London Philharmonic Orchestra 19 Oct 2016 concert programme by London Philharmonic Orchestra

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 Wednesday 19 October 2016 | 7.30pm

Sibelius Karelia Suite, Op. 11 (14’) Britten Violin Concerto, Op. 15 (32’) Interval (20’) Sibelius Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 39 (38’)

Osmo Vänskä conductor Simone Lamsma violin

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

Contents 2 Welcome Sibelius Symphony Cycle 3 On stage tonight 4 About the Orchestra 5 Leader: Pieter Schoeman 6 Osmo Vänskä 7 Simone Lamsma 8 Osmo Vänskä on Sibelius 9 Programme notes 10 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. 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.

symphony cycle October 2016

southbank centre’s royal festival hall friday 21 October 2016 7.30pm

Osmo Vänskä conductor Yu-Chien Tseng violin

wednesday 26 October 2016 7.30pm 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.

friday 28 October 2016 7.30pm Sibelius The Oceanides Walton Violin Concerto Sibelius Symphony No. 6 Sibelius Symphony No. 7 Osmo Vänskä conductor Tasmin Little violin

Book now lpo.org.uk 020 7840 4242 2 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

jti friday series

Sibelius Symphony No. 3 Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending Sibelius Symphony No. 2

jti friday SERIES

On stage tonight

First Violins Pieter Schoeman* Leader Chair supported by Neil Westreich

Eugene Tichindeleanu 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 Georgina Leo Rebecca Shorrock Amanda Smith Second Violins Andrew Storey Principal Jeongmin Kim Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra

Tania Mazzetti Kate Birchall Nancy Elan Lorenzo Gentili-Tedeschi Fiona Higham Chair supported by David & Yi Buckley

Nynke Hijlkema Joseph Maher Robin Wilson Sioni Williams Erzsébet Rácz Sheila Law Alison Strange

Violas Cyrille Mercier Principal Robert Duncan Gregory Aronovich Katharine Leek Susanne Martens Emmanuella Reiter Laura Vallejo Naomi Holt Isabel Pereira Daniel Cornford Alistair Scahill Stanislav Popov Cellos Kristina Blaumane Principal Chair supported by Bianca & Stuart Roden

Pei-Jee Ng Co-Principal Francis Bucknall Santiago Carvalho† Chair co-supported by Molly & David Borthwick

David Lale Gregory Walmsley Elisabeth Wiklander Chair supported by Drs Oliver & Asha Foster

Sue Sutherley Helen Rathbone Iain Ward Double Basses Sebastian Pennar Principal George Peniston Laurence Lovelle Rodrigo Moro Martin Sam Rice Charlotte Kerbegian Ben Wolstenholme Laura Murphy

Flutes Juliette Bausor Principal Sue Thomas*

Trumpets Paul Beniston* Principal Philip Cobb Guest Principal Anne McAneney*

Chair supported by Victoria Robey OBE

Chair supported by Geoff & Meg Mann

Stewart McIlwham* Piccolos Stewart McIlwham* Principal Sue Thomas*

Trombones Mark Templeton* Principal Simon Baker Bass Trombone Lyndon Meredith Principal

Oboes Ian Hardwick* Principal Alice Munday

Tuba Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal

Cor Anglais Sue Böhling* Principal

Timpani Simon Carrington* Principal

Chair supported by Dr Barry Grimaldi

Percussion Andrew Barclay* Principal

Clarinets Thomas Watmough Principal Paul Richards

Chair supported by Andrew Davenport

Henry Baldwin Co-Principal Keith Millar

Bassoons Jonathan Davies Principal Gareth Newman

Harp Lucy Wakeford Guest Principal

Horns John Ryan* Principal Chair supported by Laurence Watt

Martin Hobbs Mark Vines Co-Principal Gareth Mollison Duncan Fuller

* Holds a professorial appointment in London † Chevalier of the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco 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: William & Alex de Winton • Simon Robey

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Everything about this performance ... was perfect ... one of the best pieces of orchestral playing I have heard in quite a long time. Seen and Heard international, February 2015

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

4 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

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: last season included visits to Mexico,

Pieter Schoeman leader

Spain, Germany, the Canary Islands and Russia; and tours in 2016/17 include New York, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Spain, France, Belgium, The Netherlands and Switzerland.

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 twitter.com/LPOrchestra youtube.com/c/londonphilharmonicorchestra instagram.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra

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.

Pieter Schoeman was appointed Leader of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008, having previously been Co-Leader since 2002. Born in South Africa, Pieter made his solo debut aged 10 with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra. Five years later he won the World Youth Concerto Competition in Michigan. Aged 17, he moved to the US to further his studies in Los Angeles and Dallas. In 1991 his talent was spotted by Pinchas Zukerman who, after several consultations, recommended that he move to New York to study with Sylvia Rosenberg. Pieter has performed worldwide as a soloist and recitalist in such famous halls as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Moscow’s Rachmaninov Hall, Capella Hall in St Petersburg, Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. As a chamber musician he regularly appears at London’s prestigious Wigmore Hall. At the invitation of Yannick Nézet-Séguin he has been part of the ‘Yannick and Friends’ chamber group, performing at festivals in Dortmund and Rheingau. Pieter has performed several times as a soloist with the LPO, and his live recording of Britten’s Double Concerto with Alexander Zemtsov was released on the Orchestra’s own label to great critical acclaim. He has also recorded numerous violin solos for film and television, and led the LPO in its soundtrack recordings for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. In 1995 Pieter became Co-Leader of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice. Since then he has appeared frequently as Guest Leader with the Barcelona, Bordeaux, Lyon, Baltimore and BBC symphony orchestras, and the Rotterdam and BBC Philharmonic orchestras. In April 2016 he was Guest Leader with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra for Kurt Masur’s memorial concert. He is a Professor of Violin at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London. Pieter’s chair in the London Philharmonic Orchestra is supported by Neil Westreich.

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Osmo Vänskä conductor

Vänskä confirms his status as our greatest living Sibelian. Irreplaceable.

The Times, July 2016

Osmo Vänskä is recognised for his compelling interpretations of repertoire from all ages. Music Director of the Minnesota Orchestra for over a decade, he has led the orchestra on five major European tours including festivals and venues such as the BBC Proms, Edinburgh International Festival, the Barbican, the Royal Concertgebouw, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Tivoli Copenhagen and Vienna’s Musikverein. In 2015 he took the Minnesota Orchestra on a historic trip to Cuba, the first visit by a major US orchestra since the normalisation of relations between the two governments. With the same orchestra he has recorded complete Beethoven and Sibelius symphony cycles for BIS, garnering rave reviews internationally, while 2016 has also seen Vänskä and the orchestra return to Europe, taking in the Edinburgh International Festival, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Tivoli Copenhagen and Sibelius Hall Lahti.

Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Vienna Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. He is Principal Guest Conductor of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, having previously held the position of Music Director, and was also formerly Music Director of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Chief Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

Beginning this evening, throughout October 2016 Vänskä will conduct a complete Sibelius Symphony Cycle with the London Philharmonic Orchestra (see page 2). This season will also see recordings of Mahler’s Second and Sixth Symphonies with the Minnesota Orchestra, continuing a cycle begun in June 2016. He will make his debut with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and return to the Israel and Helsinki philharmonics and the New World and Finnish Radio symphony orchestras.

Vänskä began his career as a clarinettist, occupying, amongst others, the co-principal chair of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. In recent years he has enjoyed a return to the clarinet, including on a 2012 recording of Kalevi Aho’s chamber works. On 26 October he will play clarinet with the LPO Foyle Future Firsts in their free pre-concert performance of an octet arrangement of Sibelius’s En Saga at Royal Festival Hall (see page 2).

Much in demand as a guest conductor, Vänskä has appeared with the New York and Los Angeles philharmonics, The Cleveland and Philadelphia orchestras and the Boston, Chicago and San Francisco symphony orchestras; and in Europe with the Berlin Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra,

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Vänskä is a distinguished recording artist, primarily for the BIS label. In 2014 his album with the Minnesota Orchestra of Sibelius’s Symphonies Nos. 1 and 4 won a Grammy award for Best Orchestral Performance, following the nomination of Symphonies Nos. 2 and 5 the year before. Recordings of Beethoven’s Piano Concertos with Yevgeny Sudbin, again with the Minnesota Orchestra, also garnered worldwide praise.

Vänskä is the recipient of a Royal Philharmonic Society Award, the Finlandia Foundation’s Arts and Letters Award, and the 2010 Ditson Award from Columbia University. He holds honorary doctorates from the universities of Glasgow and Minnesota and was named Musical America’s 2005 Conductor of the Year. In 2013 he received the Annual Award from the German Record Critics’ Award Association for his involvement in BIS’s recordings of the complete works by Sibelius.

Simone Lamsma violin

Lamsma met all of Britten’s challenges superbly and put the Concerto across with a deep sense of commitment.

ClevelandClassical.com, June 2014

Hailed for her ‘brilliant ... polished, expressive and intense’ (Cleveland Plain Dealer) and ‘absolutely stunning’ (Chicago Tribune) playing, Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma is respected by critics, peers and audiences as one of classical music’s most striking and captivating musical personalities. Notable recent highlights have included her debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, as well as performances with the Cleveland Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, BBC Philharmonic, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, RAI National Symphony Orchestra, RTVE Symphony Orchestra and New Zealand Symphony Orchestra; a tour of China with the Hong Kong Philharmonic under Jaap van Zweden; and the French premiere of Michel van der Aa’s Violin Concerto with the Orchestre National de Lyon, stepping in at just ten days’ notice. Highlights of the 2016/17 season include debuts with the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, National Arts Centre Orchestra Ottawa, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, RTÉ Symphony Orchestra and Iceland Symphony Orchestra, as well as return invitations to the Dallas Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic, Residentie and Royal Flemish Philharmonic orchestras. In April 2017 she will return to the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra to perform the world premiere of Matijs de Roo’s Violin Concerto at the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. This season will also mark Simone’s Japanese debut, performing with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra as well as in recital with pianist Yurie Miura.

A dedicated chamber musician, Simone’s other recital appearances include debuts at London’s Wigmore Hall and New York’s Carnegie Hall in March 2017 with pianist Robert Kulek, where their programme will include the world premiere of a new work by James MacMillan, commissioned by Carnegie Hall. In 2015 Simone’s most recent recording, of sonatas by Mendelssohn, Janáček and Schumann with Robert Kulek, was released on the Challenge Classics label. In addition to her many prizes and distinctions, Simone was awarded the national Dutch VSCD Classical Music Prize in the ‘New Generation Musicians’ category in 2010, awarded by the Association of Dutch Theatres and Concert Halls to artists that have made remarkable and valuable contributions to the Dutch classical music scene. Simone began studying the violin at the age of five, and moved to the UK aged 11 to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School. She made her professional solo debut at the age of 14 with the North Netherlands Orchestra. She continued her studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Professor Hu Kun and Professor Maurice Hasson, graduating with First Class Honours and several prestigious awards. In 2011 she was made an Associate of the RAM, an honour given to those students who have made significant and distinguished contributions to their field. Simone currently lives in The Netherlands. Simone plays the ‘Mlynarski’ Stradivarius (1718), on generous loan to her by an anonymous benefactor. facebook.com/simonelamsma

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Osmo Vänskä on Sibelius

Andrew Mellor talks to the Finnish conductor about the journey ahead

AM: Why did you decide to pair Sibelius’s symphonies with British string concertos in these concerts? OV: It’s a natural direction to go in. England was one of the first countries where Sibelius’s music was played and understood, and we wanted an extra strand to these concerts: it was more about the audience than anything musicological. These concertos were written during Sibelius’s lifetime, and two of them – Britten’s and Walton’s – after he stopped composing, during his famous silence. Music was advancing without him … Yes, there is a chronological connection, and in some cases a musical one too. I think you can hear something in the way Walton uses the orchestra that might be connected to Sibelius’s Sixth and Seventh Symphonies and a late piece like Tapiola. Walton was an international composer like Sibelius – more so than Vaughan Williams – a composer whose music is coming from somewhere discernable but doesn’t stay there. The symphonies present quite a journey. The First and Seventh are separated by a quarter of a century and a huge stylistic gulf … … but the First Symphony is quite a statement, no? It’s a wild piece by a young composer who really wanted to announce his arrival. That is why the tempo markings are so important. Sibelius stipulated extremely fast speeds that almost nobody does, but they are important as they underline the Symphony’s provenance. With slower speeds, the Symphony sounds as though it was composed by an old master, which it wasn’t. 8 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

It’s fascinating what follows – the very different sort of momentum of the Seventh Symphony and before that, the occasional inertia of the Fourth. That work’s silence and space is something that orchestras have struggled with … An orchestra’s struggle is connected always to a conductor’s struggle! And that’s the thing. Sometimes if there’s something you don’t understand the easiest thing is to speed up, and wait for a passage that you understand better. But I’m stubborn enough to believe in the score and to follow the score even if I don’t understand it. That way of thinking can deliver great results. You’re famous for following the score to the letter, so has anything changed in your approach to these pieces since your last complete cycle with the LPO in 2010? We get older, and even the same ideas can sound different. I don’t know what it is exactly, but when I’m conducting nowadays I sometimes feel as though I have more time – more time to breathe. So perhaps the ideas are the same, but the colours have altered slightly. And are those things you talk to the Orchestra about in rehearsal – or do they stay in your head? Mostly in my head. I sometimes try to tell the musicians how I feel, to explain why I’m asking them to do something and perhaps to encourage them to go deeper. Musicians hate conductors who talk too much. But a piece like the Fourth Symphony needs some explanation – the fact that Sibelius really thought he was going to die. You can use that to explain how some passages should be as slow and as minimalistic as possible. But some things are more difficult to explain – like the flow of the Sixth and Seventh Symphonies, where the orchestra really has to listen, as if there’s no conductor at all … That’s one of the reasons why it’s important to do the symphonies as chronologically as possible, because by the time you come to the Sixth and Seventh, you’ve learnt so many things from their predecessors. I think it’s possible to put everything together from the score’s tempo markings, dynamics, phrasing and such. If you do that well, you get that natural flow. If the music sounds like it’s man-made – if you don’t feel that it’s about life – then maybe something is wrong. Watch a video of Osmo and Andrew in conversation lpo.org.uk/sibelius

Programme notes

Speedread Over the next nine days, Osmo Vänskä and the London Philharmonic Orchestra will perform all seven symphonies by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, with a few other works included too. The journey begins tonight, in 1890s Finland, where artists like Sibelius were delving into their country’s indigenous creative heritage in order to push for independence in the face of Russian control. Sibelius’s Karelia Suite did exactly that. So did his First Symphony, according to the Finns who were present at the first performance in 1899. But were they reading something into Sibelius’s score that wasn’t there? That’s an interesting question. In his symphonies, Sibelius explored a

Jean Sibelius

new way of symphonic construction that responded to international developments and had equally international repercussions. His symphonies are relevant and interesting as ‘pure music’, but they are undeniably built on a handful of distinctly Finnish elements. Like Sibelius, in his Violin Concerto Benjamin Britten sought to advance his own creative voice while speaking of geopolitical events – in Britten’s case, the Spanish Civil War that raged from 1936–39. At the time, many thought Britten a clever, witty composer incapable of profundity. The Violin Concerto was one of the first in a string of works that would prove them wrong.

Karelia Suite, Op. 11 (1898) 1 Intermezzo: Moderato 2 Ballade: Tempo di menuetto – Un poco più lento 3 Alla marcia: Moderato

1865–1957

For most of Jean Sibelius’s life his home country, Finland, was controlled by Russia. Sometimes, Finns saw Russia as a benevolent parent who was generous with resources and gave their country special treatment. But in the late 1800s, the feeling was swinging the other way. A ‘National Romantic’ movement took root in the 1880s in which Finnish artists sought to clarify and celebrate their cultural identity as a means for pushing for full independence. They looked east, to an unindustrialised province of Finland called Karelia (now mostly Russian) where Finnish folk practices, including the distinctive ‘runic’ singing tradition, were still alive. Artists including Sibelius flocked to Karelia, where they would marvel at the landscape, listen to the rune singers and note down their stories. In 1893, a group

of Karelian students at Helsinki University planned a celebratory pageant that would dramatically recreate scenes from the province’s history. Sibelius – a paid-up member of the National Romantic movement – wrote eight pieces of incidental music to accompany it. The music he delivered purposefully avoided the urbane; it was rough-hewn, seeking the authenticity and directness of the folk art that inspired it. Not long after the pageant in November 1893, Sibelius started to use individual movements from the Karelia music to fill out concerts he was conducting. Following that lead Robert Kajanus, conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic, assembled the three-movement suite commonly heard today. Continued overleaf

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Programme notes continued

The Suite opens with an Intermezzo, emerging as if from a mist and retreating back into it again. In the middle, we hear a march of inspired but quiet determination peppered with distinctively Finnish rhythmic inflections (those Sibelius heard from the rune singers) and enchantingly functional shifts in key.

Recommended recordings of tonight’s works

The middle movement, Ballade, is a pastoral reflection that originally accompanied a scene in the student production in which a deposed king sat in thought as his minstrel played (then, it was scored for voice). The Suite ends with a brisk march built on a perky, fresh melody. As in the opening Intermezzo, the mood is of restrained defiance. But perhaps the message would have been a little clearer at the student drama, where this particular slice of music depicted a call to battle from a Swedish high commander – against the Russians.

Sibelius: Karelia Suite Osmo Vänskä | Lahti Symphony Orchestra (BIS)

Benjamin Britten 1913–76

In April 1936 Benjamin Britten was in Barcelona attending the festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music. There he heard the first performance of Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto, which made a significant impression on him. He also presented his own Suite No. 6 for violin and piano, which he played together with the Spanish violinist Antonio Brosa. The two men got on well in Barcelona. They shared their concerns over the rise of fascism in Spain, and Britten promised to write Brosa a ‘big, heavyweight concerto’. In November 1938 Britten started work on the promised piece. Europe was sliding towards war, and less than five months later the pacifist composer and his partner Peter Pears sailed to Canada to escape the conflict, physically and mentally. Britten finished the score in Quebec the following September, a few days before the

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Many of our recommended recordings, where available, are on sale this evening at the Foyles stand in the Royal Festival Hall foyer.

Britten: Violin Concerto Vilde Frang | Frankfurt Radio Orchestra | James Gaffigan (Warner Classics) Sibelius: Symphony No. 1 Osmo Vänskä | Minnesota Symphony Orchestra (BIS)

Violin Concerto, Op. 15 (1938/39) Simone Lamsma violin 1 2 3

Moderato con moto Vivace – Cadenza – Passacaglia: Andante lento (un poco meno mosso) – Largamente (lento) – Lento e solenne

outbreak of the Second World War. On 28 March 1940 Brosa gave the Concerto’s first performance with the New York Philharmonic, conducted by John Barbirolli. World events clearly shaped the Concerto’s anxious footing, particularly the plight of the Spaniards embroiled in the civil war, which raged while Britten worked on the score and surely put him in mind of his time with Brosa in Barcelona. The Concerto precariously juxtaposes minor and major keys, the ‘darkness’ and ‘light’ of western music. It speaks of conflict, with some of the acerbic language of Prokofiev’s First Violin Concerto of 1917, whose floorplan Britten also borrowed. But there are notable Spanish elements to the piece too. Brosa noted the distinctively Spanish feel of the tolling rhythm that takes root underneath the soloist’s long opening melody, while there are hints of flamenco all over. Perhaps the most obvious

examples of the latter are in the cadenza – the soloist’s impassioned monologue – at the end of the hurtling second movement. The Violin Concerto was an early work in the context of Britten’s career, but it’s one of the first in which he shows his characteristic awareness and concern at world events and societal change. Leaving home, Britten was frustrated that the English musical establishment apparently viewed him as a ‘clever young man’ and not much else. The emotional commitment of the Concerto suggested to many that Britten was a great deal more than that. The musicologist Malcolm MacDonald wrote of the Concerto’s moments of darkness and depression, that its ‘heartfelt expression strives to defend itself from irony, parody and worse’.

The most emotionally humid movement is the final one. It crystalises the argument of the entire piece using a passacaglia – a consistently looped theme in the bass that shapes the progress of the music. Britten’s passacaglia, though, is different from its baroque forebears. The theme is first heard on a trombone, underneath the soloist. But each time the theme sounds, Britten has it slip down by half a note, a semitone. As MacDonald has observed, the result is a harmonic perspective that feels as though it’s constantly expanding – music searching in the dark for a way out. Some of the variations over the top of the repeating theme try to lighten the atmosphere, but their gaiety is always frozen out. In the end, the soloist appears to have been abandoned, left alone, resorting first to a desperate prayer and eventually to an exasperated scream.

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

Jean Sibelius 1865–1957

How far can – or should – we hear Sibelius’s music through the prism of his country’s landscape, folk tradition and political plight? It’s nearly impossible not to open that particular can of worms when exploring the composer’s symphonies, as the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Osmo Vänskä are about to do in some detail, starting tonight. The First Symphony is a particularly interesting case in point. First, the politics. At the start of 1899 Czar Nicholas II delivered the so-called February Manifesto, tightening control over Finland, a grand duchy of Russia. The decree effectively stripped the Finnish parliament of its legislative power and proposed Russian as an official language. Feelings among those who had pinned hopes

Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 39 (1898/99) 1 2 3 4

Andante ma non troppo – Allegro energico Andante ma non troppo lento Scherzo. Allegro Finale (Quasi una fantasia). Andante – Allegro molto

on Finnish independence, Sibelius among them, ran high. Plenty of patriots at the Symphony’s premiere on 26 April 1899 heard the work as a rallying cry for Finns (they would hear the same in the Second Symphony when it was introduced three years later). The following year, on a tour of Europe, Sibelius was happy to tout the piece as a hymn of protest against the Russians. But is that really how the composer conceived the Symphony’s music? Yes and no. Initially, it was planned as a programmatic or ‘storytelling’ symphony focussing on particular geological features in Finland, and the country’s Christian triumph over paganism. But seven years after the success of his choral-orchestral work based London Philharmonic Orchestra | 11

Programme notes continued

on Finnish folklore, Kullervo, friends and critics were urging the composer to think more symphonically. What Finland needed, they believed, was a symphony that stood its ground as just that – a symphony. In other words, Finland needed art that was international rather than parochial. That’s what makes Sibelius’s First Symphony so musically interesting, irrespective of contextual events. In his student days in Vienna and Berlin, Sibelius’s teachers had stressed to their pupil the importance of ‘working through’ his musical themes – continuously shaping and sanding them, like a sculptor might, until they were fit for purpose. Sibelius seems to have taken this advice to heart and, arguably, to a whole new level – one that couldn’t have been anticipated by those instructors. So, in the First Symphony, we begin to see Sibelius handling his material in that distinctive way that would shape his later works and make them sound different from anyone else’s. The Symphony’s misty opening on a solitary clarinet doesn’t just prepare us for the energetic shock of the movement’s fast-paced Allegro that immediately follows; it infiltrates the work’s future musical ideas on a level that some say not even Sibelius was aware of. The shape of that clarinet’s theme can be detected in numerous fragments and melodies right up to the Symphony’s ending. The last movement launches with a transfigured version of it on thrusting, declamatory strings. In that gesture is another key to what made Sibelius’s symphonic conception so different – his response to the capabilities of the orchestra. Put simply, the Germanic approach to developing a symphony’s conversation was largely about the notes; it could be plotted on a piano before being transferred to orchestra ‘on paper’. Sibelius, however, allows the function of his instruments to dictate the form and progress of his music. He lets orchestral sonorities move the music forward, not just harmonic and melodic building blocks. Like, for example, the static harmonies in the central movements – long-held bass notes (or ‘pedal’ notes) in the slow Andante and then the harmonically consistent pizzicatos in the following Scherzo. Like the opening clarinet solo, too. There wasn’t much (if any) orchestral music sounding like this in 1899, which might have 12 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

led the critic Ernest Newman to say that ‘every page of [the First Symphony] breathes of another manner of thought, another way of living, even another landscape and seascape of ours.’ But there are tangible nationalistic elements at work in the Symphony as well. The use of ‘recitation’ – a note repeating itself like something half-sung, a ‘recitative’ in musical jargon – had its roots in the runic singing tradition of Finland and had been developed by Sibelius in Kullervo (it remained one of the composer’s hallmarks). The first movement’s main theme has the feeling of a runic chant, as do numerous other instances in the Symphony. More recently, many Finns have noted the Scherzo’s distinctive Finno-Ugric sense of bravado. Sibelius, however, had international ears. As odd as it may seem given the political context, there’s a sprinkling of Russian characteristics in the First Symphony. Many have heard a link with Tchaikovsky in the opening clarinet solo (Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony of 1888, in the same key, opens the same way), in the fur-wrapped melancholy of the slow movement, and even in the feverish way with which the Symphony erupts in its final movement. In that final movement, though, we also hear Sibelius at his most unique and exploratory. First of all, that organic treatment of themes continues (it opens with a version of the first movement’s clarinet solo, now on strings, and closes with the same E minor pizzicato chords that closed that movement too). But also, the movement appears to reconcile the Symphony’s dual ‘energetic’ versus ‘static’ states in a way that only Sibelius could have conceived, cleverly transitioning between speeds and even using two speeds at the same time (another feature that would be developed later on). This is Sibelius forging his ‘stubbornly separatist, regionally resonant musical idiom’, in the words of musicologist James Hepokoski. Perhaps that’s what led Finns to hear the work as one that spoke of independence. Programme notes © Andrew Mellor Video: Osmo Vänskä discusses Sibelius’s symphonies lpo.org.uk/sibelius

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 Mr Nigel Dyer 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 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 Noel Kilkenny Hon. Director Victoria Robey OBE Hon. Director Richard Gee, Esq Of Counsel Jenifer L. Keiser, CPA, EisnerAmper LLP Stephanie Yoshida

Corporate Donors Fenchurch Advisory Partners LLP Goldman Sachs Linklaters London Stock Exchange Group Morgan Lewis Phillips Auction House Pictet Bank Corporate Members 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