Concert programme 2013/14 season
Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor VLADIMIR JUROWSKI* Principal Guest Conductor YANNICK NÉZET-SÉGUIN Leader pieter schoeman† Composer in Residence JULIAN ANDERSON Patron HRH THE DUKE OF KENT KG Chief Executive and Artistic Director TIMOTHY WALKER AM
Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall Saturday 26 April 2014 | 7.30pm
Marko Nikodijevic cvetić, kućica…/la lugubre gondola (UK premiere) (17’) Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major (Emperor) (38’) Interval Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 in B minor (Pathétique) (45’)
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Leif Ove Andsnes piano
Generously supported by Dunard Fund
* supported by the Tsukanov Family Foundation and one anonymous donor † supported by Neil Westreich CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
Programme £3 Contents 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 11 12 13 14 15 16
Welcome LPO 2014/15 season On stage tonight About the Orchestra Leader: Pieter Schoeman Vladimir Jurowski Leif Ove Andsnes Programme notes Tchaikovsky on the LPO Label LPO Friends Orchestra news Tickets Please! LPO Annual Appeal 2013/14 Catalyst: Double Your Donation Supporters LPO administration
The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide.
Welcome
Welcome to Southbank Centre We hope you enjoy your visit. We have a Duty Manager available at all times. If you have any queries please ask any member of staff for assistance. Eating, drinking and shopping? Southbank Centre shops and restaurants include Foyles, EAT, Giraffe, Strada, YO! Sushi, wagamama, Le Pain Quotidien, Las Iguanas, ping pong, Canteen, Caffè Vergnano 1882, Skylon, Concrete, Feng Sushi and Topolski, as well as cafes, restaurants and shops inside Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Hayward Gallery. If you wish to get in touch with us following your visit please contact the Visitor Experience Team at Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX, phone 020 7960 4250, or email customer@southbankcentre.co.uk
LPO 2014/15 season now on sale This is the last concert of our 2013/14 Royal Festival Hall season, but next season is on sale now. Browse and book online at lpo.org.uk or call us on 020 7840 4242 to request a season brochure. Highlights of the new season include: •
A year-long festival, Rachmaninoff: Inside Out, exploring the composer’s major orchestral masterpieces including all the symphonies and piano concertos, alongside some of his lesser-known works.
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Appearances by today’s most sought-after artists including Maria João Pires, Christoph Eschenbach, Osmo Vänskä, Lars Vogt, Barbara Hannigan, Vasily Petrenko, Marin Alsop, Katia and Marielle Labèque and Robin Ticciati.
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Yannick Nézet-Séguin presents masterpieces by three great composers from the AustroGerman tradition: Brahms, Schubert and Richard Strauss.
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The UK premiere of Harrison Birtwistle’s piano concerto Responses: Sweet disorder and the carefully careless, performed by Pierre-Laurent Aimard.
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Soprano Barbara Hannigan joins Vladimir Jurowski and the Orchestra for a world premiere from our new Composer in Residence Magnus Lindberg.
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Premieres too of a Violin Concerto by outgoing Composer in Residence Julian Anderson, a children’s work, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, by Colin Matthews, and a new piece for four horns by James Horner (a double-Oscar winner for his score to the film Titanic).
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Legendary pianist Menahem Pressler – a founding member of the Beaux Arts Trio – joins Robin Ticciati to perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4.
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Choral highlights with the London Philharmonic Choir include Stravinsky’s Requiem Canticles, Verdi’s Requiem, Rachmaninoff’s Spring and The Bells, Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé and Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass.
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.
2 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
On stage tonight
First Violins Pieter Schoeman* Leader Chair supported by Neil Westreich
Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader Ilyoung Chae Ji-Hyun Lee Chair supported by Eric Tomsett
Katalin Varnagy Chair supported by Sonja Drexler
Catherine Craig Thomas Eisner Martin Höhmann Geoffrey Lynn Chair supported by Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp
Robert Pool Sarah Streatfeild Grace Lee Rebecca Shorrock Galina Tanney Caroline Frenkel Alain Petitclerc Second Violins Dania Alzapiedi Guest Principal Jeongmin Kim Joseph Maher Kate Birchall Chair supported by David & Victoria Graham Fuller
Nancy Elan Marie-Anne Mairesse Ashley Stevens Dean Williamson Alison Strange Stephen Stewart Sheila Law Elizabeth Baldey Stephen Dinwoodie John Dickinson Nynke Hijlkema Harry Kerr
Violas Cyrille Mercier Principal Gregory Aronovich Susanne Martens Benedetto Pollani Naomi Holt Daniel Cornford Isabel Pereira Alistair Scahill Sarah Malcolm Martin Fenn Miriam Eisele Linda Kidwell Cellos Kristina Blaumane Principal Hetty Snell Laura Donoghue Santiago Carvalho† David Lale Gregory Walmsley Elisabeth Wiklander Sue Sutherley Susanna Riddell Helen Rathbone Double Basses Kevin Rundell* Principal Tim Gibbs Co-Principal Laurence Lovelle George Peniston Richard Lewis Kenneth Knussen Helen Rowlands Tom Walley Flutes Michael Cox Guest Principal Sue Thomas* Chair supported by the Sharp Family
Stewart McIlwham*
Piccolo Stewart McIlwham* Principal
Trombones Mark Templeton* Principal
Oboes Ian Hardwick Principal Alice Munday
David Whitehouse
Cor Anglais Sue Böhling Principal Chair supported by Julian & Gill Simmonds
Clarinets Robert Hill* Principal Emily Meredith Bass Clarinet Paul Richards Principal Bassoons Ben Hudson Guest Principal Gareth Newman Contrabassoon Gareth Newman Horns David Pyatt* Principal Chair supported by Simon Robey
John Ryan* Principal Martin Hobbs Mark Vines Co-Principal Gareth Mollison Trumpets Paul Beniston* Principal Anne McAneney*
Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton
Bass Trombone Lyndon Meredith Principal Tuba Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal Timpani Simon Carrington* Principal Percussion Andrew Barclay* Principal Chair supported by Andrew Davenport
Sacha Johnson Keith Millar Harp Rachel Masters* Principal Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra
Pianino John Alley Assistant Conductor Marius Stravinsky * Holds a professorial appointment in London † Chevalier of the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco
Chair supported by Geoff & Meg Mann
Nicholas Betts Co-Principal
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3
London Philharmonic Orchestra
The LPO are an orchestra on fire at the moment. Bachtrack.com, 2 October 2013, Royal Festival Hall: Vladimir Jurowski conducts Britten
The London Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the world’s finest orchestras, balancing a long and distinguished history with its present-day position as one of the most dynamic and forward-looking orchestras in the UK. As well as its performances in the concert hall, the Orchestra also records film and video game soundtracks, has its own successful CD label, and enhances the lives of thousands of people every year through activities for schools and local communities. The Orchestra was founded by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1932. It has since been headed by many of the greatest names in the conducting world, including Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. Vladimir Jurowski is currently the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor, appointed in 2007, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin is Principal Guest Conductor. Julian Anderson is the Orchestra’s current Composer in Residence. The Orchestra is based at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London, where it has performed since 1951 and been Resident Orchestra since 1992. It gives around 40 concerts there each season with many of the world’s top conductors and soloists. 2013/14 highlights include a Britten centenary celebration with Vladimir Jurowski; world premieres of James MacMillan’s Viola 4 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
Concerto and Górecki’s Fourth Symphony; French repertoire with Yannick Nézet-Séguin including Poulenc, Dutilleux, Berlioz, and Saint-Saëns’s ‘Organ’ Symphony; and two concerts of epic film scores. The season features soloists including Evelyn Glennie, Mitsuko Uchida, Leif Ove Andsnes, Miloš Karadaglić, Renaud Capuçon, Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, Julia Fischer and Simon Trpčeski, and a distinguished line-up of conductors including Christoph Eschenbach, Osmo Vänskä, Vasily Petrenko, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Stanisław Skrowaczewski. Throughout 2013 the Orchestra collaborated with Southbank Centre on the year-long festival The Rest Is Noise, exploring the influential works of the 20th century. Outside London, the Orchestra has flourishing residencies in Brighton and Eastbourne, and performs regularly around the UK. Each summer the Orchestra takes up its annual residency at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in the Sussex countryside, where it has been Resident Symphony Orchestra for 50 years. The Orchestra also tours internationally, performing to sell-out audiences worldwide. In 1956 it became the first British orchestra to appear in Soviet Russia and in 1973 made the first ever visit to China by a Western orchestra. Touring remains a large and vital part of the Orchestra’s life: highlights this season include visits to
Pieter Schoeman leader
Pieter Schoeman was appointed Leader of the LPO in 2008, having previously been Co-Leader since 2002.
The London Philharmonic Orchestra has recorded the soundtracks to numerous blockbuster films, from Lawrence of Arabia, The Mission and East is East to Hugo, The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. It also broadcasts regularly on television and radio, and in 2005 established its own record label. There are now over 75 releases available on CD and to download. Recent additions include Brahms’s Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 and Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 with Vladimir Jurowski; Orff’s Carmina Burana with Hans Graf; Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Sarah Connolly and Toby Spence; and a disc of works by the Orchestra’s Composer in Residence, Julian Anderson. In summer 2012 the Orchestra was invited to take part in The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the River Thames, as well as being chosen to record all the world’s national anthems for the London 2012 Olympics. The London Philharmonic Orchestra is committed to inspiring the next generation of musicians and audiences through an energetic programme of activities for young people. Highlights include the BrightSparks schools’ concerts and FUNharmonics family concerts; fusion ensemble The Band; the Leverhulme Young Composers project; and the Foyle Future Firsts orchestral training programme for outstanding young players. Over recent years, digital advances and social media have enabled the Orchestra to reach even more people across the globe: all its recordings are available to download from iTunes and, as well as a YouTube channel and regular podcast series, the Orchestra has a lively presence on Facebook and Twitter. Find out more and get involved! lpo.org.uk facebook.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra twitter.com/LPOrchestra
© Patrick Harrison
the USA, Moscow, Romania, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Belgium, France and Spain, and plans for 2014/15 include returns to many of the above plus visits to Turkey, Iceland, the USA (West and East Coast), Canada, China and Australia.
Born in South Africa, he made his solo debut aged 10 with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra. He studied with Jack de Wet in South Africa, winning numerous competitions including the 1984 World Youth Concerto Competition in the US. In 1987 he was offered the Heifetz Chair of Music scholarship to study with Eduard Schmieder in Los Angeles and in 1991 his talent was spotted by Pinchas Zukerman, who recommended that he move to New York to study with Sylvia Rosenberg. In 1994 he became her teaching assistant at Indiana University, Bloomington. Pieter has performed worldwide as a soloist and recitalist in such famous halls as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Moscow’s Rachmaninov Hall, Capella Hall in St Petersburg, Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, and Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. As a chamber musician he regularly performs at London’s prestigious Wigmore Hall. As a soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Pieter has performed Arvo Pärt’s Double Concerto with Boris Garlitsky, Brahms’s Double Concerto with Kristina Blaumane, and Britten’s Double Concerto with Alexander Zemtsov, which was recorded and released on the Orchestra’s own record label to great critical acclaim. He has recorded numerous violin solos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra for Chandos, Opera Rara, Naxos, X5, the BBC and for American film and television, and led the Orchestra in its soundtrack recordings for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. In 1995 Pieter became Co-Leader of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice. Since then he has appeared frequently as Guest Leader with the Barcelona, Bordeaux, Lyon, Baltimore and BBC symphony orchestras, and the Rotterdam and BBC Philharmonic orchestras. He is a Professor of Violin at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London. Pieter’s chair in the London Philharmonic Orchestra is supported by Neil Westreich. London Philharmonic Orchestra | 5
Vladimir Jurowski
© Chris Christodoulou
Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor
One of today’s most sought-after and dynamic conductors, acclaimed worldwide for his incisive musicianship and adventurous artistic commitment, Vladimir Jurowski was born in Moscow, and 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, continuing his studies at the High Schools of Music in Dresden and Berlin. In 1995 he made his international debut at the Wexford Festival conducting Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night, and the same year saw his debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, with Nabucco. Vladimir Jurowski was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2003, becoming the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor in September 2007. He also holds the titles of Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Artistic Director of the Russian State Academic Symphony Orchestra. He has also held the positions of First Kapellmeister of the Komische Oper, Berlin (1997– 2001); Principal Guest Conductor of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna (2000–03); Principal Guest Conductor of the Russian National Orchestra (2005–09); and Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera (2001–13). Vladimir Jurowski has appeared on the podium with many leading orchestras in Europe and North America including the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic orchestras, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boston and Chicago symphony orchestras, the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, and the Staatskapelle Dresden. Highlights of the 2013/14 season and beyond include his debuts with the New York Philharmonic, NHK Symphony (Tokyo) and San Francisco Symphony orchestras; tours with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra; and return visits to the Chicago Symphony, Berlin Radio Symphony, Cleveland and Philadelphia orchestras, and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
6 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
Jurowski made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, in 1999 with Rigoletto, and has since returned for Jenůfa, The Queen of Spades and Hansel and Gretel. He has conducted Parsifal and Wozzeck at Welsh National Opera; War and Peace at the Opera National de Paris; Eugene Onegin at Teatro alla Scala, Milan; Ruslan and Ludmila at the Bolshoi Theatre; and Iolanta and Die Teufel von Loudon at the Dresden Semperoper, as well as The Magic Flute, La Cenerentola, Otello, Macbeth, Falstaff, Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Don Giovanni, The Rake’s Progress, The Cunning Little Vixen, Ariadne auf Naxos and Peter Eötvös’s Love and Other Demons at Glyndebourne Festival Opera. In autumn 2013 he returned to the Metropolitan Opera for Die Frau ohne Schatten, and future engagements include Moses und Aron at the Komische Oper Berlin and The Fiery Angel at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. Jurowski’s discography includes the first ever recording of the cantata Exil by Giya Kancheli for ECM; Meyerbeer’s L’étoile du Nord for Marco Polo; Massenet’s Werther for BMG; and a series of records for PentaTone with the Russian National Orchestra. The London Philharmonic Orchestra has released a wide selection of his live recordings on its LPO Live label, including Brahms’s complete symphonies; Mahler’s Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2; Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances; Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies 1, 4, 5, 6 and Manfred; and works by Turnage, Holst, Britten, Shostakovich, Honegger and Haydn. His tenure as Music Director at Glyndebourne has been documented in CD releases of La Cenerentola, Tristan und Isolde and Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery, and DVD releases of his performances of La Cenerentola, Gianni Schicchi, Die Fledermaus, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Don Giovanni and Rachmaninoff’s The Miserly Knight. Other DVD releases include Hansel and Gretel from the Metropolitan Opera; his first concert as the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Principal Conductor featuring works by Wagner, Berg and Mahler; and DVDs with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (Beethoven’s Symphonies Nos. 4 and 7) and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (Strauss and Ravel), all released by Medici Arts. Vladimir Jurowski’s position as Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra is generously supported by the Tsukanov Family Foundation and one anonymous donor.
Leif Ove Andsnes
© Özgür Albayrak
piano
The New York Times has called Leif Ove Andsnes ‘a pianist of magisterial elegance, power and insight’, and the Wall Street Journal named him ‘one of the most gifted musicians of his generation’. He has won international acclaim, giving recitals and performing concertos in the world’s leading concert halls and with its foremost orchestras. Andsnes is also an active recording artist and an avid chamber musician, serving as Co-Artistic Director of the Risor Festival of Chamber Music for nearly two decades, and as Music Director of California’s 2012 Ojai Music Festival. He was inducted into the Gramophone Hall of Fame in July 2013. This season Andsnes has embarked on a new leg of ‘The Beethoven Journey’, his epic long-term focus on the master composer’s five piano concertos. Orchestral highlights include performances of the Second and Fourth Concertos with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and tonight’s performance of the ‘Emperor’ with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as collaborations with the Deutsches SymphonieOrchester Berlin; the orchestras of Munich, Stockholm, and Helsinki; and the Swedish and Norwegian chamber orchestras. It is with an all-Beethoven programme that the pianist launches a 19-city solo recital tour of the US, Europe, and Japan, making stops at New York’s Carnegie Hall and Chicago’s Symphony Center, as well as in Princeton, Atlanta, London, Vienna, Berlin, Rome, Tokyo and others. He ends the season in the company of baritone Matthias Goerne, with whom he appears in four European capitals.
their close musical rapport continues to develop; as Gramophone put it, ‘there’s so much more to this partnership than just exceptional playing; there’s a palpable sense of discovery.’ Their first recording for the project, of the First and Third Concertos, was named iTunes’s Best Instrumental Album of 2012 and received Belgium’s Prix Caecilia award. ‘The Beethoven Journey’ will culminate next season when the MCO will rejoin Andsnes for ‘full cycle’ residencies in North America, Europe and Asia. Leif Ove Andsnes has received Norway’s most distinguished honour – Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of St Olav – as well as the prestigious Peer Gynt Prize, the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist Award and the Gilmore Artist Award. His recordings have been nominated for eight Grammys and awarded many international prizes, including six Gramophone Awards. Saluting his many achievements, Vanity Fair named Andsnes one of the ‘Best of the Best’ in 2005. Leif Ove Andsnes was born in Karmoy, Norway in 1970, and studied at the Bergen Conservatoire under renowned Czech professor Jirí Hlinka. He is a Professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. In June 2010 Andsnes achieved one of his proudest accomplishments to date, becoming a father for the first time, and his family expanded in May 2013 with the welcome arrival of twins.
This season Andsnes has also reunited with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra for two European tours. Together they showcased Beethoven’s Second and Fourth Concertos in November 2013, and will couple the Fifth with the Choral Fantasy in May. Their recording of the Second and Fourth Concertos was released by Sony Classical in February 2014 as the second of three instalments of ‘The Beethoven Journey’. The pianist’s partnership with the MCO anchors the project, and London Philharmonic Orchestra | 7
Programme notes
Speedread cvetić, kućica…/la lugubre gondola by the contemporary Serbian composer Marko Nikodijevic is a transformation of the piano piece La lugubre gondola I by Franz Liszt: it takes Liszt’s themes and textures, dissolves them as if in the waters of the Venetian lagoon, and ends in a radiance reminiscent of Turner’s Venetian watercolours. This atmospheric elegy makes a suitable prelude to a concert ending with Tchaikovsky’s last symphony, the ‘Pathétique’,
Marko Nikodijevic
which includes a funeral chant in its dramatic first movement and, after a graceful ‘waltz’ in 5/4 time and a stirring march, closes with a slow, tragic finale. But if Nikodijevic’s piece has any affinities with Beethoven’s last piano concerto, the so-called ‘Emperor’, they are with its calm, other-worldly central Adagio rather than with its flanking assertions of heroism, vitality and virtuosity.
cvetić, kućica…/la lugubre gondola funeral music for orchestra after franz liszt (UK premiere)
born 1980
The Serbian composer Marko Nikodijevic studied in Belgrade and with Marco Stroppa in Stuttgart, and now lives in Germany. His works all have double (lowercase) titles, one half of the title typically containing the name of a composer or an existing piece of music. This is an indication of his customary working method: the transformation, usually with the aid of computer analysis, of a work by another composer into something entirely different.
Venice some six weeks later. Nikodijevic’s transformation preserves fragments of Liszt’s broken melodic line, and dissolves Liszt’s keyboard textures into subtly detailed orchestral sonorities. As it proceeds, the work, in the words of John Fallas, the leading British expert on the composer, ‘picks up echoes of other musics – of the barcarolle, of Sibelius’s Swan of Tuonela, of a whole history of orchestral lamentation – on the way to its watery resting-place’.
cvetić, kućica…/la lugubre gondola was originally a chamber piece, first performed by the Dutch group the Ives Ensemble in 2006. In its orchestral form of 2009, it was commissioned and first performed by the Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra, and the following year was awarded the Gaudeamus Prize in the Netherlands. It is based on Liszt’s spare-textured piano elegy La lugubre gondola I. This was written in December 1882, when the composer was staying in Venice with his daughter Cosima and son-in-law Richard Wagner: it was inspired by the sight of a gondola carrying a coffin. Liszt later viewed the piece as a premonition of Wagner’s death and water-borne funeral procession in
The first element of the title, cvetić, kućica, means ‘little flower, little house’ in Serbian. The composer explains in a preface to the score that this ‘describes a drawing in the notebook of a five-year-old Kosovo-Albanian girl whose body was found in a refrigerator lorry sunk in the Danube by Serbian police in 1999. This composition is dedicated to her memory.’
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While from a proud tower in the town Death looks gigantically down Lines from Edgar Allan Poe’s The City in the Sea quoted by Marko Nikodijevic at the head of the score of cvetić, kućica…/la lugubre gondola
Ludwig van Beethoven 1770–1827
Beethoven wrote his last piano concerto in early 1809, though it was not performed for more than two years after that – and then without the composer as soloist, since he had been forced from the concert platform by his deafness. One reason for the delay was that, shortly after the completion of the work, Vienna was occupied by the French army. The fact that the invading French forces were led by Beethoven’s former idol Napoleon gives a certain irony to the title of ‘Emperor’ that the Concerto has somehow acquired in English-speaking countries. But the nickname does at least indicate that this is a work on Beethoven’s grandest scale, including some of his most powerful piano writing – though accompanied by an orchestra still only larger by one flute than that of the much more intimate Fourth Concerto – and in his ‘heroic’ key of E flat major. The first Allegro begins, in fact, with a massive assertion of this key: its three primary chords, E flat, A flat and B flat, played by the orchestra, form the giant pillars of a cadenza-like piano solo. This opening with the soloist is an extrovert parallel to the introverted opening of the Piano Concerto No. 4. As in No. 4, it proves to be an introduction, not replacing but leading into a full-scale double exposition of the material of the movement, first orchestral and then with the soloist, in the Classical tradition. At the same time, it is not simply an introduction: it contains ideas that are later incorporated into the close-knit argument of the movement; and after the development section it returns, in a varied form but with the same three chords as a basis, to launch the recapitulation. A further formal innovation of this movement is that Beethoven denies the soloist his usual opportunity for a cadenza; or rather at the appropriate moment he supplies one that merges into
Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 73 (Emperor) Leif Ove Andsnes piano 1 Allegro 2 Adagio un poco mosso – 3 Rondo: Allegro
a coda with orchestra, a summing-up on a grand scale commensurate with the mighty span of the whole movement. The first movement ends on a chord of E flat major with an E flat at the top; the first chord of the slow movement has the same note at the top, but as a D sharp in the key of B major. With a score, one can discover that this key has already made an appearance (as C flat major) at two crucial points in the first movement. But it strikes the ear here as unutterably remote; and this sets the tone for the serene other-worldliness of the whole movement, with muted strings, wind sparingly used (no trumpets and drums), and the piano mostly given floating melodic lines in its upper register. The end of this idyll is as striking as its beginning: the bass drops a semitone from B to a sustained B flat, over which the piano muses on an arpeggio of E flat major, in what immediately proves to be an anticipation of the springing principal theme of the sonata-rondo finale. Later, the same semitone drop from C flat to B flat, now more concealed in the soloist’s figuration, precedes the first two returns of the main rondo theme; and it is also a significant interval in the second subject which appears in the first and last of the three subsidiary episodes. The central episode is more of a development section, and the process of development is resumed in the coda. Again, there is no opportunity here for a fullscale cadenza; but there is a passage in which the piano is accompanied only by the timpani, with a repeated rhythmic figure on a low B flat lulling the music to a temporary halt before the final burst of orchestral energy.
Interval – 20 minutes An announcement will be made five minutes before the end of the interval. London Philharmonic Orchestra | 9
Programme notes continued
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 1840–93
Tchaikovsky composed the last of his six symphonies (seven if you include the unnumbered Manfred) between February and August 1893, and conducted the first performance in St Petersburg in October. Nine days later, he was dead – probably through suicide, hurriedly forced upon him to avoid a scandal. There is of course no way in which the music and this premature death can be directly related. But the Symphony was written according to a programme which, although Tchaikovsky never revealed it, seems to have been connected to thoughts about mortality; and he willingly accepted his brother Modest’s suggested title for it of Symphonie pathétique – the adjective suggesting not so much pathos as suffering. Significantly, soon after completing the Symphony, he declined a suggestion that he should set to music a poem called Requiem by his old friend Alexey Apukhtin, who had recently died, on the grounds that it might involve attempting to repeat himself, after composing a work into which he had put ‘my entire soul’. An integral part of Tchaikovsky’s conception of the work was that it should have as its finale ‘not a noisy Allegro but a long Adagio’. This led to a thorough rethinking of the traditional sequence of movements in a symphony – starting with the first, and longest, movement, which maintains a balance between fast and slow music. It begins with a dark-coloured slow introduction, a late addition to the score which anticipates the striving first subject of the main Allegro. Then the second subject consists of a whole extended paragraph of slower music: a consoling D major string melody, a contrasting ‘middle section’, and an impassioned return to the string melody, echoed by a clarinet solo dying away to nothing. The fastest section of the movement is the development, which begins with a furious fugato, later overlaid by striding descending scales in the trumpets, and falls away to a solemn brass chorale which is in
10 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74 (Pathétique) 1 2 3 4
Adagio – Allegro non troppo Allegro con grazia Allegro molto vivace Finale: Adagio lamentoso
fact a chant from the Russian Orthodox funeral service, ‘With thy saints, O Christ, give peace to the soul of thy servant’. The recapitulation, launched at the peak of a new build-up of excitement, is a much altered and truncated version of the exposition, with a huge descending scale leading to a shortened version of the second subject (without its middle section), and a subdued coda. The two middle movements are both character-pieces of an unusual nature. The D major Allegro con grazia (‘with grace’) is waltz-like, but in a consistent 5/4 time. The standard pattern of a trio section and a reprise of the opening is expanded by a transition from the trio which juxtaposes phrases from both sections, and a coda beginning with scale patterns, rising quickly and falling slowly. The Allegro molto vivace, in G major, is a brilliant march, largely concerned with building up anticipation, so that the final return of the main theme takes on a triumphant quality. But then the slow finale begins with a despairing melody, its scalewise descents initially shared note by note between first and second violins; and a descending scale in the bassoons leads to a second theme which, although in D major, also begins with fragments of downward scales. This is driven to a climax, but then makes way for the extended return of the first theme, in mounting waves of passion. Finally the downward scales that have increasingly dominated the whole work take over again, in a kind of vestigial minor-key return of the second subject, descending to the lowest depths of the orchestra before falling silent. Programme notes © Anthony Burton
Jurowski conducts Tchaikovsky on the LPO Label
Symphonies Nos. 1 & 6
Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5
Manfred Symphony
Vladimir Jurowski conductor
Vladimir Jurowski conductor
Vladimir Jurowski conductor
£10.99 (2CDs) | LPO-0039
£10.99 (2CDs) | LPO-0064
£9.99 (1CD) | LPO-0009
Also available from lpo.org.uk/recordings, the LPO Ticket Office (020 7840 4242) and all good CD outlets Available to download or stream online via iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and others.
LPO Friends The London Philharmonic Orchestra would like to acknowledge the following supporters for their contribution as Friends of the Orchestra for ten years or more: Mrs E Angus, Anonymous x2, Dr Kirsten Asmussen, Mr John Michael Bamforth, Dr P W C Barnard, Mrs B Bash, Mr and Mrs B J Beine, Mr Patrick Benner, Mr Graham Binner, Mrs E Boden, Sir Alan and Lady Bowness, Miss P Braby, Mr Francis Neville Brammer, Mr Clifford Brown, Mr G Cansdale, Dr A E Carter, Miss Juliet Chaplin MBE, Mr Stuart Chillingworth, Mr Michael J Ching, Dr Gillian Clack, Alison Clarke and Leo Pilkington, Mr Jack Clay, Mr Stephen Clayton, Mr C Clement, Mr Geoffrey A Collens, Mr O J Colman, Mr R K Connell, Mr J L N Coombs, Miss Tessa Cowie, Dr and Mrs J E Danziger, Miss Sylvia Evelyn Mary Dowle, Mr Bryn Drew, Ms E M Duckworth, Miss Roberta Dunbavand, Mr Robin Duval, Mr Ross Egerton, Mrs Janet Flynn, Mr & Mrs Frumkin, Ms Annette Furley, Mrs F Godfrey, Mr C Harris, Mrs D Hayden, Mr Colin Hickman, Miss Gillian Hosack, Rev C R James, Dr M A Kalina, Mrs Judith King-Farlow, Mr A Kinsman, Mr and Mrs Maurice Lambert, Ms L C Lawton, Mr Dexter Lee, Mrs A B Lees, Mrs Rosanne Levy, Mr K F Lovegrove, Mr K I Martlew, Mrs Amelia Mas, Mrs Margaret Mary Meecham, Mr John Moore & Ms Wiggins, Mr B O’Shaughnessy, Mrs Jennifer Oxley, Mr and Mrs J M Peters, Mr David Pether, Mr A R Platts, Mr Ivan Powell, Mr James A Reece, Mr Peter Rheinberg, Mrs Bridget Royle, Mr B C Secrett, Mr Brian Neville Sharp, Mr T W Sharp, Mr F D Short, Mr R H Small, Mr Brian D Smith, Mr John Snelling, Mr and Mrs Stern, Mr David P Stewart, Mr & Mrs Cedric and Gillian Stylianou, Clive Swift, Mr J A Trigg, Miss M Venables, Mr & Mrs Brian Webb, Mr C D Yates Thank you for your support.
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 11
Orchestra news
Glyndebourne Festival 2014
LPO at the BBC Proms
Tonight is our last Royal Festival Hall concert of the 2013/14 season, but a busy summer lies ahead! On 17 May the 2014 Glyndebourne Festival begins, during which we will give performances of Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier under the Festival’s new Music Director Robin Ticciati; Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin under Israeli conductor Omer Meir Wellber in his Glyndebourne debut; Mozart’s Don Giovanni under Andrés Orozco-Estrada, the Orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor from 2015, also making his Glyndebourne debut; and Verdi’s La traviata under Sir Mark Elder.
This summer the Orchestra makes two appearances at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. Tuesday 22 July is our Glyndebourne Prom: a performance of Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier with the cast of the 2014 Glyndebourne Festival Opera production, conducted by Glyndebourne’s new Music Director Robin Ticciati. And on Thursday 28 August, Vladimir Jurowski conducts the Orchestra in Holst’s The Planets Suite, Schoenberg’s Five Pieces for Orchestra and Scriabin’s Prometheus, The Poem of Fire.
Browse the full performance schedule and buy tickets online at glyndebourne.com or call the Box Office on 01273 813813.
Proms ticket prices start from £7.50, or you can queue on the day for standing ‘Promming’ tickets for just £5. Booking opens on 17 May. bbc.co.uk/proms
Summer tours
Latest LPO CD release: Carmina Burana
As well as our two BBC Proms performances (see above right), the Orchestra will also appear at this summer’s Edinburgh International Festival. Our concert on Monday 18 August at the city’s Usher Hall, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, will feature Chorale by our new Composer in Residence Magnus Lindberg, followed by Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with soloist Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 (Eroica).
Recently released on the LPO Label is Orff’s Carmina Burana conducted by Hans Graf (LPO-0076). It was recorded live in concert at Royal Festival Hall on 6 April 2013, as part of Southbank Centre’s yearlong The Rest Is Noise festival, and also features the London Philharmonic Choir, Trinity Boys Choir and soloists Sarah Tynan, Andrew Kennedy and Rodion Pogossov.
At the end of August we’ll travel to Spain for two concerts as part of the Santander International Festival. Violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja will join us once again for a repeat of the Edinburgh programme, and we’ll also perform Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with soloist Truls Mørk and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique). This will be followed by a trip to Italy at the beginning of September for concerts at the Stresa Festival and in Rimini and Merano, before our next Royal Festival Hall season begins on 24 September (see page 2 for highlights). Follow us on Twitter @LPOrchestra to keep in touch with the Orchestra’s latest news from tour.
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‘Choral articulation, exposed by the immediate recording, is practically perfect.’ Sinfini.com, 4 April 2014 ‘A blistering rendition ... a worthy addition to the discography.’ The Northern Echo, 27 February 2014 Priced £9.99, the CD is also available from lpo.org.uk/shop (where you can listen to soundclips before you buy), the LPO Ticket Office (020 7840 4242) and all good CD retailers. Alternatively you can download it from iTunes, Amazon and others, or stream via Spotify.
London Philharmonic Orchestra Annual Appeal 2013/14
Tickets Please! Do you remember the first time you saw a symphony orchestra live on stage? Every year the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s schools’ concerts allow over 16,000 young people to see and hear the Orchestra live. The LPO is the only orchestra in the UK to offer specific and tailored orchestral concerts for all ages – from primary school children aged five, through to 18-year-old A-level students. Six out of ten children attending the concerts will be experiencing an orchestra for the very first time. We want to offer free tickets to 2,500 children from the most disadvantaged schools and we need your help to make this happen. A donation of just £9 will allow a child from one of south London’s most disadvantaged schools to attend our schools’ concerts for free. If you would like to donate more, you could secure tickets for three children (£27), a row of seats in the stalls (£108), or a whole class to attend (£270). Every donation of any size from our supportive audience will help us to fill our concert hall with new young audience members.
Please visit lpo.org.uk/ticketsplease, where you can select the seats you wish to secure, or call Katherine Hattersley on 020 7840 4212 to donate over the phone. Thank you for supporting Tickets Please!
Tickets Please! has now raised over £15,000. This amount means that over 1,600 children will be able to attend our schools’ concerts for free. We would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has already donated, and in particular to the following donors: Dr Christopher Aldren, Adrian Clark, Alison Clarke & Leo Pilkington, Garf & Gill Collins, Roger Greenwood, Lord & Lady Hall, Rose & Dudley Leigh, Rivers Foundation, Dr Peter Stephenson, Mr & Mrs J C Tucker, and those who wish to remain anonymous.
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Catalyst: Double Your Donation
The London Philharmonic Orchestra is building its first ever endowment fund, which will support the most exciting artistic collaborations with its partner venues here in London and around the country. Thanks to a generous grant pledge from Arts Council England’s Catalyst programme, the Orchestra is able to double the value of all gifts from new donors up to a maximum value of £1 million. Any additional gifts from existing generous donors will also be matched. By the end of the campaign we aim to have created an endowment with a value of £2 million which will help us work with partners to provide a funding injection for activities across the many areas of the Orchestra’s work, including: • More visionary artistic projects like The Rest Is Noise at Southbank Centre • Educational and outreach activities for young Londoners like this year’s Noye’s Fludde performance project • Increased touring to venues around the UK that might not otherwise have access to great orchestral music To give, call Development Director Nick Jackman on 020 7840 4211, email support@lpo.org.uk or visit www.lpo.org.uk/support/double-your-donation.html
Catalyst Endowment Donors Masur Circle Arts Council England Dunard Fund Emmanuel & Barrie Roman The Sharp Family The Underwood Trust
Sir Bernard Rix Kasia Robinski Mr & Mrs G Stein TFS Loans Limited The Tsukanov Family Foundation Guy & Utti Whittaker
Welser-Möst Circle John Ireland Charitable Trust Neil Westreich
Pritchard Donors Anonymous Linda Blackstone Michael Blackstone Yan Bonduelle Richard and Jo Brass Britten-Pears Foundation Desmond & Ruth Cecil Lady June Chichester Lindka Cierach Mr Alistair Corbett Mark Damazer David Dennis Bill & Lisa Dodd Mr David Edgecombe David Ellen Commander Vincent Evans Mr Daniel Goldstein Ffion Hague Rebecca Halford Harrison Michael & Christine Henry Honeymead Arts Trust
Tennstedt Circle Simon Robey The late Mr K Twyman Solti Patrons Anonymous Mrs Mina Goodman and Miss Suzanne Goodman The Rothschild Foundation Manon Williams & John Antoniazzi Haitink Patrons Mark & Elizabeth Adams Lady Jane Berrill Moya Greene Tony and Susie Hayes Lady Roslyn Marion Lyons Diana and Allan Morgenthau Charitable Trust Ruth Rattenbury
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John Hunter Ivan Hurry Tanya Kornilova Howard & Marilyn Levene Mr Gerald Levin Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Dr Frank Lim Peter Mace Geoff & Meg Mann Ulrike Mansel Marsh Christian Trust John Montgomery Rosemary Morgan John Owen Edmund Pirouet Mr Michael Posen John Priestland Tim Slorick Howard Snell Stanley Stecker Lady Marina Vaizey Helen Walker Timothy Walker AM Laurence Watt Des & Maggie Whitelock Christopher Williams Victoria Yanakova Mr Anthony Yolland
We would like to acknowledge the generous support of the following Thomas Beecham Group Patrons, Principal Benefactors and Benefactors: Thomas Beecham Group The Tsukanov Family Foundation Anonymous Neil Westreich William and Alex de Winton Simon Robey The Sharp Family Julian & Gill Simmonds Garf & Gill Collins Andrew Davenport Mrs Sonja Drexler David & Victoria Graham Fuller Mr & Mrs Makharinsky Geoff & Meg Mann Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp Eric Tomsett Jane Attias John & Angela Kessler Guy & Utti Whittaker Manon Williams & John Antoniazzi Principal Benefactors Mark & Elizabeth Adams Lady Jane Berrill Desmond & Ruth Cecil Mr John H Cook
David Ellen Commander Vincent Evans Mr Daniel Goldstein Peter MacDonald Eggers Mr & Mrs David Malpas Mr Maxwell Morrison Mr Michael Posen Mr & Mrs Thierry Sciard Mr & Mrs G Stein Mr & Mrs John C Tucker Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood Lady Marina Vaizey Grenville & Krysia Williams Mr Anthony Yolland Benefactors Mrs A Beare David & Patricia Buck Mrs Alan Carrington Mr & Mrs Stewart Cohen Mr Alistair Corbett Mr David Edgecombe Mr Richard Fernyhough Tony & Susan Hayes Michael & Christine Henry Malcolm Herring Ivan Hurry Mr Glenn Hurstfield Mr R K Jeha
Per Jonsson Mr Gerald Levin Sheila Ashley Lewis Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Dr Frank Lim Paul & Brigitta Lock Mr Brian Marsh Andrew T Mills John Montgomery Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill Martin and Cheryl Southgate Professor John Studd Mr Peter Tausig Mrs Kazue Turner Howard & Sheelagh Watson Mr Laurie Watt Des & Maggie Whitelock Christopher Williams Bill Yoe and others who wish to remain anonymous Hon. Benefactor Elliott Bernerd Hon. Life Members Kenneth Goode Carol Colburn Grigor CBE Pehr G Gyllenhammar Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE
The generosity of our Sponsors, Corporate Members, supporters and donors is gratefully acknowledged: Corporate Members Silver: AREVA UK Berenberg Bank British American Business Carter-Ruck Thomas Eggar LLP Bronze: Lisa Bolgar Smith and Felix Appelbe of Ambrose Appelbe Appleyard & Trew LLP Berkeley Law Charles Russell Leventis Overseas Preferred Partners Corinthia Hotel London Heineken Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd Sipsmith Steinway Villa Maria In-kind Sponsors Google Inc Sela / Tilley’s Sweets
Trusts and Foundations Angus Allnatt Charitable Foundation Ambache Charitable Trust Ruth Berkowitz Charitable Trust The Boltini Trust Borletti-Buitoni Trust Britten-Pears Foundation The Candide Trust The Ernest Cook Trust The Coutts Charitable Trust The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Dunard Fund Embassy of Spain, Office for Cultural and Scientific Affairs The Equitable Charitable Trust Fidelio Charitable Trust The Foyle Foundation J Paul Getty Junior Charitable Trust Lucille Graham Trust The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust Help Musicians UK The Hinrichsen Foundation The Hobson Charity The Idlewild Trust Kirby Laing Foundation The Leverhulme Trust Marsh Christian Trust The Mayor of London’s Fund for Young Musicians
Adam Mickiewicz Institute The Peter Minet Trust Maxwell Morrison Charitable Trust The Ann and Frederick O’Brien Charitable Trust Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de musique romantique française Polish Cultural Institute in London PRS for Music Foundation Rivers Foundation The R K Charitable Trust Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation The Samuel Sebba Charitable Trust Schroder Charity Trust Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation The David Solomons Charitable Trust The Steel Charitable Trust The John Thaw Foundation The Tillett Trust UK Friends of the Felix-MendelssohnBartholdy-Foundation Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement Garfield Weston Foundation The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust Youth Music & others who wish to remain anonymous
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Administration
Board of Directors Victoria Sharp Chairman Stewart McIlwham* President Gareth Newman* Vice-President Richard Brass Desmond Cecil CMG Vesselin Gellev* Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS Dr Catherine C. Høgel Martin Höhmann* George Peniston* Sir Bernard Rix Kevin Rundell* Julian Simmonds Mark Templeton* Natasha Tsukanova Timothy Walker AM Laurence Watt Neil Westreich Dr Manon Williams * Player-Director Advisory Council Victoria Sharp Chairman Christopher Aldren Richard Brass Sir Alan Collins KCVO CMG Andrew Davenport Jonathan Dawson Christopher Fraser OBE Lord Hall of Birkenhead CBE Clive Marks OBE FCA Stewart McIlwham Baroness Shackleton Lord Sharman of Redlynch OBE Thomas Sharpe QC Martin Southgate Sir Philip Thomas Sir John Tooley Chris Viney Timothy Walker AM Elizabeth Winter American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Inc. Jenny Ireland Co-Chairman William A. Kerr Co-Chairman Kyung-Wha Chung Alexandra Jupin Dr. Felisa B. Kaplan Jill Fine Mainelli Kristina McPhee Dr. Joseph Mulvehill Harvey M. Spear, Esq. Danny Lopez Hon. Chairman
Noel Kilkenny Hon. Director Victoria Sharp Hon. Director Richard Gee, Esq Of Counsel Jenifer L. Keiser, CPA, EisnerAmper LLP
Education and Community
Public Relations
Isabella Kernot Education Director
Albion Media (Tel: 020 3077 4930) Archives
Chief Executive
Alexandra Clarke Education and Community Project Manager
Timothy Walker AM Chief Executive and Artistic Director
Lucy Duffy Education and Community Project Manager
Finance
Richard Mallett Education and Community Producer
David Burke General Manager and Finance Director
Development
David Greenslade Finance and IT Manager
Nick Jackman Development Director
Concert Management
Noelia Moreno Charitable Giving Manager
Roanna Gibson Concerts Director
Helen Searl Corporate Relations Manager
Graham Wood Concerts and Recordings Manager
Molly Stewart Development and Events Manager
Jenny Chadwick Tours Manager
Sarah Fletcher Development and Finance Officer
Tamzin Aitken Glyndebourne and UK Engagements Manager Alison Jones Concerts and Recordings Co-ordinator Jo Cotter PA to the Chief Executive / Tours Co-ordinator Orchestra Personnel Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager Sarah Holmes Sarah Thomas Librarians (job-share) Christopher Alderton Stage Manager Ellie Swithinbank Assistant Orchestra Personnel Manager
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Rebecca Fogg Development Assistant Marketing Kath Trout Marketing Director Mia Roberts Marketing Manager Rachel Williams Publications Manager Samantha Kendall Box Office Manager (Tel: 020 7840 4242) Libby Northcote-Green Marketing Co-ordinator Penny Miller Intern Digital Projects Alison Atkinson Digital Projects Manager Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant
Philip Stuart Discographer Gillian Pole Recordings Archive Professional Services Charles Russell Solicitors Crowe Clark Whitehill LLP Auditors Dr Louise Miller Honorary Doctor London Philharmonic Orchestra 89 Albert Embankment London SE1 7TP Tel: 020 7840 4200 Fax: 020 7840 4201 Box Office: 020 7840 4242 Email: admin@lpo.org.uk lpo.org.uk The London Philharmonic Orchestra Limited is a registered charity No. 238045. Photograph of Nikodijevic © Archive Sikorski Music Publishers. Photographs of Beethoven and Tchaikovsky courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London. Front cover photograph © Patrick Harrison. Printed by Cantate.