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Live at ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Proms: the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas in Brahms and Beethoven, and joined by Emanuel Ax in Mozart's Piano Concerto K449.

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

Brahms: Variations on the St Anthony Chorale
Mozart: Piano Concerto No 14 in E flat K449

c.8.15pm Interval: Proms Extra:
Presenter Clemency Burton-Hill discusses the cultural context of Vienna during the 18th and 19th centuries with Austrian expert Gavin Plumley and Professor David Wyn Jones, author of the book 'Music in Vienna: 1700, 1800, 1900'.

c.8.35pm
Beethoven: Symphony No 7 in A

Emanuel Ax (piano)
Vienna Philharmonic
Michael Tilson Thomas (conductor)

Michael Tilson Thomas and pianist Emanuel Ax join the Vienna Philharmonic for the orchestra's second concert this season - a programme filled with song and dance.

Wagner famously described Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 as 'the apotheosis of the dance', and it's hard to hear the breathless Scherzo or exuberant finale without becoming swept up in the work's restless energy.

That energy also invigorates Brahms's Variations, taking a theme once thought to be by Haydn and transforming it by turns into a graceful sicilienne and a swaying, syncopated dance.

For Mozart it is song that offers the inspiration for his dramatic Piano Concerto No. 14, with its arching melodies and almost operatic musical dialogues between soloist and orchestra.