LPO programme: 15 Mar 2023 - Tchaikovsky’s Fifth (Karina Canellakis/Vadym Kholodenko)

2022/23 concert season at the Southbank Centre

Where music takes you

Concert programme

Principal Conductor Edward Gardner supported by Aud Jebsen

Principal Guest Conductor Karina Canellakis

Conductor Emeritus Vladimir Jurowski Patron HRH The Duke of Kent KG

Artistic Director Elena Dubinets Chief Executive David Burke

Leader Pieter Schoeman supported by Neil Westreich

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall

Wednesday 15 March 2023 | 7.30pm

Tchaikovsky’s Fifth

Beethoven

Coriolan Overture, Op. 62 (8’)

Prokofiev

Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Op. 26 (28’)

Interval (20’)

Tchaikovsky

Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64 (47’)

Contents

2

3

4 London Philharmonic Orchestra

5 Leader: Pieter Schoeman

6 Karina Canellakis

7 Vadym Kholodenko

8 Programme notes

13

14

16

Karina Canellakis conductor

Vadym Kholodenko* piano

Generously supported by Victoria Robey OBE

* Owing to visa difficulties, unfortunately Daniil Trifonov is unable to perform in tonight’s concert. We are extremely grateful to Vadym Kholodenko for agreeing to step in at short notice.

Tonight’s concert is being filmed for future broadcast on Marquee TV. We would be grateful if audience noise during the performance could be kept to a minimum, and if audience members could kindly hold applause until the end of each full work. Thank you for your co-operation.

The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide. Concert presented by the London Philharmonic Orchestra

Welcome LPO news

Welcome to the Southbank Centre

We’re the largest arts centre in the UK and one of the nation’s top visitor attractions, showcasing the world’s most exciting artists at our venues in the heart of London. We’re here to present great cultural experiences that bring people together, and open up the arts to everyone.

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Drinks

You are welcome to bring drinks from the venue’s bars and cafés into the Royal Festival Hall to enjoy during tonight’s concert. Please be considerate to fellow audience members by keeping noise during the concert to a minimum, and please take your glasses with you for recycling afterwards. Thank you.

Enjoyed tonight’s concert?

Help us to share the wonder of the LPO by making a donation today. Use the QR code to donate via the LPO website, or visit lpo.org.uk/donate. Thank you.

Tonight’s concert on Marquee TV

We are delighted that a selection of concerts from our LPO 2022/23 Royal Festival Hall season are being filmed for broadcast on Marquee TV. Tonight’s concert is being filmed for broadcast on Saturday 13 May 2023 at 7pm. The performance will remain available to watch free of charge for 48 hours without a Marquee TV subscription.

If you would like to subscribe for unlimited access to Marquee TV’s extensive range of music, opera, theatre and dance productions, you can enjoy 50% off with code LPO2022. Visit marquee.tv/LPO2022 to find out more, enjoy a free trial or subscribe.

LPO Junior Artists 2023/24 Applications open now!

LPO Junior Artists is our free orchestral experience programme for talented young musicians from backgrounds currently under-represented in professional UK orchestras. Each year, the programme offers opportunities, advice and professional insight to eight exceptional players of orchestral instruments aged 15–19 and minimum Grade 8 standard.

Applications are open now, and close on 21 April 2023. For more details visit lpo.org.uk/juniorartists

LPO 2023/24 season

Keep an eye out for details of our 2023/24 concert season, which we’ll be announcing next month. Did you know that Friends of the LPO enjoy priority booking for all our London concerts? LPO Friends receive our new season brochure ahead of the general public, and the priority booking period for Friends will open in late April.

To find out more about LPO Friends and the other benefits on offer, including exclusive invitations to rehearsals, special events and a dedicated private bar at our London concerts, visit lpo.org.uk/friends

The LPO Junior Artists Programme is generously funded by the Lucille Graham Trust, the Kirby Laing Foundation, TIOC Foundation and The Victoria Wood Foundation.

First Violins

Pieter Schoeman* Leader

Chair supported by Neil Westreich

Alice Ivy-Pemberton Co-Leader

Kate Oswin

Lasma Taimina

Chair supported by Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik

V. G. Cave

Minn Majoe

Thomas Eisner

Martin Höhmann

Alfredo Reyes Logounova

Yang Zhang

Chair supported by Eric Tomsett

Nilufar Alimaksumova

Katalin Varnagy

Chair supported by Sonja Drexler

Ricky Gore

Rasa Zukauskaite

Gabriela Opacka

Second Violins

Tania Mazzetti Principal

Emma Oldfield Co-Principal

Vera Beumer

Helena Smart

Ashley Stevens

Nancy Elan

Claudia Tarrant-Matthews

Kate Birchall

Fiona Higham

Chair supported by David & Yi Buckley

Sioni Williams

Kate Cole

Jamie Hutchinson

Violas

Richard Waters Principal

Chair supported by Caroline, Jamie & Zander

Sharp

Martin Wray

Katharine Leek

Lucia Ortiz Sauco

Jisu Song

Kate De Campos

Toby Warr

Raquel López Bolívar

Alistair Scahill

Jill Valentine

On stage tonight

Cellos

Benjamin Hughes Guest Principal

Nina Kiva

David Lale

Francis Bucknall

Sue Sutherley

Hee Yeon Cho

Tom Roff

Sibylle Hentschel

Double Basses

Kevin Rundell* Principal

Hugh Kluger

George Peniston

Laura Murphy

Adam Wynter

David Johnson

Flutes

Juliette Bausor Principal

Imogen Royce

Stewart McIlwham*

Piccolo

Stewart McIlwham* Principal

Oboes

Ian Hardwick* Principal

Alice Munday

Clarinets

Benjamin Mellefont Principal

Thomas Watmough

Chair supported by Roger Greenwood

Bassoons

Jonathan Davies Principal

Chair supported by Sir Simon Robey

Helen Simons

Horns

Mark Vines Principal

Martin Hobbs

Duncan Fuller

Gareth Mollison

Alec Ross

Trumpets

Paul Beniston* Principal

Anne McAneney*

Holly Clark

Trombones

Mark Templeton* Principal

Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton

David Whitehouse

Bass Trombone

Lyndon Meredith Principal

Tuba

Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal

Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra

Timpani

Simon Carrington* Principal

Chair supported by Victoria Robey OBE

Percussion

Andrew Barclay* Principal

Chair supported by Gill & Garf Collins

Jeremy Cornes

* Holds a professorial appointment in London

The LPO also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert:

Dr Barry Grimaldi

Bianca & Stuart Roden

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Uniquely groundbreaking and exhilarating to watch and hear, the London Philharmonic Orchestra has been celebrated as one of the world’s great orchestras since Sir Thomas Beecham founded it in 1932. With every performance we aim to bring wonder to the modern world and cement our position as a leading orchestra for the 21st century.

Our home is here at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, where we’re at the beating heart of London’s cultural life. You’ll also find us at our resident venues in Brighton, Eastbourne and Saffron Walden, and on tour throughout the UK and internationally, performing to sell-out audiences worldwide. Each summer we’re resident at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, combining the magic of opera with Glyndebourne’s glorious setting in the Sussex countryside.

Sharing the wonder

You’ll find us online, on streaming platforms, on social media and through our broadcast partnership with Marquee TV. During the pandemic period we launched ‘LPOnline’: over 100 videos of performances, insights and introductions to playlists, which led to us being named runner-up in the Digital Classical Music Awards 2020. During 2022/23 we’re once again working with Marquee TV to broadcast selected live concerts, so you can share or relive the wonder from your own living room.

Our conductors

Our Principal Conductors have included some of the greatest historic names like Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. In 2021 Edward Gardner became our 13th Principal Conductor, taking the Orchestra into its tenth decade. Vladimir Jurowski became Conductor Emeritus in recognition of his impact as Principal Conductor from 2007–21. Karina Canellakis is our current Principal Guest Conductor and Brett Dean our Composer-in-Residence, to be succeeded by Tania León in September 2023.

Soundtrack to key moments

Everyone will have heard the London Philharmonic Orchestra, whether it’s playing the world’s National Anthems at every medal ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, our iconic recording with Pavarotti that made Nessun Dorma a global football anthem, or closing the flotilla at The Queen’s Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant. And you’ll almost certainly have heard us on the soundtracks for major films including The Lord of the Rings

We also release live, studio and archive recordings on our own label, and are the world’s most-streamed orchestra, with over 15 million plays of our content each month. Recent releases include the first volume of a Stravinsky series with Vladimir Jurowski; Tippett’s complete opera The Midsummer Marriage under

© Mark Allan

Edward Gardner, captured in his first concert as LPO Principal Conductor in September 2021; and James MacMillan’s Christmas Oratorio, recorded at the work’s UK premiere performance in December 2021.

Next generations

We’re committed to inspiring the next generation of musicians and music-lovers: there’s nothing we love more than seeing the joy of children and families enjoying their first musical moments, and we’re passionate about equipping schools and teachers through schools’ concerts, resources and training. Reflecting our values of collaboration and inclusivity, our OrchLab and Open Sound Ensemble projects offer music-making opportunities for adults and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. Today’s young instrumentalists are the orchestral members of the future, so we have a number of opportunities to support their progression. Our LPO Junior Artists programme is leading the way in creating pathways into the profession for young artists from under-represented communities, and our LPO Young Composers and Foyle Future Firsts schemes support the next generation of professional musicians, bridging the transition from education to professional careers. We have also recently launched the LPO Conducting Fellowship, supporting the development of two outstanding early-career conductors from backgrounds currently under-represented in the profession.

2022/23 and beyond

We believe in the relevance of our music, and that our programmes must reflect the narratives of modern times. This season we’re exploring themes of belonging and displacement in our series ‘A place to call home’, delving into music by composers including Austrians Erich Korngold and Paul Hindemith, Hungarian Béla Bartók, Cuban Tania León, Ukrainian Victoria Vita Polevá and Syrian Kinan Azmeh. As we celebrate our 90th anniversary we perform works premiered by the Orchestra during its illustrious history. This season also marks Vaughan Williams’s 150th anniversary and we’ll be celebrating with four of his works, as well as both symphonies by Elgar and music by Tippett and Thomas Adès. Our commitment to everything new and creative includes premieres by Brett Dean and Heiner Goebbels, as well as new commissions from composers from around the world including Agata Zubel, Elena Langer and Vijay Iyer.

lpo.org.uk

Pieter Schoeman Leader

Pieter Schoeman was appointed Leader of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008, having previously been Co-Leader since 2002. He is also a Professor of Violin at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance.

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 the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall. As a chamber musician he regularly appears at London’s prestigious Wigmore Hall. His chamber music partners have included Anne-Sophie Mutter, Veronika Eberle, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Boris Garlitsky, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Martin Helmchen and Julia Fischer.

Pieter has performed numerous times as a soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Highlights have included an appearance as both conductor and soloist in Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at the Royal Festival Hall, the Brahms Double Concerto with Kristina Blaumane, and the Britten Double Concerto with Alexander Zemtsov, which was recorded and released on the LPO Label to great critical acclaim.

Pieter has appeared as Guest Leader with the BBC, Barcelona, Bordeaux, Lyon and Baltimore symphony orchestras; the Rotterdam and BBC Philharmonic orchestras; and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.

Pieter’s chair in the LPO is generously supported by Neil Westreich.

© Benjamin Ealovega

Karina Canellakis

Principal Guest Conductor, London Philharmonic Orchestra

Utrecht with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, where she holds the title of Chief Conductor.

After the great success of Kat’a Kabánova last season, next month she brings another Janáček opera, The Cunning Little Vixen, to the stage of the Concertgebouw. On the opera stage she has also conducted critically acclaimed productions of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin; Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Die Zauberflöte and Le nozze di Figaro; David Lang’s the loser; and Peter Maxwell Davies’s The Hogboon

Internationally acclaimed for her emotionally charged performances, technical command and interpretive depth, Karina Canellakis has become one of the most in-demand conductors of her generation. She became the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor in September 2020, and her performances with the Orchestra in her first season led to one critic recounting the ‘explosive chemistry between this conductor and orchestra’, while another described ‘a musical partnership that looks set to be one of the most exciting and rewarding in London’. Karina is also Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB).

Karina began her 2022/23 season at the BBC Proms, conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Mahler’s Symphony No. 1. Other highlights this season include an exciting debut with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and returns to the Boston, Dallas and San Francisco symphony orchestras and to the Orchestre de Paris. As Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Karina is joined this season by pianist Daniil Trifonov and violinist Augustin Hadelich for concertos by Prokofiev and Sibelius, as well as pouring her energy and insight into Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ Symphony and Tchaikovsky’s Fifth. During the past week she led the Orchestra and soloist Daniil Trifonov on an extensive tour of Germany’s most prestigious concert halls. This season she also returns to Berlin for concerts in her position as Principal Guest Conductor of the RSB. Karina continues to present exciting modern pieces as well as well-known masterpieces at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and TivoliVredenburg in

Since winning the Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award in 2016, Karina has become a guest conductor with leading orchestras around the world including the London Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Munich Philharmonic, and the symphony orchestras of Melbourne, Sydney, Toronto, Cincinnati, Minnesota, Detroit and Vienna. She was the first woman to conduct the First Night of the BBC Proms in London in 2019, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. She was also the first woman to ever conduct the Nobel Prize Concert with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic in 2018.

Already known to many in the classical music world for her virtuoso violin playing, Karina was initially encouraged to pursue conducting by Sir Simon Rattle while she was playing regularly in the Berlin Philharmonic for two years as a member of its Orchester-Akademie. She performed for many years as a soloist, guest leader and chamber musician, spending her summers at the Marlboro Music Festival, until conducting eventually became her focus.

Karina was born and raised in New York City.

© Mathias Bothor

Vadym Kholodenko piano

RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Janáček Philharmonic, Filarmonica Toscanini, Bournemouth Symphony, Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Barcelona Symphony, RTVE Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Nacional de España and NCPA Orchestra in Beijing.

As a recitalist, Kholodenko has performed throughout the United States, Europe and beyond, including at the Wigmore Hall, LSO St Luke’s, Vienna Konzerthaus and Liszt Academy Budapest, as well as venues in Paris, Moscow, Bilbao, Brussels, Lucerne, Beijing, Singapore and Japan. Festival performances include the SWR Schwetzinger Festspiele, La Roque d’Anthéron and the Chopin Festival in Warsaw.

Owing to visa difficulties, unfortunately Daniil Trifonov is unable to perform in tonight’s concert. We are extremely grateful to Vadym Kholodenko for agreeing to step in at short notice.

Ukrainian pianist Vadym Kholodenko has captured audiences across the globe with his depth of sound, exceptional refinement of expression and consummate virtuosity. This multiple-award winning pianist (Van Cliburn Competition, Schubert Competition in Dortmund, Sendai Competition in Japan) is in demand both for his recitals and concerto appearances, and was 2021/22 Artist-in-Residence with the SWR Symphonieorchester in Germany, performing Fauré, Brahms, Rachmaninoff and Beethoven across the season.

Kholodenko’s international career has taken him to orchestras in Europe, the USA and Japan, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Staatskapelle Weimar, BBC Symphony, Orchestra, Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Japan Philharmonic, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony and Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Tonight is his debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Current concerto engagements include performances with the Danish National Symphony, Lahti Symphony, Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and a tour with the Rotterdam Sinfonia including a performance at the Concertgebouw. Other recent engagements have seen Kholodenko perform with the Cincinnati Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony,

Kholodenko’s recordings for Harmonia Mundi include Grieg’s Piano Concerto and Saint-Saëns’s Piano Concerto No. 2 (awarded Gramophone Editor’s Choice), and the complete cycle of Prokofiev Piano Concertos. A disc of solo works by Scriabin received a Diapason d’Or de l’année, and last season he released two further solo discs of works by Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky.

Vadym Kholodenko was born in Kyiv of Israeli heritage and gave his first concerts at the age of 13 in the USA, China, Hungary and Croatia. He studied at the Moscow State Conservatoire under Professor Vera Gornostaeva.

© Jean-Baptiste Millot

Programme notes

Ludwig van Beethoven

1770–1827

Coriolan Overture, Op. 62 1807

Until towards the end of the 18th century, overtures were usually little more than musical announcements that an opera or a play was about to begin, a way of silencing the audience. Rarely was their content affected much by the events of the ensuing drama, and it was only with Gluck’s ‘reform operas’ of the 1770s that overtures began to attempt on a more regular basis to encapsulate what was to follow. So influential was the change, however, that by the early 1800s, Beethoven’s most dynamic overtures – those to the plays Coriolan, Egmont and The Ruins of Athens, to the ballet The Creatures of Prometheus and the opera Fidelio – soon acquired a concert life of their own. In effect, they had become the earliest examples of one of the 19th century’s favourite forms, the symphonic poem.

The overture that Beethoven provided for Coriolan, a five-year-old tragedy by his friend Heinrich von Collin, was actually performed a couple of times as a concert piece in the month which preceded its appearance at a revival of the play in April 1807. Collin’s drama had its origins in Shakespeare’s Coriolanus and, though differing from it in several respects, presented the same dilemma of the Roman general who has rebelled and is now leading an attack on Rome itself. On the point of victory he lays down his arms so that his mother, Volumnia, can be spared – a moment of military weakness which eventually drives him to suicide. Beethoven’s Overture focuses on the conflict between the arrogant soldier – shown in the truculent opening chords and urgent string motif – and the pleadings of his mother as represented by the tender second theme, rising step by step as her beseeching intensifies.

In Shakespeare, Coriolanus was killed by his own followers for his disloyalty, but Beethoven’s concern, like Collin’s, was for the effect of the hero’s failings on his own mind, as shown at the end. Here, Volumnia’s theme makes its third and last appearance, not rising this time but switching with greater urgency to the minor, with the result that Coriolanus capitulates in a broken version

of the opening. As the once-proud chords lose their way and the string motif shrivels to nothing, the general’s fall is quiet and ignominious.

Programme note © Lindsay Kemp Courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London

Programme notes

Sergei Prokofiev

1891–1953

Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Op. 26 1916–21

Vadym Kholodenko piano

1 Andante – Allegro

2 Tema con variazioni

3 Allegro, ma non troppo

Prokofiev wrote his Third Piano Concerto during the years 1916–21: five years in which the world he knew changed out of all recognition. At the beginning Russia was still home. But the old Tsarist regime was completely unprepared for the onset of the First World War and the assault against Germany was poorly managed. Appalling losses followed, stoking up the resentment that would lead to the revolutions of 1917 and the destruction of the old Russia. By the time Prokofiev had finished the Third Piano Concerto, Tsarism had been replaced by Bolshevism, and Prokofiev (no revolutionary sympathiser) found it advisable to stay abroad. At first he tried to make a living in the USA, and when that failed he tried Paris instead, with more success. And yet Prokofiev never felt fully at home in the West. For him, as for Stravinsky, Russian remained ‘the exiled language of my heart’.

Although the unaccompanied clarinet tune that opens the Third Concerto doesn’t sound quite like any authentic folksong, many have found something characteristically Russian here. The theme seems ready to expand lyrically (strings and flute), but then it is swept away by a racing Allegro full of devilish rapid figuration for the soloist. In music like this we can gauge something of Prokofiev’s own brilliance as a pianist: commenting on Prokofiev’s playing not long after his arrival in America, one journalist dubbed him ‘the man with the steel fingers’. Nothing stays the same for long however: throughout this Concerto mood, textures and character keep changing, sometimes with startling rapidity, and Prokofiev the deft, wicked ironist is rarely

© Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd

Programme notes

far away. The first movement’s second theme (oboe and pizzicato violins) seems jaunty enough, but the clicking castanets add a slightly macabre touch, which is strongly underlined when the theme returns towards the end of the movement.

Then in the second movement, Prokofiev seems to take grim pleasure in subjecting his innocent-sounding Andantino (woodwind) theme to all manner of extreme transformations, through the angular violence of the third variation, and the eerie stillness of the fourth to the

violent obsessive climax of the fifth. A more goodnatured grotesquerie seems to emerge in the finale, but before long we see the demonic side of the piano again. After a while the tempo drops and a luscious melody, introduced by cellos, is treated to some fabulous intricate decorative work by the piano – magical Prokofievian night music at its finest. But then the dancing, pounding main theme returns, and the Concerto ends in a whirl of steely sound.

Programme note © Stephen Johnson

Interval – 20 minutes

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

Tonight’s works on the LPO Label

Beethoven Coriolan Overture

Beethoven Symphony No. 5

Klaus Tennstedt conductor

London Philharmonic Orchestra

LPO-0087

Recorded live at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall on 23 February 1992 (Coriolan Overture) & 30 August 1990 (Symphony No. 5).

Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4

Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5

Vladimir Jurowski conductor

London Philharmonic Orchestra

LPO-0064

Recorded live at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall on 19 March 2011 (Symphony No. 4) & 4 May 2011 (Symphony No. 5)

120+ LPO Label recordings available to buy on CD, and to download or stream via Spotify, Apple Music, Idagio and others. Scan the QR codes to listen now or find out more.

Programme notes

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

1840–93

Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64

1888

1 Andante – Allegro con anima

2 Andante cantabile, con alcuna licenza

3 Valse: Allegro moderato

4 Finale: Andante maestoso – Allegro vivace

Tchaikovsky’s last three symphonies (Nos. 4–6) are sometimes depicted as a set, or even as a kind of dramatic trilogy. Of course each work is entirely selfsufficient, and they don’t directly ‘refer’ to one another – as some of Mahler’s symphonies do. But it is possible to see similar preoccupations being worked out in all three symphonies: some of them purely musical, others more personal, possibly autobiographical.

These last three symphonies are so familiar to many that their originality tends to be overlooked. In fact these are some of the most original symphonic works composed after Beethoven’s titanic nine. Although all of them are in the traditional four movements, the layout is radically different in each case. The Fourth balances a huge, complex and powerfully tragic first movement with three shorter ones, which can be seen as strikingly contrasted responses to the bleak predicament outlined in the first. The Sixth (the ‘Pathétique’), on the other hand, places the tragedy at the end in a shattering Adagio lamentoso – symphonies ending in slow movements were extremely rare in the 19th century.

The Fifth follows yet another course. Like No. 4, it begins with what is clearly a ‘Fate’ motif, which here returns to haunt all three later movements. After Tchaikovsky’s disastrous attempt to conquer – or at least conceal –his homosexuality by marrying one of his students in 1877, he became increasingly convinced that his life was directed by some kind of dark, implacable force. The brazen fanfare theme that begins the Fourth Symphony was specifically labelled ‘Fate’ by its composer. The Fifth’s fateful motto theme, however,

enters with a very different kind of tone and tread. Low clarinets (a colour Tchaikovsky often used to great effect) sing a mournful, funereal theme, while low string chords underscore the sense of heavy, weary movement. Eventually this comes to a halt, pianissimo; but then the string chords set out at a livelier pace, and a new theme – melancholic but with a new dancing momentum – emerges on clarinet and bassoon. The Symphony appears to be attempting to counter gloom with the classic remedy of physical movement. This Allegro con anima has its exhilarating highs and stark lows, but the end echoes the beginning: a bassoon subtly recalls the outline of the original Fate theme before descending to a cavernous low B, as timpani and double basses close the movement unambiguously in the minor.

Sombre low string chords begin the slow movement, but now they climb towards the light, which dawns fully in a wonderful long horn melody. If the first movement’s motto theme represents Fate, then this is almost certainly a ‘Love’ theme. Eventually the music grows agitated, and the first movement’s Fate theme storms in on trumpets, bringing the music to a dead stop. Has the idyll been shattered? Tentatively at first, the Love melody returns (now on violins with oboe countermelody) and the mood grows more ardent –until again Fate intrudes, still more aggressively, on trombones. This time there is no return of the Love theme, but a tender, possibly resigned coda.

The following Valse (Waltz) movement is in striking contrast. Its elegant, lilting dance tune could have come

Programme notes

straight from a ballroom scene in one of Tchaikovsky’s operas or ballets. But just before the end, Fate returns again, this time quietly on low clarinets and bassoons –a dim but ghostly presence amid colourful merriment. Clearly its implications have to be faced, so Tchaikovsky begins his finale by transforming the Fate theme into a resolutely major-key march tune. This new-found determination is striking, but before long the resolve seems to falter and a turbulent Allegro vivace explodes onto the scene. At length this comes to a big expectant pause, then the resolute major-key version of the Fate theme marches back in on strings to launch Tchaikovsky’s most positive symphonic conclusion –could Tchaikovsky be telling us that we can be reconciled with, even embrace our fate? Eventually the coda races to the finishing post with memories of the first movement’s dancing Allegro theme shining out on trumpets and horns. Not every listener finds this final affirmation entirely convincing – but that may have been Tchaikovsky’s intention. After all, how often in life do we experience unequivocal triumph?

Recommended recordings of tonight’s works

by Laurie Watt

Beethoven: Coriolan Overture

London Philharmonic Orchestra | Klaus Tennstedt (LPO Label LPO-0087: see page 10)

Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3

Nikolai Demidenko | London Philharmonic Orchestra | Alexander Lazarev (Hyperion)

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5

London Philharmonic Orchestra | Vladimir Jurowski (LPO Label LPO-0064: see page 10)

Next LPO concerts at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall

TEARS AND LAUGHTER

Saturday 18 March 2023 | 7.30pm

Victoria Vita Polevá Nova (UK premiere)

Elena Langer The Dong with a Luminous Nose (world premiere)

Shostakovich Symphony No. 5

Andrey Boreyko conductor

Kristina Blaumane cello*

London Philharmonic Choir

*Chair supported by Bianca and Stuart Roden

A HOUSE OF CALL

Saturday 25 March 2023 | 7.30pm

Heiner Goebbels A House of Call (UK premiere)

Vimbayi Kaziboni conductor

Performed with kind permission of Ensemble Modern

LPO.ORG.UK

Programme note © Stephen Johnson

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

Welser-Möst Circle

William & Alex de Winton

John Ireland Charitable Trust

The Tsukanov Family Foundation

Neil Westreich

Tennstedt Circle

Valentina & Dmitry Aksenov

Richard Buxton

The Candide Trust

Michael & Elena Kroupeev

Kirby Laing Foundation

Mr & Mrs Makharinsky

Alexey & Anastasia Reznikovich

Sir Simon Robey

Bianca & Stuart Roden

Simon & Vero Turner

The late Mr K Twyman

Solti Patrons

Ageas

John & Manon Antoniazzi

Gabor Beyer, through BTO Management Consulting AG

Jon Claydon

Mrs Mina Goodman & Miss Suzanne

Goodman

Roddy & April Gow

The Jeniffer & Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust

Mr James R.D. Korner

Christoph Ladanyi & Dr Sophia

Ladanyi-Czernin

Robert Markwick & Kasia Robinski

The Maurice Marks Charitable Trust

Mr Paris Natar

The Rothschild Foundation

Tom & Phillis Sharpe

The Viney Family

Haitink Patrons

Mark & Elizabeth Adams

Dr Christopher Aldren

Mrs Pauline Baumgartner

Lady Jane Berrill

Mr Frederick Brittenden

David & Yi Yao Buckley

Mr Clive Butler

Gill & Garf Collins

Mr John H Cook

Mr Alistair Corbett

Bruno De Kegel

Georgy Djaparidze

David Ellen

Christopher Fraser OBE

David & Victoria Graham Fuller

Goldman Sachs International

Mr Gavin Graham

Moya Greene

Mrs Dorothy Hambleton

Tony & Susie Hayes

Malcolm Herring

Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle

Mrs Philip Kan

Rehmet Kassim-Lakha de Morixe

Rose & Dudley Leigh

Lady Roslyn Marion Lyons

Miss Jeanette Martin

Duncan Matthews KC

Diana & Allan Morgenthau

Charitable Trust

Dr Karen Morton

Mr Roger Phillimore

Ruth Rattenbury

The Reed Foundation

The Rind Foundation

Sir Bernard Rix

David Ross & Line Forestier (Canada)

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 CBE AM

Christopher Williams

Peter Wilson Smith

Mr Anthony Yolland

and all other donors who wish to remain anonymous

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

Anonymous donors

Mrs Aline Foriel-Destezet

Aud Jebsen

In memory of Mrs Rita Reay

Sir Simon & Lady Robey OBE

Orchestra Circle

William & Alex de Winton

Patricia Haitink

Mr & Mrs Philip Kan

TIOC Foundation

Neil Westreich

The American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra

Principal Associates

Richard Buxton

Gill & Garf Collins

In memory of Brenda Lyndoe

Casbon

In memory of Ann Marguerite

Collins

Sally Groves MBE

George Ramishvili

Associates

Mrs Irina Andreeva

In memory of Len & Edna Beech

Steven M. Berzin

Ms Veronika BorovikKhilchevskaya

The Candide Trust

Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik V. G.

Cave

The Lambert Family Charitable

Trust

Stuart & Bianca Roden

In memory of Hazel Amy Smith

The Tsukanov Family

The Viney Family

Gold Patrons

An anonymous donor

Chris Aldren

David & Yi Buckley

In memory of Allner Mavis

Channing

Sonja Drexler

Jan & Leni Du Plessis

The Vernon Ellis Foundation

Peter & Fiona Espenhahn

Hamish & Sophie Forsyth

Mr Roger Greenwood

Malcolm Herring

John & Angela Kessler

Julian & Gill Simmonds

Eric Tomsett

Andrew & Rosemary Tusa

Guy & Utti Whittaker

Mr Florian Wunderlich

Silver Patrons

Dame Colette Bowe

David Burke & Valerie Graham

John & Sam Dawson

Bruno De Kegel

Ulrike & Benno Engelmann

Virginia Gabbertas MBE

Dmitry & Ekaterina Gursky

The Jeniffer & Jonathan Harris

Charitable Trust

Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle

Sir George Iacobescu

Jamie & Julia Korner

Mr & Mrs Makharinsky

Mr Nikita Mishin

Andrew Neill

Tom & Phillis Sharpe

Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood

Laurence Watt

Bronze Patrons

Anonymous donors

Michael Allen

Mr Mark Astaire

Nicholas & Christine Beale

Mikhail Noskov & Vasilina Bindley

Mr Anthony Blaiklock

Lorna & Christopher Bown

Mr Bernard Bradbury

Simon Burke & Rupert King

Desmond & Ruth Cecil

Mr Evgeny Chichvarkin

Mr John H Cook

Georgy Djaparidze

Deborah Dolce

Cameron & Kathryn Doley

Mariana Eidelkind & Gene

Moldavsky

David Ellen

Ben Fairhall

Mr Richard & Helen Gillingwater

Mr Daniel Goldstein

David & Jane Gosman

Mr Gavin Graham

Lord & Lady Hall

Mrs Dorothy Hambleton

Iain & Alicia Hasnip

Martin & Katherine Hattrell

Michael & Christine Henry

Mr Steve Holliday

J Douglas Home

Mr & Mrs Ralph Kanza

Mrs Elena & Mr Oleg Kolobov

Rose & Dudley Leigh

Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE

JP RAF

Drs Frank & Gek Lim

Mr Nicholas Little

Geoff & Meg Mann

Mrs Elizabeth Meshkvicheva

Andrew T Mills

Peter & Lucy Noble

Mr Roger Phillimore

Mr Michael Posen

Mr Anthony Salz

Ms Nadia Stasyuk

Charlotte Stevenson

Mr Joe Topley & Ms Tracey

Countryman

Mr & Mrs John C Tucker

Timothy Walker CBE AM

Jenny Watson CBE

Grenville & Krysia Williams

Principal Supporters

Anonymous donors

Dr Manon Antoniazzi

Julian & Annette Armstrong

Mr John D Barnard

Mr Geoffrey Bateman

Mr Philip Bathard-Smith

Mrs A Beare

Dr Anthony Buckland

Dr Simona Cicero & Mr Mario

Altieri

Mr Peter Coe

Mrs Pearl Cohen

David & Liz Conway

Mr Alistair Corbett

Ms Mary Anne Cordeiro

Ms Elena Dubinets

Mr Richard Fernyhough

Jason George

Mr Christian Grobel

Prof Emeritus John Gruzelier

Mark & Sarah Holford

Mrs Maureen Hooft-Graafland

Per Jonsson

Mr Ian Kapur

Ms Kim J Koch

Ms Elena Lojevsky

Mrs Terry Neale

John Nickson & Simon Rew

Oliver & Josie Ogg

Ms Olga Ovenden

Mr James Pickford

Filippo Poli

Sir Bernard Rix

Mr Robert Ross

Priscylla Shaw

Martin & Cheryl Southgate

Mr & Mrs G Stein

Dr Peter Stephenson

Joanna Williams

Christopher Williams

Ms Elena Ziskind

Supporters

Anonymous donors

Ralph & Elizabeth Aldwinckle

Mr & Mrs Robert Auerbach

Mrs Julia Beine

Harvey Bengen

Miss YolanDa Brown OBE

Miss Yousun Chae

Mr Julien Chilcott-Monk

Alison Clarke & Leo Pilkington

Mr Joshua Coger

Miss Tessa Cowie

Mr David Devons

Patricia Dreyfus

Mr Martin Fodder

Christopher Fraser OBE

Will Gold

Ray Harsant

Mr Peter Imhof

The Jackman Family

Mr David MacFarlane

Dame Jane Newell DBE

Mr Stephen Olton

Mari Payne

Mr David Peters

Ms Edwina Pitman

Mr & Mrs Graham & Jean Pugh

Mr Giles Quarme

Mr Kenneth Shaw

Mr Brian Smith

Ms Rika Suzuki

Tony & Hilary Vines

Dr June Wakefield

Mr John Weekes

Mr C D Yates

Hon. Benefactor

Elliott Bernerd

Hon. Life Members

Alfonso Aijón

Kenneth Goode

Carol Colburn Grigor CBE

Pehr G Gyllenhammar

Robert Hill

Victoria Robey OBE

Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE

Timothy Walker CBE AM

Laurence Watt

Thomas Beecham Group Members

David & Yi Buckley

Gill & Garf Collins

William & Alex de Winton

Sonja Drexler

The Friends of the LPO

Irina Gofman

Roger Greenwood

Dr Barry Grimaldi

Mr & Mrs Philip Kan

John & Angela Kessler

Sir Simon Robey

Victoria Robey OBE

Bianca & Stuart Roden

Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp

Julian & Gill Simmonds

Eric Tomsett

Neil Westreich

Guy & Utti Whittaker

Corporate Donor

Barclays

LPO Corporate Circle

Principal

Bloomberg

Carter-Ruck

French Chamber of Commerce

Tutti

Lazard

Natixis Corporate Investment

Banking

Sciteb Ltd

Walpole

Preferred Partners

Gusbourne Estate

Jeroboams

Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd

OneWelbeck Steinway

In-kind Sponsor

Google Inc

Thank you

Trusts and Foundations

ABO Trust

BlueSpark Foundation

The Boltini Trust

Borrows Charitable Trust

The Candide Trust

Cockayne – Grants for the Arts

The London Community Foundation

The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust

Dunard Fund

Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation

Foyle Foundation

Garrick Charitable Trust

John Horniman’s Children’s Trust

John Thaw Foundation

Institute Adam Mickiewicz

Kirby Laing Foundation

Lord and Lady Lurgan Trust

The Marchus Trust

The Radcliffe Trust

Rivers Foundation

Rothschild Foundation

Scops Arts Trust

Sir William Boremans’ Foundation

The John S Cohen Foundation

The Stanley Picker Trust

The Thriplow Charitable Trust

TIOC Foundation

Vaughan Williams Foundation

The Victoria Wood Foundation

The Viney Family

The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust and all others who wish to remain anonymous.

Board of the American Friends of the LPO

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

Kara Boyle

Jon Carter

Jay Goffman

Alexandra Jupin

Natalie Pray

Damien Vanderwilt

Marc Wasserman

Elizabeth Winter

Catherine Høgel Hon. Director

Jenifer L. Keiser, CPA, EisnerAmper LLP

LPO International Board of Governors

Natasha Tsukanova Co-Chair

Martin Höhmann Co-Chair

Mrs Irina Andreeva

Steven M. Berzin

Shashank Bhagat

Veronika Borovik-Khilchevskaya

Marie-Laure Favre Gilly de Varennes de Bueil

Aline Foriel-Destezet

Irina Gofman

Countess Dominique Loredan

Olivia Ma

George Ramishvili

Sophie Schÿler-Thierry

Jay Stein

Florian Wunderlich

London Philharmonic Orchestra Administration

Board of Directors

Dr Catherine C. Høgel Chair

Lord Hall of Birkenhead CBE Vice-Chair

Martin Höhmann* President

Mark Vines* Vice-President

Kate Birchall*

David Buckley

David Burke

Bruno De Kegel

Deborah Dolce

Elena Dubinets

Tanya Joseph

Hugh Kluger*

Katherine Leek*

Al MacCuish

Minn Majoe*

Tania Mazzetti*

Jamie Njoku-Goodwin

Andrew Tusa

Neil Westreich

Simon Freakley (Ex officio –Chairman of the American Friends of the London

Philharmonic Orchestra)

*Player-Director

Advisory Council

Martin Höhmann Chairman

Christopher Aldren

Dr Manon Antoniazzi

Roger Barron

Richard Brass

Helen Brocklebank

YolanDa Brown OBE

Simon Burke

Simon Callow CBE

Desmond Cecil CMG

Sir Alan Collins KCVO CMG

Andrew Davenport

Guillaume Descottes

Cameron Doley

Christopher Fraser OBE

Jenny Goldie-Scot

Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS

Marianna Hay MBE

Nicholas Hely-Hutchinson DL

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 KC

Julian Simmonds

Barry Smith

Martin Southgate

Chris Viney

Laurence Watt

Elizabeth Winter

General Administration

Elena Dubinets

Artistic Director

David Burke

Chief Executive

Chantelle Vircavs PA to the Executive

Concert Management

Roanna Gibson

Concerts and Planning Director

Graham Wood Concerts and Recordings Manager

Maddy Clarke

Tours Manager

Madeleine Ridout

Glyndebourne and Projects Manager

Alison Jones

Concerts and Recordings Co-ordinator

Robert Winup

Concerts and Tours Assistant

Matthew Freeman

Recordings Consultant

Andrew Chenery

Orchestra Personnel Manager

Sarah Thomas

Martin Sargeson

Librarians

Laura Kitson Stage and Operations Manager

Stephen O’Flaherty

Deputy Operations Manager

Felix Lo

Orchestra and Auditions Manager

Finance

Frances Slack

Finance Director

Dayse Guilherme

Finance Manager

Jean-Paul Ramotar

Finance and IT Officer

Education and Community

Talia Lash

Education and Community Director

Lowri Davies

Hannah Foakes

Education and Community Project Managers

Hannah Smith

Education and Community Co-ordinator

Development

Laura Willis

Development Director

Rosie Morden

Individual Giving Manager

Siân Jenkins

Corporate Relations Manager

Anna Quillin

Trusts and Foundations Manager

Katurah Morrish

Development Events Manager

Eleanor Conroy

Al Levin

Development Assistants

Nick Jackman

Campaigns and Projects Director

Kirstin Peltonen

Development Associate

Marketing

Kath Trout

Marketing and Communications Director

Sophie Harvey

Marketing Manager

Rachel Williams

Publications Manager

Harrie Mayhew

Website Manager

Gavin Miller

Sales and Ticketing Manager

Ruth Haines

Press and PR Manager

Greg Felton

Digital Creative

Hayley Kim

Marketing Co-ordinator

Alicia Hartley

Marketing Assistant Archives

Philip Stuart

Discographer

Gillian Pole

Recordings Archive

Professional Services

Charles Russell Speechlys Solicitors

Crowe Clark Whitehill LLP

Auditors

Dr Barry Grimaldi

Honorary Doctor

Mr Chris Aldren

Honorary ENT Surgeon

Mr Simon Owen-Johnstone

Hon. Orthopaedic Surgeon

London Philharmonic Orchestra

89 Albert Embankment

London SE1 7TP

Tel: 020 7840 4200

Box Office: 020 7840 4242

Email: admin@lpo.org.uk lpo.org.uk

Cover illustration

Simon Pemberton/Heart

2022/23 season identity

JMG Studio

Printer John Good Ltd