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Principal Conductor VLADIMIR JUROWSKI Principal Guest Conductor YANNICK NÉZET-SÉGUIN Leader PIETER SCHOEMAN Composer in Residence MARK-ANTHONY TURNAGE Patron HRH THE DUKE OF KENT KG Chief Executive and Artistic Director TIMOTHY WALKER
27/11/09
VLADIMIR JUROWSKI conductor LISA MILNE soprano RUXANDRA DONOSE mezzo soprano ANDREW STAPLES tenor CHRISTOPHER MALTMAN baritone LONDON PHILHARMONIC CHOIR NEW LONDON CHILDREN’S CHOIR
(20’)
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS The First Nowell (29’) INTERVAL JS BACH Cantata 63, Christen, ätzet diesen Tag HONEGGER Une Cantate de Noël
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AM†
SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL Saturday 5 December 2009 | 7.30 pm
MENDELSSOHN Vom Himmel hoch
13:45
PROGRAMME £3 CONTENTS 2 List of Players 3 Orchestra History 4 Dr John Viney obituary 5 Vladimir Jurowski 6 Lisa Milne / Ruxandra Donose 7 Andrew Staples / Christopher Maltman 8 London Philharmonic Choir / New London Children’s Choir 9 Programme Notes 21 Supporters 22 Philharmonic News / Southbank Centre 23 Administration 24 Future Concerts
The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide. (29’)
(25’)
This concert is dedicated to the memory of Dr John Viney (1947-2009), a member of the London Philharmonic Trust.
CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA † supported by Macquarie Group
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LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
FIRST VIOLINS Vesselin Gellev Leader (Vaughan Williams and Honegger)
Margaret Faultless Guest Leader
VIOLAS Edward Vanderspar Guest Principal Robert Duncan Anthony Byrne Chair supported by John and Angela Kessler
(Mendelssohn and Bach)
Jeongmin Kim Catherine Craig Thomas Eisner Tina Gruenberg Martin Hรถhmann Chair supported by Richard Karl Goeltz
Geoffrey Lynn Robert Pool Florence Schoeman Sarah Streatfeild Peter Nall Alain Petitclerc Rebecca Shorrock Galina Tanney Toby Tramaseur SECOND VIOLINS Clare Duckworth Principal Chair supported by Richard and Victoria Sharp
Joseph Maher Kate Birchall Chair supported by David and Victoria Graham Fuller
Nancy Elan Fiona Higham Nynke Hijlkema Ashley Stevens Andrew Thurgood Sioni Williams Alison Strange Peter Graham Mila Mustakova Elizabeth Baldey Naomi Anner
Katharine Leek Susanne Martens Benedetto Pollani Emmanuella Reiter Laura Vallejo Daniel Cornford Naomi Holt Miranda Davis Sarah Malcolm CELLOS Josephine Knight Guest Principal Francis Bucknall Laura Donoghue Santiago Sabino Carvalho + Jonathan Ayling Gregory Walmsley Sue Sutherley Bozidar Vukotic Tae-Mi Song Philip Taylor DOUBLE BASSES Kevin Rundell* Principal Meherban Gillett Laurence Lovelle George Peniston Richard Lewis David Johnson Kenneth Knussen Helen Rowlands
FLUTES Jaime Martin Principal Stewart McIlwham* PICCOLO Stewart McIlwham* Principal OBOES Ian Hardwick Principal Angela Tennick Sue Bohling
BASS TROMBONE Lyndon Meredith Principal TIMPANI Simon Carrington* Principal HARP Rachel Masters* Principal ORGAN Catherine Edwards
Chair supported by Julian and Gill Simmonds
CLARINETS Robert Hill* Principal Nicholas Carpenter BASSOONS John Price Principal Gareth Newman* HORNS John Ryan Principal Martin Hobbs Adrian Uren Gareth Mollison TRUMPETS Paul Beniston* Principal Anne McAneney* Chair supported by Geoff and Meg Mann
Daniel Newell Chair supported by Mrs Steven Ward
John MacDomnic TROMBONES Mark Templeton* Principal David Whitehouse
* Holds a professorial appointment in London +
Chevalier of the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco
Chair Supporters The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose player is not present at this concert: Simon Yates and Kevin Roon
2 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
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LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
© Richard Cannon
Seventy-seven years after Sir Thomas Beecham founded the London Philharmonic Orchestra, it is recognised today as one of the finest orchestras on the international stage. Following Beecham’s influential founding tenure the Orchestra’s Principal Conductorship has been passed from one illustrious musician to another, amongst them Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. This impressive tradition continued in September 2007 when Vladimir Jurowski became the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor, and in a further exciting move, the Orchestra appointed Yannick Nézet-Séguin, its new Principal Guest Conductor from September 2008.
Orchestra’s Composer in Residence, Mark-Anthony Turnage. Imaginative programming and a commitment to new music are at the heart of the Orchestra’s activity, with regular commissions and world première performances. In addition to its London season, the Orchestra has flourishing residencies in Brighton and Eastbourne, and performs regularly around the UK. It is unique in combining these concert activities with esteemed opera performances each summer at Glyndebourne Festival Opera where it has been the Resident Symphony Orchestra since 1964.
The London Philharmonic Orchestra has been performing The London Philharmonic Orchestra performs to enthusiastic audiences all round the world. In 1956 it at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall since it opened became the first British orchestra to appear in Soviet in 1951, becoming Resident Orchestra in 1992. It plays Russia and in 1973 it made the first ever visit to China by there around 40 times each season with many of the a Western orchestra. Touring continues to form a world’s most sought after conductors and soloists. significant part of the Orchestra’s schedule, with regular Concert highlights in 2009/10 include Between Two appearances in North America, Europe and the Far East, Worlds – an exploration of the music and times of Alfred Schnittke; a Sibelius symphony cycle with Osmo Vänskä in January/February 2010; a performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah ‘The LPO rose to the occasion with some very fine conducted by Kurt Masur and dedicated to playing: eloquent solo work combined with fullthe 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin textured passages of often sumptuous beauty.’ Wall; and new works by Rautavaara, Górecki, Philip Glass, Ravi Shankar and the BARRY MILLINGTON, EVENING STANDARD, 4 SEPTEMBER 2009
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LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
Dr John Viney 1947 – 2009 London Philharmonic Orchestra Trustee 2000-2009 often headlining at major festivals. Tours in 2009/10 include visits to Germany, Australia, France, China, the Canaries and the USA. Having long been embraced by the recording, broadcasting and film industries, the London Philharmonic Orchestra broadcasts regularly on domestic and international television and radio. It also works extensively with the Hollywood and UK film industries, recording soundtracks for blockbuster motion pictures including the Oscar-winning score for The Lord of the Rings trilogy and scores for Lawrence of Arabia, The Mission, Philadelphia and East is East. The Orchestra also enjoys strong relationships with the major record labels and in 2005 began reaching out to new global audiences through the release of live, studio and archive recordings on its own CD label. Recent additions to the catalogue have included acclaimed releases of Shostakovich’s monumental Tenth Symphony under Bernard Haitink; a disc of contemporary works by composers Thomas Adès, James MacMillan and Jennifer Higdon conducted by Marin Alsop; Rachmaninov’s Symphony 3 along with Bax’s Tintagel conducted by Osmo Vänskä; a CD of early Britten works conducted by Vladimir Jurowski; and Mahler’s Symphony 6 under the baton of Klaus Tennstedt. The Orchestra’s own-label releases are available to download by work or individual track from its website: www.lpo.org.uk/shop. The Orchestra reaches thousands of Londoners through its rich programme of community and school-based activity in Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, which includes the offshoot ensembles Renga and The Band, its Foyle Future Firsts apprenticeship scheme for outstanding young instrumentalists, and regular family and schools concerts. To help maintain its high standards and diverse workload, the Orchestra is committed to the welfare of its musicians and in December 2007 received the Association of British Orchestras/Musicians Benevolent Fund Healthy Orchestra Bronze Charter Mark. There are many ways to experience and stay in touch with the Orchestra’s activities: visit www.lpo.org.uk, subscribe to our podcast series and join us on Facebook.
4 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
John Viney, who died on 7 November aged 61, was one of London's best-known and most idiosyncratic headhunters; at Heidrick & Struggles, and latterly as founding head of The Zygos Partnership, he was responsible for the recruitment of many of the most powerful figures in British boardrooms. He was also a Trustee of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. John was a rebellious teenager who left school with barely any qualifications. But what he did have were two growing passions: for science and for music. As a guitarist in rock and dance bands he part funded his studies going on to take a doctorate at King's College, Cambridge, with a spell at the University of Bonn. While researching astrophysical masers, he was simultaneously studying for an Open University degree in the theory of music. On leaving academia, he became a development engineer, before finding a new direction in human resources which eventually led him into executive search work. But all this time John continued to develop his musical interests both academically and practically, and in 2000 he joined the Orchestra’s Board of Trustees. As with everything in his life, John approached his Trusteeship with drive and ambition, offering us both his guidance and expertise. The most high profile of his efforts on behalf of the Orchestra was a black-tie concert, performed by the Orchestra at Christ Church, Spitalfields, in 2007 and conducted by John after only 18 months of conducting lessons. Tackling a challenging programme of Handel, Grieg, Barber and Elgar in front of an invited audience of international business men and women, in the name of The Zygos Partnership (who made a generous donation towards the Orchestra’s education programme), was typical of John’s courageous and ‘know no boundaries’ approach to life.
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VLADIMIR JUROWSKI
Roman Gontcharov
CONDUCTOR
Born in Moscow, the son of conductor Mikhail Jurowski, Vladimir Jurowski completed the first part of his musical studies at the Music College of the Moscow Conservatory. In 1990 he relocated with his family to Germany where he continued his studies at High Schools of Music in Dresden and in Berlin, studying conducting with Rolf Reuter and vocal coaching with Semion Skigin. In 1995 he made his international debut at the Wexford Festival, where he conducted RimskyKorsakov’s May Night. The same year saw his brilliant debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in Nabucco. In 1996 Jurowski joined the ensemble of Komische Oper Berlin, becoming First Kapellmeister in 1997 and continuing to work at the Komische Oper on a permanent basis until 2001. Since 1997 Vladimir Jurowski has been a guest at some of the world's leading musical institutions including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Teatro La Fenice Venice, Opéra Bastille Paris, Théâtre royal de la monnaie Brussels, Maggio Musicale Festival Florence, Rossini Opera Festival Pesaro, Edinburgh Festival, Semperoper Dresden and Teatro Comunale di Bologna (where he served as Principal Guest Conductor between 2000 and 2003). In 1999 he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera New York with Rigoletto. In January 2001 Vladimir Jurowski took up the position of Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera and in 2003 was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, becoming the Orchestra's Principal Conductor in September 2007. He also holds the title of Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and from 2005 to 2009 served as Principal Guest Conductor of the Russian National Orchestra with whom he will continue to work in the years ahead.
Vladimir Jurowski has made highly successful debuts with a number of the world's leading orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Dresden Staatskapelle, and in the USA with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony and Philadelphia Orchestras. Highlights of the 2009/10 season and beyond include his debuts with the Bavarian Radio Symphony, Chicago Symphony and Cleveland Orchestras, and return visits to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchester Zurich, Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Dresden Staatskapelle and Philadelphia Orchestra. His operatic work has included performances of Jenufa, The Queen of Spades and Hänsel und Gretel at the Metropolitan Opera, Parsifal and Wozzeck at the Welsh National Opera, War and Peace at the Opera National de Paris, Eugene Onegin at La Scala Milan, and Die Zauberflöte, La Cenerentola, Otello, Macbeth, Falstaff, Tristan und Isolde and Peter Eötvös’ Love and Other Demons at Glyndebourne Opera. Future engagements include new productions of Don Giovanni and Die Meistersinger and a revival of The Rake’s Progress at Glyndebourne, and Iolanta at the Dresden Semperoper. Jurowski’s discography includes the first ever recording of Giya Kancheli’s Exile for ECM (1994), Meyerbeer’s L’Etoile du nord for Naxos-Marco Polo (1996), Werther for BMG (1999), and live recordings of works by Rachmaninoff, Turnage, Tchaikovsky, Britten and Shostakovich on the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s own label, as well as Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery on Glyndebourne Opera’s own label. He also records for PentaTone with the Russian National Orchestra, releases to date having included Stravinsky's Divertimento from Le Baiser de la fée, Tchaikovsky's Suite No. 3 and Shostakovich’s Symphonies Nos 1 and 6, Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5, and Tchaikovsky’s Incidental Music from Hamlet. Glyndebourne have released DVD recordings of his performances of La Cenerentola, Gianni Schicchi, Die Fledermaus and Rachmaninoff’s The Miserly Knight, and other recent DVD releases include Hänsel und Gretel from the Metropolitan Opera New York, and his first concert as the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Principal Conductor featuring works by Wagner, Berg and Mahler (released by Medici Arts). London Philharmonic Orchestra | 5
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RUXANDRA DONOSE
SOPRANO
MEZZO SOPRANO
Clive Barda
LISA MILNE
Scottish soprano Lisa Milne studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. She has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte and as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro. At the Glyndebourne Festival, her roles have included the title roles in Rodelinda and Theodora, Marzelline in Fidelio and Micäela in Carmen. At English National Opera she has sung Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, the title role in Alcina, Ännchen in Der Freischütz and Anne Trulove in The Rake’s Progress. At Welsh National Opera she has sung Servilia in La clemenza di Tito and she created the role of Sian in the world première of James MacMillan’s opera The Sacrifice. For Scottish Opera she has sung Adèle in Die Fledermaus, Adina in L’elisir d’amore, Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Ilia in Idomeneo. Other engagements have included Marzelline on tour with the Salzburg Festival, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel for Stuttgart Opera, Ilia at the Royal Danish Opera and Atalanta in Serse at the Göttingen Handel Festival. In concert, she has appeared with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Levine, Berlin Philharmonic and Rattle, Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Harding, and CBSO with Oramo. She is also a frequent guest at the Edinburgh Festival and the BBC Proms. A renowned recitalist, she has appeared at the Aix-en-Provence and City of London Festivals; the Usher Hall in Edinburgh; the Oxford Lieder Festival; the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels; the Schumannfeste in Dusseldorf; and London’s Wigmore Hall. Her recordings include Ilia and Servilia with Mackerras; Atalanta with McGegan; Marzelline with Elder; The Governess for the BBC TV film of The Turn of the Screw; Mahler’s Symphony 2 with Ivan Fischer, which won a Gramophone Award; and songs by John Ireland and Roger Quilter. She was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2005.
6 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
Among the most renowned singers of her generation, Romanian born Ruxandra Donose has captured critical and popular acclaim in leading opera houses and concert halls around the world. Performances have taken her to the Vienna State Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Metropolitan Opera New York as well as to San Francisco, Paris, Berlin, Madrid and Tokyo. Recent roles have included Concepcion in L’Heure espagnole at Covent Garden, Angelina in La Cenerentola at the Glyndebourne Festival, Charlotte in Werther at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, and Elena in La donna del lago at the Deutsche Oper, Berlin. She has also sung Sesto in Giulio Cesare and Annio in La clemenza di Tito at Covent Garden; Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro at Opéra National de Paris and Madrid’s Teatro Real; Idamante in Idomeneo at Deutsche Oper Berlin; and Nicklausse in Les Contes d’Hoffmann in San Francisco. Ruxandra Donose is continually in demand for concerts with leading orchestras around the world. The role of Marguerite in La Damnation de Faust has figured prominently in her concert career and she has also sung Mahler’s Symphony 2 with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Ravel’s Shéhérazade with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Bach’s St Matthew Passion in Frankfurt, Bach’s Magnificat with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Mozart’s Mass in C at the Salzburg Festival, Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’été with the Minnesota Orchestra and Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen in Hong Kong. Her recordings include Schubert’s Ständchen, Dvo˘rák’s Stabat Mater with Giuseppe Sinopoli, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Michael Halasz, Bach’s Mass in B minor with Sergiu Celibidache, Beethoven’s Symphony 9 with Béla Drahos and the role of Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro.
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CHRISTOPHER MALTMAN
TENOR
BARITONE
Andrew Staples sang as a chorister in St Paul’s Cathedral before winning a Choral Scholarship to King’s College Cambridge, where he gained a degree in Music. He was the first recipient of the Royal College of Music Peter Pears Scholarship, sponsored by the Britten Pears Foundation, and subsequently joined the Benjamin Britten International Opera School. He studies with Ryland Davies. His concert engagements have included Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle, John Tavener’s The Veil of the Temple in New York, Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Mozart’s Requiem with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
Winner of the Lieder Prize at the 1997 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, Christopher Maltman read biochemistry at Warwick University and studied singing at the Royal Academy of Music. He recently made an acclaimed debut at the Salzburg Festival in the title role of Don Giovanni. He is a regular guest at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where he has sung Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Marcello in La bohème, Ramiro in L’Heure espagnole and Malatesta in Don Pasquale, and he created the role of Sebastian in the world première of Thomas Adès’ The Tempest. His roles at the Glyndebourne Festival have included Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro and Sid in Albert Herring. Other operatic roles have included Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro and Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas in Vienna; Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Deutsche Staatsoper, Berlin; Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia at the Aldeburgh Festival and English National Opera; Harlekin in Ariadne auf Naxos and Silvio in I pagliacci at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, and an acclaimed Billy Budd which he has sung at Welsh National Opera as well as in Turin, Seattle and Munich.
Levon Biss
ANDREW STAPLES
On stage he has taken the roles of Aret in Haydn’s Philemon und Baucis for the 2003 Haydn Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria, conducted by Trevor Pinnock; Haliate in the Royal College of Music’s production of Handel’s Sosarme in conjunction with the London Handel Festival; Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with Andrew Parrott and the London Mozart Players; Nencio in Haydn’s L’infedelta delusa for English Touring Opera; and Tamino in Die Zauberflöte for Opera Holland Park. He made his Royal Opera House debut as Jacquino in Fidelio, returning for First Armed Man in Die Zauberflöte. He has also sung Belfiore in La finta giardiniera for the National Theatre, Prague, Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Garsington Opera; and both Artabenes in Arne’s Artaxerxes and Narraboth in Salome for the Royal Opera. In concert he appears with the Gavle Symphony Orchestra and Robin Ticciati, the Staatskapelle Dresden, Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Swedish Radio Orchestra all with Daniel Harding, and both the Bavarian Radio Symphony and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras with Sir Simon Rattle.
Concert engagements have taken him to the Cleveland Orchestra with Welser-Möst, BBC Symphony Orchestra with John Adams, London Symphony Orchestra with Rattle, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment with Norrington and New York Philharmonic Orchestra with Kurt Masur. In recital, he has appeared at the Wigmore Hall, Vienna Konzerthaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Salzburg Mozarteum, Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Center in New York, and at the Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Cheltenham and Schwarzenberg Schubertiade Festivals. His recordings include Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music; Warlock, Holst and Somervell songs; and Schumann’s Dichterliebe and Liederkreis.
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LONDON PHILHARMONIC CHOIR
NEW LONDON CHILDREN’S CHOIR
Patron: HRH PRINCESS ALEXANDRA; President: SIR ROGER NORRINGTON; Artistic Director: NEVILLE CREED; Accompanist: IAIN FARRINGTON; Chairman: MARY MOORE; Choir Manager: TESSA BARTLEY
Musical Director: RONALD CORP
Sopranos Catherine Allum, Lasma Anspoka, Annette Argent, Tessa Bartley, Sarah Bindon, Christine Birch-Kjrgaard, Sarah Brown, Paula Chessell, Penny Coombes, Melanie Dargatz, Sarah Deane-Cutler, Sarah Fisher, Alison Flood, Claudie Gheno, Rachel Gibbon, Jane Goddard, Simone Gregoire, Sally Harrison, Emily Harrup, Carolyn Hayman, Elizabeth Hicks, Karen Jason, Jocelyn Kelty, Jenni Kilvert, Olivia Knibbs, Ilona Kratochvilova, Frances Lake, Melissa Langdon, Charlotte Lawrence, Laetitia Livesey, Maria Lundgren, Clare Lovett, Sophie Mearing-Smith, Jo Musgrove, Linda Park, Isabella Radcliffe, Sarah C Royle, Christine Rush, Sigrid Saidla, Victoria Smith, Tania Stanier, Rachael Stokes, Susan Thomas, Isobel Timms, Jenny Torniainen, Fran Welch, Fran Wheare
Millicent Barber, Lily Barnett, Jack Blass, Lucrezia Bonuglia, Fiona Brindle, Kate Brooke, James Cameron, Theo Caplan, Hannah Caplan, Serena Comyns, Anna Crucefix, Gabriella Diaferia, Emily Doyland, Beth Edwards, Simone Eubanks, Genevieve Frains, Alex Franklin, Grace Frazer, Orla Gill, Alfie Glanvill, Aliya Goldstone, Zara Goldstone, Lily Guenault, Daniella Hadden, Sofia Halberstam, Xenia Haslam, Gabriel Herberg, India Hill, Katie Hind, Lydia Hope, Rhiannon Humphreys, Billie Hylton, Lisa James, Lydia Jeffs-Joory, Alex Karlsson, Michelle Karlsson, Eleanor Kettleton, Miranda Layton, Anna Lush, Eleanor Maloney, Imaan Marker, Noah Max, Sophie Max, Shulamit Morris-Evans, Florence Murray, Rachel Newell, Lily Orme, Chesney Ovsiowitz, Amaya Pitharas, Lorna Reader, Isabel Reed, Sarah Roberts, Tamar Roth, Camilla Seale, Peter Shafran, Madeleine Sinott, Lizzie Soyode, Isabelle Taylor, Raheel Tharmaraj, Esme Thwaites, Nancy Tucker, Cecily Watts, Coralie Worsley, Natasha Worsley, Clotilde Yap, Sophie Young, Felix Zadek-Ewing, Poppy Zadek-Ewing
Altos Phye Bell, Susannah Bellingham, Michelle Brockbank, Alexis Kessler Calice, Noel Chow, Dulcie Conway, Janik Dale, Moira Duckworth, Fiona Duffy, Elisa Dunbar, Andrea Easey, Carmel Edmonds, Regina Frank, Clare Galton, Kathryn Gilfoy, Erica Howard, Kasia Hunt, Edith Judd, Alice Kershaw, Andrea Lane, Liz Lewis, Lisa MacDonald, Laetitia Malan, Liz Moloney, Mary Moore, Elisabeth Nicol, Angela Pascoe, Muriel Swijghuisen Reigersberg, Helene Richards, Jenny Ryall, Stephanie Saffrey, Tamara Swire, Curzon Tussaud, Susi Underwood, Mariken van Dolen, Jenny Watson, Erika Weingarth Tenors David Aldred, Geir Andreassen, Robert Beale, Chris Beynon, Conway Boezak, Keith Chaundy, Brian Coulstock, Michael Delany, Kevin Darnell, Jack Dixon, Dwayne Engh, Aloysius Fekete, Iain Handyside, Rob Home, Patrick Hughes, Andrew Mackie, Rhydian Peters, Kevin Rainey, Paul Thirer, Alex Thomas Basses Stephen Bonney, Jonathon Bird, Derek Bryanton, Gordon Buky-Webster, Geoffrey Clare, Marcus Daniels, Paul Gittens, Nigel Grieve, Stephen Hines, Hugh Hudson, Martin Hudson, Aidan Jones, Thorsten Laux, John Luff, Anthony McDonald, John Morris, Ashley Morrison, William Parsons, Johan Pieters, Daniel Snowman, Peter Taylor, Greg Thomas, James Torniainen, John Wood, Hin-Yan Wong
Founded in 1947, the London Philharmonic Choir is widely regarded as one of Britain's finest choirs and consistently meets with great critical acclaim. It has been involved in over 80 recordings and has performed under leading international conductors and with major orchestras throughout its history. It enjoys a close relationship with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, joining it regularly for performances in the UK and abroad. Over the last few years, the Choir has sung in Rome, Lucerne, Cologne, Budapest, Kuala Lumpur, Perth and Hong Kong. For more information about the Choir, including details about how to join, visit www.lpc.org.uk.
8 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
The New London Children’s Choir offers a unique opportunity for girls and boys aged between 7 and 18 to learn to sing and enjoy all kinds of music. Launched by Ronald Corp in 1991, the Choir has appeared in all the major London concert halls with the UK’s finest symphony orchestras and conductors, has collaborated with opera companies in the UK and abroad, and has made dozens of recordings and broadcasts, including its latest release Pigs Could Fly on Naxos and its forthcoming disc on the same label of works by Michael Hurd. The Choir has a special commitment to commissioning and has premièred over forty new works by composers such as Diana Burrell, Simon Bainbridge, Howard Skempton, Philip Cashian, Patrick Nunn, Richard Causton, Gary Carpenter and Morgan Hayes. The Choir will perform the world première of Ronald Corp’s children’s opera The Old Woman and the Mountain in March 2010. This year New London Children’s Choir members have sung with English National Opera, at St John’s Smith Square and at Opera Holland Park in Hansel and Gretel, as well as at the Leicester Square première of the new Disney film A Christmas Carol alongside Andrea Bocelli. Other recent highlights have included the BBC Blue Peter Prom, Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem and the Queen’s Birthday Prom at the Royal Albert Hall; and Mahler’s Symphony 8 at the RPO’s 60th anniversary concert. The Choir has also performed around the world, touring with Lou Reed in 2007 and 2008, and will feature concerts this Christmas in the Azores.
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PROGRAMME NOTES
SPEEDREAD The festival of Christmas is rich in music for worship and for concert performance, much of it with its roots in seasonal hymns or in traditional melodies and idioms. Bach’s richly scored cantata Christen, ätzet diesen Tag is unusual among his Christmas works in not incorporating Lutheran hymns. But Mendelssohn’s ‘Christmas song’ Vom Himmel hoch, one of several of his works modelled on Bach’s cantatas, uses the words and the (folk-based) melody of a well-known chorale by Martin Luther
Felix MENDELSSOHN
himself. Vaughan Williams’s nativity play The First Nowell, left unfinished at his death and performed tonight in its shortened concert version, is made up of arrangements of (mostly) traditional English carols, some of which the composer had collected himself around half a century earlier. And Arthur Honegger’s multilingual A Christmas Cantata, also a late work, traces the outlines of the Christmas story with the help of a hymn text, a plainchant melody, and a quodlibet of carols from France, Germany and Austria.
VOM HIMMEL HOCH LISA MILNE soprano CHRISTOPHER MALTMAN baritone LONDON PHILHARMONIC CHOIR
1809-1847
Even in this bicentenary year, surprisingly little attention has been paid to Mendelssohn’s smaller sacred works, on texts associated with the Catholic and Anglican traditions as well as with the Lutheran church into which the composer had been received in his childhood. They include a series of choral cantatas, inspired equally by Mendelssohn’s admiration for the music of Bach (whose St Matthew Passion he famously revived in Berlin in 1829) and by his love of Martin Luther’s hymns. The Weihnachtslied or ‘Christmas song’ on Luther’s Christmas Eve hymn Vom Himmel hoch was written in the winter of 1830/31 during an extended stay in Rome – not such an incongruous setting as it might seem, since during his sojourn Mendelssohn visited the monastery where Luther had lived as a young Augustinian monk. The work seems to have been intended for the Berlin Singakademie, the choral society directed by Mendelssohn’s teacher Carl Friedrich Zelter. But there is no record of a performance there or anywhere else in the composer’s lifetime, and the score remained unpublished until 1985. The cantata is scored for solo soprano and baritone, five-part chorus (with two soprano lines), and small
orchestra. It is a setting of seven verses chosen from the fifteen of Luther’s hymn. The first two verses are combined in the opening chorus, which as in many of Bach’s cantatas is the longest and most imposing movement of the work. It begins with an orchestral introduction in which brilliant string figuration suggests the angel descending with the Christmas message; the hymn melody (borrowed by Luther from a folk song) makes its first appearance in a contrapuntal treatment of its first line at ‘Euch ist ein Kindlein heut geborn’, and is stated in full at the very end of the movement. The third verse is set as a gentle baritone aria, and the fourth in a plain, but subtly reharmonised, statement of the chorale. The following soprano aria has a characteristically delicate accompaniment of flutes, clarinets, two-part violas and two-part cellos. The baritone is accompanied by strings in an Arioso (in which the text is declaimed, but in measured rhythm rather than the free time of a recitative), which leads, with a sudden harmonic shift, into the closing chorus on Luther’s last verse. This restates the chorale, surrounded by jubilant figuration, until it reaches the last line – at which point the textures open out towards an emphatic conclusion.
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1. Chorus Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her, Ich bring euch gute neue Mär. Der guten Mär bring ich so viel, Davon ich sing’n und sagen will. Euch ist ein Kindlein heut geborn, Von einer Jungfrau auserkorn. Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her, Ich bring euch gute neue Mär. Euch ist ein Kindlein heut geborn Von einer Jungfrau auserkorn, Ein Kindelein, so zart und fein, Das soll euer Freud und Wonne sein.
From heav’n on high I come to you; I bring you joyful news and true. The joyful news I bring this day, I now shall sing and I shall say. For you this day a child is born, Born of a virgin pure and fine. From heav’n on high I come to you: I bring you joyful news and true, For you this day a child is born, Born of a virgin pure and fine. This beautiful and winsome boy Shall be your gladness and your joy.
2. Baritone Es ist der Herr Christ, unser Gott, Der will euch führn aus aller Not. Er will euer Heiland selber sein, Von allen Sünden machen rein. Er bringt euch alle Seligkeit, Die Gott der Vater, hat bereit. Es ist der Herr Christ, unser Gott. Er bringt euch alle Seligkeit, Die Gott der Vater hat bereit, Es ist der Herr Christ, unser Gott.
He is the Christ, our blessed Lord, And he will keep you from all want. Your King and Saviour he shall be, And from transgression make you free. He brings you all the blessedness That God will give you in his grace. He is the Christ, our blessed Lord. He brings you all the blessedness That God will give you in his grace He is the Christ our blessed Lord.
3. Chorus Er bringt euch alle Seligkeit, Die Gott der Vater hat bereit, Daß ihr mit uns im Himmelreich Sollt leben nun und ewiglich.
He brings you all the blessedness That God will give you in his grace, That you in heav’n eternally May dwell with us in harmony.
4. Soprano Sei willekomm, du edler Gast, Den Sünder nicht verschmähet hast, Und kommst ins Elend her zu mir, Wie soll ich immer danken dir? Und wär die Welt vielmal so weit, Von Gold und Edelstein bereit, So wär sie doch dir viel zu klein, Zu sein, ein kleines Wiegelein.
Be welcome now, O noble guest, For sinners thou hast not despised; Thou com’st in meekness now to me, How then shall I give thanks to thee? And if the world were great indeed, Adorned with precious stones and gold, It still would seem too small to be A cradle fit to give to thee.
5. Baritone Das also hat gefallen dir, Die Wahrheit anzuzeigen mir. Wie aller Welt Macht, Ehr und Gut Vor dir nichts gilt, nichts hilft noch tut.
And therefore, Lord, it pleases thee To manifest this truth to me: All wordly honour, power and wealth For thee are of no help or worth.
6. Chorus Lob, Ehr sei Gott im höchsten Thron, Der uns schenkt seinen ein’gen Sohn; Des freuen sich der Engel Schar, Und singen uns solch neues Jahr.
Praise God upon his heav’nly throne, Who sends to us his only Son. The angels greet us with good cheer, And sing us all a bright new year.
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Ralph VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
THE FIRST NOWELL LISA MILNE soprano CHRISTOPHER MALTMAN baritone LONDON PHILHARMONIC CHOIR
1872-1958
Vaughan Williams loved both the season of Christmas and the music associated with it, and in the course of his long career he co-edited The Oxford Book of Carols, made many carol arrangements, and used traditional Christmas melodies in the well-known Fantasia on Christmas Carols and in two much less familiar works, the ballet On Christmas Night and The First Nowell. He wrote the last of these at the very end of his life, in August 1958, for a Nativity play with a spoken text compiled from mediaeval mystery plays by Simona Pakenham. It was to be performed a week before Christmas at a matinée at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in aid of the nearby church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. When Vaughan Williams was asked to provide the music, as his widow Ursula later recalled, ‘he went to the boxroom for carol books to start on it at once’. And he must have worked hard on the score over the next four weeks. But he died before completing it, and sections had to be finished from his plan and sketches by his long-time copyist and assistant Roy Douglas (who will be 102 in a week’s time). The complete piece involves not only solo soprano and baritone, chorus and small orchestra but also a substantial acting cast, and lasts some 50 minutes. However, the published score also includes instructions for a much shorter concert version, without speech or stage action.
familiar and others less well known. The Prelude, after an introduction hinting at ‘The First Nowell’, is made up of the traditional wassailing song ‘God rest you merry, gentlemen’ and the lovely ‘This is the truth sent from above’ (as collected by Vaughan Williams himself in Herefordshire in August 1909). The scene of the Annunciation makes use of the 13th- or 14th-century Latin carol ‘Angelus ad virginem’ and the ‘Salutation Carol’. The journey of Joseph and Mary brings three related carols, the ‘Cherry Tree Carol’, ‘As Joseph was awalking’ and ‘O, Joseph being an old man truly’ (the melody again collected by Vaughan Williams in Herefordshire, in 1908), before ending with ‘In Bethlehem City’, set for three-part women’s voices. The shepherds approach the stable to the strains of the ‘Sussex Carol’, as sung by Mrs Harriet Verrall to Vaughan Williams at Monk’s Gate near Horsham in May 1904, and leave to a reprise of the verse of the ‘Salutation Carol’, ‘Tidings true’. The procession of the Three Kings is marked appropriately by an interloper, Philipp Nicolai’s Lutheran chorale ‘Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern’, translated by the composer as ‘How brightly shone the morning star’. The inevitable finale is the Cornish carol ‘The First Nowell’, presented in turn as a single line, in simple harmony, as a two-part canon, and finally in a resplendent full scoring.
In this concert version, The First Nowell is effectively a suite of arrangements of Christmas carols, some
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Chorus God rest you merry, gentlemen, Let nothing you dismay, Remember Christ our Saviour Was born on Christmas day, To save our souls from Satan's power When we were gone astray. And it’s tidings of comfort and joy, Comfort and joy And it’s tidings of comfort and joy. God bless the master of this house, And send him long to reign, And many a merry Christmas May live to see again. Among your friends and kindred That live both far and near, And God send you a happy new year, Happy new year, And God send you a happy new year. Baritone This is the truth sent from above, The truth of God, the God of love, Therefore don’t turn me from your door, But hearken all both rich and poor.
Brought to her blissful tiding And salutation holy. ‘Hail be thou, Mary, virgin bright; For God his Son, that heav’nly light, Conceive thou shall and bear withal In season ’gainst death and hell to fight. Thou art the door of Heaven, And gateway to delight.’) Chorus Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Nowell! This is the salutation of the angel Gabriel. Tidings true there become new, Sent from the Trinity By Gabriel to Nazareth, City of Galilee. ‘A clean maiden, a pure virgin, By her humility Shall now conceive the Person Second in deity.’
The first thing which I do relate Is that God did man create; The next thing which to you I’ll tell Woman was made with man to dwell.
Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Nowell! This is the salutation of the angel Gabriel. ‘Hail virgin celestial, The meek’st that ever was! Hail, temple of the Deity! Hail, mirror of all grace! Hail, virgin pure! I thee ensure, Within a little space Thou shalt conceive, and him receive That shall bring great solace.’
Chorus And we were heirs to endless woes, Till God the Lord did interpose; And so a promise soon did run That he would redeem us by his son.
Chorus Joseph was an old man, And an old man was he, He married sweet Mary The Queen of Galilee.
Soprano Angelus ad Virginem Subintrans in conclave, Virginis formidinem Demulcens, inquit, ‘Ave! Ave regina virginum; Coeli terraeque Dominum. Concipies et paries In tacta salutem hominum; Tu porta coeli facta, Medela criminum.’
Joseph and Mary walked Through an orchard green, Where was berries and cherries As thick as might be seen.
(Gabriel from Heav’n’s high king Came unto the maiden lowly,
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O then bespoke Mary With words so meek and mild, ‘Pluck me one cherry, Joseph, For I am with child.’ O then bespoke Joseph, With answer most unkind, ‘Let him pluck thee a cherry That got thee with child.’
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Then bowed down the highest tree Unto the Virgin’s hand. Then she cried ‘See, Joseph, I have cherries at command.’ ‘O eat your cherries, Mary, O eat your cherries now, O eat your cherries, Mary, That grow upon the bough.’ Soprano As Joseph was awalking, He heard an angel sing: ‘This night there shall be born On earth our Heavenly King. He neither shall be born In housen nor in hall, Nor in the place of Paradise, But in an ox’s stall. He neither shall be clothed In purple nor in pall, But all in fair linen As wear the babies all. He neither shall be rocked In silver nor in gold, But in a wooden cradle That rocks upon the mould.’ Baritone O, Joseph being an old man truly, He married a virgin fair and free; A purer virgin could no man see Than he chose for his wife and his dearest dear. They lived both in joy and bliss; But now a strict commandment is, In Jewry land no man should miss To go along with his dearest dear. Unto the place where he was born, Unto the Emperor to be sworn, To pay a tribute that’s duly known, Both for himself and his dearest dear. Chorus The king of all power was in Bethlehem born, Who wore for our sakes a crown of thorn. Then God preserve us both even and morn For Jesus’ sake, our dearest dear!
Chorus In Bethlehem City in Judea it was That Joseph and Mary together did pass, All for to be taxed when thither they came, For Caesar Augustus commanded the same. Then let us be merry, cast sorrow aside, Our Saviour Christ Jesus was born on this tide. But Mary’s full time being come as we find, She brought forth her first born to save all mankind; The inn being full, for the heavenly guest No place could she find to lay Him to rest. Then let us be merry, cast sorrow aside, Our Saviour Christ Jesus was born on this tide. Then they were constrained in a stable to lie, Where horses and asses they used for to tie. Their lodging so simple they took it no scorn, But against the next morning, our Saviour was born. Then let us be merry, cast sorrow aside, Our Saviour Christ Jesus was born on this tide. Baritone and Chorus On Christmas night all Christians sing, To hear the news the angels bring; News of great joy, news of great mirth, News of our merciful King’s birth. All out of darkness we have light, Which made the angels sing this night, ‘Glory to God and peace to men, Peace, now and for evermore, Amen.’ Chorus Tidings true there become new, Sent from the Trinity By Gabriel to Nazareth, City of Galilee. A clean maiden, a pure virgin, By her humility Shall now conceive the Person Second in deity. Chorus How brightly shone the morning star, Which led the three Kings from afar, Rejoicing in its brightness; Rich gifts they brought to his presence Of gold and myrrh and frankincense, As tokens of his greatness. Hail, King! Hail, King!
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They looked up and saw a star Shining in the east, beyond them far; And to the earth it gave great light, And so it continued both day and night. Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Born is the King of Israel.
Thus we greet him and salute him: ‘Glorious art thou King of men and Lord of Angels.’ Now when these kings their gifts had given The star still shone for them from heaven, To light them on their journey. So home they went in hope and joy; The star shone bright to show the way That led to their own country. Hail, King! Hail, King! Thus we greet him and salute him: ‘Glorious art thou King of men and Lord of Angels.’
And by the light of that same star Three wise men came from country far; To seek for a King was their intent, And to follow the star wheresoever it went. Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Born is the King of Israel.
Soprano, Baritone and Chorus The first Nowell the angel did say Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay; In fields where they lay keeping their sheep, On a cold winter's night that was so deep. Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Born is the King of Israel.
Then let us all with one accord Sing praises to our heavenly Lord, That hath made heaven and earth of naught, And with his blood mankind hath bought. Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Born is the King of Israel.
INTERVAL 20 minutes An announcement will be made five minutes before the end of the interval.
RECORDINGS ON THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA’S OWN RECORD LABEL LPO-0008 Klaus Tennstedt conducts Haydn’s The Creation with Lucia Popp, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Benjamin Luxon and the London Philharmonic Choir ‘The playing and choral singing are consistently thrilling, while the line-up of soloists ... has rarely been bettered’. GUARDIAN, 10 FEBRUARY 2006
NEW RELEASE LPO-0042 Neeme Järvi conducts Dvo˘rák’s Requiem with Lisa Milne, Karen Cargill, Peter Auty, Peter Rose and the London Philharmonic Choir Recorded live at the Royal Festival Hall on 7 February 2009.
The recordings may be downloaded in high quality MP3 format from www.lpo.org.uk/shop. They may also be purchased from all good retail outlets or through the London Philharmonic Orchestra: telephone 020 7840 4242 (Mon-Fri 10am-5pm) or visit the website www.lpo.org.uk
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Johann Sebastian BACH 1685-1750
Bach probably composed about three hundred cantatas (though the title was not one he regularly used) for use in the Lutheran church; around two-thirds of them survive. Most date from his first few years in Leipzig, where as Thomaskantor he was responsible for directing the boys of St Thomas’s choir school in the principal services in the city’s two main churches in turn, and for providing much of the music which they sang. But in building up his Leipzig repertoire, he also drew on works he had written earlier in his career. For example, on his first Christmas Day in Leipzig, in 1723, he performed a cantata which he had written nine years earlier as Konzertmeister at the court of Weimar, Christen, ätzet diesen Tag. This is untypical of Bach’s Christmas music in that its anonymous libretto makes almost no reference to the Christmas story, and it includes none of the usual seasonal chorales. But like his other music for the festival, it is scored for large forces: four soloists and four-part choir, strings, organ, three oboes with a bassoon, and no fewer than four trumpets with timpani.
CANTATA 63, CHRISTEN, ÄTZET DIESEN TAG LISA MILNE soprano RUXANDRA DONOSE mezzo soprano ANDREW STAPLES tenor CHRISTOPHER MALTMAN baritone LONDON PHILHARMONIC CHOIR
tonality and winding oboe obbligato create a mood of great seriousness. A tenor recitative describes Jesus as ‘the Lion from David’s tribe’, and ends with scale figures in the accompaniment suggesting arrows from his bow. A second duet, for mezzo soprano and tenor with string accompaniment, calls Christians to the dance in the light-footed rhythm of the passepied. A bass recitative (again shading into arioso) is richly accompanied by all the oboes and bassoon as well as strings. The final chorus matches the first in its festive scoring and grand scale; the outer sections contain an extended episode in fugal texture, while the middle section includes a striking passage of counterpoint on a double-stranded idea representing the threat of Satan.
The full forces are deployed in the large-scale, celebratory opening chorus; its more lightly scored middle section includes a dazzlingly intricate illustration of the word ‘Strahl’, or ‘ray’. Next is an extended, meditative recitative for mezzo soprano, accompanied by strings and twice breaking into arioso (with all the parts moving rhythmically). Soprano and bass have a duet thanking God for his gifts; the slow tempo, minor
A notable feature of the cantata is its symmetry. The choruses and the first duet are in operatic Da Capo form, with an exact reprise of the first section after the contrasting middle section, while the second duet has a freer version of the same outline. And on a larger scale, the movements form a symmetrical sequence of chorus, accompanied recitative, duet, recitative, duet, accompanied recitative, chorus. Moreover, as Robin A. Leaver has pointed out in the Oxford Composer Companion to Bach, at the exact mid-point of the apparently insignificant central tenor recitative, Bach contrives to place a word which is prominent in several of the movements of the work and which lies at the heart of the Lutheran conception of Christmas, ‘Gnaden’ or ‘grace’.
1. Chorus Christen, ätzet diesen Tag In Metall und Marmorsteine! Kommt und eilt mit mir zur Krippen Und erweist mit frohen Lippen Euren Dank und eure Pflicht; Denn der Strahl, so da einbricht, Zeigt sich euch zum Gnadenscheine.
Christians, engrave this day in metal and marble stone! Come and hurry with me to the manger and prove with happy lips your thanks and your duty; for the ray that there breaks in is shown to you as the light of grace.
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2. Recitative – Mezzo Soprano O sel’ger Tag! o ungemeines Heute, An dem das Heil der Welt, Der Schilo, den Gott schon im Paradies Dem menschlichen Geschlecht verhieß, Nunmehro sich vollkommen dargestellt Und suchet Israel von der Gefangenschaft und Sklavenketten des Satans zu erretten. Du liebster Gott, was sind wir Armen doch? Ein abgefallnes Volk, so dich verlassen; Und dennoch willst du uns nicht hassen; Denn eh wir sollen noch nach dem Verdienst zu Boden liegen, Eh muss die Gottheit sich bequemen, Die menschliche Natur an sich zu nehmen Und auf der Erden Im Hirtenstall, zu einem Kind zu werden. O unbegreifliches, doch seliges Verfügen!
Oh blessed day! Oh extraordinary today, on which the saviour of the world, the Schilo [Messiah], whom God already in paradise promised to the human race, now reveals himself fully and seeks from the imprisonment and slave chains of Satan to rescue Israel. Dear God, what are we then in our wretchedness? A fallen people, who forsake you; and nevertheless you do not choose to hate us; for before we should lie on the earth according to our deserts, before that the deity must condescend to take human nature upon himself and on the earth in the shepherds’ stall to become a child. Oh incomprehensible but blessed decree!
3. Aria (Duet) – Soprano and Bass Gott, du hast es wohl gefüget, Was uns jetzo widerfährt. Drum laßt uns auf ihn stets trauen Und auf seine Gnade bauen, Denn er hat uns dies beschert, Was uns ewig nun vergnüget.
God, you have well ordained what now happens to us. Therefore let us always trust in him and build on his grace, for he has bestowed on us what delights us now and for ever.
4. Recitative – Tenor So kehret sich nun heut Das bange Leid, Mit welchem Israel geängstet und beladen, In lauter Heil und Gnaden. Der Löw’ aus Davids Stamme ist erschienen, Sein Bogen ist gespannt, das Schwert ist schon gewetzt, Womit er uns in vor'ge Freiheit setzt.
In this way now today is transformed the anxious suffering with which Israel was distressed and burdened into pure salvation and grace. The lion from the stock of David has appeared, his bow is stretched, his sword is already sharpened, with which he places us in our former freedom.
5. Aria (Duet) – Mezzo Soprano and Tenor Ruft und fleht den Himmel an, Kommt, ihr Christen, kommt zum Reihen, Ihr sollt euch ob dem erfreuen, Was Gott hat anheut getan! Da uns seine Huld verpfleget Und mit so viel Heil beleget, Daß man nicht g'nug danken kann.
Call and implore heaven, come, you Christians, come into the ranks, you should rejoice on account of that which God has done today! Since his graciousness maintains us and endows us with such great salvation that sufficient thanks cannot be given.
6. Recitative – Bass Verdoppelt euch demnach, ihr heißen Andachtsflammen, Und schlagt in Demut brünstiglich zusammen! Steigt fröhlich himmelan Und danket Gott für dies, was er getan!
For this reason be redoubled, you hot flames of devotion, and strike in humility ardently together! Mount joyfully to heaven and thank God for what he has done!
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7. Chorus Höchster, schau in Gnaden an Diese Glut gebückter Seelen! Laß den Dank, den wir dir bringen, Angenehme vor dir klingen, Laß uns stets in Segen gehn, Aber niemals nicht geschehn, Daß uns Satan möge quälen.
Highest, look with grace on this ardour of souls who bow [in worship]. Let the thanks, which we bring you, resound pleasingly before you, Let us always go with your blessing but never let it happen that Satan may torment us. English Translation by Francis Browne (March 2002) http://www.bach-cantatas.com
Arthur HONEGGER
UNE CANTATE DE NOËL CHRISTOPHER MALTMAN baritone LONDON PHILHARMONIC CHOIR NEW LONDON CHILDREN’S CHOIR
1892-1955
‘A Christmas Cantata’, as it is modestly titled, was the last major work of the Swiss composer Arthur Honegger. He composed it in 1952 and ’53 for the Basle Chamber Choir, in its twenty-fifth anniversary season, and for the Choir’s founder and conductor Paul Sacher. However, suffering already from his last illness, Honegger adapted the work from music which he had written during the Second World War for an abandoned project, a day-long Passion Play in the Swiss village of Selzach. The Cantata, first performed in Basle a week before Christmas 1953, is scored for solo baritone, mixed choir, children’s choir, and an orchestra including organ. The text consists of verses from the Psalms and the start of the Gloria in Latin, a hymn text and a Biblical extract sung in French, and a ‘quodlibet’ or medley of Christmas carols in their original languages. The whole work traces a progression from dark despair to hope and finally joyful affirmation, before an ending which has the feeling of a personal leave-taking. The Cantata begins with a slow introduction led by the organ. This leads to a slightly faster section in which, over an ostinato bass in regular crotchets, the male voices, joined later by unison sopranos and altos, sing a wordless lament – which later takes on words from
Psalm 130, the De profundis. The mood of despairing prayer is sharpened by short stabbing phrases in oboes and strings, but horn fanfares sound a first note of hope. While the chorus continues wordlessly at the same tempo, the orchestra takes off at double speed in an angry march, reaching a grindingly dissonant climax. A choral cry of ‘O come’ is expanded into a chordal setting of the hymn ‘O come, o come, Emmanuel!’ (divorced from its plainchant melody), with the reassuring refrain sung by the children’s choir. The organ takes over, with trumpet fanfares, to accompany the baritone soloist singing the angel’s proclamation to the shepherds of the birth of Christ. This is greeted by the quodlibet of carols: the German ‘Es ist ein Reis entsprungen’, sung by the children, is interleaved with the French ‘Il est né le divin enfant’ in the main choir, counterpointed by an exuberant ‘Gloria’. A quickening of tempo brings the German ‘Vom Himmel hoch, ihr Engelein, kommt!’ (a traditional carol, unrelated to Luther’s hymn ‘Vom Himmel hoch’); then in a slower section with a background of shimmering muted strings, ‘Il est né’ and ‘Vom Himmel hoch’ are smoothly combined with the German ‘O du fröhliche’ and the familiar Austrian ‘Stille Nacht’.
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With a change of tempo to Adagio, the baritone sings the angel’s ‘Gloria’, interleaved with a solo treble singing the start of Psalm 117, the Laudate Dominum (‘O praise the Lord, all ye nations’), to its traditional plainchant melody – the source of the Lutheran Advent chorale ‘Wachet auf’, or ‘Sleepers, wake’. The whole Psalm is then set in a rhythmic triple time, with the children’s choir and trumpets adding the plainchant melody as a Bachian descant, and a powerful
concluding ‘Amen’. The orchestra takes over for the slow coda, another ingenious quodlibet of carol melodies over a sustained low C on the organ pedals. The carols eventually break up into fragments, while the organ reverses its chord-progressions at the very opening of the work to bring it to a quiet close.
Programme notes by Anthony Burton © 2009
Chorus Ah ... De profundis clamavi ad te Domine Domine exaudi vocem meam Ah ... O viens! O viens, o viens Emmanuel! En Toi vit l’espoir d’Israel. Nos lourdes fautes nous pleurons, entends nos voix qui t’implorons.
Ah ... Out of the depths I have cried to thee, Lord; Lord, hear my voice. Ah ... O come! O come, o come Emmanuel! The hopes of Israel reside in you. We bewail our grievous faults, hear our voices that implore you.
Children’s Chorus Freu’ Dich, freu’ Dich, o Israel! Bald kommt, bald kommt Emmanuel.
Rejoice, rejoice, o Israel! Soon shall come Emmanuel!
Chorus O viens, parais lumière du jour qui dois nous apporter ton secours. Nous errons tous sans but ni fin, O désigne nous le clair chemin.
O come, we await the dawn that will bring us your aid. We are all aimless wanderers, O show us the straight path.
Children’s Chorus Freu’ Dich, freu’ Dich, o Israel! Gekommen ist Emmanuel.
Rejoice, rejoice, o Israel! Emmanuel is come.
Baritone Ne craignez point, car je vous transmets une bonne nouvelle qui apportera une grande joie; Le Messie est venu sur la terre, dans une étable à Bethléem, vous trouverez couché dans une crèche l’enfant-Jésus.
Fear not, for I bring you good tidings of great joy: The Messiah has come down to earth in a stable at Bethlehem, you will find the Infant Jesus lying in a manger.
Children’s Chorus Es ist ein Reis entsprungen aus einer Wurzel zart ...
A shoot has sprung forth from a tender root ...
Chorus (Sopranos and Tenors) Gloria in excelsis Deo ... Chorus (Altos and Basses) Il est né le divin enfant, jouez hautbois, résonnez musettes ...
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Children’s Chorus Wie uns die Alten sungen, aus Jesse kam die Art Chorus (Sopranos and Tenors) Gloria in excelsis Deo ... Chorus (Altos and Basses) Il est né, le divin enfant! Chantons tous son avènement,
As our elders sang to us, from the race of Jesse Glory to God in the highest ... The divine infant is born, let us sing of his coming;
Chorus (Altos) und hat ein Blümlein bracht.
and brought us a little flower.
Children’s Chorus Mitten im kalten Winter wohl zu der halben Nacht. Das Reis, das ich da meine, davon Jesaia sagt.
In the midst of the cold winter, and halfway through the night. The shoot I speak of was foretold by Isaiah.
Chorus (Sopranos and Tenors) Gloria in excelsis Deo ... Chorus (Altos and Basses) Il est né le divin enfant! Jouez hautbois, résonnez musettes ...
Glory to God in the highest ... The divine infant is born! Play oboes, sound out pipes ...
Children’s Chorus Maria ist’s, die Reine, die uns das Blümlein bracht.
It is Mary the pure who brought us the little flower.
Chorus (Altos) aus Gottes ew’gem Rat.
from God’s everlasting word.
Children’s Chorus Hat sie ein Kind geboren und blieb doch reine Magd.
She bore a child yet remained a pure maiden.
Chorus (Sopranos and Tenors) Gloria in excelsis Deo ... Chorus (Altos and Basses) Il est né, le divin enfant! Chantons tous son avènement!
Glory to God in the highest ... The divine infant is born! Let us sing of his coming!
Chorus and Children’s Chorus Vom Himmel hoch, ihr Engelein, kommt! Eia, eia, Susani, susani! Kommt singt und klingt, kommt pfeift und trombt, Alleluia, alleluia! Von Jesu singt und Maria.
Come, you angels, from heaven on high! Eia, eia, Hosanna, hosanna! Come sing, resound, come play on pipes and trumpets, Alleluia, alleluia! Sing of Jesus and of Mary.
O Du fröliche! O Du selige! Welt ging verloren, Christ ist geboren: Freue, freue Dich, o Christenheit!
O most wonderful! O most merciful! He will take our sins away. Christ is born this happy day: Christians awake and greet this happy morn!
Il est né, le divin enfant! Jouez hautbois, résonnez musettes!….. Une étable est son logement
The divine infant is born! Play oboes, sound out pipes ... A stable is his dwelling
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Un peu de paille est sa couchette….. Partez o Rois de l’Orient Venez adorer cet enfant…. O bergers venez promptement Près de lui votre place est prète… Il aime votre empresement…
A manger is his bed ... Kings of the Orient Come and adore this child ... O Shepherds come quickly Close to him your place is ready ... He appreciates your zeal ...
Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht! Alles schläft, einsam wacht, Nur das traute hochheilige Paar. Holder Knabe im lockigen Haar. Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh. Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht! Hirten erst kundgemacht. Durch der Engel, Halleluia tönt es laut von fern und nah, Christ, der Retter ist da.
Silent night! Holy night! Everyone sleeps, only the dear most holy couple is awake. Blessed curly-haired infant sleep in heavenly peace. Silent night! Holy night! The shepherds first heard the news from the angels; Halleluia echoes loudly from near and far, Christ the Saviour is born.
Baritone Gloria in excelsis Deo ...
Glory to God in the highest ...
Solo Treble Laudate Dominum omnes gentes ...
Praise the Lord all ye nations ...
Baritone Gloria in excelsis Deo et in terra pax, pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill to all men.
Chorus and Children’s Chorus Laudate Dominum omnes gentes, laudate eum omnes populi, quoniam confirmata est super nos misericordia ejus et veritas Domini manet in aeternum. Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto, sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
Praise the Lord all ye nations praise him, all ye people, for his merciful kindness is great towards us; and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever. Glory be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be for ever and ever. Amen.
Download London Philharmonic Orchestra recordings from www.lpo.org.uk/shop It’s easy to take the London Philharmonic Orchestra with you wherever you go! Visit our downloads site to choose the works (or even single movements) you’d like to buy, and download high quality MP3s to your computer for transfer to an MP3 player or CD. With regular additions of new recordings with conductors from Beecham to Jurowski you’ll always have a selection of great music to choose from.
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We would like to acknowledge the generous support of the following Thomas Beecham Group Patrons, Principal Benefactors and Benefactors: Thomas Beecham Group Mr & Mrs Richard & Victoria Sharp Julian & Gill Simmonds Mrs Steven Ward Simon Yates & Kevin Roon Garf & Gill Collins David & Victoria Graham Fuller Richard Karl Goeltz John & Angela Kessler Mr & Mrs Makharinsky Geoff & Meg Mann Eric Tomsett Guy & Utti Whittaker Principal Benefactors Mark & Elizabeth Adams Jane Attias Lady Jane Berrill Desmond & Ruth Cecil Mr John H Cook Andrew Davenport Mrs Sonja Drexler Mr Charles Dumas David Ellen Commander Vincent Evans
Mr Daniel Goldstein Mrs Barbara Green Mr Ray Harsant Oliver Heaton Peter MacDonald Eggers Mr & Mrs David Malpas Andrew T Mills Mr Maxwell Morrison Mr & Mrs Thierry Sciard Mr John Soderquist & Mr Costas Michaelides Mr & Mrs G Stein Mr & Mrs John C Tucker Howard & Sheelagh Watson Mr Laurie Watt Mr Anthony Yolland Benefactors Mrs A Beare Dr & Mrs Alan Carrington CBE FRS Mr & Mrs Stewart Cohen Mr Alistair Corbett Mr David Edgecombe Mr Richard Fernyhough Ken Follett Michael & Christine Henry
Mr Glenn Hurstfield Mr R K Jeha Mr & Mrs Maurice Lambert Mr Gerald Levin Sheila Ashley Lewis Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Mr Frank Lim Paul & Brigitta Lock Mr Brian Marsh Ms Sarah Needham Mr & Mrs Egil Oldeide Edmund Pirouet Mr Michael Posen Mr Peter Tausig Mrs Kazue Turner Lady Marina Vaizey Mr D Whitelock Hon. Benefactor Elliott Bernerd Hon. Life Members Kenneth Goode Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE
The generosity of our Sponsors, Corporate Members, supporters and donors is gratefully acknowledged. Corporate Members Appleyard & Trew llp British American Business Charles Russell Destination Québec – UK Diagonal Consulting Lazard Leventis Overseas Man Group plc Québec Government Office in London Corporate Donors Lombard Street Research Redpoint Energy Limited In-kind Sponsors Heineken Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd Sela Sweets Ltd The United Grand Lodge of England Villa Maria
Education Partners Lambeth City Learning Centre London Borough of Lambeth Southwark EiC Trusts and Foundations Adam Mickiewicz Institute Allianz Cultural Foundation The Andor Charitable Trust The Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation Borletti-Buitoni Trust The Candide Charitable Trust The John S Cohen Foundation The Coutts Charitable Trust The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Dunard Fund The Emmanuel Kaye Foundation The Equitable Charitable Trust The Eranda Foundation The Ernest Cook Trust The Fenton Arts Trust The Foyle Foundation Garfield Weston Foundation The Henry Smith Charity
The Idlewild Trust John Lyon’s Charity John Thaw Foundation The Jonathan & Jeniffer Harris Trust The Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust Lord Ashdown Charitable Settlement Marsh Christian Trust Maurice Marks Charitable Trust Maxwell Morrison Charitable Trust The Michael Marks Charitable Trust Musicians Benevolent Fund Paul Morgan Charitable Trust The R K Charitable Trust Ruth Berkowitz Charitable Trust The Samuel Sebba Charitable Trust Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation Stansfield Trust UK Friends of the FelixMendelssohn-BartholdyFoundation The Underwood Trust and others who wish to remain anonymous.
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PHILHARMONIC NEWS
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WELCOME TO SOUTHBANK CENTRE
Susanna Riddell
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.
Christmas Celebrations with the Supporters of the London Philharmonic Orchestra Friends, Benefactors and Thomas Beecham Group members join the Orchestra to celebrate the festive season this evening. Along with the players and staff of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, guests will be entertained by the Orchestra’s brass section before the concert and during the interval while enjoying complimentary drinks and seasonal canapés. After the concert, the Christmas celebrations will continue for Benefactors and Thomas Beecham Group members who will enjoy a special Christmas dinner joined by the Orchestra’s Chief Executive and Artistic Director, Timothy Walker AM, and Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski. The London Philharmonic Orchestra would like to take this opportunity to thank its Friends, Benefactors and Thomas Beecham Group members for their enthusiasm and generous support of the Orchestra. Have you considered buying a membership of the Orchestra as a Christmas gift? If you know someone who loves classical music, why not treat them to a year’s membership of the Friends, Benefactors or LPO Contemporaries? Membership starts from £50 a year and provides a perfect way to get closer to the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Supporters can attend Members’ Rehearsals, get to know the musicians at special private events and receive a range of benefits throughout the Orchestra’s Royal Festival Hall season. Please see the Orchestra’s website www.lpo.org.uk or call Anna Gover on 020 7840 4225 for further information.
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Eating, drinking and shopping? Southbank Centre shops and restaurants include: MDC music and movies, Foyles, EAT, Giraffe, Strada, wagamama, Le Pain Quotidien, Las Iguanas, ping pong, Canteen, Caffé Vergnano 1882, Skylon and Feng Sushi, as well as cafes, restaurants and shops inside the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Hayward Gallery. If you wish to get in touch with us following your visit please contact our Head of Customer Relations at Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX, by phone on 020 7960 4250 or by email at customer@southbankcentre.co.uk We look forward to seeing you again soon. A few points to note for your comfort and enjoyment: PHOTOGRAPHY is not allowed in the auditorium. LATECOMERS will only be admitted to the auditorium if there is a suitable break in the performance. RECORDING is not permitted in the auditorium without the prior consent of Southbank Centre. Southbank Centre reserves the right to confiscate video or sound equipment and hold it in safekeeping until the performance has ended. MOBILES, PAGERS AND WATCHES should be switched off before the performance begins.
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ADMINISTRATION
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
GENERAL ADMINISTRATION
Martin Höhmann Chairman Stewart McIlwham Vice-Chairman Sue Bohling Simon Carrington Lord Currie* Jonathan Dawson* Anne McAneney George Peniston Sir Bernard Rix* Kevin Rundell Sir Philip Thomas Sir John Tooley* The Rt Hon. Lord Wakeham DL* Timothy Walker AM †
Timothy Walker AM † Chief Executive and Artistic Director Alison Atkinson Digital Projects Manager Julius Hendriksen Assistant to the Chief Executive and Artistic Director FINANCE David Burke General Manager and Finance Director
*Non-Executive Directors
David Greenslade Finance and IT Manager
THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC TRUST
Joshua Foong Finance Officer
Pehr Gyllenhammar Chairman Desmond Cecil CMG Sir George Christie CH Richard Karl Goeltz Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS Dr Catherine C. Høgel Martin Höhmann Angela Kessler Clive Marks OBE FCA Victoria Sharp Julian Simmonds Timothy Walker AM † Laurence Watt Simon Yates
CONCERT MANAGEMENT
AMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA, INC. We are very grateful to the Board of the American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra for its support of the Orchestra’s activities in the USA. PROFESSIONAL SERVICES Charles Russell Solicitors Dr Louise Miller Honorary Doctor
Roanna Chandler Concerts Director Ruth Sansom Artistic Administrator Graham Wood Concerts, Recordings and Glyndebourne Manager Alison Jones Concerts Co-ordinator Hattie Garrard Tours and Engagements Manager Camilla Begg Concerts and Tours Assistant Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager Sarah Thomas Librarian Michael Pattison Stage Manager Hannah Tucker Assistant Orchestra Personnel Manager Ken Graham Trucking Instrument Transportation (Tel: 01737 373305)
EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMME
ARCHIVES Edmund Pirouet Consultant
Matthew Todd Education and Community Director
Philip Stuart Discographer
Anne Newman Education Officer
Gillian Pole Recordings Archive
Isobel Timms Community Officer
INTERN
Alec Haylor Education and Community Assistant
Christina Hickman Marketing
Richard Mallett Education and Community Producer
LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA 89 Albert Embankment London SE1 7TP Tel: 020 7840 4200 Fax: 020 7840 4201 Box Office: 020 7840 4242
DEVELOPMENT Emma O’Connell Development Director Phoebe Rouse Corporate Relations Manager Sarah Tattersall Corporate Relations and Events Manager Anna Gover Charitable Giving Officer Melissa Van Emden Corporate Relations and Events Officer
www.lpo.org.uk Visit the website for full details of London Philharmonic Orchestra activities. The London Philharmonic Orchestra Limited is a registered charity No. 238045.
MARKETING
Photographs of Mendelssohn, Vaughan Williams, Bach and Honegger courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London.
Kath Trout Marketing Director
Photograph on the front cover by Roman Gontcharov.
Janine Howlett Marketing Manager Brighton, Eastbourne, Community & Education
Programmes printed by Cantate.
Frances Cook Publications Manager Samantha Kendall Box Office Administrator (Tel: 020 7840 4242) Heather Barstow Marketing Co-ordinator Valerie Barber Press Consultant (Tel: 020 7586 8560)
†Supported by Macquarie Group
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FUTURE CONCERTS AT SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL
JTI Friday Series | Friday 11 December 2009 | 7.30pm
Saturday 30 January 2010 | 7.30pm
Beethoven Piano Concerto 5 Brahms Symphony 1
Sibelius Symphony 3 Sibelius Selected songs including Höstkväll, from Five Songs, Op. 38 Sibelius Symphony 2
Jukka-Pekka Saraste conductor Radu Lupu piano
Osmo Vänskä conductor Helena Juntunen soprano
Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Radu Lupu Osmo Vänskä and Helena Juntunen
Saturday 16 January 2010 | 7.30 pm Shostakovich Five Fragments Szymanowski Violin Concerto 1 Shostakovich Symphony 4
Wednesday 3 February 2010 | 7.30pm Sibelius Luonnotar Sibelius Symphony 4 Sibelius Symphony 5
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Carolin Widmann violin Barlines | FREE Post-Concert Event Clore Ballroom Floor, Royal Festival Hall Foyer An informal discussion with Vladimir Jurowski following the evening’s performance.
Osmo Vänskä conductor Helena Juntunen soprano FREE Pre-Concert Event 6.00pm | Royal Festival Hall A performance by Lambeth and Southwark school children marking the culmination of their composition project, inspired by this evening’s repertoire.
Vladimir Jurowski and Carolin Widmann
Wednesday 27 January 2010 | 7.30pm Sibelius Wood Nymph, Op. 15 Sibelius Six Humoresques for violin and orchestra Sibelius Symphony 1 Osmo Vänskä conductor Henning Kraggerud violin FREE Pre-Concert Event 6.15pm | Royal Festival Hall Hilary Finch talks to Osmo Vänskä about Miraculous Logic: The Music of Jean Sibelius.
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TO BOOK Tickets £9-£38 / Premium seats £55 London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office 020 7840 4242 | www.lpo.org.uk Mon-Fri 10am-5pm; no booking fee Southbank Centre Ticket Office | 0844 847 9920 www.southbankcentre.co.uk/lpo Daily, 9am-8pm. £2.50 telephone / £1.45 online booking fees; no fee for Southbank Centre members