麻豆约拍

Another chance to hear Ken Bruce, the 麻豆约拍 Concert Orchestra and Capital Voices salute Sweden's Eurovision legends - ABBA.

Saturday, 6th April 1974 - is one of the most memorable dates in the music history.

The venue was the Brighton Dome. The hostess was Katie Boyle in a confection of coral pink chiffon and feathers. TV commentary was by David Vine - Terry Wogan was commentating for Radio 2 in those days. The interval act was rehearsed and ready. They were... The Wombles. But the date is remembered for none of these. It's remembered because it was the night that Abba won the Eurovision Song Contest.

The history book on the shelf records that the UK jury wasn't impressed and awarded nul points to the Swedish entry . But in the forty or so years since that win, Agnetha F盲ltskog, Bj枚rn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad have had phenomenal success. It is estimated that they sold over 500 million records. They were the first group from a non-English speaking country to conquer the charts of the UK, USA, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Latin American. They toured and filled arenas; they made ABBA- the movie; Benny and Bjorn wrote the musical Chess with Tim Rice; a jukebox musical Mamma Mia opened in the West End in 1999 and then a blockbuster film was made starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Julie Walters.

The 麻豆约拍 Concert Orchestra conducted by Stephen Bell perform ABBA in symphonic style with vocals from the Capital Voices. The programme includes - The Winner Takes It All; Super Trouper; Knowing Me Knowing You; Dancing Queen and of course, their Eurovision winner all those years ago - Waterloo.

First broadcast in 2016.