London Philharmonic Orchestra programme 28 Mar 2014 by London Philharmonic Orchestra

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

JTI Friday Series Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall Friday 28 March 2014 | 7.30pm

Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor (20’) Interval Mahler Symphony No. 9 in D major (87’)

Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Nicholas Angelich piano

This concert is being broadcast live by the BBC on Radio 3 Live In Concert – live concerts every day of the week. Listen online in HD Sound for 7 days at bbc.co.uk/radio3

* supported by the Tsukanov Family Foundation and one anonymous donor 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 Yannick Nézet-Séguin Nicholas Angelich Programme notes Next concerts Tickets Please! LPO 2013/14 Annual Appeal Orchestra news 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

LPO 2014/15 season now on sale

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.

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.

LATECOMERS will only be admitted to the auditorium if there is a suitable break in the performance.

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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.

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.

Eating, drinking and shopping? Southbank Centre shops and restaurants include Foyles, EAT, Giraffe, Strada, YO! Sushi, wagamama, Le Pain Quotidien, Las Iguanas, ping pong, Canteen, Caffè Vergnano 1882, Skylon, Concrete, Feng Sushi and Topolski, as well as cafes, restaurants and shops inside Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Hayward Gallery. If you wish to get in touch with us following your visit please contact the Visitor Experience Team at Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX, phone 020 7960 4250, or email customer@southbankcentre.co.uk We look forward to seeing you again soon. A few points to note for your comfort and enjoyment: PHOTOGRAPHY is not allowed in the auditorium.

MOBILES, PAGERS AND WATCHES should be switched off before the performance begins.

2 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

On stage tonight

First Violins Pieter Schoeman* Leader 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 Yang Zhang Grace Lee Rebecca Shorrock Alain Petitclerc Galina Tanney Second Violins Charlotte Potgieter Guest Principal Jeongmin Kim Joseph Maher Kate Birchall Chair supported by David & Victoria Graham Fuller

Nancy Elan Fiona Higham Nynke Hijlkema Marie-Anne Mairesse Ashley Stevens Lorenzo Gentili-Tedeschi Helen Nicholls Ksenia Berezina Harry Kerr Stephen Stewart

Violas Hung-Wei Huang Guest Principal Cyrille Mercier Robert Duncan Gregory Aronovich Katharine Leek Susanne Martens Benedetto Pollani Laura Vallejo Daniel Cornford Martin Fenn Sarah Malcolm Helen Bevin

Piccolo Stewart McIlwham* Principal

Cellos Kristina Blaumane Principal Francis Bucknall Laura Donoghue Santiago Carvalho† David Lale Elisabeth Wiklander Sue Sutherley Susanna Riddell Helen Rathbone Tae-Mi Song

Clarinets Robert Hill* Principal Emily Meredith Richard Russell

Double Basses Kevin Rundell* Principal Tim Gibbs Co-Principal Laurence Lovelle George Peniston Tom Walley Jeremy Watt Catherine Ricketts Margarida Castro Flutes Katie Bedford Guest Principal Sue Thomas* Chair supported by the Sharp Family

Joanna Marsh Clare Robson

Oboes Ian Hardwick Principal Michael O’Donnell Angela Tennick Sue Böhling Cor Anglais Sue Böhling Principal Chair supported by Julian & Gill Simmonds

Bass Clarinet Paul Richards Principal E-flat Clarinet Douglas Mitchell Bassoons Ben Hudson Guest Principal Gareth Newman* Stuart Russell Simon Estell Contrabassoon Simon Estell Principal 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 Geoff & Meg Mann

Tom Rainer William O’Sullivan Trombones Mark Templeton* Principal Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton

David Whitehouse Bass Trombone Lyndon Meredith Principal Tuba Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal Timpani Simon Carrington* Principal Jeremy Cornes Percussion Andrew Barclay* Principal Chair supported by Andrew Davenport

Toby Kearney Keith Millar Sarah Mason Harps Rachel Masters* Principal Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra

Ruth Faber * Holds a professorial appointment in London † Chevalier of the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco

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. We welcome 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.

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.

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.

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.

Pieter has performed worldwide as a soloist and recitalist in such famous halls as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Moscow’s Rachmaninov Hall, Capella Hall in St Petersburg, Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, and Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. As a chamber musician he regularly performs at London’s prestigious Wigmore Hall. As a soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Pieter has performed Arvo Pärt’s Double Concerto with Boris Garlitsky, Brahms’s Double Concerto with Kristina Blaumane, and Britten’s Double Concerto with Alexander Zemtsov, which was recorded and released on the Orchestra’s own record label to great critical acclaim. He has recorded numerous violin solos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra for Chandos, Opera Rara, Naxos, X5, the BBC and for American film and television, and led the Orchestra in its soundtrack recordings for The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

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

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. London Philharmonic Orchestra | 5

Yannick Nézet-Séguin

conductor

Yannick Nézet-Séguin became Music Director of The Philadelphia Orchestra at the start of the 2012/13 season, and has been Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra since 2008. He has conducted all the major ensembles in his native Canada and has been Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Orchestre Métropolitain (Montreal) since 2000. Since his European debut in 2004, Yannick Nézet-Séguin has worked with many fine ensembles including the Dresden Staatskapelle, Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Berlin, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Following his 2009 BBC Proms debut with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, he returned the following year and again in 2013 with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also appeared at festivals in Edinburgh, San Sebastián (Spain) and Grafenegg (Austria). Engagements at summer festivals in North America have included Lanaudière, Vail Valley, Saratoga and Mostly Mozart. A notable opera conductor, Yannick made his Salzburg Festival debut in 2008 with a new production of Roméo et Juliette, returning in 2010 and 2011 for Don Giovanni. For New York’s Metropolitan Opera he has conducted Carmen, Don Carlo, Faust and La traviata, and returned for Rusalka earlier this season. His 2011 debut at Teatro alla Scala, Milan (Roméo et Juliette) was followed in 2012 by his Royal Opera House, Covent Garden debut (Rusalka). For The Netherlands Opera, he has conducted The Makropoulos Case, Turandot and Don Carlo, all with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2011 he embarked on a major Mozart opera series for the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden.

6 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s 2013/14 season opened with concert performances of Der fliegende Holländer with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in Rotterdam, at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, and the Konzerthaus Dortmund, the last inaugurating the start of his term as Artist in Residence at the venue. In addition to his regular orchestral commitments, this season he also returns to the Berlin Philharmonic and Bavarian Radio Symphony orchestras, and leads The Philadelphia Orchestra on an extensive tour of China. Recent additions to Yannick’s extensive discography include the complete Schumann symphonies with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, The Rite of Spring with The Philadelphia Orchestra, a Tchaikovsky disc with the Rotterdam Philharmonic and Lisa Batiashvili, and Così fan tutte, also with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. With the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra he has made recordings for EMI Classics and BIS Records. He also continues to enjoy a fruitful recording relationship with the London Philharmonic Orchestra for the LPO Label – Brahms’s German Requiem (LPO-0045) was released in 2010, and November 2013 saw the release of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Sarah Connolly and Toby Spence (LPO–0073). A native of Montreal, Yannick Nézet-Séguin studied piano, conducting, composition and chamber music at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec in Montreal and choral conducting at the Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, before going on to study with renowned conductors, most notably the Italian maestro Carlo Maria Giulini. His honours include a prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Award; Canada’s highly coveted National Arts Centre Award; and the Prix Denise-Pelletier, the highest distinction for the arts in Quebec, awarded by the Quebec government. In 2011 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Quebec in Montreal, and in 2012 was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada. Yannick’s recent LPO Label CD, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with soloists Sarah Connolly and Toby Spence, is on sale tonight from the Foyles merchandise stand in the Royal Festival Hall foyer. Yannick will be signing copies after the concert.

Nicholas Angelich

piano

Born in the United States in 1970, Nicholas Angelich began studying the piano with his mother at the age of five. At 13 he entered the Paris Conservatoire where he studied with Aldo Ciccolini, Yvonne Loriod, Michel Beroff and Marie-Françoise Bucquet, and where he won the First Prize for piano and chamber music. Nicholas Angelich has taken masterclasses with Leon Fleisher, Dmitri Bashkirov and Maria João Pires. In 1989 he won Second Prize at the Casadesus International Piano Competition in Cleveland and in 1994 First Prize at the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition. In 1996 he became Artist in Residence at the International Piano Foundation of Cadenabbia in Italy. In 2002 he received the International Klavierfestival Ruhr Young Talent Award from Leon Fleisher. At the 2013 Victoires de la Musique Classique he received the award for Instrumental Soloist of the Year. Nicholas Angelich made his debut with the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center in May 2003 under Kurt Masur. Vladimir Jurowski invited him to join him in opening the Russian National Orchestra’s 2007/08 season in Moscow. He has also performed with the Orchestre National de France under Marc Minkowski; the Orchestre de Paris and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under Paavo Järvi; the Orchestre National de Lyon under David Robertson; the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra under Jesús López-Cobos and Kenneth Montgomery; the St Petersburg Symphony Orchestra under Alexandre Dmitriev; the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse under Jaap van Zweden in Amsterdam and Yannick Nézet-Séguin in San Sebastián; the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra under Hugh Wolff and Paavo Järvi; the Swiss-Italian Radio Orchestra under Charles Dutoit; the Tonkünstler Orchester under Kristjan Järvi; the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra and Sir Roger Norrington; the Montreal Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic and Seoul Philharmonic orchestras under Myung-Whun Chung; the London Symphony and Swedish Radio

Symphony orchestras under Daniel Harding; the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra under Stephane Denève; the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under Gianandrea Noseda; the Mahler Chamber Orchestra under Tugan Sokhiev; the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Yannick Nézet-Séguin; and the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra and Valery Gergiev. Nicholas Angelich has given recitals in London, Munich, Geneva, Amsterdam, Brussels, Luxembourg, Rome, Lisbon, Brescia, Tokyo and Paris. He is a regular guest at the Verbier Festival and Martha Argerich’s festival in Lugano. He made his BBC Proms debut in 2009 with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra under Yannick NézetSéguin. A great interpreter of classic and romantic repertoire, Nicholas Angelich has performed all the Beethoven sonatas and Liszt’s Années de pèlerinage in venues across the world. He is also interested in the music of 20th-century composers such as Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Bartók and Ravel, as well as Messiaen, Stockhausen, Pierre Boulez, Éric Tanguy and Pierre Henry, who dedicated to Angelich his Concerto for piano without orchestra. Also enthusiastic about chamber music, Nicholas’s partners include Gautier and Renaud Capuçon, Maxim Vengerov, Akiko Suwanai, Dimitry Sitkovetsky, Joshua Bell, Gérard Caussé, Daniel Müller-Schott, Jian Wang, Paul Meyer, and the Ysaÿe, Pražák and Ebène quartets. Nicholas’s discography includes a Rachmaninoff recital disc for Harmonia Mundi; a Ravel recital for Lyrinx; and Liszt’s Années de pèlerinage and a Beethoven recital for Mirare (awarded the Choc du Monde de la Musique). For Virgin Classics he has recorded a Brahms cycle comprising the trios with Renaud and Gautier Capuçon (German Record Critics’ Prize), the sonatas for violin and piano with Renaud Capuçon (Gramophone Editor’s Choice, Diapason d’Or, Choc du Monde de la Musique) and two Brahms recitals (Choc du Monde de la Musique/BBC Music Magazine Editor’s Choice). He has also recorded a Beethoven recital with violinist Akiko Suwanai (Decca) and Brahms’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 with Paavo Järvi and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (Virgin Classics). His most recent releases are chamber music by Fauré, and Bach’s Goldberg Variations. London Philharmonic Orchestra | 7

Programme notes

Speedread This evening’s concert features two highly contrasting works. Mendelssohn’s lively First Piano Concerto, written as a showcase for his talents in Munich in 1831, speaks of youth, ambition and, ultimately, unbridled joy. Mahler’s last completed work, his Ninth Symphony, on the other hand, was described by Alban Berg as ‘a premonition of death’. Negating

Felix Mendelssohn 1809–47

Mendelssohn, like many of his peers, harboured intense wanderlust. The Romantic generation was, at its core, investigative, outward bound and open to experiencing Europe’s wildest landscapes, as depicted in the paintings of Caspar David Friedrich and the poetry of Byron. Following in their footsteps, as well as those of Goethe, Keats, Shelley and Turner, Mendelssohn undertook an extensive tour of Europe, beginning in 1829 by travelling north to the Hebrides and then south, over the Alps, to Italy. He slowly began to retrace his steps northwards over the course of 1831, travelling from Naples via Rome and Florence and then on to Milan. By July he was back in Switzerland and then in September became resident in Munich, where he performed for royalty and began to compose his G minor Piano Concerto. With its courtly life and esteemed musical traditions, Munich offered Mendelssohn a perfect platform for his talents. The Concerto, which he personally premiered on 17 October, was destined to impress.

the elysian promise of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, with its famous choral ending, this most poignant of symphonic farewells presages not only Mahler’s death but perhaps also the end of the great AustroGermanic symphonic tradition of which both Mahler and Mendelssohn form such significant chapters.

Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25 Nicholas Angelich piano 1 Molto allegro con fuoco 2 Andante 3 Presto – Molto allegro e vivace

The absence of an introductory orchestral tutti to the first movement may seem to show signs of the work’s hasty composition, yet Mendelssohn uses its absence to brilliant advantage. Seizing the dramatic initiative, the pianist drives a fiery first subject, to which the orchestra responds in kind, with its clipped dotted rhythms and bold interjections, before revealing a wonderfully amorous second subject. After the predominantly aggressive tone of the first movement, the Andante returns to the more introverted mood of its predecessor’s second subject. Harking back to the aria-like slow movements of Mozart’s piano concertos, it likewise echoes the melodic glories of Mendelssohn’s own Songs without Words. The trumpets and horns that marked the beginning of this heartfelt movement return at its close, triggering the final, dashing Presto. Its ebullient display may have the opening Allegro’s inclination towards diminished harmonies, yet the primacy of the tonic major is surely never in doubt and the movement concludes with giddy élan.

Interval – 20 minutes An announcement will be made five minutes before the end of the interval. 8 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Gustav Mahler 1860–1911

By the time Mahler began his Ninth Symphony in 1909, his symphonic output had already charted a vast gamut of emotions and styles. From his early professions of faith and hope, to the violent tragedy of the Sixth and the outspoken Eighth, Mahler had shown that the symphony could be all things to all people. His Ninth was something different. The death of his daughter in 1907 had stalled his symphonic ambitions and, during the summer of 1908, he had busied himself not with a symphony per se, but what would become Das Lied von der Erde. During the course of writing those otherworldly songs, drawn from Chinese poetry, Mahler had come back to symphonic life, and its final movement, ‘Der Abschied’, lasting 30 minutes, is an epic goodbye to life on earth. Its valedictory scheme likewise hangs over the Ninth Symphony. Rather than aspiring to the heroic philosophy of Beethoven, as his earlier symphonies had, Mahler’s Ninth is a slow retreat into silence. It is, as Thomas Mann wrote in his novel Doktor Faustus, about a fictional composer living through the first half of the 20th century, ‘a formal negation of the Ninth’. Rather than the joyful daughters of Elysium trumpeted by Beethoven at the end of his final symphony, Mahler withdraws from the world over the course of his last completed work. At the end of the orchestral draft of the first movement he scribbled ‘O Youth! Vanished! O Love! Gone with the wind!’, as well as writing more transparent statements of ‘Farewell! Farewell!’. These sentiments are repeated at the end of the final Adagio, where Mahler’s choice of tonality is equally revealing. D major was the very key in which he began his symphonic odyssey and to which he returned at the end of his Third Symphony and in the Fifth, with its ‘progressive tonality’ trumping of C sharp minor. In the Ninth, rejoicing turns to resignation, the tonal direction

Symphony No. 9 in D major 1 Andante comodo – Allegro risoluto – Tempo I 2 Im Tempo eines gemächlichen Ländlers [In a comfortable Ländler tempo] 3 Rondo. Burleske – Allegro assai. Sehr trotzig [Very insolent] 4 Molto adagio – Sehr langsam und noch zurückhaltend [Very slow and even reluctant] of the work is reversed and the piece ends in D flat major. Despite its fragility and its melancholy, there is muscularity and violence along the way. The opening movement veers between a regretful D major and brusque retorts in D minor. The tension between the two is the driving force behind the music, though Mahler frequently blurs such easy distinctions over the course of the opening Andante. Stumbling into life, the orchestra finds voice in a series of outlandish climaxes. When Alban Berg heard the Symphony after Mahler’s death, he wrote to his wife that the first movement was ‘a premonition of death […] that registers itself again and again. Everything earthly that has been dreamt away culminates in it (hence the climaxes breaking forth like new ebullitions after the sweetest passages).’ Although Berg’s analysis is somewhat skewed by hindsight and his own intense grief over Mahler’s death in 1911, his description remains apt. Beethoven and his successors had maintained an overriding symphonic procedure in which larger forms were created through the development of smaller motifs. In his Ninth Symphony Mahler deconstructs symphonic precedent, presenting thematic material only to break it down into its constituent parts. The final pages of the opening movement are regretful glances at those motifs, finally reducing to a whispered high D. The second movement is disarmingly bucolic. A Ländler, the dance that appeared in Mahler’s First Symphony, captures all the freshness of the Austrian countryside. Peering out of the window of his composing huts, Mahler constantly evoked those magisterial surroundings. The hopeful rising line in the violas and bassoons – all in the purest key of C major – appears

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 9

Programme notes continued

to have moved away from the world of Berg’s morbid description. This is life in all its verdant glory. Even the sudden shift into E major is a happy one. Perhaps Berg had overstated the case. The third movement, however, shows that it is Mahler who protests too much. The Ländler was a reminder of what has been lost, as the Rondo Burleske demonstrates when unleashed in all its caustic glory. Totally uninhibited, individual lines strain at the leash. As soon as one instrumental group expires, another joins the fray. The horns announce one last staggering affront, before revealing a haven in D major (the key in which the Symphony began). In the seraphic beauty of this passage, dominated by the ‘turning’ figure that features in all of Mahler’s last works, we realise just how far we have fallen. Nefarious elements burst through again and the marching figure rebuilds. Cantankerous, determined and totally destroying that peace, it moves towards a terrifying conclusion. Browbeaten by the Rondo’s unremitting attack, the Finale is a shivering goodbye. The violins’ opening

MAURIZIO POLLINI

NIKOLAI LUGANSKY

FEDERICO COLLI

NELSON FREIRE

SERGIO TIEMPO

KHATIA BUNIATISHVILI

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10 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

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A horn offers some consolation as the music slowly moves back to the tonic, but the sense of despondency is pervasive. Gradually instruments as yet unheard in the Finale join the tumult, but their collective rumble soon gives way to another pallid form. A rocking figure appears in the clarinet and harp, while the cor anglais, flute and bass clarinet play in ghostly isolation. A final return to D flat major summons unfamiliar strength, provoking the sweet sound of acquiescence. After one last thunderous tutti, the music trails off into eternity. Programme notes © Gavin Plumley

Khatia Buniatishvili © Julia Wesely

International Piano Series Spring 2014

statement collapses into a warm D flat major (a semitone lower than the expected tonic). The music recalls Beethoven’s ‘Les adieux’ Piano Sonata and the hymn ‘Abide with me’, before ploughing a much deeper furrow. As it shifts eerily into C sharp minor, the opening theme becomes increasingly febrile. A viola solo sounds within the waste but soon trails off, moving to the second violins and then to a solo violin. Regret turns to solitude and, as in the first movement, seemingly unified motifs fragment and disappear.

Last LPO concerts this season at Royal Festival Hall

Wednesday 9 April 2014 | 7.30pm Schumann Violin Concerto Bruckner Symphony No. 8 (Haas edition) Jukka-Pekka Saraste conductor Renaud Capuçon violin

Saturday 12 April 2014 | 7.30pm Tansman Stèle in memoriam Igor Stravinsky Stravinsky Violin Concerto Górecki Symphony No. 4 (Tansman Episodes) (world premiere) Andrey Boreyko conductor Julian Rachlin violin Free pre-concert discussion 6.15–6.45pm | Royal Festival Hall Renowned Górecki expert, Professor Adrian Thomas, discusses the world premiere of Symphony No. 4.

Wednesday 16 April 2014 | 7.30pm

Friday 25 April 2014 | 7.30pm JTI Friday Series Rimsky-Korsakov Russian Easter Festival Overture Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique) Vladimir Jurowski conductor Miloš Karadaglić guitar

Saturday 26 April 2014 | 7.30pm Marko Nikodijevic La lugubre gondola Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 (Emperor) Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique) Vladimir Jurowski conductor Leif Ove Andsnes piano

Sunday 11 May 2014 | 12.00pm FUNharmonics Family Concert: Noses With Roald Dahl’s The Ant-Eater, a musical feast by Benjamin Wallfisch.

The Thomas Beecham Group Concert

Stuart Stratford conductor

Zimmermann Photoptosis Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 Brahms Symphony No. 4

Tickets £10–£18 adults; £5–£9 children

Vladimir Jurowski conductor Mitsuko Uchida piano Free pre-concert performance 6.00–6.45pm | The Clore Ballroom, Royal Festival Hall Animate Orchestra is a ‘young person’s orchestra for the 21st century’. Tonight’s performance of music written by the group is the culmination of their recent course.

2014/15 season at Royal Festival Hall Our next season of concerts at Royal Festival Hall is now on sale – turn to page 2 to see the highlights of the new season. Pick up a season brochure in the Royal Festival Hall foyer tonight, call us on 020 7840 4242 to request a copy, or browse and book online at lpo.org.uk

Booking details Unless otherwise stated, tickets £9–£39 (premium seats £65) London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office 020 7840 4242 Monday–Friday 10.00am–5.00pm | lpo.org.uk | Transaction fees: £1.75 online, £2.75 telephone Southbank Centre Ticket Office 0844 847 9920 Daily 9.00am–8.00pm | southbankcentre.co.uk Transaction fees: £1.75 online, £2.75 telephone. No transaction fee for bookings made in person

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 11

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 £9,500. This amount means that over 1,000 children will be able to attend our schools’ concerts for free. All of us at the LPO would like to say a big thank you to everyone that has already donated, and in particular to the following donors: Dr Christopher Aldren, Adrian Clark, Alison Clarke & Leo Pilkington, Garf & Gill Collins, Roger Greenwood, Rose & Dudley Leigh, Dr Peter Stephenson, and those who wish to remain anonymous.

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Orchestra news

Glyndebourne Festival 2014

BBC Radio 3 Live at Southbank Centre

Tickets for Glyndebourne Festival Opera’s 80th anniversary season are now on sale. The season, which opens on 17 May 2014 and runs until 24 August, also marks the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s 50th anniversary as Resident Symphony Orchestra at Glyndebourne.

You might have noticed something exciting going on in the Riverside Terrace Café at Royal Festival Hall ... From 15–31 March, BBC Radio 3 is resident here at Southbank Centre as part of a groundbreaking arts partnership during the Pull Out All The Stops organ festival, celebrating the newly refurbished Royal Festival Hall organ.

This summer the Orchestra 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. Browse the full performance schedule and buy tickets online at glyndebourne.com or call the Box Office on 01273 813813.

The partnership will see 15 concerts (including tonight’s LPO concert) broadcast live on Radio 3’s nightly Live In Concert programme. It will also feature broadcasts of many of Radio 3’s regular live shows from a temporary pop-up studio in the Riverside Terrace Café including In Tune, Essential Classics, CD Review, Free Thinking and Afternoon On 3.

New CD release: Carmina Burana

Animate Orchestra at Southbank Centre

This month’s release 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 and soloists Sarah Tynan, Andrew Kennedy and Rodion Pogossov.

Next month, for four days during the school Easter holidays, the Animate Orchestra performing groups will be busy with intensive workshops and rehearsals, culminating in a pre-concert performance of new music written by the members themselves on Wednesday 16 April (6.00–6.45pm on the Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall).

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.

Animate Orchestra draws members aged 9–15 from the London boroughs of Greenwich, Lewisham, Lambeth and Southwark. The music they perform will be based on Zimmermann’s Photoptosis, which features in the main LPO concert the same evening. Presented by the South Riverside Music Partnership, this pre-concert event will also feature a performance by musicians from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance. Animate Orchestra is a partnership between Trinity Laban, the LPO and participating local music hubs. animateorchestra.org.uk

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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 Emmanuel & Barrie Roman The Sharp Family The Underwood Trust Welser-Möst Circle John Ireland Charitable Trust Tennstedt Circle Simon Robey The late Mr K Twyman Solti Patrons Anonymous Suzanne Goodman The Rothschild Foundation Manon Williams & John Antoniazzi Haitink Patrons Lady Jane Berrill Moya Greene Tony and Susie Hayes Lady Roslyn Marion Lyons Diana and Allan Morgenthau Charitable Trust Ruth Rattenbury Sir Bernard Rix

14 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

TFS Loans Limited The Tsukanov Family Foundation Guy & Utti Whittaker Pritchard Donors Mark & Elizabeth Adams 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 Mrs Mina Goodman and Miss Suzanne Goodman Ffion Hague Rebecca Halford Harrison Michael & Christine Henry

Honeymead Arts Trust John Hunter Ivan Hurry Tanya Kornilova Howard & Marilyn Levene Mr Gerald Levin Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Dr Frank Lim 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 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 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 Don Kelly & Ann Wood 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 Ken Follett 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 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 and others who wish to remain anonymous London Philharmonic Orchestra | 15

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

Orchestra Personnel

Public Relations

Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager

Albion Media (Tel: 020 3077 4930)

Sarah Holmes Sarah Thomas Librarians (job-share)