Concert programme 2015/16 London Season lpo.org.uk
Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor VLADIMIR JUROWSKI supported by the Tsukanov Family Foundation Principal Guest Conductor ANDRÉS OROZCO-ESTRADA Leader pieter schoeman supported by Neil Westreich Composer in Residence magnus lindberg Patron HRH THE DUKE OF KENT KG Chief Executive and Artistic Director TIMOTHY WALKER AM
Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall Wednesday 9 December 2015 | 7.30pm
Wagenaar Overture, Cyrano de Bergerac, Op. 23 (14’) Magnus Lindberg Violin Concerto No. 2 (world premiere)* (25’) Interval
Contents 2 Welcome 3 On stage tonight 4 About the Orchestra 5 Leader: Pieter Schoeman 6 Jaap van Zweden 7 Frank Peter Zimmermann 8 Programme notes 13 LPO 2016 concerts 14 Sound Futures donors 15 Supporters 16 LPO administration
The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide.
Beethoven Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92 (36’)
Jaap van Zweden conductor Frank Peter Zimmermann violin
*Commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra with the generous support of Victoria Robey OBE, Stiftung Berliner Philharmoniker, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Radio France and New York Philharmonic, Alan Gilbert, Music Director
CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
Free pre-concert event 6.15–6.45pm | Royal Festival Hall LPO Composer in Residence Magnus Lindberg discusses the world premiere of his Second Violin Concerto.
Welcome
Welcome to Southbank Centre We hope you enjoy your visit. We have a Duty Manager available at all times. If you have any queries please ask any member of staff for assistance. Eating, drinking and shopping? Southbank Centre shops and restaurants include Foyles, EAT, Giraffe, Strada, YO! Sushi, wagamama, Le Pain Quotidien, Las Iguanas, ping pong, Canteen, Caffè Vergnano 1882, Skylon, Feng Sushi and Topolski, as well as cafes, restaurants and shops inside Royal Festival Hall. If you wish to get in touch with us following your visit please contact the Visitor Experience Team at Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX, phone 020 7960 4250, or email customer@southbankcentre.co.uk We look forward to seeing you again soon. Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Hayward Gallery are closed for essential refurbishment until 2017. During this period, our resident orchestras are performing in venues including St John's Smith Square. Find out more at southbankcentre.co.uk/sjss A few points to note for your comfort and enjoyment: PHOTOGRAPHY is not allowed in the auditorium. LATECOMERS will only be admitted to the auditorium if there is a suitable break in the performance. RECORDING is not permitted in the auditorium without the prior consent of Southbank Centre. Southbank Centre reserves the right to confiscate video or sound equipment and hold it in safekeeping until the performance has ended. MOBILES, PAGERS AND WATCHES should be switched off before the performance begins.
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Orchestra News
2015/16 season Welcome to the Orchestra's final London concert of 2015 at Royal Festival Hall. We are delighted to present the world premiere of our Composer in Residence Magnus Lindberg's Second Violin Concerto with Frank Peter Zimmermann. We look forward to seeing you in 2016 (see page 13 for the first few concerts) when a highlight is a celebration of Shakespeare's 400th anniversary, a series of concerts culminating in an Anniversary Gala Concert directed by Simon Callow on 23 April. To find out more visit lpo.org.uk/shakespeare
'Tis the Season ... ... to raise money for charity. As in previous years, members of the Orchestra will be playing all your favourite carols with singers from the London Philharmonic Choir tomorrow, Thursday 10 December from 5.15pm–7.15pm at Waterloo station, collecting for Save the Children. Last year we managed to raise a total of £2,367 and we would love to beat that in 2015. So, if you are in the vicinity do come and support the players and singers. Toe-tapping guaranteed – that's always good for the circulation on a cold winter's day.
Keep on Trucking Santa may have his sleigh but we have our very own truck and Damian Davis, Transport Manager, both essential as the Orchestra continues its extensive tour schedule over the festive season. The players returned from a four-day tour in Germany and the Netherlands on 21 November and after tonight's concert they are back to Germany from 14 to 17 December. This time there are performances in Essen, Düsseldorf, Munich and Stuttgart. If you fancy a seasonal short break with a fantastic concert alongside a visit to a quintessential German Christmas market then all tickets for all concerts on tour are available. And if you see a mysterious flying object in the sky Christmas Eve, look closely – it might just be Damian and the LPO truck giving Santa a run for his money ... lpo.org.uk/whats-on/whats-on-tickets.html
On stage tonight
First Violins Pieter Schoeman* Leader Chair supported by Neil Westreich
Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader Ilyoung Chae Chair supported by an anonymous donor
Ji-Hyun Lee Chair supported by Eric Tomsett
Katalin Varnagy Chair supported by Sonja Drexler
Catherine Craig Thomas Eisner Martin Höhmann Chair supported by The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust
Geoffrey Lynn Chair supported by Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp
Robert Pool Sarah Streatfeild Yang Zhang Grace Lee Rebecca Shorrock Galina Tanney Caroline Sharp Second Violins Philippe Honore Guest Principal Kate Birchall Chair supported by David & Victoria Graham Fuller
Nancy Elan Lorenzo Gentili-Tedeschi Fiona Higham Nynke Hijlkema Joseph Maher Marie-Anne Mairesse Ashley Stevens Dean Williamson
Helena Nicholls Sioni Williams Elizabeth Baldey Alison Strange Violas Cyrille Mercier Principal Robert Duncan Gregory Aronovich Susanne Martens Benedetto Pollani Emmanuella Reiter Laura Vallejo Naomi Holt Daniel Cornford Sarah Malcolm Martin Fenn Richard Cookson Cellos Pei-Jee Ng Principal Francis Bucknall Laura Donoghue Santiago Carvalho† David Lale Gregory Walmsley Elisabeth Wiklander Chair supported by The Viney Family
Sue Sutherley Susanna Riddell Tom Roff Double Basses Kevin Rundell* Principal Tim Gibbs Co-Principal George Peniston Laurence Lovelle Tom Walley Lowri Morgan Helen Rowlands Charlotte Kerbegian
Flutes Claire Wickes Guest Principal Sue Thomas*
Trombones Mark Templeton* Principal Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton
David Whitehouse
Chair supported by Victoria Robey OBE
Bass Trombone Lyndon Meredith Principal
Stewart McIlwham* Piccolo Stewart McIlwham* Principal
Tuba Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal
Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra
Timpani Simon Carrington* Principal
Oboes Ian Hardwick* Principal Alice Munday
Percussion Andrew Barclay* Principal Chair supported by Andrew Davenport
Clarinets Robert Hill* Principal Thomas Watmough
Henry Baldwin Co-Principal Chair supported by Jon Claydon
Bass Clarinet Paul Richards Principal
Harp Rachel Masters* Principal
Bassoons Gareth Newman Principal Simon Estell
Celeste Catherine Edwards
Horns David Pyatt* Principal
* Holds a professorial appointment in London
Chair supported by Simon Robey
John Ryan* Principal
† Chevalier of the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco
Chair supported by Laurence Watt
Martin Hobbs Mark Vines Co-Principal Gareth Mollison
Meet our members: lpo.org.uk/players
Trumpets Paul Beniston* Principal Anne McAneney* Chair supported by Geoff & Meg Mann
Nicholas Betts Co-Principal
Chair Supporters The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporter whose player is not present at this concert: Bianca and Stuart Roden
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London Philharmonic Orchestra
Jurowski and the LPO can stand alongside the top international orchestras with pride Richard Fairman, Financial Times, September 2015 Recognised today as one of the finest orchestras on the international stage, the London Philharmonic Orchestra balances a long and distinguished history with a reputation as one of the UK’s most forwardlooking ensembles. As well as its performances in the concert hall, the Orchestra also records film and video game soundtracks, releases CDs on its own record label, and reaches thousands of people every year through activities for families, schools and community groups. The Orchestra was founded by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1932. It has since been headed by many of the world’s greatest conductors including Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. Vladimir Jurowski is currently the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor, appointed in 2007. Andrés Orozco-Estrada took up the position of Principal Guest Conductor in September 2015. Magnus Lindberg is the Orchestra’s current Composer in Residence. The Orchestra is resident at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London, where it gives over 30 concerts each season. Throughout 2014/15 the Orchestra gave a series of concerts entitled Rachmaninoff: Inside Out, a festival exploring the composer’s major orchestral
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masterpieces. 2015/16 is a strong year for singers, with performances by Toby Spence and Anne Sofie von Otter amongst others; Sibelius enjoys 150th anniversary celebrations; distinguished visiting conductors include Stanisław Skrowaczewski, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Vasily Petrenko, with Robin Ticciati returning after his debut in 2015; and in 2016 the LPO joins many of London’s other leading cultural institutions in Shakespeare400, celebrating the Bard’s legacy 400 years since his death. The Orchestra continues its commitment to new music with premieres of commissions including Magnus Lindberg’s Second Violin Concerto, and works by Alexander Raskatov and Marc-André Dalbavie. Outside London, the Orchestra has flourishing residencies in Brighton and Eastbourne, and performs regularly around the UK. Each summer the Orchestra takes up its annual residency at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in the Sussex countryside, where it has been Resident Symphony Orchestra for over 50 years. The Orchestra also tours internationally, performing to sell-out audiences worldwide. In 1956 it became the first British orchestra to appear in Soviet Russia and in 1973 made the first ever visit to China by a
Pieter Schoeman leader
Pieter Schoeman was appointed Leader of the LPO in 2008, having previously been Co-Leader since 2002.
The London Philharmonic Orchestra has recorded the soundtracks to numerous blockbuster films, from The Lord of the Rings trilogy to Lawrence of Arabia, East is East, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Thor: The Dark World. It also broadcasts regularly on television and radio, and in 2005 established its own record label. There are now over 80 releases available on CD and to download. Recent additions include Vaughan Williams’s Symphonies Nos. 4 and 6, Bruckner’s Symphony No. 3 conducted by Stanisław Skrowaczewski and Messiaen’s Des Canyons Aux Étoiles. In summer 2012 the London Philharmonic Orchestra performed as part of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the River Thames, and was also chosen to record all the world’s national anthems for the London 2012 Olympics. In 2013 it was the winner of the RPS Music Award for Ensemble. The London Philharmonic Orchestra is committed to inspiring the next generation of musicians through an energetic programme of activities for young people. Highlights include the BrightSparks schools’ concerts and FUNharmonics family concerts; the Young Composers Programme; and the Foyle Future Firsts orchestral training programme for outstanding young players. Its work at the forefront of digital engagement and social media has enabled the Orchestra to reach even more people worldwide: all its recordings are available to download from iTunes and, as well as a YouTube channel and regular podcast series, the Orchestra has a lively presence on Facebook and Twitter. Find out more and get involved! lpo.org.uk facebook.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra twitter.com/LPOrchestra
© Benjamin Ealovega
Western orchestra. Touring remains a large part of the Orchestra’s life: highlights of the 2015/16 season include visits to Mexico City as part of the UK Mexico Year of Culture, Spain, Germany, Canary Islands, Belgium, a return to the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam and the Orchestra’s premiere at La Scala, Milan.
Born in South Africa, he made his solo debut aged 10 with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra. He studied with Jack de Wet in South Africa, winning numerous competitions including the 1984 World Youth Concerto Competition in the US. In 1987 he was offered the Heifetz Chair of Music scholarship to study with Eduard Schmieder in Los Angeles and in 1991 his talent was spotted by Pinchas Zukerman, who recommended that he move to New York to study with Sylvia Rosenberg. In 1994 he became her teaching assistant at Indiana University, Bloomington. Pieter has performed worldwide as a soloist and recitalist in such famous halls as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Moscow's Rachmaninov Hall, Capella Hall in St Petersburg, Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, and Southbank Centre's Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. As a chamber musician he regularly performs at London's prestigious Wigmore Hall. As a soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Pieter has performed Arvo Pärt's Double Concerto with Boris Garlitsky, Brahms's Double Concerto with Kristina Blaumane, and Britten's Double Concerto with Alexander Zemtsov, which was recorded and released on the Orchestra's own record label to great critical acclaim. He has recorded numerous violin solos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra for Chandos, Opera Rara, Naxos, X5, the BBC and for American film and television, and led the Orchestra in its soundtrack recordings for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. In 1995 Pieter became Co-Leader of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice. Since then he has appeared frequently as Guest Leader with the Barcelona, Bordeaux, Lyon, Baltimore and BBC symphony orchestras, and the Rotterdam and BBC Philharmonic orchestras. He is a Professor of Violin at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London. Pieter's chair in the London Philharmonic Orchestra is supported by Neil Westreich.
youtube.com/londonphilharmonic7
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Jaap van Zweden conductor
I would go to hear van Zweden conduct anything, anywhere.
© Hans van der Woerd
Andrew Patner, Chicago Sun Times
Jaap van Zweden has been Music Director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra since 2008 and Music Director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra since 2012. The Amsterdam-born van Zweden was appointed aged 19 as the youngest concertmaster ever of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and began his conducting career 20 years later in 1995. In November 2011, he was named Musical America's 2012 Conductor of the Year in recognition of his critically acclaimed work as Music Director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and as a guest conductor with the most prestigious US orchestras.
four-year project to conduct the first ever performances in Hong Kong of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. These are also being recorded by Naxos Records and the first instalment, Das Rheingold, is already released and received strong critical acclaim
Highlights of the 2015/16 season include return visits to the New York Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as debut performances with the Israel Philharmonic, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and the Czech Philharmonic. This autumn Jaap van Zweden returned to the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic to lead a concert performance of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, and in the spring tours the UK and Europe with the Dallas Symphony, and makes his debut at the Vienna State Opera in performances of Wagner’s Lohengrin in May.
His wide discography includes performances of Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and Mahler with the Dallas Symphony on its own label and he has recently completed a cycle of Bruckner symphonies with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic. He has recorded Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO-0033), and Mozart Piano Concertos with the Philharmonia Orchestra and David Fray (Virgin). His highly praised performances of Lohengrin, Die Meistersinger and Parsifal are also available on CD and DVD, the latter of which earned him the Edison award for Best Opera Recording in 2012.
Recent highlights include appearances at the Verbier Festival, tours of major venues in Europe and China with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and debuts with the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Boston and London Symphonies, and his BBC Proms debut conducting the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic in Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony. With the Dallas Symphony he launched the inaugural SOLUNA International Music and Arts Festival, and with the Hong Kong Philharmonic he has begun a
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You need to be a chameleon. You need to have all different styles under your belt ... There are still people who play Beethoven like Brahms. And that I refuse to do. Jaap van Zweden, from an interview with South China Morning Post
In 1997, Jaap van Zweden and his wife Aaltje established the Papageno Foundation that supports families of children with autism. Over the years, that support has taken shape through a number of programmes in which professional music therapists and musicians, receiving additional training from Papageno, use music as a major tool in their work with autistic children. jaapvanzweden.com
Frank Peter Zimmermann violin
Mr Zimmermann played with lean yet gleaming sound and melancholic beauty.
© Franz Hamm
New York Times, February 2015
Frank Peter Zimmermann is widely regarded as one of the foremost violinists of his generation. His many concert engagements take him to all the important venues and international music festivals in Europe, the United States, Japan, South America and Australia. Highlights of the 2015/16 season include engagements with the Royal Concertgebouw, Cleveland and the Czech Philharmonic orchestras, and he will join the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and David Afkham for their Easter tour in March/April 2016. He also embarks on a major European tour with his string trio, the Trio Zimmermann, with viola player Antoine Tamestit and cellist Christian Poltéra. After this evening’s world premiere, further performances of Magnus Lindberg’s Second Violin Concerto are scheduled with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestras, both under Daniel Harding, and with the New York Philharmonic and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, both under Alan Gilbert.
Over the years Frank Peter Zimmermann has built up an impressive discography on labels EMI Classics, Sony Classical, BIS, Ondine, Teldec Classics and ECM Records. He has recorded virtually all the major concerto repertoire, ranging from Bach to Ligeti, as well as many works from the recital repertoire. Many of these recordings have received prestigious awards and prizes worldwide. In 2014 his second recording of the Dvořák Violin Concerto was released by Decca as part of the complete symphonies and concertos with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and Jiří Bělohlávek. February 2015 saw the release on Hänssler Classic of his new recording of Mozart's violin concertos nos. 1, 3 and 4, and in 2013 BIS released his highly praised recording of four sonatas and the Violin Concerto by Hindemith. Born in 1965 in Duisburg, Germany, Frank Peter Zimmermann started playing the violin when he was five and gave his first concert with an orchestra at the age of 10. He studied with Valery Gradov, Saschko Gawriloff and Herman Krebbers.
As a chamber musician and recitalist, Frank Peter Zimmermann gives numerous concerts, mostly in Europe. His interpretations of the classical, romantic and 20th-century repertoire are received with great critical acclaim from press and public alike. His regular recital partners are pianists Enrico Pace, Emanuel Ax, Christian Zacharias and Piotr Anderzewski. Frank Peter Zimmermann has given world premieres of three violin concertos: en sourdine by Matthias Pintscher with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Peter Eötvös (2003), The Lost Art of Letter Writing (2007) by Brett Dean, who received the 2009 Grawemeyer Award for this composition, and Augusta Read Thomas’s Violin Concerto No. 3 'Juggler in Paradise' (2009).
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Programme notes
Speedread Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony has been a defining masterpiece of western music since the night in Vienna in 1813 when it exploded into life for the first time. It’s the piece to which Wagner apparently performed an improvised dance routine, and that has soundtracked movies from Zardoz to The King’s Speech. And yet it sounds as unstoppably alive as it always has. 'Big works also grow over the years', says Magnus Lindberg. 'Hearing Beethoven’s Seventh for the first time is one experience, but hearing it for the hundredth time it seems so much greater a piece.'
Johan Wagenaar
We can’t say tonight what Lindberg’s own Second Violin Concerto will sound like when we hear it for the hundredth time, though there’s every reason to be excited – his First (2006) has already become a 21st-century classic. True, sometimes musical history gets it wrong, as you’ll hear from Wagenaar’s glorious but inexplicably neglected overture Cyrano de Bergerac. But whether they’re Wagenaar, Lindberg or Ludwig van Beethoven, all that any composer can ask is that we listen with open ears, and let the music speak. 'Music is something which is about emotion', says Magnus. 'It is a drama and you have to take it as it comes.'
Overture, Cyrano de Bergerac Op. 23
1862–1941
'An odd swashbuckler, fierce and fabulous, Bizarre, excessive and extravagant. He swaggers in a hat with three great plumes … And last but not least, above his ruff, He wears a nose, my lords …' Ah, that nose. When we think of the hero of Edmond Rostand’s 1897 verse drama Cyrano de Bergerac, it’s still his oversized nose that pokes its way into our imagination. The Dutch composer Johan Wagenaar set out to correct that. As the illegitimate son of a nobleman and a housemaid, Wagenaar was no stranger to casual prejudice. A formidable organist and a pupil of Brahms’s great friend Heinrich von Herzogenberg, he would go on to teach a generation of Dutch composers 8 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
– as well as writing colourful, spirited orchestral music on subjects ranging from The Taming of the Shrew to Molière’s Amphitryon. ‘In music, as in all art’, he wrote ‘absolute honesty is essential’. Wagenaar completed his Overture Cyrano de Bergerac on 16 February 1905, and it was conducted by Mahler in Essen the following year. It deals, explained the composer ‘only with the central character (Cyrano) from Rostand's Comédie heroïque, and his main characteristics.’ Rather than a musical retelling of the play: this is a portrait of Cyrano himself, though the resemblance to Richard Strauss’s Don Juan is as plain as the nose on his face (and it’d be just as tactless to mention it). In music of exuberant freshness and
verve, Wagenaar depicts first of all Cyrano’s ‘Valour’, and – to an ardent, yearning theme – his twin ideals of love and poetry. Cyrano’s ‘Loyalty’ and ‘Humour’ get motifs of their own; sparkling woodwinds, vaulting horns and a solo violin all help fill out the portrait of the irrepressible poet, swordsman, lover and wit. And
Magnus Lindberg born 1958
Commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra with the generous support of Victoria Robey OBE, Stiftung Berliner Philharmoniker, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Radio France and New York Philharmonic, Alan Gilbert, Music Director Magnus Lindberg’s Second Violin Concerto taps into the vein of rich Romanticism that he had begun to explore in his Clarinet Concerto (2002), choral-orchestral Graffiti (2008–9) and orchestral Al largo (2009–10). As such, it is another chapter in his long-term concern to marry the textural resourcefulness of modernism and the structural power of classical, functional harmony. Typically for Lindberg, none of the three movements bears a verbal tempo indication; in this instance the first one opens Crotchet = 63 as the solo violin rouses the rest of the orchestra section by section. Rather as Brahms’s Fourth Symphony opens not with a tune in the standard sense but by playing with open fifths, Lindberg’s solo line is not melodically conceived but generates its onward impulse by playing with and expanding little rhythmic ideas and motifs (derived, as Lindberg explains, ‘from the harmonies and pitch patterns’ he was exploring), which then are often picked up and examined by the rest of the orchestra.
instead of Rostand’s tragic ending, Wagenaar gives us instead the unquenchable spirit of Cyrano’s final words: ‘One thing is left, that, void of stain or smirch / I bear away despite you: my panache.’ Programme note © Richard Bratby
Violin Concerto No. 2 (world premiere) Frank Peter Zimmermann violin 1 Crotchet = 63 – 2 Crotchet = 63 – 3 Crotchet = 126
The orchestra, too, is almost the one known as a ‘Brahms orchestra’: double woodwind (with the addition of a bass clarinet), four horns, two trumpets and three trombones, timpani and strings – but this work also requires two percussionists and Lindberg occasionally makes the celeste and (less often) the harp important dialogue partners of the solo violin. The first movement swells to a series of gentle but richly scored climaxes, with the tempo increasing and slowing organically as the work unfolds; nine minutes in, it coasts unemphatically into the central movement – where the initial tempo marking is the same as at the outset; but the hint of a funeral march suggests that this is indeed going to be the slow movement and soon the string lines lengthen and – though the solo part continues to swirl around like a gibbon swinging through the tree-tops – the pace of the orchestra broadens considerably. But only briefly: a rising figure spreads through the orchestra and leads to one of the most unashamedly Romantic vistas in all of Lindberg’s music – a vision, perhaps, of mountains and forests that wouldn’t sound too far out of place in Richard Strauss’s An Alpine Symphony, and it may be, too, an indication of Lindberg’s Finnish (read: Sibelian) heritage.
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Programme notes continued
The grandeur slowly fades and out of it, still at the same tempo, the cadenza emerges, unaccompanied at first, but gradually picking up such strength that the strings and then the rest of the orchestra step in to support it. The music surges and crests and dies away to a whisper, taking a deep breath before the violin tiptoes back in, enjoying a brief dialogue with the leader before the rest of the strings pile in to launch the third movement, this time at twice the pace. But only 30 bars later, amid swirling woodwinds and flashes of light from celeste and harp, the tempo quickens yet further. The
music seems set to skip its way to a close, but the solo violin insists on a double- and triple-stopped passage which slows matters down, and a warmly scored coda emerges, broad and dignified, coalescing into a choralelike passage, out of which the soloist emerges with a rising figure (supported by bass clarinet, bassoons, cellos and basses), which directly recalls the very opening of the work. Programme note © Martin Anderson
Interval – 20 minutes An announcement will be made five minutes before the end of the interval.
Magnus Lindberg introduces his new violin concerto How did the commission come about? I first got to know Frank Peter Zimmermann and his playing in the late 1990s when we were touring together in a programme conducted by Jukka-Pekka Saraste. My Feria was coupled with a violin concerto, so I heard him at rehearsals and concerts, we became friends and I had in mind from then to write a concerto for him. When the London Philharmonic Orchestra asked what my composition priorities might be during my residency we discussed a new violin concerto. It's now a reality. String concertos are notoriously difficult to balance. How have you tackled this with a full symphony orchestra behind the soloist? My Second Violin Concerto certainly has bigger forces than the first ... I’ve been careful in the new work because I know the difficulties of balancing ... I’ve avoided an oversize orchestra, following the Bartók model with only double woodwind. This should be light enough while still allowing me plenty of flesh around the chords. How much of the material grows from the nature of the solo instrument and how much is driven by the musical argument. The violin is the king of instruments with an enormous heritage, and I think when I wrote the First Concerto 10 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
I was very conscious of this, trying to find ‘violinistic’ figures for the solo part. For the second concerto I’m not so afraid of the instrument, and the material is more actively derived from the harmonies and pitch patterns I’ve been exploring. That said, of course, it has to be idiomatic for the instrument and I’m well aware I have a virtuoso at my disposal. I want the violin line to be brilliant yet playable ... an audience doesn’t need to know how challenging the solo part is – for instance the Berg concerto is no showstopper like Paganini but remains one of the hardest in the repertoire musically as well as technically. What is special about a residency, such as with the LPO? It is wonderful to become fully acquainted with an orchestra from the inside, with enough time to get to know individual players and how they perform. I can also listen to the particular sound of sections and of the full ensemble, and all this feeds into how I compose the new commissions as part of the residency. It is a luxury to try things out in a friendly atmosphere and have the possibility to make changes. Read the full interview here: lpo.uk/LindbergVC2
Magnus Lindberg: LPO’s Composer in Residence Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg became the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Composer in Residence from the beginning of the 2014/15 season. Last season's highlights included the Orchestra performing the world premiere of Accused, with soprano Barbara Hannigan in January. Lindberg also plays an active role in the Orchestra’s education activities, mentoring the four participants on the LPO Young Composers scheme, and conducting the annual Debut Sounds concerts that showcase the young composers' new works.
© Hanya Chlala Arena PAL
Lindberg was born in Helsinki in 1958. Following piano studies, he entered the Sibelius Academy where his composition teachers included Einojuhani Rautavaara and Paavo Heininen. His compositional breakthrough came with two large-scale works, Action–Situation– Signification (1982) and Kraft (1983–85), which were inextricably linked with his founding with Esa-Pekka Salonen of the experimental Toimii Ensemble. Lindberg was Composer in Residence of the New York Philharmonic between 2009 and 2012, with new works including the concert-opener EXPO premiered to launch Alan Gilbert’s tenure as the orchestra’s Music Director, Al Largo for orchestra, Souvenir for ensemble, and Piano Concerto No. 2 premiered by Yefim Bronfman in 2012. Lindberg’s music has been recorded on the Deutsche Grammophon, Sony, Ondine, Da Capo and Finlandia labels. He is published by Boosey & Hawkes. Reprinted by kind permission of Boosey & Hawkes
The LPO and Magnus Lindberg at Royal Festival Hall Saturday 23 January 2016 | 7.30pm Mozart Serenade No. 8 (Notturno), K286 Magnus Lindberg Gran Duo Mozart Wind Serenade No. 12 (Nacht Musik), K388 R Strauss Four Last Songs Vladimir Jurowski conductor Soile Isokoski soprano
Magnus Lindberg tilts orchestral possibility in Gran Duo, writing only for bright winds against dark brass, contrasting and merging the sonorities of each as he does. Tickets £9–£39 (premium seats £65) lpo.org.uk
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Programme notes continued
Ludwig van Beethoven 1770–1827
Modern music has never been easy to grasp. Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony was premiered in Vienna on 8 December 1813 at a benefit concert for Austrian soldiers wounded in the recent Battle of Hanau, and the impresario, Beethoven’s friend (and inventor of the metronome) Johann Mälzel had assembled an all-star orchestra. The virtuoso violinist Schuppanzigh was the leader; Dragonetti (the father of modern bass playing) led the basses; and the composers Spohr, Meyerbeer and Romberg sat in the strings. Hummel – composer of that irresistible trumpet concerto – was on drums, and just offstage, cuing the special effects in Beethoven’s other contribution to the evening, the so-called ‘Battle Symphony’, was living legend Antonio Salieri. But even this lot couldn’t cope with the Seventh Symphony. Music that could not be played, protested the violinists, should not be written. Unbelievably, Beethoven kept his cool. Anticipating the words of a thousand amateur orchestra conductors, he ‘begged the gentlemen to take their parts home with them’ to practise. They did – and the performance was one of the supreme triumphs of Beethoven’s career. The Allegretto was even encored, and a delighted Beethoven wrote to a Viennese newspaper to thank his ‘honoured colleagues’ for ‘their zeal in contributing to such a splendid result’. The Seventh Symphony has been a special favourite ever since. Nineteenthcentury conductors used to insert its Allegretto into less popular Beethoven symphonies (like the Fifth) to guarantee applause. And Richard Wagner apparently once performed a one-man dance routine to the entire work, in support of his theory that the Symphony was ‘the apotheosis of dance’. Which must have been an interesting half-hour.
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Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92 1 Poco sostenuto – Vivace 2 Allegretto 3 Presto 4 Allegro con brio
Mind you, there were dissenters – the composer Carl Maria von Weber listened to the first movement and declared that Beethoven was ‘ripe for the madhouse’, while Schumann’s father-in-law Friedrich Wieck was convinced Beethoven must have written it while drunk. And it’s hard to blame them entirely. It’s not just the Symphony’s rough-cut humour (after the poised, massive build-up of energy in the first movement’s introduction, the Vivace launches not with a breaking storm, but a bright country-dance tune on the flute). And it’s not just the way every movement is driven by colossal build-ups of dance rhythms (even the haunting Allegretto has the rhythm of a pavane). It’s the sheer, elemental energy with which Beethoven brings it off. Exuberance is written into the Symphony’s very texture. By setting the Symphony in A major, Beethoven automatically made life difficult for the brass players – and the sound of the horns, whooping through the climaxes at the very top of their register, means that the Symphony even sounds exhilarating, unbridled and wild. Even the quieter, slower music is as compelling – that melancholy Allegretto is both one of the simplest and most sophisticated movements Beethoven ever wrote; and the echoing horn-calls in the third movement’s central interlude set the tone for a century of Romantic orchestral music. Perhaps Wieck had a point after all. Listen to the torrential gallop of the finale, and then think of Beethoven’s own words: ‘Music is the spirit that inspires us to new creation; and I am the Bacchus, who presses out this glorious wine to intoxicate all mankind.’ Programme note © Richard Bratby
at Royal Festival Hall 2016 Saturday 23 January | 7.30pm
Saturday 30 January | 7.30pm
Mozart Serenade No. 8 (Notturno), K286 Magnus Lindberg Gran Duo Mozart Wind Serenade No. 12 (Nacht Musik), K388 R Strauss Four Last Songs
Beethoven Symphony No. 6 (Pastoral) Alexander Raskatov Green Mass (world premiere)*
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Soile Isokoski soprano
Wednesday 27 January | 7.30pm Schnittke Pianissimo Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 2 Bruckner Symphony No. 3 Vladimir Jurowski conductor Natalia Gutman cello Broadcast live by BBC Radio3
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Elena Vassilieva soprano Iestyn Davies countertenor Mark Padmore tenor Nikolay Didenko bass Choir of Clare College, Cambridge *Commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra
Wednesday 3 February | 7.30pm Dvořák Overture, Otello Brahms Double Concerto for violin and cello Dvořák Symphony No. 6 Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Lisa Batiashvili violin Maximilian Hornung cello
playing the bard in 2016 In collaboration with some of London’s leading cultural, creative and educational institutions, the London Philharmonic Orchestra joins Shakespeare400 with a series of concerts in 2016 celebrating the Bard’s love of music find out more: lpo and shakespeare400 lpo.org.uk/shakespeare
Tickets £9–£39 (premium seats £65) London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office: 020 7840 4242 Monday–Friday 10.00am–5.00pm lpo.org.uk Transaction fees: £1.75 online, £2.75 telephone. London Philharmonic Orchestra | 13
Sound Futures Donors We are grateful to the following donors for their generous contributions to our Sound Futures campaign. Thanks to their support, we successfully raised £1 million by 30 April 2015 which has now been matched pound for pound by Arts Council England through a Catalyst Endowment grant. This has enabled us to create a £2 million endowment fund supporting special artistic projects, creative programming and education work with key venue partners including our Southbank Centre home. Supporters listed below donated £500 or over. For a full list of those who have given to this campaign please visit lpo.org.uk/soundfutures. Masur Circle Arts Council England Dunard Fund Victoria Robey OBE Emmanuel & Barrie Roman The Underwood Trust
The Rothschild Foundation Tom & Phillis Sharpe The Viney Family
Haitink Patrons Mark & Elizabeth Adams Dr Christopher Aldren Mrs Pauline Baumgartner Welser-Möst Circle Lady Jane Berrill William & Alex de Winton Mr Frederick Brittenden John Ireland Charitable Trust David & Yi Yao Buckley The Tsukanov Family Foundation Mr Clive Butler Neil Westreich Gill & Garf Collins Tennstedt Circle Mr John H Cook Valentina & Dmitry Aksenov Mr Alistair Corbett Richard Buxton Bruno de Kegel The Candide Trust Georgy Djaparidze Michael & Elena Kroupeev David Ellen Kirby Laing Foundation Christopher Fraser OBE & Lisa Fraser Mr & Mrs Makharinsky David & Victoria Graham Fuller Alexey & Anastasia Reznikovich Goldman Sachs International Simon Robey Mr Gavin Graham Bianca & Stuart Roden Moya Greene Simon & Vero Turner Mrs Dorothy Hambleton The late Mr K Twyman Tony & Susie Hayes Malcolm Herring Solti Patrons Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle Ageas Mrs Philip Kan John & Manon Antoniazzi Rehmet Kassim-Lakha de Morixe Gabor Beyer, through BTO Rose & Dudley Leigh Management Consulting AG Lady Roslyn Marion Lyons Jon Claydon Miss Jeanette Martin Mrs Mina Goodman & Miss Duncan Matthews QC Suzanne Goodman Diana & Allan Morgenthau Roddy & April Gow Charitable Trust The Jeniffer & Jonathan Harris Dr Karen Morton Charitable Trust Mr Roger Phillimore Mr James R.D. Korner Ruth Rattenbury Christoph Ladanyi & Dr Sophia The Reed Foundation Ladanyi-Czernin Robert Markwick & Kasia Robinski The Rind Foundation The Maurice Marks Charitable Trust Sir Bernard Rix David Ross & Line Forestier (Canada) Mr Paris Natar
14 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
Carolina & Martin Schwab Dr Brian Smith Lady Valerie Solti Mr & Mrs G Stein Dr Peter Stephenson Miss Anne Stoddart TFS Loans Limited Lady Marina Vaizey Jenny Watson Guy & Utti Whittaker Pritchard Donors Ralph & Elizabeth Aldwinckle Mrs Arlene Beare Mr Patrick & Mrs Joan Benner Mr Conrad Blakey Dr Anthony Buckland Paul Collins Alastair Crawford Mr Derek B. Gray Mr Roger Greenwood The HA.SH Foundation Darren & Jennifer Holmes Honeymead Arts Trust Mr Geoffrey Kirkham Drs Frank & Gek Lim Peter Mace Mr & Mrs David Malpas Dr David McGibney Michael & Patricia McLaren-Turner Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill Mr Christopher Queree The Rosalyn & Nicholas Springer Charitable Trust Timothy Walker AM Christopher Williams Peter Wilson Smith Mr Anthony Yolland And all other donors who wish to remain anonymous
We would like to acknowledge the generous support of the following Thomas Beecham Group Patrons, Principal Benefactors and Benefactors: Thomas Beecham Group The Tsukanov Family Foundation Neil Westreich William and Alex de Winton Mrs Philip Kan* Simon Robey Victoria Robey OBE Bianca & Stuart Roden Laurence Watt Anonymous Jon Claydon Garf & Gill Collins* Andrew Davenport Mrs Sonja Drexler David & Victoria Graham Fuller The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust Mr & Mrs Makharinsky Geoff & Meg Mann Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp Julian & Gill Simmonds* Eric Tomsett The Viney Family John & Manon Antoniazzi Jane Attias John & Angela Kessler Guy & Utti Whittaker * BrightSparks Patrons: instead of supporting a chair in the Orchestra, these donors have chosen to support our series of schools’ concerts.
Principal Benefactors Mark & Elizabeth Adams David & Yi Yao Buckley Desmond & Ruth Cecil Mr John H Cook Mr Bruno de Kegel David Ellen Mr Daniel Goldstein Drs Frank & Gek Lim Peter MacDonald Eggers Dr Eva Lotta & Mr Thierry Sciard Mr & Mrs David Malpas Mr & Mrs G Stein Mr & Mrs John C Tucker Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood Lady Marina Vaizey Grenville & Krysia Williams Mr Anthony Yolland Benefactors Mr Geoffrey Bateman Mrs A Beare Ms Molly Borthwick David & Patricia Buck Mrs Alan Carrington Mr & Mrs Stewart Cohen Mr Alistair Corbett Mr Timothy Fancourt QC Mr Richard Fernyhough Mr Gavin Graham Wim and Jackie Hautekiet-Clare Tony & Susan Hayes Mr Daniel Heaf and Ms Amanda Hill Michael & Christine Henry Malcolm Herring
J. Douglas Home Ivan Hurry Mr Glenn Hurstfield Per Jonsson Mr Gerald Levin Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Paul & Brigitta Lock Mr Peter Mace Ms Ulrike Mansel Mr Robert Markwick and Ms Kasia Robinski Mr Brian Marsh Andrew T Mills Dr Karen Morton Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill Mr Michael Posen Alexey & Anastasia Reznikovich Mr Konstantin Sorokin Martin and Cheryl Southgate Mr Peter Tausig Simon and Charlotte Warshaw Howard & Sheelagh Watson Des & Maggie Whitelock Christopher Williams Bill Yoe and others who wish to remain anonymous Hon. Benefactor Elliott Bernerd Hon. Life Members Kenneth Goode Carol Colburn Grigor CBE Pehr G Gyllenhammar Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE
The generosity of our Sponsors, Corporate Members, supporters and donors is gratefully acknowledged: Corporate Members Silver: Accenture Berenberg Carter-Ruck We are AD Bronze: Appleyard & Trew LLP BTO Management Consulting AG Charles Russell Speechlys Lazard Leventis Overseas Russo-British Chamber of Commerce Preferred Partners Corinthia Hotel London Heineken Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd Sipsmith Steinway Villa Maria In-kind Sponsors Google Inc
Trusts and Foundations Angus Allnatt Charitable Foundation The Bernarr Rainbow Trust The Boltini Trust Borletti-Buitoni Trust The Candide Trust Cockayne – Grants for the Arts The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Dunard Fund The Equitable Charitable Trust The Foyle Foundation Lucille Graham Trust The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust Help Musicians UK The Idlewild Trust Kirby Laing Foundation The London Community Foundation London Stock Exchange Group Foundation Lord and Lady Lurgan Trust Marsh Christian Trust Adam Mickiewicz Institute The Peter Minet Trust The Ann and Frederick O’Brien Charitable Trust
Office for Cultural and Scientific Affairs of the Embassy of Spain in London The Austin and Hope Pilkington Trust The Stanley Picker Trust The Radcliffe Trust Rivers Foundation The R K Charitable Trust RVW Trust Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation The David Solomons Charitable Trust Souter Charitable Trust The John Thaw Foundation The Tillett Trust UK Friends of the Felix-MendelssohnBartholdy-Foundation The Viney Family Garfield Weston Foundation The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust and all others who wish to remain anonymous
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 15
Administration Board of Directors Victoria Robey OBE Chairman Stewart McIlwham* President Gareth Newman* Vice-President Dr Manon Antoniazzi Roger Barron Richard Brass Desmond Cecil CMG Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS Amanda Hill Dr Catherine C. Høgel Rachel Masters* George Peniston* Kevin Rundell* Natasha Tsukanova Mark Vines* Timothy Walker AM Laurence Watt Neil Westreich David Whitehouse* * Player-Director Advisory Council Victoria Robey OBE Chairman Christopher Aldren Richard Brass David Buckley Sir Alan Collins KCVO CMG Andrew Davenport Jonathan Dawson William de Winton Edward Dolman Christopher Fraser OBE Lord Hall of Birkenhead CBE Rehmet Kassim-Lakha Jamie Korner Clive Marks OBE FCA Stewart McIlwham Sir Bernard Rix Baroness Shackleton Lord Sharman of Redlynch OBE Thomas Sharpe QC Julian Simmonds Martin Southgate Sir Philip Thomas Sir John Tooley Chris Viney Timothy Walker AM Elizabeth Winter American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Inc. Jenny Ireland Co-Chairman William A. Kerr Co-Chairman Kyung-Wha Chung Alexandra Jupin Jill Fine Mainelli Kristina McPhee Harvey M. Spear, Esq. Danny Lopez Hon. Chairman Noel Kilkenny Hon. Director Victoria Robey OBE Hon. Director Richard Gee, Esq Of Counsel Jenifer L. Keiser, CPA, EisnerAmper LLP Stephanie Yoshida
Chief Executive
Education and Community
Digital Projects
Timothy Walker AM Chief Executive and Artistic Director
Isabella Kernot Education Director (maternity leave)
Alison Atkinson Digital Projects Director
Amy Sugarman PA to the Chief Executive / Administrative Assistant
Clare Lovett Education Director (maternity cover)
Finance
Talia Lash Education and Community Project Manager
Albion Media (Tel: 020 3077 4930)
Lucy Duffy Education and Community Project Manager
Philip Stuart Discographer
David Burke General Manager and Finance Director David Greenslade Finance and IT Manager Dayse Guilherme Finance Officer
Richard Mallett Education and Community Producer
Concert Management
Development
Roanna Gibson Concerts Director
Nick Jackman Development Director
Graham Wood Concerts and Recordings Manager
Catherine Faulkner Development Events Manager
Jenny Chadwick Tours Manager Tamzin Aitken Glyndebourne and UK Engagements Manager Alison Jones Concerts and Recordings Co-ordinator
Kathryn Hageman Individual Giving Manager Laura Luckhurst Corporate Relations Manager Anna Quillin Trusts and Foundations Manager Rebecca Fogg Development Co-ordinator
Jo Cotter Tours Co-ordinator
Helen Yang Development Assistant
Orchestra Personnel
Kirstin Peltonen Development Associate
Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager Sarah Holmes Sarah Thomas Librarians (job-share) Christopher Alderton Stage Manager
Marketing Kath Trout Marketing Director Libby Northcote-Green Marketing Manager
Damian Davis Transport Manager
Rachel Williams Publications Manager (maternity leave)
Madeleine Ridout Assistant Orchestra Personnel Manager
Sarah Breeden Publications Manager (maternity cover)
16 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
Samantha Cleverley Box Office Manager (Tel: 020 7840 4242) Anna O’Connor Marketing Co-ordinator Natasha Berg Marketing Intern
Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant Public Relations
Archives
Gillian Pole Recordings Archive Professional Services Charles Russell Speechlys Solicitors Crowe Clark Whitehill LLP Auditors Dr Louise Miller Honorary Doctor 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 The London Philharmonic Orchestra Limited is a registered charity No. 238045. Composer photographs except Magnus Lindberg courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London. Front cover photograph: Katalin Varnagy, First Violin © Benjamin Ealovega. Cover design/ art direction: Ross Shaw @ JMG Studio. Printed by Cantate.