MUSIC IS OUR WORLD. WE WANT TO SHARE ITS ASTONISHING POWER AND WONDER WITH YOU. Concert programme lpo.org.uk
Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor VLADIMIR JUROWSKI supported by the Tsukanov Family Foundation Principal Guest Conductor ANDRÉS OROZCO-ESTRADA Leader pieter schoeman supported by Neil Westreich 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 Saturday 15 October 2016 | 7.30pm
Stravinsky Symphonies of Wind Instruments (1947 version) (9’) Stravinsky Variations (Aldous Huxley in Memoriam) (5’) Zimmermann Violin Concerto (18’) Interval (20’) Henze Symphony No. 7 (39’)
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Thomas Zehetmair violin
Free pre-concert event 6.15–6.45pm | Royal Festival Hall Gramophone critic and Henze biographer Guy Rickards looks at Henze’s importance as a 20th-century symphonist.
The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide. CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
Contents 2 Welcome LPO news 3 On stage tonight 4 About the Orchestra 5 Next concerts 6 Vladimir Jurowski 7 Thomas Zehetmair 8 Programme notes 12 Recommended recordings 13 Sound Futures donors 14 Supporters 16 LPO administration
Welcome
Welcome to Southbank Centre We hope you enjoy your visit. We have a Duty Manager available at all times. If you have any queries please ask 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.
LPO news
Vladimir Jurowski: one of London’s most influential The LPO’s Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor, Vladimir Jurowski, was recently named by the Evening Standard as one of 2016’s ‘Progress 1000’, recognising London’s 1000 most influential people. The jury praised Vladimir’s contribution to the city’s cultural scene, professing that ‘his articulately expressed views on music and other matters have won the Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra a devoted following, as have his innovative programmes and highly individualised, sometimes idiosyncratic, approach to the classics, notably Mahler.’ Read the full list: standard.co.uk/news/the1000 This month’s LPO Label release: Wagner
If you wish to get in touch with us following your visit please contact the Visitor Experience Team at Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX, phone 020 7960 4250, or email customer@southbankcentre.co.uk We look forward to seeing you again soon. Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Hayward Gallery are closed for essential refurbishment until 2018. During this period, our resident orchestras are performing in venues including St John's 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.
Just released on the LPO Label is Act 1 of Wagner’s opera Die Walküre, recorded in 1991 at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall (LPO-0092). This marks conductor Klaus Tennstedt’s 16th release on the label, and also features soloists Eva-Maria Bundschuh (Sieglinde), René Kollo (Siegmund) and John Tomlinson (Hunding). Priced £9.99, it is available from lpo.org.uk/recordings, the LPO Ticket Office (020 7840 4242) and all good CD outlets. Download or stream online via iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and others. Ravi Shankar’s Sukanya: May 2017 In May 2017 the Orchestra will take part in the first performances of an opera by Indian music legend Ravi Shankar. Shankar was composing his pioneering opera Sukanya at the time of his death in 2012, and it explores the common ground between the music, dance and theatrical traditions of India and the West. Conductor and collaborator David Murphy – who worked with Shankar for many years, notably conducting the world premiere of his Symphony with the LPO in 2010 – completed the opera with help from Anoushka Shankar, Ravi Shankar’s daughter. The four performances will take place at Leicester’s Curve (world premiere, 12 May), The Lowry, Salford (14 May), Symphony Hall Birmingham (15 May) and London’s Southbank Centre (19 May). lpo.org.uk/sukanya Sukanya is a co-production between The Royal Opera, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Curve, Leicester. The 19 May performance is a co-production between The Royal Opera, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Curve, Leicester in association with Southbank Centre. With generous philanthropic support from Arts Council England and the Bagri Foundation.
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On stage tonight
First Violins Eugene Tichindeleanu Guest Leader Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader Ilyoung Chae Chair supported by an anonymous donor
Ji-Hyun Lee Chair supported by Eric Tomsett
Katalin Varnagy Chair supported by Sonja Drexler
Catherine Craig Thomas Eisner Martin Höhmann Geoffrey Lynn Chair supported by Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp
Robert Pool Sarah Streatfeild Yang Zhang Tina Gruenberg Grace Lee Rebecca Shorrock Molly Cockburn Second Violins Andrew Storey Principal Tania Mazzetti Kate Birchall Nancy Elan Fiona Higham Chair supported by David & Yi Buckley
Nynke Hijlkema Joseph Maher Marie-Anne Mairesse Ashley Stevens Robin Wilson Philip Brett Sheila Law Alison Strange Elizabeth Baldey Violas Julia Neher Guest Principal Cyrille Mercier Co-Principal Robert Duncan Gregory Aronovich
Katharine Leek Susanne Martens Benedetto Pollani Emmanuella Reiter Laura Vallejo Naomi Holt Isabel Pereira Stanislav Popov Cellos Kristina Blaumane Principal Chair supported by Bianca & Stuart Roden
Francis Bucknall Laura Donoghue David Lale Gregory Walmsley Elisabeth Wiklander Chair supported by Drs Oliver & Asha Foster
Tom Roff George Hoult Philip Taylor Sibylle Hentschel Double Basses Kevin Rundell* Principal Sebastian Pennar Sub-Principal George Peniston Laurence Lovelle Lowri Morgan Charlotte Kerbegian Thomas Walley Ben Wolstenholme Flutes Juliette Bausor Principal Sue Thomas* Chair supported by Victoria Robey OBE
Stewart McIlwham* Claire Childs Piccolos Stewart McIlwham* Principal Claire Childs Alto Flute Sue Thomas*
Oboes Ian Hardwick* Principal Alice Munday Cor Anglais Sue Böhling* Principal Chair supported by Dr Barry Grimaldi
Heckelphone John Orford Clarinets Thomas Watmough Principal Emily Meredith James Maltby Bass Clarinet Paul Richards Principal Contrabass Clarinet Martin Robertson Bassoons Jonathan Davies Principal Gareth Newman Claire Webster Simon Estell Contrabassoon Simon Estell Principal 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 Kathryn Saunders Trumpets Paul Beniston* Principal Anne McAneney* Chair supported by Geoff & Meg Mann
Toby Street Catherine Knight Niall Keatley
D Trumpets Christopher Deacon Neil Brough Robin Totterdell Trombones Mark Templeton* Principal Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton
David Whitehouse Simon Baker Bass Trombones Lyndon Meredith Principal Barry Clements Contrabass Trombone Lyndon Meredith Tuba Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal Timpani Simon Carrington* Principal Percussion Andrew Barclay* Principal Chair supported by Andrew Davenport
Henry Baldwin Co-Principal Keith Millar Neil Percy Sam Walton Jeremy Cornes Harp Rachel Masters Principal Piano Catherine Edwards Celeste Clive Williamson Assistant Conductor Kerem Hasan * Holds a professorial appointment in London Meet our members: lpo.org.uk/players
The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert: Molly & David Borthwick • Friends of the Orchestra • Neil Westreich
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3
London Philharmonic Orchestra
So far, so miraculous, with the orchestra moving as one under its admired principal conductor’s meticulous guidance. The Arts Desk, BBC Proms July 2016
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 local communities. The Orchestra was founded by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1932. It has since been headed by many of the world’s greatest conductors including Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. Vladimir Jurowski is 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 around 40 concerts each season. Throughout 2016 the LPO joined many of the UK’s other leading cultural institutions in Shakespeare400, celebrating the Bard’s legacy 400
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years since his death. In 2017 we will collaborate with Southbank Centre on Belief and Beyond Belief: a year-long multi-artform festival. Other 2016/17 season highlights include the return of Osmo Vänskä to conduct the Sibelius symphonies alongside major British concertos by Britten, Elgar, Walton and Vaughan Williams; Jurowski’s continuation of his Mahler and Brucker symphony cycles; landmark contemporary works by Steve Reich, Philip Glass, John Adams and Gavin Bryars; and premieres of new works by Aaron Jay Kernis and the Orchestra’s Composer in Residence Magnus Lindberg. Outside London, the Orchestra has flourishing residencies in Brighton and Eastbourne, and performs regularly around the UK. Each summer the Orchestra takes up its annual residency at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in the Sussex countryside, where it has been Resident Symphony Orchestra for over 50 years. The Orchestra also tours internationally, performing to sell-out audiences worldwide. In 1956 it became the first British orchestra to appear in Soviet Russia and in 1973 made the first ever visit to China by a Western orchestra. Touring remains a large part of the Orchestra’s life: the 2015/16 season included visits
to Mexico, Spain, Germany, the Canary Islands and Russia; and tour plans for 2016/17 include New York, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Spain, France, Belgium, The Netherlands and Switzerland. 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 90 releases available on CD and to download: recent additions include Bruckner’s Symphony No. 5 with veteran maestro Stanisław Skrowaczewski; a disc of Stravinsky works with Vladimir Jurowski; and Act 1 of Wagner’s Die Walküre with Klaus Tennstedt. 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 has enabled the Orchestra to reach even more people worldwide: all its recordings are available to download from iTunes and, as well as regular concert streamings and a popular podcast series, the Orchestra has a lively presence on social media. lpo.org.uk facebook.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra
Next concerts at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall Wednesday 19 October 2016 7.30pm sibelius symphony cycle Sibelius Karelia Suite Britten Violin Concerto Sibelius Symphony No. 1 Osmo Vänskä conductor Simone Lamsma violin
friday 21 October 2016 7.30pm
jti friday SERIES · sibelius symphony cycle Sibelius Symphony No. 3 Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending Sibelius Symphony No. 2 Osmo Vänskä conductor Yu-Chien Tseng violin
wednesday 26 October 2016 7.30pm sibelius symphony cycle Elgar Cello Concerto Sibelius Symphony No. 4 Sibelius Symphony No. 5 Osmo Vänskä conductor Raphael Wallfisch cello
Free pre-concert event | 6:00pm The first concert with our 2016/17 Foyle Future Firsts, conducted by Osmo Vänskä, includes a rarely heard octet arrangement of Sibelius’s En Saga, by Jaakko Kuusisto.
twitter.com/LPOrchestra youtube.com/c/londonphilharmonicorchestra instagram.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra
Book now lpo.org.uk 020 7840 4242 London Philharmonic Orchestra | 5
Vladimir Jurowski conductor
Jurowski’s performances with the LPO these days really are unmissable.
© Drew Kelley
The Times, March 2015
One of today’s most sought-after conductors, acclaimed worldwide for his incisive musicianship and adventurous artistic commitment, Vladimir Jurowski was born in Moscow and studied at the Music Academies of Dresden and Berlin. In 1995 he made his international debut at the Wexford Festival conducting Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night, and the same year saw his debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, with Nabucco. Vladimir Jurowski was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2003, becoming Principal Conductor in 2007. In October 2015 he was appointed the next Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Rundfunk-sinfonieorchester Berlin, a position he will take up in September 2017. Jurowski also maintains his position as Artistic Director of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia (Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra). He has previously held the positions of First Kapellmeister of the Komische Oper Berlin (1997–2001), Principal Guest Conductor of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna (2000–03), Principal Guest Conductor of the Russian National Orchestra (2005–09), and Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera (2001–13). He is a regular guest with many leading orchestras in both Europe and North America, including the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic and Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin; the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; The Philadelphia Orchestra; The Cleveland Orchestra; the Boston, San Francisco and Chicago symphony orchestras; and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden and Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
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His opera engagements have included Rigoletto, Jenůfa, The Queen of Spades, Hansel and Gretel and Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Metropolitan Opera, New York; Parsifal and Wozzeck at Welsh National Opera; War and Peace at the Opéra National de Paris; Eugene Onegin at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan; Ruslan and Ludmila at the Bolshoi Theatre; Moses und Aron at Komische and Iolanta and Die Teufel von Loudun at Semperoper Dresden, and numerous operas at Glyndebourne including Otello, Macbeth, Falstaff, Tristan und Isolde, Don Giovanni, The Cunning Little Vixen, Peter Eötvös’s Love and Other Demons, and Ariadne auf Naxos. In 2015 he returned to the Komische Oper in Berlin for a universally acclaimed new production of Moses und Aron, and made his debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich with Prokofiev’s The Fiery Angel. Future highlights include his Salzburg Festival debut with Wozzeck, and his first return to Glyndebourne as a guest conductor, to lead the world premiere production of Brett Dean’s Hamlet. The Glyndebourne production of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, led by Vladimir Jurowski with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Glyndebourne Chorus, won the 2015 BBC Music Magazine Opera Award.
Watch a video of Vladimir discussing his highlights of the LPO 2016/17 season: lpo.org.uk/jurowski1617
Thomas Zehetmair violin
A virtuoso technique married to a musical mind that won’t take anything for granted. Zehetmair seems to find answers where other musicians don’t even see questions ...
© Keith Pattison
Andrew McGregor, BBC Radio 3
Thomas Zehetmair’s ability to skilfully blend his musical interests is unparalleled. He enjoys widespread international acclaim not only as a violinist, but also a conductor and chamber musician, making him one of today’s most prominent artistic personalities. From the beginning of the 2016/17 season he takes up the position of Principal Conductor of the Musikkollegium Winterthur in Switzerland. Thomas Zehetmair has recorded a huge range of repertoire for the violin; many of his releases have earned multiple awards. His recordings include Zimmermann’s Violin Concerto with the WDR Sinfonieorchester under Heinz Holliger (Diapason d’Or de l’Année 2009), Paganini’s 24 Caprices (German Record Critics’ Association shortlist 2009; Midem Classic Award 2010); Elgar’s Violin Concerto with the Hallé under Sir Mark Elder (Gramophone Award 2010); and Mozart’s violin concertos with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century under Frans Brüggen, acclaimed as a reference recording. Other recordings include Manto and Madrigals, in which Zehetmair and violist Ruth Killius embark on a journey charting contemporary repertoire for the violin and viola, released by ECM in 2011. His most recent recording, of works by Schumann with the Orchestre de chambre de Paris, was released by ECM earlier this year.
the founding member of the Zehetmair Quartet, with which he was awarded the Paul Hindemith Prize by the German City of Hanau in November 2014, in recognition of outstanding musical achievement. Other honours awarded to Thomas Zehetmair to recognise his far-reaching artistic contributions include the Certificate of Honour by the German Record Critics’ Association and the Karl Böhm Interpretation Prize by the Austrian federal state of Styria. Thomas also holds Honorary Doctorates from Newcastle University in the UK and the University of Music Franz Liszt in Weimar.
Principal Conductor of Royal Northern Sinfonia from 2002–14, Thomas Zehetmair sculpted it into one of the UK’s leading orchestras, and numerous recordings document his prolific work there. As Conductor Laureate he remains closely connected to the orchestra. He is also Artistic Partner at the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (USA) and maintains close ties with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. Furthermore, he is
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Programme notes
Speedread This concert begins with two works by Stravinsky written over 40 years apart: the Symphonies of Wind Instruments of 1920 (revised in 1947), in memory of Debussy; and the Variations of 1963/64, dedicated on their completion to the memory of the writer Aldous Huxley. Although very different in language – the Symphonies by turns incisive and hieratic, the Variations a spare, compressed deployment of twelve-note technique – they are both constructed as mosaics of contrasting blocks of tempo and instrumental colour. The programme is completed by two works, both requiring large orchestral forces, by two German composers who stood apart from the post-war European avant-garde, Bernd Alois Zimmermann and Hans Werner Henze (who died four years ago this month). Zimmermann’s Violin
Igor Stravinsky
Concerto of 1950 is in three movements full of Stravinskyan changes of tempo, reflecting the young composer’s shuffling of a variety of styles, ranging from the tense drama of the opening by way of the twelve-note melodies of the central Fantasia to the rumba rhythms in the finale. Henze’s Symphony No. 7 of 1983/84 has four movements, each in a single basic tempo, signifying an alignment with the great symphonic tradition. These movements are a Dance which gradually accumulates momentum, a calm slow movement with some forceful climaxes, a relentless scherzo inspired by the cruel incarceration of the poet Hölderlin, and a reflective finale suggested by a Hölderlin poem looking ahead from autumnal mid-life to wintry old age.
Symphonies of Wind Instruments (1920) (revised 1947 version)
1882–1971
Stravinsky described his Symphonies of Wind Instruments, for orchestral woodwind and brass sections, as ‘an austere ritual that is unfolded in terms of short litanies between different groups of homogeneous instruments’. The starting-point for its composition was the death of his friend Debussy in 1918. The first part of the work to appear in print was the closing chorale, arranged for piano: this was published in December 1920, in a special edition of the magazine La Revue Musicale called Tombeau de Claude Debussy. But by the time this appeared, Stravinsky had already completed the parent work, and it was first performed in London the following summer under Serge Koussevitzky. Stravinsky substantially revised and
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re-scored the work in 1947, and although the original version remains available, the more hard-edged revision is usually preferred. The title of ‘symphonies’ does not refer to traditional symphonic procedures, but is used in its older sense of ‘sounding together’. The work is constructed in a series of short, intercut segments in different tempi and colours – a highly original procedure in 1920, which may have owed something to the then-new art of cinema, and which had a profound influence on many 20th-century composers. There are three related tempi, Tempo II half as fast again as Tempo I, Tempo III twice as fast. But Tempo I has two different aspects:
with a changing quaver beat, it is associated with an incisive bell-like figure dominated by high clarinets; with a more regular crotchet pulse, it is associated with slow-moving chord progressions for the full ensemble. Tempo II brings a series of winding, Russian-sounding melodies (reminiscent of The Rite of Spring) for small groups of woodwind, punctuated by more energetic outbursts. Tempo III does not appear until about halfway through the piece, and is used chiefly in two episodes in changing metres – the first reminiscent of the orgiastic dances of The Rite, the second lighter on its feet. Meanwhile the slow-crotchet version of Tempo I seems to have been forgotten, except in two short interjections of brass chords; but these prove to be anticipations of the memorial chorale, which is stated at full length to bring the work to a solemn end.
Jurowski conducts Stravinsky: new on the LPO Label Vladimir Jurowski will be signing copies of the CD at the Foyles stand in the Royal Festival Hall foyer after tonight’s concert.
Petrushka: burlesque in four scenes (1911 version) Symphonies of Wind Instruments (original 1920 version) Orpheus: ballet in three scenes Vladimir Jurowski conductor London Philharmonic Orchestra £9.99 | LPO-0091
‘This is very careful, exquisitely balanced playing.’ BBC Radio 3 Record Review, 13 August 2016
Available from lpo.org.uk/recordings, the LPO Ticket Office (020 7840 4242) and all good CD outlets Download or stream online via iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and others
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 9
Programme notes continued
Igor Stravinsky
Variations (Aldous Huxley in Memoriam) (1963/64)
1882–1971
Stravinsky renewed and refreshed his musical language more than once in the course of his long career: the last time in the mid-1950s, when he adopted and developed a highly personal version of Schoenberg’s – and more particularly Webern’s – twelve-note technique. Within this final period, his last composition for orchestra without voices was this continuous and (at about five minutes) remarkably concise sequence of Variations. Its dedication to the memory of the writer Aldous Huxley, the composer’s long-standing friend and neighbour in Southern California, suggests that it was conceived as another of Stravinsky’s many memorials to friends and contemporaries. But in fact it was begun in July 1963, four months before Huxley’s death. It had acquired its final title by the time it was completed in October 1964. The first performance was given under the direction of the late Robert Craft in Chicago the following April.
The work is a set of variations in that every note is derived, in one way or another, from a single twelvenote theme. The variations are of sharply contrasting character, each using a different instrumental grouping. The most remarkable are three variations in twelvepart polyphony with a different rhythmic pattern in each part (a texture surely suggested by a movement of superimposed birdsongs in Olivier Messiaen’s Chronochromie of 1960) – the first for twelve solo violins, playing quietly near the bridge to nasal effect, the second for ten violas and two double basses with similar colouring, the third for a more heterogeneous group of twelve wind instruments. These variations form a refrain, separated by two more variegated sequences of variations – the second of them ending in a fugue for the strings – and framed by a related prelude and postlude.
Bernd Alois Zimmermann
Violin Concerto (1950) Thomas Zehetmair violin
1918–70
1 Sonata 2 Fantasia – 3 Rondo
Born near Cologne, Bernd Alois Zimmermann described himself memorably as ‘a Rhenish mixture of monk and Dionysian’. He studied philosophy and literature before turning to music; his student years were interrupted by wartime service in the German army. Emerging onto the post-war European musical scene, he found himself at odds with the purist orthodoxy of younger pioneers
such as Stockhausen and Boulez; instead, he developed his own aesthetic, combining modernist techniques with references to music of different periods, from plainchant to jazz. This pluralist approach reached a climax in his opera Die Soldaten, premiered in 1965. His later years were clouded by a growing unease with the materialism of the society around him and by serious
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illness, which together prompted his suicide at the age of 52. Zimmermann wrote the Violin Concerto early in his career, in 1950, in response to a commission from South West German Radio. It is, for the most part, an arrangement of a sonata for violin and piano that he had already begun drafting – which explains the prominence of the piano part in the large accompanying orchestra. The first movement, actually called Sonata, is based on three thematic ideas: the dramatic opening flourish; a broad melody, which is repeated several times with the same pitches fitted to new rhythms; and a more playful tune, decorated with Gershwin-like grace notes. These are alternated
and combined, but their final reprise is truncated. The central Fantasia is improvisatory and exploratory in character, with restless changes of tempo. Here Zimmermann experimented with Schoenberg’s serial technique, deriving new melodic lines from the sequence of intervals in the main theme, both ways up; but he also included several quotations of the funeral plainchant Dies irae. Most of this movement was newly written for the Concerto: only the slow coda, following the powerful climax, was transcribed from the draft sonata. The finale, which follows without a break, is a Rondo. It has a hyperactive main theme for the soloist, recurring in varied forms in alternation with episodes in rumba rhythm.
Interval – 20 minutes An announcement will be made five minutes before the end of the interval.
conducted by Osmo Vänskä 19–28 October 2016 Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall
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Programme notes continued
Hans Werner Henze 1926–2012
Like his slightly older compatriot Zimmermann, Hans Werner Henze emerged from an extended education interrupted by war service onto the fragmented postwar German musical scene. He initially threw in his lot with the avant-garde associated with the Darmstadt summer school, but parted company with it – making a symbolic as well as practical move to Italy – because of his preference for lyrical expression and traditional forms such as opera and the symphony. His vast catalogue of works eventually included over 20 operas of different kinds and ten symphonies. The Seventh Symphony was commissioned by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for its centenary celebrations in 1982, but eventually written in 1983/84 and first performed in December 1984. Taking his cue from the commission, Henze decided to write a substantial symphony in the Germanic tradition, with a first movement in Classical sonata form, a slow movement in ‘song form’ with a contrasting middle section, a scherzo and trio, and (as in Mahler’s Ninth Symphony) a slow finale. He took the opportunity to score it for a very large orchestra, with a woodwind section including such rarities as heckelphone (baritone oboe) and contrabass clarinet, a brass section including six each of horns and trumpets, a colourful group of celeste, harp and piano, a large array of percussion, and the string sections frequently divided into several parts. The underlying form of the opening Dance, in constantly changing metres, is overlaid by a process of continuous variation and evolution of new ideas, creating what Henze called, in a diary entry quoted in his autobiography Bohemian Fifths, ‘the sense of a gradual ascent’. The orchestral scoring is initially kaleidoscopic, but coalesces to create a plateau of dazzling sonority towards the end of the central section and a battering ram of an ending. The slow movement Henze described in a programme
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Symphony No. 7 (1983/84) 1 2 3 4
Tanz: Lebhaft und beseelt [Dance: Lively and inspired] Ruhig bewegt [Moving calmly] Unablässig in Bewegung [Incessant in movement] Ruhig, verhalten [Calm and restrained]
note as ‘a kind of funeral ode, a song of lamentation, a monologue’; in Bohemian Fifths, recalling the moment of completing it, he wrote that ‘never before had I known music of such darkness nor been able to capture it in writing with so great a degree of intensity’. The inexorable three-in-a-bar scherzo was suggested by the sufferings of the German Romantic poet Friedrich Hölderlin when he was incarcerated in a mental asylum: ‘the treatment he received,’ Henze wrote, ‘involving the administration of poisons, amounted to nothing short of the most terrible torture’. The slow finale is an instrumental interpretation of a poem by Hölderlin, Hälfte des Lebens or ‘The middle of life’, which contrasts a scene of autumnal ripeness with a bleak vision of a cold and empty winter. When the massive final tutti of this movement is cut off, to resonate into an extended pause, we are left in little doubt about the autobiographical implications of the choice of poem, nor about the feeling that the Seventh Symphony is one of Henze’s most personal utterances. Programme notes © Anthony Burton
Recommended recordings of tonight’s works Stravinsky: Symphonies of Wind Instruments Vladimir Jurowski | London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO Label LPO-0091: see page 9) Stravinsky: Variations Oliver Knussen | London Sinfonietta (Deutsche Grammophon download) Zimmermann: Violin Concerto Thomas Zehetmair | WDR Sinfonieorchester | Heinz Holliger (ECM) Henze: Symphony No. 7 Markus Stenz | Gürzenich-Orchester Köln (Oehms Classics)
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
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
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 13
Thank you
We are extremely grateful to all donors who have given generously to the LPO over the past year. Your generosity helps maintain the breadth and depth of the LPO’s activities, as well as supporting the Orchestra both on and off the concert platform.
Artistic Director’s Circle An anonymous donor Victoria Robey OBE Orchestra Circle Natalia Semenova & Dimitri Gourji The Tsukanov Family Principal Associates An anonymous donor Mr Peter Cullum CBE Dr Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle Mr & Mrs Philip Kan Neil Westreich Associates Simon Robey Stuart & Bianca Roden Barry Grimaldi William & Alex de Winton Gold Patrons An anonymous donor Mrs Evzen Balko David & Yi Buckley Garf & Gill Collins Andrew Davenport Georgy Djaparidze Sonja Drexler Mrs Gillian Fane Drs Oliver & Asha Foster Simon & Meg Freakley David & Victoria Graham Fuller Wim & Jackie Hautekiet-Clare The Jeniffer & Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust Alexandra Jupin & John Bean James R D Korner Mr & Mrs Makharinsky Geoff & Meg Mann Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp Julian & Gill Simmonds Eric Tomsett Laurence Watt Michael & Ruth West
Silver Patrons Mrs Molly Borthwick Peter & Fiona Espenhahn David Goldstone CBE LLB FRICS Rehmet Kassim-Lakha de Morixe John & Angela Kessler Vadim & Natalia Levin Mrs Virginia Slaymaker Mr Brian Smith The Viney Family Guy & Utti Whittaker Bronze Patrons Valentina & Dmitry Aksenov Dr Christopher Aldren Michael Allen Mr Jeremy Bull Desmond & Ruth Cecil Mr John H Cook Bruno De Kegel David Ellen Mrs Marie-Laure Favre-Gilly de Varennes de Bueil Igor & Lyuba Galkin Mrs Irina Gofman Mr Daniel Goldstein Mr Gavin Graham Mrs Dorothy Hambleton Mr Martin Hattrell Mr Colm Kelleher Drs Frank & Gek Lim Mrs Angela Lynch Peter MacDonald Eggers William & Catherine MacDougall Mr & Mrs David Malpas Mr Adrian Mee Mrs Elizabeth Meshkvicheva Mrs Rosemarie Pardington Ms Olga Pavlova Mr Michael Posen Mrs Karmen Pretel-Martines Dr Eva Lotta & Mr Thierry Sciard Tom & Phillis Sharpe Mr & Mrs G Stein Sergei & Elena Sudakova Captain Mark Edward Tennant Ms Sharon Thomas Mr & Mrs John C Tucker Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood Grenville & Krysia Williams
14 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
Christopher Williams Mr Anthony Yolland Principal Supporters Ralph & Elizabeth Aldwinckle Mr Geoffrey Bateman Mrs A Beare Mr Charles Bott Mr Graham Brady Mr Gary Brass Mr Richard Brass Mr Frederick Brittenden David & Patricia Buck Dr Anthony Buckland Sir Terry Burns GCB Richard Buxton Mr Pascal Cagni Mrs Alan Carrington Dr Archibald E Carter The Countess June Chichester Mr & Mrs Stewart Cohen Mr Alistair Corbett Mr Alfons Cortés Mr David Edwards Ulrike & Benno Engelmann Mr Timothy Fancourt QC Mr Richard Fernyhough Mr Roger Greenwood Mr Chris Grigg Malcolm Herring Amanda Hill & Daniel Heaf J Douglas Home Ivan Hurry Mr Glenn Hurstfield Mr Peter Jenkins Per Jonsson Mr Frank Krikhaar Rose & Dudley Leigh Mr Gerald Levin Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Paul & Brigitta Lock Mr John Long Mr Nicholas Lyons Mr Peter Mace Robert Markwick & Kasia Robinski Elena Mezentseva Andrew T Mills Dr Karen Morton Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill
Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin Pavel & Elena Novoselov Dr Wiebke Pekrull Mr Roger Phillimore Mr James Pickford Andrew & Sarah Poppleton Oleg Pukhov Miss Tatiana Pyatigorskaya Martin & Cheryl Southgate Peter Tausig Mr Jonathan Townley Andrew & Roanna Tusa Lady Marina Vaizey Howard & Sheelagh Watson Des & Maggie Whitelock Bill Yoe Supporters Mr Clifford Brown Miss Siobhan Cervin Miss Lynn Chapman Mr Joshua Coger Mr Geoffrey A Collens Timothy Colyer Miss Tessa Cowie Lady Jane Cuckney OBE Ms Holly Dunlap Ms Susanne Feldthusen Mrs Janet Flynn Mr Nick Garland Mr Derek B. Gray Dr Geoffrey Guy The Jackman Family Mrs Svetlana Kashinskaya Niels Kroninger Mrs Nino Kuparadze Mr Christopher Langridge Alison Clarke & Leo Pilkington Miss S M Longson Mr David Macfarlane Mr John Meloy Miss Lucyna Mozyrko Mr Leonid Ogarev Mr Stephen Olton Mr David Peters Mr Ivan Powell Mr & Mrs Graham & Jean Pugh Mr Christopher Queree Mr James A Reece Mr Olivier Rosenfeld Mr Robert Ross
Mr Kenneth Shaw Mr Barry Smith Ms Natalie Spraggon James & Virginia Turnball Michael & Katie Urmston Timothy Walker AM Mr Berent Wallendahl Edward & Catherine Williams Mr C D Yates
Corporate Donors Fenchurch Advisory Partners LLP Goldman Sachs Linklaters London Stock Exchange Group Morgan Lewis Phillips Auction House Pictet Bank Corporate Members
Hon. Benefactor Elliott Bernerd Hon. Life Members Kenneth Goode Carol Colburn Grigor CBE Pehr G Gyllenhammar Robert Hill Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE 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: Jenny Ireland Co-Chairman William A. Kerr Co-Chairman Xenia Hanusiak Alexandra Jupin Jill Fine Mainelli Kristina McPhee David Oxenstierna Natalie Pray Robert Watson 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
Gold Sunshine Silver Accenture After Digital Berenberg Carter-Ruck French Chamber of Commerce Bronze BTO Management Consulting AG Charles Russell Speechlys Lazard Russo-British Chamber of Commerce Willis Towers Watson Preferred Partners Corinthia Hotel London Heineken Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd London Orthopaedic Clinic Sipsmith Steinway Villa Maria In-kind Sponsor Google Inc
Trusts and Foundations Axis Foundation The Bernarr Rainbow Trust The Boltini Trust Borletti-Buitoni Trust Boshier-Hinton Foundation The Candide Trust Cockayne – Grants for the Arts The Ernest Cook Trust Diaphonique, Franco-British Fund for contemporary music The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Dunard Fund The Equitable Charitable Trust The Foyle Foundation The Goldsmiths’ Company Lucille Graham Trust Help Musicians UK Derek Hill Foundation John Horniman’s Children’s Trust The Idlewild Trust Kirby Laing Foundation The Leverhulme Trust The London Community Foundation London Stock Exchange Group Foundation Lord and Lady Lurgan Trust Marsh Christian Trust The Mercers’ Company Adam Mickiewicz Institute The Stanley Picker Trust The Radcliffe Trust Rivers Foundation The R K Charitable Trust RVW Trust Schroder Charity Trust Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation The David Solomons Charitable Trust Souter Charitable Trust The John Thaw Foundation The Michael Tippett Musical Foundation UK Friends of the FelixMendelssohn-BartholdyFoundation
Garfield Weston Foundation The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust and all others who wish to remain anonymous.
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 15
Administration
Board of Directors Victoria Robey OBE Chairman Stewart McIlwham* President Gareth Newman* Vice-President Roger Barron Richard Brass Desmond Cecil CMG Dr Catherine C. Høgel Rachel Masters* Al MacCuish Julian Metherell George Peniston* Kevin Rundell* Natasha Tsukanova Mark Vines* Timothy Walker AM Neil Westreich David Whitehouse* * Player-Director Advisory Council Victoria Robey OBE Chairman Rob Adediran Christopher Aldren Dr Manon Antoniazzi Richard Brass David Buckley Sir Alan Collins KCVO CMG Andrew Davenport Jonathan Dawson Bruno de Kegel William de Winton Cameron Doley Edward Dolman Christopher Fraser OBE Lord Hall of Birkenhead CBE Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS Amanda Hill Rehmet Kassim-Lakha Jamie Korner Clive Marks OBE FCA Stewart McIlwham Sir Bernard Rix Baroness Shackleton Lord Sharman of Redlynch OBE Thomas Sharpe QC Julian Simmonds Barry Smith Martin Southgate Sir Philip Thomas Sir John Tooley Chris Viney Timothy Walker AM Laurence Watt Elizabeth Winter
Chief Executive
Education and Community
Public Relations
Timothy Walker AM Chief Executive and Artistic Director
Isabella Kernot Education Director
Albion Media (Tel: 020 3077 4930)
Talia Lash Education and Community Project Manager
Archives
Tom Proctor PA to the Chief Executive / Administrative Assistant Finance David Burke General Manager and Finance Director David Greenslade Finance and IT Manager Dayse Guilherme Finance Officer Concert Management Roanna Gibson Concerts Director Graham Wood Concerts and Recordings Manager Sophie Kelland Tours Manager Tamzin Aitken Glyndebourne and UK Engagements Manager Alison Jones Concerts and Recordings Co-ordinator
Lucy Sims Education and Community Project Manager
Gillian Pole Recordings Archive
Richard Mallett Education and Community Producer
Professional Services
Development
Crowe Clark Whitehill LLP Auditors
Nick Jackman Development Director Catherine Faulkner Development Events Manager Laura Luckhurst Corporate Relations Manager Rosie Morden Individual Giving Manager Anna Quillin Trusts and Foundations Manager Helen Yang Development Assistant Amy Sugarman Development Assistant
Jo Cotter Tours Co-ordinator
Kirstin Peltonen Development Associate
Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant
Marketing
Orchestra Personnel
Kath Trout Marketing Director
Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager
Libby Papakyriacou Marketing Manager
Sarah Holmes Sarah Thomas (maternity leave) Librarians
Martin Franklin Digital Projects Manager
Christopher Alderton Stage Manager
Samantha Cleverley Box Office Manager (Tel: 020 7840 4242)
Damian Davis Transport Manager
Rachel Williams Publications Manager
Madeleine Ridout Assistant Orchestra Personnel Manager
Anna O’Connor Marketing Co-ordinator Oli Frost Marketing Intern
16 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
Philip Stuart Discographer
Charles Russell Speechlys Solicitors
Dr Barry Grimaldi Honorary Doctor Mr Chris Aldren Honorary ENT Surgeon Mr Brian Cohen Mr Simon Owen-Johnstone Honorary Orthopaedic Surgeons 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 The London Philharmonic Orchestra Limited is a registered charity No. 238045. Henze photograph © Schott Promotion/Peter Andersen. Zimmermann photo © Hannes Kilian. Cover design Ross Shaw @ JMG Studio Cover copywriting Jim Davies Printer Cantate