1 May 2010 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 Saturday 1 May 2010 | 7.30 pm

PROGRAMME £3 CONTENTS 2 List of Players 3 Orchestra History 4 Leader 5 Vladimir Jurowski 6 Anna Larsson / Peter Auty 7 London Philharmonic Choir 8 Programme Notes 12 Recordings 13 Supporters 14 Southbank Centre 15 Administration 16 Future Concerts

VLADIMIR JUROWSKI conductor ANNA LARSSON contralto PETER AUTY tenor LONDON PHILHARMONIC CHOIR

WAGNER A Faust Overture

(11’)

BRAHMS Rhapsody for alto, male chorus and orchestra INTERVAL LISZT A Faust Symphony

†

(59’)

supported by Macquarie Group

CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

(13’)

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

Katalin Varnagy Catherine Craig Thomas Eisner Tina Gruenberg Martin Hรถhmann Chair supported by Richard Karl Goeltz

Geoffrey Lynn Robert Pool Sarah Streatfeild Yang Zhang Rebecca Shorrock Joanne Chen Galina Tanney Kay Chappell SECOND VIOLINS Clare Duckworth Principal Chair supported by Richard and Victoria Sharp

Joseph Maher Kate Birchall Chair supported by David and Victoria Graham Fuller

Nancy Elan Fiona Higham Nynke Hijlkema Marie-Anne Mairesse Ashley Stevens Andrew Thurgood Sioni Williams Mila Mustakova Peter Graham Sheila Law Elizabeth Baldey

VIOLAS Fiona Winning Guest Principal Robert Duncan Julia McCarthy Katharine Leek Susanne Martens Emmanuella Reiter Laura Vallejo Daniel Cornford Alistair Scahill Isabel Pereira Miranda Davis Karin Norlen CELLOS Kristina Blaumane Principal Chair supported by Simon Yates and Kevin Roon

Francis Bucknall Laura Donoghue Jonathan Ayling Chair supported by Caroline, Jamie and Zander Sharp

Aleksei Kiseliov Pavlos Carvalho William Routledge Stephen Anstee Alexandra Mackenzie Tae-Mi Song DOUBLE BASSES Kevin Rundell* Principal George Peniston Richard Lewis Anita Mazzantini David Johnson Helen Rowlands Damian Rubido Gonzalez Rebecca Welsh

FLUTES Jaime Martin* Principal Joanna Marsh Stewart McIlwham* PICCOLO Stewart McIlwham* Principal OBOES Ian Hardwick Principal Owen Dennis CLARINETS Robert Hill* Principal Katie Lockhart BASSOONS Gareth Newman* Principal Christopher Cooper Emma Harding HORNS John Ryan Principal Stephen Stirling Guest Principal Martin Hobbs Nicolas Wolmark Gareth Mollison

BASS TROMBONE Lyndon Meredith Principal TUBA Lee Tsarmaklis Principal TIMPANI Simon Carrington* Principal PERCUSSION Andrew Barclay* Principal Keith Millar HARP Rachel Masters* Principal ORGAN Catherine Edwards

ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR Ralf Sochaczewsky

TRUMPETS Paul Beniston* Principal Anne McAneney* Chair supported by Geoff and Meg Mann

Nicholas Betts Co-Principal TROMBONES Mark Templeton* Principal David Whitehouse * Holds a professorial appointment in London

Chair Supporters The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert: John and Angela Kessler Julian and Gill Simmonds

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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

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3

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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. To help maintain its high standards and diverse workload, the Orchestra is committed to the welfare of its musicians and in December 2007 received the Association of British Orchestras/Musicians Benevolent Fund Healthy Orchestra Bronze Charter Mark. There are many ways to experience and stay in touch with the Orchestra’s activities: visit www.lpo.org.uk, subscribe to our podcast series and join us on Facebook.

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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 lead that orchestra on a three week tour of Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Pieter Schoeman has recorded numerous violin solos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra for Chandos, Opera Rara, Naxos, the BBC and for American film and television. He led the Orchestra in its soundtrack recordings for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. He teaches at Trinity College of Music.

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VLADIMIR JUROWSKI

Roman Gontcharov

CONDUCTOR

Born in Moscow, the son of conductor Mikhail Jurowski, Vladimir Jurowski completed the first part of his musical studies at the Music College of the Moscow Conservatory. In 1990 he relocated with his family to Germany where he continued his studies at High Schools of Music in Dresden and in Berlin, studying conducting with Rolf Reuter and vocal coaching with Semion Skigin. In 1995 he made his international debut at the Wexford Festival, where he conducted RimskyKorsakov’s May Night. The same year saw his brilliant debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in Nabucco. In 1996 Jurowski joined the ensemble of Komische Oper Berlin, becoming First Kapellmeister in 1997 and continuing to work at the Komische Oper on a permanent basis until 2001. Since 1997 Vladimir Jurowski has been a guest at some of the world’s leading musical institutions including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Teatro La Fenice Venice, Opéra Bastille Paris, Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie Brussels, Maggio Musicale Festival Florence, Rossini Opera Festival Pesaro, Edinburgh Festival, Semperoper Dresden and Teatro Comunale di Bologna (where he served as Principal Guest Conductor between 2000 and 2003). In 1999 he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera New York with Rigoletto. In January 2001 Vladimir Jurowski took up the position of Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera and in 2003 was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, becoming the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor in September 2007. He also holds the title of Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and from 2005 to 2009 served as Principal Guest Conductor of the Russian National Orchestra with whom he will continue to work in the years ahead.

Vladimir Jurowski has made highly successful debuts with a number of the world’s leading orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Dresden Staatskapelle, and in the USA with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony and Philadelphia Orchestras. Highlights of the 2009/10 season and beyond include his debuts with the Bavarian Radio Symphony, Chicago Symphony and Cleveland Orchestras, and return visits to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchester Zurich, Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Dresden Staatskapelle and Philadelphia Orchestra. His operatic work has included performances of Jenůfa, The Queen of Spades and Hänsel und Gretel at the Metropolitan Opera, Parsifal and Wozzeck at the Welsh National Opera, War and Peace at the Opéra National de Paris, Eugene Onegin at La Scala Milan, and Die Zauberflöte, La Cenerentola, Otello, Macbeth, Falstaff, Tristan und Isolde and Peter Eötvös’ Love and Other Demons at Glyndebourne Opera. Future engagements include new productions of Don Giovanni and Die Meistersinger and a revival of The Rake’s Progress at Glyndebourne, and Iolanta at the Dresden Semperoper. Jurowski’s discography includes the first ever recording of Giya Kancheli’s Exile for ECM (1994), Meyerbeer’s L’Etoile du nord for Naxos-Marco Polo (1996), Werther for BMG (1999), and live recordings of works by Rachmaninoff, Turnage, Tchaikovsky, Britten and Shostakovich on the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s own label, as well as Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery on Glyndebourne Opera’s own label. He also records for PentaTone with the Russian National Orchestra, releases to date having included Stravinsky’s Divertimento from Le Baiser de la fée, Tchaikovsky’s Suite No. 3 and Shostakovich’s Symphonies Nos 1 and 6, Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5, and Tchaikovsky’s Incidental Music from Hamlet. Glyndebourne have released DVD recordings of his performances of La Cenerentola, Gianni Schicchi, Die Fledermaus and Rachmaninoff’s The Miserly Knight, and other recent DVD releases include Hänsel und Gretel from the Metropolitan Opera New York, and his first concert as the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Principal Conductor featuring works by Wagner, Berg and Mahler (released by Medici Arts). London Philharmonic Orchestra | 5

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CONTRALTO

TENOR

Anna Larsson graduated from the University College of Opera in Stockholm in 1996. She made her international debut in Mahler’s Symphony 2 with the Berlin Philharmonic and Abbado in 1997 and her opera debut as Erda in Wagner’s Das Rheingold at the Berlin State Opera conducted by Barenboim. She has since achieved international recognition as the world’s foremost exponent of Erda, which she has sung at opera houses in Berlin, Vienna, Munich, Salzburg, Aix-en-Provence and Stockholm. Among her other roles are Waltraute, Orphée, Fricka and Dalilah. In concert, Anna is regarded as the most consummate interpreter of Mahler’s works. She regularly sings with all the great orchestras and with the most illustrious conductors. Her extensive repertoire ranges from Handel’s Messiah through to Elgar’s Sea Pictures, Mahler’s song cycles, Verdi’s Requiem and contemporary music. She also has a vast repertoire of German, English and Scandinavian songs which she has sung at recitals in Wigmore Hall London, Brahms Saal at the Musikverein in Vienna, and at the most important festivals and concert halls in Sweden. In 2005 her recording of Strauss’s Daphne conducted by Semyon Bychkov was nominated for a Grammy Award. Last autumn Anna Larsson sang Mahler’s Rückert Lieder on tour with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Gustavo Dudamel, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with Antonio Pappano in Rome, and Erda in Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Vienna State Opera. Recent engagements have included Das Lied von der Erde in Rome, Utrecht and Eindhoven, and Orphée in Gluck’s Orphée at the Stockholm Royal Opera. This year she sings Erda in Das Rheingold and Mahler’s Symphony 2 with Claudio Abbado, both at Teatro alla Scala.

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Robert Workman

PETER AUTY

Thron Ullberg

ANNA LARSSON

Peter Auty is established as one of Britain’s leading tenors, having made his professional debut at Opera North in 1998/9 and returning in 2001/2 as Rodolfo in their much acclaimed production of La bohème. From 1999 to 2002, he was a company principal of the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, where he covered several major roles and had the opportunity of working with many of the world’s leading singers and conductors. Elsewhere in the UK, he has worked with Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Glyndebourne on Tour, English National Opera, Opera North and Scottish Opera. In Europe he has sung with Opera Zuid, Opéra de Massy, Opéra de Rouen, Frankfurt Opera and the Nationale Reisopera. On the concert platform Peter Auty has worked with many of the UK’s leading orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra with Sir Colin Davis and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment with Mark Elder. He has also given performances of Messiah at the Royal Albert Hall and a concert performance of Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Lothar Zagrosek. Appearances abroad have included performances of The Dream of Gerontius and Britten’s War Requiem with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy and a concert of operatic excerpts with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Last season he sang both Beethoven’s Symphony 9 and Dvořák’s Requiem with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Neeme Järvi at the Royal Festival Hall. He recently made his recital debut in London as part of the Rosenblatt Recital Series. Highlights of the 2009/10 season include appearances with Reisopera, Grange Park Opera, and Opera Holland Park. He will also be appearing in Carmen for Opera North at the beginning of the 2010/11 season.

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LONDON PHILHARMONIC CHOIR PATRON: HRH Princess Alexandra PRESIDENT: Sir Roger Norrington ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: Neville Creed

ACCOMPANIST: Iain Farrington CHAIRMAN: Mary Moore CHOIR MANAGER: Kevin Darnell

Tenors David Aldred, Geir Andreassen, Robert Beale, Chris Beynon, Jonathan Bird, John Boyne, Tony Brewer, Keith Chaundy, Geoff Clare, Brian Coulstock, Kevin Darnell, Michael Delany, Jack Dixon, Dwayne Engh, Philip Evans, Aloysius Fekete, Iain Handyside, Rob Home, Patrick Hughes, Douglas Johnson, Andrew Mackie, Andrew Martin, Andrew McCall, John Mcleod, Jon Meredith, Philip Padfield, David Phillips, Luke Phillips, Stephen Pritchard, Kevin Rainey, David Regan, Paul Thirer, Alex Thomas, Owen Toller

Claassen, David Clark, Rob Collis, Bill Cumber, Phillip Dangerfield, Marcus Daniels, Michael Day, Mike Drake, Richard Ford, Paul Gittens, John Graham, Nigel Grieve, Jonathan Harbourne, Richard Harding, Christopher Harvey, Mark Hillier, David Hodgson, Oliver Hogg, Rylan Holey, Hugh Hudson, Martin Hudson, Aidan Jones, David Kent, Alex Kidney, Steve Kirby, Richard Lane, Thorsten Laux, Alejandro Lopez Montoya, Anthony McDonald, Paul Medlicott, John Morris, Ashley Morrison, William Parsons, Johan Pieters, Michael Probert, David Regan, David Rippon, Stephen Rosser, Nic Seager, Christopher Short, Daniel Snowman, Dominic Stewart, Edwin Tomlins, James Torniainen, Anthony Wills, James Wilson, John Wood

Basses Ken Atkinson, John Bandy, Stephen Benson, Stephen Bonney, Derek Bryanton, Gordon Buky-Webster, Adam Bunzl, Geoffrey Chang, Raymond Choi, Dieter

Founded in 1947, the London Philharmonic Choir is widely regarded as one of Britain’s finest choirs and consistently meets with great critical acclaim. It has been involved in over 80 recordings and has performed under leading international conductors throughout its history. The Choir enjoys a close relationship with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, joining it regularly for performances in the UK and abroad. It also works with many other leading orchestras and has enjoyed sharing the stage with Daleks, dinosaurs and various other creatures in 2008’s Doctor Who and last year’s Evolution! Proms. The Choir often travels overseas and, in the last few years, its visits to Europe have included concerts in Rome, Lucerne and Cologne. It has travelled as far afield as Kuala Lumpur and Perth, Australia, and, in February 2008, visited Hong Kong, where it gave two concerts at the Hong Kong Arts Festival: a performance of Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms and Rachmaninov’s The Bells with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra under Edo de Waart, and a programme of British choral music conducted by the Choir’s Artistic Director, Neville Creed. Over the 2009 New Year, the Choir travelled to Budapest with the London Philharmonic Orchestra to perform Haydn’s Die Schöpfung at the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall.

Last season’s highlights included performances of Beethoven’s Missa solemnis and Symphony 9, Dvořák’s Requiem, Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem, Holst’s The Planets, and Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder. This season the Choir has enjoyed performances of Mahler’s Symphony 2, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Haydn’s Seven Last Words and a programme of Christmas music including Honegger’s Une Cantate de Noël. Most recently, the Choir performed Poulenc’s Stabat Mater with Yannick NézetSéguin and Janáček’s The Eternal Gospel and Myaskovsky’s Symphony 6 with Vladimir Jurowski. In 2007, the Choir celebrated its 60th anniversary and published a book – Hallelujah: An Informal History of the London Philharmonic Choir. The book is available from retail outlets here at the South Bank Centre and can be ordered through the Choir’s website. The Choir prides itself on achieving first-class performances from its members, who are volunteers from all walks of life. For more information about the Choir, including details about how to join, please visit www.lpc.org.uk.

At tonight’s concert we extend a warm welcome to guests from other choirs and we are particularly delighted to be joined by members of the Philharmonia Chorus.

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PROGRAMME NOTES

SPEEDREAD The great German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was the literary source of all three works in tonight’s programme. His mighty poetic drama Faust inspired both Wagner’s A Faust Overture (1839/40, revised 1855), a portrait of the solitary, ever-questioning scholar himself, and Liszt’s A Faust Symphony (1854, revised 1857), an astonishingly original trilogy of character-studies of

Richard WAGNER

Faust, his innocent beloved Gretchen and his devilish accomplice and adversary Mephistopheles, crowned by a setting for tenor and male voice chorus of the Chorus Mysticus which accompanies his final redemption. And lines from Goethe’s Winter Journey in the Harz Mountains were set by Brahms in his Alto Rhapsody (1869), for solo alto and male chorus, a deeply personal expression of dejection and hope.

A FAUST OVERTURE

1813-1883

Goethe’s huge poetic drama Faust, based on an old legend about a scholar who makes a pact with the Devil, occupied him at intervals throughout his career: a fragmentary version was published in 1790, when he was in his early forties, the definitive Part 1 in 1808, and Part II only after his death in 1832. The play caused a sensation, and its strong central characters and situations, and its striking variety of tone, soon attracted musical treatments – among them an opera by Spohr, produced as early as 1816, choral works by Berlioz and Schumann, and in the 1850s not only Liszt’s Faust Symphony but also Gounod’s once ubiquitous opera. Wagner’s only treatment of this archetypal story was his Faust Overture. He composed it in Paris in late 1839 and early 1840, while he was completing Rienzi and shortly before he embarked on The Flying Dutchman. In his autobiography, Wagner said that he was inspired to write the work by hearing the conductor Habeneck rehearsing the Paris Conservatoire orchestra in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. But commentators have suggested that he was covering his tracks, and that a more potent model was Berlioz’s then brand new Romeo and Juliet Symphony, with its absorption of a literary source into abstract musical forms. Wagner also wrote that he had originally intended his piece as the

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first movement of a symphony, and that he had had ideas in his head for a second movement portraying Faust’s beloved Gretchen. But he abandoned this concept – which was to be taken up by his friend Liszt – and left the work as a single-movement Overture, which he performed in Dresden in 1844 and published in a revised version in 1855. In a letter to Liszt in 1852, Wagner wrote that he intended the Overture to depict the ‘“solitary Faust”, longing, despairing, cursing’, while ‘the “feminine” floats around him as an object of his longing’. The piece, in the key of D minor, has the traditional shape of a slow introduction leading to a main sonata-form quick section. The brooding, questioning introduction begins with a descending idea which is transformed by stages into the rising-and-falling principal theme of the main section. This is complemented by a rising major-key melody, first played by the flute, which presumably represents Faust’s feminine ideal; at Liszt’s suggestion, Wagner extended this passage when he revised the work. The development is based chiefly on a solemn idea from the introduction, stretched out into long notes. The recapitulation begins stormily, but dies down to a coda which returns to the atmosphere of the introduction, and ends quietly in the major.

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PROGRAMME NOTES

Johannes BRAHMS

RHAPSODY FOR ALTO, MALE CHORUS AND ORCHESTRA, OP. 53 ANNA LARSSON contralto LONDON PHILHARMONIC CHOIR

1833-1897

Brahms’s music habitually conceals his deeper feelings behind a façade of classical objectivity; but the Alto Rhapsody is one of the handful of his works in which they are painfully exposed. He wrote it in the autumn of 1869, apparently in reaction to the news that Julie Schumann, the young daughter of his late mentor Robert, was to marry an Italian count. Brahms, it seems, had transferred his long-concealed adoration of Robert’s widow Clara to Julie, or half-believed that he had, and was devastated by this turn of events. Clara recorded in her diary that he had called the piece ‘his bridal song’, and added that it seemed to her ‘neither more nor less than an expression of his own heart’s anguish’. As his

text, Brahms selected three stanzas from Goethe’s poem Harzreise im Winter (‘Winter Journey in the Harz Mountains’), depicting the desolation of a lonely traveller, cut off from the rest of mankind, and ending with a prayer to the ‘father of love’ to come to his aid. He set the first two stanzas as a recitative and aria (shaped into a rough A–B–A form) for solo alto, full of broken phrases, wide leaps and anguished chromaticism, and sparsely orchestrated. But for the closing prayer he added a four-part male-voice chorus, turned from C minor to C major, and adopted more regular patterns of phrasing and accompaniment patterns, to end the Rhapsody in a mood of consolation and hope.

Aber abseits, wer ist’s? Ins Gebüsch verliert sich sein Pfad, hinter ihm schlagen die Sträuche zusammen, das Gras steht wieder auf, die Öde verschlingt ihn.

Who is that in the distance? His path disappears in the brush, behind him the bushes close together, the grass springs up again, the wasteland swallows him up.

Ach, wer heilet die Schmerzen dess dem Balsam zu Gift ward? Der sich Menschenhass aus der Fülle der Liebe trank? Erst verachtet, nun ein Verächter, zehrt er heimlich auf seinen eignen Wert in ungnügender Selbstsucht.

Ah, who can heal the sorrows of one for whom balm turned to poison? One who drank hatred of mankind from the fullness of love? At first despised, now a despiser, he secretly wastes his own worth in useless self-seeking.

Ist auf deinem Psalter, Vater der Liebe, ein Ton seinem Ohre vernehmlich, so erquicke sein Herz! Öffne den umwölkten Blick über die tausend Quellen neben dem Durstenden in der Wüste.

If there is on thy psalter Father of love, a note audible to his ear, revive his heart! Open his clouded gaze to the thousand springs close by the thirsting soul in the desert. English translation © Eric Mason

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PROGRAMME NOTES

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

Franz LISZT

A FAUST SYMPHONY PETER AUTY tenor LONDON PHILHARMONIC CHOIR Faust | Gretchen | Mephistopheles – Closing Chorus

1811-1886

Liszt made sketches for a symphony based on Goethe’s Faust during the 1840s, but he brought the project to fulfilment only after settling as Kapellmeister in Weimar, Goethe’s home for the last five and a half decades of his life. Other musical treatments of the subject may have prompted this renewed interest: among them Wagner’s Faust Overture (and his abandoned plan for a symphony), and Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust, which its composer conducted at Weimar in 1852. But Liszt’s biographer Alan Walker has suggested that the immediate stimulus may have been the visit of the English writer George Henry Lewes to Weimar in 1854 (accompanied by his mistress, the novelist George Eliot) to research his biography of Goethe. Certainly it was between August and October that year, during the period of Lewes’s stay, that the Symphony was composed. In its original form, it was a work for small orchestra. But in 1857, Liszt expanded the orchestration, and added the closing chorus, for male voices with a solo tenor. The Symphony is subtitled ‘three character sketches’: it does not attempt to tell the story of Goethe’s Faust, but concentrates in turn on Faust, the central figure of the drama, Gretchen, the object of his love in Part I, and the devil, Mephistopheles. This essentially static approach allows the work to take on a traditional symphonic outline, with the outer movements in versions of sonata form. But at the same time these movements move

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freely between widely varying tempos in the manner of Liszt’s narrative symphonic poems; and the work as a whole makes crucial use of the technique of transformation of themes which he had developed in the single-movement genre. These are only two of the features of the Symphony which placed it firmly in the modernist camp of the time. It also includes passages in which the time-signature changes rapidly, sometimes from bar to bar, and some stretches of virtually keyless chromatic harmony – in both respects anticipating Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde at the end of the 1850s. It even looks further into the future, since one of its principal themes consists of an upbeat followed by four augmented triads, each a semitone lower than the one before, which together make up what Humphrey Searle, Liszt specialist and serial composer, called ‘the first conscious twelve-note theme ever written’. The first movement is a portrait of Faust himself, the restless, dissatisfied scholar, so avid in his search for all kinds of knowledge and experience that he is prepared to enlist the assistance of Mephistopheles, in exchange for a promise that if he ever declares himself happy he will lose his life and his soul. The slow introduction begins with two important motifs: the ‘twelve-note’ theme, representing Faust as experimental magician; and a yearning idea, growing out of a falling seventh, representing him as doubting philosopher. After a restless transition, ending with unaccompanied

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PROGRAMME NOTES

bassoons, the main Allegro in C minor begins with a surging melody standing for Faust’s passionate nature; this is followed by a theme beginning with a descending scale which suggests his longing for the feminine. The principal ‘second subject’, at a slower tempo, is a swooning expansion of the second of the ideas of the introduction (in alternating bars of 3/4 and 4/4 time), portraying Faust as lover; and there is a further important theme, a processional melody portraying him as proud man of action. This sequence of ideas is so rich in transitions and development that there is no need for more than a short ‘official’ development section: it concentrates on the passionate first subject. But, unconventionally, there is a reprise of the slow introduction, including a sorrowful new combination of its two main motifs, before the much varied recapitulation of the three main themes of the Allegro. This immense movement, some 25 minutes long, ends with a coda which starts in the same way as the development, in the white heat of passion, and finally dies away with the motif of doubt.

accompanied by three undulating flutes, returning to the theme of Faust as lover in a full but very subdued scoring, and arriving at the first-movement theme of Faust’s passionate nature in a murmuring transformation. After this love scene, Gretchen’s first theme returns, initially on four solo violins, Faust’s themes intervene quietly once more, and Gretchen’s second theme returns to lead to a quiet, intimate close. The first part of the finale is a portrait of Mephistopheles; but, as he is ‘the spirit that always says no’, an agent of destruction rather than creation, he has no themes of his own, only transformations of Faust’s from the first movement. In a maelstrom of activity, perhaps suggested by Goethe’s Walpurgis Night scenes and permeated by references to the ‘twelve-note’ motif, the theme of Faust’s passionate nature is turned into a mocking dance, the theme of Faust as lover becomes a grunting cello idea and later the subject of a desperate fugue, and the theme of Faust as proud man of action is made into a preening parody. In a brief slow interlude, Gretchen’s first theme from the second movement returns unaltered. But then the parodied themes are recapitulated, with the theme of Faust as lover now held back till last and transformed again, into an insistently swaggering march. From here, a long transition eventually releases the tension, moving, by way of another reminiscence of the Gretchen theme, into the closing chorus. This is a solemn C major setting of the Chorus Mysticus at the end of Part II of Faust: Faust’s life has finally been claimed by Mephistopheles, but his soul is redeemed by his constant striving – and also by the enduring love of Gretchen. The latter explains why the recurring melodic phrases in the solo tenor part are based on Gretchen’s two themes from the slow movement, stretched out (in Alan Walker’s words) ‘as if in heavenly transfiguration’.

The central slow movement, a delicately scored Andante soave in A flat major, is a portrait of the young, innocent Gretchen – though it contains hints of narrative depiction of her seduction by Faust, with the aid of Mephistopheles, if not of the tragic consequences of the affair. An introduction for flutes and clarinets leads to the first main ‘Gretchen’ theme, presented on oboe accompanied by violas and then in a variety of other colours. A descending-scale melody on the oboe suggests the presence of Faust, and there is a moment of instrumental recitative as Gretchen picks the petals from a flower and counts off ‘He loves me, he loves me not’. A little later, the strings introduce Gretchen’s second main theme, marked dolce amoroso or ‘sweet and loving’. There is a more animated middle section, beginning with an urgent rhythm in the strings and the theme of Faust as lover from the first movement, blossoming into long, expressive descending lines

Alles Vergängliche ist nur ein Gleichnis, Das Unzulängliche hier wird’s Ereignis, Das Unbeschreibliche hier wird es getan. Das Ewig-Weibliche zieht uns hinan.

Everything transitory is but a parable, The insufficient here is made whole, The indescribable here is achieved. Eternal womanhood leads us on high. © English translation by Eric Mason

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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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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 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 Guy & Utti Whittaker 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

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 Michael Posen 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 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 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 Mr & Mrs Egil Oldeide Edmund Pirouet 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 Brown Brothers Harriman 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 Dorset Foundation 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 The Rubin Foundation 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.

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SOUTHBANK CENTRE Industrial soundscapes, phasing textures and sonic shifts

WELCOME TO SOUTHBANK CENTRE

created by LPO young composers and performed by Foyle Future Firsts and members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra

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.

Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall 7.30pm | Friday 14 May 2010

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 Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Hayward Gallery.

Lutoslawski Mini Overture Aaron Parker Moiré Isa Khan 06 Ravel Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé Varèse Octandre Sasha Siem Queen Anne’s Lace Strauss Serenade for thirteen winds Tristan Brookes SERRA: Pessoa Stravinsky Dumbarton Oaks Clement Power conductor Rachael Lloyd mezzo soprano The composers have been working on their pieces throughout the academic year in a series of workshops, mentored by Composer in Residence Mark-Anthony Turnage, composer Jonathan Cole and conductor Clement Power. The Foyle Future Firsts programme is a dedicated apprenticeship scheme for 16 gifted instrumentalists embarking on professional orchestral careers. Come and hear new sound worlds and discover young talent at the highest level. Visit www.lpo.org.uk/debutsounds to learn about the LPO young composers and preview the new works. Tickets £9 | Students £4 For booking details see page 16. The Foyle Future Firsts Programme is generously funded by the Foyle Foundation with additional support from The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust, The Fenton Arts Trust, Musicians Benevolent Fund and The UK Friends of the Felix-Mendelssohn-BartholdyFoundation. The Orchestra’s Young Composers Scheme is supported by Eranda Foundation, The Idlewild Trust and the Paul Morgan Charitable Trust.

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

*Non-Executive Directors

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

EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMME

Gillian Pole Recordings Archive

Isobel Timms Community Officer LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Alec Haylor Education and Community Assistant

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

Richard Mallett Education and Community Producer DEVELOPMENT Nick Jackman Development Director Phoebe Rouse Corporate Relations Manager

Graham Wood Concerts, Recordings and Glyndebourne Manager

Melissa Van Emden Corporate Relations and Events Officer

Alison Jones Concerts Co-ordinator

Anna Gover Charitable Giving Officer

Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant

MARKETING

ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL

Kath Trout Marketing Director

Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager

Frances Cook Publications Manager

Sarah Thomas Librarian

Samantha Kendall Box Office Administrator (Tel: 020 7840 4242)

Ken Graham Trucking Instrument Transportation (Tel: 01737 373305)

Philip Stuart Discographer

Anne Newman Education Officer

Ruth Sansom Artistic Administrator

Camilla Begg Assistant Orchestra Personnel Manager

Edmund Pirouet Consultant

Matthew Todd Education and Community Director

Sarah Tattersall Corporate Relations and Events Manager

Michael Pattison Stage Manager