17mar10 LPO Programme notes by London Philharmonic Orchestra

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Principal Conductor VLADIMIR JUROWSKI Principal Guest Conductor YANNICK NÉZET-SÉGUIN Leader PIETER SCHOEMAN Composer in Residence MARK-ANTHONY TURNAGE Patron HRH THE DUKE OF KENT KG Chief Executive and Artistic Director TIMOTHY WALKER

AM†

SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL Wednesday 17 March 2010 | 7.30 pm

LUDOVIC MORLOT conductor ANNE-SOPHIE MUTTER violin

WAGNER Lohengrin, Prelude to Act 1

(36’)

INTERVAL

†

CONTENTS 2 List of Players 3 Orchestra History 4 Pieter Schoeman 5 Ludovic Morlot 6 Anne-Sophie Mutter 7 Programme Notes 11 Recordings 12 Annual Appeal / Southbank Centre 13 Supporters 14 Philharmonic News 15 Administration 16 Future Concerts

(9’)

BRAHMS Concerto in D for violin and orchestra

BARTÓK Concerto for Orchestra

PROGRAMME £3

(35’)

supported by Macquarie Group

CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide.

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LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

FIRST VIOLINS Pieter Schoeman* Leader Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader Julia Rumley Chair supported by Mrs Steven Ward

Benjamin Roskams Katalin Varnagy Thomas Eisner Tina Gruenberg Martin Hรถhmann Chair supported by Richard Karl Goeltz

Geoffrey Lynn Robert Pool Florence Schoeman Sarah Streatfeild Yang Zhang Peter Nall Galina Tanney Alina Petrenko SECOND VIOLINS Clare Duckworth Principal Chair supported by Richard and Victoria Sharp

Jeongmin Kim Joseph Maher Nancy Elan Fiona Higham Marie-Anne Mairesse Ashley Stevens Dean Williamson Sioni Williams Peter Graham Stephen Stewart Mila Mustakova Elizabeth Baldey Caroline Frenkel

VIOLAS Alexander Zemtsov* Principal Gregory Aronowich Robert Duncan Anthony Byrne Chair supported by John and Angela Kessler

Katharine Leek Susanne Martens Benedetto Pollani Laura Vallejo Michelle Bruil Daniel Cornford Miranda Davis Sarah Malcolm CELLOS Susanne Beer Principal Francis Bucknall Laura Donoghue Santiago Sabino Carvalho + Sue Sutherley Tom Roff Pavlos Carvalho Tae-Mi Song David Bucknall Alexandra Mackenzie DOUBLE BASSES Kevin Rundell* Principal Timothy Gibbs Laurence Lovelle George Peniston Joe Melvin Kenneth Knussen David Johnson Helen Rowlands

FLUTES Juliette Bausor Guest Principal Joanna Marsh Stewart McIlwham*

TRUMPETS Paul Beniston* Principal Anne McAneney*

PICCOLO Stewart McIlwham* Principal

David Hilton

OBOES David Theodore Guest Principal Angela Tennick Sue Bohling COR ANGLAIS Sue Bohling Principal Chair supported by Julian and Gill Simmonds

CLARINETS Nicholas Carpenter Principal Emily Sutcliffe Paul Richards BASS CLARINET Paul Richards Principal BASSOONS Gareth Newman* Principal Robin Kennard Simon Estell

Chair supported by Geoff and Meg Mann

TROMBONES Mark Templeton* Principal David Whitehouse BASS TROMBONE Lyndon Meredith Principal TUBA Martin Knowles Guest Principal TIMPANI Antoine Bedewi Guest Principal PERCUSSION Andrew Barclay* Principal Keith Millar HARPS Helen Sharp Guest Principal Fiona Clifton-Welker

CONTRA BASSOON Simon Estell Principal HORNS John Ryan Principal Martin Hobbs Adrian Uren Gareth Mollison Richard Bayliss

* Holds a professorial appointment in London +

Chevalier of the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco

Chair Supporters The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert: David and Victoria Graham Fuller Caroline, Jamie and Zander Sharp Simon Yates and Kevin Roon

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LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Seventy-seven years after Sir Thomas Beecham founded the London Philharmonic Orchestra, it is recognised today as one of the finest orchestras on the international stage. Following Beecham’s influential founding tenure the Orchestra’s Principal Conductorship has been passed from one illustrious musician to another, amongst them Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. This impressive tradition continued in September 2007 when Vladimir Jurowski became the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor, and in a further exciting move, the Orchestra appointed Yannick Nézet-Séguin, its new Principal Guest Conductor from September 2008. The London Philharmonic Orchestra has been performing at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall since it opened in 1951, becoming Resident Orchestra in 1992. It plays there around 40 times each season with many of the world’s most sought after conductors and soloists. Concert highlights in 2009/10 include Between Two Worlds – an exploration of the music and times of Alfred Schnittke; a Sibelius symphony cycle with Osmo Vänskä in January/February 2010; a performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah conducted by Kurt Masur and dedicated to the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall; and new works by Rautavaara, Philip Glass, Ravi Shankar and the Orchestra’s Composer in Residence, Mark-Anthony Turnage.

Imaginative programming and a commitment to new music are at the heart of the Orchestra’s activity, with regular commissions and world première performances. In addition to its London season, the Orchestra has flourishing residencies in Brighton and Eastbourne, and performs regularly around the UK. It is unique in combining these concert activities with esteemed opera performances each summer at Glyndebourne Festival Opera where it has been the Resident Symphony Orchestra since 1964. The London Philharmonic Orchestra performs to enthusiastic audiences all round the world. In 1956 it became the first British orchestra to appear in Soviet Russia and in 1973 it made the first ever visit to China by a Western orchestra. Touring continues to form a significant part of the Orchestra's schedule and is supported by Aviva, the International Touring Partner of

‘This pulsating concert was the best possible advertisement for the rest of Osmo Vänskä’s Sibelius cycle ... If any musical event this season has a better Finnish than this, I’m a Norseman.’ RICHARD MORRISON, THE TIMES, 29 JANUARY 2010

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LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

PIETER SCHOEMAN LEADER

the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Tours in 2009/10 include visits to Germany, Australia, France, China, the Canaries and the USA. Having long been embraced by the recording, broadcasting and film industries, the London Philharmonic Orchestra broadcasts regularly on domestic and international television and radio. It also works extensively with the Hollywood and UK film industries, recording soundtracks for blockbuster motion pictures including the Oscar-winning score for The Lord of the Rings trilogy and scores for Lawrence of Arabia, The Mission, Philadelphia and East is East. The Orchestra also enjoys strong relationships with the major record labels and in 2005 began reaching out to new global audiences through the release of live, studio and archive recordings on its own CD label. Recent additions to the catalogue have included acclaimed releases of early Britten works conducted by Vladimir Jurowski; Mahler’s Symphony 6 under the baton of Klaus Tennstedt; Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies 1 and 6 conducted by Vladimir Jurowski; Sir Thomas Beecham recordings of Mozart, Delius and Rimsky-Korsakov from the 1930s; a CD of John Ireland’s works taken from his 70th Birthday Concert in 1949; and Dvo˘rák’s Requiem conducted by Neeme Järvi. The Orchestra’s own-label releases are available to download by work or individual track from its website: www.lpo.org.uk/shop. The Orchestra reaches thousands of Londoners through its rich programme of community and school-based activity in Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, which includes the offshoot ensembles Renga and The Band, its Foyle Future Firsts apprenticeship scheme for outstanding young instrumentalists, and regular family and schools concerts.

In 2002, Pieter Schoeman joined the London Philharmonic Orchestra as Co-Leader. In 2008 he was appointed Leader. Born in South Africa, he made his solo debut with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra at the age of ten. He studied with Jack de Wet in South Africa, winning numerous competitions, including the 1984 World Youth Concerto Competition in America. In 1987 he was offered the Heifetz Chair of Music scholarship to study with Edouard 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 Schoeman has performed as a soloist and recitalist throughout the world 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 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, he has performed Arvo Pärt’s Double Concerto and Benjamin Britten’s Double Concerto, which was recorded for the Orchestra’s own record label. Most recently he also played concertos with the Wiener Concertverein and Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice.

In 1995 Pieter Schoeman became Co-Leader of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice. During his tenure there he performed frequently as Guest Leader with the symphony orchestras of Barcelona, Bordeaux, Lyon, Baltimore and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. A frequent guest of the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London, Pieter Schoeman returned in October 2006 to To help maintain its high standards and diverse workload, lead that orchestra on a three week tour of Seoul, Beijing, the Orchestra is committed to the welfare of its musicians Shanghai, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. and in December 2007 received the Association of British Orchestras/Musicians Benevolent Fund Healthy Orchestra Pieter Schoeman has recorded numerous violin solos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra for Chandos, Bronze Charter Mark. Opera Rara, Naxos, the BBC and for American film and There are many ways to experience and stay in touch with television. He led the Orchestra in its soundtrack the Orchestra’s activities: visit www.lpo.org.uk, subscribe recordings for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. He teaches at Trinity College of Music. to our podcast series and join us on Facebook.

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LUDOVIC MORLOT CONDUCTOR

Ludovic Morlot has maintained a close working relationship with the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 2001 when he was the Seiji Ozawa Fellowship Conductor at the Tanglewood Music Center. He was subsequently appointed assistant conductor for the orchestra and their Music Director James Levine, a role he fulfilled from 2004 to 2007. He has conducted the orchestra in many public concerts, both in Boston and Tanglewood. From 2002 to 2004, he served as conductor in residence of the Orchestre National de Lyon under David Robertson. The French musician Ludovic Morlot is quickly establishing a reputation as one of the leading conductors of his generation. Already in great demand in North America, he will return to the Chicago and Boston Symphony Orchestras during the current season as well as making his debut with the Cincinnati and Atlanta Symphony Orchestras. Elsewhere he will make his debut with the Oslo Philharmonic, Danish National Radio Symphony and Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestras and tour Germany with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Anne-Sophie Mutter. He also returns to the Rotterdam Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony and Ensemble Intercontemporain, with whom he has a regular relationship. Committed to working with young people Ludovic Morlot will also undertake a tour with the Netherlands Youth Orchestra which will include a concert in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. Future debuts will take him to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Opéra National de Lyon and Opéra Comique in Paris.

Trained as a violinist, Ludovic Morlot studied conducting at the Royal Academy of Music in London and then at the Royal College of Music as recipient of the Norman del Mar Conducting Fellowship. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 2007 in recognition of his significant contribution to music.

Recent notable engagements have included concerts with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland, Dresden Staatskapelle, Tonhalle, Budapest Festival, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and Seoul Philharmonic Orchestras. He has collaborated with many distinguished soloists including Christian Tetzlaff, Gil Shaham, Renaud Capuçon, Lynn Harrell, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Emanuel Ax and Jessye Norman.

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ANNE-SOPHIE MUTTER VIOLIN

Anja Frers/DG

Sur le même accord and Wolfgang Rihm’s Gesungene Zeit. Her partners on the podium will be Pablo Gonzáles, Valery Gergiev, Riccardo Chailly, Riccardo Muti and Kent Nagano.

For three decades Anne-Sophie Mutter has been one of the greatest violin virtuosos. Born in Rheinfelden in the state of Baden, she launched her international career at the Lucerne Festival in 1976. A year later she performed as a soloist at the Salzburg Whitsun Concerts under the direction of Herbert von Karajan. Since then she has given concerts at all the major music centres. In addition to performing traditional works, her repertoire continually breaks new ground with chamber music and orchestral works presented on equal terms. She also uses her popularity for charity projects and supports the development of talented young musicians. In 2010 Anne-Sophie Mutter gives concerts in Asia, Europe and North America with a focus on certain works such as Gubaidulina’s In tempus praesens, which she will perform for the first time in Japan, Canada and Russia. On a tour of the USA and Europe she will play Brahms’s Violin Concerto with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Manfred Honeck and she will appear on stage with Lambert Orkis in Japan and Taiwan for performances of Brahms’s Violin Sonatas. They will also play works by Brahms, Debussy, Mendelssohn and Sarasate on a European tour. On another American tour she will perform Beethoven’s String Trios with Yuri Bashmet and Lynn Harrell. Anne-Sophie Mutter will be the Artist in Residence at the 2010 Rheingau Music Festival where she will perform the Beethoven and Mendelssohn Violin Concertos with the hr-Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Paavo Järvi. In addition to the major focal points for 2010, AnneSophie Mutter will also play violin concertos by Beethoven, Dvořák and Mendelssohn, Henri Dutilleux’s

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Anne-Sophie Mutter takes special pride in performing contemporary music. Sebastian Currier, Henri Dutilleux, Sofia Gubaidulina, Witold Lutoslawski, Norbert Moret, Krzysztof Penderecki, André Previn and Wolfgang Rihm have all dedicated works to her. For her many recordings Anne-Sophie Mutter has received the German Record Prize, the Record Academy Prize, the Grand Prix du Disque, the International Record Prize and several Grammies. On Mozart's 250th anniversary she recorded all Mozart's major compositions for violin on the Deutsche Grammophon label. Her recording of Gubaidulina's Violin Concerto In tempus praesens with the London Symphony Orchestra under Valery Gergiev as well as her recording of Bach's Violin Concertos in A minor and E major with the Trondheim Soloists under her own direction were released last September. To mark the bicentenary of Mendelssohn’s birth, she is recording his Violin Sonata in F, the Piano Trio in D minor and the Violin Concerto in E minor. Her recording of Brahms’s Violin Sonatas with Lambert Orkis will be released this month. In 2008 she established the ‘Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation’. Its objective is to increase worldwide support for promising young musicians – a task she took on when she founded ‘The Anne-Sophie Mutter Circle of Friends Foundation’ in 1997. She also takes a special interest in the medical and social problems of our time and regularly lends her support to these causes through charitable concerts. In 2008 Anne-Sophie Mutter received the International Ernst von Siemens Music Prize as well as the Leipzig Mendelssohn Prize and the following year she was awarded the European St Ulrich’s Prize and the Cristobal Gabaroon Award. She is a bearer of the Grand Order of Merit of the German Federal Republic, the French Order of the Legion of Honour, the Bavarian Order of Merit, the Great Austrian Order of Merit, and many other awards.

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PROGRAMME NOTES

SPEEDREAD What is life without the warmth and inspiration of human friendship? When violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim bounded into Johannes Brahms’s life like an energetic puppy, he utterly overwhelmed the young composer. It was only a matter of time before Brahms would be moved to write a piece for his new friend, and later rather than sooner, he delivered one. It was a beautifully poised Violin Concerto that combined the finesse and delicate beauty that characterised Brahms with the feisty Hungarian spirit of Joachim. Forced out of Hungary as war ravaged Europe, Béla Bartók wound up in America half a century after Brahms’s death. Alone, exiled, ill and poor, Bartók thought his compositional life over. But his friend the conductor Serge Koussevitsky thought otherwise. The maestro re-energised Bartók with encouragement and a

Richard WAGNER

major commission for an orchestral work. Eight weeks later, Bartók delivered the score for what would prove to be his finest orchestral creation and his signature piece: the Concerto for Orchestra, a spectacular monument to his marrying of vernacular and classical music. And when Wagner polished off his majestic opera Lohengrin in 1850, he did more than contribute a fine work to the operatic canon boasting truly magical vocal and orchestral music. He also put a smile on the face of King Ludwig II of Bavaria, who himself offered Wagner the hand of friendship as a result – and with it the cash, resources and political support he’d need to create and house the epic Ring cycle. Listening to the ethereal strains of the Prelude to Lohengrin, you can see how King Ludwig might have developed such belief in Wagner’s ability to capture intense drama in his music, both human and mystical.

LOHENGRIN, PRELUDE TO ACT 1

1813-1883

Richard Wagner had a cataclysmic effect on the opera world. He changed forever its musical scale, the range of its dramatic effects, the technology of its stagecraft and even the architecture of its housing auditoria. The humble opera overture, too, would never be quite the same after Wagner. While Gluck, Mozart and Beethoven had increasingly filled their operatic curtain-raisers with the passionate emotional material of the operas that followed them, Wagner raised the anticipation factor in overtures to its highest level. He invested them with an organic structure and emotional depth that seemed to transcend the diminutive label ‘overture’. As a result, many of Wagner’s ‘Preludes’ have since been welcomed into concert halls as stand-alone works. Lohengrin – the last of Wagner’s classic-style operas written before the transformative language of the Ring,

Tristan und Isolde and Parsifal took root – has actually gifted two orchestral delicacies to the concert hall in the form of Preludes to both Acts I and III. The first of these is centred on the cup Christ drank from at the Last Supper – the Holy Grail, the opera’s central icon and a seminal symbol in medieval German history. Hushed, divided violins appear to herald the Grail from somewhere in the ionosphere at the start of the Prelude. Colours slowly alter, a warm glow heats the steadily building orchestral texture, and the Grail gradually descends towards the assembled Knights before swiftly returning to the ether. Wagner uses a single thematic idea across this highly affecting musical arch, investing it with an ethereal tonal language and shimmering instrument combinations to capture the enigmatic legend of the Grail.

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PROGRAMME NOTES

Johannes BRAHMS 1833-1897

We tend to think of Brahms as a portly conservative who laboured over those terribly un-sexy compositional details of structure, cohesion and orchestral balance. And yes, those qualities certainly helped make Brahms a great composer. But for a moment, picture not the classic portrait of the bearded Brahms, but instead a 20year-old youth blessed with a blazing talent and eager to please. This was the Brahms – and presumably a clean-shaven one, too – who first encountered the celebrated virtuoso violinist, conductor and composer Joseph Joachim in 1853. Back then, Joachim described the young Brahms as ‘pure as diamond, soft as snow’. And while we’re dusting down the traditional view of the composer’s personality, we might as well do the same for his music. Brahms can actually be viewed as an innovator: a composer who used his retrospective admiration for Bach and Beethoven to tread a new path, arguably recognisable in his concertos more readily than in any of his other works. Beethoven’s concertos had progressively acquired symphonic proportions and Brahms’s would take that lead. The violin concerto heard tonight was famously described by one commentator as ‘a symphony with principal violin’. In spite of that description, Brahms created a captivatingly lyrical violin part for the concerto with Joachim by his side, and a full score which reflects the composer’s singular combination of orchestral

CONCERTO IN D FOR VIOLIN AND ORCHESTRA, OP. 77 ANNE-SOPHIE MUTTER violin Allegro non troppo | Adagio | Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace – Poco più presto

argument and elegance. But there’s warmth to the work, too. Like Brahms’s B flat Piano Concerto, the score was inspired partly by Italy where the composer had been travelling in April 1878. A few months later he decamped to a lakeside summer house at Pörtschach in southern Austria to score the piece. Joachim gave the first performance of the results in Leipzig on New Year’s Day 1879 with the composer conducting, and it was probably the violinist who advised the conductor some months earlier to remove the then third movement Scherzo. Brahms took the advice, recycling the movement later as part of that same B flat Piano Concerto. The movements that remain exude Brahmsian poise. There’s noble expanse aplenty in the first movement, and yet it never seems bloated or haughty. The orchestra is assuredly in charge of proceedings, though the soloist does lead the second of Brahms’s two thematic ‘expositions’ (the introduction of a new musical idea) at the movement’s opening. The second movement contains what one famous violinist called ‘the only real tune in the work’; the same violinist protesting later that it’s given not to the fiddle player but to the oboe. The soloist is, though, bestowed similar melodic gifts soon thereafter. The final movement is in the rumbustious Hungarian spirit of Joachim, but Brahms the perfectionist peers through its meticulous intricacies.

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

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PROGRAMME NOTES

Béla BARTÓK

CONCERTO FOR ORCHESTRA Introduzione: Andante non troppo – Allegro vivace | Giuoco delle coppie: Allegretto scherzando | Elegia: Andante non troppo | Intermezzo interotto: Allegretto | Finale: Pesante – Presto

1881-1945

Béla Bartók was one of a number of twentieth century composers who turned to the indigenous language of folk music to enrich their creative palettes. Bartók, though, took the process rather more seriously than most: he recorded and transcribed swathes of ‘peasant’ music from his native Hungary as well as from Romania, Croatia and even Turkey and North Africa. By the 1920s a musical voice had emerged in Bartók that fused these discoveries with his existing post-impressionistic, late Romantic tendencies. It was a distinctive voice full of contrapuntal textures, rhythmic drive, offbeat syncopations, sonorous harmonies and elemental folk qualities. Like that of so many of his contemporaries, Bartók’s life was thrown off course by the events of the Second World War. In 1940 the composer left Nazi-occupied Hungary for a tour of America; his mother had died and the violence was escalating behind him. Initially things turned out well enough for Bartók in the States: the tour was a success and soon thereafter he took a teaching post at Columbia University. But nothing was permanent, and the composer soon got the feeling that the Americans were less interested in his music than they were in his perceived prestige. Bartók was also ill. He didn’t know it – nor, it seems, did his doctors – but he was dying of leukaemia. The pain and mystery of his illness put a huge strain on the composer’s emotions, and he withdrew into himself. As the situation appeared to reach its lowest ebb in 1942, violinist Joseph Szigeti and conductor Serge Koussevitsky attempted between them to re-kindle Bartók’s spirit. What they came up with was as simple and inspired as it was risky: a major commission for an orchestral work, to be performed by Koussevitsky’s Boston Symphony Orchestra. Risky, that is, because Bartók had on more than one occasion insisted that he was ‘past’ composing.

As it happens, the piece that commission spawned became Bartók’s signature work. And for Koussevitsky, at the time of the Concerto for Orchestra’s first performance in December 1944, it was ‘the best orchestral piece of the last 25 years.’ That’s what the conductor told Bartók, anyway – the composer himself, rejuvenated, wrote excitedly to a friend recounting the details of the first performance in Boston and Koussevitsky’s reaction to it. The Concerto for Orchestra represents one of Bartók’s most successful attempts to marry the effectively local phenomenon of folk music with the more universal language of the 20th century orchestra. The work’s title reflects ‘a tendency to treat the single instruments or instrumental groups in a concertante or soloistic manner’ according to the composer, and is built in an arch structure in which the first movement reflects the fifth and the second reflects the fourth, all surrounding a central ‘Elegia’ (described by Bartók as a ‘night piece’). It’s easy to hear (and see) when Bartók is exploiting the qualities of particular instruments or instrumental groups by throwing the musical spotlight on them. But there are a few less obvious features in the Concerto for Orchestra to listen out for. First among them is Bartók’s treatment of ‘intervals’ (two notes separated by a specific gap), and initially his fondness for the interval of the ‘fourth’ – the most straightforward being the ‘perfect fourth’ (think of the first two notes of the carol ‘Away in a Manger’). The Concerto’s main idea is built from fourths, suggested first in the piece’s hushed opening and developed throughout. Bartók’s fascination with intervals also controls the ‘game of pairs’ that is the second movement. Here, the folk influence can be heard in the shape of the melodies which are strung into a chain, played by five pairs of wind instruments. But of real interest in this episode is the composer’s

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PROGRAMME NOTES

characterising of each pair with a particular interval: bassoons play in sixths, oboes in thirds, clarinets in sevenths, flutes in fifths and trumpets in seconds. As the Concerto for Orchestra thunders towards its finale, there’s a feeling of palpable release. American music writer Alex Ross imagines it as Bartók throwing away the notebook in which he’s been scribbling down folk tunes with a shy detachment and ‘entering the fray’ of a village band in full swing. ‘Strings whip up clouds

of dust under manic feet’, says Ross in his book The Rest is Noise, ‘winds squawk like children.’ Bartók was, of course, in exile. It’s not fanciful to imagine this sense of release as an imagined homecoming – a final chance for the composer to connect with Hungary. It was the nearest he’d get: Bartók died in America ten months after that first performance of the Concerto, having never returned to his homeland. Programme notes by Andrew Mellor © 2010

Download London Philharmonic Orchestra recordings from www.lpo.org.uk/shop It’s easy to take the London Philharmonic Orchestra with you wherever you go! Visit our downloads site to choose the works (or even single movements) you’d like to buy, and download high quality MP3s to your computer for transfer to an MP3 player or CD. With regular additions of new recordings with conductors from Beecham to Jurowski you’ll always have a selection of great music to choose from.

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RECORDINGS ON THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA’S OWN RECORD LABEL

LPO-0043 Vladimir Jurowski conducts Brahms’s Symphonies 1 and 2 ‘This pair of budget-priced CDs on the LPO’s own label demonstrate how, in the right hands, the first two symphonies can thrill and delight … exquisite wind playing …genuinely exciting …’ GRAHAM RICKSON, THE ARTS DESK, 22 FEBRUARY 2010

LPO-0045 Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Brahms’s A German Requiem with Elizabeth Watts, Stéphane Degout and the London Philharmonic Choir NEW RELEASE

LPO-0003 Klaus Tennstedt conducts orchestral excerpts from Wagner operas ‘Every bar of these performances is filled with the extra adrenalin that one expects at a really memorable concert.’ BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE

The recordings may be downloaded in high quality MP3 format from www.lpo.org.uk/shop. They may also be purchased from all good retail outlets or through the London Philharmonic Orchestra: telephone 020 7840 4242 (Mon-Fri 10am-5pm) or visit the website www.lpo.org.uk

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2009/10 Annual Appeal The London Philharmonic Orchestra would like to thank everyone who has donated to this year’s Annual Appeal, which is raising funds for the Orchestra’s FUNharmonics Family Concerts. The second of this year’s Family Concerts took place on Sunday 14 March, with a programme of dreamy music including an excerpt from Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune and a specially commissioned work by Dario Having-a-go on the trumpet Marianelli. Over at the Family Concerts 2,500 children and their families came to the Royal Festival Hall to enjoy the concert and a range of activities before and after the performance, including face painting and opportunities to ‘have-ago’ on a variety of orchestral instruments. The Orchestra has received over 150 donations to this year’s appeal and we would like to thank the following donors for their major contributions: Garf & Gill Collins Mr Ferry F van Dijk Cdr Vincent Evans Mr A H Ferrell David & Victoria Graham Fuller Mr Derek Gray John & Angela Kessler Mr & Mrs Makharinsky Alison Clarke & Leo Pilkington Mrs Pauline Pinder It is not too late to donate. The third and final Family Concert of the season will take place on Saturday 8 May. For many children these concerts represent their first opportunity to hear a full orchestra live on stage. We need your help to keep ticket prices as low as possible. To make a donation please call Anna Gover on 020 7804 4225 or visit our website at www.lpo.org.uk.

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SOUTHBANK CENTRE

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: MDC music and movies, Foyles, EAT, Giraffe, Strada, wagamama, Le Pain Quotidien, Las Iguanas, ping pong, Canteen, Caffé Vergnano 1882, Skylon and Feng Sushi, as well as cafes, restaurants and shops inside the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Hayward Gallery. If you wish to get in touch with us following your visit please contact our Head of Customer Relations at Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX, by phone on 020 7960 4250 or by email at 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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We would like to acknowledge the generous support of the following Thomas Beecham Group Patrons, Principal Benefactors and Benefactors: Thomas Beecham Group Mr & Mrs Richard & Victoria Sharp Julian & Gill Simmonds Mrs Steven Ward Simon Yates & Kevin Roon

Guy & Utti Whittaker

Mr Daniel Goldstein Mrs Barbara Green Mr Ray Harsant Oliver Heaton Peter MacDonald Eggers Mr & Mrs David Malpas Andrew T Mills Mr Maxwell Morrison Mr & Mrs Thierry Sciard Mr John Soderquist & Mr Costas Michaelides Mr & Mrs G Stein Mr & Mrs John C Tucker Howard & Sheelagh Watson Mr Laurie Watt Mr Anthony Yolland

Principal Benefactors Mark & Elizabeth Adams Jane Attias Lady Jane Berrill Desmond & Ruth Cecil Mr John H Cook Andrew Davenport Mrs Sonja Drexler Mr Charles Dumas David Ellen Commander Vincent Evans

Benefactors Mrs A Beare Dr & Mrs Alan Carrington CBE FRS Marika Cobbold & Michael Patchett-Joyce Mr & Mrs Stewart Cohen Mr Alistair Corbett Mr David Edgecombe Mr Richard Fernyhough Ken Follett

Garf & Gill Collins David & Victoria Graham Fuller Richard Karl Goeltz John & Angela Kessler Mr & Mrs Makharinsky Geoff & Meg Mann Caroline, Jamie and Zander Sharp Eric Tomsett

Michael & Christine Henry Mr Glenn Hurstfield Mr R K Jeha Mr & Mrs Maurice Lambert Mr Gerald Levin Sheila Ashley Lewis Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Mr Frank Lim Paul & Brigitta Lock Mr Brian Marsh John Montgomery Ms Sarah Needham Mr & Mrs Egil Oldeide Edmund Pirouet Mr Michael Posen Mr Peter Tausig Mrs Kazue Turner Lady Marina Vaizey Mr D Whitelock

Hon. Benefactor Elliott Bernerd Hon. Life Members Kenneth Goode Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE

The generosity of our Sponsors, Corporate Members, supporters and donors is gratefully acknowledged. Corporate Members Appleyard & Trew llp British American Business Charles Russell Destination Québec – UK Diagonal Consulting Lazard Leventis Overseas Man Group plc Québec Government Office in London Corporate Donors Lombard Street Research Redpoint Energy Limited In-kind Sponsors Heineken Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd Sela Sweets Ltd Villa Maria Education Partners Lambeth City Learning Centre London Borough of Lambeth Southwark EiC

Trusts and Foundations Adam Mickiewicz Institute Allianz Cultural Foundation The Andor Charitable Trust The Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation Borletti-Buitoni Trust The Candide Charitable Trust The John S Cohen Foundation The Coutts Charitable Trust The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Dunard Fund The Emmanuel Kaye Foundation The Equitable Charitable Trust The Eranda Foundation The Ernest Cook Trust The Fenton Arts Trust The Foyle Foundation Garfield Weston Foundation The Henry Smith Charity The Idlewild Trust John Lyon’s Charity John Thaw Foundation The Jonathan & Jeniffer Harris Trust The Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust

Lord Ashdown Charitable Settlement Marsh Christian Trust Maurice Marks Charitable Trust Maxwell Morrison Charitable Trust The Michael Marks Charitable Trust Musicians Benevolent Fund Paul Morgan Charitable Trust The R K Charitable Trust Ruth Berkowitz Charitable Trust The Samuel Sebba Charitable Trust Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation Sound Connections Stansfield Trust UK Friends of the FelixMendelssohn-BartholdyFoundation The Underwood Trust and others who wish to remain anonymous.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 13

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PHILHARMONIC NEWS

Anja Frers/DG

German Tour

Anne-Sophie Mutter, who will be touring with the Orchestra in Germany later this month

Renga Ensemble in India Tomorrow the London Philharmonic Orchestra flies off to Germany for eight concerts with conductor Ludovic Morlot and soloist AnneSophie Mutter. The repertoire includes Wagner’s Prelude to Lohengrin, Brahms’s Violin Concerto, Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra and Dvořák’s Symphony 7.

The tour will take the Orchestra to Cologne, Essen, Baden-Baden, Mannheim, Munich, Hamburg, Hannover and Dortmund.

At the end of the month the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Renga ensemble takes to the sky for a ground-breaking trip to India. Renga is a group of

players from the London Philharmonic Orchestra who work with performers and composers from outside the classical mainstream. It creates its own repertoire of music, some written and much prepared by ear, extending the skills of its members into the creative working environment of folk and jazz musicians and those from other cultures. On this tour it will collaborate with the Karnataka College of Percussion and together they will give concerts in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. The two groups previously combined for a concert at London’s Union Chapel in April 2009. Members of Renga will also undertake as much education and outreach work as possible, giving workshops, participatory-style interactions and demonstrations of classical chamber music repertoire. The tour is supported by Aviva, the Orchestra’s International Touring Partner.

Renga performs at London’s Union Chapel with the Karnataka College of Percussion in April 2009.

14 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

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ADMINISTRATION

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

GENERAL ADMINISTRATION

Martin Höhmann Chairman Stewart McIlwham Vice-Chairman Sue Bohling Simon Carrington Lord Currie* Jonathan Dawson* Anne McAneney George Peniston Sir Bernard Rix* Kevin Rundell Sir Philip Thomas Sir John Tooley* The Rt Hon. Lord Wakeham DL* Timothy Walker AM †

Timothy Walker AM † Chief Executive and Artistic Director

*Non-Executive Directors

Alison Atkinson Digital Projects Manager Julius Hendriksen Assistant to the Chief Executive and Artistic Director FINANCE David Burke General Manager and Finance Director David Greenslade Finance and IT Manager

THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC TRUST

Joshua Foong Finance Officer

Pehr Gyllenhammar Chairman Desmond Cecil CMG Richard Karl Goeltz Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS Dr Catherine C. Høgel Martin Höhmann Angela Kessler Clive Marks OBE FCA Victoria Sharp Julian Simmonds Timothy Walker AM † Laurence Watt Simon Yates

CONCERT MANAGEMENT

AMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA, INC. We are very grateful to the Board of the American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra for its support of the Orchestra’s activities in the USA. PROFESSIONAL SERVICES Charles Russell Solicitors Horwath Clark Whitehill LLP Auditors Dr Louise Miller Honorary Doctor

Roanna Chandler Concerts Director Ruth Sansom Artistic Administrator Graham Wood Concerts, Recordings and Glyndebourne Manager Alison Jones Concerts Co-ordinator Hattie Garrard Tours and Engagements Manager Camilla Begg Concerts and Tours Assistant Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL

EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMME

Philip Stuart Discographer

Anne Newman Education Officer

Gillian Pole Recordings Archive

Isobel Timms Community Officer

INTERN

Alec Haylor Education and Community Assistant

Jo Langston Marketing

Richard Mallett Education and Community Producer

LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA 89 Albert Embankment London SE1 7TP Tel: 020 7840 4200 Fax: 020 7840 4201 Box Office: 020 7840 4242

DEVELOPMENT Emma O’Connell Development Director Nick Jackman Charitable Giving Manager Phoebe Rouse Corporate Relations Manager Sarah Tattersall Corporate Relations and Events Manager Melissa Van Emden Corporate Relations and Events Officer Anna Gover Charitable Giving Officer

www.lpo.org.uk Visit the website for full details of London Philharmonic Orchestra activities. The London Philharmonic Orchestra Limited is a registered charity No. 238045. Photographs of Wagner, Brahms and Bartók courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London.

MARKETING

Photograph on the front cover by Benjamin Ealovega.

Kath Trout Marketing Director

Programmes printed by Cantate.

Frances Cook Publications Manager Samantha Kendall Box Office Administrator (Tel: 020 7840 4242)

Sarah Thomas Librarian

Heather Barstow Marketing Co-ordinator

Michael Pattison Stage Manager

Valerie Barber Press Consultant (Tel: 020 7586 8560)

Ken Graham Trucking Instrument Transportation (Tel: 01737 373305)

Edmund Pirouet Consultant

Matthew Todd Education and Community Director

Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager

Hannah Tucker Assistant Orchestra Personnel Manager