2024/25 season at the Southbank Centre FREE CONCERT PROGRAMME
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
Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall
Friday 25 October 2024 | 7.30pm
A Hero’s Life
Ravel
Mother Goose (complete ballet) (28’)
Bruch
Violin Concerto No. 2 (26’)
Interval (20’)
R Strauss
Ein Heldenleben (‘A Hero’s Life’) (46’)
Mark Elder conductor
James Ehnes
violin
Welcome LPO news
Welcome to the Southbank Centre
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Latest tours
A few days ago, the Orchestra returned from a hugely successful tour of the USA – our first major tour of the country in a decade – with Principal Conductor Edward Gardner and violinists Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Randall Goosby. Spanning from West to East Coasts, the two-week tour began in California, followed by venues in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Connecticut and New York, including Carnegie Hall.
Next month we’ll be touring closer to home, giving a series of concerts in Vienna and Germany with Edward Gardner and pianist Víkingur Ólafsson, following his Royal Festival Hall appearance with us on 6 November with Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 1. And later in the autumn we’re preparing for another big trip – a major tour of China at the end of December. With conductor Paavo Järvi and cellist Julia Hagen, we’ll perform in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing, before returning to the UK in the New Year.
Follow all our tour adventures via Instagram: @londonphilharmonicorchestra
LPO Friends – Behind-the-scenes
Earlier today, LPO Friends were treated to an exclusive behind-the-scenes experience, watching Mark Elder, James Ehnes and the Orchestra rehearse for tonight's concert and enjoying a rare insight into the preparation and artistry that goes into making each performance so special.
As well as exclusive access to a number of private rehearsals each season, LPO Friends membership puts you at the front of the queue for our Southbank Centre concert bookings, and offers invitations to other events and opportunities to meet LPO musicians throughout the year.
Membership starts from just £6 per month. Interested in finding out more? Scan the QR code or visit lpo.org.uk/support
First Violins
Pieter Schoeman* Leader
Chair supported by Neil Westreich
Alice Ivy-Pemberton Co-Leader
Kate Oswin
Chair supported by Eric Tomsett
Lasma Taimina
Chair supported by Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik V. G. Cave
Thomas Eisner
Chair supported by Ryze Power
Katalin Varnagy
Yang Zhang
Cassandra Hamilton
Elizaveta Tyun
Amanda Smith
Sophie Phillips
Jamie Hutchinson
Beatriz Carbonell
Alice Apreda Howell
Chu-Yu Yang
Gabriela Opacka
Second Violins
Tania Mazzetti Principal
Claudia Tarrant-Matthews
Kate Birchall
Fiona Higham
Chair supported by David & Yi
Buckley
Nynke Hijlkema
Joseph Maher
Ashley Stevens
Jessica Coleman
Sioni Williams
Sarah Thornett
Sheila Law
Vera Beumer
José Nuno Cabrita Matias
Caroline Heard
Violas
Philip Nolte Guest Principal
Katharine Leek
Benedetto Pollani
Laura Vallejo
Lucia Ortiz Sauco
Toby Warr
Daniel Cornford
James Heron
On stage tonight
Alistair Scahill
Julia Doukakis
Jisu Song
Anita Kurowska
Cellos
Kristina Blaumane Principal
Chair supported by Bianca & Stuart
Roden
Richard Birchall
Francis Bucknall
Auriol Evans
Sue Sutherley
George Hoult
Tom Roff
Helen Thomas Iain Ward
Pedro Silva
Double Basses
Kevin Rundell* Principal
Sebastian Pennar*
Co-Principal
Hugh Kluger
George Peniston
Laura Murphy
Ben Havinden-Williams
Tom Morgan
Antonia Bakewell
Flutes
Juliette Bausor Principal
Hannah Grayson
Stewart McIlwham*
Ruth Harrison
Piccolo
Stewart McIlwham* Principal
Oboes
John Roberts
Guest Principal
Alice Munday
Eleanor Sullivan
Max Spiers
Cor Anglais
Max Spiers
Clarinets
Benjamin Mellefont* Principal
Chair supported by Sir Nigel Boardman & Prof. Lynda Gratton
Thomas Watmough
James Maltby
E-flat Clarinet
Thomas Watmough
Principal
Chair supported by Roger Greenwood
Bass Clarinet
Paul Richards* Principal
Bassoons
Paul Boyes Guest Principal
Helen Storey
Simon Estell*
Joanna Stark
Contrabassoon
Simon Estell* Principal
Horns
Annemarie Federle
Principal
Chair supported by Victoria Robey CBE
John Ryan* Principal
Martin Hobbs
Mark Vines Co-Principal
Gareth Mollison
Eleanor Blakeney
Jonathan Farey
Amadea Dazeley-Gaist
Meilyr Hughes
Trumpets
Paul Beniston* Principal
Tom Nielsen Co-Principal
Anne McAneney*
Chair supported in memory of Peter Coe
Joe Skypala
Kaitlin Wild
Trombones
Mark Templeton* Principal
Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton
Matthew Lewis
Bass Trombone
Lyndon Meredith Principal
Euphonium
David Whitehouse
Tuba
Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal
Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton
Timpani
Simon Carrington* Principal
Chair supported by Victoria Robey CBE
Percussion
Andrew Barclay* Principal Chair supported by Gill & Garf Collins
Feargus Brennan
Ignacio Molins
Emmanuel Joste
Harps
Sally Pryce Guest Principal Tamara Young
*Professor at a London conservatoire
The LPO also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert:
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
Pieter Schoeman Leader
Pieter Schoeman was appointed Leader of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008, having previously been Co-Leader since 2002. He is also a Professor of Violin at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance.
Pieter has performed worldwide as a soloist and recitalist in such famous halls as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Moscow’s Rachmaninoff Hall, Capella Hall in St Petersburg, Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall. As a chamber musician he regularly appears at London’s prestigious Wigmore Hall. His chamber music partners have included Anne-Sophie Mutter, Veronika Eberle, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Boris Garlitsky, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Martin Helmchen and Julia Fischer.
Pieter has performed numerous times as a soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Highlights have included an appearance as both conductor and soloist in Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at the Royal Festival Hall, the Brahms Double Concerto with Kristina Blaumane, Florence Price’s Violin Concerto No. 2, and the Britten Double Concerto with Alexander Zemtsov, which was recorded and released on the LPO Label to great critical acclaim.
Pieter has appeared as Guest Leader with the BBC, Barcelona, Bordeaux, Lyon and Baltimore symphony orchestras; the Rotterdam and BBC Philharmonic orchestras; and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.
Pieter’s chair in the LPO is generously supported by Neil Westreich.
Sir Mark Elder was Music Director of the Hallé from 2000–24 and is now Conductor Emeritus. He became Principal Guest Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra in September 2022. He was Music Director of English National Opera (1979–93), Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra (1982–85) and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1992–95), and Music Director of Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, USA (1989–94).
Sir Mark’s most recent appearance with the London Philharmonic Orchestra was in November 2023, when he conducted Mahler’s Third Symphony here at the Royal Festival Hall. In 2021 he conducted the world premiere of James MacMillan’s Christmas Oratorio at the Royal Festival Hall, later released on the LPO Label.
He has worked with many of the world’s other leading orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw, Budapest Festival and London Symphony orchestras and the Orchestre de Paris, and is a Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. He has appeared annually at the BBC Proms for many years, including in 1987 and 2006 the Last Night of the Proms, and from 2003 with the Hallé Orchestra.
Sir Mark works regularly in the most prominent international opera houses, including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, New York’s Metropolitan Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Other engagements have taken him to the Bayreuth Festival (where he was the first English conductor to conduct a new production), Munich, Amsterdam, Zürich, Geneva, Berlin, and the Bregenz and Aix-en-Provence festivals.
From 2011–19 he was Artistic Director of Opera Rara, with whom his recordings included Puccini's Le Willis featuring the LPO, as well as Donizetti’s Dom Sebastien, Imelda di Lambertazzi, Linda di Chamounix, Maria di Rohan and a multi-award-winning release of Les Martyrs, and Rossini’s Semiramide.
Future concerts engagements include with the Chicago Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Boston Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Bergen Philharmonic and Gstaad Festival orchestras, the Hallé in Manchester, and at the BBC Proms and the Aldeburgh and Edinburgh festivals. Recent and forthcoming opera engagements include Carmen at the Opéra National de Paris; Benvenuto Cellini for Dutch National Opera; Die Meistersinger for San Francisco Opera; Billy Budd, Falstaff and La traviata for Glyndebourne; and concert performances of Lohengrin with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He opened the Met season in New York in 2018 with a new production of Samson et Dalila, and returned to Covent Garden in 2022 for a new production of Peter Grimes. In 2023 he conducted Aida and La forza del destino at Covent Garden, and Meyerbeer’s Le prophète with the LSO at the Aix-en-Provence Festival.
Sir Mark Elder has made many recordings with the London Philharmonic, Hallé, Royal Concertgebouw, City of Birmingham Symphony and BBC Symphony orchestras; the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; and the orchestras of the Royal Opera House and ENO, in repertoire ranging from Verdi, Strauss and Wagner to contemporary music. His releases on the Hallé’s own label have culminated in Gramophone Awards for The Dream of Gerontius, Götterdämmerung and Elgar’s Violin Concerto, and Recording of the Year in the BBC Music Magazine Awards for The Apostles.
TV appearances include a two-part film on the life and music of Verdi for the BBC in 1994, and a similar project on Donizetti for German television in 1996. In 2011 he co-presented BBC TV’s series Symphony, and in 2012 fronted BBC2’s TV series Maestro at the Opera. He presented a series of TV programmes on BBC4 during the 2015 Proms in which he talked about eight symphonies ranging from Beethoven to MacMillan.
Sir Mark Elder was appointed a Companion of Honour in the 2017 Queen’s Birthday Honours, was knighted in 2008, and awarded the CBE in 1989. He won an Olivier Award in 1991 for his outstanding work at ENO, and in 2006 he was named Conductor of the Year by the Royal Philharmonic Society. He was awarded Honorary Membership of the Royal Philharmonic Society in 2011.
James Ehnes has established himself as one of the most sought-after musicians on the international stage. Gifted with a rare combination of stunning virtuosity, serene lyricism and an unfaltering musicality, he is a favourite guest at the world’s most celebrated concert halls.
James last appeared with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in February 2023, when he performed Brahms’s Violin Concerto under conductor Kevin John Edusei here at the Royal Festival Hall. Other recent orchestral highlights include performances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, NHK Symphony, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Cleveland Orchestra. Throughout the 2024/25 season, James will be Artistin-Residence with Melbourne Symphony, and will tour to Asia, where he will perform the complete Beethoven sonatas at Kioi Hall, Tokyo, as well as performances with the Hong Kong Philharmonic and Singapore Symphony orchestras.
Alongside his concerto performances, James maintains a busy recital schedule. He performs regularly at London’s Wigmore Hall (including a complete cycle of Beethoven Sonatas in 2019/20, and the complete violin/viola works of Brahms and Schumann in 2021/22), Carnegie Hall, Symphony Center Chicago, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Ravinia, Montreux, Verbier Festival, Dresden Music Festival and Festival de Pâques in Aix-en-Provence. A devoted chamber musician, he is leader of the Ehnes Quartet and Artistic Director of the Seattle Chamber Music Society.
James Ehnes has an extensive discography and has won many awards for his recordings, including two Grammys, three Gramophone Awards and eleven Juno Awards. In 2021 he was recipient of the coveted ‘Artist of the Year’ title at the Gramophone Awards. This award celebrated his contributions to the recording industry, including the launch of an online recital series entitled ‘Recitals from Home’, which was released in June 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent closure of concert halls. James recorded Bach’s six Sonatas and Partitas and Ysaÿe’s six Sonatas from his home with state-of-the-art equipment, and released six episodes over a period of two months. These recordings were met with great critical acclaim by audiences worldwide, and the violinist was described by Le Devoir as being ‘at the absolute forefront of the streaming evolution’.
James Ehnes began violin studies at the age of five, became a protégé of the noted Canadian violinist Francis Chaplin aged nine, and made his orchestral debut with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal aged 13. He continued his studies with Sally Thomas at the Meadowmount School of Music and The Juilliard School, winning the Peter Mennin Prize for Outstanding Achievement and Leadership in Music upon his graduation in 1997.
James is a Member of the Order of Canada and the Order of Manitoba, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and an honorary fellow of London’s Royal Academy of Music, where he is a Visiting Professor. In summer 2024 he was appointed Professor of Violin at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. He plays the ‘Marsick’ Stradivarius of 1715.
Want to find out more? Turn to page 12 to read our Ten Questions with James Ehnes.
Prélude – Danse du Rouet et Scène – Pavane de la Belle au bois dormant –
Les entretiens de la Belle et de la Bête – Petit Poucet –
Laideronnette, Impératrice des Pagodes – Le jardin féerique
‘Ravel was my favourite [among my father’s friends] because he used to tell me marvellous stories. I would sit on his knee and indefatigably he would begin “Once upon a time ...”’.
Mimie Godebski’s adult recollections revealing lifelong bachelor Ravel’s unerring affinity with children and childish things relate directly to the conception of the suite Ma mère l’Oye (‘Mother Goose’). In the summer of 1908, the composer had presented the nine-year-old Mimie and her younger brother Jean with a tiny but exquisite ‘Pavane de la Belle au bois dormant’ (‘Pavane of the Sleeping Beauty’) for piano duet. His intention was that they would play it, but it proved too difficult, and when the death of his father took the composer back to Paris that autumn, any intended further work was temporarily halted; it was not until the spring of 1910 – the same time that he was working on the ballet Daphnis et Chloé – that Ravel completed it as a five-movement suite on subjects borrowed from old fairytales by the Comtesse d’Aulnoy, Marie Leprince de Beaumont and Charles Perrault (whose collection Contes de ma mère l’Oye provided the title). He still harboured hopes that the Godebski children would give the first public performance, but although they played it to him in private, the premiere was eventually given in Paris by two other child pianists, Jeanne Leleu and Geneviève Durony.
Ravel produced his customary orchestration in 1911, but then, in answer to a commission from a Parisian theatre, followed it up with the expanded ballet score (nearly twice the length of the suite) that we hear tonight.
Programme notes
The scenario featured the famous Beauty pricking her finger, dreaming fairytale stories as she sleeps and finally being awoken at dawn by Prince Charming, and was presumably grafted on afterwards since it entailed not only the addition of linking passages, an atmospheric ‘Prélude’ and a ‘Danse du Rouet’ (‘SpinningWheel Dance’) but also a slight reordering of the original movements. These themselves remain intact, however, their naive charm and sensitivity somehow only heightened by the deft sophistication of Ravel’s orchestration. After the ‘Pavane’ comes the Satie-esque ‘Les entretiens de la Belle et de la Bête’ (‘Dialogues of Beauty and the Beast’), with Beauty represented by a clarinet, the Beast by a contrabassoon, and their moment of reconciliation by a harp glissando and
glistening violin harmonics. ‘Petit Poucet’ depicts a diminutive character (his English equivalent would be ‘Hop o’ my Thumb’) laying a trail of breadcrumbs through the woods, only to see his waymarkers eaten by birds; the trail can be heard meandering its way through the music on the strings, and the birds are unmistakable. ‘Laideronnette, Impératrice des Pagodes’ (‘Little ugly one, Empress of the Pagodas’) conjures its oriental flavour through the use of the pentatonic scale – like Debussy and others, Ravel had been influenced by hearing a Javanese gamelan at the Paris Exhibition of 1889 – and the score ends with ‘Le jardin féerique’ (‘The fairy garden’), depicting Prince Charming’s arrival in the ballet, but in its original guise surely a burst of radiant nostalgia for childhood.
London Philharmonic Orchestra | Edward Gardner | Circa | BBC Singers
Ravel’s sumptuous ballet is brought to life by the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s enchanted playing and Australian company Circa’s daring contemporary choreography and circus.
The collaboration between orchestra and gravity-defying circus teases out a world as intriguing, sensual and strange as the music itself with dramatic group acrobatics, intimate duos and aerial solos.
Photo
Programme notes
Max Bruch
1838–1920
Violin Concerto No. 2 in D minor, Op. 44 1877
James Ehnes violin
1 Adagio ma non troppo
2 Recitative: Allegro moderato –
3 Finale: Allegro molto
Turn the page to read Ten Questions with tonight's soloist, James Ehnes.
‘If the Muse is well-disposed towards me, this concerto should in no way be overshadowed by the First.’ Bruch’s hopes for his Second Violin Concerto, expressed in a letter to his publisher in March 1877, were not to be realised. Indeed, it would doubtless have pained him to know that, in time, the reputations of every other work of his (including a Third Violin Concerto) were to be blotted out by the enormous popularity of one of the classical repertory’s best-loved works, to the extent that most people are unaware even of their existence. Without the First, it seems, Bruch might be as forgotten a figure of 19th-century German music as Joachim Raff or Hermann Goetz.
Would that be fair? Well, Bruch might have got lucky with his richly romantic First Concerto, but it was certainly bad fortune that his Second appeared in the wake of the major musical event of the 1870s: the long-awaited arrival of Brahms’s First Symphony. ‘Ever since my introduction to the First Symphony of Johannes Brahms, I have become very unamenable and resistant towards Bruch’s works and the like’, wrote the influential pianist and conductor Hans von Bülow, and there is no reason to think his reaction untypical.
The success of the Second Concerto was limited right from the time of its premiere at London’s Crystal Palace
Programme notes
in November 1877, with Bruch conducting and the great Pablo de Sarasate, dedicatee and inspiration of the work, as soloist. It is possible that, other distractions apart, its unusual form counted against it; although cast in the three movements customary for a concerto, it opens with a broadly dramatic slow movement, and continues with a brief interlude in the style of an operatic monologue, which is then revealed to be a thematic introduction to the livelier but hardly dashing Finale. Bruch was no lover of programme music, but according to one account it seems that this quirky layout related to a scenario suggested by Sarasate, with the Adagio representing a young woman searching for her soldier
lpo.org.uk London Philharmonic Orchestra • 25 October 2024 • A Hero’s Life
lover in the aftermath of a battle, and the Finale the bustling activity of a cavalry regiment. If all this makes the work sound experimental, then so it is, yet Bruch’s touch in writing for both orchestra and soloist, and his gift for affecting turns of melody, are as sure as in the First Concerto, and there is justification for Bruch’s own belief that the first movement was in its way as fine as anything in the earlier work. How strange that we so rarely get the chance to judge for ourselves!
An announcement will be made five minutes before the end of the interval.
More star violinists this season
Wednesday 27 November 2024
Gidon Kremer
Weinberg’s Violin Concerto
Wednesday 15 January 2025
Isabelle Faust
Berg’s Violin Concerto
Sunday 22 January 2025
Alice Ivy-Pemberton
Vivaldi’s Four Seasons
Wednesday 26 February 2025
Augustin Hadelich
Britten’s Violin Concerto
Saturday 1 March 2025
Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider
Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto
Wednesday 26 March 2025
Alina Ibragimova
Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1
Saturday 5 April 2025
Vilde Frang
R Schumann’s Violin Concerto
Ten Questions with violinist James Ehnes
We caught up with tonight’s soloist James Ehnes, ahead of his performance of Bruch’s Second Violin Concerto.
James, you’ve played with the London Philharmonic Orchestra many times, and know us well! How would you describe the ‘LPO sound’?
I LOVE the LPO sound! It’s always difficult to put these things into words, but the string sound is uniquely dark and muscular, and extremely beautiful, and the rest of the Orchestra’s clarity and virtuosity is always compelling.
Do you remember the first time you approached learning Bruch’s Second Violin Concerto?
It was a favourite of my teacher, Francis Chaplin, growing up, so I learned it quite young. I’ve never understood why it hasn’t found the popularity of the First. I love it.
What is unique about Bruch’s Second Violin Concerto? Any technical or expressive challenges that are special to this work?
Like Bruch’s first concerto, perhaps the most unusual feature is its structure. The first movement is a slow movement, then the second is a highly dramatic (and wonderful) recitative. It is highly virtuosic throughout, so that is both fun and challenging!
As a busy international musician, how do you balance the schedule of touring and performing with finding breathing space to work repertoire into the body?
It can be a challenge. But the violin repertoire is just so rich, and getting richer every year with the addition of great masterpieces from living composers, that it’s
impossible not to be inspired to learn new things. I often learn new music in little bits of free time when I’m on the road.
Who were your biggest influences as a young musician?
Certainly my parents, who were incredibly supportive, and my teachers; Francis Chaplin, Donald Henry and Sally Thomas.
Tell us about the performing relationship you have developed with Sir Mark Elder over the span of your musical collaborations.
I adore Mark both personally and professionally. We’ve had a lot of good times over the years! He is a tremendously creative and inspiring collaborator, someone who really brings the best out of the musicians he works with.
What is the most culturally unique musical context you have found yourself in so far?
What an interesting question! I have spent some time working with Indian classical musicians, which is fascinating and really eye-opening.
What is your favourite thing to do in London?
London is probably my favourite city in the world, so the list of things I love to do is very long indeed, but if I had to pick just one, I think it would just be walking around. It’s such an endlessly fascinating city, so full of interest and beauty.
Your favourite piece of classical music that isn’t a violin concerto … go!
My favourite thing about music is the variety. I could never pick a favourite piece. But I just heard Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique last night (the second half of a concert I played), so let’s go with that for today!
Do you have any advice for aspiring young musicians?
Practise hard, and practise efficiently – don’t waste time. And don’t forget that music is about communication, not ‘achievement’.
If you’d like to hear James’s favourite piece (today's favourite, anyway) played live, don’t miss our Symphonie fantastique concert at the Royal Festival Hall on 26 February 2025! Find out more and book at lpo.org.uk
5 Des Helden Friedenswerke (The Hero’s Works of Peace)
6 Des Helden Weltflucht und Vollendung ( The Hero’s Retirement from this World and Completion)
By 1898, the 34-year-old Strauss had completed seven large orchestral tone-poems, five of them inspired by larger-than-life characters from literature or folklore. As he came to plan his eighth, ‘A Hero’s Life’, Strauss turned to a character who fascinated him ‘as much as Napoleon or Alexander’. That character was the composer himself. His new work was to be an orchestral autobiography.
It sounds like an act of tremendous immodesty –even before you experience the bombastic brilliance of Strauss’s opening statements, intended to introduce the Hero’s qualities of ambition, resilience, bravery and intellect. But Strauss probably had his tongue firmly in his cheek when he talked of a picture of himself in the work. Besides, at the time of writing he was young and on the brink of change. His move into opera would later see him write music of touching vulnerability, while the effects of the Second World War would draw from him the resigned, autumnal shades of Metamorphosen and the Four Last Songs. Moreover, Strauss himself suggested that the heroic character represented in Ein Heldenleben was only partly his own. In a letter to his father, he wrote that the Hero was in fact ‘not a single poetical or historical figure, but rather a more general and free ideal of great and manly heroism’.
Programme notes
No matter what the heroic qualities (or otherwise) of Strauss the man, his music up to 1898 had been just about as heroic as it gets. Claude Debussy commented on its ‘frenzied energy which carries one with him as long as he chooses’, referring to his orchestral effects as ‘those of a book of pictures, or even a cinematography.’ The tone-poems Strauss had already spawned were powerful, rich, malleable, unpredictable, virtuosic, wickedly exciting, touchingly tender and intensely dramatic – all wrapped up in the composer’s own brand of instrumental character and orchestral Technicolor.
In Ein Heldenleben, the listener experiences all of the above and more. This is Strauss’s most rounded, comprehensive and ambitious tone-poem, and sees him expanding further his already impressive toolbox of orchestral effects. There’s room for all of them in Strauss’s music precisely because of its narrative range: we meet not just the central Hero, but a confection of souls with whom he fraternised and fought.
The orchestral introduction to the Hero mentioned above launches with a broad, all-seeing theme spanning three octaves and lasting 16 bars. The second of Strauss’s six sections is labelled ‘The Hero’s Adversaries’, a thinly disguised caricature of music critics and a representation of more abstract barriers and doubts. For Strauss, there were four types of music critic: carpers (heard on the flute); vituperators (oboe); whiners (cor anglais); and hair-splitters (tuba). It’s said the latter’s theme is explicitly intended to mimic the name of Strauss’s nemesis in the Munich press, a certain Doctor Dehring (think 'Doc-tor DEH-ring'). Needless to say, the Hero despatches them all with ease – though some critical spectres continue to haunt the coming sections.
Listen out next for Strauss’s wife Pauline, represented by a lone violin which sings a series of increasingly demanding cadenzas. Pauline was capricious and tricky and Strauss knew it, but he also knew he couldn’t live without her; this section, ‘The Hero’s Companion’, ends with a rapturous love scene, gatecrashed at its conclusion by the sniping critics of the previous portrait.
Three offstage trumpets herald the next section, which depicts the Hero’s brave deeds on the battlefield with some of Strauss’s most energetic and fearsome music. Strauss said at the time of writing that no instrument could be more heroic than the horn; at the battle’s conclusion, all eight of the score’s horns join in unison to proclaim victory.
Strauss’s most explicitly autobiographical music comes in the next section, titled ‘The Hero’s Works of Peace’. Here Strauss quotes from nine of his previous compositions, including six tone-poems. There are notable outings from Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks and Don Juan on woodwinds, as well as the return of the seemingly irrepressible tuba of Doctor Dehring, heard right at the section’s opening.
In Strauss’s final chapter, the Hero ‘withdraws from the world and finds fulfilment’. After one last internal struggle, the cor anglais recalls a pastoral theme from the tone-poem Don Quixote, and the music moves from bravado to serenity; from confidence to disarming love. There are final utterances from a solo horn and violin –pictures of Strauss and his wife having transcended their troubles. Strauss lived through every note of his Heldenleben in public as the conductor of the work’s first performance on 3 March 1899 in Frankfurt. His compositional voice might have been on the brink of change, but Ein Heldenleben and its predecesssors heralded an era of orchestral virtuosity that flourished in the 20th century and continues to do so today. For many – and not just the horn players – Ein Heldenleben remains the ultimate orchestral test-piece.
Ravel: Mother Goose Sinfonia of London | John Wilson (Chandos)
Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 2 James Ehnes (violin) | Montreal Symphony Orchestra | Mario Bernardi (CBC Records)
R Strauss: Ein Heldenleben London Philharmonic Orchestra | Bernard Haitink LPO Label (LPO-0079: see page 16)
R Schumann Overture, Manfred
R Schumann Cello Concerto
Bruckner Symphony No. 4
Karina Canellakis conductor
Truls Mørk cello
Tchaikovsky’s Sixth
Saturday 2 November 2024
7.30pm
Saariaho Lumière et Pesanteur
Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3
Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique)
Karina Canellakis conductor
Vadym Kholodenko piano
Víkingur Ólafsson plays Brahms
Wednesday 6 November 2024
7.30pm
Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1
Freya Waley-Cohen Mother Tongue* (world premiere)
Bartók The Miraculous Mandarin Suite
Edward Gardner conductor
Víkingur Ólafsson piano
*Commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra
Scan the QR codes to listen now
Don Juan
Ein Heldenleben
Bernard Haitink conductor
LPO-0122
Jessye Norman sings Strauss: Five Songs
Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme
Salome (excerpts)
Klaus Tennstedt conductor
Eine Alpensinfonie
Die Frau ohne Schatten (excerpts)
Dance of the Seven Veils
Vladimir Jurowski conductor
LPO-0117
Strauss: Symphonia Domestica
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade
Zubin Mehta conductor
All LPO Label recordings are available on CD from all good outlets, and to download or stream via Apple Music Classical, Spotify, Presto Music and others. lpo.org.uk/recordings
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 CBE
Emmanuel & Barrie Roman
The Underwood Trust
Welser-Möst Circle
William & Alex de Winton
John Ireland Charitable Trust
The Tsukanov Family Foundation
Neil Westreich
Tennstedt Circle
Valentina & Dmitry Aksenov
Richard Buxton
The Candide Trust
Michael & Elena Kroupeev
Kirby Laing Foundation
Mr & Mrs Makharinsky
Alexey & Anastasia Reznikovich
Sir Simon Robey
Bianca & Stuart Roden
Simon & Vero Turner
The late Mr K Twyman
Solti Patrons
Ageas
John & Manon Antoniazzi
Gabor Beyer, through BTO
Management Consulting AG
Jon Claydon
Mrs Mina Goodman & Miss Suzanne
Goodman
Roddy & April Gow
The Jeniffer & Jonathan Harris
Charitable Trust
Mr James R.D. Korner
Christoph Ladanyi & Dr Sophia Ladanyi-Czernin
Robert Markwick & Kasia Robinski
The Maurice Marks Charitable Trust
Mr Paris Natar
The Rothschild Foundation
Tom & Phillis Sharpe
The Viney Family
Haitink Patrons
Mark & Elizabeth Adams
Dr Christopher Aldren
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Lady Jane Berrill
Mr Frederick Brittenden
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Mr Alistair Corbett
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Rehmet Kassim-Lakha de Morixe
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Charitable Trust
Dr Karen Morton
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The Reed Foundation
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(Canada)
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Paul Collins
Alastair Crawford
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Mr Roger Greenwood
The HA.SH Foundation
Darren & Jennifer Holmes
Honeymead Arts Trust
Mr Geoffrey Kirkham
Drs Frank & Gek Lim
Peter Mace
Mr & Mrs David Malpas
Dr David McGibney
Michael & Patricia McLaren-Turner
Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill
Mr Christopher Querée
The Rosalyn & Nicholas Springer
Charitable Trust
Timothy Walker CBE AM
Christopher Williams
Peter Wilson Smith
Mr Anthony Yolland
and all other donors who wish to remain anonymous
Thank you
We are extremely grateful to all donors who have given generously to the LPO over the past year. Your generosity helps maintain the breadth and depth of the LPO’s activities, as well as supporting the Orchestra both on and off the concert platform.
Artistic Director’s Circle
Anonymous donors
The American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra
William & Alex de Winton
Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle
Aud Jebsen
In memory of Mrs Rita Reay
Sir Simon & Lady Robey CBE
Orchestra Circle
Mr & Mrs Philip Kan
Neil Westreich
Principal Associates
An anonymous donor
Mrs Irina Andreeva
Steven M. Berzin
Richard Buxton
Gill & Garf Collins
In memory of Brenda Lyndoe Casbon
In memory of Ann Marguerite Collins
Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik V. G.
Cave
Patricia Haitink
George Ramishvili
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Associates
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Gold Patrons
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Virginia Gabbertas MBE
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Laurence Watt
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Anonymous donors
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RAF
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Bindley
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Principal Supporters
Anonymous donors
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In memory of Enid Gofton
Prof Emeritus John Gruzelier
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Anonymous donors
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Simon Moore
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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
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Laurence Watt
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In memory of Peter Coe
Dr Alex & Maria Chan
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The Friends of the LPO
Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik V. G.
Cave
Mr Roger Greenwood
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Victoria Robey OBE
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LPO Corporate Circle
Principal
Bloomberg
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Thank you
Preferred Partners
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In-kind Sponsor
Google Inc
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Institute Adam Mickiewicz
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TIOC Foundation
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The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust
and all others who wish to remain anonymous.
Board of the American Friends of the LPO
We are grateful to the Board of the American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, who assist with fundraising for our activities in the United States of America:
Simon Freakley Chairman
Kara Boyle
Jon Carter
Jay Goffman
Alexandra Jupin
Natalie Pray MBE
Damien Vanderwilt
Marc Wassermann
Elizabeth Winter
Catherine Høgel Hon. Director
LPO International Board of Governors
Natasha Tsukanova Chair
Mrs Irina Andreeva
Steven M. Berzin
Shashank Bhagat
Irina Gofman
Olivia Ma
George Ramishvili Florian Wunderlich
London Philharmonic Orchestra Administration
Board of Directors
Dr Catherine C. Høgel Chair
Nigel Boardman Vice-Chair
Mark Vines* President
Kate Birchall* Vice-President
Emily Benn
David Buckley
David Burke
Michelle Crowe Hernandez
Deborah Dolce
Elena Dubinets
Simon Estell*
Tanya Joseph
Katherine Leek*
Minn Majoe*
Tania Mazzetti*
Jamie Njoku-Goodwin
Neil Westreich
David Whitehouse*
Simon Freakley (Ex officio –Chairman of the American Friends of the LPO)
*Player-Director
Advisory Council
Roger Barron Chairman
Christopher Aldren
Kate Birchall
Richard Brass
Helen Brocklebank
YolanDa Brown OBE
David Burke
Simon Burke
Simon Callow CBE
Desmond Cecil CMG
Jane Coulson
Andrew Davenport
Guillaume Descottes
Cameron Doley
Elena Dubinets
Lena Fankhauser
Christopher Fraser OBE
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Nicholas Hely-Hutchinson DL
Dr Catherine C. Høgel
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Jamie Korner
Andrew Neill
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Baroness Shackleton
Thomas Sharpe KC
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Ellie Ajao
Peter De Souza
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PA to the Executive & Office Manager
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