Friday 7 October 2011 7.30pm St. John's, Smith Square GĂŠrard Korsten conductor MOZART The Magic Flute Overture HAYDN Symphony No.96 Miracle interval schubert Symphony No.9 Great
The LMP is funded by the London Borough of Croydon
Members of the audience are reminded that it is prohibited to smoke in the auditorium or take sound recordings or photographs in any part of the performance. Any noises such as whispering, coughing, rustling of sweet papers and the beeping of digital watches are very distracting to the performers and fellow audience members. Please make sure mobile phones or pagers are switched off during the performance. LMP and St. John's, Smith Square are registered charities.
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london mozart players Founded by Harry Blech in 1949 as the UK’s first chamber orchestra, the London Mozart Players (LMP) is regarded as one of the UK’s finest ensembles. Under the leadership of Music Director Gérard Korsten the orchestra is internationally renowned for its outstanding live performances and CD recordings and particularly known for its definitive performances of the core Classical repertoire. The LMP also plays an active part in contemporary music, giving many world premières and commissioning new works, especially of British composers. In recent years, the LMP has premièred new works by composers including Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Tarik O’Regan, Sally Beamish, Cecilia McDowall, Lynne Plowman, and Fraser Trainer. In March 2011, the LMP appointed Roxanna Panufnik as their Associate Composer. Since 1989, the LMP’s home has been Fairfield Halls, Croydon, thanks to generous funding from the London Borough of Croydon. This residency includes a series of subscription concerts at the hall and numerous education and community activities throughout the borough. Touring is a major part of the orchestra’s schedule, with regular appearances at festivals and concert series throughout the UK and abroad. It is Orchestra in Association of The Anvil, Basingstoke, and has strong relationships with other major UK venues, including Turner Sims Concert Hall, Southampton. Overseas, the LMP has visited Spain, Belgium and France and, most recently, Germany. The 2011/12 season marks the second year of conductor Gérard Korsten’s three-year term as the LMP’s fifth Music Director, continuing the strong Classical tradition developed by Andrew Parrott, Matthias Bamert and Jane Glover. The season sees the orchestra continuing to work with established artists including Howard Shelley and Tasmin Little, whilst building new relationships with bright new stars including Maximillian Hornung, Cordelia Williams and Nicholas Collon. The LMP’s new association with Korsten also sees the introduction of some of the best European soloists to our Fairfield season.
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The LMP has developed an extensive and highly regarded education, community and audience development programme, LMP Interactive, and is particularly committed to developing new audiences in outer London boroughs as well as rural areas across the nation. It has an association with the South Holland district in Lincolnshire that brings the orchestra into the heart of the Fenland communities. Working with educational institutions also brings inspiring and valued relationships, providing a professional grounding for young musicians, and the LMP is associated with Royal Holloway University of London, Wellington College, Wimbledon College, Portsmouth Grammar School and the Whitgift Foundation Schools in Croydon. Recent projects include ‘Fly Away Mozart’, involving secondary schoolchildren and composer Michael Omer that was performed in the arrivals hall of Southampton Airport; and ‘Side-by-side in Shepshed’ that saw composer and animateur Fraser Trainer and seven schools in Leicestershire build a new youth orchestra for the area and perform alongside the LMP in a family concert. In Croydon, a START project included children from primary and special needs schools working together to perform at the LMP’s annual Schools’ Concert in Fairfield Halls. Other ongoing ventures include visiting care homes and concert demonstrations in primary and secondary schools. The LMP receives project funding from Arts Council England, Orchestras Live and South Holland District Council. In addition, the LMP receives grants from trusts, foundations and many individuals, particularly the Friends of the LMP in Croydon. Recording has played a major part in the orchestra’s life for many years. Its acclaimed Contemporaries of Mozart series with Matthias Bamert for Chandos numbers over 20 CDs to date, with the latest release of Boccherini proving a success with the critics. A recording with Canadian pianist Alain Lefèvre of works by Mendelssohn, Shostakovich and Mathieu for Analekta was awarded a Canadian Juno Award. Full details of forthcoming concerts and more information on the orchestra’s activities are available on the LMP website: www.lmp.org
ORCHESTRA 1st Violins Marieke Blankestijn Susanna Candlin Ann Criscuolo Martin Smith (Chair supported by Anonymous)
Catherine Van de Geest (Chair supported by Debby Guthrie)
Freddie August Clare Hoffman Julia Barker 2nd Violins Helena Smart Jeremy Metcalfe
(Chair supported by Noël & Caroline Annesley)
Jayne Spencer Adrian Dunn Stephen Rouse Cecilia Romero
Violas Cian O'Duill Mark Braithwaite Michael Posner
(Chair supported by Anonymous)
Matthew Quenby
(Chair supported by Caroline Molloy & Andrew Lay)
Flutes Celia Chambers
Horns Christopher Newport Martin Grainger
Susie Hodder-Williams
Trumpets Paul Archibald Peter Wright
(Chair supported by Brian & Doreen Hitching) (Chair supported by Barbara Tower)
Oboes Gareth Hulse
Katie Clemmow
Trombones Ian White Danny Scott Richard Wall
Clarinets Anthony Pike
Timpani Barnaby Archer
Cellos Sebastian Comberti Julia Desbruslais Sarah Butcher
(Chair supported by Pat Sandry)
Rachel Van der Tang
(Chair supported by Joyce & Stuart Aston)
(Chair supported by Elinor Browne) (Chair supported by Anonymous)
Margaret Archibald
Basses Stacey Watton
Bassoons Sarah Burnett
Cathy Elliott
Sarah Whibley
(Chair supported by Louise Honeyman)
(Chair supported by Alec Botten)
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gÉrard korsten Conductor © Marco Borggreve
Born in South Africa, Gérard Korsten began his career as a violinist after studying with Ivan Galamian at the Curtis Institute and with Sándor Végh in Salzburg. Following his studies in the US and Europe he became Concertmaster and Assistant Music Director of the Camerata Salzburg and later Concertmaster of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe from 1987-1996, when he left the COE to concentrate on conducting. He held positions of Principal Conductor of the State Theatre in Pretoria and the Uppsala Chamber Orchestra before he was appointed Music Director of the Orchestra del Teatro Lirico di Cagliari from 1999-2005. In Cagliari he conducted the first Italian performances of Richard Strauss’s Die ägyptische Helena, Weber’s Euryanthe, Delius’s A Village Romeo and Juliet and Schubert’s Alfonso und Estrella, as well as the productions of the core operatic repertoire including Die Zauberflöte, Don Giovanni, Lucia di Lammermoor, Carmen, Die Fledermaus, Tosca, Aïda, The Barber of Seville and Don Pasquale. Since then Gérard Korsten has appeared in most notable opera houses and concert halls around Europe including Teatro La Scala Milan (Le nozze di Figaro), Maggio Musicale Florence (Così fan tutte), Teatro Reggio di Parma (La sonnambula), Teatro Lirico Verdi Trieste (Don Pasquale and La fille du régiment), Opéra de Lyon (Ariadne auf Naxos, Henze’s L’Upupa und der Triumph der Sohnesliebe, Siegfried and La Traviata), Royal Swedish Opera (Don Giovanni), Netherlands Opera (Così fan tutte), English National Opera (Aïda) and Glyndebourne Festival Opera (Albert Herring). He returns next season to conduct Offenbach’s La Vie Parisienne for Opéra National de Lyon.
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His past symphonic engagements have included concerts with the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Salzburg Mozarteum, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai Turin, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Swedish Radio Symphony, Yomiuri Nippon and Melbourne Symphony orchestras. Among his recordings are the CD of Tchaikovsky’s Serenade and Souvenir de Florence with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe on Deutsche Grammophon, Die ägyptische Helena, Euryanthe and Alfonso und Estrella with Orchestra del Teatro Lirico di Cagliari on CD and DVD with Dynamic, as well as a DVD recording of Don Pasquale released on TDK. Highlights of recent and forthcoming engagements include concerts with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields at the Beijing Festival, Bamberg Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden Baden und Freiburg, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lyon and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. The 2011-12 season sees him touring to eight venues in the US with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, returning to the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Latvia National Symphony and Camerata Salzburg in both Vienna and Salzburg. Gérard Korsten is also Principal Conductor of the Symphonieorchester Vorarlberg Bregenz.
wolfgang amadeus mozart (1756–1791) The Magic Flute Overture In March 1791 Mozart was approached by one Emmanuel Schikaneder to provide the music for a kind of magic entertainment-cum-opera that he had just written. Their acquaintance dated back to Salzberg days, when Schikaneder was managing the troupe of travelling actors whose visit had stimulated Mozart to write incidental music to King Thamos. He had just taken over a “fringe” theatre on an estate in the Viennese suburb of Wieden, and succeeded in persuading Mozart – somewhat against his better judgement – to take the job on.
allows itself bright and lively subject-matter decked out with brilliant use of the woodwind, but couched in the language of fugue as an apposite symbol of ordeal and triumph. © Anon
Mozart found himself desperately busy that summer, with other commissions he could not afford to refuse – for instance the Requiem requested by a mysterious stranger, which was still unfinished at Mozart’s death in December, and the opera Titus, for the coronation of Leopold II in Prague – but he stuck to his guns in spite of overstrain and failing health and even found himself warming to his task, if only because the book of this extraordinary pantomime The Magic Flute contained elements of Masonic ritual which meant quite as much to him as did the text of the Requiem. As ever Mozart left the overture till last, and found himself dashing it off – on the very same day as he finished the clarinet concerto – only two days before the première, which he himself was due to direct (with Schikaneder as principal comedian) on 30th September, 1791. One might expect this overture in the circumstances to be more than usually frivolous, but by now Mozart and Schikaneder had inspired each in the other’s work a depth of symbolism such as underlies the greatest of fairy stories, and they found the solemnity of the Egyptian mysteries that form an essential part of the play commanding their recognition. Accordingly, the slow introduction is coloured by the grave sound of trombones conveying religious feeling much as did the organ in the nineteenth century, and inspiring the threefold Masonic signal which recurs not only later in the overture, but also at a solemn ceremonial in the opera. Apart from this the Allegro
Playbill for the 1791 première of The Magic Flute
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Franz JOSEPH HAYDN (1732–1809) Symphony No.96 in D Miracle I II III IV
Adagio – Allegro Andante Menuetto: Allegretto Finale: Vivace
When Prince Nicolaus Esterházy died in 1790, Haydn lost an employer who had appreciated his talents. Prince Anton, his successor, added 100 florins to Haydn’s annuity but disbanded the orchestra and made few demands on Haydn as his musical director. Prince Anton’s lack of interest in music led to a series of new ventures for Haydn and ultimately to the composition of some of his most memorable works. The first important step in this direction was Haydn’s move to Vienna where he received offers of employment as musical director at the courts of Pressburg and Naples. The latter engagement was tempting and he might have accepted it, if the violinist and impresario Salomon had not rushed to Vienna where he heard of Haydn’s newly acquired freedom and engaged him on the spot for his concerts in London. Haydn was very happy in England, and his two visits in 1791/2 and 1794/5 had an immensely stimulating effect on him. In a letter from London to a friend Haydn wrote on 17 January 1792: “In my entire life I have never written as much as I have done during the last year.” In England he was appreciated by the public and much honoured by his fellow-musicians; he was now his own master, enjoyed the long separation from his nagging wife, and his income was higher than ever before. Equally positive was the fact that he has a large and superb orchestra at his disposal in London, and that he was assured of a discriminating audience. The result of these fortunate circumstances was the composition of the twelve London Symphonies which were to be his last. The Symphony No.96, nicknamed Miracle, belongs to the first set of six symphonies composed for Haydn’s 1791/2 visit to London. In those days publishers numbered the works they printed as they received them, but rarely in chronological order. No.96 was almost certainly written before No.93. Furthermore, this symphony is erroneously nicknamed because the www.lmp.org
‘miracle’ of a chandelier crashing to the floor without injuring anyone occurred during the performance of another London Symphony (probably No.102). The introduction of the first movement clearly states the bright key of D major at the beginning but soon descends to darker keys before the flute prepares the Allegro in the home tonality. The principal theme of that section is not very memorable but lends itself all the more to the kind of surprising harmonic transformations which are a feature of Haydn’s late symphonies. When, in the development, the orchestra has lost its way in the remote key of F sharp major, there is an embarrassed silence of almost three bars. After that the recapitulation begins with a false start a semitone higher (G major) and takes some time before starting it again, this time, as it should, in D major. The second movement ends with a remarkable orchestral cadenza for two solo violins and the woodwind, and the Menuetto has a middle section in which the oboist is the soloist. The last movement is a rondo with a single theme, and even the intervening episodes are based on this main idea. The wind are less prominent here until they have eight bars on their own, heralding the closing bars in which, of course, the whole orchestra participates. © Stefan de Haan
INTERVAL
franz peter schubert (1797–1828) Symphony No.9 in C Great I II III IV
Andante – Allegro ma non troppo Andante con moto Scherzo and Trio: Allegro vivace Allegro vivace
The son of a schoolmaster, Schubert showed an extraordinary childhood aptitude for music. However, his early musical training was unconventional and meagre in a time during which composers could expect little success unless they were also able to appeal to the public as performers. In October 1808, he was received as a pupil at the Stadtkonvikt through a choir scholarship. Here, he was introduced to the overtures and symphonies of Mozart. This, together with visits to the opera, set the foundation for his greater musical knowledge. As his genius began to emerge, Schubert was taken on by Antonio Salieri, who decided to train him in musical composition and music theory. At the end of 1813 he entered his father’s school as a teacher of the lowest class. While Schubert had a close circle of friends and associates who admired his work (amongst them the prominent singer Johann Michael Vogl), wide appreciation of his music during his lifetime was limited at best. The Symphony in C was begun in the summer of 1825, an annus mirabilis in the affairs of this troubled genius. Schubert suffered from cyclothymia, a form of manic depression, which his lifestyle did nothing to mitigate. The condition did not inhibit composition – if anything, creative work was a foil to psychosis – but it did affect it. The music Schubert worked on in the spring of 1825 suggests visionary longings compromised by moodiness and irritability.
summer journey of 1825, the floodgates strained and broke. The craftsmanship of the symphony is formidable. Though Romantic in temper, it is in some respects the last great Classical symphony. The evocative horn call which begins the work is typical. Though prefatory in feel, the first few bars contain musical figures that reappear in the main Allegro, both as the basis of that minatory trombone entry and the coda’s grand apotheosis. The entire Allegro reveals a sweeping rhythmic vitality unparalleled in Schubert’s work. The slow movement includes a sublime moment when the horn, as if from the distance, quietly calls everything into question with the repeated tolling of a single note. The music later builds inexorably to a climax so wrenching that everything stops before sputtering back to life. The Scherzo and its lovely Trio, with their wealth of dance tunes, remind us that Schubert would regularly improvise dance music for others at the piano. With the symphony virtually finished, Schubert painstakingly made some changes to the first subject for the opening Allegro. The change is typical of his care for a work which is laden with spellbinding details of rhythm, harmony and orchestration. Schumann was right to say that there had been nothing like this since the last of Beethoven’s purely instrumental symphonies. He was also right when he predicted that ‘years must pass, perhaps, before the work will be thoroughly made at home in Germany’. It took decades for musicians and commentators to recognise that Schubert the symphonist was rather more than a tunesmith with a Rossini-like gift for rhythmic propulsion. © Elizabeth Boulton
In mid-May, he left Vienna to join Vogl on a summer-long tour of the lakes and mountains of Upper Austria that stretched into early autumn. The effect on Schubert’s mind and imagination of these ‘heavenly’ landscapes is chronicled in this symphony. Since the completion of Schubert’s last four-movement symphony in 1818, there had been an exponential growth in the power and reach of his instrumental music. Under the impress of the www.lmp.org
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LMP management Patron HRH The Earl of Wessex KG GCVO Music Director GĂŠrard Korsten Associate Conductor Hilary Davan Wetton Associate Composer Roxanna Panufnik
Administration Managing Director Simon Funnell Deputy Managing Director Jo Towler
London Mozart Players Fairfield Halls Park Lane Croydon CR9 1DG
General Manager David Wilson
T: 020 8686 1996 F: 020 8667 0938 E: info@lmp.org W: www.lmp.org
Development Manager Elinor Browne
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Concerts & Projects Manager Deborah Guest
Registered Charity No. 290833
Council of Management Acting Chairman Rowan Freeland Chair of the Audit Committee Rosamund Sykes Daniel Benton Simon Funnell Gillian Perkins Peter Van de Geest David Wechsler Malcolm Wicks MP
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supporting the lmp The LMP would like to thank its supporters Patron HRH The Earl of Wessex KG GCVO Principal Funders London Borough of Croydon Public Funders Orchestras Live Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames South Holland District Council Trusts & foundations John Coates Charitable Trust The Concertina Charitable Trust Croydon Relief in Need Charities The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts The Sackler Trust N. Smith Charitable Settlement corporate friends Cantate Elite Hotels Simmons & Simmons conductors’ circle Anonymous x 5 Daniel & Alison Benton Kate Bingham Malcolm & Ann Booth Dan & Jo Davies The Ross Goobey Charitable Trust Anthony & Carole Record Jeffrey & Rosamund West
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forthcoming LMP concerts
Friday 27 January
7.30pm
STRAVINSKY McDOWALL BEETHOVEN
Danses Concertantes Theatre of Tango (London prèmiere) Symphony No.6 Pastoral
Conductor Baritone
Nicholas Collon Jeremy Huw Williams
Friday 30 March
ST. JOHN'S, SMITH SQUARE 020 7222 1061
Wednesday 25 April
7.30pm
BEETHOVEN GRIEG BRAHMS
Coriolan Overture Piano Concerto Symphony No.1
Conductor/ Piano
Howard Shelley
7.30pm
MOZART MENDELSSOHN HONEGGER DVOŘÁK
Symphony No.38 Prague Piano Concerto No.1 Pastorale d'été Czech Suite
Conductor Piano
Hilary Davan Wetton Cordelia Williams
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