LPO programme: 4 Nov 2022 - Randall Goosby plays Bruch (Alpesh Chauhan, conductor)

programme

2

3

4 London Philharmonic Orchestra

5 Leader: Pieter Schoeman

6 Alpesh Chauhan

7 Randall Goosby

8

12 Recommended recordings

on the LPO Label

13 Sound Futures donors

14 Thank you

LPO administration

The concert on Friday 4 November is being filmed for future broadcast on Marquee TV. We would be grateful if audience noise during the performance could be kept to a minimum, and if audience members could kindly hold applause until the end of each full work. Thank you for your co-operation.

Welcome to the Southbank Centre

We hope you enjoy your visit. We have a Duty Manager available at all times. If you need any information or help, please ask a member of staff.

Eating, drinking and shopping? Take in the views over food and drinks at the Riverside Terrace Cafe, Level 2, Royal Festival Hall. Visit our shops for products inspired by our great cultural experiences, iconic buildings and central London location. Explore across the site with Beany Green, Côte Brasserie, Foyles, Giraffe, Honest Burger, Las Iguanas, Le Pain Quotidien, Ping Pong, Pret, Strada, Skylon, Spiritland, Topolski, wagamama and Wahaca.

If you would like to get in touch with us following your visit, please write to: Visitor Contact Team, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX, or email hello@southbankcentre.co.uk

We look forward to seeing you again soon.

A few points to note for your comfort and enjoyment: Photography is not allowed in the auditorium. Latecomers will only be admitted to the auditorium if there is a suitable break in the performance. Recording is not permitted in the auditorium without the prior consent of the Southbank Centre. The Southbank Centre reserves the right to confiscate video or sound equipment and hold it in safekeeping until the performance has ended.

Mobiles and watches should be switched off before the performance begins.

Tonight’s concert on Marquee TV

We are delighted that a selection of concerts from our LPO 2022/23 Royal Festival Hall season are being filmed for broadcast on Marquee TV. This evening’s concert (4 November) is being filmed for broadcast on Saturday 10 December at 7pm. The performance will remain available to watch free of charge for 48 hours without a Marquee TV subscription. If you would like to subscribe for unlimited access to Marquee TV’s extensive range of music, opera, theatre and dance productions, you can enjoy 50% off with code LPO2022. Visit marquee.tv/ LPO2022 to find out more, enjoy a free trial or subscribe.

Welcome to Brighton Dome

Chief Executive Andrew Comben

We hope you enjoy the performance and your visit to Brighton Dome. 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 5 November 2022 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

Kate Oswin Cassi Hamilton Minn Majoe Morane Cohen-Lamberger Yang Zhang

Chair supported by Eric Tomsett Thomas Eisner

Katalin Varnagy

Chair supported by Sonja Drexler Catherine Craig Alice Apreda Howell Ronald Long Amanda Smith Alice Hall

Second Violins

Tania Mazzetti Principal Chair supported by Countess Dominique Loredan Emma Oldfield Co-Principal Ashley Stevens

Joseph Maher

Fiona Higham

Chair supported by David & Yi Buckley

Nynke Hijlkema Kate Birchall

Claudia Tarrant-Matthews

Lyrit Milgram

Sioni Williams Jamie Hutchinson

Matthew Bain

Violas

Richard Waters Principal Chair supported by Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp

Benedetto Pollani

Laura Vallejo Martin Wray Jisu Song

Raquel López Bolívar Kate De Campos James Heron

Daniel Cornford Julia Kornig

On stage tonight

Cellos

Bozidar Vukotic Guest Principal Susanna Riddell

Sibylle Hentschel

Helen Thomas

Iain Ward Leo Melvin Julia Morneweg

Double Basses

Kevin Rundell* Principal Hugh Kluger George Peniston

Laura Murphy

Tom Walley

Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton David Johnson Flutes

Juliette Bausor Principal Joanna Marsh

Piccolo

Maja Persson 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

Bass Clarinet

Paul Richards*† Principal

Bassoons

Paul Boyes Guest Principal Patrick Bolton

Contrabassoon

Simon Estell* Principal Horns

John Ryan* Principal Mark Vines Principal Martin Hobbs Duncan Fuller Gareth Mollison

Trumpets

Paul Beniston* Principal Tom Nielsen Guest Principal Anne McAneney*

Trombones

Mark Templeton* Principal Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton David Whitehouse

Bass Trombone Josh Cirtina Tuba

Lee Tsarmaklis*† Principal Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra

Timpani

Jonathan Phillips Guest Principal

Percussion

Andrew Barclay* Principal Chair supported by Gill & Garf Collins

Feargus Brennan† Keith Millar†

Harp

Tamara Young† Guest Principal

* Holds a professorial appointment in London

† 4 November only

The LPO also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at these concerts:

The Candide Trust

Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik V. G. Cave

Sir Simon Robey Bianca & Stuart Roden

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

We’re always at the forefront of technology, finding new ways to share our music globally. 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’ll be working once again 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.

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 Edward Gardner, captured in his first concert as

© Benjamin Ealovega

Pieter Schoeman Leader

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’re committed to offering them opportunities to progress. 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.

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, Mark Simpson and Heiner Goebbels, as well as new commissions from composers from around the world including Agata Zubel, Elena Langer and Vijay Iyer.

© Benjamin Ealovega

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 London’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.

Alpesh Chauhan conductor

Cecilia, the Malmö Symphony Orchestra and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. He enjoys collaborations with distinguished soloists such as Nicola Benedetti, Colin Currie, Pablo Ferrández, Veronika Eberle, Ilya Gringolts, Benjamin Grosvenor, Stephen Hough, Leila Josefowicz, Pavel Kolesnikov, Johannes Moser and Arcadi Volodos, and singers Karen Cargill, Markus Werba and Christianne Stotijn, among others.

British conductor Alpesh Chauhan is Principal Guest Conductor of the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Associate Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of Birmingham Opera Company. His most recent collaboration with the latter, Wagner’s RhineGold, was received to critical acclaim: ‘… The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s sound [was] controlled with an absolutely sure hand by the company’s Music Director Alpesh Chauhan – who was superb throughout.’ The Telegraph *****

Forthcoming highlights this season include debuts with the Seattle Symphony and Hilary Hahn, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Hallé, the Melbourne, Adelaide and North Carolina symphony orchestras, the Poznań Philharmonic, the Auckland Philharmonia and the Symphony Orchestra of India, as well as returns to the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale RAI, Filarmonica Toscanini, Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice, BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Antwerp Symphony. Further to this, he conducts several recording and symphonic projects with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, and community projects with Birmingham Opera Company.

Alpesh made his London Philharmonic Orchestra debut in February 2022, when he stepped in at short notice to conduct a programme of Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff. He frequently appears as guest conductor with other acclaimed international orchestras including the London Symphony, Philharmonia, BBC Symphony and Royal Philharmonic orchestras, the BBC Philharmonic, the Orchestre National d’Île de France, the Orchestre National de Lille, the Accademia di Santa

Following his outstanding debut in 2015, Alpesh Chauhan was appointed Principal Conductor of the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini in Parma, and has performed and recorded much of the great symphonic repertoire including a complete cycle of Brahms symphonies. Alongside the recently critically acclaimed RhineGold, other notable opera titles include Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, West Side Story, and a production of Turandot at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia.

A keen advocate of music education for young people, Alpesh is a patron of Awards for Young Musicians, a UK charity supporting talented young people from disadvantaged backgrounds on their musical journeys. He has also worked with ensembles such as the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland and the symphony orchestras of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Royal Northern College of Music. He was the conductor of the 2015 BBC ‘Ten Pieces’ film, which brought the world of classical music into secondary schools across the UK and received a distinguished BAFTA Award.

Born in Birmingham, Alpesh Chauhan studied cello under Eduardo Vassallo at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, before continuing at the RNCM to pursue the prestigious Master’s Conducting Course. He has studied with Stanisław Skrowaczewski, and was mentored by Andris Nelsons and Edward Gardner in his post as Assistant Conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 2014–16.

Birmingham Opera Company’s 2019 production of Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, directed by the late Sir Graham Vick, was a triumph and led to Alpesh Chauhan being named ‘Newcomer of the Year’ in the 2021 International Opera Awards. In 2022 he was delighted to receive the Conductor Award from the Italian National Association of Music Critics for ‘Miglior Direttore’ for concerts across Italy in 2021. Alpesh was honoured to receive an OBE in The Queen’s New Year Honours in January 2022 for Services to the Arts.

© Luca Pezzani

Randall Goosby

violin

‘For me, personally, music has been a way to inspire others’ – Randall Goosby’s own words sum up perfectly his commitment to being an artist who makes a difference. Signed exclusively to Decca Classics in 2020 at the age of 24, the American violinist is acclaimed for the sensitivity and intensity of his musicianship alongside his determination to make music more inclusive and accessible, as well as bringing the music of under-represented composers to light. This is Randall Goosby’s second appearance with the London Philharmonic Orchestra: he made his debut with the Orchestra in October 2021, performing Chevalier de Saint-Georges’s Violin Concerto at Eastbourne’s Congress Theatre.

Highlights of Randall’s 2022/23 season include appearances with The Philadelphia Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin and with the San Francisco Symphony under Esa-Pekka Salonen, as well as returns to the Philharmonia Orchestra with Santtu-Matias Rouvali, the Los Angeles Philharmonic with Dalia Stasevska, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra with Tabita Berglund and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra with Karina Canellakis. He will also make his debuts in South Korea in recital, and in Japan with the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa and Ryan Wigglesworth, performing Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1.

Summer 2022 included debuts with The Philadelphia Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin at the Saratoga Performing Arts Centre; at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw with the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra under Elim Chan; and in recital at the Lucerne Festival with pianist Anna Han. Randall also returned to the Hollywood Bowl, performing Bach’s Double Concerto with his mentor, Itzhak Perlman, and the Los Angeles

Philharmonic Orchestra. Upcoming recital appearances include La Jolla Music Society, Vancouver Recital Series, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and the Schubert Club International Series featuring works by Boulanger, William Grant Still, Ravel and Beethoven.

June 2021 saw the release of Randall’s debut album for Decca entitled Roots, a celebration of African-American music which explores its evolution from the spiritual through to present-day compositions. Collaborating with pianist Zhu Wang, Randall curated an album paying homage to the pioneering artists that paved the way for him and other artists of colour. It features three world premiere recordings of works by African-American composer Florence Price alongside music by William Grant Still and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, plus a newly commissioned piece by Xavier Foley, a fellow Sphinx and Young Concert Artists alumnus.

Randall Goosby is deeply passionate about inspiring and serving others through education, social engagement and outreach activities. He has enjoyed working with non-profit organisations such as the Opportunity Music Project and Concerts in Motion in New York City, as well as participating in community engagement programmes for schools, hospitals and assisted living facilities across the United States.

Randall Goosby was First Prize Winner in the 2018 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. In 2019 he was named the inaugural Robey Artist by Young Classical Artists Trust in partnership with Music Masters in London; and in 2020 he became an Ambassador for Music Masters, a role that sees him mentoring and inspiring students in schools around the UK. In 2010 he won First Prize in the Sphinx Concerto Competition; he is also a recipient of Sphinx’s Isaac Stern Award, a career advancement grant from the Bagby Foundation, and a 2022 Avery Fisher Career Grant. An active chamber musician, he has spent his summers studying at the Perlman Music Program, Verbier Festival Academy and Mozarteum Summer Academy, among others.

Randall Goosby made his debut with the Jacksonville Symphony aged nine, and with the New York Philharmonic in a Young People’s Concert at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall aged 13. A graduate of The Juilliard School, Randall continues his studies there, pursuing an Artist Diploma under Itzhak Perlman and Catherine Cho. He plays a 1735 Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu, on generous loan from the Stradivari Society.

© Kaupo Kikkas

Programme notes

Chen Yi born 1953 Momentum 1998

Born in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, Chen Yi learned the violin at a young age and continued to play the instrument up to her graduate student years at Columbia University in the late 1980s. In fact, during the Cultural Revolution, Chen had continued to practise the violin even after having been sent to the countryside. By the early 1970s she had returned to the city, where she served as violinist with a local operatic group. All of these experiences provided inspiration for her compositions, whether in borrowed operatic and folk tunes, calligraphic gestures, huqin fiddling techniques, imitative sonorities of Chinese traditional instruments, inventive use of percussion, or the vivid depiction of nature. Chen has lived and breathed Chinese operatic tradition and folk culture for decades, while at the same time steeping herself in the study of the Western canon of music.

Momentum is a study of contrasts inspired, in the composer’s words, ‘by the power of ancient totems, the tension of breathing lava (before it breaks up to flow), and the gesture of exaggerated dancing lines in Chinese calligraphy’. While the mood swings from calm to explosive several times in the span of 13 minutes, the piece’s most striking feature is a tuneful eloquence in the winds and strings that pushes modality to the boundaries of atonality. The melodic shape is especially prominent in the violin cadenza and flute/piccolo solos in the middle section, as various orchestral sections evoke tunes reminiscent of Chinese operatic tunetypes and pile them one upon another. While the strings represent the ethereal, sometimes excited by the incandescent winds, the large battery of percussion becomes a counterweight to the entire orchestra.

Written during Chen’s tenure as a professor at the Peabody Conservatory of Music and dedicated to the Peabody Symphony Orchestra and its music director Teri Murai, Momentum was premiered by the dedicatees at the Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in May 1998.

Programme note © Joanna Lee

Composer profile: Chen Yi

Dr Chen Yi transcends musical and cultural boundaries in her blending of Chinese and Western traditions. She studied at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and Columbia University in the US, has taught at the Peabody Conservatory, and currently holds a professorship at the University of Missouri Kansas City.

Dr Chen’s music has been performed and commissioned by the world’s leading musicians and ensembles including Yehudi Menuhin, Yo-Yo Ma, Evelyn Glennie, The Cleveland Orchestra, the BBC and Singapore symphony orchestras, the Seattle, Pacific, and Kansas City symphonies, and the Brooklyn, NY and LA Philharmonics. Recent premieres include Four Spirits for piano and orchestra, commissioned by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Pearl River Overture, commissioned by the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra; Southern Scenes for flute, pipa and orchestra by the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra; Totem Poles for solo organ, commissioned by the American Guild of Organists; and Happy Tune for violin and viola, commissioned and premiered at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival 25th anniversary concert.

Dr Chen is a cultural ambassador who believes that music is a universal language, improving understanding between peoples of different cultural backgrounds and helping to bring peace in the world.

Programme notes

Johannes Brahms

Hungarian Dances

Everybody knows the story of the record company executive who turned down The Beatles, and in doing so waved goodbye to a colossal fortune. Not very far behind him must stand the Budapest publisher Johann Nepomuk Dunkl, who in 1867 rejected outright the first two books of Brahms’s Hungarian Dances. Whatever Brahms’s feelings at the time, it turned out to be lucky for him. When the Dances were published two years later by the more prestigious company Simrock, they quickly became extraordinarily popular, displayed (if not always played) on salon and parlour pianos all over the Western world.

The influence of the Hungarian Dances was widespread. They inspired Dvořák’s equally popular sets of Slavonic Dances, and later the piano rags of Scott Joplin, and through them a whole generation of Black American jazz musicians. Hard as it may be to picture Brahms, the great patrician German symphonist, as a forefather of jazz, that just shows that truth often is stranger than fiction. It didn’t stop there: recently English rapper Professor Green used Hungarian Dance No. 5 in his ‘Upper Clapton Dance’, while American electro-house musician Steve Aoki has also paid tribute in his deliciously entitled ‘Phat Brahms’.

With such hindsight it’s easy to mock poor Dunkl, but his reason for turning down the Hungarian Dances may not have been simple short-sightedness. Dunkl, and his son Norbert, were passionate enthusiasts for Hungarian national culture, at a time when demands for Hungarian calls for independence from Austrian domination where growing more insistend. Brahms’s dances are nowhere near as authentically ‘Hungarian’

as he seemed to believe. As a young man, he’d had been enormously impressed by the playing of the Hungarian violinist Eduard Reményi (whom he accompanied at the piano), and by the folk tunes Reményi played – Brahms was particularly taken with their complex and vibrant rhythmic patterns. His great friend, the Hungarian composer and virtuoso violinist Joseph Joachim, later played and sent him many more, and some of these formed the basis of the four sets of Hungarian Dances published in 1869 (Books I & II) and 1880 (Books III & IV).

The problem – from the point of view of a pure-minded Hungarian nationalist – was that many of these tunes were of Gypsy (or, as we would now say, ‘Romani’) extraction, and therefore questionable. For Brahms however, this appears to have been irrelevant, if he was ever seriously aware of it. What fascinated him was the opportunity these tunes offered to extend his own horizons as a composer. Dance No. 1 gives a good indication of the kind of thing Brahms learned. The melody is rhythmically irregular (six-bar phrases instead of the conventional four) and enhanced by touches of flavoursome chromaticism – the musical equivalent of strong paprika. No. 6 is even more deliciously irregular, with ambiguous phrase-lengths and accents shifted deliberately onto ‘wrong’ beats. And No. 5 is the best-known of the set, with its confident minor-key swagger and its teasing changes of tempo. But there’s nothing arch about Brahms’s use of such devices: by this stage they had become so much features of his own style that it’s hard to say what is ‘genuine’ folk music and what is original Brahms.

Programme notes

Max Bruch

Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor

Randall Goosby violin

1 Vorspiel (Prelude): Allegro moderato

2 Adagio

3 Finale: Allegro energico

It would be good to think that Max Bruch derived some solid financial gain from the huge popularity of his First Violin Concerto. Sadly, the opposite is true. Bruch wrote the Concerto in 1866, when he was 28. Bruch clearly realised that it needed more work, so he took the inspired decision to consult the leading virtuoso Joseph Joachim, who was later to play such an important part in helping his friend Brahms refine and enrich the solo part in his famous Violin Concerto. Joachim gave the premiere of the revised Bruch Concerto in 1868, where it brought Bruch his first big and enduring success. Unwisely, Bruch then sold it to the publisher Cranz for a one-off payment, which meant that for years he had to endure seeing the work appear on concert billings all over the world, eclipsing most of his later works, whilst the takings went elsewhere. At the end of the First World War, when he was pitifully short of money, Bruch tried to raise some cash by offering his copy of the manuscript for sale in America, but he died without receiving a penny.

Just as saddening is the thought that Bruch was not able to take pride in the success of his G minor Violin Concerto, because it really is an outstandingly beautiful and original work. Bruch calls his first movement

Vorspiel – ‘Prelude’ – and its role is, in many ways preparatory. The opening is hushed, expectant, the violin emerging with a series of improvisatory phrases, gradually growing in strength. A dark, turbulent Allegro movement emerges from this. There is a gentler, contrasting middle section, but the storm builds again. As this reaches its climax we might expect a full ‘recapitulation’, bringing back both main themes and leading to a virtuosic conclusion. Instead the violin sweeps upwards into a powerful, impassioned outburst for full orchestra, and we sense the scene changing.

As the tempo slows to Adagio, the violin enters with a long-breathed, exquisite melody. This is the Concerto’s ‘Big Tune’, and we can now sense that the first movement has in fact been a preparation for this moment, and for the beautifully judged meditation on this melody that follows. The Finale moves on very effectively from the Adagio’s serene ending. Nervously excited at first, it quickly gains in strength until the violin sweeps in with a majestic virtuosic theme. If the slow movement was the great lyrical flowering we had been waiting for, the Finale brings the full explosion of technical display anticipated in that ‘Prelude’ first movement, building to a rousing conclusion.

Interval – 20 minutes

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

Programme notes

Johannes Brahms

No. 3 in F major

Allegro con brio

Andante

Poco allegretto

Allegro

Brahms’s Third Symphony is in many ways the subtlest, certainly the least ‘epic’ of his symphonic works. Notice the way that all four movements conclude quietly – it’s hard to think of a symphony composed before this one that totally avoids demonstrative endings. Sometimes – especially in the middle two movements – the style and expression are closer to chamber music: there are intimate dialogues between solo woodwind instruments, while the beautiful long horn solo in the third movement, with its delicate string accompaniment, is closer in style to the gloriously romantic Horn Trio of 1865 than to anything in the other three symphonies.

Beyond that, the older Brahms’s habitual mask of ‘classical objectivity’ slips more often here than in any of his other big orchestral works. The Third Symphony begins with the wind instruments outlining a rising three-note motif which dominates the first movement and returns to wind up the argument at the end of the finale: all very intellectually rigorous, one might say – typical Brahms. Un-typically, however, Brahms indicated that this motif had a specific meaning: the three notes, F–A–F, ‘spelt’ a motto in German, Frei aber froh – ‘Free but happy’ – an expression of proud defiance, perhaps, by famously lifelong bachelor. But listen to the way Brahms flattens the second note of the opening motif, A, and adds a questioning dissonance underneath. The word aber (‘but’) is therefore emphasised – a note of doubt.

Immediately after this ‘motto’ comes a magnificent downward plunging violin theme. Its opening phrase is a direct quotation from another Third Symphony: that of the young Brahms’s mentor, encourager and in many ways surrogate father Robert Schumann. Schumann’s final descent into madness and attempted suicide in 1854 was a profound shock for Brahms. Most of Brahms’s first movement is carried along by a strong, buoyant forward current; but just before the return of the first themes the tempo slows markedly and Brahms quotes one of his own choral works, Begräbnisgesang, ‘Funeral Song’, composed not long after Schuman’s death – listen out for heavy descending scales in the bass, lugubriously scored. Suddenly the opening F–A–F motif returns with full force. It’s as though Brahms pays momentary tribute to his beloved, and still profoundly missed friend, but then rallies himself. Schumann may be no more, but his spirit lives on in Brahms himself –as Schumann himself prophesied.

The middle two movements are much gentler, and scored for reduced forces (no trumpets, drums or contrabassoon). The opening woodwind melody of the Andante, with its answering phrases on low strings, is like a pastoral hymn, but the more searching second theme (clarinet, bassoon with rich supporting string chords) leads into more troubled regions. Pastoral imagery is also suggested in the following Poco allegretto. The rustling string figures accompaniment the gorgeous cello melody may evoke rustling foliage. The idea of a prevailing forest setting is confirmed when the opening melody is taken up at length by the

Programme notes

horn – for German-speaking composers the horn is the romantic woodland instrument.

The finale brings the stormiest, most driven music in the whole Symphony, though the darkly purposeful opening is momentarily interrupted by a kind of brief reverie (woodwind against more rustling strings), followed by a sombre hymn-like figure, pianissimo –more ‘funeral’ music? From this an impassioned, striving Allegro springs to life. One may be led to expect a noisily triumphant, or perhaps tragic conclusion. But at the end it is the element of reverie (again woodwind and rustling strings) that prevails, leading – with superb emotional logic – to a quite return of the Symphony’s original ‘motto’ and ‘Schumann’ themes. No triumph, no tragedy, the music seems to say – just peaceful acceptance.

Brahms & Bruch programme notes © Stephen Johnson

Recommended recordings

by Laurie Watt

Chen Yi: Momentum Singapore Symphony Orchestra | Lan Shui (BIS)

Brahms: Hungarian Dances Vienna Philharmonic | Fritz Reiner (Decca Classic Sound)

Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 Julia Fischer | Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich | David Zinman (Decca) or Kyung-Wha Chung | London Philharmonic Orchestra | Klaus Tennstedt (Warner download)

Brahms: Symphony No. 3 London Philharmonic Orchestra | Vladimir Jurowski (LPO Label LPO-0075: see below) or London Philharmonic Orchestra Klaus Tennstedt (LPO Label LPO-0068: see below)

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

Mr & Mrs Philip Kan

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

Patricia Haitink

The Lambert Family Charitable Trust

Countess Dominique Loredan 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 Grenville & Krysia Williams

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

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 Topley

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

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

Countess Dominique Loredan 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

Berenberg

Bloomberg Carter-Ruck

French Chamber of Commerce

Tutti Lazard Walpole

Trialist

Sciteb

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 Horniman’s Children’s Trust

John Thaw Foundation Institute Adam Mickiewicz Kirby Laing Foundation

The Marchus Trust

The Radcliffe Trust Rivers Foundation Rothschild Foundation RVW Trust

Scops Arts Trust

Sir William Boremans' Foundation

The John S Cohen Foundation

The Stanley Picker Trust

The Thriplow Charitable Trust

The Vaughan Williams Charitable Trust

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

Jon Carter

Jay Goffman

Alexandra Jupin

Natalie Pray

Damien Vanderwilt

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

Veronika Borovik-Khilchevskaya Marie-Laure Favre Gilly de Varennes de Bueil Aline Foriel-Destezet Irina Gofman

Countess Dominique Loredan Olivia Ma George Ramishvili

Jay Stein

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

Simon Burke Simon Callow CBE

Desmond Cecil CMG Sir Alan Collins KCVO CMG

Andrew Davenport Guillaume Descottes

Cameron Doley

Christopher Fraser OBE

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

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

Hannah Foakes Lowri Davies Education and Community Project Managers

Hannah Smith Education and Community Project 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 Mairi Warren Marketing Manager

Rachel Williams Publications Manager

Harrie Mayhew Website Manager

Gavin Miller Sales and Ticketing Manager

Ruth Haines Press and PR Manager

Sophie Harvey Digital and Residencies Marketing Manager

Greg Felton Digital Creative 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