the mirror
and sharpen up its image.
I come from a very musical household.
My mother was in Soul II Soul
She would listen to Motown, soul, R&B, pop, rock,
and, of course, classical music.
One day, she brought home this album - Vanessa-Mae.
I never will forget the day I heard this album.
I was eight years old and it completely blew my mind.
When Vanessa-Mae burst onto the scene,
she made me think you could love this type of music.
You didn't have to get dressed up, sit awkwardly, clap every now and again.
You could wear your ripped jeans, bob your head up and down
and do some air violin.
So, give me some insight, then, between...
Well, your relationship between the classical and the pop world.
My relationship was, I think, organic. It was just natural
that as a teenager, I loved both.
We were experimenting.
There were elements of improvisation,
as opposed to classical music, which, I think, if you just put in the hours,
you will be able to perform something.
And Vanessa was certainly putting in the hours.
Having made her debut with the London Philharmonia at the tender age of 10,
just three years later, she set a world record
as the youngest soloist to record both the Tchaikovsky and Beethoven violin concertos.
RAPTUROUS APPLAUSE
After three pure classical albums,
around the age of 14, I got the chance to sort of experiment.
And I was asked, "What other kinds of music do you love?"
And, you know, I was a child of the '80s, so...
Before you were born, of course.
And, so, I loved, you know, performers such as Prince,
Michael Jackson. Oh, yeah.
They were my pop idols.
And I got a chance to start dabbling in, you know, other styles.
Injecting some pop and dance and rock and jazz into my music.
This is my very first pop video.
I think probably, like, the first pop video ever on a violin.
You were 15? I was 15 in that video.
I think I look lot older. I look pretty serious.
I think you look really young there. Do you think? Yeah!
I thought... You look a baby.
VANESSA-MAE LAUGHS
Puppy-fat face. Oh!
But there's a funny bit. There's a switch when it gets to the fugue part
and I'm in hot pants.
And I remember going with my mother shopping for hot pants.
I mean, who does that with their mother? Oh, my goodness!
I remember, though, this is so funny,
because coming from the world of classical to making a pop video,
the biggest problem I had was learning how to mime.
I didn't even know what miming was! Oh, my gosh!
We were in Ibiza, in the sea, running around.
And when you're making videos, you have to do that.
But, of course, it doesn't really occur in classical.
And then, the impact of that video was crazy.
Because suddenly, people around the world were taking notice of the violin.
I didn't realise that it would open the door
to so many people to start listening to the violin
who wouldn't normally dream of picking up a violin album.
But I had no idea the impact of that.
Sometimes I still get goose bumps, you know,
that somebody may have proposed to my music, or... Yes!
..or done other things to my music, I don't know! Yes!
But, you know... We'll keep that here.
Just to be the soundscape to somebody's life,
growing up, is just amazing.
So, how do you feel that the classical world took to you?
Oh, they were in, like, complete shock.
I think there was, like, a paralysis about,
"What on earth is going on here?" I love that!
It did irk many in the classical world.
The more xenophobic, the more closed off, the more ignorant.
And what we were doing was breaking new ground.
I knew that even with the classical crossover music,
there were moments of beauty
and pointed moments of sadness and reflection
that I felt confident enough to just discount the critics and say,
"But what I'm doing is still touching people".
Classical music was crossing over from a niche, elite entertainment
to a national passion.
The kind of musical experience that everyone could share.
And so, when, in 1997, the nation was struck by tragedy,
classical music would play a central role
in Britain's mourning, grief and consolation.
Good evening. It's been a day like no other.
A day for the people stunned by the news of Diana's death.
And a day that rewrote the rules
about how a grieving nation should react.
# Goodbye, England's rose
# May you ever grow in our hearts
# You were the grace that placed itself
# Where lives were torn apart. #
There was that performance that everybody remembers
by Elton John of Candle In The Wind,
but there was also another piece performed in the abbey that day
that really seemed to capture the spirit of a Britain influx.
There was this sense of ancient ritual and tradition,
but also modernity.
And it captured the imagination, not only of the congregation,
but the millions who had come to London to commemorate Diana
and who were watching this event on television.
And that piece was by John Tavener.
It was called, Song for Athene.
Featuring texts from Shakespeare and the Eastern Orthodox Church,
Song for Athene was sung by the choir of Westminster Abbey,
conducted by Martin Neary.
I telephoned John to ask whether there might be something
which he felt would be appropriate and suitable.
Because I knew his music had this power to communicate,
and might have something
which the rest of our repertoire might not match.
And he had the idea of Song for Athene.
And I looked at it again and I saw this wonderful text,
"May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest".
Which, of course, had an immediate sympathy with Poets' Corner in the abbey,
Shakespeare memorial, and all of that.
And I just felt it had, actually, a positive note.
Even in that moment of deepest sadness,
you still can sing an alleluia.
There's this long, low drone,
very much-loved by John Tavener,
the long F going on for six minutes.
But what is so interesting about this piece
is it's a combination of major and minor.
# Allelu... #
And the next phrase...
# Allelu...#
So simple, but so heart-rending.
Music and ritual really came together.
# Alleluia
# Alleluia... #
# Alleluia
# Alleluia. #
When did you first hear John Tavener's music?
I think it was at the Proms in 1968, with The Whale.
That extraordinary piece which almost broke new ground.
The whale.
Marine mammal of the order Cetacea.
This dramatic cantata, telling the biblical story of Jonah and the whale,
became a favourite of John Lennon's.
And in 1970, the Beatles released it on their Apple label.
John Tavener's mystical, musical fantasy had legions of fans.
Loved by both pop and classical aficionados alike.
You had these weird instruments. A Hammond organ, all manner of things. You probably remember.
There's definitely stamping. I think there's football rattles, megaphones. Yes.
Indeed, Ringo Starr has a cameo,
yelling through one of those megaphones in the second movement.
INDISTINCT YELLING
I'm often surprised by reactions...to my music,
and by the kind of people who like it, too.
I'm very pleased to find...
I usually find that a considerable cross-section of the public
seem to appreciate what I'm...what I'm doing.
A lot of people who like pop music seem to like it.
Tavener converted to Russian Orthodox Christianity,
and it infused his music with a deep spirituality.
The reason, um...sacred music continues
is because people have a thirst for tradition.
They want to see some continuity.
This is perhaps best felt in his 1989 piece, The Protecting Veil,
composed for one of the world's leading cellists, Steven Isserlis.
Beautiful!
That music does this incredible thing, where we're all kind of talking and chatting
as suddenly, there's just this intense sense of drawing you in.
Yeah. And, of course, in the real piece,
you have this huge choir sound from the orchestra.
It grows and grows and grows from the bottom, right to the top.
And everybody's playing at full throttle.
It's a magical beginning.
Even if you are not remotely religious,
there is something that taps into something very mysterious.
I mean, you experience that with music. Yeah, absolutely.
I have always said that music is the connection, for me,
with anyone, because you feel it.
Music is a message from one spirit to another.
And Tavener was so exquisite at that.
When you think of pieces like Song for Athene and like this piece,
there is that collision of ancient sounds
and something quite fresh and new.
He was an original.
And therefore, when he used old languages,
he used them in a very original and fresh way.
His roots are there, but he's a modern composer.
I'm very emotional right now. Absolutely beautiful.
Stop it! Stop it! She's crying! Look at what you've done! Sorry.
Don't, you'll start me off. Oh, God, it's beautiful.
Classic FM and football anthems,
John Tavener and Nigel Kennedy.
British classical music was riding high.
And it was diversifying more than ever before.
But there was one problem.
Orchestras felt still pretty stale.
They were predominantly white, and middle class,
and they exuded a sense of privilege and exclusivity.
Well, one concert in 2007
changed that forever.
THEY SHOUT
The Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra's performance
was described in The Times as, "the highlight of the season".
With The Telegraph asking, "Was this the greatest Prom of all-time?"
For its 2007 season, the Proms looked beyond the obvious candidates,
inviting this group of 12 to 26-year-olds.
Many of whom hailed from Venezuela's most troubled neighbourhoods.
They'd been trained through a government-sponsored initiative known as El Sistema.
Their 26-year-old conductor, Gustavo Dudamel,
nicknamed, The Dude,
had come up himself through the programme.
Its motto? Music for Social Change.
CHEERING
It was brilliant. It was just a transformation.
It wasn't what you usually saw in a concert hall.
RAPTUROUS APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
The orchestra created an electric atmosphere.
They turned their performance into a visual extravaganza
that set a new standard for what a classical concert could be.
People are always cynical about this kind of thing,
but they underestimate music.
I mean, everyone has a soundtrack to their lives.
The 2018 Prom season opened with a classical work
that took sound and vision to the next level.
The pioneering design team who lit up the London Olympics' opening ceremony
was asked to collaborate with one of the UK's most exciting
young composers, Anna Meredith.
Together, they created Five Telegrams,
a monumental piece written for symphony orchestra and double choir.
Vividly illustrated with breathtaking digital animations,
which were projected onto both the inside and outside
of the Royal Albert Hall.
It was a spectacle unlike any classical concert we'd seen before.
How would you describe yourself, as a composer,
to somebody who hadn't heard of your music?
It doesn't matter what the piece is,
I try and use the same building blocks.
The same musical material, to me, is at the heart of whatever kind of music I write.
So that's why I don't think about, "Is it classical? Is it pop?"
It's all just how I write.
CHOIR SING
Anna uses a rich palette of electronic and acoustic sounds
to blur the lines between pop, experimental and classical music.
Signed to an indie record label,
she also performs live electronic gigs
and gets airplay on both Radio 3 and 6 Music.
# Blushing in spite of all your modesty
# We cannot find...#
I have a very classical training, but I know lots of electronics,
so I normally use some cop-out answer and say,
"I write electronic and acoustic music".
To me, it just means you want a bit of everything.
Yeah, and you're totally right. I mean, when I studied music,
there was a course for concert composers
and a course for film composers,
and we never met the entire time. It's bonkers, right?
We didn't have any of their modules, they didn't have any of ours.
The idea was it was a totally different skillset.
You guys are writing music that's flexible and using electronics
and can be in different styles and commercial. Ooo!
And you guys are writing serious music,
where you have your own voice for concerts,
and yet they're totally different things.
I don't think these camps matter quite so much any more.
We have pop musicians that use a load of classical instruments,
we have classical composers writing in all kinds of contexts.
It feels, thankfully, massively freeing.
Classical music has deep roots in the British psyche.
In the 21st century, it has embraced diversity and technology,
welcomed young players and new audiences.
Unbuttoning that British stiff upper lip
and opening us up to experiences and emotions which we can all share.
With today's musical greats working to inspire the next generation,
the future is bright.
Music's like a virus which you don't get rid of, thank goodness.
It's incurable. So we try and spread it to as many people as we can.
And it should be in everybody's life some way or other.
If you can just introduce people, give them a bit of time
to get into what is a different language,
people can get grabbed by it
and it can change their life.
Music's like weeds, it's amazing where it grows.
Who knows where the next chapter in our national story will take us,
but one thing is for certain,
classical music, and our deep love of it, is here to stay.
APPLAUSE AND CHEERING