London Philharmonic Orchestra 15 April 2015 concert programme by London Philharmonic Orchestra

Concert programme lpo.org.uk

Winner of the RPS Music Award for Ensemble Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor VLADIMIR JUROWSKI* Leader pieter schoeman† Composer in Residence magnus lindberg Patron HRH THE DUKE OF KENT KG Chief Executive and Artistic Director TIMOTHY WALKER AM

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall Wednesday 15 April 2015 | 7.30pm

Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 (34’) Interval Bruckner Symphony No. 4 in E flat major ‘Romantic’ (Nowak edition) (64’) Robin Ticciati conductor Javier Perianes piano‡ ‡Please note change to originally advertised pianist

* supported by the Tsukanov Family Foundation † supported by Neil Westreich CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Contents 2 Welcome 3 On stage tonight 4 About the Orchestra 5 Leader: Pieter Schoeman 6 Robin Ticciati 7 Javier Perianes 8 Programme notes 12 Forthcoming LPO concerts 13 LPO 2015/16 season 14 Supporters 15 Sound Futures donors 16 LPO administration The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide.

Welcome

Welcome to Southbank Centre We hope you enjoy your visit. We have a Duty Manager available at all times. If you have any queries please ask any member of staff for assistance. Eating, drinking and shopping? Southbank Centre shops and restaurants include Foyles, EAT, Giraffe, Strada, YO! Sushi, wagamama, Le Pain Quotidien, Las Iguanas, ping pong, Canteen, Caffè Vergnano 1882, Skylon, Concrete, Feng Sushi and Topolski, as well as cafes, restaurants and shops inside Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Hayward Gallery. If you wish to get in touch with us following your visit please contact the Visitor Experience Team at Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX, phone 020 7960 4250, or email customer@southbankcentre.co.uk We look forward to seeing you again soon. A few points to note for your comfort and enjoyment: PHOTOGRAPHY is not allowed in the auditorium. LATECOMERS will only be admitted to the auditorium if there is a suitable break in the performance. RECORDING is not permitted in the auditorium without the prior consent of Southbank Centre. Southbank Centre reserves the right to confiscate video or sound equipment and hold it in safekeeping until the performance has ended. MOBILES, PAGERS AND WATCHES should be switched off before the performance begins.

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London Philharmonic Orchestra 2014/15 season Welcome to tonight’s London Philharmonic Orchestra concert at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall conducted by Robin Ticciati. Bruckner’s ‘Romantic’ Symphony No. 4 dominates, but Beethoven is up to the challenge with his Fourth Piano Concerto with Spanish pianist Javier Perianes. Just over 12 months ago the eminent Bruckner specialist, conductor Stanisław Skrowaczewski, led the Orchestra in a performance of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 3, the recording of which has just been released on the LPO label. Further details on page 11.

lpo.org.uk/recordings LPO Glyndebourne recording wins award We were thrilled to hear the announcement on 7 April that the Glyndebourne CD recording of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg with the LPO conducted by Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor Vladimir Jurowski has won in the category of Best Opera for the BBC Music Magazine Awards 2015. ‘Musically,’ wrote Tim Ashley about the performance in The Guardian, ‘it was judged faultlessly for the scale of the theatre by Vladimir Jurowski, who conjured playing of mercurial clarity from the London Philharmonic Orchestra.’ classical-music.com/awards LPO at Glyndebourne As the 2014/15 concert season gallops at an alarming presto to its end, the Orchestra is gearing up for the next Glyndebourne season. The LPO and tonight’s conductor, Robin Ticciati, will be teaming up again for performances of Ravel’s L’Heure Espagnole and L’Enfant et les Sortileges. The Orchestra is also playing for Bizet’s Carmen, Donizetti’s Poliuto and Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia. glyndebourne.com

On stage tonight

First Violins Pieter Schoeman* Leader Chair supported by Neil Westreich

Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader Ilyoung Chae Chair supported by an anonymous donor

Catherine Craig Thomas Eisner Martin Höhmann Geoffrey Lynn Chair supported by Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp

Robert Pool Sarah Streatfeild Grace Lee Rebecca Shorrock Alina Petrenko Galina Tanney Robert Yeomans Helena Smart Caroline Sharp Second Violins Andrew Storey Guest Principal Jeongmin Kim Tania Mazzetti Kate Birchall Chair supported by David & Victoria Graham Fuller

Nancy Elan Lorenzo Gentili-Tedeschi Fiona Higham Nynke Hijlkema Joseph Maher Marie-Anne Mairesse Ashley Stevens Floortje Gerritsen Dean Williamson Harry Kerr

Violas Cyrille Mercier Principal Robert Duncan Gregory Aronovich Katharine Leek Susanne Martens Benedetto Pollani Emmanuella Reiter Laura Vallejo Naomi Holt Isabel Pereira Daniel Cornford Michelle Bruil Cellos Kristina Blaumane Principal Chair supported by Bianca and Stuart Roden

Steffan Morris Francis Bucknall Laura Donoghue Santiago Carvalho† David Lale Elisabeth Wiklander Sue Sutherley Susanna Riddell Helen Rathbone Double Basses Tim Gibbs Principal Laurence Lovelle George Peniston Richard Lewis William Cole Laura Murphy Lowri Morgan Helen Rowlands

Flutes Sue Thomas* Principal

Trombones Mark Templeton* Principal

Chair supported by Victoria Robey OBE

Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton

Stewart McIlwham*

David Whitehouse

Oboes Ian Hardwick* Principal Alice Munday

Bass Trombone Lyndon Meredith Principal Tuba Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal

Clarinets Robert Hill* Principal Thomas Watmough

Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra

Bassoons Gareth Newman Principal Simon Estell Horns David Pyatt* Principal Chair supported by Simon Robey

John Ryan* Principal Martin Hobbs Mark Vines Co-Principal Gareth Mollison

Timpani Simon Carrington* Principal * Holds a professorial appointment in London † Chevalier of the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco Meet our members: lpo.org.uk/players

Trumpets Paul Beniston* Principal Anne McAneney* Chair supported by Geoff & Meg Mann

Nicholas Betts Co-Principal David Hilton

Chair Supporters The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert: Sonja Drexler; Eric Tomsett; Andrew Davenport

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Another evening of ambition and high quality with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Richard Fairman, Financial Times, March 2015 The London Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the world’s finest orchestras, balancing a long and distinguished history with its present-day position as one of the most dynamic and forward-looking ensembles in the UK. As well as its performances in the concert hall, the Orchestra also records film and video game soundtracks, releases CDs on its own record label, and reaches thousands of people every year through activities for families, schools and community groups. The Orchestra was founded by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1932. It has since been headed by many of the world’s greatest conductors including Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. Vladimir Jurowski is currently the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor, appointed in 2007. From September 2015 Andrés Orozco-Estrada will take up the position of Principal Guest Conductor. Magnus Lindberg is the Orchestra’s current Composer in Residence. The Orchestra is based at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London, where it has performed since the Hall’s opening in 1951 and been Resident Orchestra since 1992. It gives around 30 concerts there each season with many of the world’s top conductors and

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soloists. Throughout 2013 the Orchestra collaborated with Southbank Centre on the year-long The Rest Is Noise festival, charting the influential works of the 20th century. 2014/15 highlights include a seasonlong festival, Rachmaninoff: Inside Out, exploring the composer’s major orchestral masterpieces; premieres of works by Harrison Birtwistle, Julian Anderson, Colin Matthews, James Horner and the Orchestra’s new Composer in Residence, Magnus Lindberg; and appearances by many of today’s most soughtafter artists including Maria João Pires, Christoph Eschenbach, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Osmo Vänskä, Lars Vogt, Barbara Hannigan, Vasily Petrenko, Marin Alsop, Katia and Marielle Labèque and Robin Ticciati. Outside London, the Orchestra has flourishing residencies in Brighton and Eastbourne, and performs regularly around the UK. Each summer it takes up its annual residency at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in the Sussex countryside, where it has been Resident Symphony Orchestra for over 50 years. The Orchestra also tours internationally, performing to sell-out audiences worldwide. In 1956 it became the first British orchestra to appear in Soviet Russia and in 1973 made the first ever visit to China by a Western orchestra.

Pieter Schoeman leader

Pieter Schoeman was appointed Leader of the LPO in 2008, having previously been Co-Leader since 2002.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra has recorded the soundtracks to numerous blockbuster films, from The Lord of the Rings trilogy to Lawrence of Arabia, East is East, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Thor: The Dark World. It also broadcasts regularly on television and radio, and in 2005 established its own record label. There are now over 80 releases available on CD and to download. Recent additions include organ works by Poulenc and Saint-Saëns with Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Strauss’s Don Juan and Ein Heldenleben with Bernard Haitink; Shostakovich’s Symphonies Nos. 6 & 14 and Zemlinsky’s A Florentine Tragedy with Vladimir Jurowski; and Orff’s Carmina Burana with Hans Graf. In summer 2012 the London Philharmonic Orchestra performed as part of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the River Thames, and was also chosen to record all the world’s national anthems for the London 2012 Olympics. In 2013 it was the winner of the RPS Music Award for Ensemble. The London Philharmonic Orchestra is committed to inspiring the next generation of musicians through an energetic programme of activities for young people. Highlights include the BrightSparks schools’ concerts and FUNharmonics family concerts; the Young Composers Programme; and the Foyle Future Firsts orchestral training programme for outstanding young players. Its work at the forefront of digital engagement and social media has enabled the Orchestra to reach even more people worldwide: all its recordings are available to download from iTunes and, as well as a YouTube channel and regular podcast series, the Orchestra has a lively presence on Facebook and Twitter.

Touring remains a large part of the Orchestra’s life: highlights of the 2014/15 season include appearances across Europe (including Iceland) and tours to the USA (West and East Coasts), Canada and China.

Born in South Africa, he made his solo debut aged 10 with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra. He studied with Jack de Wet in South Africa, winning numerous competitions including the 1984 World Youth Concerto Competition in the US. In 1987 he was offered the Heifetz Chair of Music scholarship to study with Eduard Schmieder in Los Angeles and in 1991 his talent was spotted by Pinchas Zukerman, who recommended that he move to New York to study with Sylvia Rosenberg. In 1994 he became her teaching assistant at Indiana University, Bloomington. Pieter has performed worldwide as a soloist and recitalist in such famous halls as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Moscow’s Rachmaninov Hall, Capella Hall in St Petersburg, Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, and Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. As a chamber musician he regularly performs at London’s prestigious Wigmore Hall. As a soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Pieter has performed Arvo Pärt’s Double Concerto with Boris Garlitsky, Brahms’s Double Concerto with Kristina Blaumane, and Britten’s Double Concerto with Alexander Zemtsov, which was recorded and released on the Orchestra’s own record label to great critical acclaim. He has recorded numerous violin solos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra for Chandos, Opera Rara, Naxos, X5, the BBC and for American film and television, and led the Orchestra in its soundtrack recordings for The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Find out more and get involved! lpo.org.uk facebook.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra twitter.com/LPOrchestra youtube.com/londonphilharmonic7

In 1995 Pieter became Co-Leader of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice. Since then he has appeared frequently as Guest Leader with the Barcelona, Bordeaux, Lyon, Baltimore and BBC symphony orchestras, and the Rotterdam and BBC Philharmonic orchestras. He is a Professor of Violin at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London. Pieter’s chair in the London Philharmonic Orchestra is supported by Neil Westreich. London Philharmonic Orchestra | 5

Robin Ticciati conductor

Under Ticciati, the music seemed to hang in the air above the orchestra and really breathe.

Erica Jeal, The Guardian, January 2015

Robin Ticciati has been Principal Conductor of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra since 2009/10 and the Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera since summer 2014. This season includes a major residency project at Vienna’s Konzerthaus featuring the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the London Symphony, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Wiener Symphoniker. Guest conducting projects within the next two seasons include a European tour with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, return engagements with the Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig, Staatskapelle Dresden, Swedish Radio Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic as well as debuts with the DSO-Berlin, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, NDR Hamburg and Orchestre National de France.

Music can teach you an honesty, because it is about a philosophy of life, and living. It should fill the soul. Robin Ticciati

For his first season as Glyndebourne Music Director, Robin conducted new productions of Der Rosenkavalier and La Finta Giardiniera. This summer, he will conduct a new production of Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail and a revival of a Ravel double-bill with L’Heure Espagnole and L’Enfant et les Sortileges. Aside from Glyndebourne, recent opera projects include new productions of Peter Grimes at La Scala Milan, The Marriage of Figaro at the Salzburg Festival,

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Eugene Onegin at the Royal Opera House, and a Metropolitan Opera debut with Hänsel und Gretel which led to an immediate re-invitation. Robin is in his sixth season as Principal Conductor of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Together they have toured extensively in Europe and Asia, and this season features a twin focus on Mahler and Haydn. Their three recordings for Linn Records so far – two Berlioz discs (Symphonie Fantastique, Les Nuits d’Été and La Mort de Cléopâtre) and a double album featuring Schumann’s four symphonies – have attracted unanimous critical acclaim. His discography includes Berlioz’s L’Enfance du Christ with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Linn), Dvořák Symphony No. 9, Bruckner’s Mass No. 3 and two Brahms discs with the Bamberg Symphony (Tudor) as well as a number of opera releases on Opus Arte and on Glyndebourne’s own label.

Born in London, Robin Ticciati trained as a violinist, pianist and percussionist. He was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain when he turned to conducting, aged 15, under the guidance of Sir Colin Davis and Sir Simon Rattle. He was recently appointed ‘Sir Colin Davis Fellow of Conducting’ by the Royal Academy of Music.

Javier Perianes piano

The Spanish pianist has a bright touch, breezy virtuosity and a knack for arresting intimacy.

Kate Molleson, The Guardian, December 2014

Spanish pianist Javier Perianes has performed in concert series throughout the world, having made appearances in New York’s Carnegie Hall, Washington’s Kennedy Center, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Barbican, Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall and Wigmore Hall in London, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, New World Center in Miami and the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris. He was Artist in Residence at the Granada Festival in 2012 and was in residence at the Teatro de la Maestranza and Seville Orchestra during the 2012/13 season. He has worked with leading conductors including Lorin Maazel, Michael Tilson Thomas, Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos and Yuri Temirkanov.

works by Mendelssohn, has received unanimous critical praise. Next month, harmonia mundi will release his recording of Grieg’s Piano Concerto recorded live in concert with BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sakari Oramo last October, paired with a selection of Grieg’s Lyric Pieces. His previous releases for the label include Schubert’s Impromptus and Klavierstücke, Manuel Blasco de Nebra’s keyboard sonatas, Mompou’s Música Callada, …les sons et les parfums focussing on works by Chopin and Debussy, and Moto perpetuo, a selection of Beethoven sonatas. His recording of Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain and selected solo works received a Latin Grammy Nomination.

Concerto highlights this season include debut appearances with Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre, National de Lyon, Washington National Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Gävle and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Copenhagen and Tampere Philharmonic Orchestras. He will make return appearances with the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic and the Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra. In season 2015/16 he will appear with London Philharmonic, Tonkunstler Orchester, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Orchestra of St Luke’s, Chicago, Boston, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestras and the Netherlands Radio Phiharmonic, among others. Recent and upcoming recitals include performances in Madrid, Barcelona, Leipzig, Saint Petersburg, Paris, Miami, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Marseille and Hong Kong.

In 2012 Javier received the ‘National Music Prize’ awarded by the Ministry of Culture of Spain.

javierperianes.com

Javier Perianes records exclusively for harmonia mundi. His latest CD, Songs without Words, a selection of piano

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 7

Programme notes

Speedread The symphony Bruckner called his ‘Romantic’, his Fourth, makes a fine partner for Beethoven’s most romantic piano concerto (another No. 4). Beethoven’s beginning is more like a record of an improvisation than a piece of formal ‘composition’. The piano plays with the opening idea as though trying it out – the audience can feel almost like eavesdroppers at a moment of private inspiration. The arch-romantic Franz Liszt compared the Concerto’s slow movement to the legend of the divine musician Orpheus taming the wild beasts by the magic of his playing.

Ludwig van Beethoven 1770–1827

‘A man’s reach should exceed his grasp,’ wrote the poet Robert Browning, and there are few composers who lived that philosophy more energetically than Beethoven. But there were times when in his straining for the impossible he became his own worst enemy. The first public performance of this concerto in Vienna in 1808 is a case in point. Beethoven may have thought it was a good idea to programme a concert including not just the Fourth Piano Concerto but also the Fifth and Sixth symphonies, large chunks of the Mass in C, a full-scale Fantasy for piano, chorus and orchestra, the concert aria Ah, perfido! plus a substantial solo improvisation of his own; but it seems nobody else did – especially not in an unheated theatre on a freezing December day. We are told that the poor soprano in Ah, perfido! ‘rather shivered than sang’, while the chorus

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Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony begins with a soft horn call through hushed, shimmering strings – the virtual embodiment of a great continental forestscape in music. The thrills and pleasures of the hunt are evoked in the energetic Scherzo, while the slow movement suggests a mysterious nocturnal processional, melancholic one moment, quietly awestruck the next. More dark forest murmurs begin the Finale’s mighty concluding crescendo, which ends however in a blaze of light. No doubt about it – Bruckner could do endings like few others!

Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 Javier Perianes piano 1 Allegro moderato 2 Andante con moto – 3 Rondo. Vivace

broke down completely in the Fantasy – only to have Beethoven yell at them that they should start it all over again. It is hard to imagine a less appropriate debut for the Fourth Piano Concerto, on the whole one of the gentlest and most intimate of Beethoven’s large-scale works. Here, as in the Fifth Concerto (the so-called ‘Emperor’ Concerto), Beethoven breaks with classical convention by having the piano come in right at the start. But, whereas in No. 5 the pianist immediately seizes the audience’s attention with eruptions and cascades of broken chords and runs, here in the Fourth Concerto the pianist steals in quietly, unaccompanied, musing on the first theme before coming to a half close. This, and the orchestra’s response, on a completely unexpected

harmony, pianissimo, form one of the most magical beginnings in the concerto repertoire. Some listeners may notice that the leading da-da-da-DA rhythmic pattern of the first theme is the same as that of the famous ‘Fate’ motif that opens the Fifth Symphony; yet it is hard to imagine two movements less like each other than the driven, tragic Allegro con brio of the symphony and the serene Allegro moderato of this concerto.

The piano plays with the opening idea as though trying it out – the audience can feel almost like eavesdroppers at a moment of private inspiration. Amazingly, the Fourth Concerto managed to charm at least some of its audience even at that disastrous premiere. The writer J F Reichardt recalled the slow second movement as ‘a masterpiece of beautiful sustained melody,’ in which Beethoven ‘truly sang on his instrument with deep melancholy feeling.’ Actually it isn’t quite a ‘sustained’ melody. The Andante con moto unfolds as a dialogue between unison strings (initially aggressive, but gradually calmer) and lyrical piano. Liszt memorably compared this movement to the classical legend of Orpheus taming wild beasts with his music. This links into a wonderful high-spirited Rondo (a circular form, with the main theme recurring more-orless regularly). Again, unusually for a classical concerto, the soloist keeps up his fireworks right through the final orchestral tutti. Thus a concerto that begins with unprecedented modesty ends with a brazen appeal for thunderous applause.

Recommended recordings of tonight’s works Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 Leif Ove Andsnes | Mahler Chamber Orchestra [Sony] Michael Roll | Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Howard Shelley [RPO Collection] Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 ‘Romantic’ London Philharmonic Orchestra | Klaus Tennstedt [LPO label LPO-0014] Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra | Karl Böhm [Decca]

Interval – 20 minutes An announcement will be made five minutes before the end of the interval.

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Programme notes continued

Anton Bruckner 1824–96

Bruckner was quite clear about it: the Fourth was his ‘Romantic’ Symphony. So why single out this work in particular? All his symphonies are clearly products of the romantic era, however much they may owe to the counterpoint of Palestrina and Bach, or to the architecture of the great Austrian cathedrals in which Bruckner (a superb organist and a devout Roman Catholic) worked and found spiritual refuge. When it first appeared, the Fourth Symphony was provided with a picturesque descriptive programme, inviting listeners to imagine dawn over a medieval town, processions of knights, hunting scenes, etc. In fact Bruckner probably had little to do with this; almost certainly his arm was twisted by over-zealous friends, anxious to help the still largely sceptical Viennese musical public get to grips with such a long, complex and highly original new work. And yet for many the Fourth Symphony does have an extraordinary power to conjure up moods or mental pictures. The magical opening – solo horn calls sounding through quietly shimmering string tremolandos – is clearly forest music, particularly Austrian-German forest music in the romantic tradition of Schubert or Weber’s classic nationalist opera Der Freischütz. What this beginning also reveals is Bruckner’s new found confidence as a symphonist. From the horn theme, through the long following crescendo to the arrival of the second main theme, fortissimo, on bass brass, the music flows forward like a great river. As the movement unfolds Bruckner may allow himself pauses for breath or reflection, like a walker stopping to admire a fine view, but soon the steady momentum is re-established. The horn theme

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Symphony No. 4 in E flat major, ‘Romantic’ (Nowak edition, revised 1878 with 1880 Finale) 1 2 3 4

Bewegt, nicht zu schnell [Lively, not too fast] Andante, quasi Allegretto Scherzo: Bewegt [Lively] - Trio: Nicht zu schnell. Keinesfalls schleppend [Not too fast. But not dragging] - Scherzo Finale: Bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell [Lively, but not too fast]

returns twice in its original form: at the start of the recapitulation (with a touchingly simple countermelody on flute), and the very end of the movement, where its first phrase sounds out thrillingly on all four horns in unison. The typical Bruckner slow movement is a profound, songful Adagio meditation. Here, however, we have something closer to a funeral march, or at least a melancholy nocturnal procession. But although the tempo marking, Andante, quasi Allegretto, suggests a mobile pace, the underlying pulse feels slow, the landscape even more spacious than that opened out in the Symphony’s opening pages. The feeling of immense shadowy space is enhanced by the second theme: violas singing long, calm phrases through quiet pizzicato (plucked) string-chords. There are moments of mesmerising stillness, in which solo woodwinds and horns call to each other like birds across wide distances. This movement could have been written to illustrate the marvellous German word Waldeinsamkeit: the unique sense of aloneness one feels in a forest. Eventually this march theme rouses itself to a magnificent climax. But the splendour soon fades, and we are left with the march rhythm on solitary timpani, and sadly falling phrases on horn, viola and clarinet. The Fourth Symphony’s descriptive programme compares the Scherzo to hunting scenes. All very apt – up to a point. But there is something almost cosmic about this music, as though the horses were careering across the skies rather than thundering over the earth. The slower central Trio section however is a delicious

example of the cosy, rustic Bruckner: a lazily contented Ländler (country cousin of the Viennese waltz) is murmured by oboe and clarinet. Then the ‘cosmically’ galloping Scherzo returns in full. The Finale is the longest and most exploratory of the four movements. Bruckner claimed that the main theme came to him in a dream, played by a friend who told Bruckner, ‘The first three movements of the Romantic (Fourth) Symphony are ready, and we’ll soon find the theme for the fourth. Go to the piano and play it for me.’ Bruckner tells us: ‘I was so excited that I woke up, leaped out of bed and wrote the theme down, just as I’d heard it.’ Almost certainly this dream-given idea is the elemental unison theme for full orchestra that enters at the height of the first crescendo – strikingly one of the few passages that remained essentially unchanged in the two major revisions Bruckner made of this movement.

Clarifying the form of this Finale caused Bruckner immense trouble, and there is evidence he wasn’t satisfied even after he’d completed this supposedly ‘final’ version. Even some Bruckner lovers have tended to agree with him: certainly there are splendid ideas, but there are also passages in which the music momentarily seems to lose its way. But then Bruckner is attempting something highly original here: not a fast classical finale, but a huge summing up that contrasts dramatic assertion with moments of anxious uncertainty or, in at the other extreme, meditative calm. Give Bruckner the benefit of the doubt however and patience is ultimately rewarded, with interest. The long final crescendo, beginning in minor-key darkness with the first theme sounding quietly through shimmering strings, is one of Bruckner’s most superbly engineered symphonic summations, ending in a blaze of major-key glory. In the final moments, horns recall thrillingly the solo horn theme that set everything in motion at the start of the first movement. We have come full circle. Programme notes © Stephen Johnson

Bruckner on the LPO Label Latest release Symphony No. 3

bruckner symphony no. 4 in e flat ‘ROMANTIC’ klaus tennstedt conductor LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Symphony No. 4 ‘Romantic’ (Haas Edition)

A BBC recording

Stanisław Skrowaczewski conductor London Philharmonic Orchestra

Klaus Tennstedt conductor London Philharmonic Orchestra

LPO-0084 | £9.99

LPO-0014 | £9.99

“It sounds throughout as though the LPO is completely in sympathy for their conductor’s carefully controlled approach … it feels right to the end.” Andrew McGregor, BBC Radio 3 CD Review, March 2015

“One of the greatest accounts of the work that I have heard. The LPO is on magnificent form ... the effect is sublime.” BBC Music Magazine

Available from lpo.org.uk/recordings, the LPO Ticket Office (020 7840 4242) and all good CD outlets Available to download or stream online via iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and others.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 11

The next LPO concerts at Royal Festival Hall Friday 17 April 2015 7.30pm

Wednesday 29 April 2015 | 7.30pm

Debussy Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune*

Rachmaninoff (arr. Butsko) Piano Works, Four movements (arr. Jurowski) 10 Songs Symphony No. 3 Vladimir Jurowski conductor Vsevolod Grivnov tenor

The final concert in this year-long series

Lalo Symphonie espagnole Brahms Symphony No. 1 Omer Meir Wellber conductor Augustin Hadelich violin

Rachmaninoff: Inside Out is presented in co-operation with the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation.

*supported by Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de musique romantique française

lpo.org.uk/rachmaninoff

JTI FRIDAY SERIES

“

The sound Jurowski coaxed from the LPO was exquisite.”

Saturday 25 April 2015 7.30pm

performance of The Miserly Knight

“

Rachmaninoff’s Spring Cantata did credit to the LPO’s Rachmaninoff: Inside Out series.” Hilary Finch, The Times, February 2015, 4-stars

Matthew Right, The Arts Desk, January 2015

Wagner Overture, The Flying Dutchman Beethoven Symphony No. 4 Janáček Glagolitic Mass Tomáš Netopil conductor Andrea Danková soprano Karen Cargill mezzo soprano Kor-Jan Dusseljee tenor Jochen Schmeckenbecher baritone Catherine Edwards organ London Philharmonic Choir Orfeó Català Cor de Cambra del Palau de la Música Tickets £9–£39 (premium seats £65) London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office 020 7840 4242 Monday–Friday 10.00am–5.00pm lpo.org.uk Transaction fees: £1.75 online, £2.75 telephone.

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2015/16 season at Royal Festival Hall Highlights 2015

2016

Wednesday 23 September Mahler Symphony No 7 Vladimir Jurowski conductor

Shakespeare400 In 2016 the LPO joins many of London’s other leading cultural institutions to celebrate the legacy of Shakespeare, 400 years since his death. Highlights include:

Wednesday 14 October Penderecki conducts Penderecki including UK premieres of Harp Concerto and Adagio for Strings

Wednesday 3 February Dvorˇák Overture, Otello

Saturday 31 October Bruckner Symphony No. 5 Stanisław Skrowaczewski conductor Friday 6 November A celebration of Mexican orchestral music Alondra de la Parra conductor JTI Friday Series

Wednesday 10 February Sibelius The Tempest (extracts) Friday 15 April Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet (extracts) JTI Friday Series Saturday 23 April Anniversary Gala Concert Including: Verdi Otello and Falstaff (extracts) Music from Britten, Mendelssohn and Walton Vladimir Jurowski conductor Simon Callow director Booking now Tickets from £9.00 Ticket office 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk

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We would like to acknowledge the generous support of the following Thomas Beecham Group Patrons, Principal Benefactors and Benefactors: Thomas Beecham Group The Tsukanov Family Foundation Neil Westreich William and Alex de Winton Simon Robey Victoria Robey OBE Bianca & Stuart Roden Julian & Gill Simmonds* Anonymous Garf & Gill Collins* Andrew Davenport Mrs Sonja Drexler David & Victoria Graham Fuller Mrs Philip Kan* Mr & Mrs Makharinsky Geoff & Meg Mann Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp Eric Tomsett John & Manon Antoniazzi John & Angela Kessler Guy & Utti Whittaker * BrightSparks patrons. Instead of supporting a chair in the Orchestra, these donors have chosen to support our series of schools’ concerts.

Principal Benefactors Mark & Elizabeth Adams Desmond & Ruth Cecil Mr John H Cook David Ellen Mr Daniel Goldstein Drs Frank & Gek Lim Peter MacDonald Eggers Dr Eva Lotta & Mr Thierry Sciard Mr & Mrs David Malpas Mr Michael Posen Mr & Mrs G Stein Mr & Mrs John C Tucker Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood Lady Marina Vaizey Laurence Watt Grenville & Krysia Williams Mr Anthony Yolland Benefactors Mrs A Beare David & Patricia Buck Mrs Alan Carrington Mr & Mrs Stewart Cohen Mr Alistair Corbett Georgy Djaparidze Mr David Edgecombe Mr Timothy Fancourt QC Mr Richard Fernyhough Tony & Susan Hayes Michael & Christine Henry Malcolm Herring J. Douglas Home

Ivan Hurry Mr Glenn Hurstfield Per Jonsson Mr Gerald Levin Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Paul & Brigitta Lock Mr Peter Mace Ms Ulrike Mansel Robert Markwick Mr Brian Marsh Andrew T Mills Dr Karen Morton Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill Tom & Phillis Sharpe Martin and Cheryl Southgate Mr Peter Tausig Simon Turner Howard & Sheelagh Watson Des & Maggie Whitelock Christopher Williams Bill Yoe and others who wish to remain anonymous Hon. Benefactor Elliott Bernerd Hon. Life Members Kenneth Goode Carol Colburn Grigor CBE Pehr G Gyllenhammar Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE

The generosity of our Sponsors, Corporate Members, supporters and donors is gratefully acknowledged: Corporate Members Silver: Accenture AREVA UK Berenberg British American Business Carter-Ruck Bronze: Appleyard & Trew LLP BTO Management Consulting AG Charles Russell Speechlys Leventis Overseas Preferred Partners Corinthia Hotel London Heineken Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd Sipsmith Steinway Villa Maria In-kind Sponsors Google Inc Sela / Tilley’s Sweets Trusts and Foundations Angus Allnatt Charitable Foundation Ambache Charitable Trust Ruth Berkowitz Charitable Trust The Bernarr Rainbow Trust

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The Boltini Trust Borletti-Buitoni Trust Britten-Pears Foundation The Candide Trust The Peter Carr Charitable Trust, in memory of Peter Carr The Ernest Cook Trust The Coutts Charitable Trust The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Dunard Fund The Equitable Charitable Trust Fidelio Charitable Trust The Foyle Foundation Lucille Graham Trust The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust Help Musicians UK The Hinrichsen Foundation The Hobson Charity The Idlewild Trust Kirby Laing Foundation The Leche Trust London Stock Exchange Group Foundation Marsh Christian Trust The Mayor of London’s Fund for Young Musicians Adam Mickiewicz Institute The Peter Minet Trust The Ann and Frederick O’Brien Charitable Trust

Office for Cultural and Scientific Affairs of the Embassy of Spain in London Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de musique romantique française The Austin and Hope Pilkington Trust Polish Cultural Institute in London PRS for Music Foundation The Radcliffe Trust Rivers Foundation The R K Charitable Trust RVW Trust Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation Romanian Cultural Institute Schroder Charity Trust Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation The David Solomons Charitable Trust Souter Charitable Trust The Steel Charitable Trust The John Thaw Foundation The Tillett Trust UK Friends of the Felix-MendelssohnBartholdy-Foundation The Viney Family Garfield Weston Foundation The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust Youth Music and others who wish to remain anonymous

Sound Futures Donors By May 2015 we aim to have raised £1 million which will be matched pound for pound by Arts Council England through a Catalyst Endowment grant. This will create a £2 million endowment fund supporting our Education and Community Programme, our creative programming and major artistic projects at Southbank Centre. We are grateful to the following donors for their generous contributions to our Sound Futures campaign. For a full list of those who have given to this campaign please visit lpo.org.uk/soundfutures.

Masur Circle Arts Council England Dunard Fund Victoria Robey OBE Emmanuel & Barrie Roman The Underwood Trust Welser-Möst Circle William & Alex de Winton John Ireland Charitable Trust The Tsukanov Family Foundation Neil Westreich Tennstedt Circle Richard Buxton Simon Robey Bianca & Stuart Roden Simon & Vero Turner The late Mr K Twyman Solti Patrons Ageas John & Manon Antoniazzi Georgy Djaparidze Mrs Mina Goodman and Miss Suzanne Goodman Mr James R D Korner Robert Markwick & Kasia Robinski The Rothschild Foundation Haitink Patrons Dr Christopher Aldren Mark & Elizabeth Adams Mrs Pauline Baumgartner Lady Jane Berrill Mr Frederick Brittenden David & Yi Yao Buckley Mr Clive Butler Gill & Garf Collins Mr John H Cook Bruno de Kegel Mr Gavin Graham Moya Greene

Karima & David G Mr Daniel Goldstein Mr Derek B Gray Mr Roger Greenwood Mr J Douglas Home Honeymead Arts Trust Mrs Dawn Hooper Rehmet Kassim-Lakha Mr Geoffrey Kirkham Peter Leaver Wg Cdr & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Drs Frank & Gek Lim Peter Mace Mr David Macfarlane Geoff & Meg Mann Dr David McGibney Michael & Patricia McLaren-Turner John Montgomery Rosemary Morgan Paris Natar Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill Mr Roger H C Pattison The late Edmund Pirouet Mr Michael Posen Sarah & John Priestland Mr Christopher Queree Mr Alan Sainer Pritchard Donors Tim Slorick Ralph and Elizabeth Aldwinckle Lady Valerie Solti Michael and Linda Blackstone Timothy Walker AM Conrad Blakey OBE Laurence Watt Dr Anthony Buckland Mr R Watts Business Events Sydney Christopher Williams Lady June Chichester John Childress & Christiane Wuillamie Peter Wilson Smith Victoria Yanakova Paul Collins Mr Anthony Yolland Mr Alistair Corbett Mr David Edgecombe And all other donors who wish to David Ellen remain anonymous Mr Timothy Fancourt QC The Lady Foley Mrs Dorothy Hambleton Tony and Susie Hayes Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle Mrs Philip Kan Rose and Dudley Leigh Lady Roslyn Marion Lyons Miss Jeanette Martin Duncan Matthews QC Diana and Allan Morgenthau Charitable Trust Dr Karen Morton Mr Roger Phillimore Ruth Rattenbury The Reed Foundation Sir Bernard Rix David Ross and Line Forestier (Canada) Carolina & Martin Schwab Tom and Phillis Sharpe Dr Brian Smith Mr & Mrs G Stein Dr Peter Stephenson Miss Anne Stoddart TFS Loans Limited Lady Marina Vaizey Ms Jenny Watson Guy & Utti Whittaker

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Administration

Board of Directors Victoria Robey OBE Chairman Stewart McIlwham* President Gareth Newman* Vice-President Dr Manon Antoniazzi Richard Brass Desmond Cecil CMG Vesselin Gellev* Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS Dr Catherine C. Høgel Martin Höhmann* George Peniston* Kevin Rundell* Julian Simmonds Mark Templeton* Natasha Tsukanova Timothy Walker AM Laurence Watt Neil Westreich

Chief Executive

Education and Community

Digital Projects

Timothy Walker AM Chief Executive and Artistic Director

Isabella Kernot Education Director

Alison Atkinson Digital Projects Director

Alexandra Clarke Education and Community Project Manager

Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant

Amy Sugarman PA to the Chief Executive / Administrative Assistant Finance David Burke General Manager and Finance Director David Greenslade Finance and IT Manager

Lucy Duffy Education and Community Project Manager

Public Relations Albion Media (Tel: 020 3077 4930)

Richard Mallett Education and Community Producer