London Philharmonic Orchestra 10 Oct 2018 concert programme by London Philharmonic Orchestra

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2018/19 Concert Season

AT Southbank Centreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Royal Festival Hall

concert programme

Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor VLADIMIR JUROWSKI supported by the Tsukanov Family Foundation Principal Guest Conductor ANDRÉS OROZCO-ESTRADA Leader pieter schoeman supported by Neil Westreich Patron HRH THE DUKE OF KENT KG Chief Executive and Artistic Director TIMOTHY WALKER AM

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall Wednesday 10 October 2018 | 7.30pm

Sibelius Pohjola’s Daughter: Symphonic Fantasia, Op. 49 (12’) Dvořák Piano Concerto, Op. 33 (36’) Interval (20’) Bartók Concerto for Orchestra (35’)

Karina Canellakis conductor Pierre-Laurent Aimard piano Concert generously supported by Dior

The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide. CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Contents 2 Welcome Orchestra news 3 On stage tonight 4 About the Orchestra 5 Leader: Pieter Schoeman 6 Karina Canellakis 7 Pierre-Laurent Aimard 8 Programme notes 11 Recommended recordings 12 Next concerts 13 Sound Futures donors 14 Supporters 16 LPO administration

Welcome

Welcome to Southbank Centre We hope you enjoy your visit. We have a Duty Manager available at all times. If you have any queries, please ask a member of staff for assistance. Eating, drinking and shopping? Enjoy fresh seasonal food for breakfast and lunch, coffee, teas and evening drinks with riverside views at Concrete Cafe, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and Riverside Terrace Cafe, Level 2, Royal Festival Hall. Visit our shops for products inspired by our artistic and cultural programme, iconic buildings and central London location. Explore across the site with Foyles, EAT, Giraffe, Strada, wagamama, YO! Sushi, Le Pain Quotidien, Las Iguanas, ping pong, Canteen, Honest Burger, Côte Brasserie, Skylon and Topolski. 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 us on 020 3879 9555, 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.

Orchestra news

New on the LPO Label: Tchaikovsky symphonies and film music This month sees two new releases on the LPO Label. Last year we released a Complete Tchaikovsky Symphonies box set conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, and now a disc of Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3, taken from the box set, is available as a separate disc priced £9.99 (LPO-0109). Jurowski’s Tchaikovsky has been praised for its nuance, musical empathy and intelligent phrasing, and these live concert recordings are sure to delight all Tchaikovsky-lovers. Our second release this month is The Genius of Film Music: Hollywood Blockbusters 1980s–2000s. Conducted by Dirk Brossé, this is the second compilation of film music on the LPO Label and features some of the best-loved film scores of the late 20th century including Star Wars, The Mission, Indiana Jones and Gladiator, as well as plenty of lesser-known gems for film-score fans. The double CD is priced £10.99 (LPO-0110). All LPO Label CDs are available to buy from lpo.org.uk/recordings, the LPO Ticket Office (020 7840 4242) and all good CD outlets. Our recordings are also available to download or stream online via Spotify, Apple Music and others.

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 AND WATCHES should be switched off before the performance begins.

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Out now The Autumn 2018 edition of Tune In, our free twice-yearly magazine. Copies are available at the Welcome Desk in the Royal Festival Hall foyer, or phone the LPO office on 020 7840 4200 to receive one in the post. Also available digitally: issuu.com/londonphilharmonic

On stage tonight

First Violins Pieter Schoeman* Leader Chair supported by Neil Westreich

Kevin Lin Co-Leader Katalin Varnagy Chair supported by Sonja Drexler

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

Robert Pool Sarah Streatfeild Yang Zhang Rebecca Shorrock Amanda Smith Georgina Leo Lasma Taimina Evin Blomberg Rasa Zukauskaite Second Violins Tania Mazzetti Principal Chair supported by Countess Dominique Loredan

Helena Smart Kate Birchall Fiona Higham Chair supported by David & Yi Buckley

Nynke Hijlkema Joseph Maher Marie-Anne Mairesse Ashley Stevens Kate Cole Sheila Law Alison Strange John Dickinson Emma Purslow Emma Wragg

Violas David Quiggle Principal Ting-Ru Lai Robert Duncan Katharine Leek Susanne Martens Benedetto Pollani Naomi Holt Daniel Cornford Richard Cookson Luca Casciato Cristina Gestido Stephanie Edmundson

Piccolo Stewart McIlwham* Principal

Trumpets Paul Beniston* Principal Jason Lewis Guest Principal Anne McAneney*

Oboes Ian Hardwick* Principal Alice Munday

Chair supported by Geoff & Meg Mann

Cellos Pei-Jee Ng Principal Laura Donoghue David Lale Gregory Walmsley Elisabeth Wiklander Susanna Riddell George Hoult Sibylle Hentschel Philip Taylor Iain Ward

Clarinets Benjamin Mellefont Guest Principal Thomas Watmough

Double Basses Sebastian Pennar Principal Hugh Kluger George Peniston Laurence Lovelle Lowri Morgan Charlotte Kerbegian Jakub Cywinski David Johnston Flutes Juliette Bausor Principal Sue Thomas*

Cornets Paul Beniston* Tony Cross

Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra

Sue Böhling*

Trombones Mark Templeton* Principal

Cor Anglais Sue Böhling* Principal Chair supported by Dr Barry Grimaldi

Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton

David Whitehouse Bass Trombone Lyndon Meredith Principal

Chair supported by Roger Greenwood

Paul Richards*

Tuba Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal

Bass Clarinet Paul Richards* Principal

Timpani Simon Carrington* Principal

Bassoons Jonathan Davies Principal Gareth Newman Simon Estell*

Percussion Andrew Barclay* Principal

Contrabassoon Simon Estell* Principal

Harps Rachel Masters Principal Tamara Young

Horns John Ryan* Principal Chair supported by Laurence Watt

Martin Hobbs Mark Vines Co-Principal Gareth Mollison Nicholas Mooney

Chair supported by Andrew Davenport

Henry Baldwin Co-Principal

* Holds a professorial appointment in London Meet our members: lpo.org.uk/players

Chair supported by Victoria Robey OBE

Stewart McIlwham*

The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert: Sir Simon Robey • Bianca & Stuart Roden • Eric Tomsett

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3

London Philharmonic Orchestra

The London Philharmonic’s closing concert took excellence and courageous programme planning to levels of expectation and emotional intensity more than once defying belief. Here was an orchestra in terrific form, rising to every challenge. Classicalsource.com (LPO at Royal Festival Hall, 2 May 2018: Panufnik, Penderecki & Prokofiev)

One of the finest orchestras on the international stage, the London Philharmonic Orchestra balances a long and distinguished history with its reputation as one of the UK’s most forward-looking ensembles. As well as its performances in the concert hall, the Orchestra also records film and video game soundtracks, has its own record label, and reaches thousands of people every year through activities for families, schools and local communities. The Orchestra was founded by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1932. It has since been headed by many of the world’s greatest conductors including Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. Vladimir Jurowski is the Orchestra’s current Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor, and in 2017 we celebrated the tenth anniversary of this extraordinary partnership. Andrés Orozco-Estrada took up the position of Principal Guest Conductor in 2015. The Orchestra is resident at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London, where it gives around 40 concerts each season. Throughout 2018 we explore

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the life and music of Stravinsky in our series Changing Faces: Stravinsky’s Journey, charting the life and music of one of the 20th century’s most influential composers. In 2019 we celebrate the music of Britain in our festival Isle of Noises, exploring a range of British and Britishinspired music from Purcell to the present day. 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 over 50 years. The Orchestra also tours internationally, performing to sell-out audiences worldwide. In 1956 it became the first British orchestra to appear in Soviet Russia and in 1973 made the first ever visit to China by a Western orchestra. Touring remains a large part of the Orchestra’s life: highlights of the 2018/19 season include a major tour of Asia including South Korea, Taiwan and China, as well as performances in Belgium, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Greece, Switzerland and the USA.

Pieter Schoeman leader

In summer 2012 the London Philharmonic Orchestra performed as part of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the River Thames, and was also chosen to record all the world’s national anthems for the London 2012 Olympics. In 2013 it was the winner of the RPS Music Award for Ensemble. The London Philharmonic Orchestra is committed to inspiring the next generation of musicians. In 2017/18 we celebrated the 30th anniversary of our Education and Community department, whose work over three decades has introduced so many people of all ages to orchestral music and created opportunities for people of all backgrounds to fulfil their creative potential. Highlights include the BrightSparks schools’ concerts and FUNharmonics family concerts; the LPO Young Composers programme; the Foyle Future Firsts orchestral training programme; and the LPO Junior Artists scheme for talented young musicians from communities and backgrounds currently underrepresented in professional UK orchestras. The Orchestra’s work at the forefront of digital engagement and social media has enabled it to reach even more people worldwide: as well as a YouTube channel and regular podcast series, the Orchestra has a lively presence on social media. lpo.org.uk facebook.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra twitter.com/LPOrchestra youtube.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra instagram.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra

Pieter Schoeman was appointed Leader of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008, having previously been Co-Leader since 2002. © Benjamin Ealovega

The London Philharmonic Orchestra has recorded the soundtracks to numerous blockbuster films, from The Lord of the Rings trilogy to Lawrence of Arabia, East is East, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Thor: The Dark World. It also broadcasts regularly on television and radio, and in 2005 established its own record label. There are now over 100 releases available on CD and to download. Recent additions include Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 conducted by the late Kurt Masur, and a disc of orchestral works by Richard Strauss conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.

Born in South Africa, Pieter made his solo debut aged 10 with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra. Five years later he won the World Youth Concerto Competition in Michigan. Aged 17, he moved to the US to further his studies in Los Angeles and Dallas. In 1991 his talent was spotted by Pinchas Zukerman who, after several consultations, recommended that he move to New York to study with Sylvia Rosenberg. Pieter has performed worldwide as a soloist and recitalist in such famous halls as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Moscow’s Rachmaninov Hall, Capella Hall in St Petersburg, Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. As a chamber musician he regularly appears at London’s prestigious Wigmore Hall. At the invitation of Yannick Nézet-Séguin he has been part of the ‘Yannick and Friends’ chamber group, performing at festivals in Dortmund and Rheingau. Pieter has performed several times as a soloist with the LPO, and his live recording of Britten’s Double Concerto with Alexander Zemtsov was released on the Orchestra’s own label to great critical acclaim. He has also recorded numerous violin solos for film and television, and led the LPO in its soundtrack recordings for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. In 1995 Pieter became Co-Leader of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice. Since then he has appeared frequently as Guest Leader with the Barcelona, Bordeaux, Lyon, Baltimore and BBC symphony orchestras, and the Rotterdam and BBC Philharmonic orchestras. In April 2016 he was Guest Leader with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra for Kurt Masur’s memorial concert. He is a Professor of Violin at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London. Pieter’s chair in the London Philharmonic Orchestra is supported by Neil Westreich.

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Karina Canellakis conductor

Canellakis directs with muscularity and spirit, but not a shred of needless flamboyance. Clarity is her hallmark. © Masataka Suemitsu

Fiona Maddocks, The Guardian, 28 July 2018 (BBC Proms 2018)

Karina Canellakis is the newly appointed Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, beginning in the 2019/20 season. Internationally acclaimed for her emotionally charged performances, technical command and interpretive depth, Karina’s reputation has risen quickly since winning the Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award in 2016. Tonight’s concert marks Karina Canellakis’s debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Other notable debuts this season include the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, St Louis Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Dresden Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic and Stavanger Symphony. She also makes her Australian debut in a four-city tour conducting the symphony orchestras of Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Tasmania. In addition, Karina leads the prestigious 2018 Nobel Prize Concert with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, with whom she appears twice this season. Over the summer she made her Vienna Symphony debut at the Bregenz Festival and returned to the BBC Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Re-invitations this season feature the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl as well as the symphony orchestras of Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Milwaukee and North Carolina. She also conducts Don Giovanni with the Curtis Opera Theater at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia. In Europe, she returns to the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, Swedish Radio Orchestra and Orchestre National de Lyon, among others.

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Recent seasons have featured debuts with the Orchestre de Paris, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Bamberger Symphoniker, National Orchestra of Spain, Hallé Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, and the Toronto, Vancouver and Houston symphonies. On the operatic stage, she has conducted The Magic Flute with Zurich Opera and The Marriage of Figaro with Curtis Opera Theater, and gave the world premiere of David Lang’s opera The Loser at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. She has also led Peter Maxwell Davies’s new opera The Hogboon with the Luxembourg Philharmonic, and a fully staged production of Verdi’s Requiem at Zurich Opera. Already known to many in the classical music world for her virtuoso violin playing, Karina was initially encouraged to pursue conducting by Simon Rattle while she was a member of the Berlin Philharmonic’s Orchester-Akademie. As well as appearing frequently as a soloist with various North American orchestras, she subsequently played regularly in the Chicago Symphony for over three years and appeared on several occasions as guest concertmaster of the Bergen Philharmonic in Norway. She also spent many summers performing at the Marlboro Music Festival. She plays a 1782 Mantegazza violin on generous loan from a private patron. Karina Canellakis previously served as Assistant Conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. She is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School. Born and raised in New York City, she speaks French, German and Italian.

Pierre-Laurent Aimard piano

A brilliant musician and an extraordinary visionary.

Wall Street Journal

Widely acclaimed as a key figure in the music of our time and as a uniquely significant interpreter of piano repertoire from every age, Pierre-Laurent Aimard enjoys an internationally celebrated career. Musical visionary and pioneer artist renowned for his revelatory insights, he was awarded the prestigious 2017 International Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in recognition of a life devoted to the service of music. Aimard performs throughout the world each season with major orchestras under conductors including Vladimir Jurowski, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Peter Eötvös and Sir Simon Rattle. He has been invited to curate, direct and perform in a number of residencies, with projects at New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, Mozarteum Salzburg, Cité de la Musique in Paris, the Tanglewood Festival and London’s Southbank Centre. Aimard was Artistic Director of the Aldeburgh Festival from 2009–16. This season Pierre-Laurent Aimard continues his threeyear residency at Southbank Centre, curating a whole weekend dedicated to the music of Stockhausen in June 2019. A milestone project celebrating the evolution of conventional pianism, Aimard also takes it to the Lucerne and Berlin festivals. As Artist in Residence at the Royal Concertgebouw this season, Aimard tours with the Orchestra to the Washington Center for the Performing Arts and to Naples. He is also resident at the Edinburgh International Festival and Konzerthaus Vienna. Other highlights include recitals at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Philharmonie de Paris, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Herkulessaal der Residenz in Munich and the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, where he is ‘Portrait Artist’ this season. A recital tour dedicated to classical modernism and

centred on the US premiere of Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s Keyboard Engine, composed for Aimard and Tamara Stefanovich, sees the duo perform at Carnegie Hall and in Chicago. Born in Lyon in 1957, Pierre-Laurent Aimard studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Yvonne Loriod and in London with Maria Curcio. Early career landmarks included winning first prize in the 1973 Messiaen Competition at the age of 16 and being appointed, three years later, by Pierre Boulez to become the Ensemble Intercontemporain’s first solo pianist. Aimard has enjoyed close collaborations with many leading composers including György Ligeti, György Kurtág, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Elliott Carter, Pierre Boulez and George Benjamin. Through his professorship at the Hochschule Köln, as well as numerous series of concert lectures and workshops worldwide, he sheds an inspiring and very personal light on music of all periods. In 2015 he launched a major online resource centred on the performance and teaching of Ligeti’s piano music, with filmed masterclasses and performances of the Études and other works in collaboration with KlavierFestival Ruhr (explorethescore.org). Pierre-Laurent has made many highly successful recordings, and in 2017 he signed an exclusive contract with Pentatone. His first recording, of Messiaen’s complete Catalogue d’oiseaux, was released in spring 2018 and has been highly praised by critics and audiences worldwide, and honoured with multiple awards including the prestigious German Music Critics’ Award. His recent Elliott Carter recording received the BBC Music Magazine Jury Award in 2018.

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Programme notes

Speedread Antonín Dvořák was one of the first composers to prove that it was perfectly viable to use melodies and rhythms from folk music when writing rigorous orchestral works that followed principles of development and cumulative transformation. Even in his Piano Concerto we hear the composer using a Czech folk song to power forward his final movement. The Hungarian Béla Bartók took the process forward, but only by taking it backwards first. Bartók sought to embed the raw spirit of folk music in his works (including the Concerto for Orchestra) without

Jean Sibelius

polishing or sanitising the folk material he used. The result is music that feels elemental while revelling in the colouristic possibilities of the 20thcentury orchestra. The music of Jean Sibelius stands apart. But if anything, indigenous music was even more important to the Finnish composer’s discovery of his true voice. For Sibelius, the tradition of reciting stories from Finland’s national poem The Kalevala, in the form of a chanted song became the basis of a musical language that was – and remains – highly distinctive in its shamanistic atmosphere.

Pohjola’s Daughter: Symphonic Fantasia, Op. 49

1865–1957

Though Jean Sibelius’s music sounded strange and unique when it started to mature from the 1890s onwards, it quickly became popular in Finland and outside it. In the 1930s, the New York Philharmonic’s audience voted Sibelius their favourite living composer; by the 1940s he was being treated to passing references in the movies.

pursued by the bearded wizard Väinämöinen, one of The Kalevala’s central protagonists and a serial wooer of the epic’s women. Sibelius doesn’t provide a blowby-blow account of the story’s events in his piece, but he did treat his first listeners in December 1906 to a remarkable orchestral creation – and from a range of vantage points.

Sibelius and Finland are inseparable. His creative work is littered with scores bearing names of characters from Finnish mythology, and Pohjola’s Daughter is one such example. The title literally refers to the ‘daughter of the place of Pohjo’, or as she’s better known in the Finnish national epic The Kalevala, the ‘maiden of the north country’.

The piece effortlessly captures the spirit of The Kalevala in its orchestral mood (it also uses musical themes from the Finnish tradition of singing stories from the epic), while the clear and concise development of ideas has led some to describe the piece as a one-movement symphony.

In the episode Sibelius set out to capture in this orchestral tone-poem, the maiden is unsuccessfully 8 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

We can discern specific dramatic events from the music, such as Väinämöinen’s haughty arrival (on brass) and the maiden’s cackling laughter (woodwinds). But the

Antonín Dvořák

Pohjola’s Daughter on the LPO Label LPO–0057 | £9.99

effect is more a general picture of the angry, dejected and subsequently resigned wizard. Sibelius had already written his first two symphonies by the time of Pohjola’s Daughter, and some of his orchestral hallmarks are clear: pedal-notes (long held, static notes in the bass); stepping sequences in the violins and the emergence of a big tune with its basis in previous musical ideas.

Sibelius Symphony No. 5 Sibelius Pohjola’s Daughter Lutosławski Concerto for Orchestra Jukka-Pekka Saraste conductor lpo.org.uk/recordings

Piano Concerto, Op. 33 Pierre-Laurent Aimard piano

1841–1904

1 Allegro agitato 2 Andante sostenuto 3 Allegro con fuoco

Antonín Dvořák was Europe’s nationalist composer par excellence: a sublime melodist and fine orchestrator, able to combine the Classical principle of seamlesslyknit musical arguments with his own polite use of indigenous folk music and romantic sensibilities. When Dvořák had proved his worth with symphonies that apparently fitted the square peg of folk music into the round hole of disciplined thought, America recruited the composer to be its musical lecturer-in-chief.

influenced by Beethoven and that its themes are simply repeated rather than developed in the symphonic sense. That’s rather an academic point. Dvořák had spawned five symphonies by the time he came to write the Concerto in 1876, and the fluency of his orchestral writing – the seamlessness with which he journeys through the piece’s varying emotional hues – is obvious. His response to themes might not be anatomical, but the sentiments are certainly natural and musical.

But the Dvořák love-in ends when discussion of his Piano Concerto begins. This is one piece that has caused the composer’s reputation considerable problems, even after his death. Rumblings began in Dvořák’s own lifetime, when pianists claimed the Concerto’s solo part was ‘un-pianistic’. Musicologists weighed in, drawing attention to ‘clumsy’ and ‘unidiomatic’ passages from the pen of a composer who was best at writing for strings (accusations Dvořák mostly accepted).

The Concerto is of mammoth proportions and unfolds over three movements. The opening Allegro agitato is muscular and full of energy, with a tussle ensuing between themes of contrasting lyricism and urgency, the latter spiked with dashes of impudence derived from folk music. To end, the pianist plays a vigorous cadenza (a complicated, virtuoso solo) based on the movement’s first theme heard.

In the 20th century a revised edition of the piece by pianist Wilém Kurz became a popular choice for soloists. But it was the pianist Sviatoslav Richter who led the way in returning to the composer’s original score. Tonight’s soloist Pierre-Laurent Aimard does the same.

The central movement has been likened to a woodland pastoral. To a mood of general peace the composer introduces two themes: one from a meditative horn, the other traced by the pianist as if in mid-song. The delicate accompaniment is characterised by glowing woodwinds.

It’s not just the Concerto’s piano part that has been criticised. Some have taken issue with the actual musical argument, claiming it relies too heavily on ideas

The finale is certainly the most Dvořák-like of the three movements. The composer uses a Czech folk song as his musical basis with a dotted-rhythm dance over

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Programme notes continued

which you can easily lay the words ‘I won’t go home, I won’t go home’ (in Czech, the words of the song Dvořák borrowed). As in the first movement, two other subsidiary themes emerge which are then called up to bring the movement to a close. So, is the work’s quality, affability and craftsmanship up to standard? Over to you. Dvořák would have wanted his audience to decide.

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

Béla Bartók 1881–1945

Concerto for Orchestra 1 2 3 4 5

Introduzione: Andante non troppo – Allegro vivace Giuoco delle coppie: Allegretto scherzando Elegia: Andante non troppo Intermezzo interotto: Allegretto Finale: Pesante – Presto

Béla Bartók transcribed swathes of peasant music from his native Hungary as well as from Romania, Croatia and beyond. By the 1920s he had developed a musical voice that fused these discoveries with his existing post-impressionistic, late Romantic tendencies. It was a distinctive voice full of writhing textures, rhythmic drive, sonorous harmonies and elemental folk qualities.

The result became Bartók’s signature work. For Koussevitsky, at the time of the Concerto for Orchestra’s first performance in December 1944, it was ‘the best orchestral piece of the last 25 years.’ The words were quoted by the composer himself, who wrote excitedly to a friend recounting the details of the first performance in Boston and Koussevitsky’s reaction to it.

Like so many others, Bartók’s life was thrown off-course by World War II. In 1940 the composer left Nazioccupied Hungary for a tour of America. Initially things turned out well: the tour was a success and Bartók was offered a teaching post at Columbia University. But the composer soon got the feeling that the Americans were less interested in his music than they were in his perceived prestige.

The Concerto for Orchestra represents one of Bartók’s most successful attempts to marry local folk music to a more universal orchestral language. The work’s title reflects ‘a tendency to treat the single instruments or instrumental groups in a concertante or soloistic manner,’ and is built in an arch structure in which the first movement reflects the fifth and the second reflects the fourth. They surround a central Elegia described by Bartók as a ‘night piece’.

Bartók was also ill. He didn’t know it, but he was dying of leukemia. The pain and mystery of his illness put a huge strain on the composer and he withdrew into himself. In 1942 the violinist Joseph Szigeti and conductor Serge Koussevitsky attempted to rekindle Bartók’s spirits with a commission for an orchestral work, to be performed by Koussevitsky’s Boston Symphony Orchestra.

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Bartók exploits the qualities of particular instruments or instrumental groups deliciously. But there are a few less-obvious features in the Concerto to listen out for. One is his treatment of intervals (two notes separated by a specific gap), and his fondness for the interval of the perfect fourth (think of the first two notes of the carol ‘Away in a Manger’). The Concerto’s main theme

is built from fourths, outlined in the piece’s hushed opening. In Bartók’s second movement the folk influence can be heard via melodies strung into a chain, played by five pairs of wind instruments. Bartók characterises each pair with a particular interval: bassoons play in sixths, oboes in thirds, clarinets in sevenths, flutes in fifths and trumpets in seconds. As the Concerto for Orchestra thumps towards its end, there’s a clear feeling of release. ‘Strings whip up clouds of dust under manic feet’ writes Alex Ross in his book The Rest Is Noise; ‘winds squawk like children.’ Was this an imagined homecoming from the exiled Bartók? If so, it was the nearest he’d get. He died in America ten months after the Concerto’s first performance.

Recommended recordings of tonight’s works Many of our recommended recordings, where available, are on sale this evening at the Foyles stand in the Royal Festival Hall foyer. Sibelius: Pohjola’s Daughter Lahti Symphony Orchestra | Osmo Vänskä (BIS) or London Philharmonic Orchestra | Jukka-Pekka Saraste (LPO Label LPO-0057: see page 9) Dvořák: Piano Concerto Sviatoslav Richter| Bavarian State Orchestra Carlos Kleiber (Olympia) Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra Budapest Festival Orchestra | Iván Fischer (Philips)

Pierre-Laurent Aimard: Stockhausen

Two visionary minds meet in music, with performances of Kontakte, the Klavierstücke and Mantra. Sat 1 & Sun 2 Jun 2019, Queen Elizabeth Hall

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next lpo concerts

AT Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall

saturday 13 october 2018 7.30pm

friday 19 october 2018 7.30pm

wednesday 24 october 2018 7.30pm

Poulenc Stabat Mater Orff Carmina Burana

Glinka Overture, Ruslan and Ludmilla Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5

Berlioz Roman Carnival Overture Canteloube Selection from Songs of the Auvergne Bizet Symphony in C Gershwin An American in Paris

Jérémie Rhorer conductor Louise Alder soprano Toby Spence tenor Simon Keenlyside baritone London Philharmonic Choir Tiffin Boys’ Choir

Alondra de la Parra conductor Benjamin Grosvenor piano

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Concert generously supported by Dior Concert generously supported by Dior

Book now at lpo.org.uk or call 020 7840 4242 Season discounts of up to 30% available

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Sound Futures donors

We are grateful to the following donors for their generous contributions to our Sound Futures campaign. Thanks to their support, we successfully raised £1 million by 30 April 2015 which has now been matched pound for pound by Arts Council England through a Catalyst Endowment grant. This has enabled us to create a £2 million endowment fund supporting special artistic projects, creative programming and education work with key venue partners including our Southbank Centre home. Supporters listed below donated £500 or over. For a full list of those who have given to this campaign please visit lpo.org.uk/soundfutures. Masur Circle Arts Council England Dunard Fund Victoria Robey OBE Emmanuel & Barrie Roman The Underwood Trust

The Rothschild Foundation Tom & Phillis Sharpe The Viney Family

Haitink Patrons Mark & Elizabeth Adams Dr Christopher Aldren Mrs Pauline Baumgartner Welser-Möst Circle Lady Jane Berrill William & Alex de Winton Mr Frederick Brittenden John Ireland Charitable Trust David & Yi Yao Buckley The Tsukanov Family Foundation Mr Clive Butler Neil Westreich Gill & Garf Collins Tennstedt Circle Mr John H Cook Valentina & Dmitry Aksenov Mr Alistair Corbett Richard Buxton Bruno De Kegel The Candide Trust Georgy Djaparidze Michael & Elena Kroupeev David Ellen Kirby Laing Foundation Christopher Fraser OBE & Lisa Fraser Mr & Mrs Makharinsky David & Victoria Graham Fuller Alexey & Anastasia Reznikovich Goldman Sachs International Sir Simon Robey Mr Gavin Graham Bianca & Stuart Roden Moya Greene Simon & Vero Turner Mrs Dorothy Hambleton The late Mr K Twyman Tony & Susie Hayes Malcolm Herring Solti Patrons Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle Ageas Mrs Philip Kan John & Manon Antoniazzi Rehmet Kassim-Lakha de Morixe Gabor Beyer, through BTO Rose & Dudley Leigh Management Consulting AG Lady Roslyn Marion Lyons Jon Claydon Miss Jeanette Martin Mrs Mina Goodman & Miss Duncan Matthews QC Suzanne Goodman Diana & Allan Morgenthau Roddy & April Gow Charitable Trust The Jeniffer & Jonathan Harris Dr Karen Morton Charitable Trust Mr Roger Phillimore Mr James R.D. Korner Ruth Rattenbury Christoph Ladanyi & Dr Sophia The Reed Foundation Ladanyi-Czernin The Rind Foundation Robert Markwick & Kasia Robinski The Maurice Marks Charitable Trust Sir Bernard Rix David Ross & Line Forestier (Canada) Mr Paris Natar

Carolina & Martin Schwab Dr Brian Smith Lady Valerie Solti Mr & Mrs G Stein Dr Peter Stephenson Miss Anne Stoddart TFS Loans Limited Marina Vaizey Jenny Watson Guy & Utti Whittaker Pritchard Donors Ralph & Elizabeth Aldwinckle Mrs Arlene Beare Mr Patrick & Mrs Joan Benner Mr Conrad Blakey Dr Anthony Buckland Paul Collins Alastair Crawford Mr Derek B. Gray Mr Roger Greenwood The HA.SH Foundation Darren & Jennifer Holmes Honeymead Arts Trust Mr Geoffrey Kirkham Drs Frank & Gek Lim Peter Mace Mr & Mrs David Malpas Dr David McGibney Michael & Patricia McLaren-Turner Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill Mr Christopher Querée The Rosalyn & Nicholas Springer Charitable Trust Timothy Walker AM Christopher Williams Peter Wilson Smith Mr Anthony Yolland and all other donors who wish to remain anonymous

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 13

Thank you

We are extremely grateful to all donors who have given generously to the LPO over the past year. Your generosity helps maintain the breadth and depth of the LPO’s activities, as well as supporting the Orchestra both on and off the concert platform.

Artistic Director’s Circle An anonymous donor Sir Simon & Lady Robey OBE Orchestra Circle The Candide Trust Mr & Mrs Philip Kan Neil Westreich The Tsukanov Family Dr James Huang Zheng (of Kingdom Music Education Group) Principal Associates Gabor Beyer, through BTO Management Consulting AG In memory of Ann Marguerite Collins Mr & Mrs Makharinsky Associates Steven M. Berzin Kay Bryan William & Alex de Winton George Ramishvili Stuart & Bianca Roden In memory of Hazel Amy Smith Gold Patrons David & Yi Buckley John Burgess Richard Buxton In memory of Allner Mavis Channing Garf & Gill Collins Andrew Davenport Sonja Drexler Mrs Gillian Fane Marie-Laure Favre-Gilly de Varennes de Beuill Hamish & Sophie Forsyth Virginia Gabbertas Mr Roger Greenwood The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust Rehmet Kassim-Lakha de Morixe Countess Dominique Loredan Geoff & Meg Mann

Sally Groves & Dennis Marks Robert Markwick & Kasia Robinski Melanie Ryan Julian & Gill Simmonds Eric Tomsett The Viney Family Laurence Watt Silver Patrons Dr Christopher Aldren Peter Blanc Georgy Djaparidze Ulrike & Benno Engelmann Peter & Fiona Espenhahn Will & Kate Hobhouse Matt Isaacs & Penny Jerram John & Angela Kessler The Metherell Family Simon Millward Mikhail Noskov & Vasilina Bindley Susan Wallendahl Guy & Utti Whittaker

Drs Frank & Gek Lim Mrs Elizabeth Meshkvicheva Maxim & Natalia Moskalev Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill Peter & Lucy Noble Noel Otley JP & Mrs Rachel Davies Jacopo Pessina Mr Roger Phillimore Mr Michael Posen Tatiana Pyatigorskaya Dr Eva Lotta & Mr Thierry Sciard Tom & Phillis Sharpe Mr Christopher Stewart Mr & Mrs John C Tucker Andrew & Rosemary Tusa Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood Marina Vaizey Grenville & Krysia Williams Christopher Williams Ed & Catherine Williams Mr Anthony Yolland

Bronze Patrons Anonymous donors Michael Allen Andrew Barclay Mr Geoffrey Bateman Peter & Adrienne Breen Mr Jeremy Bull Mr Alan C Butler Desmond & Ruth Cecil Mr John H Cook Bruno De Kegel Mr John L G Deacon David Ellen Ignor & Lyuba Galkin Mrs Irina Gofman David Goldberg Mr Daniel Goldstein David & Jane Gosman Mrs Dorothy Hambleton Wim & Jackie Hautekiet-Clare Catherine Hogel & Ben Mardle J Douglas Home Mr James R. D. Korner Rose & Dudley Leigh

Principal Supporters Ralph & Elizabeth Aldwinckle Margot Astrachan Mr Philip Bathard-Smith Mr Edwin Bisset Dr Anthony Buckland Mr & Mrs Stewart Cohen Sir Alan Collins KCVO David & Liz Conway Mr Alistair Corbett Mrs Alina Davey Guy Davies Henry Davis MBE Mr Richard Fernyhough Patrice & Federica Feron Ms Kerry Gardner Malcolm Herring Ivan Hurry Per Jonsson Mr Ralph Kanza Ms Katerina Kashenceva Vadim & Natalia Levin Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Mr Christopher Little

14 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Paul & Brigitta Lock Mr Peter Mace Mr John Meloy Andrew T Mills Dr Karen Morton Dr Wiebke Pekrull Mr James Pickford Andrew & Sarah Poppleton Natalie Pray Mr Christopher Querée Martin & Cheryl Southgate Ms Nadia Stasyuk Matthew Stephenson & Roman Aristarkhov Louise Walton Howard & Sheelagh Watson Des & Maggie Whitelock Liz Winter Bill Yoe Supporters Mr John D Barnard Mr Bernard Bradbury Mr Richard Brooman Mrs Alan Carrington Alison Clarke & Leo Pilkington Mr Joshua Coger Mr Geoffrey A Collens Miss Tessa Cowie Lady Jane Cuckney OBE Mr David Devons Samuel Edge Manuel Fajardo & Clémence Humeau Mrs Janet Flynn Christopher Fraser OBE Will Gold Mr Peter Gray Mrs Maureen HooftGraafland The Jackman Family Mr David MacFarlane Mr Frederic Marguerre Mr Mark Mishon Mr Stephen Olton Mr David Peters Mr & Mrs Graham & Jean Pugh Mr David Russell Mr Kenneth Shaw

Ms Elizabeth Shaw Ms Natalie Spraggon & Mr David Thomson Mr John Weekes Joanna Williams Hon. Benefactor Elliott Bernerd Hon. Life Members Alfonso Aijón Kenneth Goode Carol Colburn Grigor CBE Pehr G Gyllenhammar Robert Hill Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE Laurence Watt LPO International Board of Governors Natasha Tsukanova Chair Steven M. Berzin (USA) Gabor Beyer (Hungary) Kay Bryan (Australia) Marie-Laure Favre Gilly de Varennes de Bueil (France) Joyce Kan (China/Hong Kong) Olivia Ma (Greater China Area) Olga Makharinsky (Russia) George Ramishvili (Georgia) Victoria Robey OBE (USA) Dr James Huang Zheng (of Kingdom Music Education Group) (China/ Shenzhen)

We are grateful to the Board of the American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, who assist with fundraising for our activities in the United States of America: Simon Freakley Chairman Xenia Hanusiak Alexandra Jupin William A. Kerr Kristina McPhee Natalie Pray Stephanie Yoshida Antony Phillipson Hon. Chairman Noel Kilkenny Hon. Director Victoria Robey OBE Hon. Director Richard Gee, Esq Of Counsel Jenifer L. Keiser, CPA, EisnerAmper LLP Corporate Donors Arcadis Christian Dior Couture Faraday Fenchurch Advisory Partners IMG Pictet Bank Steppes Travel White & Case LLP

Corporate Members Gold freuds Sunshine Silver After Digital Berenberg Carter-Ruck French Chamber of Commerce Bronze Ageas Lazard Russo-British Chamber of Commerce Walpole Preferred Partners Fever-Tree Heineken Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd London Orthopaedic Clinic Sipsmith Steinway Villa Maria In-kind Sponsor Google Inc Trusts and Foundations The Bernarr Rainbow Trust The Boltini Trust Sir William Boreman’s Foundation Borletti-Buitoni Trust Boshier-Hinton Foundation The Candide Trust The Ernest Cook Trust Diaphonique, Franco-British Fund for contemporary music The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Dunard Fund The Foyle Foundation Lucille Graham Trust Help Musicians UK

John Horniman’s Children’s Trust The Idlewild Trust Embassy of the State of Israel to the United Kingdom Kirby Laing Foundation The Lawson Trust The Leverhulme Trust Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation London Stock Exchange Group Foundation Lord & Lady Lurgan Trust Marsh Christian Trust The Mercers’ Company Adam Mickiewicz Institute Newcomen Collett Foundation The Stanley Picker Trust The Austin & Hope Pilkington Trust PRS For Music Foundation The Radcliffe Trust Rivers Foundation Romanian Cultural Institute The R K Charitable Trust The Sampimon Trust Schroder Charity Trust Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation The David Solomons Charitable Trust Souter Charitable Trust The Steel Charitable Trust Spears-Stutz Charitable Trust The John Thaw Foundation The Thistle Trust UK Friends of the FelixMendelssohn-BartholdyFoundation The Clarence Westbury Foundation Garfield Weston Foundation The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust The William Alwyn Foundation and all others who wish to remain anonymous.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 15

Administration

Board of Directors Victoria Robey OBE Chairman Stewart McIlwham* President Gareth Newman* Vice-President Dr Catherine C. Høgel Vice-Chairman Henry Baldwin* Roger Barron Richard Brass David Buckley Bruno De Kegel Martin Höhmann* Al MacCuish Susanne Martens* Pei-Jee Ng* Andrew Tusa Timothy Walker AM Neil Westreich David Whitehouse* * Player-Director Advisory Council Martin Höhmann Chairman Rob Adediran Christopher Aldren Dr Manon Antoniazzi Richard Brass Desmond Cecil CMG Sir Alan Collins KCVO CMG Andrew Davenport William de Winton Cameron Doley Edward Dolman Christopher Fraser OBE Lord Hall of Birkenhead CBE Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS Amanda Hill Rehmet Kassim-Lakha Jamie Korner Geoff Mann Clive Marks OBE FCA Stewart McIlwham Andrew Neill Nadya Powell Sir Bernard Rix Victoria Robey OBE Baroness Shackleton Thomas Sharpe QC Julian Simmonds Barry Smith Martin Southgate Andrew Swarbrick Sir John Tooley Chris Viney Timothy Walker AM Laurence Watt Elizabeth Winter

General Administration Timothy Walker AM Chief Executive and Artistic Director

Education and Community Isabella Kernot Education and Community Director

Public Relations Albion Media (Tel: 020 3077 4930)

David Burke General Manager and Finance Director

Talia Lash Education and Community Manager