LPO programme 1 Feb 2025 Brighton - Ravel & Rimsky-Korsakov
2024/25 season at Brighton Dome CONCERT PROGRAMME
Redefining Healthcare Redefining Healthcare
Situated in the heart of London’s Marylebone district, OneWelbeck is one of the UK’s largest private medical facilities for outpatient diagnostics, therapies and minimally invasive surgeries. With over 300 consultants partnered across 17 specialist centres of practice, OneWelbeck delivers a better standard of treatment to our patients
Our facilities include:
Our facilities include:
9-storey facility in central London
UK’s only 3D mole mapping service
Dedicated chronic pain clinic
Dedicated sleep centre
In-house pharmacy
Cutting edge imaging machines
Principal Conductor Edward Gardner supported by Aud Jebsen
Principal Guest Conductor Karina Canellakis
Conductor Emeritus Vladimir Jurowski KBE Patron HRH The Duke of Kent KG
Artistic Director Elena Dubinets Chief Executive David Burke
Leader Pieter Schoeman supported by Neil Westreich
Brighton Dome Concert Hall
Saturday 1 February 2025 | 7.30pm
Ravel & Rimsky-Korsakov
Ravel
Pavane pour une infante défunte (6')
Ravel
Piano Concerto for the Left Hand (19’)
Interval (20’)
Rimsky-Korsakov
Scheherazade (47’)
Juya Shin*
conductor
Nicholas McCarthy piano
*LPO Fellow Conductor 2024/25
The LPO Conducting Fellowship is generously supported by Patricia Haitink with additional support from Gini and Richard Gabbertas.
The Steinway concert piano chosen and hired by the London Philharmonic Orchestra for this performance is supplied and maintained by Steinway & Sons, London.
The timings shown are not
Welcome to Brighton Dome
Welcome to tonight’s concert by the London Philharmonic Orchestra here at Brighton Dome. We hope you enjoy the performance and your visit here. For your comfort and safety, please note the following: thank you for your co-operation.
Latecomers may not be admitted until a suitable break in the performance. Some performances may contain no suitable breaks.
Interval drinks may be ordered in advance at the bar to avoid queues.
Photography is not allowed in the auditorium.
Recording is not allowed in the auditorium.
Mobiles and watches should be switched off before entering the auditorium.
The concert at Brighton Dome on 1 February 2025 is presented by the London Philharmonic Orchestra in association with Brighton Dome.
Brighton Dome gratefully acknowledges the support of Brighton & Hove City Council and Arts Council England.
Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival with Create Music
Situated in the Royal Pavilion Estate at the heart of the city, Brighton Dome is an arts charity, three historic contemporary live arts venues, a music education service across the region – Create Music – and the biggest curated cross-arts festival in England. brightondome.org | brightonfestival.org createmusic.org.uk
The paper used for all LPO brochures and concert programmes has been sourced from responsibly managed forests, certified in accordance with the FSC® (Forest Stewardship Council). It is also Carbon Balanced, meaning the carbon impact of its production is offset by the World Land Trust through the purchase and preservation of ecologically important forestry under imminent threat of clearance.
LPO news
George Benjamin: LPO Composer-in-Residence
We’re delighted to share the news that renowned British composer Sir George Benjamin will be the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s next Composer-in-Residence, succeeding Tania León in September 2025.
Benjamin is one of the leading figures in contemporary classical music. His works have been performed by notable conductors and orchestras worldwide, and his groundbreaking opera collaborations with playwright Martin Crimp have created modern classics like Into the Little Hill, Written on Skin, and Lessons in Love and Violence. His most recent opera, Picture a day like this, was premiered at the 2023 Aix-en-Provence Festival. Now the Henry Purcell Professor of Composition at King’s College London, he has received numerous international awards, including a knighthood in 2017.
We look forward to working with him from September!
Glyndebourne Festival 2025
This summer, we return to sunny Sussex for our annual residency at Glyndebourne’s famous opera festival. There we’ll reunite with Glyndebourne Music Director Robin Ticciati for performances of Janáček’s Káťa Kabanová, and the Festival’s first ever staging of Wagner’s epic final opera, Parsifal. We’ll also perform in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia under conductor Rory Macdonald – a revival of Annabel Arden’s lively and colourful production – and Verdi’s Falstaff conducted by Sian Edwards – a revival of Richard Jones’s 2009 production, in which Verdi’s Elizabethan comedy is transformed into a quickfooted post-war romp.
Glyndebourne Festival 2025 runs from 16 May–4 August 2025, and public booking opens on 2 March. glyndebourne.com/festival
Chair supported by Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik V. G. Cave
Minn Majoe
Chair supported by Dr Alex & Maria
Chan
Nilufar Alimaksumova
Alison Strange
Amanda Smith
Maeve Jenkinson
Camille Buitenhaus
Eleanor Bartlett
Eve Kennedy
Daniel Pukach
Katherine Waller
Second Violins
Tania Mazzetti Principal
Chair supported by The Candide
Trust
Kate Birchall
Fiona Higham
Chair supported by David & Yi
Buckley
Joseph Maher
Sioni Williams
Lyrit Milgram
Sheila Law
Harry Kerr
José Nuno Cabrita Matias
Tayfun Bomboz
Gabriel Bilbao
Violas
Nicholas Bootiman
Guest Principal
Lucia Ortiz Sauco
Benedetto Pollani
Laura Vallejo
Martin Wray
Chair supported by David & Bettina
Harden
James Heron
Jisu Song
Jill Valentine
Terry Nettle
Julia Kornig
On stage tonight
Cellos
Bozidar Vukotic
Guest Principal
Leo Popplewell
Tom Roff
Helen Thomas
Iain Ward
Jane Lindsay
Hee Yeon Cho
Double Basses
Sebastian Pennar* Principal Hugh Kluger
George Peniston
Tom Walley
Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton
Emma Prince Cathy Colwell
Flutes
Fiona Kelly Guest Principal
Ruth Harrison
Stewart McIlwham*
Piccolos
Stewart McIlwham* Principal
Ruth Harrison
Oboes
Daniel Finney
Guest Principal
Hannah Condliffe
Cor Anglais
Sue Böhling* Principal Chair supported by Dr Barry Grimaldi
Clarinets
Thomas Watmough Principal
Chair supported by Roger Greenwood
Isha Crichlow
E-flat Clarinet
Beth Crouch
Bass Clarinet
Paul Richards* Principal
Bassoons
Daniel Jemison
Guest Principal
Helen Storey*
Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra
Contrabassoon
Simon Estell* Principal
Horns
John Ryan* Principal Annemarie Federle
Principal
Chair supported by Victoria Robey CBE
Martin Hobbs
Mark Vines Co-Principal
Gareth Mollison
Trumpets
Paul Beniston* Principal
Anne McAneney*
Chair supported in memory of Peter Coe
Tony Cross
Trombones
Mark Templeton* Principal
Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton
David Whitehouse
Bass Trombone
Guy Berry
Tuba
Stephen Callow Guest Principal
Timpani
Simon Carrington* Principal
Chair supported by Victoria Robey CBE
Percussion
Andrew Barclay* Principal Chair supported by Gill & Garf Collins
Karen Hutt Co-Principal
Jeremy Cornes
Feargus Brennan Francesca Lombardelli
Harp
Tamara Young Guest Principal
*Professor at a London conservatoire
The LPO also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert:
Sir Nigel Boardman & Prof. Lynda Gratton
Ian Ferguson & Susan Tranter
Ryze Power
Sir Simon Robey
Bianca & Stuart Roden
Eric Tomsett
Neil Westreich
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Uniquely groundbreaking and exhilarating to watch and hear, the London Philharmonic Orchestra has been celebrated as one of the world’s great orchestras since Sir Thomas Beecham founded it in 1932. Our mission is to share wonder with the modern world through the power of orchestral music, which we accomplish through live performances, online, and an extensive education and community programme, cementing our position as a leading orchestra for the 21st century.
Our home is at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, where we’re at the beating heart of London’s cultural life. You’ll also find us at our resident venues in Brighton, Eastbourne and Saffron Walden, and on tour worldwide. In 2024 we celebrated 60 years as Resident Symphony Orchestra at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, combining the magic of opera with Glyndebourne’s glorious setting in the Sussex countryside.
Soundtrack to key moments
Everyone will have heard the Grammy-nominated London Philharmonic Orchestra, whether it’s playing the world’s National Anthems for every medal ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, our iconic recording with Pavarotti that made Nessun Dorma a global football anthem, or closing the flotilla at The Queen’s Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant. And you’ll almost certainly have heard us on the soundtracks for major films including The Lord of the Rings
Sharing the wonder worldwide
We’re one of the world’s most-streamed orchestras, with over 15 million plays of our content each month. In 2023 we were the most successful orchestra worldwide on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, with over 1.1m followers across all platforms, and in spring 2024 we featured in a TV documentary series on Sky Arts: ‘Backstage with the London Philharmonic Orchestra’, still available to watch via Now TV. During 2024/25 we’re once again working with Marquee TV to broadcast selected live concerts to enjoy from your own living room.
Our conductors
Our Principal Conductors have included some of the greatest historic names like Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. In 2021 Edward Gardner became our 13th Principal Conductor, and Vladimir Jurowski became Conductor Emeritus in recognition of his impact as Principal Conductor from 2007–21. Karina Canellakis is our current Principal Guest Conductor, and Tania León our Composer-in-Residence.
Next generations
We’re committed to nurturing the next generation of musicians and music-lovers: we love seeing the joy of children and families experiencing their first musical moments, and we’re passionate about inspiring schools and teachers through dedicated concerts, workshops,
resources and training. Reflecting our values of collaboration and inclusivity, our OrchLab and Open Sound Ensemble projects offer music-making opportunities for adults and young people with disabilities and special educational needs.
Today’s young instrumentalists are the orchestra members of the future, and we have a number of opportunities to support their progression. Our LPO Junior Artists programme leads the way in creating pathways into the profession for young artists from under-represented communities, and our LPO Young Composers and Foyle Future Firsts schemes support the next generation of professional musicians, bridging the transition from education to professional careers. We also recently launched the LPO Conducting Fellowship, supporting the development of two outstanding early-career conductors from backgrounds under-represented in the profession.
2024/25 season
Principal Conductor Edward Gardner leads the Orchestra in an exciting 2024/25 season, with soloists including Joyce DiDonato, Leif Ove Andsnes, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Víkingur Ólafsson and Isabelle Faust, and works including Strauss’s Alpine Symphony, Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe and Mahler’s Eighth Symphony. Principal Guest Conductor Karina Canellakis joins us for three concerts including Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony, Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony, and Mozart with pianist Benjamin Grosvenor. We’ll also welcome back Conductor Emeritus Vladimir Jurowski, as well as guest conductors including Mark Elder, Lidiya Yankovskaya, Robin Ticciati and Kevin John Edusei.
Throughout the season we’ll explore the relationship between music and memory in our ‘Moments Remembered’ series, featuring works like Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ Symphony, Strauss’s Metamorphosen and John Adams’s On the Transmigration of Souls. During the season there’ll be the chance to hear brand new works by composers including Freya Waley-Cohen and David Sawer, as well as performances by renowned soloists violinist Gidon Kremer, sarod player Amjad Ali Khan, soprano Renée Fleming and many more. The season also features tours to Japan, the USA, China and across Europe, as well as a calendar bursting with performances and community events in our Brighton, Eastbourne and Saffron Walden residencies.
lpo.org.uk
Alice Ivy-Pemberton Leader
Alice Ivy-Pemberton joined the London Philharmonic Orchestra as Co-Leader in February 2023.
Praised by The New York Times for her ‘sweet-toned playing’, Alice has performed as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician to international acclaim. While growing up in New York City and studying with Nurit Pacht, Alice made a nationally televised Carnegie Hall debut aged ten, and was a finalist at the Menuhin International Competition at the age of 12.
Alice earned her Bachelors and Masters degrees at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Itzhak Perlman and Catherine Cho as a fully-funded recipient of the Kovner Fellowship. During her studies she won Juilliard’s Violin Concerto Competition, performed extensively with the New York Philharmonic and The Philadelphia Orchestra, and led orchestras under the baton of Barbara Hannigan, Xian Zhang and Matthias Pintscher. Upon graduating in 2022 she was awarded the Polisi Prize and a Benzaquen Career Advancement Grant in recognition of ‘tremendous talent, promise, creativity, and potential to make a significant impact in the performing arts’.
An avid chamber musician, Alice has collaborated with Itzhak Perlman, Anthony Marwood, Gil Shaham and members of the Belcea, Doric, Juilliard and Brentano string quartets, and performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Festival appearances include Music@Menlo, Moritzburg and Yellow Barn. Also a passionate advocate for new music and its social relevance, Alice created Drowning Monuments, a noted multimedia project on climate change that brought together five world premieres for solo violin.
Juya Shin conductor
A Classic FM ‘Rising Star’ for 2024, South Korean conductor Juya Shin (b. 2000) is the one of the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s two Fellow Conductors for 2024/25. As well as taking to the podium for today’s concert, she has assisted Edward Gardner, Karina Canellakis and Vladimir Jurowski on several Royal Festival Hall and European tour concerts this season. Juya will conduct the Orchestra’s FUNharmonics family concerts and BrightSparks schools’ concerts later this spring, as well as the annual Debut Sounds concert in July, showcasing new works by this year’s LPO Young Composers.
Juya is pursuing a Master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting at Mannheim University of Music & Performing Arts in Germany, under Stefan Blunier. She has accumulated significant experience with prestigious orchestras, and has participated in masterclasses with Manfred Honeck, Jaap van Zweden, Johannes Schlaefli and Christoph-Mathias Mueller. Later this season, she will also join the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra’s inaugural masterclass with Karina Canellakis.
With a growing diary of professional commitments, Juya’s upcoming highlights include her return to the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra; debuts with the Göttingen Symphony Orchestra and at Polish Radio Warsaw with their National Youth Orchestra; an extensive tour with Philzuid; and her return to the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra for their Fellowship programme. In recent seasons, she has also conducted the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, and NationaltheaterOrchester Mannheim, amongst others.
‘Every day I’m learning, growing, and finding new ways to contribute to the music –whether it’s sitting at my desk or piano studying scores, observing conductors in rehearsals and trying to understand their ideas, listening and taking notes in the hall, conducting, or engaging with everyone involved in the LPO. I’m so lucky to have started my journey with the LPO.’
Juya Shin on the LPO Conducting Fellowship
The LPO Conducting Fellowship
The LPO Conducting Fellowship was launched in 2023 to promote diversity and inclusivity in the classical music industry by developing outstanding early-career conductors from backgrounds currently under-represented in the profession.
Guided by the LPO’s Principal Conductor, Edward Gardner, two successful applicants each season become fully immersed in the life of the LPO, working intensively with the Orchestra over a period of 6–8 non-consecutive weeks. The Fellowship includes opportunities to conduct the Orchestra in various settings including at LPO residencies, educational programmes, and ensembles of its Rising Talent programmes; opportunities to assist Principal Conductor Edward Gardner, and mentorship sessions with him; and full immersion into the life of the Orchestra, aiming to form the basis of a longer-term professional relationship. Further opportunities are tailored to the needs and interests of the Fellow Conductors.
To find out more, visit lpo.org.uk/conductingfellowship
The LPO Conducting Fellowship is generously supported by Patricia Haitink with additional support from Gini and Richard Gabbertas.
One of the world’s most inspiring pianists, Nicholas McCarthy was born in 1989 without his right hand, and through sheer talent and determination rose above many obstacles and active discouragement to pursue his love of the piano, going on to study at London’s prestigious Royal College of Music. His graduation in 2012 drew press headlines around the world, being the only one-handed pianist to graduate from the RCM in its 130-year history. In 2018 he was awarded honorary membership by its President, His Majesty King Charles.
As one of just a few international soloists with a disability, Nicholas is a champion of the dynamic and brave world of left-hand alone repertoire, a repertoire that first came into being in the early 19th century and developed rapidly following the First World War owing to the many injuries suffered on the battlefield. A career highlight was performing with the British Paraorchestra at the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games, where Nicholas played alongside Coldplay in front of an audience of 86,000 people and half a billion TV viewers worldwide. Since then, Nicholas has performed extensively around the world, both in recital and with major orchestras, at some of the most prestigious concert halls across the globe. In March 2024, his Queen Elizabeth Hall debut drew the Sunday Times headline: ‘So dazzling with one hand, he doesn’t need another’.
Outside of his concert career, Nicholas is in demand as a corporate speaker. He regularly delivers keynote talks to the world’s leading businesses and institutions, and to date has given three TEDx Talks. A natural communicator, he has presented various shows on television and radio including the BBC Proms and the Leeds International Piano Competition, both for BBC
Four television. Most recently he devised and presented a music programme called ‘Zichy, Wittgenstein and Me’, broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
2023 saw Nicholas return to the Belfast International Arts Festival. There he performed with the Ulster Orchestra both Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand and Britten’s Diversions for Left Hand and Orchestra in the same concert – the first time this had been accomplished since Paul Wittgenstein (the commissioner of both works) did so in 1951. This was later broadcast on BBC Radio 3's ‘Afternoon Concert.’
A project that Nicholas is particularly proud of is his collaboration with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) to produce the first piano syllabus for one hand, from Initial Grade to Grade 5, which was launched in August 2024. This type of resource was wholly unavailable to Nicholas when he started out with the piano, and he hopes this valuable resource will provide opportunity and encouragement to all pianists with limb differences.
As well as tonight’s debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Nicholas’s 2024/25 season has seen debuts with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, his recital debut at the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, and, in December, his debut at the Vienna Konzerthaus, where his hero, the one-handed Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein (1887–1961), often performed. Nicholas looks forward to an exciting future season of concerts and his debut with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
‘Don’t forget that it’s a pavane for a dead infanta, not a dead pavane for an infanta.’ Ravel’s warning to performers not to take his famous miniature too slowly is backed up by a further remark that ‘it’s not a funeral lament for an infanta who’s just died, but conjures up a pavane the little princess might have danced, once upon a time, at the Spanish court’. A reserved but genuine emotional presence, a decent waft of musical nostalgia and an affinity with children – these are classic Ravel traits, immaculately exhibited as early in his composing career as 1899, when he was 24 and still a student of Gabriel Fauré at the Paris Conservatoire.
Ravel wrote the Pavane as a piano piece, and it was premiered as such in 1902. Success was immediate, giving it a lasting prominence in his output that would later irritate him in the light of what he considered to be its youthful failings, which included in his view an over-reliance on the style of Chabrier. No doubt those interpretative misunderstandings irked him too; he later said he had chosen the title for the pure sound of it, and one wonders how the piece might have fared had he simply called it ‘Pavane’, as he did in other evocations of 17th- and 18th-century dances such as the earlier Menuet antique or much later suite Le tombeau de Couperin.
Whatever the case, he did not mind making an orchestral transcription of the Pavane in 1910, and it is chiefly in this version that it has become so well-loved. The orchestra is a small one, but handled with typical skill and delicacy by Ravel, each exquisite colouring being used both tellingly and sparingly, from the main melody’s wistful presentation by a solo horn over plucked strings at the beginning to its full-orchestral, harp-glinted apotheosis at the end.
Imagine you are a pianist, and that you’ve just been told that you have to lose one of your hands. Which one would you choose? Those of us who are right-handed would probably opt to lose the left one. Yet it actually makes much more sense to keep the left hand. This is the hand which is trained to play rippling arpeggio figures and striding bass chords: in other words, to provide rich supporting harmonies. At the same time the two strongest, most agile fingers – forefinger and thumb – are at the top, so they’re better able to pick out melodies than the ring and little fingers at the top of the right hand. At the same time the left hand is more directly connected to the right hemisphere of the brain – the part associated with music rather than with language and logic.
So while you could hardly say that the pianist Paul Wittgenstein was lucky to lose his right arm in the First World War, it could have been worse, as Wittgenstein (brother of the famous philosopher) came to realise. He worked hard at building up his left-hand technique, and before long he was playing with remarkable virtuosity. The trouble was, only one great composer – Brahms – had produced anything substantial for left hand alone: an arrangement of Bach’s mighty Chaconne from the Partita in D minor for solo violin. Undeterred, Wittgenstein set about commissioning virtuoso works for left hand from some of the leading composers of the day: Erich Korngold, Richard Strauss, Sergei Prokofiev, Benjamin Britten, Franz Schmidt and Maurice Ravel –a strikingly international lineup. The results were all impressive, and very different in character. But while most of these composers made little effort to disguise the one-handedness of the soloist, Ravel created
something very different. Try shutting your eyes during any of the solo cadenza passages in this Concerto: you’ll probably find it very hard indeed to believe that the soloist isn’t cheating and using his or her right hand as well. In fact Ravel’s writing for the piano in this work is every bit as much of a feat of virtuosity as performing it would be. Somehow he seems to know exactly how far he can push the left hand without making it simply impossible to play.
It seems that something of Wittgenstein’s heroic determination – his refusal to accept that his terrible loss meant the end of his career – left its mark on the character of Ravel’s Concerto. Generally speaking, Ravel didn’t care much for the heroically striving romantic language created by Beethoven in his piano concertos: for him Beethoven was ‘le grand Sourd’ – ‘the great deaf-mute’, whose effect on musical development had been deadening. Ravel preferred delicacy, refinement, exquisite suggestiveness to Byronic blood and thunder. But there is something truly Beethovenian about the Concerto for the Left Hand. While Ravel’s two-hand Piano Concerto in G balances solos and orchestra with typically fastidious care (only a chamber orchestra is required), this Concerto pits its one-handed soloist against a large orchestra with full brass, enlarged woodwind and a powerful percussion section. Though Ravel skilfully avoids bringing pianist and full orchestra into direct conflict too often, the effect is still of a small but determined figure standing up to an elemental force – like Wittgenstein himself defying his fate.
Continued overleaf
Programme notes
The Concerto is in one continuous movement: two broad slow sections framing a brilliant central Allegro. It begins with deep, murky bass textures, and a rare example of a great solo for contrabassoon. This builds to a huge climax, from which the piano emerges, also from the depths, establishing a magnificent habaneralike dance theme (though with three beats in a bar instead of two) which is then taken up by the orchestra. More intimate dialogue between soloist and orchestra eventually builds another crescendo, at which the Allegro bursts onto the scene. This dazzling colourful music, with more suggestions of Latin folk music, but with an increasingly serious tone. Suddenly the slow dance theme sweeps back in, this time with soloist and full orchestra combined. The solo cadenza that follows is suitably virtuosic, but increasingly there is a note of sadness – a sense of loss perhaps. But again the piano rises defiantly, and the Allegro theme returns for a brief but triumphal close.
An announcement will be made five minutes before the end of the interval.
The Concerto’s commissioner, Paul Wittgenstein
Programme notes
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
1844–1908
Scheherazade, Op. 35
1888
1 The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship
2 The Tale of the Kalender Prince
3 The Young Prince and the Young Princess 4 Festival in Baghdad; The Sea; The Ship goes to pieces on a rock surmounted by a Bronze Warrior; Conclusion
These days, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov tends to be labelled as a Russian nationalist: a prominent member of the so-called ‘Russian Five’, or ‘Mighty Handful’, as the hugely influential critic Vladimir Stasov famously dubbed them. But in the late 1880s the composer began to look more widely for inspiration – to the dismay of some of his friends. An encounter with Wagner’s operas left a deep impression, and around the same time he began to look to other cultures for inspiration – one important result was the Capriccio Espagnol (‘Spanish Caprice’, 1887), soon followed by perhaps his most famous work, the ‘symphonic suite for orchestra’ Scheherazade (1888). The source was the famous collection of stories known as The Arabian Nights. In these we meet the Sultan Shakriar, one of literature’s most spectacular misogynists. Convinced of the falsity of all women, the Sultan vows to execute each one he takes to wife after their first night together. But the wily Scheherazade gets the better of him by telling him stories, each finishing on an enticing cliffhanger. Gradually the Sultan’s heart melts, and he renounces his vow.
Rimsky-Korsakov later insisted that he never intended to set himself up as a musical Scheherazade, a weaver of enticing musical narratives. ‘All I had desired was that the hearer, if he liked my piece as symphonic music, should carry away the impression that it is beyond doubt an Oriental narrative of some numerous and
Programme notes
varied fairytale wonders and not merely four pieces played one after the other and composed on themes common to all the four movements.’ All the same, the temptation to match his musical ideas and developments with characters and storylines in the Arabian Nights has proved too strong for most commentators. Surely the stern opening theme, enhanced by bass brass, must depict the Sultan, while the soaring solo violin and harp idea that follows has to be Scheherazade herself, weaving her poetic spell as she sets the scene for her first tale.
But this still leaves the listener plenty of room for interpretation. The swirling string figures in the first movement, through which the first theme majestically sounds, vividly evoke Sinbad’s ship ploughing through the waves. But the theme itself is the same idea that’s supposed to represent the Sultan. The connection is –as the composer himself said – ‘symphonic’. Having set our imaginations working, Rimsky is happy to leave the rest of the work to us: to imagine the characters and backdrops as we choose. The same is true with the heroic adventures of ‘The Tale of the Kalender Prince’, while any pair of star-crossed lovers will do for ‘Young Prince and Young Princess’ – though the 19th-century ‘oriental’ atmosphere is unmistakable. It’s possible to
follow Rimsky’s detailed synopsis stage-by-stage in the finale (with a loud gong-stroke indicating the moment when the ship crashes into the rock), or simply to treat it as a wonderfully colourful and dramatic symphonic summing-up. At the end, though, the symbolism is unmistakable: Scheherazade’s free-floating solo violin and the Sultan’s stern opening theme (cellos and basses) are combined in harmony. Then, in a touch modern audiences will no doubt particularly appreciate, the last word is left to Scheherazade herself.
We hope you enjoyed tonight’s concert. Could you spare a few moments afterwards to complete a short survey about your experience? Your feedback is invaluable to us and will help to shape our future plans. Just scan the QR code to begin the survey. Thank you!
Beethoven & Brahms
Saturday 8 March 2025
7.30pm
R Schumann Overture, Genoveva
Beethoven Violin Concerto Brahms Symphony No. 4
Adam Hickox conductor
Hyeyoon Park violin
Player Appeal 2025
An ask from Minn Majoe on behalf of the Orchestra
As musicians of this incredible Orchestra, we dedicate ourselves to making exceptional music and sharing it with as many people as we can – people like you.
As individuals we bring our passion, energy and enthusiasm to every single performance, so that as a collective we can inspire and entertain.
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Donate online at lpo.org.uk/playerappeal, scan the QR code, or call the LPO Individual Giving Team on 020 7840 4212 or
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Thank you
As a registered charity, we are extremely grateful to all our supporters who have given generously to the LPO over the past year to help maintain the breadth and depth of the LPO’s activities, as well as supporting the Orchestra both on and off the concert platform.
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Nicholas Berwin
Lorna & Christopher Bown
Mr Bernard Bradbury
Richard & Jo Brass
Desmond & Ruth Cecil
Mr John H Cook
Emmanuelle & Thierry d’Argent
Mrs Elizabeth Davies
Guy Davies
Cameron & Kathryn Doley
Ms Elena Dubinets
David Ellen
Cristina & Malcolm Fallen
Mr Daniel Goldstein
David & Jane Gosman
Mr Gavin Graham
Mrs Dorothy Hambleton
Eugene & Allison Hayes
J Douglas Home
Mr & Mrs Jan
Mr & Mrs Ralph Kanza
Mrs Elena Kolobova & Mr Oleg
Kolobov
Rose & Dudley Leigh
Wg. Cdr. M T Liddiard OBE JP
RAF
Drs Frank & Gek Lim
Andrew T Mills
Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill
John Nickson & Simon Rew
Peter Noble & L Vella
Mikhail Noskov & Vasilina Bindley
Simon & Lucy Owen-Johnstone
Andrew & Cindy Peck
Mr Roger Phillimore
Nigel Phipps & Amanda McDowall
Mr Michael Posen
Marie Power
Sir Bernard Rix
Baroness Shackleton
Tim Slorick
Sir Jim Smith
Mrs Maria Toneva
Mr Joe Topley & Ms Tracey
Countryman
Mr & Mrs John C Tucker
Andrew & Rosemary Tusa
Galina Umanskaia
Mr & Mrs John & Susi
Underwood
The Viney Family
Mr Rodney Whittaker
Grenville & Krysia Williams
Joanna Williams
Principal Supporters
Anonymous donors
Julian & Annette Armstrong
Chris Banks
Mr John D Barnard
Roger & Clare Barron
Mrs A Beare
Chris Benson
Peter & Adrienne Breen
Dr Anthony Buckland
Mr Julien Chilcott-Monk
David & Liz Conway
Mr Alistair Corbett
David Devons
Deborah Dolce
In memory of Enid Gofton
Prof Emeritus John Gruzelier
Mrs Farrah Jamal
Bruce & Joanna Jenkyn-Jones
Per Jonsson
Tanya Joseph
Mr Ian Kapur
Jozef & Helen Kotz
Dr Peter Mace
Peter Mainprice
Miss Rebecca Murray
Mrs Terry Neale
Mr Stephen Olton
Mr James Pickford
Neil & Karen Reynolds
Mr Robert Ross
Kseniia Rubina
Mr Andrea Santacroce & Olivia
Veillet-Lavallée
Penny Segal
Priscylla Shaw
Michael Smith
Mr & Mrs G Stein
Dr Peter Stephenson
Ben Valentin KC
Sophie Walker
Christopher Williams
Liz Winter
Elena Y Zeng
Supporters
Anonymous donors
Ralph & Elizabeth Aldwinckle
Robert & Sarah Auerbach
Dr Simona Cicero & Mr Mario Altieri
Alison Clarke & Leo Pilkington
Sarah Connor
Miss Tessa Cowie
Andrew Davenport
Stephen Denby
Mr Simon Edelsten
Steve & Cristina Goldring
In memory of Derek Gray
Nick Hely-Hutchinson
The Jackman Family
Molly Jackson
Jan Leigh & Jan Rynkiewicz
Mr David MacFarlane
Simon Moore
Simon & Fiona Mortimore
Dana Mosevicz
Dame Jane Newell DBE
Diana G Oosterveld
Mr David Peters
Mr & Mrs Graham & Jean Pugh
Clarence Tan
Tony & Hilary Vines
Dr June Wakefield
Mr John Weekes
Mr Roger Woodhouse
Mr C D Yates
Hon. Benefactor
Elliott Bernerd
Hon. Life Members
Alfonso Aijón
Carol Colburn Grigor CBE
Pehr G Gyllenhammar
Robert Hill
Keith Millar
Victoria Robey CBE
Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE
Cornelia Schmid
Timothy Walker CBE AM
Laurence Watt
Thomas Beecham
Group
Members
Sir Nigel Boardman & Prof. Lynda Gratton
David & Yi Buckley
In memory of Peter Coe
Dr Alex & Maria Chan
Garf & Gill Collins
William & Alex de Winton
The Friends of the LPO
Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik V. G.
Cave
Mr Roger Greenwood
Barry Grimaldi
David & Bettina Harden
Mr & Mrs Philip Kan
Mr & Mrs John Kessler
Sir Simon Robey
Victoria Robey OBE
Stuart & Bianca Roden
Julian & Gill Simmonds
Eric Tomsett
Neil Westreich
Guy & Utti Whittaker
LPO Corporate Circle
Principal
Bloomberg
Carter-Ruck Solicitors
French Chamber of Commerce
Natixis Corporate & Investment
Banking
Ryze Power
Tutti
German-British Chamber of Industry & Commerce
Lazard
Walpole
Preferred Partners
Jeroboams
Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd
Mayer Brown
Neal’s Yard Remedies
OneWelbeck
Sipsmith
Steinway & Sons
In-kind Sponsor
Google Inc
Thank you
Trusts and Foundations
ABO Trust
Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne
BlueSpark Foundation
The Boltini Trust
Candide Trust
Cockayne Grants for the Arts in London
Dunard Fund
Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation
Foyle Foundation
Garfield Weston Foundation
Garrick Charitable Trust
The Golsoncott Foundation
Jerwood Foundation
John Coates Charitable Trust
John Horniman’s Children’s Trust
John Thaw Foundation
Idlewild Trust
Institute Adam Mickiewicz
Kirby Laing Foundation
The John S Cohen Foundation
The Lennox Hannay Charitable Trust
Kurt Weill Foundation
Lord and Lady Lurgan Trust
Lucille Graham Trust
The Marchus Trust
Maria Bjӧrnson Memorial Fund
The 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust
PRS Foundation
The R K Charitable Trust
The Radcliffe Trust
Rivers Foundation
Rothschild Foundation
Scops Arts Trust
Sir William Boreman’s Foundation
TIOC Foundation
Vaughan Williams Foundation
The Victoria Wood Foundation
The Viney Family
The Barbara Whatmore
Charitable Trust
and all others who wish to remain anonymous.
Board of the American Friends of the LPO
We are grateful to the Board of the American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, who assist with fundraising for our activities in the United States of America:
