London Philharmonic Orchestra 28 October 2015 concert programme by London Philharmonic Orchestra

Concert programme 2015/16 London Season lpo.org.uk

Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor VLADIMIR JUROWSKI* Principal Guest Conductor ANDRÉS OROZCO-ESTRADA Leader pieter schoeman† Composer in Residence magnus lindberg Patron HRH THE DUKE OF KENT KG Chief Executive and Artistic Director TIMOTHY WALKER AM

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall Wednesday 28 October 2015 | 7.30pm

Beethoven Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21 (25’) Thomas Larcher Violin Concerto (24’) Interval Stravinsky The Rite of Spring (32’) Markus Stenz conductor Patricia Kopatchinskaja violin

This concert is being broadcast live by the BBC on Radio 3 Live In Concert – live concerts every day of the week. Listen online in HD Sound for 30 days at bbc.co.uk/radio3

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

Contents 2 Welcome 3 On stage tonight 4 About the Orchestra 5 Leader: Pieter Schoeman 6 Markus Stenz 7 Patricia Kopatchinskaja 9 Programme notes 14 Sound Futures donors 15 Supporters 16 LPO administration

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

Welcome

Welcome to Southbank Centre We hope you enjoy your visit. We have a Duty Manager available at all times. If you have any queries please ask any member of staff for assistance. Eating, drinking and shopping? Southbank Centre shops and restaurants include Foyles, EAT, Giraffe, Strada, YO! Sushi, wagamama, Le Pain Quotidien, Las Iguanas, ping pong, Canteen, Caffè Vergnano 1882, Skylon, Feng Sushi and Topolski, as well as cafes, restaurants and shops inside Royal Festival Hall. If you wish to get in touch with us following your visit please contact the Visitor Experience Team at Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX, phone 020 7960 4250, or email customer@southbankcentre.co.uk

London Philharmonic Orchestra 2015/16 season Welcome to this evening's concert with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Markus Stenz and the 'wild child' of the violin and winner of the 2014 Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist of the year, Patricia Kopatchinskaja. The concert is part of our Riots, Rebels and Revolutionaries series featuring a range of works that promise to explore philosophical and political themes. The next concert in the series is on Wednesday 25 November when our Principal Guest Conductor, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, leads Mahler's amazingly confident First Symphony of 1889 in which the composer sought to lay out his experiences and suffering out for all to hear. This opening to Mahler’s extraordinary world is heard after Dvořák’s bewitching Cello Concerto performed by Johannes Moser. lpo.org.uk/rebels

We look forward to seeing you again soon. Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Hayward Gallery are closed for essential refurbishment until 2017. During this period, our resident orchestras are performing in venues including St Johns Smith Square. Find out more at southbankcentre.co.uk/sjss 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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Making a NOISE Autumn heralds fresh-faced students returning to or starting at universities across the country. The LPO’s NOISE scheme entitles students and under 26 yearolds to £4 and £8 seats to selected concerts in London and all four concerts in the Brighton season. As part of the scheme, we recruit student representatives at universities and colleges across London and Brighton to help publicise NOISE: this month we attended Freshers’ Fairs at Brighton University and Sussex University to get as many students signed up as possible, whilst successfully recruiting a student representative from Brighton University. Our next NOISE concerts are on 11 and 27 November at Royal Festival Hall and we look forward to seeing scheme members there. lpo.org.uk/noise

On stage tonight

First Violins Pieter Schoeman* Leader Chair supported by Neil Westreich Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader Katalin Varnagy Chair supported by Sonja Drexler Catherine Craig Thomas Eisner Martin Höhmann Chair supported by The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust Geoffrey Lynn Chair supported by Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp Robert Pool Sarah Streatfeild Yang Zhang Tina Gruenberg Caroline Sharp Galina Tanney Caroline Frenkel John Dickinson Jamie Hutchinson Second Violins Andrew Storey Guest Principal Kate Birchall Chair supported by David & Victoria Graham Fuller Nancy Elan Lorenzo Gentili-Tedeschi Fiona Higham Joseph Maher Marie-Anne Mairesse Ashley Stevens Tania Mazzetti Harry Kerr Elizabeth Baldey Stephen Stewart Alison Strange Nicole Stokes Violas Przemyslaw Pujanek Guest Principal Robert Duncan Katharine Leek Susanne Martens Benedetto Pollani Emmanuella Reiter Naomi Holt Sarah Malcolm

Martin Fenn Emma Sheppard Stanislav Popov Miriam Eisele Cellos Kristina Blaumane Principal Chair supported by Bianca and Stuart Roden Pei-Jee Ng Co-Principal Laura Donoghue Santiago Carvalho† David Lale Gregory Walmsley Elisabeth Wiklander Chair supported by The Viney Family Susanna Riddell Helen Rathbone Sibylle Hentschel Double Basses Tim Gibbs Principal George Peniston Laurence Lovelle Charlotte Kerbegian Ben Wolstenholme Kenneth Knussen Ryan Smith Elena Hull Flutes Katie Bedford Guest Principal Hannah Grayson Stewart McIlwham* Katherine Bicknell Piccolos Stewart McIlwham* Principal Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra Katherine Bicknell Alto Flute Sue Thomas* Chair supported by Victoria Robey OBE Oboes Ian Hardwick* Principal Alice Munday Jenny Brittlebank Rachel Harwood-White

Cors Anglais Sue Böhling* Principal Rachel Harwood-White Clarinets Robert Hill* Principal Emily Meredith Katy Ayling E-flat Clarinet Thomas Watmough Principal Bass Clarinets Paul Richards Principal Katy Ayling Bassoons Jonathan Davies Guest Principal Gareth Newman Laura Vincent Claire Webster Contrabassoons Simon Estell Principal Claire Webster Horns David Pyatt* Principal Chair supported by Simon Robey John Ryan* Principal Chair supported by Laurence Watt Martin Hobbs Mark Vines Co-Principal Gareth Mollison Stephen Nicholls Duncan Fuller Timothy Ball Jason Koczur Trumpets Paul Beniston* Principal Anne McAneney* Chair supported by Geoff & Meg Mann Nicholas Betts Co-Principal Tom Rainer John MacDomnic Piccolo Trumpet Nicholas Betts Bass Trumpet Emma Bassett

Trombones Mark Templeton* Principal Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton Ross Learmonth Bass Trombone Lyndon Meredith Principal Tubas Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal George Ellis Timpani Simon Carrington* Principal Jeremy Cornes Percussion Andrew Barclay* Principal Chair supported by Andrew Davenport Henry Baldwin Co-Principal Chair supported by Jon Claydon Keith Millar Sarah Mason Harp Rachel Masters* Principal Keyboards Catherine Edwards Accordion Ian Watson * Holds a professorial appointment in London † Chevalier of the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco

Meet our members: lpo.org.uk/players

Chair Supporters The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert: Eric Tomsett; An anonymous donor

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London Philharmonic Orchestra

Vladimir Jurowski produced one of those utterly compelling performances where the London Philharmonic Orchestra seemed to be playing as if their lives depended on it. Bachtrack, September 2015 (4 Stars) Recognised today as one of the finest orchestras on the international stage, the London Philharmonic Orchestra balances a long and distinguished history with a reputation as one of the UK’s most forwardlooking ensembles. 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. Andrés Orozco-Estrada took up the position of Principal Guest Conductor in September 2015. Magnus Lindberg is the Orchestra’s current Composer in Residence. The Orchestra is resident at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London, where it gives over 30 concerts each season. Throughout 2014/15 the Orchestra gave a series of concerts entitled Rachmaninoff: Inside Out, a festival exploring the composer’s major orchestral

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masterpieces. 2015/16 is a strong year for singers, with performances by Toby Spence and Anne Sofie von Otter amongst others; Sibelius enjoys 150th anniversary celebrations; distinguished visiting conductors include Stanisław Skrowaczewski, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Vasily Petrenko, with Robin Ticciati returning after his debut in 2015; and in 2016 the LPO joins many of London’s other leading cultural institutions in Shakespeare400, celebrating the Bard’s legacy 400 years since his death. The Orchestra continues its commitment to new music with premieres of commissions including Magnus Lindberg’s Second Violin Concerto, and works by Alexander Raskatov and Marc-André Dalbavie. 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

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 Vaughan Williams’s Symphonies Nos. 4 and 6, Bruckner’s Symphony No. 3 conducted by Stanisław Skrowaczewski and Messiaen’s Des Canyons Aux Étoiles. 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. Find out more and get involved! lpo.org.uk facebook.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra twitter.com/LPOrchestra

Western orchestra. Touring remains a large part of the Orchestra’s life: highlights of the 2015/16 season include visits to Mexico City as part of the UK Mexico Year of Culture, Spain, Germany, Canary Islands, Belgium, a return to the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam and the Orchestra’s premiere at La Scala, Milan.

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. 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.

youtube.com/londonphilharmonic7

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Markus Stenz conductor

Markus Stenz's recording ... underlines [his] credential as a conductor of the Second Viennese School. He's equally at home in the romantic sweep of Pelléas as he is in the much more ambiguous world of the [Schoenberg] Concerto.

Andrew Clements, The Guardian, July 2015

Markus Stenz is Principal Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. He has appeared at many of the world’s major opera houses and international festivals including La Scala Milan, La Monnaie in Brussels, English National Opera, San Francisco Opera, Stuttgart Opera, Frankfurt Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, Salzburg Festival and Edinburgh International Festival. His previous positions have included General Music Director of the City of Cologne and GürzenichKapellmeister (posts he relinquished in the summer of 2014), Principal Guest Conductor of the Hallé Orchestra (2010–14), Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (1998–2004), Principal Conductor of London Sinfonietta (1994–98) and Artistic Director of the Montepulciano Festival (1989–95). Apart from his regular concerts with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, he is currently working with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Helsinki Philharmonic, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Seoul Philharmonic, Sao Paolo Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the BBC Scottish and BBC Symphony orchestras. He continues a regular relationship with the Hallé. Markus Stenz and the Gürzenich Orchestra have recently completed recording the complete cycle of Gustav Mahler's symphonies for Oehms Classics. Their recording of Mahler's Fifth Symphony received a German Record

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Critics’ Award in November 2009. Their first recording on the Hyperion label of Strauss’s Don Quixote and Till Eulenspiegel received unanimous critical acclaim and this was followed by an equally acclaimed recording of Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder released in 2015. Markus Stenz studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne under Volker Wangenheim and at Tanglewood with Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa. He has been awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Northern College of Music and the 'Silberne Stimmgabel' (Silver Tuning Fork) of the state of North Rhein/Westphalia .

Although Markus Stenz confesses to having a love affair with Big Band music, he settled on classical and studied at the College of Music in Cologne. Orchestral conducting became his focus. One of his earliest influences came courtesy of German television, which broadcast Leonard Bernstein's celebrated 1973 lecture series at Harvard University, The Unanswered Question. 'It was for me a life-changing experience,' Stenz says. 'It was wonderful just to hear the voice of that man. Imagine my heartbeat when I finally got to meet him [at Tanglewood]. Adapted from an interview by Tim Smith for The Baltimore Sun

markusstenz.com

Patricia Kopatchinskaja violin

What is beyond argument is Patricia Kopatchinskaja's fierce, questing intelligence, allied to a virtuosity that lets her turn her instrument into a thousand different characters in a drama to which only she has the script [...] Touching, mesmerising and slightly mad: like everything she does. Richard Morrison, The Times, March 2014

Patricia Kopatchinskaja performs a diverse repertoire, ranging from baroque and classical often played on gut strings, to new commissions and re-interpretations of modern masterworks. Highlights of the 2015/16 season include performances with Staatskapelle Berlin, a residency at the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg and a collaboration with Teodor Currentzis and Musica Aeterna with whom she will appear at Bremen Festspiele and tour across Europe. Patricia will also tour with Camerata Salzburg under Langrée, La Chambre Philharmonique under Krivine, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and collaborate with Vladimir Jurowski and his State Academic Symphony Orchestra in Moscow. In London, she is the central figure of the ‘Marin, Madness and Music’ weekend in November at Southbank Centre, where she will perform with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Kafka Fragments with Anu Komsi and works by Ustvolskaja. Patricia Kopatchinskaja performs a number of new commission premieres this season: Mark-Anthony Turnage’s new piece for Violin and Cello with Sol Gabetta; Mauricio Sotelo’s new composition for string orchestra, flamenco dance and percussion with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, where she is an Artistic Partner, as well as a new piece by Michael Hersch and the French premiere of Michael van der Aa’s new Violin Concerto. Chamber music is immensely important to Patricia Kopatchinskaja and she performs regularly with artists such as Markus Hinterhäuser and Polina Leschenko as well as members of her own family. She is a founding member of the acclaimed quartet-lab – a string quartet with Isabelle van Keulen, Lilli Maijala and Pieter Wispelwey – with whom she undertakes a major European tour in November 2015.

A prolific recording artist, this season sees three major releases, one with Gidon Kremer and the Kremerata Baltica, a CD of Kancheli’s music, TAKE 2 on Outhere/ Alpha and Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with Teodor Currentzis and Musica Aeterna on the Sony label. Her release for Naïve Classique with concertos by Bartók, Ligeti and Peter Eötvös won Gramophone’s Recording of the Year Award in 2013, the ECHO Klassik Award and a 2014 Grammy nomination. Half-way through our conversation, Patricia Kopatchinskaja suddenly announces: 'I am not interested in the violin. I am not really a violinist.' Coming from the woman described as 'the most exciting violinist in the world', this is disconcerting. But then everything about Kopatchinskaja is startling. She’s the inexplicable wild child of the violin ... Whether it’s a Corelli sonata or a concerto by Ligeti, she plays with an astonishing, folk-like passion, throwing speaking looks at the other players that are just as expressive as the sounds she makes. When she leads an orchestra or group – which happens often, all around the world – the other players take on that same impetuous, fiery quality, like iron filings lining up along a magnetic field. Taken from an interview with Ivan Hewett for The Telegraph, August 2014

patriciakopatchinskaja.com/mykitchen.html Patricia's innovative website where she gives insights to her performances (eg why she sometimes plays barefoot), a section about her homeland Moldova, interviews and the 'Trashbin', a selection of poor reviews that can be 'funnier than good ones'. Well worth a look although good language skills will help! London Philharmonic Orchestra | 7

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Programme notes

Speedread The Violin Concerto by 52-year-old Austrian composer Thomas Larcher, written in 2008, uses a large and colourful orchestra, but chooses to focus mainly on intimate sounds. ‘The music leads us by the hand from one lovely, ear-seducing sonority to another,’ wrote one London critic. When Beethoven arrived in Vienna in the early 1790s, it was to absorb the atmosphere of what was arguably the musical capital of the world, but with Haydn and Mozart as his models it is understandable that he was hesitant

Ludwig van Beethoven 1770–1827

Beethoven did not hurry to send his First Symphony into the world. When it was premiered in Vienna on 2 April 1800 he was approaching 30, and had already made a name for himself as a stirring virtuoso pianist (he had been performing his first two piano concertos for several years), and as a composer of muscular chamber works and piano works, some of which were strikingly forceful and modern. In fact, the symphony was not the only form with which he was slow to engage: his first string quartets were not published until 1801, and it is surely no coincidence that the string quartet and the symphony were precisely the genres at that time associated above all with Joseph Haydn. Beethoven’s relationship with Haydn – with whom he had studied in the early 1790s – was an uneasy one, but there is little reason to doubt that the idea of moving in on the vastly respected older composer’s patch was a daunting one, even for Beethoven.

about throwing his hat into the symphonic ring. Yet his own first example, when it came, bore his own unmistakable stylistic stamp. The authorship of Stravinsky’s elemental ballet The Rite of Spring is similarly unmistakable; this iconic work may not shock quite as it did at its scandalous premiere just over a hundred years ago, but it has lost none of its sense of earth-shattering modernity.

Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21 1 2 3 4

Adagio molto – Allegro con brio Andante cantabile con moto Menuetto & Trio: Allegro molto e vivace Adagio – Allegro molto e vivace

When he did enter the symphonic arena, it was with what seems a surprisingly cautious work, at least to ears familiar with the other eight symphonies. For sure, the model is the Haydn of the ‘London’ symphonies, in its layout of four movements with slow introduction, in its orchestration, and in many of its compositional processes, not least the way that fragments of themes can be used motivically, sometimes to accompany, sometimes to provide a driving force; there are even echoes of Haydn’s C major Symphony No. 97 in the main theme of the first movement, and in the perkily demure nature of its counterpart in the second. Yet to listeners at the time, there were plenty of things to make them sit up and take notice, though not always favourably: ‘a caricature of Haydn pushed to absurdity’ was how one critic described the new symphony, no doubt disconcerted by the fact that the slow

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Programme notes continued

introduction meanders its way towards the main body of the first movement via some surprising discords, or that the third movement seems to get by without much in the way of a tune, or for that matter much feel of being a minuet. Perhaps, too, the sheer ebullience of the music was hard to bear, for there is no mistaking its Beethovenian energy and dash. Whether they actually liked it or not, its first audiences cannot have failed to be aware that there was something new in the air.

Only hindsight, however, can alert us to the prophetic nature of the slow introduction to the finale, in which timid upward scales eventually discover that they are part of the movement’s cheerful main theme. Here the context is comic, but it was an innovation to which Beethoven would return with more serious intent.

Thomas Larcher

Violin Concerto

born 1963

1 Slow – Very Fast 2 Flowing – Slow, Static – Double Tempo

Born in Innsbruck, Thomas Larcher studied the piano in Vienna with Heinz Medjimorec and Elisabeth Leonskaja, and composition with Erich Urbanner. During this period he became known especially for his piano recitals including contemporary works. In 1994 Larcher established the Klangspuren Festival in the Tyrol as a platform for contemporary music and ten years later he founded the Festival of Swarovski Crystal Worlds 'Music in the Giant' in Wattens. Larcher has been chosen as composer-in-residence of the Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Wigmore Hall and various festivals.

Larcher's Violin Concerto of 2008/9, jointly commissioned by RSO Vienna, ZaterdagMatinee Amsterdam and the German Radio Philharmonic Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, was composed for Isabelle Faust, who gave the premiere in Vienna's Musikverein on 26 March 2009 with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under Bertrand de Billy. The orchestration includes harp, piano, celesta, accordion, six kalimbas (related to the mbira, or African thumb-piano), cowbells, flexatone, watergong, vibraphone, crotales, whip, ratchet, marimba and frying pan. However, there are merely pairs of horns and trumpets and only one trombone, much of the work being notable for its economical and sensitive sound-world. Larcher has explained that the two movements originate from quite different concepts – the first influenced by Romanian folk-music (through Bartók, Ligeti, etc.) and its 'archaic energy', while another preoccupation is the potential of an orchestra (modest-sized, to maximise 'rhythmic mobility') to realise this rhythmic energy. The serene opening is initially based on the notes of an E minor arpeggio but soon descending scales assume a more important role within the cumulative texture. A sudden change of tempo brings a longer passage of intense

From his early piano works Larcher moved on to a series of string quartets, Still – a viola concerto from 2002 – and Böse Zellen for piano with chamber orchestra (2006). Among his major orchestral works are Red and Green (premiered in 2011), and a Double Concerto (premiered by Viktoria Mullova and Matthew Barley the same year). His more recent or current projects are all connected with prestigious artists – works for Mark Padmore and Matthias Goerne, a piece for the Belcea Quartet's 20th anniversary, and a concerto for orchestra for the Vienna Philharmonic. 10 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Programme note © Lindsay Kemp

Patricia Kopatchinskaja violin

activity and eventually a plateau is reached, the soloist sustaining high Cs against gently pulsing cow-bells and string glissandi. A renewal of the frenetic activity culminates in an extended climax with hammered repeated notes, but this recedes into a magical coda in which the solo violin, accompanied by the haunting sound of the accordion, reflects on the original arpeggios. The composer describes the second movement as a 'circle-of-fifths passacaglia', the open C of the cello being the starting-point for the ascending chain of fifths. In the middle of this movement we arrive at 'catastrophic, orgiastic midnight' (Larcher's words). This midnight crisis provokes a complete breakdown in the composer's process of working his way up from the original cello C, beginning the fifths sequence a semitone higher each time and intending to arrive at C an octave above. The 'catastrophic' moment evokes

– in Larcher's words – 'a hole being torn in the earth's crust, into which everything disappears'. A few bars later the piano's twelve repetitions of a bare fifth are a passing reference to the mid-point of the palindromic second movement from Berg's Chamber Concerto, in which the piano similarly evokes the tolling of midnight. In this aftermath Larcher's original concept is reduced to 'a mere shadow', the many instrumental parts become independent, unsynchronised, and only threads remain. Programme note © Philip Borg-Wheeler

The journey into one’s own self, exploring and also confronting one’s own depths. For me, composition is also a process of searching for the self. Thomas Larcher

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

Magnus Lindberg Violin Concertos at Royal Festival Hall Wednesday 9 December 2015 | 7.30pm

The violin is the king of instruments Magnus Lindberg, LPO Composer in Residence

Wednesday 11 November 2015 | 7.30pm Fauré Suite, Pelléas et Mélisande Magnus Lindberg Violin Concerto No. 1 Ravel Valses nobles et sentimentales Debussy La mer Robin Ticciati conductor Christian Tetzlaff violin

Wagenaar Overture Cyrano de Bergerac Magnus Lindberg Violin Concerto No. 2* (world premiere) Beethoven Symphony No. 7 Jaap van Zweden conductor Frank Peter Zimmermann violin *commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Berliner Philharmoniker and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

BBC Radio 3 Live broadcast Tickets £9–£39 (premium seats £65)| lpo.org.uk

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Programme notes continued

Igor Stravinsky

The Rite of Spring

1882–1971

Part 1: Adoration of the Earth Introduction – The Augurs of Spring (Dances of the young girls) – Ritual of abduction – Spring rounds – Ritual of the rival tribes – Procession of the Sage – The Sage – Dance of the Earth Part 2: The Sacrifice Introduction – Mystic circles of the young girls – Glorification of the chosen one – Evocation of the ancestors – Ritual action of the ancestors – Sacrificial dance (The chosen one)

Stravinsky’s original title for The Rite of Spring was ‘The Great Sacrifice’, and the idea for it, he said, came from a dream he had while completing the score for The Firebird in 1910: ‘I saw a solemn pagan rite: sage elders, seated in a circle, watched a young girl dance herself to death. They were sacrificing her to propitiate the god of spring.’ That, aided by the section titles that appear above, is perhaps all one needs to know about the scenario for the ballet that resulted from this inspiration, but naturally such subject matter had a profound influence on the identity and character of the work that would go on to become the 20th century’s most iconic concert piece. For no one could mistake that in The Rite atavistic violence and life-force – summoned by a composer whose fondest memory of his homeland was ‘the violent Russian spring that seemed to begin in an hour and was like the whole earth cracking’ – co-exist with elemental strength. Having imagined the piece, Stravinsky was encouraged to realise it by Sergey Diaghilev, the charismatic impresario whose Ballets Russes company had given the composer his first chance with The Firebird. Their next collaboration was actually Petrushka, but in the summer of 1911 Stravinsky began work on The Rite, devising in collaboration with the designer Nikolay Roerich a scenario and even some concepts for costumes and sets. Work continued throughout the following year, and the 12 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

score was finally completed on 8 March 1913. Roerich was an ethnographist, and presumably his input helped Stravinsky focus the work on Slavic folklore; the composer later stated that the high bassoon melody of the opening was based on a Lithuanian folksong, but it seems that many other thematic elements in the work also had their origins in Slavic melodies, albeit well disguised.

There, for the expert eye, were all the makings of a scandal. Jean Cocteau on the premiere of The Rite of Spring

Yet it is the startling modernism of The Rite that dominates our experience of the piece, even a hundred years after it appeared. The work may have been inspired by the renewal of nature, but the result was a renewal of musical language as well, and just as it conveys a sense of man’s helplessness in the face of terrifying natural forces (as signified by his feeble appeasing rituals), so there is a feeling that a new and potentially untameable musical power is being unleashed. One certainly senses that in the earflattening ‘Dance of the Earth’ that ends Part 1, but it has a technical analogue in the famous ‘crush’ chord – a dissonant superimposition of an F-flat major triad and a dominant seventh on E-flat – that appears in

irregular stamping rhythm about three minutes into the piece. The focal point of the opening sections, it was the first part of The Rite to be written – Stravinsky’s sonic response to his original vision – but however spontaneously it may have come into being, the melodic as well as harmonic implications of its unique identity are played out at length in the course of the piece, as if at first congealed and then exploded into motion by the dance of adolescent girls it accompanies. It is a new approach to rhythm that dominates the work above all, however. Released from its traditional subservience to harmony and form, its pounding energy here makes it not just a motivating force but a structural one as well. The constantly changing, asymmetric metre of the final ‘Sacrificial Dance’ may seem almost randomly unpredictable, but it is actually achieved by near-systematic variation of its basic patterns. As in nature, what appears at first chaotic and arbitrary in The Rite of Spring is in fact highly structured. The Rite’s riotous premiere at the Théâtre des ChampsElysées on 29 May 1913 is the stuff of modern legend. Disquiet at the music was superheated by outrage at Nijinsky’s ‘primitive’ choreography, and rival factions among the audience were soon insulting one another so volubly that even Stravinsky’s giant score could no longer be heard. Less well-known is that subsequent performances within that same season were rather more peaceful, and that within a year a concert presentation of The Rite could be received with ‘unprecedented exultation’. Yet if any piece in music history deserved to make a big noise on its arrival, this is the one. Programme note © Lindsay Kemp

Recommended recordings of tonight’s works Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 Berlin Philharmonic | Claudio Abbado [Deutsche Grammophon] Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring London Philharmonic Orchestra | Charles Mackerras [Classics for Pleasure] London Philharmonic Orchestra | Bernard Haitink [Philips]

The next LPO Concerts at Royal Festival Hall Saturday 31 October 2015 | 7.30pm Bruckner Symphony No. 5 (1878 Nowak edition) Stanisław Skrowaczewski conductor Wednesday 4 November 2015 | 7.30pm Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 Mahler Symphony No. 5 Jukka-Pekka Saraste conductor Paul Lewis 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

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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 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 Robert Markwick & Kasia Robinski The Rind Foundation The Maurice Marks Charitable Trust Sir Bernard Rix David Ross & Line Forestier (Canada) Mr Paris Natar

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Carolina & Martin Schwab Dr Brian Smith Lady Valerie Solti Mr & Mrs G Stein Dr Peter Stephenson Miss Anne Stoddart TFS Loans Limited Lady 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 Queree 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

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 Mrs Philip Kan* Simon Robey Victoria Robey OBE Bianca & Stuart Roden Laurence Watt Anonymous Jon Claydon Garf & Gill Collins* Andrew Davenport Mrs Sonja Drexler David & Victoria Graham Fuller The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust Mr & Mrs Makharinsky Geoff & Meg Mann Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp Julian & Gill Simmonds* Eric Tomsett The Viney Family John & Manon Antoniazzi Jane Attias John & Angela Kessler Guy & Utti Whittaker * BrightSparks Patrons: instead of supporting a chair in the Orchestra, these donors have chosen to support our series of schools’ concerts.

Principal Benefactors Mark & Elizabeth Adams David & Yi Yao Buckley 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 & Mrs G Stein Mr & Mrs John C Tucker Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood Lady Marina Vaizey Grenville & Krysia Williams Mr Anthony Yolland Benefactors Mr Geoffrey Bateman Mrs A Beare Ms Molly Borthwick David & Patricia Buck Mrs Alan Carrington Mr & Mrs Stewart Cohen Mr Alistair Corbett Mr Bruno de Kegel Mr David Edgecombe Mr Timothy Fancourt QC Mr Richard Fernyhough Wim and Jackie Hautekiet-Clare 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 Mr Brian Marsh Andrew T Mills Dr Karen Morton Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill Mr Michael Posen Alexey & Anastasia Reznikovich Mr Konstantin Sorokin Martin and Cheryl Southgate Mr Peter Tausig Simon and Charlotte Warshaw Howard & Sheelagh Watson 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: Accenture Berenberg Carter-Ruck We are AD Bronze: Appleyard & Trew LLP BTO Management Consulting AG Charles Russell Speechlys Lazard Leventis Overseas Preferred Partners Corinthia Hotel London Heineken Sipsmith Steinway Villa Maria In-kind Sponsors Google Inc

Trusts and Foundations Angus Allnatt Charitable Foundation The Bernarr Rainbow Trust The Boltini Trust Borletti-Buitoni Trust The Candide Trust Cockayne – Grants for the Arts The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Dunard Fund The Equitable Charitable Trust The Foyle Foundation Lucille Graham Trust The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust Help Musicians UK The Idlewild Trust Kirby Laing Foundation The Leche Trust The London Community Foundation London Stock Exchange Group Foundation Lord and Lady Lurgan Trust Marsh Christian Trust 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 The Austin and Hope Pilkington Trust The Stanley Picker Trust The Radcliffe Trust Rivers Foundation The R K Charitable Trust RVW Trust Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation The David Solomons Charitable Trust Souter 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 and all others who wish to remain anonymous

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Administration Board of Directors Victoria Robey OBE Chairman Stewart McIlwham* President Gareth Newman* Vice-President Dr Manon Antoniazzi Roger Barron Richard Brass Desmond Cecil CMG Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS Amanda Hill Dr Catherine C. Høgel Rachel Masters* George Peniston* Kevin Rundell* Natasha Tsukanova Mark Vines* Timothy Walker AM Laurence Watt Neil Westreich David Whitehouse* * Player-Director Advisory Council Victoria Robey OBE Chairman Christopher Aldren Richard Brass David Buckley Sir Alan Collins KCVO CMG Andrew Davenport Jonathan Dawson William de Winton Edward Dolman Christopher Fraser OBE Lord Hall of Birkenhead CBE Rehmet Kassim-Lakha Jamie Korner Clive Marks OBE FCA Stewart McIlwham Sir Bernard Rix Baroness Shackleton Lord Sharman of Redlynch OBE Thomas Sharpe QC Julian Simmonds 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 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 Stephanie Yoshida

Chief Executive

Education and Community

Digital Projects

Timothy Walker AM Chief Executive and Artistic Director

Isabella Kernot Education Director (maternity leave)

Alison Atkinson Digital Projects Director

Amy Sugarman PA to the Chief Executive / Administrative Assistant

Clare Lovett Education Director (maternity cover)

Finance

Talia Lash Education and Community Project Manager

Albion Media (Tel: 020 3077 4930)

Lucy Duffy Education and Community Project Manager

Philip Stuart Discographer

David Burke General Manager and Finance Director David Greenslade Finance and IT Manager Dayse Guilherme Finance Officer

Richard Mallett Education and Community Producer

Concert Management

Development

Roanna Gibson Concerts Director

Nick Jackman Development Director

Graham Wood Concerts and Recordings Manager

Catherine Faulkner Development Events Manager

Jenny Chadwick Tours Manager Tamzin Aitken Glyndebourne and UK Engagements Manager Alison Jones Concerts and Recordings Co-ordinator

Kathryn Hageman Individual Giving Manager Laura Luckhurst Corporate Relations Manager Anna Quillin Trusts and Foundations Manager Rebecca Fogg Development Co-ordinator

Jo Cotter Tours Co-ordinator

Helen Yang Development Assistant

Orchestra Personnel

Kirstin Peltonen Development Associate

Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager Sarah Holmes Sarah Thomas Librarians (job-share) Christopher Alderton Stage Manager

Marketing Kath Trout Marketing Director Libby Northcote-Green Marketing Manager

Damian Davis Transport Manager

Rachel Williams Publications Manager (maternity leave)

Madeleine Ridout Assistant Orchestra Personnel Manager

Sarah Breeden Publications Manager (maternity cover)

16 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Samantha Cleverley Box Office Manager (Tel: 020 7840 4242) Anna O’Connor Marketing Co-ordinator Natasha Berg Marketing Intern

Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant Public Relations