13 October LPO programme notes

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Principal Conductor VLADIMIR JUROWSKI Principal Guest Conductor YANNICK NÉZET-SÉGUIN Leader PIETER SCHOEMAN Composer in Residence JULIAN ANDERSON Patron HRH THE DUKE OF KENT KG Chief Executive and Artistic Director TIMOTHY WALKER

AM†

SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL Wednesday 13 October 2010 | 7.30pm

AGATA SZYMCZEWSKA** violin

13 14 15 16

(25’)

MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto in E minor

CONTENTS 2 3 4 5 6 7 11 12

OSMO VÄNSKÄ conductor

MAGNUS LINDBERG Al largo (UK première)*

PROGRAMME £3

(27’)

List of Players Orchestra History Southbank Centre Osmo Vänskä Agata Szymczewska Programme Notes Recordings Family Concert / BBC Radio 3 Supporters Philharmonic News Administration Future Concerts

The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide.

INTERVAL WALTON Symphony No. 1

(43’)

*Commissioned by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra and Casa da Música Porto **London Music Masters Artist 2009-2012 †

supported by Macquarie Group

CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

This concert is being recorded

by BBC Radio 3 for broadcast on 15 October.

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LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

FIRST VIOLINS Carla de Kleuver-Leurs Guest Leader Julia Rumley Chair supported by Mrs Steven Ward

Katalin Varnagy Catherine Craig Thomas Eisner Martin Hรถhmann Chair supported by Richard Karl Goeltz

Robert Pool Florence Schoeman Sarah Streatfeild Yang Zhang Rebecca Shorrock Peter Nall Galina Tanney Joanne Chen Kay Chappell Naoko Miyamoto SECOND VIOLINS Clare Duckworth Principal Chair supported by Richard and Victoria Sharp

Joseph Maher Kate Birchall Chair supported by David and Victoria Graham Fuller

Nancy Elan Fiona Higham Ashley Stevens Andrew Thurgood Dean Williamson Sioni Williams Alison Strange Peter Graham Stephen Stewart Mila Mustakova Sheila Law

VIOLAS Andriy Viytovych Guest Principal Katharine Leek Susanne Martens Benedetto Pollani Laura Vallejo Daniel Cornford Isabel Pereira Martin Fenn Miranda Davis Sarah Malcolm Claudio Cavalletti Anthony Byrne Chair supported by John and Angela Kessler

CELLOS Susanne Beer Principal Francis Bucknall Laura Donoghue Jonathan Ayling Chair supported by Caroline, Jamie and Zander Sharp

Gregory Walmsley Sue Sutherley Susanna Riddell Tae-Mi Song Pavlos Carvalho David Bucknall DOUBLE BASSES Kevin Rundell* Principal George Peniston Richard Lewis Joe Melvin Helen Rowlands Louis Garson Damian Rubido Gonzalez Charlotte Kerbegian

FLUTES Jaime Martin* Principal Stewart McIlwham* PICCOLO Stewart McIlwham* Principal OBOES Ian Hardwick Principal Angela Tennick COR ANGLAIS Sue Bohling Principal Chair supported by Julian and Gill Simmonds

CLARINETS Robert Hill* Principal Nicholas Carpenter BASS CLARINET Paul Richards Principal

TRUMPETS Paul Beniston* Principal Anne McAneney* Chair supported by Geoff and Meg Mann

Nicholas Betts Co-Principal Tony Cross TROMBONES Mark Templeton* Principal David Whitehouse Richard Watkin BASS TROMBONE Lyndon Meredith Principal TUBA Lee Tsarmaklis Principal TIMPANI Simon Carrington* Principal Nigel Thomas

BASSOONS John Price Principal Gareth Newman*

PERCUSSION Andrew Barclay* Principal

CONTRA BASSOON Simon Estell Principal

Keith Millar Jeremy Cornes

HORNS John Ryan Principal Timothy Thorpe Guest Principal Martin Hobbs Mark Vines Gareth Mollison

HARP Rachel Masters* Principal

Chair supported by Andrew Davenport

PIANO Catherine Edwards

* Holds a professorial appointment in London

Chair Supporters The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose player is not present at this concert: Simon Yates and Kevin Roon

2 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

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LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Patrick Harrison

Seventy-eight years after Sir Thomas Beecham founded the London Philharmonic Orchestra, it is recognised today as one of the finest orchestras on the international stage. Following Beecham’s influential founding tenure the Orchestra’s Principal Conductorship has been passed from one illustrious musician to another, amongst them Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. This impressive tradition continued in September 2007 when Vladimir Jurowski became the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor and, in a further exciting move, the Orchestra appointed Yannick Nézet-Séguin its new Principal Guest Conductor from September 2008.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra has been performing at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall since it opened in 1951, becoming Resident Orchestra in 1992. It plays there around 40 times each season with many of the world’s most sought after conductors and soloists.

Concert highlights in 2010/11 include an exploration of Mahler’s symphonies and complete song cycles during the composer’s anniversary season; the premières of works by Matteo D’Amico, Magnus Lindberg and Brett Dean; a rare opportunity to hear Rossini’s opera Aureliano in Palmira in collaboration with long term partner Opera Rara; and works by the Orchestra’s new Composer in Residence, Julian Anderson.

In addition to its London season and a series of concerts at Wigmore Hall, the Orchestra has flourishing

residencies in Brighton and Eastbourne, and performs regularly around the UK. It is unique in combining these concert activities with esteemed opera performances each summer at Glyndebourne Festival Opera where it has been the Resident Symphony Orchestra since 1964.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra performs to enthusiastic audiences all round the world. 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 Western orchestra. Touring continues to form a significant part of the Orchestra’s schedule and is supported by Aviva, the International Touring Partner of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Tours in 2010/11 include visits to Finland, Germany, South Korea, Spain, France, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Having long been embraced by the recording, broadcasting and film industries, the London Philharmonic Orchestra broadcasts regularly on domestic and international television and radio. It also works with the Hollywood and UK film industries, recording soundtracks for blockbuster motion pictures including the Oscar-winning score for The Lord of the Rings trilogy and scores for Lawrence of Arabia, The Mission, Philadelphia and East is East.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra made its first recordings on 10 October 1932, just three days after its first public performance. It has recorded and broadcast

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LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

SOUTHBANK CENTRE

regularly ever since, and in 2005 established its own record label. The recordings on its own label are taken mainly from live concerts given by distinguished conductors over the years including the Orchestra’s Principal Conductors from Beecham and Boult, through Haitink, Solti and Tennstedt, to Masur and Jurowski.

WELCOME TO SOUTHBANK CENTRE

Recent additions to the catalogue have included acclaimed releases of Elgar’s Symphony No. 1 and Sea Pictures with Vernon Handley and Janet Baker; Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 conducted by Klaus Tennstedt; Brahms’s Symphonies Nos 1 and 2 conducted by Vladimir Jurowski; and Dvořák’s Requiem under the baton of Neeme Järvi.

The Orchestra’s own-label CDs are also widely available to download. Visit www.lpo.org.uk/shop for the latest releases.

‘ … a simply tremendous performance of Mahler’s 3rd Symphony … Jurowski and his players plunged us into a winter of discontent so profoundly expectant that even the inveterate coughers were silenced.’

EDWARD SECKERSON, THE INDEPENDENT, 23 SEPTEMBER 2010

The Orchestra reaches thousands of Londoners through its rich programme of community and school-based activity in Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, which includes the offshoot ensembles Renga and The Band, its Foyle Future Firsts apprenticeship scheme for outstanding young instrumentalists, and regular family and schools concerts.

To help maintain its high standards and diverse workload, the Orchestra is committed to the welfare of its musicians and in December 2007 received the Association of British Orchestras/Musicians Benevolent Fund Healthy Orchestra Bronze Charter Mark.

There are many ways to experience and stay in touch with the Orchestra’s activities: visit www.lpo.org.uk, subscribe to our podcast series, download our iPhone application and join us on Facebook and Twitter.

4 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

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, Concrete and Feng Sushi, as well as cafes, restaurants and shops inside the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Hayward Gallery.

If you wish to get in touch with us following your visit please contact Kenelm Roberts, our Head of Customer Relations, at Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX or email customer@southbankcentre.co.uk or phone 020 7960 4250.

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 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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OSMO VÄNSKÄ

Ann Marsden

CONDUCTOR

Praised for his intense and dynamic performances, Osmo Vänskä is recognised for compelling interpretations of the standard, contemporary and Nordic repertoires, as well as the close rapport he establishes with the musicians he leads.

In 2003, Vänskä became the tenth Music Director of the Minnesota Orchestra and has since drawn extraordinary reviews for concerts both at home and abroad. Together they have an annual series at New York’s Carnegie Hall and tour regularly both in the US and Europe – including an exceptional pair of concerts at the 2010 BBC Proms. His contract with the Minnesota Orchestra has been extended until 2015.

Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra’s recordings of the complete Beethoven Symphonies have amassed rave reviews. The New York Times hailed it as ‘the definitive cycle of our time’. Their recording of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 received a 2008 Grammy nomination for Best Orchestral Performance. Their latest release is Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony and they continue to record a cycle of the Beethoven Piano Concertos with pianist Yevgeny Sudbin. They have also recently recorded Tchaikovsky’s complete piano concertos with pianist Stephen Hough.

Vänskä was Music Director of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra from 1988 and now holds the position of Conductor Laureate. During two decades at the helm, Vänskä transformed the regional ensemble into one of Finland’s flagship orchestras. Their partnership received widespread attention through its complete collection of multi-award winning Sibelius recordings and its performances at venues in London, Birmingham, Vienna and New York.

Vänskä is internationally in demand as a guest conductor and has worked with many of the world’s leading orchestras including, in the US, the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia and New York Philharmonic Orchestras. In Europe he has conducted the Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, Czech Philharmonic and BBC Symphony Orchestras. In addition he has developed very regular relationships with several of the most important international ensembles including the San Francisco Symphony, New World Symphony, Cleveland, London Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo as well as with the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York.

Osmo Vänskä began his music career as a clarinettist.

He held the co-principal chair of the Helsinki Philharmonic from 1977 to 1982 and the principal chair of the Turku Philharmonic from 1971 to 1976.

Following conducting studies under Jorma Panula at Finland’s Sibelius Academy, he was awarded first prize in the 1982 Besançon International Young Conductors’ Competition. Three years later he began his tenure with the Lahti Symphony as Principal Guest Conductor, while also serving as Music Director of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the Tapiola Sinfonietta. In addition, Vänskä served as Chief Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra from 1997 to 2002.

In recent years, Vänskä has enjoyed a return to performing on the clarinet. He made his Twin Cities clarinet performance debut at the Sommerfest in 2005 and has played chamber music with members of the Minnesota Orchestra, as well as at Napa Valley’s Music in the Vineyards, Mostly Mozart and Kuhmo Festivals.

The many honours and distinctions awarded to Vänskä include an honorary doctorate from the University of Glasgow, a privilege given in recognition of his tenure as Chief Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and a Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Minnesota’s School of Music in 2008. He was also honoured with a Royal Philharmonic Society Award for his outstanding contribution to classical music. Osmo Vänskä was named Musical America’s Conductor of the Year in 2005.

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AGATA SZYMCZEWSKA VIOLIN

Boreyko, Moshe Atzmon, Dmitri Liss, Saulius Sondeckis, Antoni Wit, Jacek Kasprzyk, Jan Krenz and Jerzy Maksymiuk.

Born in 1985 in Gdańsk, Poland, into a family of musicians, Agata Szymczewska began violin lessons at the age of six in Koszalin, her hometown. She graduated from the Music Academy in Poznań where she studied with Professor Bartosz Bryła and is currently a member of the faculty. Agata continues as a student with Professor Krzysztof Węgrzyn at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover.

Agata was the winner of the 2006 Henryk Wieniawski International Violin Competition in Poznań. She was also the winner of the Lotos Classic Prize at the International Violin Competition in Gdańsk in 2005, and a laureate of the International A. Yampolsky Violin Competition in Moscow in 2006 and the International Concerto Competition in Calgary, Canada, in 2003. She also holds an LMM Award with London Music Masters.

Through this award she receives performance opportunities, such as her Wigmore Hall debut in October 2009, mentoring and career guidance from highly respected individuals working in the arts, as well as the opportunity to work with children participating in the LMM education programme, the Bridge Project.

Agata has performed in many European countries as well as in Israel, Canada, China and Japan, and has appeared with orchestras such as the Sinfonia Varsovia, National Philharmonic Orchestra of Poland, National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Vilnius State Symphony Orchestra and Russian Philharmonic Orchestra. She has collaborated with conductors including Krzysztof Penderecki, Andrey

6 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

A very active chamber musician, Agata has taken part in the prestigious International Music Academy in Switzerland, founded by Seiji Ozawa, every year since 2005. In that year she toured Japan and China with Seiji Ozawa as the youngest member and concertmaster of Ongaku-juku Orchestra. In February 2009, she performed Grazyna Bacewicz’s Piano Quintets with Krystian Zimerman, Kaja Danczowska, Ryszard Groblewski and Rafał Kwiatkowski to commemorate the centenary of the composer’s birth. The tour ended with the recording of a CD for Deutsche Grammophon.

Agata’s recent and forthcoming concert highlights include appearances at the Théatre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in Germany, Beethoven Easter Festival in Warsaw and tours in Italy, Holland and the Czech Republic. Her debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall this evening has been made possible through her LMM Award with London Music Masters.

Agata plays an Antonio Stradivarius violin, Cremona, circa 1680, on loan from Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.

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PROGRAMME NOTES

MUSIC OF THREE CENTURIES …starting with the twenty-first. The Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg has established an international reputation with a series of works for large orchestra combining a wealth of brilliant detail with solid harmonic foundations. His new Al largo achieves a similar effect with somewhat smaller forces, as it traces a double arc from restless energy first to an expansive climax and then to a calm ending. The title – which means ‘offshore’, but incorporates the familiar direction for a ‘broad’ tempo – suggests the slow undercurrents running below the dazzling surface.

Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto is one of the most popular of all nineteenth-century concertos, with its

Magnus LINDBERG

soaring melodies and brilliant solo writing. It flows with ease and grace through its three linked movements, making it hard to believe that Mendelssohn sweated over it for nearly seven years from its conception to its first performance in 1845.

William Walton’s First Symphony also suffered a difficult gestation: so much so that its official première took place without its still unfinished finale. But when it was first heard complete in 1935, the Symphony – consisting of a powerful, urgent opening quick movement, a spiky scherzo marked ‘with malice’, a ‘melancholy’ slow movement with an intense climax, and a finale with elements of processional and fugue – was immediately recognised as a landmark in British music of the twentieth century.

AL LARGO (UK PREMIÈRE)

Born 1958

Magnus Lindberg is one of the leading figures in a generation of Finnish composers and performers which has made a considerable impact on the international scene. Born in Helsinki, he studied at the Sibelius Academy there with the eclectic Einojuhani Rautavaara and the modernist Paavo Heininen. He was a foundermember with other young composers – including Kaija Saariaho and Esa-Pekka Salonen – of the ‘Ears Open’ group, and in the 1980s he was a co-founder of, and pianist in, the experimental ensemble Toimii. His alignment with the European avant-garde was furthered by attending the courses of Franco Donatoni in Siena and Helmut Lachenmann and Brian Ferneyhough at Darmstadt, and by later studies with Vinko Globokar and Gérard Grisey in Paris. He has worked at the IRCAM research centre in Paris, and (like Saariaho) has devised techniques of computer-assisted

composition. Lindberg’s early works were based on serialism and other highly systematic procedures; but since the mid-1980s he has developed a freer technique founded on deep-lying harmonic progressions, and not eschewing references to music of the past. He has deployed this to thrilling effect in a series of highly successful works for large orchestra, joined more recently by a parallel series of solo concertos.

Al largo, begun last year and completed this May, is the result of a three-way commission from the New York Philharmonic (of which Lindberg is currently Composerin-Residence), the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Casa da Música, Porto. It was given its first performance in June by the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Alan Gilbert (to whom it is dedicated), and its European première in Porto at the beginning of this month. Unlike

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PROGRAMME NOTES

‘One of my earliest ideas for this project was to create a big piece, but I didn’t want to use a huge orchestra since I had done that many times in the past: I wanted the work to be more constrained, played by a smaller ensemble. A perfect masterpiece in that category is Ravel’s Ma mère l’Oye (‘Mother Goose’), which is a gorgeous piece, particularly in the way that Ravel builds up tremendous expression with smaller resources.

Another work that became very important to me was Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht.

For me, the most beautiful moment in music history occurs at the end of that work. I actually worked in a one-bar quotation from Verklärte Nacht at the end of Al largo. I use my own melodic material on top of it, but there is a real, small gesture toward Schoenberg. I’m still fascinated by that moment in music history, when tonality somehow collapsed. In a way, I want to go back to that moment when tonality was still cold. I’m like an archaeologist coming from the future, asking: ‘Could there be another way to go?

Could there be another direction?’

MAGNUS LINDBERG

most of Lindberg’s previous orchestral works, it is scored for relatively modest forces, with no more than double woodwind plus a bass clarinet, and only two horn parts and two trumpet parts within the brass section – though it does also include two busy percussionists, piano and harp. It is characteristic of the composer, however, in the individual and collective virtuosity it requires from every section of the orchestra.

very general outline, there is a progression from very fast and energetic music at the start towards a slower central climax; then a restatement of some of the themes and textures of the opening leads by a different route – including an episode in which the oboe figure is stretched into an extended solo, and a passage in scherzo-like regular rhythm – to a slow ending, with the solo oboe joined by a solo horn.

The work is in a single movement of about 25 minutes, articulated by frequent shifts of tempo, often through proportional gear-changes. At the start, the brass, woodwind and string sections come to the fore in turn, each with its own ideas; these are then more freely exchanged and reworked. As the piece goes on, some recurring themes emerge, including a broad chordal idea with a busy accompaniment, a skittering oboe figure, and (echoing Sibelius’s Seventh Symphony?) a rising phrase first proclaimed by a solo trombone. In

Lindberg says that, although the piece includes ‘the fastest music I’ve ever written’, it also has ‘somewhere deep down’ the feeling of moving very slowly. For this reason he wanted to give it a title such as Largo, a traditional instruction for a slow, broad tempo. It was an Italian friend, the composer Luca Francesconi, who suggested the phrase Al largo, meaning ‘offshore’, but referring specifically, in Lindberg’s words, to ‘that moment when you reach the open sea and you don’t see the coast any more and what is before you is vast’.

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PROGRAMME NOTES

Felix MENDELSSOHN

VIOLIN CONCERTO IN E MINOR, OP. 64 AGATA SZYMCZEWSKA violin Allegro molto appassionato – | Andante – | Allegretto non troppo – Allegro molto vivace

1809-1847

Felix Mendelssohn learned the violin as well as the piano from an early age, and composed a violin concerto and a double concerto for violin and piano during his prodigious early years. But the famous Violin Concerto dates from much later in his all too short life.

It was intended from the start for his friend Ferdinand David, the leader of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra of which he was conductor. In July 1838 he wrote to David: ‘I should like to write a violin concerto for you next winter. One in E minor runs through my mind, the beginning of which gives me no peace.’ However, he did not return to the project in earnest until the summer of 1840, and completed the work only in September 1844 – and even after that he adjusted many details, often in consultation with David. The first performance finally took place at a Gewandhaus concert in March 1845, with David as soloist, and the Danish composer Niels Gade conducting.

This is mirrored in its formal design: although it belongs in the tradition of three-movement concertos so firmly established by Mozart and Beethoven, it also has elements of the newer type of continuous virtuoso concerto pioneered by Weber in his piano Konzertstück and Spohr in his violin Gesangsszene. The opening movement, for example, lacks the traditional weighty orchestral prelude before the first solo entry; and the cadenza is closely integrated with the rest of the movement, coming – earlier than usual – at the end of the development section, and continuing under the return of the first subject. Moreover, the three movements are intended to be played without a break.

The first is linked to the second by a solo bassoon; and although the serene slow movement comes to a full close, it is succeeded by a brief, expressive interlude leading from its C major tonality to the E major of the sparkling rondo finale.

The Concerto owes its abiding popularity to its combination of classical grace and Romantic warmth.

INTERVAL 20 minutes An announcement will be made five minutes before the end of the interval.

Hear every note

Hard of hearing? Visit the cloakroom for equipment to improve your concert experience.

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PROGRAMME NOTES

William WALTON

SYMPHONY NO. 1 Allegro assai | Presto con malizia | Andante con malinconia | Maestoso – Allegro, brioso ed ardentemente –Vivacissimo – Maestoso

1902-1983

During his twenties William Walton burst on to the British musical scene with his avant-garde ‘entertainment’ Façade, consolidated his position in the mainstream with the Portsmouth Point Overture, the Sinfonia Concertante for piano and the Viola Concerto, and breathed new life into the traditional form of the oratorio with his Belshazzar’s Feast. His obvious next step was a symphony, not least as a challenge to his seniors Vaughan Williams and Bax; and he was duly invited to write one by Sir Hamilton Harty, then conductor of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester. He drafted three movements and began a fourth during 1932 and 1933, but then became stuck. Harty was by now conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, and anxious to schedule the première with the LSO. Walton orchestrated the first three movements, but remained unable to complete the finale, and in the end allowed the work to be performed without it in December 1934.

The following year, refreshed by the ending of a difficult love affair and the start of a new one, he resumed work on the piece, this time successfully. The first performance of the complete Symphony, by the BBC Symphony Orchestra but again conducted by Harty, took place in November 1935. It was a triumph, immediately gaining the work an honoured place in British music which it has never since lost (and which so far has not been shared by Walton’s Second Symphony of a quarter-century later).

The ‘very fast’ opening movement, in B flat minor, conveys a sense of breadth and power which belies the relatively modest size of the orchestra (double woodwind only, and at this stage no percussion other than timpani). The breadth stems from slow-moving harmonies over long-held bass notes and timpani rolls, the power from urgently repeated ostinato figures, blazing dissonances and sonorous scoring. The first section of the movement presents a series of subtly

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inter-related themes in an atmosphere of sustained tension and excitement, and ends with a climax of battering repeated notes. The central development begins by returning to the opening idea at a subdued dynamic level, and gradually builds up intensity again towards a much modified reprise of the opening section.

The two middle movements reflect two contrasting and complementary aspects of Walton’s musical personality.

The ‘malicious’ scherzo, in E minor, is in a very fast onein-a-bar 3/4 time, disrupted by occasional bars of 5/4; various rhythmic figures and scraps of melody are rotated, but there is no contrasting trio section and no slackening of the movement’s biting intensity. The ‘melancholy’ Andante, in C sharp minor, is based on two melodies of characteristically bitter-sweet lyricism, which are developed organically in open contrapuntal textures; the closing section rises to a fervently declamatory climax, before falling away to a quiet ending.

The B flat major finale (which adds a second timpanist and two percussionists to the orchestra) has a more sectional structure than its predecessors. It begins with a ‘majestic’ introduction, in the boldly rhetorical manner familiar from Walton’s later marches and film scores.

Then come two large paragraphs at the same ‘fast, animated and ardent’ tempo, the first crackling with energy, the second an extended, incisive fugue with contrasting episodes. The material of these paragraphs is transformed and developed, still largely in fugal texture, in a new section in ‘very lively’ triple time. And to round off the Symphony, without a formal recapitulation, the tempo of the introduction is restored for a grandiloquent coda.

Programme notes by Anthony Burton © 2010

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RECORDINGS ON THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA’S OWN RECORD LABEL

LPO-0036 Osmo Vänskä conducts Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 3 and Bax’s Tintagel ‘Vänskä’s account of the Third Symphony is a marvel of measured, uninflated eloquence.’

PAUL DRIVER, THE SUNDAY TIMES, 23 NOVEMBER 2008

LPO-0037 Vladimir Jurowski conducts Britten ‘... this neat assemblage of early Britten contains wonderful things. The LPO responds marvellously to Vladimir Jurowski, and the depth of tone and fluency in the Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge are remarkable for a live recording.’

THE GUARDIAN

LPO-0041 Sir Adrian Boult conducts John Ireland’s 70th Birthday Concert which included his Piano Concerto with Eileen Joyce ‘Hearing her [Eileen Joyce] here makes one wish that it would re-emerge in concert from time to time. The same is true of the other, once-familiar, stirring pieces on this disc. The sound quality is of its age, but the tingle of nostalgia counts for a lot.’

THE TELEGRAPH

The recordings may be downloaded in high quality MP3 format from www.lpo.org.uk/shop. CDs may also be purchased from all good retail outlets or through the London Philharmonic Orchestra: telephone 020 7840 4242 (Mon-Fri 10am-5pm) or visit the website www.lpo.org.uk

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Live orchestral concerts specially recorded

by BBC Radio 3 are a vital part of the station’s output and I’m delighted that we

The Mozart Question

will continue our long association with the

Sunday 5 December 2010 | 3.30pm Royal Festival Hall

London Philharmonic Orchestra by

An afternoon of music and storytelling, suitable for children aged 8 and over, based on Michael Morpurgo’s well-loved book which tells of one family’s experience of the holocaust and the incredible healing power of music.

Vladimir Jurowski conductor Daniel Pioro violin Michael Morpurgo narrator Alison Reid narrator Simon Reade director

bringing performances from this season to the widest possible audience, including those listening at home, on air and online.

Roger Wri ght Controller, BBC Radio 3

Excerpts from: Beethoven Violin Concerto Vivaldi The Four Seasons Strauss The Blue Danube Bach Violin Sonata No. 1 Mozart Eine kleine Nachtmusik Running time 75 minutes. No interval.

Tonight’s concert will be broadcast in

Tickets Under 16: £7 £9 Adult: £14 £18 For booking details see page 16.

Performance on 3 on Friday 15 October at

Dedicated by the Dorset Foundation in memory of the late Harry M. Weinrebe and supported by a syndicate of individual donors.

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7pm, and is available online for 7 days after broadcast at bbc.co.uk/radio3

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We would like to acknowledge the generous support of the following Thomas Beecham Group Patrons, Principal Benefactors and Benefactors: Thomas Beecham Group Mr & Mrs Richard & Victoria Sharp Julian & Gill Simmonds Mrs Steven Ward Simon Yates & Kevin Roon

Guy & Utti Whittaker

Commander Vincent Evans Mr Daniel Goldstein Mrs Barbara Green Oliver Heaton Peter MacDonald Eggers Mr & Mrs David Malpas Andrew T Mills Mr Maxwell Morrison Mr Michael Posen Mr & Mrs Thierry Sciard Mr John Soderquist & Mr Costas Michaelides Mr & Mrs G Stein Mr & Mrs John C Tucker Howard & Sheelagh Watson Mr Laurie Watt Mr Anthony Yolland

Principal Benefactors Mark & Elizabeth Adams Jane Attias Lady Jane Berrill Desmond & Ruth Cecil Mr John H Cook Mrs Sonja Drexler Mr Charles Dumas David Ellen

Benefactors Mrs A Beare Dr & Mrs Alan Carrington CBE FRS Marika Cobbold & Michael Patchett-Joyce Mr & Mrs Stewart Cohen Mr Alistair Corbett Mr David Edgecombe

Garf & Gill Collins Andrew Davenport David & Victoria Graham Fuller Richard Karl Goeltz John & Angela Kessler Mr & Mrs Makharinsky Geoff & Meg Mann Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp Eric Tomsett

Mr Richard Fernyhough Ken Follett Michael & Christine Henry Mr Glenn Hurstfield Mr R K Jeha Mr & Mrs Maurice Lambert Mr Gerald Levin Sheila Ashley Lewis Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Mr Frank Lim Paul & Brigitta Lock Mr Brian Marsh John Montgomery Mr & Mrs Egil Oldeide Edmund Pirouet Mr Peter Tausig Mrs Kazue Turner Lady Marina Vaizey Mr D Whitelock Hon. Benefactor Elliott Bernerd Hon. Life Members Kenneth Goode Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE

The generosity of our Sponsors, Corporate Members, supporters and donors is gratefully acknowledged.

Corporate Members Appleyard & Trew llp AREVA UK British American Business Brown Brothers Harriman Charles Russell Destination Québec – UK Diagonal Consulting Lazard Leventis Overseas Man Group plc Québec Government Office in London Corporate Donor Lombard Street Research In-kind Sponsors Google Inc Heineken The Langham London Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd Sela / Tilley’s Sweets Villa Maria

Trusts and Foundations Allianz Cultural Foundation The Andor Charitable Trust Ruth Berkowitz Charitable Trust The Boltini Trust Borletti-Buitoni Trust The Candide Charitable Trust The John S Cohen Foundation The Coutts Charitable Trust The Dorset Foundation The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Dunard Fund The Equitable Charitable Trust The Eranda Foundation The Ernest Cook Trust The Fenton Arts Trust The Foyle Foundation The Jonathan & Jeniffer Harris Trust The Idlewild Trust The Emmanuel Kaye Foundation Maurice Marks Charitable Trust The Michael Marks Charitable Trust Marsh Christian Trust UK Friends of the FelixMendelssohn-Bartholdy Foundation

The Mercers’ Company Adam Mickiewicz Institute Paul Morgan Charitable Trust Maxwell Morrison Charitable Trust Musicians Benevolent Fund The R K Charitable Trust Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation The Rubin Foundation The Samuel Sebba Charitable Trust Sound Connections The Steel Charitable Trust The Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation The Swan Trust John Thaw Foundation The Underwood Trust Garfield Weston Foundation Youth Music and others who wish to remain anonymous.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 13

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PHILHARMONIC NEWS

Our new Foyle Future Firsts We’re delighted to be able to welcome sixteen young musicians into the Orchestra as our new Foyle Future Firsts apprentices for 2010/11: Andrew Harvey violin; Agata Policinska Malocco violin Darya Govorun viola; Arturo Serna cello Charlotte Kerbegian double bass; Liset Pennings flute James Turnbull oboe; Lucy Downer clarinet Laura Vincent bassoon; David Horwich horn Alan Blair trumpet; Michael Shore trombone Sasha Koushk-Jalali tuba; Elizabeth McNulty harp Cliodna Shanahan piano Having survived a rigorous selection process involving over 430 applications and 43 hours of auditions, these talented pre-professionals will receive lessons from Orchestra principals, sit in on rehearsals and be given a variety of performance opportunities over the year. The Foyle Future Firsts are also key members of our education team, taking part in a variety of schools and community programmes.

14 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

If you are interested in hearing them, come to our free pre-concert event at 6pm on Wednesday 27 October in the Royal Festival Hall. Conducted by our Principal Conductor, Vladimir Jurowski, the Foyle Future Firsts along with members of the Orchestra will be playing a programme comprising: MAHLER Piano Quartet (first movement) PÄRT Fratres for chamber orchestra PÄRT The Abbot Agathon Soprano Patricia Rozario will join the group to sing the first performance in English of The Abbot Agathon.

We and the new Foyle Future Firsts (pictured below outside the Henry Wood Hall) look forward to seeing you there.

The Foyle Future Firsts programme is generously funded by the Foyle Foundation with additional support from The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust, The Eranda Foundation, The Fenton Arts Trust and the Musicians Benevolent Fund.

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ADMINISTRATION

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

GENERAL ADMINISTRATION

ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL

ARCHIVES

Martin Höhmann Chairman Stewart McIlwham Vice-Chairman Sue Bohling Simon Carrington Lord Currie* Jonathan Dawson* Anne McAneney George Peniston Sir Bernard Rix* Kevin Rundell Sir Philip Thomas* Sir John Tooley* The Rt Hon. Lord Wakeham DL* Timothy Walker AM †

Timothy Walker AM † Chief Executive and Artistic Director

Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager

Edmund Pirouet Consultant

Sarah Thomas Librarian

Philip Stuart Discographer

Michael Pattison Stage Manager

Gillian Pole Recordings Archive

*Non-Executive Directors

THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC TRUST Pehr Gyllenhammar Chairman Desmond Cecil CMG Richard Karl Goeltz Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS Dr Catherine C. Høgel Martin Höhmann Angela Kessler Clive Marks OBE FCA Victoria Sharp Julian Simmonds Timothy Walker AM † Laurence Watt AMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA, INC. We are very grateful to the Board of the American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra for its support of the Orchestra’s activities in the USA. PROFESSIONAL SERVICES Charles Russell Solicitors Crowe Clark Whitehill LLP Auditors Dr Louise Miller Honorary Doctor

Alison Atkinson Digital Projects Manager FINANCE David Burke General Manager and Finance Director David Greenslade Finance and IT Manager CONCERT MANAGEMENT Roanna Chandler Concerts Director Ruth Sansom Artistic Administrator Graham Wood Concerts, Recordings and Glyndebourne Manager Alison Jones Concerts Co-ordinator Jenny Chadwick Tours and Engagements Manager Jo Orr PA to the Executive / Concerts Assistant

Camilla Begg Assistant Orchestra Personnel Manager Ken Graham Trucking Instrument Transportation (Tel: 01737 373305)

LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA 89 Albert Embankment London SE1 7TP Tel: 020 7840 4200 Fax: 020 7840 4201 Box Office: 020 7840 4242

DEVELOPMENT Nick Jackman Development Director Phoebe Rouse Corporate Relations Manager Sarah Tattersall Corporate Relations and Events Manager

www.lpo.org.uk Visit the website for full details of London Philharmonic Orchestra activities.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra Limited is a registered charity No. 238045.

Melissa Van Emden Corporate Relations and Events Officer

Photographs of Mendelssohn and Walton courtesy of the Royal College of Music, Loncon.

Elisenda Ayats Development and Finance Officer MARKETING

Photograph on the front cover

by Pip Eastop.

Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant

Kath Trout Marketing Director

Programmes printed by Cantate.

EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMME

Ellie Dragonetti Marketing Co-ordinator

Matthew Todd Education and Community Director

Frances Cook Publications Manager

Anne Findlay Education Officer

Samantha Kendall Box Office Administrator (Tel: 020 7840 4242)

Isobel Timms Community Officer

Josephine Langston Temporary Marketing Assistant

Alec Haylor Education and Community Assistant

Charly Fraser-Annand Intern

Richard Mallett Education and Community Producer

Valerie Barber Press Consultant (Tel: 020 7586 8560) †Supported by Macquarie Group

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 15

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FUTURE CONCERTS AT SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL

JTI FRIDAY SERIES Friday 15 October 2010 | 7.30pm

MAHLER ANNIVERSARY Wednesday 27 October 2010 | 7.30pm

Berlioz Overture, Benvenuto Cellini Elgar Cello Concerto R Strauss Ein Heldenleben

Mendelssohn Symphony No. 5 (Reformation) Mahler Kindertotenlieder Brahms Symphony No. 3

David Zinman conductor Alban Gerhardt cello

Vladimir Jurowski conductor Sarah Connolly mezzo soprano

David Zinman and Alban Gerhardt

6.00pm–6.45pm | FREE Pre-Concert Event Royal Festival Hall A performance including Arvo Pärt’s The Abbot Agathon with Foyle Future Firsts, members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and soprano Patricia Rozario conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.

Saturday 23 October 2010 | 7.00pm Rossini Aureliano in Palmira Concert performance given in association with Opera Rara.

Sung in Italian with English surtitles.

This performance will last approximately 2 hours 45 minutes including interval.

Maurizio Benini conductor Catriona Smith Zenobia Silvia Tro Santafé Arsace Kenneth Tarver Aureliano Andrew Foster-Williams Gran Sacerdote Ezgi Kutlu Publia Vuyani Mlinde Licinio Geoffrey Mitchell Choir

Vladimir Jurowski and Sarah Connolly

MAHLER ANNIVERSARY Saturday 30 October 2010 | 7.30pm Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 Beethoven (arr. Mahler) Symphony No. 3 (Eroica) Vladimir Jurowski conductor Leif Ove Andsnes piano

Supported by the John S Cohen Foundation.

6.00pm–6.30pm | FREE Pre-Concert Event Royal Festival Hall Opera Rara continues its exploration of lesser known operas with a discussion around Rossini’s Aureliano in Palmira.

Vladimir Jurowski and Leif Ove Andsnes

TO BOOK

Tickets £9-£38 | Premium seats £55

Maurizio Benini and Catriona Smith

16 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office 020 7840 4242 | www.lpo.org.uk Mon-Fri 10am-5pm; no booking fee Southbank Centre Ticket Office | 0844 847 9920 www.southbankcentre.co.uk/lpo Daily, 9am-8pm. £2.50 telephone / £1.45 online booking fees; no fee for Southbank Centre members