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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
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AM†
SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL Saturday 24 October 2009 | 7.30 pm
YANNICK NÉZET-SÉGUIN conductor COLIN CURRIE percussion
RAUTAVAARA Incantations: Concerto for percussion and orchestra (world première)* (22’) INTERVAL BRUCKNER Symphony 8 in C minor
PROGRAMME £3 CONTENTS 2 List of Players 3 Orchestra History 4 Leader 5 Yannick Nézet-Séguin 6 Colin Currie 7 Programme notes 10 Podcasts 11 Recordings 12 Southbank Centre / BBC 13 Supporters 14 Philharmonic News 15 Administration 16 Future Concerts
The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide.
(90’)
*Jointly commissioned by the London Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Tampere Philharmonic and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras. †
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supported by Macquarie Group
CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
This concert is being recorded by BBC Radio 3 for broadcast on Friday 30 October 2009.
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LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
FIRST VIOLINS Pieter Schoeman* Leader Dunja Lavrova Katalin Varnagy Catherine Craig Thomas Eisner Tina Gruenberg Martin Hรถhmann Chair supported by Richard Karl Goeltz
Geoffrey Lynn Robert Pool Florence Schoeman Sarah Streatfeild Yang Zhang Peter Nall Rebecca Shorrock Galina Tanney Joanne Chen SECOND VIOLINS Clare Duckworth Principal Chair supported by Richard and Victoria Sharp
Jeongmin Kim Joseph Maher Kate Birchall Chair supported by David and Victoria Graham Fuller
Nancy Elan Nynke Hijlkema Marie-Anne Mairesse Ashley Stevens Andrew Thurgood Dean Williamson Sioni Williams Alison Strange Stephen Stewart Mila Mustakova VIOLAS Alexander Zemtsov* Principal Isabel Perreira Anthony Byrne
Benedetto Pollani Emmanuella Reiter Laura Vallejo Daniel Cornford Naomi Holt Sarah Malcolm Martin Fenn Georgina Payne CELLOS Kristina Blaumane Principal Chair supported by Simon Yates and Kevin Roon
Susanne Beer Co-Principal Francis Bucknall Sue Sutherley Susanna Riddell Pavlos Carvalho Emily Isaac David Bucknall Emma Black William Routledge DOUBLE BASSES Kevin Rundell* Principal Laurence Lovelle George Peniston Richard Lewis David Johnson Helen Rowlands Catherine Ricketts Jeremy Gordon
CLARINETS Robert Hill* Principal Nicholas Carpenter Paul Richards BASSOONS John Price Principal Gareth Newman* Simon Estell CONTRA BASSOON Simon Estell Principal HORNS John Ryan Principal Richard Bissill* Principal Martin Hobbs Brendan Thomas Anthony Chidell Jonathan Bareham Hugh Seenan Marcus Bates Peter Blake
OBOES Ian Hardwick Principal Angela Tennick Sue Bohling
TROMBONES Mark Templeton* Principal David Whitehouse Blair Sinclair
Susanne Martens
PERCUSSION Andrew Barclay* Principal Keith Millar HARPS Rachel Masters* Principal Helen Sharp Ruth Faber
TRUMPETS Paul Beniston* Principal Anne McAneney* Nicholas Betts Co-Principal Colin Clague
Chair supported by John and Angela Kessler
TIMPANI Simon Carrington* Principal
WAGNER TUBAS Richard Bissill* Principal Martin Hobbs Hugh Seenan Peter Blake
FLUTES Karen Jones Guest Principal Jane Spiers Katie Bicknell
Chair supported by Julian and Gill Simmonds
TUBA Lee Tsarmaklis Principal
Chair supported by Geoff and Meg Mann
BASS TROMBONE Lyndon Meredith Principal * Holds a professorial appointment in London
Chair Supporters The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporter whose player is not present at this concert: Mrs Steven Ward
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LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
© Richard Cannon
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.
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 has been performing The London Philharmonic Orchestra performs to enthusiastic audiences all round the world. In 1956 it at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall since it opened became the first British orchestra to appear in Soviet in 1951, becoming Resident Orchestra in 1992. It plays Russia and in 1973 made the first ever visit to China by a there around 40 times each season with many of the Western orchestra. Touring continues to form a world’s most sought after conductors and soloists. significant part of the Orchestra’s schedule, with regular Concert highlights in 2009/10 include Between Two appearances in North America, Europe and the Far East, 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 ‘The LPO rose to the occasion with some very fine conducted by Kurt Masur and dedicated to playing: eloquent solo work combined with fullthe 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin textured passages of often sumptuous beauty.’ Wall; and new works by Rautavaara, Górecki, Philip Glass, Ravi Shankar and the BARRY MILLINGTON, EVENING STANDARD, 4 SEPTEMBER 2009
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PIETER SCHOEMAN LEADER
often headlining at major festivals. 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 Shostakovich’s monumental Tenth Symphony under Bernard Haitink; a disc of contemporary works by composers Thomas Adès, James MacMillan and Jennifer Higdon conducted by Marin Alsop; Rachmaninoff’s Symphony 3 along with Bax’s Tintagel conducted by Osmo Vänskä; a CD of early Britten works conducted by Vladimir Jurowski; and Mahler’s Symphony 6 under the baton of Klaus Tennstedt. 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, Shanghai, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. the Orchestra is committed to the welfare of its musicians and in December 2007 received the Pieter Schoeman has recorded numerous violin solos Association of British Orchestras/Musicians Benevolent with the London Philharmonic Orchestra for Chandos, Fund Healthy Orchestra Bronze Charter Mark. Opera Rara, Naxos, the BBC and for American film and television. He led the Orchestra in its soundtrack There are many ways to experience and stay in touch recordings for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. He teaches at with the Orchestra’s activities: visit www.lpo.org.uk, Trinity College of Music in London. subscribe to our podcast series and join us on Facebook.
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YANNICK NÉZET-SÉGUIN
Marco Borggreve
CONDUCTOR
At the start of the 2008/09 season, Yannick NézetSéguin succeeded Valery Gergiev as Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and became Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He remains Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal, a position he took up in March 2000. A native of Montreal, he studied at the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec in Montreal and has worked with all the major Canadian orchestras. Principal Guest Conductor of the Victoria Symphony between 2003 and 2006, he now regularly conducts the Toronto Symphony and, at the end of the 2009/10 season, will conduct his first Mahler Symphony (No. 8) in Montreal and Ottawa, using the combined forces of the Orchestre Métropolitain and National Arts Center Orchestra.
His most recent opera productions in Canada were Gounod’s Faust for Canadian Opera in 2007, and Madama Butterfly in Montreal in 2008. In August 2008 he made an outstandingly successful Salzburg Festival debut conducting a new production of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette with a cast led by Rolando Villazon and Nino Machaidze. He recently made an acclaimed debut for the Netherlands Opera conducting The Makropoulos Case and makes his Metropolitan Opera debut in December 2009 with a new production of Carmen. Productions are also planned for La Scala and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He records for the dynamic Canadian company ATMA Classique, and his recordings with the Orchestre Métropolitain have received prizes and critical acclaim. His most recent recordings, La Mer (a collection of works by Debussy, Britten and Mercure) and Bruckner’s Symphony 9 have been widely praised and Bruckner’s Symphony 8 is due for release this autumn. His first three recordings with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra are scheduled for release in the near future.
He made a series of successful European debuts in 2004/05 and is now a regular guest conductor of many leading orchestras, such as the Dresden Staatskapelle, Orchestre National de France, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra of Europe. During 2008, he made acclaimed debuts with the Philadelphia, Vienna Symphony, National Symphony (Washington), Los Angeles Philharmonic and Boston Symphony Orchestras. Forthcoming debuts will take him to the Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester (Zurich), Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig.
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COLIN CURRIE
Chris Dawes
PERCUSSION
Percussionist Colin Currie has established a unique reputation for his charismatic and virtuosic performances of works by today’s leading composers, and has appeared with many of the world’s most important orchestras – the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Philadelphia Orchestra among them. Regularly commissioning and recording new works, he has made an inspirational and innovative contribution to the percussion repertoire. At the age of fifteen Colin Currie won the Shell/LSO prize, and subsequently was the first percussion finalist in the BBC Young Musician competition. He was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist Award in 2002 for his outstanding role in contemporary music-making and was a Borletti-Buitoni Trust award winner in 2005. Currie was selected as a BBC New Generation Artist from 2003-2005, and as part of the scheme performed a variety of concerto and recital engagements with the BBC orchestras and in major festivals and concert halls. He is currently Visiting Professor of Solo Percussion at the Royal Academy of Music in London and at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. Currie is deeply committed to the development of new repertoire for percussion in its widest form, including orchestral, solo and chamber music. Most recently he has premièred concertos by Jennifer Higdon, Simon Holt and Kurt Schwertsik, as well as music by Alexander Goehr, Steve Martland, Steven Mackey, Joe Duddell and Dave Maric, a composer he collaborates with on a regular basis. Following tonight’s première of Incantations, Currie will also perform the work with co-commissioners the
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Rotterdam Philharmonic, Tampere Philharmonic and Baltimore Symphony. Also in the US, he performs at Carnegie Hall with the St Louis Symphony and David Robertson in two concertos – Tan Dun’s Water Percussion Concerto and Bright Sheng’s Colors of Crimson – as part of the Ancient Paths, Modern Voices festival, which pays tribute to the vibrant culture and influence of China, as well as giving the North American première of Simon Holt’s a table of noises with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Last month, Currie performed at the opening concert of the 2009 Berlin Festival and at the BBC Proms in Xenakis’s Aïs with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and David Robertson. Highlights later this season include concerts with the BBC Philharmonic and Malmö Symphony Orchestras. Currie performs extensively as a recitalist and chamber musician, collaborating in particular with Håkan Hardenberger in a duo recital for trumpet and percussion, a piano-percussion duo with Nicolas Hodges, and with the Pavel Haas Quartet. He has also collaborated with artists such as Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Viktoria Mullova, the Labèque sisters, and jazz musicians Peter Erskine, Kenny Wheeler and John Taylor. Recital appearances over recent seasons have included concerts at the Settembre Musica Festival and Wigmore Hall with Nicolas Hodges, and with Håkan Hardenberger at the Verbier Festival, Bridgewater Hall, Hamburg Musikhalle, LSO St Luke’s and in San Francisco. Highlights this season include a solo recital and chamber music concert with the Pavel Haas Quartet at the Beethovenfest Bonn, and a percussion ensemble event centred on Steve Reich’s iconic work Drumming as part of the International Chamber Music Season at Southbank Centre. Colin Currie’s latest CD release features Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto conducted by Marin Alsop with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and this season he collaborates with the Pavel Haas Quartet in a studio recording of Alexander Goehr’s since brass…nor stone for the BBC New Generation Artists scheme. Currie’s recital disc Borrowed Time, available on the Onyx label, features solo percussion music and duos with trumpet and organ by British composer Dave Maric, and his first solo album, Striking a Balance, was released on EMI. He has also recorded concertos by James MacMillan and Michael Torke for Naxos.
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PROGRAMME NOTES
SPEEDREAD At first sight, the two works in tonight’s programme may not appear to have much in common: one a colourful new percussion concerto by a much admired senior figure in Finnish music; the other the mightiest abstract symphony of the late nineteenth century. But they share an element of spirituality. Einojuhani Rautavaara’s Incantations is full of hypnotically repeated rhythms
Einojuhani RAUTAVAARA
suggesting the singing and dancing of shamans, mediating between humanity and the spirit world. And Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony moves from the dark, unstable C minor of its opening movement, by way of an elemental scherzo and a profoundly meditative Adagio, to a finale ending with a blaze of C major: a progression which, given the composer’s deep religious convictions, seems to outline a spiritual quest and its fulfilment.
INCANTATIONS: CONCERTO FOR PERCUSSION AND ORCHESTRA COLIN CURRIE percussion Pesante – Energico | Espressivo | Animato
Born 1928
Einojuhani Rautavaara, eighty-one this month, is a prominent and highly respected figure in Finnish music, a link between Sibelius – who recommended him for a scholarship to study in the United States – and the generation including Magnus Lindberg and Esa-Pekka Salonen, both of whom were his students. Having begun his career writing in a neo-classical style, he adopted twelve-note and experimental techniques during the 1950s and ’60s; but he also explored a vein of rich neo-Romanticism, which gradually came to predominate in his output. His recent works represent a synthesis of these different manners, with a significant infusion of mysticism. He has composed several operas for Finnish companies, but he is better known internationally for his orchestral works, some of which have achieved cult status – for example, the seventh of his (to date) eight symphonies, Angel of Light, and Cantus Arcticus, a concerto for taped bird sounds and orchestra. Rautavaara has written Incantations in response to a joint commission from four orchestras: tonight’s première by the London Philharmonic Orchestra will be followed later this season by performances by the other three, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Tampere
Philharmonic (in Finland) and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras. The work was designed for the soloist on all these occasions, Colin Currie. Rautavaara says: ‘When I heard recorded performances by Colin Currie, I was impressed by his virtuosity and musicianship in handling the various kinds of percussion instruments. When asked, therefore, I was very willing to compose a concerto for him to play, and when he visited Helsinki in late 2007 I was already able to show him sketches for the work.’ After that, Currie contributed suggestions about instrumentation during the completion of the concerto last year. The word Incantations refers to spells chanted or sung during an act of magic or of mystical communication with the spirit world – for example by the shamans of the Arctic regions. Rautavaara says that the title ‘came to my mind early during the composing process’; but ‘to avoid too much conventional and monotonous “shamanism”’ he included passages in irregular metres, using different groupings of two and three quavers, in alternation with music moving in regular crotchets. The composer also says of the work: ‘As melodic line is always important for me, marimba and vibraphone are often in the foreground in all three movements.’ The
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PROGRAMME NOTES
soloist’s array of instruments also includes various gongs, bells and drums, and, at Colin Currie’s suggestion, a thunderstick.
‘A shaman – in Siberia or within the Sami culture in Finnish Lapland – wants to act as a mediator between us humans and the transcendental world, often through the act of singing an incantation. This relates to my work as a composer. … I have always felt, after completing a score, that I had not ‘made’ a whole, living being. It must have existed ‘somewhere’, so my music could only aim to bring it out.’
The three movements of the concerto fall into a traditional fast–slow–fast pattern, though with many internal fluctuations of tempo (only the main headings are shown above). The first movement opens with a powerful EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARA (FROM AN INTERVIEW WITH DAVID ALLENBY orchestral statement, which recurs in AT WWW.BOOSEY.COM/RAUTAVAARA) various forms. The soloist enters with flurries on marimba, exchanged with movement is towards greater calm and stillness. The the woodwind, before moving to unpitched percussion finale, the composer says, ‘could be a shaman’s dance in at the start of the quicker central section of the a jerky rhythm’ – or in fact two different jerky rhythms, movement. After some more volatile changes of tempo maintained in successive sections by marimba and mood, with the soloist now on vibraphone, the ostinatos. As in the first movement, there is a sequence opening statement returns, ringingly enhanced by the of episodes varying more rapidly in tempo and soloist on marimba, tubular bells and crotales. In the figuration. It culminates this time in a cadenza, which in second movement, Rautavaara says, ‘the atmosphere is the classical tradition the composer has left the soloist brooding, expressive and poetic’. The soloist plays the to prepare or improvise. This leads into a Grandioso vibraphone throughout, in a double-stranded melody return of the opening statement of the whole work, (sometimes expanding to three- and even four-part now even more actively decorated than before and chords) which is shared along the way with different bringing the concerto to a resplendent conclusion. wind and string sections. There are interludes of insistent urgency, but the main direction of the
INTERVAL 20 minutes An announcement will be made five minutes before the end of the interval.
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PROGRAMME NOTES
Anton BRUCKNER
SYMPHONY 8 IN C MINOR (EDITED BY ROBERT HAAS) Allegro moderato | Scherzo: Allegro moderato and Trio: Langsam | Adagio: Feierlich langsam; doch nicht schleppend | Finale: Feierlich, nicht schnell
1824-1896 The Eighth is the longest, most ambitious and most dramatic of Bruckner’s completed symphonies (though the Ninth would have surpassed it in scale had he lived to finish its last movement). Bruckner began composing the work in 1884, the year of his sixtieth birthday, at a time when the tide seemed to be turning at last in his lifelong struggle for recognition in his native Austria and abroad. On completing the score in 1887, he sent it to Hermann Levi, a conductor who had previously been a champion of his music. Levi’s rejection of it gave rise to a bout of deep depression, and then to action. Between 1887 and 1890, Bruckner completely revised the Symphony, enlarging its orchestration – to make it the most fully scored of any of his symphonies – and making many cuts and changes. The final version was published in 1892, the year of the Symphony’s triumphant first performance in Vienna. Unlike Bruckner’s revised versions of some of his earlier symphonies, that of the Eighth is generally thought to be an improvement on the original. But in an edition published in 1939, Robert Haas restored two passages, one in the slow movement and the other in the finale, which had been cut in the revision. This version, which is being performed tonight, has been criticised as an unscholarly ‘hybrid’, but has been adopted by many conductors and praised by writers on Bruckner: Derek Watson, for example, considers that compared to the 1890 revision it ‘makes far more musical sense and has a better formal balance’. Bruckner’s symphonies are based in outline on the classical forms that he inherited from Beethoven and Schubert: but, thanks in part to the influence of Wagner’s music-dramas, the traditional schemes are not only expanded, but also overlaid by a process of continuous development, and by a progression from tonal instability (that is, a feeling of not being securely in a key) towards stability. So the first movement of the
Eighth begins with a mysterious bass theme in doubledotted rhythms (a very long note followed by a very short one) which circles round the home key of C minor without ever clearly establishing it. The main subsidiary themes, a lyrical violin melody in Bruckner’s favourite mixture of duplets and triplets and a series of wind phrases over pizzicato triplets, are hardly more stable, though trumpet fanfares do herald a temporary point of repose. The development section, which treats the first two themes the right way up and upside down, is overlapped with the recapitulation in a series of strident statements of the first theme and its insistent rhythm. The recapitulation itself is a freely recast version of the opening section, and lacks its crowning fanfares. Instead, there is a massive climax with the brass sounding the rhythm of the first theme, leading to a numb C minor coda of insistently repeated short phrases and timpani rolls: Bruckner likened this ending to an annunciation of death, followed by the regular ticking of a clock in a dying man’s bedroom. The C minor Scherzo, which is placed second, is a movement of huge energy, generated by repetitions of a one-bar idea which Bruckner associated with der Deutsche Michel, a simple, obstinate Everyman figure in German folklore. The A flat major Trio provides a complete contrast, with its ‘Slow’ 2/4 time, its principal melody of easy-going Austrian charm, and its idyllic episodes introducing harps (a single part, but with three players if possible) for the first time in this or any Bruckner symphony. The main Scherzo is repeated exactly. The profound D flat major Adagio (‘Slow and solemn, but not dragging’) also uses the harps at moments of exaltation, and adds triangle and cymbals at its visionary climax. The opening section of the movement falls into two large paragraphs: the first alternating
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PROGRAMME NOTES
‘This symphony is the creation of a giant, surpassing all the master’s other symphonies in its spiritual fecundity of invention and grandeur.’ HUGO WOLF ON BRUCKNER’S EIGHTH SYMPHONY
between expressive lyricism and broad declamation; the second an extended cello melody, briefly giving way to a chorale for Wagner tubas and bass tuba; and both prominently featuring a descending scale figure. There is a contrasting episode, in 3/4 time as opposed to the surrounding 4/4, for horn, woodwind and then strings – apparently a middle section before a reprise. But when the opening section returns, it is vastly expanded, with a great deal of development, not least of the descending scale, and an additional rondo-like return of the first theme in richly decorated textures. A phrase from this first theme provides the resplendent climax; this is followed by a calm, static coda, ending with a final downward scale. The massive Finale (‘Solemn, not fast’) begins with urgent repeated notes and rising brass figures, again over tonally unstable harmonies. A long sequence of themes includes a passage of singing counterpoint for strings and horn, a chorale for the Wagner tubas over
pizzicato strings, a marching string figure with a subdued woodwind dimension, descant, and a solemn variant of the third movement’s descending scale figure. After a battering tutti and some variants of earlier ideas, this opening section eventually comes to rest on a quiet timpani roll. The development section makes great play with the descending scale and the marching figure, reaches a blazing climax followed by an episode over gently pulsing wind triplets, and ends by anticipating the rising brass figures of the first subject. The recapitulation extends this first theme with some passages of sustained tutti writing, restates the second in a re-scored but little varied form and the third with a new flute descant, and brings back the marching figure in a little fugato; it also recalls the opening theme of the first movement. Repeated timpani strokes and a moment of silence precede the coda, which begins calmly in C minor, but works towards C major, withheld from the Symphony till now but its ultimate tonal goal. Finally, repeated motifs from all four movements are combined over a sustained timpani roll – at which point Bruckner wrote in his manuscript the word ‘Halleluja!’ Programme notes by Anthony Burton © 2009
Interviews online If you’ve enjoyed Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s Bruckner this evening, you might be interested to hear his interview on October’s podcast in which he reflects on his performance of the Seventh Symphony with the Orchestra last season, and his approach to Bruckner’s Eighth. He also reflects on his first year as the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor. Colin Currie tells the story of meeting the composer Rautavaara in Helsinki to discuss the commission that led to tonight’s world première performance as well as the challenges of playing an instrument that changes for each work. Plus news of the latest CD release – pioneering 1930s recordings conducted by the Orchestra’s founder, Sir Thomas Beecham. You can listen online at www.lpo.org.uk/podcasts or subscribe via iTunes to receive each month’s edition straight to your computer. What is a podcast? A podcast is like a radio programme, but can be listened to online or downloaded to your mp3 player. Ours comes out monthly and is filled with interviews by music critic and writer, Edward Seckerson, with conductors and soloists, plus Orchestra news and CD releases.
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RECORDINGS ON THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA’S OWN RECORD LABEL
LPO-0032 Klaus Tennstedt conducts Bruckner’s Symphony 8 ‘... a triumphant interpretation by Klaus Tennstedt and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Expansive and throbbing with strength, this is a worthy addition to the discography.’
LPO-0035 Marin Alsop conducts works by MacMillan and Adès as well as Higdon’s Percussion Concerto with Colin Currie ‘These live LPO recordings are the best possible advert for new classical music’ FINANCIAL TIMES, 1 NOVEMBER 2008
GAVIN ENGLEBRECHT, NORTHERN ECHO, 30 OCTOBER 2008
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
London FUNharmonics Family Concert
The Sea Sunday 8 November 2009 | 11.30 am Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall Walton Overture, Portsmouth Point Rimsky-Korsakov The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship from ‘Scheherazade’ Marianelli The Whale’s Tale Arr. Wood Fantasia on British Sea Songs (excerpts) Zimmer Pirates of the Caribbean (main theme) David Angus conductor Chris Jarvis presenter Tickets: Child £4 - £7; Adult £8 - £14 For booking details see page 16.
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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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Orchestral concerts are a vital part of BBC Radio 3’s output and I’m delighted that the station will continue its long association with the London Philharmonic Orchestra by bringing performances from this season to the widest possible audience, including those listening at home, on air and online. Roger Wright Controller, BBC Radio 3
Tonight’s concert will be broadcast in Performance on 3 on Friday 30 October at 7pm, and is available online for 7 days after broadcast at bbc.co.uk/radio3
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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 Eric Tomsett Guy & Utti Whittaker Principal Benefactors Mark & Elizabeth Adams Jane Attias Lady Jane Berril 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 & 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 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 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 Gold Deloitte & Touche Silver British American Business Man Group plc Bronze Appleyard & Trew llp Charles Russell Destination Québec – UK Diagonal Consulting Lazard Leventis Overseas Québec Government Office in London Corporate Donors Lombard Street Research Redpoint Energy Limited In-kind Sponsors Heineken Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd Sela Sweets Ltd
The United Grand Lodge of England Villa Maria Education Partners Lambeth City Learning Centre London Borough of Lambeth Southwark EiC Trusts and Foundations Adam Mickiewicz Institute Allianz Cultural Foundation 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 Sergei Rachmaninoff Foundation Stansfield Trust The Underwood Trust and others who wish to remain anonymous.
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PHILHARMONIC NEWS
LPO Contemporaries launches this evening! This evening the Orchestra is delighted to welcome guests who are attending the launch of its new LPO Contemporaries membership programme for the next generation of arts supporters. With membership starting at £150 per year, members will enjoy a wonderful range of perks, created especially for the LPO Contemporaries. These will include a mix of social and educational opportunities, both at concerts and bespoke events, to be enjoyed in the company of other like-minded people in their 20s and 30s. During each year of membership, LPO Contemporaries will enjoy: • Priority booking for a 3 concert subscription series with a dedicated space to meet before and after the performance • Two complimentary tickets to a concert with access on that evening to the Orchestra’s private Corporate Bar • An exclusive LPO Contemporaries Champagne Saturday rehearsal with the opportunity to meet some of the Orchestra’s musicians over a drink afterwards • Special events hosted by the Orchestra and its sponsors and partners throughout the year, plus much more! During the Orchestra’s recent Australian tour a group of players (right) takes to the sea off the Queensland coast for a whale watching expedition while cellist Francis Bucknall (far right) prepares for a trek into the John Forrest National Park, just to the east of Perth in Western Australia, to study the fantastic array of flora and fauna.
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At the same time, through their annual membership, LPO Contemporaries will support the London Philharmonic Orchestra; a registered charity dedicated to bringing music and education to people from all walks of life. For more information, or to become a member, visit www.lpo.org.uk/lpocontemporaries or contact Anna Gover by telephone on 020 7840 4225 or email anna.gover@lpo.org.uk We are grateful to all of our partners who have helped to launch the new LPO Contemporaries programme, in particular Dr Catherine Høgel, Alexandra Menkes, Simon Yates, Skylon Restaurant, Québec Government Office in London and Valerie Barber PR.
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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
THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC TRUST Pehr Gyllenhammar Chairman Desmond Cecil CMG Sir George Christie CH Richard Karl Goeltz Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS Dr Catherine C. Høgel Martin Höhmann Angela Kessler Clive Marks OBE FCA Victoria Sharp Julian Simmonds Dr John Viney Timothy Walker AM † Laurence Watt Simon Yates 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 Deloitte & Touche Auditors Dr Louise Miller Honorary Doctor
Alison Atkinson Digital Projects Manager Julius Hendriksen Assistant to the Chief Executive and Artistic Director FINANCE David Burke Finance Director David Greenslade Finance and IT Manager Joshua Foong Finance Officer
EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMME
ARCHIVES Edmund Pirouet Consultant
Matthew Todd Education and Community Director
Philip Stuart Discographer
Anne Newman Education Officer
Gillian Pole Recordings Archive
Isobel Timms Community Officer
INTERN
Alec Haylor Education and Community Assistant
Christina Hickman 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
CONCERT MANAGEMENT
Emma O’Connell Development Director
Ruth Sansom Artistic Administrator
Georgina Cervin Charitable Giving Manager
Graham Wood Concerts, Recordings and Glyndebourne Manager
Phoebe Rouse Corporate Relations Manager
Alison Jones Concerts Co-ordinator Hattie Garrard Tours and Engagements Manager
Sarah Tattersall Corporate Relations and Events Manager 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.
Melissa Van Emden Corporate Relations and Events Officer
Photographs of Rautavaara courtesy of Boosey & Hawkes and Bruckner courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London.
Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant
MARKETING
Photograph on the front cover by Benjamin Ealovega.
ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL
Kath Trout Marketing Director
Programmes printed by Cantate.
Camilla Begg Concerts and Tours Assistant
Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager Sarah Thomas Librarian Michael Pattison Stage Manager Hannah Tucker Assistant Orchestra Personnel Manager Ken Graham Trucking Instrument Transportation (Tel: 01737 373305)
Janine Howlett Marketing Manager Brighton, Eastbourne, Community & Education Frances Cook Publications Manager Samantha Kendall Box Office Administrator (Tel: 020 7840 4242) Heather Barstow Marketing Co-ordinator Valerie Barber Press Consultant (Tel: 020 7586 8560)
†Supported by Macquarie Group
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FUTURE CONCERTS AT SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL
Wednesday 28 October 2009 | 7.30pm Scriabin Rêverie Scriabin Piano Concerto Wagner (arr. de Vlieger) The Ring, an Orchestral Adventure Neeme Järvi conductor Yevgeny Sudbin piano
Yutaka Sado and Denis Matsuev
JTI Friday Series | Friday 6 November 2009 | 7.30pm
6.15pm | Royal Festival Hall FREE Pre-Concert Event Musicologist John Deathridge introduces the elements of Wagner’s Ring Cycle that appear in this evening’s performance.
Verdi Overture, La forza del destino Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto 1 Dvo˘rák Symphony 9 (From the New World) Yutaka Sado conductor Denis Matsuev piano
Vladimir Jurowski and Stephen Richardson
Neeme Järvi and Yevgeny Sudbin
Wednesday 18 November 2009 | 7.30pm JTI Friday Series | Friday 30 October 2009 | 7.30pm Prokofiev Classical Symphony Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto 2 Tchaikovsky Symphony 4
Haydn Symphony 22 (The Philosopher) Wagner Prelude and Good Friday Spell from ‘Parsifal’ Schnittke Excerpts from ‘The History of D. Johann Faustus’ (UK première) Sung in German with English surtitles.
Alexander Vedernikov conductor Piers Lane piano
Alexander Vedernikov and Piers Lane
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Stephen Richardson Dr Faustus Anna Larsson Mephistophila Marco Lazzara Mephistophiles Markus Brutscher Narrator Moscow Conservatory Chamber Choir
Wednesday 4 November 2009 | 7.30pm
6.15pm | Royal Festival Hall FREE Pre-Concert Event A performance of Schnittke’s String Quartet 3 by the Harpham Quartet.
Wagner Overture, Tannhäuser Wagner Wesendonk-Lieder Bruckner Symphony 6
TO BOOK
Christoph Eschenbach conductor Petra Lang mezzo soprano
Tickets £9-£38 / Premium seats £55 London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office 020 7840 4242 | www.lpo.org.uk Mon-Fri 10am-5pm; no booking fee Southbank Centre Ticket Office | 0844 847 9920 www.southbankcentre.co.uk/lpo Daily, 9am-8pm. £2.50 telephone / £1.45 online booking fees; no fee for Southbank Centre members
16 | London Philharmonic Orchestra