London Philharmonic Orchestra concert programme 5 Nov 2014 by London Philharmonic Orchestra

Concert programme lpo.org.uk

Winner of the RPS Music Award for Ensemble Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor VLADIMIR JUROWSKI* Leader pieter schoeman† Composer in Residence magnus lindberg Patron HRH THE DUKE OF KENT KG Chief Executive and Artistic Director TIMOTHY WALKER AM

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall Wednesday 5 November 2014 | 7.30pm

Sibelius The Bard (8’) Sibelius Violin Concerto in D minor (31’) Interval Sibelius Lemminkäinen Suite (Four Legends of the Kalevala) (45’)

Osmo Vänskä conductor Alexandra Soumm violin

Free pre-concert performance 6.00pm–6.45pm | Royal Festival Hall Musicians from the LPO join students from London Music Masters’ innovative music education programme, the Bridge Project, for a musical celebration.

* supported by the Tsukanov Family Foundation † supported by Neil Westreich CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

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 Osmo Vänskä Alexandra Soumm Programme notes Recommended recordings Orchestra news Next concerts Supporters Sound Futures donors 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

London Philharmonic Orchestra 2014/15 season Welcome to tonight’s London Philharmonic Orchestra concert at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall. Whether you’re a regular concert-goer, new to the Orchestra or just visiting London, we hope you enjoy your evening with us. Browse the full season online at lpo.org.uk/performances or call 020 7840 4242 to request a copy of our 2014/15 brochure. Highlights of the 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 lesserknown 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.

•

Yannick Nézet-Séguin presents masterpieces by three great composers from the Austro-German 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 former 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 Titanic composer James Horner.

•

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.

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On stage tonight

First Violins Pieter Schoeman* Leader Chair supported by Neil Westreich

Ilyoung Chae Chair supported by an anonymous donor

Ji-Hyun Lee Chair supported by Eric Tomsett

Catherine Craig Martin Höhmann Geoffrey Lynn Chair supported by Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp

Robert Pool Sarah Streatfeild Yang Zhang Grace Lee Rebecca Shorrock Galina Tanney Caroline Frenkel Ishani Bhoola Robin Wilson Nilufar Alimaksumova Second Violins Nicole Wilson Guest Principal Fiona Higham Nynke Hijlkema Joseph Maher Ashley Stevens Floortje Gerritsen Dean Williamson Alison Strange John Dickinson Stephen Stewart Elizabeth Baldey Gavin Davies Jamie Hutchinson Emma Martin

Violas Cyrille Mercier Principal Robert Duncan Gregory Aronovich Katharine Leek Susanne Martens Laura Vallejo Naomi Holt Pamela Ferriman Martin Fenn Rebecca Carrington Sarah Malcolm Miriam Eisele

Flutes/Piccolos Florian Aichinger Guest Principal Sue Thomas*

Cor Anglais Sue Böhling Principal

Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra

Cellos Steffan Morris Guest Principal Francis Bucknall Laura Donoghue Santiago Carvalho† David Lale Gregory Walmsley Elisabeth Wiklander Sue Sutherley Susanna Riddell Tom Roff

Clarinets Robert Hill* Principal Thomas Watmough

Timpani Simon Carrington* Principal

Double Basses Kevin Rundell* Principal William Cole George Peniston Richard Lewis Laura Murphy Tom Walley Helen Rowlands Charlotte Kerbegian

Trombones Mark Templeton* Principal Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton

David Whitehouse

Chair supported by the Sharp Family

Bass Trombone Lyndon Meredith Principal

Oboes Ian Hardwick Principal Emmet Byrne

Tuba Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal

Bass Clarinet Paul Richards Principal Bassoons Gareth Newman Principal Laura Vincent Horns David Pyatt* Principal Chair supported by Simon Robey

Martin Hobbs Gareth Mollison Stephen Nicholls Trumpets Nicholas Betts Principal Anne McAneney*

Percussion Mike Tetreault Guest Principal Keith Millar Jeremy Cornes Harp Rachel Masters* Principal * Holds a professorial appointment in London † Chevalier of the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco Meet our members: lpo.org.uk/players

Chair supported by Geoff & Meg Mann

Daniel Newell

Chair Supporters The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert: Andrew Davenport Sonja Drexler David & Victoria Graham Fuller

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Full marks to the London Philharmonic for continuing to offer the most adventurous concerts in London. The Financial Times, 14 April 2014 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 ensembles in the UK. As well as its performances in the concert hall, the Orchestra also records film and video game soundtracks, releases CDs on its own record label, and reaches thousands of people every year through activities for families, schools and community groups. The Orchestra was founded by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1932. It has since been headed by many of the world’s greatest conductors 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. From September 2015 Andrés Orozco-Estrada will take up the position of Principal Guest Conductor. Magnus Lindberg 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 the Hall’s opening in 1951 and been Resident Orchestra since 1992. It gives around 30 concerts there each season with many of the world’s top conductors and

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soloists. Throughout 2013 the Orchestra collaborated with Southbank Centre on the year-long The Rest Is Noise festival, charting the influential works of the 20th century. 2014/15 highlights include a seasonlong festival, Rachmaninoff: Inside Out, exploring the composer’s major orchestral masterpieces; premieres of works by Harrison Birtwistle, Julian Anderson, Colin Matthews, James Horner and the Orchestra’s new Composer in Residence, Magnus Lindberg; and appearances by many of today’s most soughtafter artists including Maria João Pires, Christoph Eschenbach, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Osmo Vänskä, Lars Vogt, Barbara Hannigan, Vasily Petrenko, Marin Alsop, Katia and Marielle Labèque and Robin Ticciati. Outside London, the Orchestra has flourishing residencies in Brighton and Eastbourne, and performs regularly around the UK. Each summer it takes up its annual residency at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in the Sussex countryside, where it has been Resident Symphony Orchestra for over 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.

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 The Lord of the Rings trilogy to Lawrence of Arabia, East is East, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Thor: The Dark World. It also broadcasts regularly on television and radio, and in 2005 established its own record label. There are now over 80 releases available on CD and to download. Recent additions include organ works by Poulenc and Saint-Saëns with Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Strauss’s Don Juan and Ein Heldenleben with Bernard Haitink; Shostakovich’s Symphonies Nos. 6 & 14 and Zemlinsky’s A Florentine Tragedy with Vladimir Jurowski; and Orff’s Carmina Burana with Hans Graf. In summer 2012 the London Philharmonic Orchestra performed as part of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the River Thames, and was also chosen to record all the world’s national anthems for the London 2012 Olympics. In 2013 it was the winner of the RPS Music Award for Ensemble. The London Philharmonic Orchestra is committed to inspiring the next generation of musicians through an energetic programme of activities for young people. Highlights include the BrightSparks schools’ concerts and FUNharmonics family concerts; the Young Composers Programme; and the Foyle Future Firsts orchestral training programme for outstanding young players. Its work at the forefront of digital engagement and social media has enabled the Orchestra to reach even more people worldwide: 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.

Touring remains a large part of the Orchestra’s life: highlights of the 2014/15 season include appearances across Europe (including Iceland) and tours to the USA (West and East Coasts), Canada and China.

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.

Find out more and get involved! lpo.org.uk facebook.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra twitter.com/LPOrchestra youtube.com/londonphilharmonic7

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

Osmo Vänskä conductor

Vänskä isn’t only about meticulous preparation. In concert he’s a wiry dynamo: lean, whippy and indefatigably energetic. His interpretations are the same. He never stops probing and pushing. © Kaapo Kamu

The Times

Osmo Vänskä is recognised for his compelling interpretations of repertoire from all ages, passionately conveying the authentic message of the composer’s score. Music Director of the Minnesota Orchestra for over a decade, he has also received exceptional acclaim for his work with many other leading orchestras. Recent and forthcoming performances include returns to the Chicago and San Francisco symphony orchestras, The Cleveland Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. Vänskä regularly conducts the London Philharmonic and London Symphony orchestras, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Wiener Symphoniker, Finnish Radio and Yomiuri Nippon symphony orchestras. He has also developed regular relationships with the New World Symphony (USA), the Mostly Mozart Festival and the BBC Proms, and is Principal Guest Conductor of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. 2014/15 also sees performances with the Helsinki and Rotterdam Philharmonic orchestras, the Melbourne, Sydney and Shanghai symphony orchestras and the South African National Youth Orchestra. Vänskä gained distinction with his landmark Sibelius cycle with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra for BIS, described by Gramophone as ‘the finest survey of the past three decades’. In 2014 his album with the Minnesota Orchestra of Sibelius’s Symphonies Nos. 1 and 4 won a Grammy award, following the nomination of the Second and Fifth Symphonies the year before. Previously, a complete Beethoven symphonies cycle with the orchestra garnered worldwide praise. In 2008 the London Philharmonic Orchestra released on its own label a disc of Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 3 and Bax’s Tintagel (LPO-0036, see opposite).

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Formerly Principal Conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Chief Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Vänskä studied conducting at Finland’s Sibelius Academy and was awarded first prize in the 1982 Besançon Competition. He began his career as a clarinettist, holding the co-principal chair of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and the principal chair of the Turku Philharmonic, and in recent years has enjoyed a return to the clarinet, including on a 2012 recording of Kalevi Aho’s chamber works. Vänskä is the recipient of a Royal Philharmonic Society Award, the Finlandia Foundation’s Arts and Letters Award, and the 2010 Ditson Award from Columbia University for his support of American music. He holds honorary doctorates from the universities of Glasgow and Minnesota and was named Musical America’s 2005 Conductor of the Year. In 2013 he received the Annual Award from the German Record Critics’ Award Association for his involvement in BIS’s recordings of the complete works by Sibelius.

Vänskä conducts on the LPO Label Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 3 Bax Tintagel Osmo Vänskä conductor London Philharmonic Orchestra LPO-0036 | £9.99 Available from lpo.org.uk/recordings, the LPO Ticket Office (020 7840 4242), the Royal Festival Hall shop and all good CD outlets.

Alexandra Soumm

violin

French violinist Alexandra Soumm is a multi-faceted artist who is equally at home in concerto and chamber repertoire. Orchestras with which she has collaborated in recent years include the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse and the Zurich Chamber, Danish National Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic, Trondheim Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony and Tokyo Symphony orchestras. As a chamber musician, she has given recitals at the Auditorium du Louvre (Paris), Palais des Beaux Arts (Brussels) and Wigmore Hall (London). She has also appeared at international festivals such as the City of London Festival, Deauville, Montpellier, MDR Musiksommer, Schleswig-Holstein, MecklenburgVorpommern, Verbier, Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad and Varna. She is heavily involved with the Seiji Ozawa International Academy in Switzerland, in which she has been taking part for the past 10 years. In the 2013/14 season Alexandra appeared with the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra and Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira. She also made her US debut with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra performing the Sibelius concerto with Leonard Slatkin, who subsequently invited her to the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s summer season at the Hollywood Bowl. 2014/15 promises to be an equally exciting season. In addition to tonight’s debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, she also makes her debut with the Munich Symphony Orchestra and returns to the BBC Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Orchestre National de Bordeaux and Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana. Alexandra enjoys ongoing relationships with many leading orchestras in France. In addition to the orchestras in Bordeaux and Toulouse, she has also performed with the Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National d’Île de France, Orchestre National de Lyon and Orchestre National de Montpellier. In the UK, she was a

member of BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artist scheme from 2010–12, during which time she worked with most of the BBC ensembles. In 2008 Alexandra’s debut recording of concertos by Bruch and Paganini was released on the Claves label. Le Monde de la Musique described her interpretation as ‘displaying a passionate and lyrical personality’. Her second disc with Claves, a recording of the Grieg violin sonatas, was released in 2010. Born in Moscow, Alexandra started to learn the violin with her father at the age of five and gave her first concert two years later. She later moved to Vienna to study with the renowned pedagogue Boris Kuschnir and won the Eurovision Competition in 2004. Now based in Paris, she, along with two friends, founded the non-profit organisation Esperanz’Arts in 2012, the culmination of four years’ involvement in charity projects aimed at creating opportunities through the arts. In January 2013, Alexandra was named Godmother of the newly established El Sistema France. As a London Music Masters Award Holder from 2012–2015, Alexandra receives high-profile performance opportunities, as well as mentoring and career guidance from important members of the music industry including Gillian Moore, Head of Classical Music at Southbank Centre and Timothy Walker, Chief Executive & Artistic Director of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Alexandra also works with students participating in the Bridge Project, LMM’s long-term music education initiative, acting as an inspirational role model. The violin Alexandra plays on was made by Giovanni Baptista Guadagnini in Turin c.1785 and is known as the ‘ex-Kavakos’. The loan of the instrument by a benefactor is a part of the London Music Masters Award and has kindly been arranged through Florian Leonhard Fine Violins, London.

facebook.com/AlexandraSoumm twitter.com/AlexandraSoumm

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Programme notes

Sibelius beyond the symphonies Sibelius’s seven symphonies are so well-known these days that they tend to eclipse his more numerous orchestral tone-poems. But, just as the abstract symphonies seem to conceal within themselves suggestions of Finnish nationalism, Nordic landscapes or ancient mythology, so the tone-poems overlay and even obscure their narratives with elements of symphonic contrast, development and repetition. In any case, Sibelius took care not to make his story-telling too explicit either in words or music. Thus, the short tone-poem The Bard may or may not have been inspired by a poem about an ancient bard returning to his home to die: Sibelius denied it, and the music offers few clues. And the early, much revised Lemminkäinen Suite could easily be listened to as a four-movement symphony, so unspecific is it in its depiction of four scenes from the Finnish national epic the Kalevala: the young hero Lemminkäinen

Jean Sibelius 1865–1957

Sibelius composed The Bard in early 1913 and conducted its first performance in Helsinki in March that year; he revised it shortly afterwards as the first movement of a three-movement suite, but then abandoned that project and left the piece to stand on its own. It was his first important orchestral work after the Fourth Symphony, with which it shares a mood of brooding austerity. In later life, the composer said that the title referred to a ‘skald’, or bardic poet, of the ancient Scandinavian world, and denied any connection with the poem of the same name by the 19th-century

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seducing all the girls on an island before making his escape; the underground land of the dead, with its dark river on which floats the Swan of Tuonela; Lemminkäinen being torn to pieces on his visit to this underworld, and being magically restored to life by his mother; and the hero galloping home. Between these works in tonight’s programme – and about halfway between them in reverse chronological order – comes the Violin Concerto. Like the symphonies, this may suggest to the imaginative listener pictures of Finnish landscapes or stories of love and heroism. But if the piece is ‘about’ anything, it is about the violin, the instrument that Sibelius played in his youth until he gave up the ambition to be a solo performer. The solo part offers by turns extreme virtuosity, as in the cadenza at the heart of the first movement; Romantic expressiveness, as in the central slow movement; and propulsive energy, as in the dance rhythms of the finale.

Piano The Concerto Bard: tone-poem, No. 3 in DOp. minor, 64 Op. 30 Simon Trpčeski piano 1 Allegro ma non tanto 2 Intermezzo: Adagio – 3 Finale: Alla breve

Finnish poet Johan Ludwig Runeberg. But Sibelius’s biographer Erik Tawaststjerna believed that the poem, which the composer would have known well, must have had an influence on the piece. It describes an ancient bard who, after many years in the world, returns to his home valley and takes up his lyre again before he dies. The bardic harp is prominent at the beginning of the piece, accompanied by sustained harmonies and a three-note string figure, both ways up. A violin melody threatens to open out lyrically, but is quickly

extinguished; an episode of tremolando strings proves equally short-lived; the violin melody returns, again dying away. A passage marked Largamente (‘broadly’) in fact sounds faster, because of its urgent off-beat figures in strings and wind, its pounding drums and its flashes of harp scales. An acceleration precedes a sudden moment of high drama, with fierce string tremolandos and the only entry in the whole work of the trombones and trumpets, with a rising figure that Sibelius said was meant to evoke the old Scandinavian ‘lur’ or long horn. ‘It is as if the Bard’s death knell is sounding’, wrote Tawaststjerna. And indeed the harp rings out again only briefly before a quiet major-key close.

Jean Sibelius

Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47 Alexandra Soumm violin 1 Allegro moderato 2 Adagio di molto 3 Allegro, ma non tanto

The violin was Sibelius’s own instrument: he began playing it in his childhood, studied it seriously from the age of 14, and continued his studies at the Helsinki Conservatoire. It was only in his twenties that he abandoned thoughts of a career as a soloist, partly because he realised that he had not begun intensive study soon enough, partly because of his growing confidence as a composer. His love of the instrument and his intimate knowledge of its technical possibilities are evident in his Violin Concerto, his only large-scale composition in concerto form. It is a relatively early work, written in 1903, the year after the completion and first performance of the Second Symphony, and thoroughly revised (with, as a recording of the first version conducted by Osmo Vänskä has revealed, many cuts and considerable reduction of its technical difficulties) two years later. The first, and longest, of the three movements is one of Sibelius’s characteristic combinations of apparently rhapsodic form and organic evolution of material. The main ideas are stated in three big ‘paragraphs’: the soloist’s opening melody, dolce ed espressivo (‘sweet and

expressive’), accompanied by muted tremolando upper strings; the first orchestral tutti, together with its more rhapsodic continuation by the soloist; and the second orchestral tutti, a strongly accented dance-like section at a faster tempo. Instead of a central development section, there is a long violin cadenza, beginning over a held bass note but later unaccompanied. This is followed by a combined recapitulation and development, beginning with the opening melody on the bassoon, and leading eventually to a coda in which the soloist three times proclaims the first phrase of that melody in octaves. The expressive B flat major slow movement is in A–B–A ‘song form’. The wistful woodwind phrases of the introduction are transformed into the vehement string figures that launch the middle section. The soloist has a great deal of ornamental figuration later in this section, and around the return of the main melody. But the end of the movement is as simple and direct as the beginning. The main theme of the finale is a stamping folk dance in D major, with a rhythmic accompaniment on a pedal D: London Philharmonic Orchestra | 9

Programme notes continued

the melody (like that of the finale of the Beethoven Violin Concerto) seems equally appropriate to the solo instrument when it is first heard low down on the G string and when it is repeated high up on the E string. The principal contrasting idea is again strongly rhythmic, this time with the prevailing metre of 3/4 teasingly mixed with 6/8 cross-rhythms. The first

statement of this theme by the orchestra offers the soloist a rare moment of rest; otherwise, the solo part requires not only virtuosity but also sweetness of tone for gypsy-like harmonics and double-stopped melodies, and the stamina to get through the movement with something in reserve for the powerful coda.

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

Jean Sibelius

The Lemminkäinen Suite is an early work, though its later history runs all through its composer’s long life. Sibelius wrote it between 1893 and 1895, shortly after his first popular success, the music for the pageant Karelia, and a few years before his First Symphony. He conducted its first performance in Helsinki in 1896, and then revised it for a second performance the following year. He further revised the two shorter movements, ‘The Swan of Tuonela’ and ‘Lemminkäinen’s Homeward Journey’, for publication in 1900; ‘The Swan’ in particular became, and has remained, widely popular as an independent concert piece. But he withheld the remaining two movements for many years, before revising them again in 1939, during his long retirement. Finally, in 1954, three years before his death, Sibelius authorised the publication of the complete Suite. Like several of Sibelius’s early works, the Suite was suggested by the Kalevala, the national epic of Finnish mythology, which had been compiled from the narrative poems of oral tradition in the eastern province of Karelia during the first half of the 19th century. The four movements are based on episodes concerned with the young and headstrong hero Lemminkäinen. But there is very little in the way of detailed musical narrative; 10 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Piano Lemminkäinen Concerto No. Suite 3 in(Four D minor, Legends Op. 30 of the Kalevala), Op. 22 Simon Trpčeski piano 1 Lemminkäinen and the Maidens of the Island 1 2 Allegro ma non tanto The Swan of Tuonela 2 3 Intermezzo: Adagio Lemminkäinen in –Tuonela 3 4 Finale: Alla breve Homeward Journey Lemminkäinen’s

instead, the musical material is expanded, developed and combined in the abstract manner familiar from the composer’s symphonies. In a telling comment in a letter to his fiancée in 1890, Sibelius wrote that the Kalevala ‘to my ears is pure music, themes and variations; its story is far less important than the moods and atmosphere conveyed.’ The first movement, ‘Lemminkäinen and the Maidens of the Island’, was suggested by Canto 29 of the Kalevala, which describes how Lemminkäinen travels to a distant island while its male inhabitants are away, and seduces all the girls. The first section, with its gradually unfolding melodies and its rising scale figure in the horns, is presumably a portrait of the young hero, while the following passage over a held bass note must represent the innocent dances of the island girls. When the melodies of the introduction return in more expansive form, that can be taken as corresponding to Lemminkäinen’s amorous advances – answered by threatening brass interjections as the angry menfolk return to the island. The return of the dance, now with tremolando strings, seems to have a more orgiastic quality than at first. And after Lemminkäinen’s departure on a stormy sea, receding echoes of the

dance suggest either the girls waving goodbye or the memories he leaves behind.

followed this time by solemn brass chords, and a cello solo suggesting Lemminkäinen awakening to new life.

At the first performance of the Suite in 1896, Sibelius placed ‘The Swan of Tuonela’ third, presumably because its spare textures offered some relief for the string players between two movements full of strenuous tremolando writing. But in the final published version, he placed it second, in accordance with the narrative thread of the Suite. However, the piece began its life in an earlier project based on the Kalevala, as the prelude to an abandoned opera called The Building of the Boat, and it makes no claim to be a narrative, but is simply an atmospheric piece of scene-setting. The scene, in the Suite as in the opera, is Tuonela, the underground land of the dead – which, according to a preface to the score of the piece, ‘is surrounded by a large river with black waters and a rapid current, on which the Swan of Tuonela floats majestically, singing’. The swan is represented by a solo cor anglais, projecting long, arching spans of melody against a background of muchdivided muted strings. A sustained major chord provides a shaft of light in the gloom; but the home minor key is restored in a dirge-like string melody, before the work ends with a return to the icy darkness of the opening.

Describing ‘Lemminkäinen’s Homeward Journey’ in the programme for the first performance of the Suite, Sibelius quoted passages from two cantos of the Kalevala about homeward journeys made by the hero. In the first, he ‘fashions horses out of his sorrows’; in the second, he catches sight of familiar landscapes and seascapes as he gallops home. This is all that is needed by way of a narrative programme for a movement that depicts the hero’s journey in music that moves from the key of C minor through different key-areas to reach E flat major, the opening key of the cycle, while at the same time gradually expanding fragmentary motifs into sustained melodic statements, and gaining in weight and pace.

‘Lemminkäinen in Tuonela’ – which may also be based on music intended for The Building of the Boat – was suggested by Cantos 14 and 15 of the Kalevala. Lemminkäinen, as part of his wooing of the daughter of the Northland, has been set the task of descending to Tuonela and killing the Swan. Instead, he is himself speared to death, and his body is cut into pieces which are scattered in the water. But Lemminkäinen’s mother fishes out the pieces and sews them together to bring her son back to life. A speculative interpretation of the movement would suggest that the opening string tremolandos evoke the dark currents of Tuonela; over these, extended wind melodies represent Lemminkäinen, and, later, threatening brass interjections signal the danger he is in. An acceleration and a dramatic plunge into the low register mark the moment of Lemminkäinen’s death, which is followed by a keening woodwind lament. High divided upper strings, over a quiet side-drum roll, and an expressive cello melody depict the miracle-working of Lemminkäinen’s mother. The closing section, less narrative than recapitulation, revisits the dark waters, the moment of the hero’s death and the lament –

Programme notes © Anthony Burton

Mini film guides to this season’s works For the 2014/15 season we’ve produced a series of short films introducing the pieces we’re performing. Watch Patrick Bailey introduce Sibelius’s The Swan of Tuonela: lpo.org.uk/explore/videos.html

Recommended recordings of tonight’s works Sibelius: The Bard London Philharmonic Orchestra/Sir Thomas Beecham [Naxos] Lahti Symphony Orchestra/Osmo Vänskä [BIS] Sibelius: Violin Concerto Ida Haendel/Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/ Paavo Berglund [EMI] Sibelius: Lemminkäinen Suite Lahti Symphony Orchestra/Osmo Vänskä [BIS]

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Orchestra news

Autumn tours

New CD: Poulenc & Saint-Saëns organ works

2014/15 looks set to be one of the busiest touring seasons in the Orchestra’s history, with a record 47 overseas concerts confirmed as we went to print. The Orchestra recently returned from a hugely successful North American tour that included California, New York, Toronto and Chicago. In late November and early December, the Orchestra visits Germany for two tours, during which they will tick off Dortmund, Essen, Baden-Baden, Cologne, Stuttgart, Freiburg, Munich, Friedrichshafen, Hamburg and Hannover.

Just released on the LPO Label is a disc of Poulenc’s Organ Concerto and SaintSaëns’s ‘Organ’ Symphony, recorded live at Royal Festival Hall (LPO-0081). This sellout concert in March 2014, conducted by Yannick NézetSéguin with organist James O’Donnell, launched the refurbished Royal Festival Hall organ, complete for the first time since 2005.

The run-up to Christmas sees the Orchestra’s first visit to Iceland where, with tonight’s conductor Osmo Vänskä and pianist Leif Ove Andsnes, they will give two concerts on 18 & 19 December at Harpa, a stunning new waterfront concert hall in Reykjavík. This tour is an exciting venture for the Orchestra, particularly as we will be the first British orchestra to perform at the venue.

The CD booklet includes full organ specification and an article on the history and refurbishment of the organ by its curator, Dr William McVicker.

Don’t forget you can follow all our tour adventures on Twitter: @lporchestra

The CD is priced £9.99, including free postage. Buy from lpo.org.uk/recordings, the London Philharmonic Orchestra Box Office (020 7840 4242), all good CD outlets, and the Royal Festival Hall shop. Also available to download or stream online via iTunes, Spotify and others.

New LP box set: Vladimir Jurowski conducts the complete Brahms Symphonies

Remembrance Day concert: Britten’s War Requiem at the Royal Albert Hall

Also released on the LPO Label this month is a very special 4-LP box set: Brahms’s complete four symphonies conducted by Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor Vladimir Jurowski. These recordings – of live LPO concerts at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall between 2008 and 2011 – have previously been released as two separate LPO Label CDs, but are brought together in one package for the first time in this exclusive box set, which will be a must-have for lovers of Brahms, Jurowski fans and vinyl enthusiasts alike.

This Sunday, 9 November, the Orchestra will join the Royal Choral Society to perform Britten’s War Requiem at the Royal Albert Hall in a Remembrance Day concert marking the centenary of the start of the First World War.

The box set is priced £85.00, including free postage. Buy from lpo.org.uk/recordings, the London Philharmonic Orchestra Box Office (020 7840 4242) and all good CD outlets.

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The War Requiem was composed in 1961 for the consecration of Coventry Cathedral – newly rebuilt following its destruction in the Second World War. Britten took as his inspiration the words of young English war poet Wilfred Owen, himself killed in action on 4 November 1918, just days before the armistice. Conducted by Richard Cooke, Sunday’s concert features soloists Ekaterina Scherbachenko, Stephan Rügamer and Bryn Terfel. Tickets are priced £17.29– £53.50 (including all booking fees) and proceeds of ticket sales will go to the Veterans Aid charity. To book, call the Royal Albert Hall Box Office on 0845 401 5034 or visit royalalberthall.com/tickets/war-requiem/default.aspx

Next LPO concerts at Royal Festival Hall

Friday 7 November 2014 | 7.30pm

Wednesday 3 December 2014 | 7.30pm

JTI Friday Series Rachmaninoff: Inside Out*

Rachmaninoff: Inside Out*

Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 4 (final version) Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 1 (Winter Daydreams) Osmo Vänskä conductor Nikolai Lugansky piano

Wednesday 12 November 2014 | 7.30pm Pierné Overture and Suite, Ramuntcho† Poulenc Concerto for two pianos and orchestra Ravel Rapsodie espagnole Debussy La mer Juanjo Mena conductor Katia Labèque piano Marielle Labèque piano † Supported by Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de musique romantique française.

Wednesday 19 November 2014 | 7.30pm Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 Schubert Symphony No. 8 (Unfinished) R Strauss Don Juan Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Lars Vogt piano

Szymanowski Concert Overture† Scriabin Piano Concerto Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 1 Vladimir Jurowski conductor Igor Levit piano Free pre-concert event 6.15–6.45pm | Royal Festival Hall Professor Stephen Downes, a specialist in 20th-century music, looks at the influence of Scriabin. † Supported by the Polish Cultural Institute in London.

Saturday 6 December 2014 | 7.30pm Stravinsky Symphonies of Wind Instruments (1920 version) Harrison Birtwistle Responses: Sweet disorder and the carefully careless, for piano and orchestra (UK premiere)† Messiaen Oiseaux exotiques Stravinsky Orpheus Vladimir Jurowski conductor Pierre-Laurent Aimard piano Free pre-concert event 6.00–6.45pm | Royal Festival Hall LPO Soundworks, a collaborative arts project for young people, presents a performance of new music and dance.

Friday 28 November 2014 | 7.30pm

† Commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bayerische Rundfunk Musica Viva, Casa da Musica Porto, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The London Philharmonic Orchestra gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation and PRS for Music Foundation.

JTI Friday Series Rachmaninoff: Inside Out*

* Rachmaninoff: Inside Out is presented in co-operation with the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation.

Wagner Overture, Tannhäuser Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 David Zinman conductor Behzod Abduraimov piano Free pre-concert event | 6.15–6.45pm Royal Festival Hall Acclaimed film director Tony Palmer discusses the enduring popularity of Rachmaninoff’s music.

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

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We would like to acknowledge the generous support of the following Thomas Beecham Group Patrons, Principal Benefactors and Benefactors: Thomas Beecham Group The Tsukanov Family Foundation Neil Westreich William and Alex de Winton Simon Robey The Sharp Family Julian & Gill Simmonds* Anonymous Garf & Gill Collins* Andrew Davenport Mrs Sonja Drexler David & Victoria Graham Fuller Mrs Philip Kan* Mr & Mrs Makharinsky Geoff & Meg Mann Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp Eric Tomsett John & Manon Antoniazzi Jane Attias John & Angela Kessler Guy & Utti Whittaker * BrightSparks patrons. Instead of supporting a chair in the Orchestra, these donors have chosen to support our series of schools’ concerts.

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 Dr Eva Lotta & Mr Thierry Sciard Mr & Mrs David Malpas Mr Michael Posen 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 Georgy Djaparidze Mr David Edgecombe Mr Timothy Fancourt QC Mr Richard Fernyhough Tony & Susan Hayes Michael & Christine Henry Malcolm Herring J. Douglas Home Ivan Hurry Mr Glenn Hurstfield

Per Jonsson Mr Gerald Levin Sheila Ashley Lewis Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Dr Frank Lim Paul & Brigitta Lock Ms Ulrike Mansel Robert Markwick Mr Brian Marsh Andrew T Mills John Montgomery Dr Karen Morton Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill Tom & Phillis Sharpe Martin and Cheryl Southgate Professor John Studd Mr Peter Tausig Mrs Kazue Turner Simon 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 Bronze: Appleyard & Trew LLP 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

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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 Peter Carr Charitable Trust, in memory of Peter Carr The Ernest Cook Trust The Coutts Charitable Trust The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Dunard Fund The Equitable Charitable Trust Fidelio Charitable Trust The Foyle Foundation Lucille Graham Trust The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust Help Musicians UK The Hinrichsen Foundation The Hobson Charity Kirby Laing Foundation The Leche Trust Marsh Christian Trust

The Mayor of London’s Fund for Young Musicians Adam Mickiewicz Institute The Peter Minet 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 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 Garfield Weston Foundation The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust Youth Music and others who wish to remain anonymous

Sound Futures Donors We are grateful to the following donors for their generous contributions to Sound Futures, which will establish our first ever endowment. Donations from those below, as well as many who have chosen to remain anonymous, have already been matched pound for pound by Arts Council England through a Catalyst Endowment grant. By May 2015 we aim to have raised £1 million which, when matched, will create a £2 million fund supporting our Education and Community Programme, our creative programming and major artistic projects at Southbank Centre. We thank those who are helping us to realise the vision. Masur Circle Arts Council England Dunard Fund Emmanuel & Barrie Roman The Sharp Family The Underwood Trust

David Ross and Line Forestier (Canada) Tom and Phillis Sharpe 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 Business Events Sydney Desmond & Ruth Cecil Lady June Chichester John Childress & Christiane Wuillamie Lindka Cierach Paul Collins Mr Alistair Corbett Dolly Costopoulos Mark Damazer Olivier Demarthe David Dennis Bill & Lisa Dodd Mr David Edgecombe David Ellen Commander Vincent Evans Mr Timothy Fancourt QC Christopher Fraser OBE Karima & David G Lyuba Galkina David Goldberg Mr Daniel Goldstein Ffion Hague Rebecca Halford Harrison Michael & Christine Henry Honeymead Arts Trust

Tennstedt Circle Simon Robey Simon & Vero Turner The late Mr K Twyman Solti Patrons Ageas Anonymous John & Manon Antoniazzi Georgy Djaparidze Mrs Mina Goodman and Miss Suzanne Goodman Robert Markwick The Rothschild Foundation Haitink Patrons Mark & Elizabeth Adams Lady Jane Berrill David & Yi Yao Buckley Bruno de Kegel Goldman Sachs International Moya Greene Tony and Susie Hayes Lady Roslyn Marion Lyons Diana and Allan Morgenthau Charitable Trust Dr Karen Morton Ruth Rattenbury Sir Bernard Rix Kasia Robinski

John Hunter Ivan Hurry Rehmet Kassim-Lakha Tanya Kornilova Peter Leaver Mr Mark Leishman LVO and Mrs Fiona Leishman Howard & Marilyn Levene Mr Gerald Levin Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Dr Frank Lim Dr Eva Lotta & Mr Thierry Sciard Peter Mace Geoff & Meg Mann Ulrike Mansel Marsh Christian Trust John Montgomery Rosemary Morgan Paris Natar John Owen The late Edmund Pirouet Mr Michael Posen Sarah & John Priestland Victoria Provis William Shawcross Tim Slorick Howard Snell Lady Valerie Solti Stanley Stecker Lady Marina Vaizey Helen Walker Timothy Walker AM Laurence Watt Des & Maggie Whitelock Brian Whittle Christopher Williams Peter Wilson Smith Victoria Yanakova Mr Anthony Yolland

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Administration

Board of Directors Victoria Robey OBE Chairman Stewart McIlwham* President Gareth Newman* Vice-President Dr Manon Antoniazzi Richard Brass Desmond Cecil CMG Vesselin Gellev* Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS Dr Catherine C. Høgel Martin Höhmann* George Peniston* Kevin Rundell* Julian Simmonds Mark Templeton* Natasha Tsukanova Timothy Walker AM Laurence Watt Neil Westreich * Player-Director Advisory Council Victoria Robey OBE Chairman Christopher Aldren Richard Brass David Buckley Sir Alan Collins KCVO CMG Andrew Davenport Jonathan Dawson Edward Dolman Christopher Fraser OBE Lord Hall of Birkenhead CBE Jamie Korner Clive Marks OBE FCA Stewart McIlwham Sir Bernard Rix 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 Robey OBE Hon. Director Richard Gee, Esq Of Counsel Jenifer L. Keiser, CPA, EisnerAmper LLP

Chief Executive

Education and Community

Digital Projects

Timothy Walker AM Chief Executive and Artistic Director

Isabella Kernot Education Director

Alison Atkinson Digital Projects Director

Alexandra Clarke Education and Community Project Manager

Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant

Amy Sugarman PA to the Chief Executive / Administrative Assistant Finance David Burke General Manager and Finance Director

Lucy Duffy Education and Community Project Manager

Public Relations Albion Media (Tel: 020 3077 4930)

Richard Mallett Education and Community Producer