London Philharmonic Orchestra concert programme 7 Mar 2014 by London Philharmonic Orchestra

Concert programme 2013/14 season

Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor VLADIMIR JUROWSKI* Principal Guest Conductor YANNICK NÉZET-SÉGUIN Leader pieter schoeman Composer in Residence JULIAN ANDERSON Patron HRH THE DUKE OF KENT KG Chief Executive and Artistic Director TIMOTHY WALKER AM

JTI Friday Series Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall Friday 7 March 2014 | 7.30pm Congress Theatre, Eastbourne Sunday 9 March 2014 | 3.00pm

Dvořák Scherzo capriccioso (12’) Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor (33’) Interval Mahler Blumine (10’) Shostakovich Symphony No. 1 in F minor (28’)

Ilyich Rivas conductor Simon Trpčeski piano

The Steinway concert piano chosen and hired by the London Philharmonic Orchestra for the performance on 9 March is supplied and maintained by Steinway & Sons, London.

* supported by the Tsukanov Family Foundation and one anonymous donor CONCERTS PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA IN ASSOCIATION WITH EASTBOURNE BOROUGH COUNCIL

Contents 2 Welcome 3 On stage 4 About the Orchestra 5 Leader 6 Ilyich Rivas 7 Simon Trpčeski 8 Programme notes 13 Orchestra news 14 Next concerts 15 LPO 2014/15 season 16 Annual Appeal: Tickets Please! 18 Catalyst: Double Your Donation 19 Supporters 20 LPO administration The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide.

Friday 7 March 2014

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 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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Sunday 9 March 2014

Welcome to the Congress Theatre, Eastbourne Artistic Director Chris Jordan General Manager Gavin Davis

Welcome to this afternoon’s performance by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. We hope you enjoy the concert and your visit here. As a courtesy to others, please ensure mobile phones and watch alarms are switched off during the performance. Thank you. We are delighted and proud to have the London Philharmonic Orchestra reside at the Congress Theatre for the 17th year. Thank you, our audience, for continuing to support the concert series. Without you, these concerts would not be possible. We welcome comments from our customers. Should you wish to contribute, please speak to the House Manager on duty, email theatres@eastbourne.gov.uk or write to Gavin Davis, General Manager, Eastbourne Theatres, Compton Street, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN21 4BP.

On stage

First Violins Vesselin Gellev Leader Ji-Hyun Lee Chair supported by Eric Tomsett

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

Robert Pool Yang Zhang Rebecca Shorrock Galina Tanney Caroline Frenkel Jamie Hutchinson Kokila Gillett Thomas Eisner* Sarah Streatfeild* Amanda Smith* Francesca Smith* Second Violins Helen Cox Guest Principal Joseph Maher Fiona Higham Dean Williamson Harry Kerr Ksenia Berezina Stephen Stewart Elizabeth Baldey John Dickinson Naomi Anner Ashley Stevens* Nancy Elan* Alison Strange* Sheila Law*

Violas Gillianne Haddow Guest Principal Gregory Aronovich Katharine Leek Benedetto Pollani Susanne Martens Daniel Cornford Naomi Holt Linda Kidwell Laura Vallejo* Sarah Malcolm* Pamela Ferriman* Miriam Eisele* Cellos Kristina Blaumane Principal Francis Bucknall Laura Donoghue David Lale Elisabeth Wiklander Gregory Walmsley Santiago Carvalho‡* Sue Sutherley* Tom Roff* Helen Rathbone* Double Basses Tim Gibbs Principal Laurence Lovelle Helen Rowlands Tom Walley George Peniston* Richard Lewis* Margarida Castro* Catherine Ricketts* Flutes Katie Bedford Guest Principal Sue Thomas

Piccolos Stewart McIlwham† Principal Sue Thomas

Trombones Mark Templeton† Principal

Oboes Ian Hardwick Principal Jenny Brittlebank

David Whitehouse

Cor Anglais Sue Böhling Principal Chair supported by Julian & Gill Simmonds

Clarinets Peter Sparks Guest Principal Emily Meredith Bass Clarinet Paul Richards Principal Bassoons Sebastian Stevensson Guest Principal Gareth Newman† Horns John Ryan† Principal David Pyatt† Principal Chair supported by Simon Robey

Martin Hobbs Mark Vines Co-Principal Gareth Mollison Trumpets Paul Beniston† Principal Anne McAneney† Chair supported by Geoff & Meg Mann

Daniel Newell

Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton

Bass Trombone Lyndon Meredith Principal Tuba Lee Tsarmaklis† Principal Timpani Simon Carrington† Principal Percussion Andrew Barclay† Principal Chair supported by Andrew Davenport

Tom Edwards Keith Millar Sarah Mason James Bower Harp Rachel Masters† Principal Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra

Piano Caroline Jaya-Ratnam

* 7 March concert only † Holds a professorial appointment in London ‡ Chevalier of the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco

Chair supported by the Sharp Family

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

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3

London Philharmonic Orchestra

The LPO are an orchestra on fire at the moment. Bachtrack.com, 2 October 2013, Royal Festival Hall: Vladimir Jurowski conducts Britten

The London Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the world’s finest orchestras, balancing a long and distinguished history with its present-day position as one of the most dynamic and forward-looking orchestras in the UK. As well as its performances in the concert hall, the Orchestra also records film and video game soundtracks, has its own successful CD label, and enhances the lives of thousands of people every year through activities for schools and local communities. The Orchestra was founded by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1932. It has since been headed by many of the greatest names in the conducting world, including Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. Vladimir Jurowski is currently the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor, appointed in 2007, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin is Principal Guest Conductor. Julian Anderson is the Orchestra’s current Composer in Residence. The Orchestra is based at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London, where it has performed since 1951 and been Resident Orchestra since 1992. It gives around 40 concerts there each season with many of the world’s top conductors and soloists. 2013/14 highlights include a Britten centenary celebration with Vladimir Jurowski; world premieres of James MacMillan’s Viola 4 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Concerto and Górecki’s Fourth Symphony; French repertoire with Yannick Nézet-Séguin including Poulenc, Dutilleux, Berlioz, and Saint-Saëns’s ‘Organ’ Symphony; and two concerts of epic film scores. We welcome soloists including Evelyn Glennie, Mitsuko Uchida, Leif Ove Andsnes, Miloš Karadaglić, Renaud Capuçon, Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, Julia Fischer and Simon Trpčeski, and a distinguished line-up of conductors including Christoph Eschenbach, Osmo Vänskä, Vasily Petrenko, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Stanisław Skrowaczewski. Throughout 2013 the Orchestra collaborated with Southbank Centre on the year-long festival The Rest Is Noise, exploring the influential works of the 20th century. Outside London, the Orchestra has flourishing residencies in Brighton and Eastbourne, and performs regularly around the UK. Each summer the Orchestra takes up its annual residency at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in the Sussex countryside, where it has been Resident Symphony Orchestra for 50 years. The Orchestra also tours internationally, performing to sell-out audiences worldwide. In 1956 it became the first British orchestra to appear in Soviet Russia and in 1973 made the first ever visit to China by a Western orchestra. Touring remains a large and vital part of the Orchestra’s life: highlights this season include visits to

Vesselin Gellev leader

The London Philharmonic Orchestra has recorded the soundtracks to numerous blockbuster films, from Lawrence of Arabia, The Mission and East is East to Hugo, The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. It also broadcasts regularly on television and radio, and in 2005 established its own record label. There are now over 75 releases available on CD and to download. Recent additions include Brahms’s Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 and Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 with Vladimir Jurowski; Orff’s Carmina Burana with Hans Graf; Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Sarah Connolly and Toby Spence; and a disc of works by the Orchestra’s Composer in Residence, Julian Anderson. In summer 2012 the Orchestra was invited to take part in The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the River Thames, as well as being chosen to record all the world’s national anthems for the London 2012 Olympics. The London Philharmonic Orchestra is committed to inspiring the next generation of musicians and audiences through an energetic programme of activities for young people. Highlights include the BrightSparks schools’ concerts and FUNharmonics family concerts; fusion ensemble The Band; the Leverhulme Young Composers project; and the Foyle Future Firsts orchestral training programme for outstanding young players. Over recent years, digital advances and social media have enabled the Orchestra to reach even more people across the globe: all its recordings are available to download from iTunes and, as well as a YouTube channel and regular podcast series, the Orchestra has a lively presence on Facebook and Twitter. Find out more and get involved!

the USA, Moscow, Romania, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Belgium, France and Spain, and plans for 2014/15 include returns to many of the above plus visits to Turkey, Iceland, the USA (West and East Coast), Canada, China and Australia.

Vesselin Gellev was born in Bulgaria and has been a featured soloist with the Spoleto Festival Orchestra, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Juilliard Orchestra and London Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. As violinist of the Antares Quartet, he won First Prize at the 2002 Concert Artists Guild competition in New York. As Concertmaster of Kristjan Järvi’s Absolute Ensemble, a Grammy-nominated, genre-blending ‘classical band’, he has recorded several CDs; appeared in venues such as the Sydney Opera House, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and the Vienna Konzerthaus; and collaborated with many world-renowned artists as diverse as Paquito D’Rivera, Goran Bregovic, L. Subramaniam and the late Joe Zawinul. He has also performed as Guest Leader with orchestras including the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. In 2012 he was invited to join the World Orchestra for Peace, founded by Sir Georg Solti. Vesselin received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from The Juilliard School in New York and, prior to joining the LPO as Sub-Leader in 2007, held the position of Concertmaster with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in Italy. He has led the LPO in numerous concerts and several recordings for the Orchestra’s own record label, most recently on the Official Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant CD in 2012. An avid chamber musician, Vesselin also performs regularly in the LPO’s Chamber Contrasts series at Wigmore Hall.

lpo.org.uk facebook.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra twitter.com/LPOrchestra

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Ilyich Rivas

conductor

Born in Venezuela in 1993, Ilyich Rivas comes from a distinguished musical family. His father, Alejandro Rivas, was for a number of seasons Music Director of the Metropolitan State Symphony Orchestra in Denver. From the time Ilyich was a very young boy it was clear he had a natural talent for conducting, and he began studying with his father, who to this day remains his principal guide and mentor. In 2009 Ilyich Rivas was selected as one of seven young conductors from around the world to participate in the prestigious Cabrillo Festival Conductors’ Workshop in California, where he made a significant impression on both Marin Alsop and Gustav Meier. After an audition with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra he was awarded the position of Baltimore Symphony Orchestra/Peabody Institute Conducting Fellow. This two-year position enabled Ilyich to study conducting at the Peabody Conservatory under Meier’s guidance, and to work closely with Alsop and the BSO. In the summer of 2009 Ilyich Rivas spent an extensive period of time in Europe at the invitation of Glyndebourne Festival Opera where, mentored primarily by Music Director Vladimir Jurowski, he observed Glyndebourne rehearsals and performances, and attended the first Verbier Festival Conducting Academy in Switzerland. In the 2009/10 season Ilyich Rivas made his USA debut conducting the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in a summer festival concert, and made an impressive debut with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra. In the 2010/11 season he was once again invited by Glyndebourne Festival Opera to continue the mentoring programme, and returned to Verbier to conduct the Festival Orchestra in a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 and a semi-staged performance of La bohème. Following this success, Ilyich Rivas won the Prix Julius Baer, a prize awarded by the Verbier Festival to a musician of exceptional talent. He also made successful debuts with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, and

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travelled to Australia at the invitation of Michael Tilson Thomas to conduct the YouTube Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House. In 2011 he made his Royal Festival Hall debut with Lang Lang and the Youth Orchestra of Bahia, and conducted the Youth Orchestra of the Americas on tour throughout Central America. Following his successful operatic debut in 2012 conducting Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro for Glyndebourne Touring Opera, Ilyich returned in 2013 for Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel. Recent and future engagements include the Royal Liverpool and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic orchestras; the Euskadi Orchestra (Spain); and the Swedish Radio, Stuttgart Radio and Frankfurt Radio symphony orchestras. Last season Ilyich worked as Assistant Conductor to Vladimir Jurowski at the London Philharmonic Orchestra. This week’s three concerts in London, Eastbourne and Southend mark his official debuts with the Orchestra. Later this spring he will conduct performances of La bohème with Opera North in Leeds and Salford.

Eastbourne Appeal 2013/14 Sunday 9 March 2014 This afternoon Ilyich Rivas will take the helm, leading the Orchestra through his interpretation of Shostakovich’s exciting Symphony No. 1 and Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with renowned soloist Simon Trpčeski. With his experience as Assistant Conductor under the guidance of Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski, we are very excited to see this young artist take centre stage. It is the support we receive from Eastbourne audiences that enables us to provide these opportunities for talented young artists. This year’s Eastbourne Appeal focuses on this cause and on continuing to bring young talent to Eastbourne. So far members of our audience have already donated £4,000, and as we approach the final concerts in the Eastbourne series we would like to ask our loyal audience to help us reach our goal of £5,000. Any donation, large or small, is invaluable to us. To make a donation please contact Sarah Fletcher on 020 7840 4225 or sarah.fletcher@lpo.org.uk

Simon Trpčeski

piano

Macedonian pianist Simon Trpčeski has established himself as one of the most remarkable musicians to have emerged in recent years, performing with many of the world’s greatest orchestras and captivating audiences worldwide. Simon works regularly with a prominent list of conductors that includes Vladimir Ashkenazy, Marin Alsop, Gustavo Dudamel, Charles Dutoit, Vladimir Jurowski, Lorin Maazel, Gianandrea Noseda, Sir Antonio Pappano, Vasily Petrenko, Robin Ticciati, Yan Pascal Tortelier and David Zinman. He has performed extensively in the UK, including regular appearances with the London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, London Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony and Hallé orchestras.

Simon has received widespread acclaim for his recital recordings on the EMI and Wigmore Hall Live labels, as well as two CDs for the Avie label featuring the full cycle of Rachmaninoff’s piano concertos with Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. With the support of KulturOp—Macedonia’s leading cultural and arts organisation—and the Ministry of Culture, Simon Trpčeski works regularly with young musicians in Macedonia in order to cultivate the talent of the country’s next generation of artists. In 2009 the President of Macedonia, H.E. Gjorge Ivanov, honoured him with the Presidential Order of Merit for Macedonia, and in 2011 he was the first ever recipient of the title ‘National Artist of the Republic of Macedonia’. Born in the Republic of Macedonia in 1979, Simon Trpčeski has won prizes in international piano competitions in the UK, Italy and the Czech Republic. In 2003 he was awarded the Young Artist Award by the Royal Philharmonic Society.

Other European engagements have included performances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; the Rotterdam, Royal Stockholm and St Petersburg Philharmonic orchestras; the NDR Symphony Orchestra Hamburg; the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin; and the Russian National and Danish National symphony orchestras. In North America he performs regularly with such major orchestras as the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestras; the Chicago, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Boston, Baltimore and Toronto symphony orchestras; and the Philadelphia and Cleveland orchestras, among numerous others. In Asia and Australia, Simon has performed with the New Japan, Seoul and Hong Kong Philharmonic orchestras; the Singapore, Sydney and Melbourne symphony orchestras; and on tour with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Simon has given solo performances in major cities around the world. He also performs chamber music as often as he can, and has appeared at such festivals as Aspen, Verbier and Risor. He has a regular duo partnership with cellist Daniel Müller-Schott, and enjoys performing with a variety of other soloists in duo performances.

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Programme notes

Speedread The four works in this concert each reveal something of the originality – or at the very least the independence of character – of the person who wrote them. Tchaikovsky’s ever-popular First Piano Concerto was roundly rubbished by a respected friend when the composer first played it through to him, and Mahler’s First Symphony also suffered a hostile reaction in its early years. In neither case, however, did the composer subsequently stop thinking for themselves (even if Mahler did decide

Antonín Dvořák

to drop the so-called ‘Blumine’ movement from his Symphony). Dvořák’s Scherzo capriccioso is a work with a character confidently and unmistakably the composer’s own, despite coming from a time when he was being pressed to compromise his national (and natural) musical personality. And Shostakovich’s First Symphony was the brilliant public debut of a composer who, like Mahler, never tired of finding pragmatic new ways of addressing the symphonic form.

Scherzo capriccioso, Op. 66

1841–1904

‘Had Dvořák ever written a symphony with three other movements of equal quality, one could say that he had reached the snows ... Nowhere else is [he] so absolutely and defiantly himself.’ Alec Robertson was in no doubt that the piece Dvořák composed in 1883 under the unassuming title of Scherzo capriccioso had scaled a high peak of achievement. Writing in 1945, Robertson also described it as ‘rarely heard’, which seems surprising now when it is deservedly among Dvořák’s more popular works. Masterful enough in construction to satisfy any Brahms disciple, it yet sings with its composer’s distinctive Czech voice, confidently generating a vitality and high-spirited orchestral brilliance that belie the fact that Dvořák was at the time undergoing personal and creative crises brought on by the death of his mother and the tensions between artistic nationalism and the blandishments of the Germanic musical world in which he was increasingly making his way.

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The Scherzo capriccioso certainly lives up to its name, both in formal and characteristic terms. It is dominated by two themes: the jocular one announced by a solo horn at the outset; and a seductive waltz-tune for strings, beautifully arrived at in a magical key-shift and continuing thereafter in capricious modulations. A predominantly tranquil and solemn central section follows, before a development and recapitulation of the main themes conduct us to a thrilling coda.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 1840–93

That his First Piano Concerto would rise to become one of the most popular of all would no doubt have come as a surprise to Tchaikovsky had he been informed of it on the morning of Christmas Day 1874. The previous night he had played it through and invited the opinion of his friend and mentor, the pianist Nikolay Rubinstein. The answer was quite a surprise, as he later recalled: ‘It appeared that my Concerto was worthless, that it was unplayable, that passages were trite, awkward, and so clumsy that it was impossible to put them right, that as a composition it was bad and tawdry ... that there were only two or three pages that could be retained, and that the rest would have to be scrapped or completely revised.’ It was an inauspicious start. Yet Tchaikovsky chose not to bin the Concerto, and neither did he make significant changes to it. It was premiered in Boston in October 1875, and in time even Rubinstein softened to the point of performing it himself both as soloist and conductor. Why this discouraging start to the work’s life? Well, Tchaikovsky was no great pianist, and perhaps his private performance did not show the work at its best. But Rubinstein was a composer of conservative cast, and the formal oddities of Tchaikovsky’s Concerto may well have left him perplexed – as indeed they have often baffled other listeners since. Strangest of all its features is the very opening, where, after a lofty horn-call, the music shifts immediately into the ‘wrong’ key (D flat major) for one of the grandest and most memorable of all concerto tunes. Curiouser still, this turns out after a while to have been a giant introduction featuring music that will not figure in the Concerto again. The main part

Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 23 Simon Trpčeski piano 1 2 3

Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso – Allegro con spirito Andantino semplice – Prestissimo Allegro con fuoco

of the movement, when it is reached, is for the most part comparatively gentle, its two main themes being a skipping minor-key melody for the soloist, based on a Ukrainian folk-song, and an elegantly shaped tune first heard on the clarinet. The central slow movement also has an unusual design: returning to D flat major, it opens with a tranquil melody shared between piano and woodwinds, to the tenderest of string accompaniments. Even for Tchaikovsky this is inspired lyricism, and its nostalgic air is reinforced by the knowledge that the string tune over which the piano throws feather-light decoration in the ensuing Prestissimo section is based on a song once beloved of Désirée Artôt, a singer to whom Tchaikovsky had briefly been engaged a few years earlier. The movement ends with a shortened reprise of the opening music. The finale bursts in with another energetic Ukrainian folk melody, but it is another ‘big tune’ that dominates the movement in a manner Rachmaninoff would later employ to great effect. Gently squeezed out at first by the violins, then quickly taken over by the piano, this broad melody later returns in glory after thunderous bravura piano octaves, before the Concerto races to the finish in a brilliant coda.

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

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Programme notes continued

Gustav Mahler

Blumine

1860–1911

Mahler once told a friend that his First Symphony was ‘the most spontaneous and daringly composed of my works’, a surprising remark when one considers that it probably took him over four years to write (from 1884 to 1888), and that even then it went through several revisions before reaching its final form. At its premiere in Budapest in November 1889 it had five movements and went under the title of ‘Symphonic Poem in two parts’; then it acquired a title – ‘Titan’, after the novel by the German Romantic writer Jean Paul – and a written programme; and it was not until its fourth performance in 1896 that it emerged as more or less the fourmovement ‘symphony’ we know today, sans title or programme. Mahler’s suppressed programme for the ‘symphonic poem’ version labelled its two parts as ‘From the Days of Youth’ (movements 1, 2 and 3) and ‘Commedia humana’

(movements 4 and 5). The original second movement is the one that Mahler later dropped. Entitled ‘Blumine’ (‘Flowers’), it is probably an adaptation of music he had written in 1884 to illustrate an episode in a tableaux vivant production entitled Der Trompeter von Säkkingen, in which a lover wafts his serenade across a moonlit Rhine; undoubtedly it has appropriate stillness and luminosity. Mahler said his reason for omitting it was that it was ‘insufficiently symphonic’, and he may have agreed with his friend Natalie Bauer-Lechner that it was ‘sentimentally indulgent’, but the presence of such an interlude can be said to have a later and greater parallel in the Adagietto of the Fifth Symphony. Blumine is sometimes reinstated in performances of the First Symphony (as it was in the LPO’s 2010 concert and recording with Vladimir Jurowski, below); more commonly it is performed as a separate piece, as in this concert.

Listen to Mahler’s complete Symphony No. 1 on the LPO Label Mahler: Symphony No. 1 (including ‘Blumine’) Vladimir Jurowski conductor London Philharmonic Orchestra £9.99 | LPO-0070

‘Everything about the dewy dawn of this Mahler One is perfect: the wellarticulated and perfectly placed distant trumpet fanfares, spirited false cuckoocalls … The point and spirit of the finale are dazzling, the tempo changes masterly throughout.’ BBC Music Magazine, July 2013

CD available from lpo.org.uk/recordings, the LPO Ticket Office (020 7840 4242) and all good CD outlets Download or stream online via iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and others

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Dmitri Shostakovich 1906–75

Symphony No. 1 in F minor, Op. 10 1 Allegretto – Allegro non troppo 2 Allegro 3 Lento – 4 Allegro molto

It took Shostakovich two years to write his First Symphony. He began it in July 1923, but broke off the following January when the death of Lenin inspired him to attempt a grand memorial symphony. That came to nothing, but when work began again on the First, the need to earn money for his family by working as a cinema pianist slowed him down, and it was not until July 1925 that it was at last finished. Despite the holdups, the composer was still only 19.

other sections of the orchestra. A second theme arrives, this time a balletic, waltz-like tune for solo flute, but after a short pause the development section begins with material from the introduction before building to a chaotic climax involving a reappearance of the first theme. The clear moment of recapitulation comes, however, with a return of the flute waltz, after which the first theme attempts to stir up another riot, only for the music to wind down to the finish.

The premiere in Leningrad in May 1926, and the further performances that followed shortly afterwards in Berlin, Vienna, Warsaw, Philadelphia and Buenos Aires, propelled Shostakovich to a level of instant international fame that outstripped those of other notable teenage symphonists such as Mozart, Schubert, Bizet, Glazunov and Knussen. The work revealed a young composer brilliantly equipped to bring together elements of his Russian heritage with a bright, modern and distinctive voice of his own – a perfect fit, it must have seemed, for the optimistic early dawn of Revolutionary Russia – but it was also a significant achievement in its own right. There are some, indeed, who feel that Shostakovich never again matched it, but in the light of his subsequent 14 symphonies it can perhaps be seen that the real strength of the First lies less in its technical precocity, but in the fact that at such an early stage it already shows its composer capable of convincingly articulating the kind of momentous spiritual experience that would later raise him to true greatness as a symphonist.

Even at 19 Shostakovich was already an accomplished composer of scherzo movements, and the second movement is a sprightly example with galloping outer sections (in which a prominent piano part reminds us of the composer’s cinema nights) followed by a slower central panel that seems to remove us to the world of Russian folk-tales. The galloping music makes its way back in, but its return comes with the ‘Russian’ theme blaring over the top. The piano stamps its foot, however, and the music subsides to a calm conclusion.

The first movement opens theatrically, with a dialogue in which wind solos and stealthy string lines seem to search for a melody. When that melody appears, rather suddenly, it is a jaunty march tune on solo clarinet (reminding us that the word ‘Chaplinesque’ has been applied to this symphony) which is then taken up by

The finale starts with foreboding wind recitatives, but the main body of the movement gets going with a swirling rush that rises to a climax, out of which emerges a sentimental solo violin melody made from an inverted version of the third-movement march theme. A return of the fast music is eventually stilled by a bleak

The last two movements form a structural pairing linked by a side-drum roll. The third launches with a romantic oboe melody, meandering but emotionally focused. As the music builds, it acquires a drooping but insistent trumpet-and-drum motif, giving it the feel of a funeral procession which is heightened when a new march-like tune eventually appears, also on oboe. A high solo violin then reprises the first theme, and the movement closes with distant recalls of the trumpet motif.

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Programme notes continued

timpani solo that in its turn is an angry inversion of the funereal trumpet motif. This heralds a gorgeously written slow string passage featuring the ‘sentimental’ theme on solo cello, which together with the new, optimistic version of the trumpet motif drives the music on to grandeur and an exhilarating major-key finish.

Shostakovich on the LPO Label

Programme notes © Lindsay Kemp

New for 2013/14 – LPO mini film guides This season we’ve produced a series of short films introducing the pieces we’re performing. We’ve picked one work from each concert, creating a bitesized introduction to the music and its historical background. Watch Patrick Bailey introduce Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 1: lpo.org.uk/explore/videos.html

Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 5 Kurt Masur conductor LPO-0001 | £9.99

CD available from lpo.org.uk/recordings, the LPO Ticket Office (020 7840 4242) and all good CD outlets. Download or stream online via iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and others.

2014

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Orchestra news

New Principal Guest Conductor

New CD release: Carmina Burana

The London Philharmonic Orchestra is delighted to announce the appointment of Andrés Orozco-Estrada as its new Principal Guest Conductor, effective from September 2015. He becomes Principal Guest Conductor Designate when the tenure of Canadian Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who has been in the role since 2008, ends at the end of the current season.

This month’s release on the LPO Label is Orff’s Carmina Burana conducted by Hans Graf (LPO-0076). It was recorded live in concert at Royal Festival Hall on 6 April 2013, as part of Southbank Centre’s yearlong The Rest Is Noise festival, and features the London Philharmonic Choir and soloists Sarah Tynan, Andrew Kennedy and Rodion Pogossov.

Colombian-born Orozco-Estrada first worked with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in November 2013, conducting a major tour of Germany, and made his Royal Festival Hall debut with the Orchestra on 29 January 2014. Thirty-six-year-old Orozco-Estrada already holds the position of Music Director of the Tonkünstler Orchestra in Vienna. In the 2014/15 season he will become Music Director of the Houston Symphony Orchestra and Chief Conductor of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Priced £9.99, the CD is also available from lpo.org.uk/shop (where you can listen to soundclips before you buy), the LPO Ticket Office (020 7840 4242) and all good CD retailers.

We look forward to a long and fruitful partnership with Andrés Orozco-Estrada, and many more successful concerts to come.

Alternatively you can download it from iTunes, Amazon and others, or stream via Spotify.

The Rest Is Noise wins Sky Arts Award

Spring tours

We are delighted at the recent news that The Rest Is Noise, Southbank Centre’s 2013 festival of 20thcentury music, was awarded the South Bank Sky Arts Classical Award. As the major orchestral partner of The Rest Is Noise, the LPO dedicated our entire 2013 programme to chronologically charting some of the most influential works of the 20th century, whilst exploring the political and social contexts that gave rise to these great pieces. It was a truly exciting project to be a part of and we are thrilled with the news of the award.

Last month the Orchestra, along with Glyndebourne Festival Opera soloists and chorus under Sir Mark Elder, took Britten’s Billy Budd to New York for four performances at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The production received rave reviews in the press, with the New York Times critic describing it as ‘one of the most memorable performances I have seen in opera’. Last Sunday (2 March) Vladimir Jurowski and the Orchestra made a whistlestop visit to Paris to perform Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, following the Royal Festival Hall performance on 1 March. Still to come this spring are visits to Dortmund in Germany with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and pianist Nicholas Angelich at the end of this month and Moscow for performances of Britten’s War Requiem and Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with Vladimir Jurowski and soloist Lisa Batiashvili in April.

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Next LPO concerts at Royal Festival Hall

Friday 14 March 2014 | 7.30pm

Friday 28 March 2014 | 7.30pm

JTI Friday Series

Mendelssohn Violin Concerto Bruckner Symphony No. 3 (1889 Nowak edition)

Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No. 1 Mahler Symphony No. 9

Stanisław Skrowaczewski conductor Benjamin Beilman violin

Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Nicholas Angelich piano

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

Wednesday 19 March 2014 | 7.30pm Mozart Symphony No. 38 (Prague) R Strauss Burleske J S Bach Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, BWV 1052 R Strauss Death and Transfiguration David Zinman conductor Emanuel Ax piano

Wednesday 26 March 2014 | 7.30pm Poulenc Organ Concerto Berlioz Les nuits d’été Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3 (Organ) Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Sarah Connolly mezzo soprano* James O’Donnell organ This concert is supported by Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de musique romantique français. * Sarah Connolly has replaced Anna Caterina Antonacci for scheduling reasons.

Free pre-concert discussion 6.00–6.45pm | Royal Festival Hall William McVicker and guests discuss the restoration of the Royal Festival Hall organ.

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

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

Booking details 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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Last LPO concert this season at the Congress Theatre

Sunday 27 April 2014 | 3.00pm Berlioz Roman Carnival Overture Saint-Saëns Violin Concerto No. 3 Ravel Le tombeau de Couperin Beethoven Symphony No. 6 (Pastoral) Timothy Redmond conductor Matthew Trusler violin

2014/15 season at Royal Festival Hall

2014/15 season now on sale Browse and book online at lpo.org.uk or call us on 020 7840 4242 to request a season brochure. Highlights of the new season include: •

A year-long festival, Rachmaninoff: Inside Out, exploring the composer’s major orchestral masterpieces including all the symphonies and piano concertos, alongside some of his lesser-known works (see page 17).

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Appearances by today’s most sought-after artists including Maria João Pires, Christoph Eschenbach, Osmo Vänskä, Lars Vogt, Barbara Hannigan, Vasily Petrenko, Marin Alsop, Katia and Marielle Labèque and Robin Ticciati.

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Yannick Nézet-Séguin presents masterpieces by three great composers from the AustroGerman tradition: Brahms, Schubert and Richard Strauss.

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The UK premiere of Harrison Birtwistle’s piano concerto Responses: Sweet disorder and the carefully careless, performed by Pierre-Laurent Aimard.

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Soprano Barbara Hannigan joins Vladimir Jurowski and the Orchestra for a world premiere from our new Composer in Residence Magnus Lindberg.

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Premieres too of a Violin Concerto by outgoing Composer in Residence Julian Anderson, a children’s work, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, by Colin Matthews, and a new piece for four horns by James Horner (a double-Oscar winner for his score to the film Titanic).

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Legendary pianist Menahem Pressler – a founding member of the Beaux Arts Trio – joins Robin Ticciati to perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4.

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Choral highlights with the London Philharmonic Choir include Stravinsky’s Requiem Canticles, Verdi’s Requiem, Rachmaninoff’s Spring and The Bells, Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé and Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass.

Timothy Redmond and Matthew Trusler

Tickets £12–£28 plus £1 per ticket booking fee Box Office 01323 412000 Book online at eastbournetheatres.co.uk The Orchestra’s 2014/15 Eastbourne brochure will be available at the 27 April 2014 concert.

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London Philharmonic Orchestra Annual Appeal 2013/14

Tickets Please! Do you remember the first time you saw a symphony orchestra live on stage? Every year the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s schools’ concerts allow over 16,000 young people to see and hear the Orchestra live. The LPO is the only orchestra in the UK to offer specific and tailored orchestral concerts for all ages – from primary school children aged five, through to 18-year-old A-level students. Six out of ten children attending the concerts will be experiencing an orchestra for the very first time.

We want to offer free tickets to 2,500 children from the most disadvantaged schools and we need your help to make this happen.

A donation of just £9 will allow a child from one of south London’s most disadvantaged schools to attend our schools’ concerts for free. If you would like to donate more, you could secure tickets for three children (£27), a row of seats in the stalls (£108), or a whole class to attend (£270). Every donation of any size from our supportive audience will help us to fill our concert hall with new young audience members. Please visit lpo.org.uk/ticketsplease, where you can select the seats you wish to secure, or call Katherine Hattersley on 020 7840 4212 to donate over the phone. Thank you for supporting Tickets Please!

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

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INGOLF WUNDER

NIKOLAI LUGANSKY

CRISTINA ORTIZ Masterclass

KHATIA BUNIATISHVILI

Thursday 20 March

Sunday 23 March

Wednesday 14 May

Wednesday 4 June

MAURIZIO POLLINI

international piano series 2014/15 on sale now

Wednesday 2 April

FEDERICO COLLI Tuesday 22 April

SERGIO TIEMPO Tuesday 29 April

International Piano Series Spring 2014

SAVE UP TO 20% WHEN YOU BOOK MULTIPLE CONCERTS TICKETS 0844 847 9929 SOUTHBANKCENTRE.CO.UK

2014/15 season at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall

Rachmaninoff: Inside Out A year-long exploration of the composer’s life and music

Friday 3 October 2014 The Isle of the Dead | Piano Concerto No. 1 (original version) | Symphonic Dances Wednesday 29 October 2014 Piano Concerto No. 3 | Symphony No. 2 Friday 7 November 2014 Piano Concerto No. 4 (final version) Friday 28 November 2014 Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Wednesday 3 December 2014 Symphony No. 1

Wednesday 21 January 2015 The Miserly Knight Saturday 7 February 2015 Three Russian Songs | Spring Wednesday 11 February 2015 Piano Concerto No. 2 | The Bells Friday 13 February 2015 Piano Concerto No. 4 (original version) Wednesday 25 March 2015 Piano Concerto No. 1 (final version) Wednesday 29 April 2015 Piano Suite | Songs | Symphony No. 3

lpo.org.uk | Call 0207 840 4242 for a season brochure Rachmaninoff Inside Out is presented in co-operation with the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation.

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Catalyst: Double Your Donation

The London Philharmonic Orchestra is building its first ever endowment fund, which will support the most exciting artistic collaborations with its partner venues here in London and around the country. Thanks to a generous grant pledge from Arts Council England’s Catalyst programme, the Orchestra is able to double the value of all gifts from new donors up to a maximum value of £1 million. Any additional gifts from existing generous donors will also be matched. By the end of the campaign we aim to have created an endowment with a value of £2 million which will help us work with partners to provide a funding injection for activities across the many areas of the Orchestra’s work, including: • More visionary artistic projects like The Rest Is Noise at Southbank Centre • Educational and outreach activities for young Londoners like this year’s Noye’s Fludde performance project • Increased touring to venues around the UK that might not otherwise have access to great orchestral music To give, call Development Director Nick Jackman on 020 7840 4211, email support@lpo.org.uk or visit www.lpo.org.uk/support/double-your-donation.html

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

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Sir Bernard Rix TFS Loans Limited The Tsukanov Family Foundation Guy & Utti Whittaker Pritchard Donors Anonymous Linda Blackstone Michael Blackstone Yan Bonduelle Richard and Jo Brass Britten-Pears Foundation Lady June Chichester Lindka Cierach Mr Alistair Corbett Mark Damazer David Dennis Bill & Lisa Dodd Mr David Edgecombe David Ellen Commander Vincent Evans Mr Daniel Goldstein Ffion Hague Rebecca Halford Harrison Michael & Christine Henry Honeymead Arts Trust John Hunter

Ivan Hurry Tanya Kornilova Howard & Marilyn Levene Mr Gerald Levin Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Dr Frank Lim Geoff & Meg Mann Ulrike Mansel Marsh Christian Trust John Montgomery Rosemary Morgan John Owen Edmund Pirouet Mr Michael Posen John Priestland Tim Slorick Howard Snell Stanley Stecker Lady Marina Vaizey Helen Walker Laurence Watt Des & Maggie Whitelock Christopher Williams Victoria Yanakova Mr Anthony Yolland

We would like to acknowledge the generous support of the following Thomas Beecham Group Patrons, Principal Benefactors and Benefactors: Thomas Beecham Group The Tsukanov Family Foundation Anonymous William and Alex de Winton Simon Robey The Sharp Family Julian & Gill Simmonds Garf & Gill Collins Andrew Davenport Mrs Sonja Drexler David & Victoria Graham Fuller Mr & Mrs Makharinsky Geoff & Meg Mann Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp Eric Tomsett Jane Attias John & Angela Kessler Guy & Utti Whittaker Manon Williams & John Antoniazzi Principal Benefactors Mark & Elizabeth Adams Lady Jane Berrill Desmond & Ruth Cecil Mr John H Cook David Ellen

Commander Vincent Evans Mr Daniel Goldstein Don Kelly & Ann Wood Peter MacDonald Eggers Mr & Mrs David Malpas Mr Maxwell Morrison Mr Michael Posen Mr & Mrs Thierry Sciard Mr & Mrs G Stein Mr & Mrs John C Tucker Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood Lady Marina Vaizey Grenville & Krysia Williams Mr Anthony Yolland Benefactors Mrs A Beare David & Patricia Buck Mrs Alan Carrington Mr & Mrs Stewart Cohen Mr Alistair Corbett Mr David Edgecombe Mr Richard Fernyhough Ken Follett Michael & Christine Henry Malcolm Herring Ivan Hurry Mr Glenn Hurstfield Mr R K Jeha

Per Jonsson Mr Gerald Levin Sheila Ashley Lewis Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Dr Frank Lim Paul & Brigitta Lock Mr Brian Marsh Andrew T Mills John Montgomery Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill Martin and Cheryl Southgate Professor John Studd Mr Peter Tausig Mrs Kazue Turner Howard & Sheelagh Watson Mr Laurie Watt Des & Maggie Whitelock Christopher Williams Bill Yoe and others who wish to remain anonymous Hon. Benefactor Elliott Bernerd Hon. Life Members Kenneth Goode Carol Colburn Grigor CBE Pehr G Gyllenhammar Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE

The generosity of our Sponsors, Corporate Members, supporters and donors is gratefully acknowledged: Corporate Members

Trusts and Foundations

Silver: AREVA UK Berenberg Bank British American Business Carter-Ruck Thomas Eggar LLP

Angus Allnatt Charitable Foundation Ambache Charitable Trust Ruth Berkowitz Charitable Trust The Boltini Trust Borletti-Buitoni Trust Britten-Pears Foundation The Candide Trust The Ernest Cook Trust The Coutts Charitable Trust The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Dunard Fund Embassy of Spain, Office for Cultural and Scientific Affairs The Equitable Charitable Trust Fidelio Charitable Trust The Foyle Foundation J Paul Getty Junior Charitable Trust Lucille Graham Trust The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust Help Musicians UK The Hinrichsen Foundation The Hobson Charity The Idlewild Trust Kirby Laing Foundation The Leverhulme Trust Marsh Christian Trust

Bronze: Lisa Bolgar Smith and Felix Appelbe of Ambrose Appelbe Appleyard & Trew LLP Berkeley Law Charles Russell Leventis Overseas Preferred Partners Corinthia Hotel London Heineken Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd Sipsmith Steinway Villa Maria In-kind Sponsors Google Inc Sela / Tilley’s Sweets

The Mayor of London’s Fund for Young Musicians Adam Mickiewicz Institute The Peter Minet Trust Maxwell Morrison Charitable Trust The Ann and Frederick O’Brien Charitable Trust Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de musique romantique française Polish Cultural Institute in London PRS for Music Foundation The R K Charitable Trust Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation The Samuel Sebba Charitable Trust Schroder Charity Trust Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation The David Solomons Charitable Trust The Steel Charitable Trust The John Thaw Foundation The Tillett Trust Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement Garfield Weston Foundation The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust Youth Music and others who wish to remain anonymous London Philharmonic Orchestra | 19

Administration

Board of Directors Victoria Sharp Chairman Stewart McIlwham* President Gareth Newman* Vice-President Richard Brass Desmond Cecil CMG Vesselin Gellev* Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS Dr Catherine C. Høgel Martin Höhmann* George Peniston* Sir Bernard Rix Kevin Rundell* Julian Simmonds Mark Templeton* Natasha Tsukanova Timothy Walker AM Laurence Watt Dr Manon Williams

Victoria Sharp Hon. Director Richard Gee, Esq Of Counsel Jenifer L. Keiser, CPA, EisnerAmper LLP Chief Executive Timothy Walker AM Chief Executive and Artistic Director Finance David Burke General Manager and Finance Director

Sarah Holmes Sarah Thomas Librarians (job-share)