BBC Proms 2023 - Prom 69a - Late Night - BBC Singers and Sofi Jeannin (320kbps. mp3)

Live at the BBC Proms: music by Joanna Marsh, Soumik Datta and Daniel-Lesur from the BBC Singers and conductor Sofi Jeannin.

01. Marsh, Joanna - SEEN
01a. Introduction to BBC Proms 2023 - Prom 69a - Late Night
02. Daniel-Lesur, Jean-Yves - Cantique des cantiques
02a. Introduction to Daniel-Lesur
03. Datta, Soumik - Awaaz
03a. Discussion with Soumik Datta

Soumik Datta (sarod)
Prathap Ramachandra (mridangam)
Aref Durvesh (tabla)
Camilo Tirado (sound and effects)
Glen Scott (electronics producer)
Sofi Jeannin (conductor)
BBC Singers

Two musical explorations of identity frame this special late-night performance, both of them premiered last year by the BBC Singers. With the added layering of live electronics, Joanna Marsh’s SEEN highlights marginalised voices, especially those of women in ancient Greek theatre, whose stories were mostly told by men. Soumik Datta’s Awaaz (‘voice’ in Urdu and Hindi) was written to mark the 75th anniversary of Indian independence and partition and draws together Western and South Asian music in its celebration of the voice as the root of belonging. In between comes one of the highlights of the 20th-century French choral repertoire, the Cantique des cantiques by Daniel-Lesur – a long-time friend of Olivier Messiaen – settings from the biblical Songs of Songs that richly reflect the texts’ atmosphere of allusion and moods of love, desire and rapture.

Presented by Sara Mohr-Pietsch, live from the Royal Albert Hall, London.

Broadcast: 7 September 2023