LPO programme: 31 Mar 2023 - Heroes and Heroines (Dima Slobodeniouk/Beatrice Rana)

2022/23 concert season at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall

A place to call home Concert programme

Principal Conductor Edward Gardner supported by Aud Jebsen

Principal Guest Conductor Karina Canellakis

Conductor Emeritus Vladimir Jurowski Patron HRH The Duke of Kent KG

Artistic Director Elena Dubinets Chief Executive David Burke

Leader Pieter Schoeman supported by Neil Westreich

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall

Friday 31 March 2023 | 7.30pm

Brighton Dome Concert Hall

Saturday 1 April 2023 | 7.30pm

Heroes and Heroines

Tania León

Stride (UK premiere) (15’)

Mendelssohn

Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor (20’)

Interval (20’)

Sibelius

Symphony No. 2 in D major* (44’)

Dima Slobodeniouk

conductor

Beatrice Rana

piano

* Please note change from the originally advertised programme.

Contents

2

4

5

The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide. Concerts presented by the London Philharmonic Orchestra in association with Brighton Dome.

The Steinway concert piano chosen and hired by the London Philharmonic Orchestra for the 1 April performance is supplied and maintained by Steinway & Sons, London.

Friday 31 March 2023

Welcome to the Southbank Centre

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

The Southbank Centre is made up of the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, Hayward Gallery, National Poetry Library and Arts Council Collection. We’re one of London’s favourite meeting spots, with lots of free events and places to relax, eat and shop next to the Thames.

We hope you enjoy your visit. If you need any information or help, please ask a member of staff. You can also write to us at Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX, or email hello@southbankcentre.co.uk

Subscribers to our email updates are the first to hear about new events, offers and competitions. Just head to our website to sign up.

Drinks

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

Saturday 1 April 2023

Welcome to Brighton Dome

Chief Executive Andrew Comben

Welcome to the final concert of the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2022/23 season 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.

Smoking Brighton Dome is a no-smoking venue. 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 April 2023 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 is managed by Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival, which also runs the annual threeweek Brighton Festival in May.

brightondome.org | brightonfestival.org

First Violins

Pieter Schoeman* Leader

Chair supported by Neil Westreich

Alice Ivy-Pemberton Co-Leader

Kate Oswin

Chair supported by Eric Tomsett

Elizaveta Tyun

Lasma Taimina

Chair supported by Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik

V. G. Cave

Minn Majoe

Martin Höhmann

Thomas Eisner

Yang Zhang

Catherine Craig

Katalin Varnagy

Chair supported by Sonja Drexler

Sophie Phillips

Amanda Smith

Chu-Yu Yang

Second Violins

Tania Mazzetti Principal

Emma Oldfield Co-Principal

June Lee

Fiona Higham

Chair supported by David & Yi Buckley

Kate Birchall

Ashley Stevens

Nancy Elan

Sioni Williams

Joseph Maher

Sheila Law

Harry Kerr

Emma Crossley

Violas

Richard Waters Principal

Chair supported by Caroline, Jamie & Zander

Sharp

Laura Vallejo

Martin Wray

Benedetto Pollani

Katharine Leek

Stanislav Popov

Shiry Rashkovsky

Raquel López Bolívar

Daniel Cornford

Mark Gibbs

On stage tonight

Cellos

Kristina Blaumane Principal

Chair supported by Bianca & Stuart Roden

Nina Kiva

Francis Bucknall

Tom Roff

Helen Thomas

Sibylle Hentschel

Susanna Riddell

Iain Ward

Double Basses

Kevin Rundell* Principal

Hugh Kluger

George Peniston

Tom Walley

Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton

Laura Murphy

Adam Wynter

Charlotte Kerbegian†

Flutes

Fiona Kelly Guest Principal

Camilla Marchant

Stewart McIlwham*

Piccolo

Stewart McIlwham* Principal

Oboes

Ian Hardwick* Principal

Alice Munday

Cor Anglais

Sue Böhling* Principal

Chair supported by Dr Barry Grimaldi

Clarinets

Benjamin Mellefont Principal

Thomas Watmough

Chair supported by Roger Greenwood

Paul Richards*

Bassoons

Paul Boyes Guest Principal

Guylaine Eckersley

Contrabassoon

Simon Estell* Principal

Horns

John Ryan* Principal

Annemarie Federle Principal

Martin Hobbs

Mark Vines Co-Principal

Gareth Mollison

Trumpets

Paul Beniston* Principal

Anne McAneney*

David Hilton

Trombones

David Whitehouse Principal

Merin Rhyd

Bass Trombone

Lyndon Meredith Principal

Tuba

Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal

Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra

Timpani

Simon Carrington* Principal

Chair supported by Victoria Robey OBE

Percussion

Andrew Barclay* Principal

Chair supported by Gill & Garf Collins

Karen Hutt

Ignacio Molins

Harp

Rachel Masters Principal

* Holds a professorial appointment in London

† 31 March concert only

The LPO also acknowledges the following chair supporter whose player is not present at this concert:

Sir Simon Robey

London Philharmonic Orchestra

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

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

Sharing the wonder

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

Our conductors

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

Soundtrack to key moments

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

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

© Mark Allan

Pieter Schoeman Leader

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

Next generations

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

2022/23 and beyond

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

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

Pieter has performed worldwide as a soloist and recitalist in such famous halls as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Moscow’s Rachmaninov Hall, Capella Hall in St Petersburg, Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall. As a chamber musician he regularly appears at London’s prestigious Wigmore Hall. His chamber music partners have included Anne-Sophie Mutter, Veronika Eberle, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Boris Garlitsky, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Martin Helmchen and Julia Fischer.

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

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

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

© Benjamin Ealovega

Dima Slobodeniouk conductor

Known for his musical expertise and interpretive depth, Dima is also an acclaimed recording artist. Recent notable recordings include Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Cello Concerto with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and Nicolas Altstaedt on Alpha, and an album of music inspired by the Finnish folk epic, the Kalevala, on BIS. Other releases on the BIS label include works by Kalevi Aho with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, which won a 2018 BBC Music Magazine Award; a later disc of Aho’s Sieidi and his Fifth Symphony; and concert suites from Prokofiev’s opera The Gambler and ballet The Tale of the Stone Flower, again with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra. For the Ondine label, Dima has recorded works by Perttu Haapanen and Lotta Wennäkoski with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Praised for his exhilarating approach and energetic leadership by musicians and audiences alike, Dima Slobodeniouk has become one of the most sought-after conductors of his generation. He works with the world’s foremost orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Bavarian State, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Royal Concertgebouw and NHK Symphony orchestras. Last season he was praised for ‘one of the most auspicious New York Philharmonic debuts of recent years’ by The New York Times Dima Slobodeniouk last appeared with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in February 2020, when he conducted a programme of Beethoven, Ravel and Jörg Widmann at the Royal Festival Hall.

During the 2022/23 season Dima has been invited to make debuts with the BBC Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Vienna Symphony and Danish National Symphony orchestras. This season also sees returns to the Boston Symphony, Minnesota, SWR Symphony, Swedish Radio Symphony, Netherlands Philharmonic and Helsinki Philharmonic orchestras. Further highlights of the current season include re-invitations to the Oslo Philharmonic and WDR Symphony orchestras, and special returns to the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, where he was Music Director until 2022.

Soloists with whom Dima has worked include Leif Ove Andsnes, Khatia Buniatishvili, Seong-Jin Cho, Isabelle Faust, Kirill Gerstein, Barbara Hannigan, Håkan Hardenberger, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Baiba Skride, Yuja Wang and Frank Peter Zimmermann.

Born in Moscow, Dima Slobodeniouk studied violin at the Moscow Central Music School with Zinaida Gilels and Jevgenuia Chugajev. He continued his studies with the Ukrainian violinist Olga Parkhomenko at Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy, from which he graduated in 2001. It was there that he also took up conducting studies with Leif Segerstam, Jorma Panula, Atso Almila, Ilya Musin and Esa-Pekka Salonen. A passionate believer in widening opportunity, whilst at the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia Dima started a conducting initiative, giving aspiring conductors podium time with a professional orchestra and the opportunity to work with him on selected repertoire.

Dima Slobodeniouk was Music Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia from 2013–22, and Principal Conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Director of its Sibelius Festival from 2016–21.

© Marco Borggreve

Beatrice Rana

piano

Hall for her recording of the Bach. In October 2019 she released a solo album featuring works by Stravinsky and Ravel, which was awarded several top prizes. A Chopin album was released in September 2021, and also received many awards. In 2023 Beatrice presented her fifth album, featuring Clara and Robert Schumann’s concertos with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

In 2017 Beatrice started her own chamber music festival, ‘Classiche Forme’, in her native town of Lecce, Puglia. The festival has become one of Italy’s major summer events. She also became artistic director of the Orchestra Filarmonica di Benevento in 2020.

Beatrice Rana has been shaking the international classical music world, arousing interest and admiration from audiences, critics, conductors and concert presenters worldwide. She performs at the world’s most esteemed concert halls and festivals including the Philharmonie in Berlin; the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York; the Barbican Centre, Wigmore Hall, Royal Albert Hall and Royal Festival Hall in London; the Philharmonie and Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris; and the Konzerthaus and Musikverein in Vienna.

In the 2023/24 season Beatrice will tour in Europe with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Antonio Pappano, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra. She will make debuts with the Berlin Philharmonic under Yannick Nézet-Séguin and The Cleveland Orchestra under Lahav Shani, and will return to the New York Philharmonic with Manfred Honeck.

Beatrice Rana records exclusively for Warner Classics. In 2015 her first album, featuring Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with Antonio Pappano and the Accademia Nazionale Santa Cecilia, received international acclaim, including the prestigious Gramophone Magazine’s Editor’s Choice and BBC Music Magazine’s Newcomer of the Year Award. The year 2017 will remain a milestone in Beatrice’s career, with the release of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. The recording was praised by reviewers worldwide and was crowned by two major awards: ‘Young Artist of the Year’ at the Gramophone Awards and ‘Discovery of the Year’ at the Edison Awards. In 2018 Beatrice was chosen as Female Artist of the Year at the Classic BRIT Awards at the Royal Albert

In 2013 Beatrice won Silver (Second Prize) and the Audience Award at the prestigious Van Cliburn Competition. She had previously attracted international attention at the age of 18, winning First Prize and all the special prizes at the Montreal International Competition in 2011. She is the recipient of an impressive number of First Prizes in national and international piano competitions including the Muzio Clementi Competition, the International Piano Competition of the Republic of San Marino, and the Bang & Olufsen PianoRAMA Competition

Born in 1993 to a family of musicians, Beatrice Rana made her debut as a soloist with orchestra at the age of nine, performing Bach’s Concerto in F minor. She began her musical studies at four and achieved her piano degree under the guidance of Benedetto Lupo at the Nino Rota Conservatory of Music in Monopoli, where she also studied composition with Marco della Sciucca. She then studied with Arie Vardi in Hannover and again with Benedetto Lupo at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia. She is based in Rome.

© Simon Fowler/Warner Classics

Introducing Tania León

Our new Composer-in-Residence from September 2023

Having studied piano since the age of four and earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in music (plus a certification in accounting!), Tania León left Cuba for the United States in 1967. She settled in New York City, where she studied with composer Ursula Mamlok and received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees again, this time from New York University.

León staked her place in New York’s cultural scene as a founding member and music director of Arthur Mitchell’s Dance Theatre of Harlem in 1969. Five years later, she instituted the Brooklyn Philharmonic Community Concert series. She was New Music Advisor at the New York Philharmonic from 1993–97, and from 1994–2001 she served as Latin American music advisor for the American Composers Orchestra. She is also the founder and artistic director of Composers Now, dedicated to empowering living composers and celebrating the diversity of their voices.

We’re thrilled to welcome Cuban-American composer Tania León to succeed Brett Dean as LPO Composerin-Residence for two seasons from September 2023. We will perform at least two of Tania’s new works each season, and she will help us develop the next generation of music creators by mentoring our LPO Young Composers.

In December 2022 Tania León received a prestigious Kennedy Center Honor, awarded annually to figures in the performing arts for their contributions to American culture. In addition, León won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Music for tonight’s work, Stride, and she was recently announced as winner of the 2023 Michael Ludwig Nemmers Prize in Music Composition.

Recent premieres include Ser for the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Pasajes for the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and Detroit Symphony; Rítmicas for The Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition’s Grossman Ensemble; Anima for Jennifer Koh’s Alone Together; Mujer, Define Mujer for the Brooklyn Youth Chorus; and Pa’lante for the International Contemporary Ensemble and YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles). In May 2022, Ensemble Modern performed Happy New Ears, a portrait of the composer. León’s opera Scourge of Hyacinths, based on a play by Wole Soyinka with staging and design by Robert Wilson, has received over 20 performances throughout Europe and Mexico. Commissioned by Hans Werner Henze and the city of Munich for the Fourth Munich Biennale, it took home the coveted BMW Prize, and the aria ‘Oh Yemanja’ was recorded by Dawn Upshaw on her Nonesuch CD The World So Wide

Tania León’s past commissions include works for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Library of Congress, NDR Symphony Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, New World Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Koussevitzky Music Foundation, Los Angeles Master Chorale, and Dance Theatre of Harlem.

We warmly welcome Tania to the LPO and to tonight’s concert, and look forward to sharing her music with our audiences this and next season.

‘Over the two years, I will be able to really get to know the Orchestra and the personalities of each player; to write specifically for this group of talented musicians will be a joy.’

– Tania León

Programme notes

Tania León born 1943 Stride 2020 (UK premiere)

When she was invited to write a piece for the New York Philharmonic’s ‘Project 19’, which commissioned 19 women to compose works marking the centenary of the 19th Amendment (which gave American women the right to vote in 1920), León started researching the pioneering feminist Susan B. Anthony. She said: ‘I read her biography, her statements. To me it was tremendous to see the inner force that she had. Then I started looking for a title before starting the piece –not the way I always do it. [It reflected] the way that I imagined her as a person who did not take “no” for an answer. She kept pushing and pushing and moving forward, walking with firm steps until she got the whole thing done. That is precisely what Stride means. Something that is moving forward.’

Stride received its world premiere at David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center, New York City on 13 February 2020. It was subequently awarded the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Music, awarded for a distinguished musical composition by an American that had its first performance or recording in the United States during the year. The awarding committee praised the work as ‘a musical journey full of surprise, with powerful brass and rhythmic motifs that incorporate Black music traditions from the US and the Caribbean into a Western orchestral fabric.’

Profile and programme note © James Keller

In the composer’s words

In an interview ahead of the work’s world premiere in 2020, Tania León considered how Stride reflects her engagement with American music:

‘For example, there is a section where you can hear the horns with the wa-wa plunger, because it reminds me of Louis Armstrong, getting that growl. It doesn’t have to be indicative of any particular skin tone. It has to do with the American spirit. When I discovered American music, Louis Armstrong actually was the first sound that struck me. When I came here, the only composers I knew anything about were Leonard Bernstein and George Gershwin. I didn’t know anything else. The night I arrived at Kennedy [airport], I was picked up by a Cuban couple from the Bronx, who allowed me to stay on their sofa. I looked at the stairs outside of their building, and I started crying “Maria!” They were confused, and I explained that in Cuba I’d heard the song by Bernstein. I later worked with Bernstein, and until he died we were very close. But when I first arrived here I couldn’t speak English ... but I knew how to say “Maria.”’

Click the QR code to watch Tania’s interview about Stride on the New York Philharmonic’s YouTube channel.

‘Tania has a way of weaving together so many musical traditions with such joy. She’s just such a wonderful ambassador for music, and her love is infectious.’

– Composer Ellen Reid, Pulitzer Prize committee member and 2019 winner

Programme notes

Felix Mendelssohn 1809–47

Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25 1831

Beatrice Rana piano

1 Molto allegro con fuoco

2 Andante

3 Presto – Molto allegro e vivace

Mendelssohn, like many of his peers, harboured intense wanderlust. The Romantic generation was, at its core, investigative, outward-bound and open to experiencing Europe’s wildest landscapes, as depicted in the paintings of Caspar David Friedrich and the poetry of Byron. Following in their footsteps, as well as those of Goethe, Keats, Shelley and Turner, Mendelssohn undertook an extensive tour of Europe, beginning in 1829 by travelling north to the Hebrides and then south, over the Alps, to Italy.

He slowly began to retrace his steps northwards over the course of 1831, travelling from Naples via Rome and Florence and then on to Milan. By July he was back in Switzerland and then in September became resident in Munich, where he performed for royalty and began to compose his G minor Piano Concerto. With its courtly life and esteemed musical traditions, Munich offered Mendelssohn a perfect platform for his talents. The Concerto, which he personally premiered on 17 October, was destined to impress.

The absence of an introductory orchestral tutti to the first movement may seem to show signs of the work’s hasty composition, yet Mendelssohn uses its absence to brilliant advantage. Seizing the dramatic initiative, the pianist drives a fiery first subject, to which the orchestra responds in kind, with its clipped dotted rhythms and bold interjections, before revealing a wonderfully amorous second subject.

After the predominantly aggressive tone of the first movement, the Andante returns to the more introverted mood of its predecessor’s second subject. Harking back to the aria-like slow movements of Mozart’s piano concertos, it likewise echoes the melodic glories of Mendelssohn’s own Songs without Words. The trumpets and horns that marked the beginning of this heartfelt movement return at its close, triggering the final, dashing Presto. Its ebullient display may have the opening Allegro’s inclination towards diminished harmonies, yet the primacy of the tonic major is surely never in doubt and the movement concludes with giddy élan.

Interval – 20 minutes

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

Programme note © Gavin Plumley

Programme notes

Jean Sibelius

1865–1957

Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43

1901–02

1 Allegretto

2 Tempo andante, ma rubato

3 Vivacissimo

4 Finale

In the early months of 1901 Jean Sibelius and his family escaped the harsh Finnish winter in Rapallo, a small town on the west coast of Italy not far from Genoa. Sibelius borrowed a study up in the mountains, surrounded by ‘magnolia, cypresses, vine, palm trees and a manifold variety of flowers.’ In this Mediterranean setting the composer was reminded of the legend of Don Juan, and began to sketch a symphonic poem on the famous narrative entitled ‘Festival.’

Physically and artistically, Sibelius was indulging in little more than escapism and he knew it; dark clouds remained in his life. His daughter Ruth was recovering from dangerous illness, a tormenting situation for the composer and his wife Aino, who had lost a child the previous year. Meanwhile, Finland’s journey towards freedom from Russian rule had suffered yet another blow: in the wake of the 1899 February Manifesto, the Russians had begun the incorporation of the Finnish army into their own, a huge weakening of Finland’s status.

It was back home in May 1901 that Sibelius began serious work on the piece he’d conceived amid the flowers of Rapallo – now planned as an abstracted symphony uncontrolled by the Don Juan narrative but cast in the bright, floral key of D major. By the following spring it was complete, the composer conducting four successive performances in Helsinki starting with the premiere on 8 March. Robert Kajanus, director of the Helsinki Philharmonic, concluded that the piece was an ode to Finnish nationalism – a stirring hymn

to strengthen and inspire the programme of passive resistance that many artists (including Sibelius) had initiated.

You can hear why Kajanus might have reached such a conclusion, but according to Sibelius he was way off the mark. The composer’s annotations and working processes reveal struggles rather more private and personal: the second theme of the Andante was apparently inspired by Ruth’s recovery and the more subdued, lamenting theme of the final movement was dedicated to Elli Järnefelt, Sibelius’s sister-in-law, who had recently died by suicide.

Technically speaking, the Symphony consolidates some musical practices that would soon become Sibelius hallmarks. Perhaps the most important of these –alongside his particular use of ‘stepping’ string motifs and his fondness for themes based on adjacent notes – is the coherence of those themes, which appear to relate more naturally to one another, as if tributaries to the same river. That’s immediately recognisable in the pastoral opening movement, which is controlled entirely by the three upward-stepping notes that are heard right at the beginning.

The residue of the Don Juan tale lurks amid the conflicts of the second movement. Sibelius pits a theme he called ‘death’ (first heard on bassoons playing in unison but an octave apart) against one he called ‘Christus’ (the ‘Ruth’ theme, which emerges from jagged strings). The third movement has been described as

Programme notes

a ‘call to arms’, and is a stormy dance that eventually – after twice visiting a more saddened trio section –collapses back into the three upward-stepping notes that formed the Symphony’s opening.

With this, the Symphony slips inevitably into its final movement and the mustering of a heroic, striving tune soaked in optimism and renewal in its journey from a cautious harmonisation to a brilliantly confident one. The tune, again born of those upwardly-stepping notes, lightens the dark shadows of the troubling Elli Järnefelt theme to suggest the blossoming of life anew, in all its richness and colour.

Programme note © Andrew Mellor

Recommended recordings

by Laurie Watt

Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No. 1

Orchestre de chambre de Paris | Lars Vogt (piano/ conductor) (Ondine)

Sibelius: Symphony No. 2

John Barbirolli | Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Testament) or John Storgårds | BBC Philharmonic (Chandos)

Conductor Emeritus Vladimir Jurowski returns to the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall

WAR AND PEACE

Wednesday 19 April 2023 | 7.30pm

Ustvolskaya Symphonic Poem No. 1

Hindemith Violin Concerto

Prokofiev Symphony No. 6

Vladimir Jurowski conductor

Gil Shaham violin

6.00pm | Free pre-concert event

Royal Festival Hall

LPO Showcase: Crisis Creates

Members of Crisis – adults who have experienced homelessness – perform music they have devised with LPO musicians and a workshop leader during a week-long project.

Free and unticketed – all welcome

DON QUIXOTE RIDES AGAIN

Saturday 22 April 2023 | 7.30pm

Mozart Symphony No. 40*

R Strauss Don Quixote

Vladimir Jurowski conductor

Kristina Blaumane cello†

Richard Waters viola‡

* Please note change of programme from originally advertised

† Chair supported by Bianca and Stuart Roden

‡ Chair supported by Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp

Sound Futures donors

We are grateful to the following donors for their generous contributions to our Sound Futures campaign. Thanks to their support, we successfully raised £1 million by 30 April 2015 which has now been matched pound for pound by Arts Council England through a Catalyst Endowment grant. This has enabled us to create a £2 million endowment fund supporting special artistic projects, creative programming and education work with key venue partners including our Southbank Centre home. Supporters listed below donated £500 or over. For a full list of those who have given to this campaign please visit lpo.org.uk/soundfutures

Masur Circle

Arts Council England

Dunard Fund

Victoria Robey OBE

Emmanuel & Barrie Roman

The Underwood Trust

Welser-Möst Circle

William & Alex de Winton

John Ireland Charitable Trust

The Tsukanov Family Foundation

Neil Westreich

Tennstedt Circle

Valentina & Dmitry Aksenov

Richard Buxton

The Candide Trust

Michael & Elena Kroupeev

Kirby Laing Foundation

Mr & Mrs Makharinsky

Alexey & Anastasia Reznikovich

Sir Simon Robey

Bianca & Stuart Roden

Simon & Vero Turner

The late Mr K Twyman

Solti Patrons

Ageas

John & Manon Antoniazzi

Gabor Beyer, through BTO Management Consulting AG

Jon Claydon

Mrs Mina Goodman & Miss Suzanne

Goodman

Roddy & April Gow

The Jeniffer & Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust

Mr James R.D. Korner

Christoph Ladanyi & Dr Sophia

Ladanyi-Czernin

Robert Markwick & Kasia Robinski

The Maurice Marks Charitable Trust

Mr Paris Natar

The Rothschild Foundation

Tom & Phillis Sharpe

The Viney Family

Haitink Patrons

Mark & Elizabeth Adams

Dr Christopher Aldren

Mrs Pauline Baumgartner

Lady Jane Berrill

Mr Frederick Brittenden

David & Yi Yao Buckley

Mr Clive Butler

Gill & Garf Collins

Mr John H Cook

Mr Alistair Corbett

Bruno De Kegel

Georgy Djaparidze

David Ellen

Christopher Fraser OBE

David & Victoria Graham Fuller

Goldman Sachs International

Mr Gavin Graham

Moya Greene

Mrs Dorothy Hambleton

Tony & Susie Hayes

Malcolm Herring

Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle

Mrs Philip Kan

Rehmet Kassim-Lakha de Morixe

Rose & Dudley Leigh

Lady Roslyn Marion Lyons

Miss Jeanette Martin

Duncan Matthews KC

Diana & Allan Morgenthau

Charitable Trust

Dr Karen Morton

Mr Roger Phillimore

Ruth Rattenbury

The Reed Foundation

The Rind Foundation

Sir Bernard Rix

David Ross & Line Forestier (Canada)

Carolina & Martin Schwab

Dr Brian Smith

Lady Valerie Solti

Mr & Mrs G Stein

Dr Peter Stephenson

Miss Anne Stoddart

TFS Loans Limited

Marina Vaizey

Jenny Watson

Guy & Utti Whittaker

Pritchard Donors

Ralph & Elizabeth Aldwinckle

Mrs Arlene Beare

Mr Patrick & Mrs Joan Benner

Mr Conrad Blakey

Dr Anthony Buckland

Paul Collins

Alastair Crawford

Mr Derek B. Gray

Mr Roger Greenwood

The HA.SH Foundation

Darren & Jennifer Holmes

Honeymead Arts Trust

Mr Geoffrey Kirkham

Drs Frank & Gek Lim

Peter Mace

Mr & Mrs David Malpas

Dr David McGibney

Michael & Patricia McLaren-Turner

Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill

Mr Christopher Querée

The Rosalyn & Nicholas Springer

Charitable Trust

Timothy Walker CBE AM

Christopher Williams

Peter Wilson Smith

Mr Anthony Yolland

and all other donors who wish to remain anonymous

Thank you

We are extremely grateful to all donors who have given generously to the LPO over the past year. Your generosity helps maintain the breadth and depth of the LPO’s activities, as well as supporting the Orchestra both on and off the concert platform.

Artistic Director’s Circle

Anonymous donors

Mrs Aline Foriel-Destezet

Aud Jebsen

In memory of Mrs Rita Reay

Sir Simon & Lady Robey OBE

Orchestra Circle

William & Alex de Winton

Patricia Haitink

Mr & Mrs Philip Kan

TIOC Foundation

Neil Westreich

The American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra

Principal Associates

Richard Buxton

Gill & Garf Collins

In memory of Brenda Lyndoe

Casbon

In memory of Ann Marguerite

Collins

Sally Groves MBE

George Ramishvili

Associates

Mrs Irina Andreeva

In memory of Len & Edna Beech

Steven M. Berzin

Ms Veronika BorovikKhilchevskaya

The Candide Trust

Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik V. G.

Cave

The Lambert Family Charitable

Trust

Stuart & Bianca Roden

In memory of Hazel Amy Smith

The Tsukanov Family

The Viney Family

Gold Patrons

An anonymous donor

Chris Aldren

David & Yi Buckley

In memory of Allner Mavis

Channing

Sonja Drexler

Jan & Leni Du Plessis

The Vernon Ellis Foundation

Peter & Fiona Espenhahn

Hamish & Sophie Forsyth

Mr Roger Greenwood

Malcolm Herring

John & Angela Kessler

Julian & Gill Simmonds

Eric Tomsett

Andrew & Rosemary Tusa

Guy & Utti Whittaker

Mr Florian Wunderlich

Silver Patrons

Dame Colette Bowe

David Burke & Valerie Graham

John & Sam Dawson

Bruno De Kegel

Ulrike & Benno Engelmann

Virginia Gabbertas MBE

Dmitry & Ekaterina Gursky

The Jeniffer & Jonathan Harris

Charitable Trust

Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle

Sir George Iacobescu

Jamie & Julia Korner

Mr & Mrs Makharinsky

Mr Nikita Mishin

Andrew Neill

Tom & Phillis Sharpe

Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood

Laurence Watt

Bronze Patrons

Anonymous donors

Michael Allen

Mr Mark Astaire

Nicholas & Christine Beale

Mikhail Noskov & Vasilina Bindley

Mr Anthony Blaiklock

Lorna & Christopher Bown

Mr Bernard Bradbury

Simon Burke & Rupert King

Desmond & Ruth Cecil

Mr Evgeny Chichvarkin

Mr John H Cook

Georgy Djaparidze

Deborah Dolce

Cameron & Kathryn Doley

Mariana Eidelkind & Gene

Moldavsky

David Ellen

Ben Fairhall

Mr Richard & Helen Gillingwater

Mr Daniel Goldstein

David & Jane Gosman

Mr Gavin Graham

Lord & Lady Hall

Mrs Dorothy Hambleton

Iain & Alicia Hasnip

Martin & Katherine Hattrell

Michael & Christine Henry

Mr Steve Holliday

J Douglas Home

Mr & Mrs Ralph Kanza

Mrs Elena & Mr Oleg Kolobov

Rose & Dudley Leigh

Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE

JP RAF

Drs Frank & Gek Lim

Mr Nicholas Little

Geoff & Meg Mann

Mrs Elizabeth Meshkvicheva

Andrew T Mills

Peter & Lucy Noble

Mr Roger Phillimore

Mr Michael Posen

Mr Anthony Salz

Ms Nadia Stasyuk

Charlotte Stevenson

Joe Mr Joe Topley & Ms Tracey

Countryman

Mr & Mrs John C Tucker

Timothy Walker CBE AM

Jenny Watson CBE

Grenville & Krysia Williams

Principal Supporters

Anonymous donors

Dr Manon Antoniazzi

Julian & Annette Armstrong

Mr John D Barnard

Mr Geoffrey Bateman

Mr Philip Bathard-Smith

Mrs A Beare

Dr Anthony Buckland

Dr Simona Cicero & Mr Mario

Altieri

Mr Peter Coe

Mrs Pearl Cohen

David & Liz Conway

Mr Alistair Corbett

Ms Mary Anne Cordeiro

Ms Elena Dubinets

Mr Richard Fernyhough

Jason George

Mr Christian Grobel

Prof Emeritus John Gruzelier

Mark & Sarah Holford

Mrs Maureen Hooft-Graafland

Per Jonsson

Mr Ian Kapur

Ms Kim J Koch

Ms Elena Lojevsky

Mrs Terry Neale

John Nickson & Simon Rew

Oliver & Josie Ogg

Ms Olga Ovenden

Mr James Pickford

Filippo Poli

Sir Bernard Rix

Mr Robert Ross

Priscylla Shaw

Martin & Cheryl Southgate

Mr & Mrs G Stein

Dr Peter Stephenson

Joanna Williams

Christopher Williams

Ms Elena Ziskind

Supporters

Anonymous donors

Ralph & Elizabeth Aldwinckle

Mr & Mrs Robert Auerbach

Mrs Julia Beine

Harvey Bengen

Miss YolanDa Brown OBE

Miss Yousun Chae

Mr Julien Chilcott-Monk

Alison Clarke & Leo Pilkington

Mr Joshua Coger

Miss Tessa Cowie

Mr David Devons

Patricia Dreyfus

Mr Martin Fodder

Christopher Fraser OBE

Will Gold

Ray Harsant

Mr Peter Imhof

The Jackman Family

Mr David MacFarlane

Dame Jane Newell DBE

Mr Stephen Olton

Mari Payne

Mr David Peters

Ms Edwina Pitman

Mr & Mrs Graham & Jean Pugh

Mr Giles Quarme

Mr Kenneth Shaw

Mr Brian Smith

Ms Rika Suzuki

Tony & Hilary Vines

Dr June Wakefield

Mr John Weekes

Mr C D Yates

Hon. Benefactor

Elliott Bernerd

Hon. Life Members

Alfonso Aijón

Kenneth Goode

Carol Colburn Grigor CBE

Pehr G Gyllenhammar

Robert Hill

Victoria Robey OBE

Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE

Timothy Walker CBE AM

Laurence Watt

Thomas Beecham Group Members

David & Yi Buckley

Gill & Garf Collins

William & Alex de Winton

Sonja Drexler

The Friends of the LPO

Irina Gofman

Roger Greenwood

Dr Barry Grimaldi

Mr & Mrs Philip Kan

John & Angela Kessler

Sir Simon Robey

Victoria Robey OBE

Bianca & Stuart Roden

Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp

Julian & Gill Simmonds

Eric Tomsett

Neil Westreich

Guy & Utti Whittaker

Corporate Donor

Barclays

LPO Corporate Circle

Principal

Bloomberg

Carter-Ruck

French Chamber of Commerce

Tutti

Lazard

Natixis Corporate Investment

Banking

Sciteb Ltd

Walpole

Preferred Partners

Gusbourne Estate

Jeroboams

Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd

OneWelbeck Steinway

In-kind Sponsor

Google Inc

Thank you

Trusts and Foundations

ABO Trust

BlueSpark Foundation

The Boltini Trust

Borrows Charitable Trust

The Candide Trust

Cockayne – Grants for the Arts

The London Community Foundation

The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust

Dunard Fund

Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation

Foyle Foundation

Garrick Charitable Trust

John Coates Charitable Trust

John Horniman’s Children’s Trust

John Thaw Foundation

Institute Adam Mickiewicz

Kirby Laing Foundation

Lord and Lady Lurgan Trust

Lucille Graham Trust

The Marchus Trust

PRS Foundation

The Radcliffe Trust

Rivers Foundation

Rothschild Foundation

Scops Arts Trust

Sir William Boremans’ Foundation

The John S Cohen Foundation

The Stanley Picker Trust

The Thriplow Charitable Trust

TIOC Foundation

Vaughan Williams Foundation

The Victoria Wood Foundation

The Viney Family

The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust

and all others who wish to remain anonymous.

Board of the American Friends of the LPO

We are grateful to the Board of the American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, who assist with fundraising for our activities in the United States of America:

Simon Freakley Chairman

Kara Boyle

Jon Carter

Jay Goffman

Alexandra Jupin

Natalie Pray

Damien Vanderwilt

Marc Wasserman

Elizabeth Winter

Catherine Høgel Hon. Director

Jenifer L. Keiser, CPA, EisnerAmper LLP

LPO International Board of Governors

Natasha Tsukanova Co-Chair

Martin Höhmann Co-Chair

Mrs Irina Andreeva

Steven M. Berzin

Shashank Bhagat

Veronika Borovik-Khilchevskaya

Marie-Laure Favre Gilly de Varennes de Bueil

Aline Foriel-Destezet

Irina Gofman

Countess Dominique Loredan

Olivia Ma

George Ramishvili

Sophie Schÿler-Thierry

Jay Stein

Florian Wunderlich

London Philharmonic Orchestra Administration

Board of Directors

Dr Catherine C. Høgel Chair

Lord Hall of Birkenhead CBE Vice-Chair

Martin Höhmann* President

Mark Vines* Vice-President

Kate Birchall*

David Buckley

David Burke

Bruno De Kegel

Deborah Dolce

Elena Dubinets

Tanya Joseph

Hugh Kluger*

Katherine Leek*

Al MacCuish

Minn Majoe*

Tania Mazzetti*

Jamie Njoku-Goodwin

Andrew Tusa

Neil Westreich

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

Philharmonic Orchestra)

*Player-Director

Advisory Council

Martin Höhmann Chairman

Christopher Aldren

Dr Manon Antoniazzi

Roger Barron

Richard Brass

Helen Brocklebank

YolanDa Brown OBE

Simon Burke

Simon Callow CBE

Desmond Cecil CMG

Sir Alan Collins KCVO CMG

Andrew Davenport

Guillaume Descottes

Cameron Doley

Christopher Fraser OBE

Jenny Goldie-Scot

Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS

Marianna Hay MBE

Nicholas Hely-Hutchinson DL

Amanda Hill

Rehmet Kassim-Lakha

Jamie Korner

Geoff Mann

Clive Marks OBE FCA

Stewart McIlwham

Andrew Neill

Nadya Powell

Sir Bernard Rix

Victoria Robey OBE

Baroness Shackleton

Thomas Sharpe KC

Julian Simmonds

Barry Smith

Martin Southgate

Chris Viney

Laurence Watt

Elizabeth Winter

General Administration

Elena Dubinets

Artistic Director

David Burke Chief Executive

Chantelle Vircavs PA to the Executive

Concert Management

Roanna Gibson

Concerts and Planning Director

Graham Wood

Concerts and Recordings Manager

Maddy Clarke

Tours Manager

Madeleine Ridout

Glyndebourne and Projects Manager

Alison Jones

Concerts and Recordings Co-ordinator

Robert Winup

Concerts and Tours Assistant

Matthew Freeman

Recordings Consultant

Andrew Chenery

Orchestra Personnel Manager

Sarah Thomas

Martin Sargeson

Librarians

Laura Kitson Stage and Operations Manager

Stephen O’Flaherty

Deputy Operations Manager

Felix Lo

Orchestra and Auditions Manager

Finance

Frances Slack

Finance Director

Dayse Guilherme

Finance Manager

Jean-Paul Ramotar

Finance and IT Officer

Education and Community

Talia Lash

Education and Community Director

Lowri Davies

Hannah Foakes

Education and Community Project Managers

Hannah Smith

Education and Community Co-ordinator

Development

Laura Willis

Development Director

Rosie Morden

Individual Giving Manager

Siân Jenkins

Corporate Relations Manager

Anna Quillin

Trusts and Foundations Manager

Katurah Morrish

Development Events Manager

Eleanor Conroy

Al Levin

Development Assistants

Nick Jackman

Campaigns and Projects Director

Kirstin Peltonen

Development Associate

Marketing

Kath Trout

Marketing and Communications Director

Sophie Harvey

Marketing Manager

Rachel Williams

Publications Manager

Harrie Mayhew

Website Manager

Gavin Miller

Sales and Ticketing Manager

Ruth Haines

Press and PR Manager

Greg Felton

Digital Creative

Hayley Kim

Marketing Co-ordinator

Alicia Hartley

Marketing Assistant Archives

Philip Stuart

Discographer

Gillian Pole

Recordings Archive

Professional Services

Charles Russell Speechlys Solicitors

Crowe Clark Whitehill LLP

Auditors

Dr Barry Grimaldi

Honorary Doctor

Mr Chris Aldren

Honorary ENT Surgeon

Mr Simon Owen-Johnstone

Hon. Orthopaedic Surgeon

London Philharmonic Orchestra

89 Albert Embankment

London SE1 7TP

Tel: 020 7840 4200

Box Office: 020 7840 4242

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

Cover illustration

Simon Pemberton/Heart

2022/23 season identity

JMG Studio

Printer John Good Ltd