London Philharmonic Orchestra 13 February concert programme by London Philharmonic Orchestra

I N S I D E

Concert programme

O U T

lpo.org.uk/rachmaninoff

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

JTI Friday Series Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall Friday 13 February 2015 | 7.30pm

Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 4 in G minor (original version) (31’) Interval Shostakovich Symphony No. 4 in C minor (60’) Vasily Petrenko conductor Alexander Ghindin piano

In co-operation with the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation

Free pre-concert talk 6.15pm–6.45pm | Royal Festival Hall Vasily Petrenko explores the impact of Rachmaninoff on a Russian conductor.

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

Contents 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 12 13 14 15 16

Welcome On stage tonight About the Orchestra Leader: Pieter Schoeman Vasily Petrenko Alexander Ghindin Programme notes Rachmaninoff: Inside Out Next concerts International Piano Series at Southbank Centre Shostakovich LPO recordings Supporters Sound Futures donors LPO administration

The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide.

Welcome

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Welcome to Southbank Centre

Welcome to tonight’s London Philharmonic Orchestra concert at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, part of our season-long festival Rachmaninoff: Inside Out. There are just two more concerts to go, including a performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (25 March) – see page 12 for further details of the remaining concerts or visit lpo.org.uk/rachmaninoff

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

2015/16 season launch Booking for the new season is now well and truly open. Highlights include Shakespeare400: a joint celebration with other leading cultural organisations of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. We present a series of concerts celebrating some of the wonderful music inspired by the great playwright, including works by Sibelius, Dvořák, Prokofiev, Strauss and Britten. The series culminates in a specially curated Anniversary Gala Concert directed by Simon Callow. Find out more at lpo.org.uk/performances

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 switchedC off before the performance begins. M Y

CMY

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LPO on Tour The Orchestra has been paying a few visits to Europe recently, including a trip to Théâtre des Champs Elysées. Next stop is Groningen. You can buy tickets to these events so you could treat yourselves to an LPO concert in Bruges (20 February), for example, after taking in the 10008-CLASS LPO at Concert Programme 73x69mm.pdf city’s delights. Full details lpo.org.uk/whats-on-andtickets

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On stage tonight

First Violins Pieter Schoeman* Leader Chair supported by Neil Westreich Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader Ilyoung Chae Chair supported by an anonymous donor Ji-Hyun Lee Chair supported by Eric Tomsett Martin Höhmann Geoffrey Lynn Chair supported by Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp Yang Zhang Alina Petrenko Galina Tanney Helena Smart Ishani Bhoola Amanda Smith Caroline Sharp Nilufar Alimaksumova Erzsebet Racz Catherine van de Geest

Violas Cyrille Mercier Principal Robert Duncan Susanne Martens Benedetto Pollani Emmanuella Reiter Naomi Holt Isabel Pereira Daniel Cornford Michelle Bruil Martin Fenn Richard Cookson Miriam Eisele

Piccolos Stewart McIlwham* Principal Clare Robson

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

Clarinets Robert Hill* Principal Thomas Watmough Emily Meredith Richard Russell Kimon Parry

Second Violins Philippe Honore Guest Principal Kate Birchall Chair supported by David & Victoria Graham Fuller Nancy Elan Fiona Higham Nynke Hijlkema Joseph Maher Floortje Gerritsen Dean Williamson Helena Nicholls Stephen Stewart Kate Cole John Dickinson Gavin Davies Emma Martin

Double Basses Kevin Rundell* Principal Laurence Lovelle George Peniston Thomas Walley Lowri Morgan Kenneth Knussen Helen Rathbone Charlotte Kerbegian Flutes Alja Velkaverh Guest Principal Sue Thomas* Chair supported by Victoria Robey OBE Claire Wickes Sarah Bennett

Chair Supporters The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporter whose player is not present at this concert: Sonja Drexler

Oboes Ian Hardwick* Principal Alice Munday Rachel Harwood-White Sue Böhling* Cor Anglais Sue Böhling* Principal

Trumpets Paul Beniston* Principal Anne McAneney* Chair supported by Geoff & Meg Mann Nicholas Betts Co-Principal Daniel Newell David Hilton Trombones Mark Templeton* Principal Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton David Whitehouse Bass Trombone Lyndon Meredith Principal

Bass Clarinet Paul Richards

Tubas Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra George Ellis

E-flat Clarinet Thomas Watmough* Principal

Timpani Simon Carrington* Principal Barnaby Archer

Bassoons John McDougall Guest Principal Gareth Newman Stuart Russell

Percussion Andrew Barclay* Principal Chair supported by Andrew Davenport Keith Millar Sarah Mason Ignacio Molins James Bower Richard Horne Nigel Bates Fergus Brennan

Contrabassoon Simon Estell Principal Horns David Pyatt* Principal Chair supported by Simon Robey John Ryan* Principal Martin Hobbs Mark Vines Co-Principal Gareth Mollison Stephen Nicholls Timothy Ball Duncan Fuller Jonathan Bareham

Harps Rachel Masters* Principal Lucy Haslar Celeste Catherine Edwards * Holds a professorial appointment in London † Chevalier of the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco Meet our members: lpo.org.uk/players

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Full marks to the London Philharmonic for continuing to offer the most adventurous concerts in London. The Financial Times, 14 April 2014 The London Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the world’s finest orchestras, balancing a long and distinguished history with its present-day position as one of the most dynamic and forward-looking ensembles in the UK. As well as its performances in the concert hall, the Orchestra also records film and video game soundtracks, releases CDs on its own record label, and reaches thousands of people every year through activities for families, schools and community groups. The Orchestra was founded by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1932. It has since been headed by many of the world’s greatest conductors including Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. Vladimir Jurowski is currently the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor, appointed in 2007. From September 2015 Andrés Orozco-Estrada will take up the position of Principal Guest Conductor. Magnus Lindberg is the Orchestra’s current Composer in Residence. The Orchestra is based at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London, where it has performed since the Hall’s opening in 1951 and been Resident Orchestra since 1992. It gives around 30 concerts there each season with many of the world’s top conductors and

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soloists. Throughout 2013 the Orchestra collaborated with Southbank Centre on the year-long The Rest Is Noise festival, charting the influential works of the 20th century. 2014/15 highlights include a seasonlong festival, Rachmaninoff: Inside Out, exploring the composer’s major orchestral masterpieces; premieres of works by Harrison Birtwistle, Julian Anderson, Colin Matthews, James Horner and the Orchestra’s new Composer in Residence, Magnus Lindberg; and appearances by many of today’s most soughtafter artists including Maria João Pires, Christoph Eschenbach, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Osmo Vänskä, Lars Vogt, Barbara Hannigan, Vasily Petrenko, Marin Alsop, Katia and Marielle Labèque and Robin Ticciati. Outside London, the Orchestra has flourishing residencies in Brighton and Eastbourne, and performs regularly around the UK. Each summer it takes up its annual residency at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in the Sussex countryside, where it has been Resident Symphony Orchestra for over 50 years. The Orchestra also tours internationally, performing to sell-out audiences worldwide. In 1956 it became the first British orchestra to appear in Soviet Russia and in 1973 made the first ever visit to China by a Western orchestra.

Pieter Schoeman leader

Pieter Schoeman was appointed Leader of the LPO in 2008, having previously been Co-Leader since 2002.

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

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

Born in South Africa, he made his solo debut aged 10 with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra. He studied with Jack de Wet in South Africa, winning numerous competitions including the 1984 World Youth Concerto Competition in the US. In 1987 he was offered the Heifetz Chair of Music scholarship to study with Eduard Schmieder in Los Angeles and in 1991 his talent was spotted by Pinchas Zukerman, who recommended that he move to New York to study with Sylvia Rosenberg. In 1994 he became her teaching assistant at Indiana University, Bloomington. Pieter has performed worldwide as a soloist and recitalist in such famous halls as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Moscow’s Rachmaninov Hall, Capella Hall in St Petersburg, Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, and Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. As a chamber musician he regularly performs at London’s prestigious Wigmore Hall. As a soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Pieter has performed Arvo Pärt’s Double Concerto with Boris Garlitsky, Brahms’s Double Concerto with Kristina Blaumane, and Britten’s Double Concerto with Alexander Zemtsov, which was recorded and released on the Orchestra’s own record label to great critical acclaim. He has recorded numerous violin solos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra for Chandos, Opera Rara, Naxos, X5, the BBC and for American film and television, and led the Orchestra in its soundtrack recordings for The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

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

In 1995 Pieter became Co-Leader of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice. Since then he has appeared frequently as Guest Leader with the Barcelona, Bordeaux, Lyon, Baltimore and BBC symphony orchestras, and the Rotterdam and BBC Philharmonic orchestras. He is a Professor of Violin at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London. Pieter’s chair in the London Philharmonic Orchestra is supported by Neil Westreich. London Philharmonic Orchestra | 5

Vasily Petrenko conductor

The strong musical and personal rapport Petrenko appears to enjoy with the orchestra musicians inspired a performance of Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances that was rich in color, brilliance and idiomatic feeling. © Mark McNulty

John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune, January 2015

Vasily Petrenko studied at the St Petersburg Conservatoire and, following considerable success in a number of international conducting competitions including the Fourth Prokofiev Conducting Competition in St Petersburg (2003), he was appointed Chief Conductor of the St Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra from 2004 to 2007. Last season marked his first as Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, alongside which he maintains his positions as Chief Conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (a position he adopted in 2009 as a continuation of his period as Principal Conductor which began in 2006), and Principal Guest Conductor of the Mikhailovsky Theatre (formerly the Mussorgsky Memorial Theatre of the St Petersburg State Opera and Ballet) where he began his career as Resident Conductor from 1994 to 1997. Vasily Petrenko has worked with many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia, Russian National Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, and NHK Symphony Tokyo, as well as making frequent appearances at the BBC Proms. Recent years have seen a series of highly successful North American debuts, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the San Francisco, Boston, Chicago and St Louis Symphony orchestras. Highlights of the 2014/15 season and beyond include return visits to the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, and San Francisco Symphony, tour periods in Europe and Asia with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Oslo

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Philharmonic, and his debut performances with the Israel Philharmonic and Frankfurt Radio Symphony orchestras. Equally at home in the opera house, with over 30 operas in his repertoire, Petrenko made his debuts in 2010 at Glyndebourne Festival Opera (Macbeth) and the Opera de Paris (Eugene Onegin), and in recent seasons has also conducted Boris Godunov at the National Reisopera, and Eugene Onegin, La bohème and Carmen at the Mikhailovsky Theatre. Future plans include Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk for Zurich Opera and Boris Godunov for Bayerische Staatsoper Munich. Recordings with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra include a rare double bill of Fleishman’s Rothschild’s Violin and Shostakovich’s The Gamblers, Rachmaninoff’s Second and Third Symphonies (winner of the 2012 ECHO Klassik German Music Award for Newcoming Conductor of the Year) and a critically acclaimed series of recordings for Naxos including Tchaikovsky’s Manfred (winner of the 2009 Gramophone Award for Best Orchestral Recording). In October 2007 Vasily Petrenko was named Young Artist of the Year at the annual Gramophone Awards, and in 2010 he won the Male Artist of the Year at the Classical Brit Awards. He is only the second person to have been awarded Honorary Doctorates by both the University of Liverpool and Liverpool Hope University (in 2009), and an Honorary Fellowship of the Liverpool John Moores University (in 2012), awards which recognise the immense impact he has had on the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the city’s cultural scene. facebook.com/vasilypetrenkoofficial

Alexander Ghindin piano

A pianist of great verve and technical brilliance ... At its best, the enthusiasm of Ghindin’s playing is hard to resist. Andrew Clements, The Guardian, October 2012 review of Tchaikovsky Sonata, CD Classics

The Moscow pianist Alexander Ghindin, became the youngest-ever laureate of the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1994 when he was just 17, after which his career quickly became established. Numerous prizes include winner at the International Piano Competition in Cleveland, which resulted in over 50 concerts in the US. Other prizes include First Prize at the International Piano Competition of Santa Catarina (Florianópolis, Brazil) in 2010.

recording companies in Russia, France, Great Britain, Germany, Finland and Japan including Decca, Capriccio, Tri-M Classics, Russian Season (the Russian partner of Le Chant du Monde), DML, CD Accord and Naxos. Ondine records released the world premiere recording of the original version of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 4 performed by Alexander Ghindin together with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy. www.alexanderghindin.com

Alexander Ghindin tours throughout his own country and abroad, and has performed with international orchestras including National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, Russian National Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Symphony Orchestra, and Japan’s Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. The many conductors he has worked with include Vladimir Ashkenazy, Vasily Sinaisky, Krzysztof Penderecki and Paavo Järvi.

Alexander Ghindin performs Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7_HTmIXsFY

As well as being Artistic Director of his own concert series at the Moscow International Performing Arts Centre, Alexander Ghindin is also an International Artistic Co-Director of the Swedish Royal Festival and an Artistic Director of the Russian festival Tribute to Knushevitsky. He has also appeared at the Russian Winter and The New Century of Russian Piano Music festivals, and further afield at the Swedish Royal Festival in Stockholm, Radio France Festival, Bad Kissengen Sommer (Germany), the Rising Stars festival amongst others throughout Europe. He has made numerous recordings on television and radio in Russia, Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg, Poland and Japan, and released 24 CDs with leading

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Programme notes

Speedread Thousands of miles separated Sergey Rachmaninoff and Dmitri Shostakovich in the 1920s and 30s. Shostakovich remained trapped in his Russian homeland, suffering the horrors of plunging from Soviet ‘hero to zero’, with the ever-present threat of worse to come. Rachmaninoff remained in exile in the USA, denounced by Stalin’s lackeys – politically safer perhaps, but fearful that in losing Russia he had lost an artistic lifeline. Shostakovich dramatised his situation in his magnificent, manically inventive,

Serge Rachmaninoff 1873–1943

In 1917, the year of the Communist Revolution, Rachmaninoff left Russia, taking his family with him. Ostensibly he was simply accepting an invitation to give a series of concerts in Stockholm, but he never returned to his homeland. Two years later he settled permanently in the USA, and devoted himself to a career as virtuoso concert pianist. His output of original compositions plummeted; nothing new appeared until the Fourth Piano Concerto in 1926 which, according to the manuscript, had been composed in January to August that year. (In fact, some of the ideas seem to have occurred to Rachmaninoff at least ten years earlier.) When the first performance turned out to be a colossal flop there was a lot of knowing head shaking. Rachmaninoff had neglected composition for too long, it was argued, so long that he’d gone off the boil creatively. He’d lost touch with his national roots – and also with his time, others argued: who else was writing lush romantic piano concertos in the age of 8 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

ultimately tragic Fourth Symphony. Rachmaninoff on the other hand seems to have put his feelings of anger and loss into his Fourth Piano Concerto. Both works suffered strange fates: Shostakovich’s Fourth repressed for twenty-five years, Rachmaninoff’s Fourth misunderstood and ignored till after the composer’s death. But today they are not only vindicated but valued as two of their composers’ most revealing works. Together they make a stirring and thought-provoking programme.

Piano Concerto No. 4 in G minor, Op. 40 (original version) Alexander Ghindin piano 1 Allegro vivace 2 Largo 3 Allegro vivace

Gershwin, of Stravinsky, of jazz? Even the traditionalists were disappointed: where were all the big tunes, the gorgeous oceanic climaxes? Why did the Concerto so often seem to thwart expectations? Was Rachmaninoff actually trying, mistakenly, to catch up? It wasn’t until the pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli took up the Concerto in the late 1950s that performers and critics began to think again. Michelangeli had realised something the others hadn’t. The Fourth Piano Concerto isn’t simply a half-hearted or confused attempt to follow in the much earlier successes of the Second and Third Concertos; it’s something quite new, in some ways looking forward to the subtler masterpieces of Rachmaninoff’s late phase – the Third Symphony for instance, or the Symphonic Dances. But it was Rachmaninoff’s revised version of the Fourth Concerto, made in 1941, that Michelangeli championed. The revision is more compact, and in some ways easier

to grasp on first hearing. But in recent years some performers have begun campaigning for the longer and more complex original version. Without doubt, one of the reasons Rachmaninoff cut the score so heavily was his disappointment and discouragement at the work’s poor reception, but in paring it down he sacrificed some fine things - not least the big piano solo that introduces the finale’s second theme. In the original version, as in the revision, the opening is surprising. A surging orchestral crescendo suddenly twists in an unexpected harmonic direction and the piano storms in, apparently in the middle of a long, aspiring melody. Twice this melody seems to lose heart, and eventually the tempo subsides, and soulful cor anglais and horn introduce a more questioning

theme for piano solo. The troubled feeling persists, and even when the opening theme returns at the end of the movement, its initial buoyancy soon fades melancholically. Normally a Rachmaninoff slow movement is a celebration of long-breathed melody, but the Largo chooses instead to brood on a short falling figure introduced by the piano, and at its heart is some of the most unsettling, angry music Rachmaninoff ever penned (angrier still in this first version). There are moments of a more traditional virtuosic brilliance in the finale, especially at the ending, but the enigmas and shadows persist. Far from dulling Rachmaninoff’s creativity, exile seems to have given him a new perspective, darker perhaps, but if anything still more original.

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

Mini film guides to this season’s works

Recommended recordings of tonight’s works Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 4 Nikolai Lugansky/City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Sakari Oramo Warner Classics

For the 2014/15 season we’ve produced a series of short films introducing the pieces we’re performing. Watch Patrick Bailey introduce Rachmaninoff’s music for piano and orchestra: lpo.org.uk/explore/videos.html

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4 Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/ Vasily Petrenko Naxos

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Programme notes continued

Dmitri Shostakovich

Symphony No. 4 in C minor, Op. 43 1 Allegretto poco moderato 2 Moderato con moto 3 Largo – Allegro

1906–75

For a quarter of a century, the content of Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony remained a mystery. All that was known was that it had ‘disappeared’, like the victims of Stalin’s purges in the 1930s. Only the composer, a few friends and colleagues, and the members of the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra who had rehearsed it in 1936, knew what was in the score – and they remained largely silent. Soviet sources offered an explanation along the usual approved Communist Party lines. In response to severe criticism of his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District Shostakovich had withdrawn the Symphony. As a gesture of repentance he had written another symphony, No. 5 – heralded as ‘A Soviet artist’s reply to just criticism’. The triumphant premiere of the Fifth Symphony had set the seal on the whole business. On the rare occasions when Shostakovich referred to No 4 in public, his remarks were dismissive: it suffered from ‘Grandiosomania’, he claimed. The symphony remained unheard until 1961, eight years after the death of Stalin, when a relatively liberal political climate made reappraisal of past ‘mistakes’ possible – at least in theory. Few could have predicted the sensation that long delayed premiere would provoke. Certainly the symphony was grandiose – it lasts about an hour in performance and the orchestral forces are vast; certainly there were manic elements in its make-up – the ferociously fast fugue that brings about the first movement’s violent climax, the weird fairground music at the heart of the finale and the sudden emotional plunge into tragedy in the coda. But the quality of the musical invention was phenomenal, and something – some sense of profound personal urgency – held all these sometimes alarmingly disparate elements together. Now some began to suggest, timorously perhaps, that the real reason for the Fourth Symphony’s withdrawal in 1936 was that its emotional message

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was just too dangerous – particularly that bleak minorkey ending. Russian art in the mid-30s was dominated by the mind-numbing official theory of ‘Socialist Realism’: the Soviet artist’s business was to affirm ‘the ultimate rightness of reality’ (in other words, of Stalin’s policies). This was emphatically not the time for agonised confessions or desperate protest. In 1979, four years after the composer’s death, a book appeared in the West entitled Testimony: allegedly ‘The memoirs of Shostakovich as related to and edited by Solomon Volkov’. Not surprisingly, Testimony had things to say about the Fourth Symphony, and how it grew out of the experience of Stalinism at its most vicious – a time when friends and families denounced each other in frantic efforts to save their own necks: ‘The mass treachery did not concern me personally’, says the author of Testimony. ‘I managed to separate myself from other people, and in that period it was my salvation. Some of these thoughts you can find, if you wish, in my Fourth Symphony. In the last pages it’s all set out rather precisely.’ One of Shostakovich’s closest friends, Isaak Glikman, tells how he sat next to Shostakovich at the Symphony’s 1961 premiere: ‘... and when the devastating music of the introduction resounded around the Hall, it seemed to me that I could hear his heart knocking audibly in agitation. He was in the grip of an unconquerable anxiety which only subsided at the start of the superb coda ... Under the fresh impression of what he had just heard, [Shostakovich] told me, “It seems to me that in many respects my Fourth Symphony stands much higher than my most recent ones” ... he identified totally with the overwhelming musical force of this lost child.’ ‘Overwhelming musical force’ is no exaggeration. The long first movement opens with a sledgehammer

march, introduced by shrill high woodwind and xylophone. In its huge, crushing scale, it may remind some listeners of those immense ‘heroic’ monuments that once marred the skyline in many Russian cities. After a while, this martial music gives way to a lugubrious slower section, beginning with a long bassoon theme, later transformed by solo horn with clarinet ‘birdsong’, then after a long crescendo brutalised by tubas, basses and contrabassoon, with jagged, dissonant shouts from trombones and xylophone. The march returns in spooky barrelorgan-like scoring for woodwind, then a ferocious headlong string fugue builds to the movement’s main climax, underlined by pounding rhythms for massed percussion. The main themes return, but in new guises and combinations, leading finally to a quiet, sullen coda – fury has only temporarily abated. The second movement is much shorter, set in a broadly conventional scherzo-trio-scherzo form. But the writing is as imaginative as anywhere in the first movement – near the climax there’s a breathtaking rapid crescendo in which all 20 woodwind instruments slither in one by one. At the end, the first theme returns as a ghostly violin tremolando (‘trembling’, ‘shivering’) with eerily clicking percussion – a sound Shostakovich returns to in the closing pages of his last symphony, No 15.

The finale is as long as the first movement, and still more powerful. A sombre funeral march (strongly redolent of Mahler) leads to a furious, obsessive Allegro. In turn, this gives way to the weird fairground episode mentioned above. Echoes of Stravinsky’s ballet Petrushka may be deliberate: there were times when Shostakovich clearly felt like Stravinsky’s puppet antihero, caught in a phantasmagorical tragedy. Eventually this music seems to be trying to sink to rest in a quiet C major (strings); but then comes an ominous crescendo for two sets of timpani and bass drum, as the coda turns the emotional scene on its head. Eventually the funeral march theme returns (trombones and tubas, fff), provoking a massive climax, then all is quiet: a long held chord of C minor, with throbbing low strings and harp, bleak echoes of earlier themes, and finally the sad, liquid chimes of a celeste. The low pulsating bass notes invoke the ending of another great Russian tragic symphony: Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique. Few symphonies in the repertory, Russian or otherwise, end with such a vision of unrelieved darkness. Programme notes © Stephen Johnson

Latest LPO CD release: Vaughan Williams Symphonies 4 & 8 Recently released on the LPO Label is a pair of Vaughan Williams Symphonies: Nos. 4 & 8, conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth and Vladimir Jurowski respectively. They were recorded live in concert at the Royal Festival Hall on 24 September 2008 (Symphony No. 8) and 1 May 2013 (Symphony No. 4). Priced £9.99, the CD is available from lpo.org.uk/shop (where you can listen to soundclips before you buy), the LPO Ticket Office (020 7840 4242) and all good CD retailers. Alternatively you can download it from iTunes, Amazon and others, or stream via Spotify. LPO–0082

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The next LPO concerts at Royal Festival Hall Saturday 21 February 2015 | 7.30pm The final two concerts in this year-long series

Beethoven Overture, Leonore No. 3 Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 Beethoven Symphony No. 7

Wednesday 25 March 2015 | 7.30pm

Marin Alsop conductor David Fray piano

Mozart Symphony No. 36 (Linz) Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 1 (final version)

Wednesday 25 February 2015 | 7.30pm

Dvořák Symphony No. 8 Ilyich Rivas conductor Dmitry Mayboroda piano

Wednesday 29 April 2015 | 7.30pm Rachmaninoff (arr. Butsko) Piano Works, Four Movements (arr. Jurowski) 10 Songs Symphony No. 3

Beethoven Overture, Egmont Schumann Overture, Scherzo and Finale Mendelssohn Violin Concerto Beethoven Symphony No. 5 Christoph Eschenbach conductor Ray Chen violin Broadcast live on BBC Radio 3

Vladimir Jurowski conductor Vsevolod Grivnov tenor Rachmaninoff Inside Out is presented in co-operation with the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation.

lpo.org.uk/rachmaninoff

Wednesday 11 March 2015 | 7.30pm Elgar Introduction and Allegro Ireland Piano Concerto Walton Symphony No. 1 Andrew Manze conductor Piers Lane piano

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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Ivo Pogorelich

Yundi

Liszt, Schumann, Stravinsky and Brahms

Chopin

Tuesday 24 February 2015

Sunwook Kim

Maurizio Pollini © Philippe Gontier/ DGG

Jonathan Biss © Benjamin Ealovega

International Piano Series 2014/15

Monday 13 April 2015

Stephen Hough

Tuesday 28 April 2015

Tuesday 3 March 2015

Bach, Beethoven and Mussorgsky

Maurizio Pollini

Tuesday 17 March 2015

Schumann and Chopin

Jonathan Biss

Tuesday 31 March 2015

Berg, Schoenberg, Schumann and Beethoven

Debussy and Chopin

Yevgeny Sudbin

Wednesday 13 May 2015

Haydn, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Scriabin and Saint-Saëns

Alice Sara Ott & Francesco Tristano Thursday 11 June 2015

Ravel, Debussy, Tristano and Stravinsky Media Partner

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southbankcentre.co.uk/ips 0844 847 9929

The International Piano Series is devised, co-ordinated and developed by Harrison Parrott

Available on the LPO Label: Shostakovich Symphonies Nos. 6 & 14 Symphony No. 6 Symphony No. 14 Vladimir Jurowski conductor Tatiana Monogarova soprano Sergei Leiferkus baritone London Philharmonic Orchestra

LPO–0080

‘This is by far the most stunning Shostakovich disc I have heard this year’. (5 stars) CD of the Month, BBC Music Magazine November 2014

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

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 13

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

Principal Benefactors Mark & Elizabeth Adams Lady Jane Berrill Desmond & Ruth Cecil Mr John H Cook David Ellen Mr Daniel Goldstein Drs Frank & Gek Lim Peter MacDonald Eggers Dr Eva Lotta & Mr Thierry Sciard Mr & Mrs David Malpas Mr Michael Posen Mr & Mrs G Stein Mr & Mrs John C Tucker Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood Lady Marina Vaizey Grenville & Krysia Williams Mr Anthony Yolland Benefactors Mrs A Beare David & Patricia Buck Mrs Alan Carrington Mr & Mrs Stewart Cohen Mr Alistair Corbett Georgy Djaparidze Mr David Edgecombe Mr Timothy Fancourt QC Mr Richard Fernyhough Tony & Susan Hayes Michael & Christine Henry Malcolm Herring J. Douglas Home Ivan Hurry Mr Glenn Hurstfield

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

The generosity of our Sponsors, Corporate Members, supporters and donors is gratefully acknowledged: Corporate Members Silver: AREVA UK Berenberg British American Business Carter-Ruck Bronze: Appleyard & Trew LLP BTO Management Consulting AG Charles Russell Speechlys Leventis Overseas Preferred Partners Corinthia Hotel London Heineken Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd Sipsmith Steinway Villa Maria In-kind Sponsors Google Inc Sela / Tilley’s Sweets Trusts and Foundations Angus Allnatt Charitable Foundation Ambache Charitable Trust Ruth Berkowitz Charitable Trust The Boltini Trust

14 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Borletti-Buitoni Trust Britten-Pears Foundation The Candide Trust The Peter Carr Charitable Trust, in memory of Peter Carr The Ernest Cook Trust The Coutts Charitable Trust The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Dunard Fund The Equitable Charitable Trust Fidelio Charitable Trust The Foyle Foundation Lucille Graham Trust The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust Help Musicians UK The Hinrichsen Foundation The Hobson Charity The Idlewild Trust Kirby Laing Foundation The Leche Trust London Stock Exchange Group Foundation Marsh Christian Trust The Mayor of London’s Fund for Young Musicians Adam Mickiewicz Institute The Peter Minet Trust The Ann and Frederick O’Brien Charitable Trust

Office for Cultural and Scientific Affairs of the Embassy of Spain in London Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de musique romantique française The Austin and Hope Pilkington Trust Polish Cultural Institute in London PRS for Music Foundation The Radcliffe Trust Rivers Foundation The R K Charitable Trust Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation Romanian Cultural Institute Schroder Charity Trust Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation The David Solomons Charitable Trust The Steel Charitable Trust The John Thaw Foundation The Tillett Trust UK Friends of the Felix-MendelssohnBartholdy-Foundation The Viney Family Garfield Weston Foundation The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust Youth Music and others who wish to remain anonymous

Sound Futures Donors We are grateful to the following donors for their generous contributions to Sound Futures, which will establish our first ever endowment. Donations from those below have already been matched pound for pound by Arts Council England through a Catalyst Endowment grant. By May 2015 we aim to have raised £1 million which, when matched, will create a £2 million fund supporting our Education and Community Programme, our creative programming and major artistic projects at Southbank Centre. We thank those who are helping us to realise the vision. Masur Circle Arts Council England Dunard Fund Victoria Robey OBE Emmanuel & Barrie Roman The Underwood Trust Welser-Möst Circle John Ireland Charitable Trust The Tsukanov Family Foundation Neil Westreich Tennstedt Circle Richard Buxton Simon Robey Simon & Vero Turner The late Mr K Twyman Solti Patrons Ageas John & Manon Antoniazzi Georgy Djaparidze Mrs Mina Goodman and Miss Suzanne Goodman Robert Markwick & Kasia Robinski The Rothschild Foundation Haitink Patrons Mark & Elizabeth Adams Mrs Pauline Baumgartner Lady Jane Berrill Mr Frederick Brittenden David & Yi Yao Buckley Bruno de Kegel Mr Gavin Graham Moya Greene Tony and Susie Hayes Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle Mrs Philip Kan

Mrs Dawn Hooper Rehmet Kassim-Lakha Mr Geoffrey Kirkham Peter Leaver Drs Frank & Gek Lim Peter Mace Mr David Macfarlane Geoff & Meg Mann Marsh Christian Trust Dr David McGibney Michael & Patricia McLaren-Turner John Montgomery Rosemary Morgan Paris Natar Mr Roger H C Pattison The late Edmund Pirouet Mr Michael Posen Sarah & John Priestland Mr Christopher Queree Mr Peter Russell Mr Alan Sainer Pritchard Donors Tim Slorick Ralph and Elizabeth Aldwinckle Lady Valerie Solti Michael and Linda Blackstone Timothy Walker AM Business Events Sydney Laurence Watt Lady June Chichester Mr R Watts John Childress & Christiane Wuillamie Des & Maggie Whitelock Lindka Cierach Christopher Williams Paul Collins Peter Wilson Smith Mr Alistair Corbett Victoria Yanakova David Dennis Mr Anthony Yolland Mr David Edgecombe David Ellen And all other donors who wish to Mr Timothy Fancourt QC remain anonymous Karima & David G Mr Daniel Goldstein Mr Derek B. Gray Mr Roger Greenwood Rebecca Halford Harrison Honeymead Arts Trust Rose and Dudley Leigh Lady Roslyn Marion Lyons Miss Jeanette Martin Diana and Allan Morgenthau Charitable Trust Dr Karen Morton Ruth Rattenbury The Reed Foundation Sir Bernard Rix David Ross and Line Forestier (Canada) Carolina & Martin Schwab Tom and Phillis Sharpe Dr Brian Smith Mr & Mrs G Stein Miss Anne Stoddart TFS Loans Limited Lady Marina Vaizey Ms Jenny Watson Guy & Utti Whittaker

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 15

Administration

Board of Directors Victoria Robey OBE Chairman Stewart McIlwham* President Gareth Newman* Vice-President Dr Manon Antoniazzi Richard Brass Desmond Cecil CMG Vesselin Gellev* Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS Dr Catherine C. Høgel Martin Höhmann* George Peniston* Kevin Rundell* Julian Simmonds Mark Templeton* Natasha Tsukanova Timothy Walker AM Laurence Watt Neil Westreich * Player-Director Advisory Council Victoria Robey OBE Chairman Christopher Aldren Richard Brass David Buckley Sir Alan Collins KCVO CMG Andrew Davenport Jonathan Dawson Edward Dolman Christopher Fraser OBE Lord Hall of Birkenhead CBE Jamie Korner Clive Marks OBE FCA Stewart McIlwham Sir Bernard Rix Baroness Shackleton Lord Sharman of Redlynch OBE Thomas Sharpe QC Martin Southgate Sir Philip Thomas Sir John Tooley Chris Viney Timothy Walker AM Elizabeth Winter American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Inc. Jenny Ireland Co-Chairman William A. Kerr Co-Chairman Kyung-Wha Chung Alexandra Jupin Dr. Felisa B. Kaplan Jill Fine Mainelli Kristina McPhee Dr. Joseph Mulvehill Harvey M. Spear, Esq. Danny Lopez Hon. Chairman Noel Kilkenny Hon. Director Victoria Robey OBE Hon. Director Richard Gee, Esq Of Counsel Jenifer L. Keiser, CPA, EisnerAmper LLP

Chief Executive

Education and Community

Digital Projects

Timothy Walker AM Chief Executive and Artistic Director

Isabella Kernot Education Director

Alison Atkinson Digital Projects Director

Alexandra Clarke Education and Community Project Manager

Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant

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

Lucy Duffy Education and Community Project Manager

Public Relations Albion Media (Tel: 020 3077 4930)

Richard Mallett Education and Community Producer