London Philharmonic Orchestra concert programme 14 Feb 2014

Concert programme 2013/14 season

Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor 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

JTI Friday Series Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall Friday 14 February 2014 | 7.30pm

Dvořák Carnival Overture (9’) Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor (32’) Interval Wagner Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde (17’) Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet (Fantasy Overture) (21’)

Stuart Stratford conductor Sa Chen piano

* supported by the Tsukanov Family Foundation and one anonymous donor CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Programme £3 Contents 2

3 4 5 6 7 11 12 13 14 15 16

Welcome LPO 2014/15 season About the Orchestra On stage tonight Stuart Stratford Sa Chen Programme notes Next concerts Annual Appeal: Tickets Please!

Orchestra news Catalyst: Double Your Donation Supporters LPO administration

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

Welcome

Welcome to Southbank Centre

LPO 2014/15 season now on sale

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.

Our 2014/15 season is now on sale: browse and book online at lpo.org.uk or call us on 0207 840 4242 to request a season brochure. Highlights of the new season include:

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

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A year-long festival, Rachmaninoff: Inside Out, exploring the composer’s major orchestral masterpieces including all the symphonies and piano concertos, alongside some of his lesser-known works (see page 9).

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Appearances by today’s most sought-after artists including Maria João Pires, Christoph Eschenbach, Osmo Vänskä, Lars Vogt, Barbara Hannigan, Vasily Petrenko, Marin Alsop, Katia and Marielle Labèque and Robin Ticciati.

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Yannick Nézet-Séguin presents masterpieces by three great composers from the AustroGerman tradition: Brahms, Schubert and Richard Strauss.

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The UK premiere of Harrison Birtwistle’s piano concerto Responses: Sweet disorder and the carefully careless, performed by Pierre-Laurent Aimard.

LATECOMERS will only be admitted to the auditorium if there is a suitable break in the performance.

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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.

Soprano Barbara Hannigan joins Vladimir Jurowski and the Orchestra for a world premiere from our new Composer in Residence Magnus Lindberg (see page 13).

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Premieres too of a Violin Concerto by outgoing Composer in Residence Julian Anderson, a children’s work, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, by Colin Matthews, and a new piece for four horns by James Horner (a double-Oscar winner for his score to the film Titanic).

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Legendary pianist Menahem Pressler – a founding member of the Beaux Arts Trio – joins Robin Ticciati to perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4.

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Choral highlights with the London Philharmonic Choir include Stravinsky’s Requiem Canticles, Verdi’s Requiem, Rachmaninoff’s Spring and The Bells, Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé and Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass.

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.

A few points to note for your comfort and enjoyment: PHOTOGRAPHY is not allowed in the auditorium.

MOBILES, PAGERS AND WATCHES should be switched off before the performance begins.

2 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

London Philharmonic Orchestra

The London Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the world’s finest orchestras, balancing a long and distinguished history with its present-day position as one of the most dynamic and forward-looking orchestras in the UK. As well as its performances in the concert hall, the Orchestra also records film and video game soundtracks, has its own successful CD label, and enhances the lives of thousands of people every year through activities for schools and local communities.

The Orchestra was founded by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1932, and since then its Principal Conductors have included Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. Vladimir Jurowski is the current Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor, appointed in 2007, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin is Principal Guest Conductor. Julian Anderson is the Orchestra’s current Composer in Residence.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra has recorded the soundtracks to numerous blockbuster films, from Lawrence of Arabia, The Mission and East is East to Hugo, The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. It also broadcasts regularly on television and radio, and in 2005 established its own record label. There are now over 70 releases available on CD and to download. Recent additions include Brahms’s Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 and Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 with Vladimir Jurowski; Vaughan Williams’s Symphonies Nos. 5 & 7 with Bernard Haitink; Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Sarah Connolly and Toby Spence; and a disc of new works by the Orchestra’s Composer in Residence, Julian Anderson.

In summer 2012 the Orchestra was invited to take part in The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the River Thames, as well as being chosen to record all the world’s national anthems for the London 2012 Olympics.

The Orchestra is resident at Southbank Centre’s The London Philharmonic Orchestra is committed to Royal Festival Hall in London, where it gives around inspiring the next generation through its BrightSparks 40 concerts each season. 2013/14 highlights include schools’ concerts and FUNharmonics family concerts; a Britten centenary celebration with Vladimir the Leverhulme Young Jurowski including the War Composers programme; Requiem and Peter Grimes; and the Foyle Future world premieres of James Firsts orchestral MacMillan’s Viola Concerto Bachtrack.com training programme and Górecki’s Fourth 2 October 2013, Royal Festival Hall: Britten centenary concert for outstanding young Symphony; French repertoire players. Over recent with Yannick Nézet-Séguin; years, digital advances and social media have enabled and a stellar array of soloists including Evelyn Glennie, the Orchestra to reach even more people across the Mitsuko Uchida, Leif Ove Andsnes, Miloš Karadaglić, globe: all its recordings are available to download from Renaud Capuçon, Leonidas Kavakos, Julia Fischer, iTunes and, as well as a YouTube channel and regular Emanuel Ax and Simon Trpčeski. Throughout 2013 podcast series, the Orchestra has a lively presence on the Orchestra collaborated with Southbank Centre on Facebook and Twitter. the year-long festival The Rest Is Noise, exploring the influential works of the 20th century.

Find out more and get involved!

The London Philharmonic Orchestra enjoys flourishing residencies in Brighton and Eastbourne, and performs lpo.org.uk regularly around the UK. Every summer, the Orchestra takes up its annual residency at Glyndebourne Festival facebook.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra Opera, where it has been Resident Symphony Orchestra for 50 years. The Orchestra also tours internationally, twitter.com/LPOrchestra performing concerts to sell-out audiences worldwide.

Highlights of the 2013/14 season include visits to the USA, Romania, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Belgium, France and Spain.

The LPO are an orchestra on fire at the moment.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3

On stage tonight

First Violins Simon Blendis Guest Leader Martin Hรถhmann Grace Lee Alina Petrenko Galina Tanney Caroline Frenkel Amanda Smith Peter Nall Ishani Bhoola Robert Yeomans Katie Littlemore Kokila Gillett Caroline Simms Francesca Smith Second Violins Nicole Wilson Nynke Hijlkema Alison Strange Helena Nicholls Stephen Stewart Sheila Law Elizabeth Baldey Stephen Dinwoodie Anna Croad Jamie Hutchinson John Dickinson Naomi Anner

Violas Jonathan Barritt Benedetto Pollani Michelle Bruil Daniel Cornford Naomi Holt Martin Fenn Helen Bevin Sarah Malcolm Karin Norlen Peter Norriss

Flutes Harry Winstanley Joanna Marsh Ian Mullin

Trumpets Jason Evans Tony Cross David Hilton

Piccolo Ian Mullin

Trombones Mathew Knight Andrew Connington

Cellos Elisabeth Wiklander Sue Sutherley Susanna Riddell Tom Roff Helen Rathbone David Bucknall Orlando Jopling Anna Mowatt

Cor Anglais Max Spiers

Tuba David Kendall

Clarinets Thomas Watmough Emily Meredith

Timpani Dominic Hackett

Bass Clarinet Duncan Gould

Double Basses Anthony Alcock Richard Lewis Helen Rowlands Tom Walley Jeremy Watt Laura Murphy

Bassoons John Orford Stuart Russell Laura Vincent

Percussion Tom Edwards James Bower Richard Horne

Oboes Timothy Rundle Katie Bennington

Horns David Pyatt Chair supported by Simon Robey

Meilyr Hughes Duncan Fuller Thomas Kane Alexander Edmundsen

4 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Bass Trombone Lewis Edney

Harp Sue Blair

Stuart Stratford

© Tim Dunk

conductor

Stuart Stratford’s current and future engagements include a St Andrew’s Concert with Scottish Opera, BrightSparks schools’ concerts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, a concert with Musica Aeterna in Perm (Russia), Gluck’s Orfeo et Euridice at the Buxton Festival, Puccini’s La fanciulla del West with Opera Holland Park, and Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina with Birmingham Opera Company.

family concerts and BrightSparks schools’ concerts at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall.

Recordings include Mercadante’s I normanni a Parigi with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Opera Rara, and the joint Channel 4 and Australian Broadcasting Corporation film opera The Eternity Man with the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

Stuart read music at Trinity College, Cambridge. He studied conducting with David Parry, and later in Russia at the St Petersburg State Conservatoire with Ilya Aleksandrovich Musin. He was the Junior Fellow in Conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music in 1999 and 2000.

Recent engagements include Philip Glass’s Satyagraha with English National Opera, John Adams’s Doctor Atomic with Finnish National Opera; Calixto Bieito’s production of Don Giovanni with English National Opera; Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera at the Theater St. Gallen (Switzerland); Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Jonathan Dove’s Swanhunter with Opera North; and Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Iolanta and The Queen of Spades, Janáček’s Jenůfa and Katya Kabanová, Verdi’s La forza del destino and Rigoletto, Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz, and Will Todd’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland with Opera Holland Park.

Stuart has also conducted Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, Verdi’s Falstaff and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci for English Touring Opera, Puccini’s La bohème directed

by Francesca Zambello with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall, Sibelius’s The Maiden in the Tower and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Kashchei the Immortal at the Buxton Festival, Cavalleria rusticana/ Pagliacci at Opera Holland Park, and Bernstein’s Candide directed by Graham Vick with Birmingham Opera Company and at the International Music Festival in Cartagena with the City of London Sinfonia.

Stuart has conducted several premieres at the Almeida Opera Festival: Tobias and the Angel and L’altra Euridice (Jonathan Dove), Ion (Param Vir), Kantan (Alexander Goehr), Ariadne (Elena Langer) and The Embalmer (Giorgio Battistelli). He also regularly conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s FUNharmonics London Philharmonic Orchestra | 5

Sa Chen

© Hong Wei

piano

Described as ‘one of the brightest performers of her generation’ by Classic FM, Sa Chen gave her first major performance in 1996 when, aged 16, she appeared live on BBC television in the final of the prestigious Leeds International Piano Competition with Sir Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. The British public were captivated and she has been delighting audiences worldwide since.

(Hong Kong, Taiwan and Tokyo), Tel Aviv, and at the Sydney Opera House. Her festival performances have included the International Chopin Piano Festival in Poland, the Louisiana Museum Festival in Denmark, the Lockenhaus Music Festival in Austria, Le Musiques festival in Switzerland, and the Beijing Music Festival in China. She regularly tours in Japan and was selected to perform in the prestigious ‘100 Great Pianists of the 20th Century’ series in Tokyo.

Sa Chen has worked with many celebrated conductors including Semyon Bychkov, Edo de Waart, Sir Simon Rattle, Leonard Slatkin, James Conlon, Vasily Petrenko, Ilan Volkov and Tugan Sokhiev. She has performed with the Takács Quartet, Camerata Salzburg, the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, and the WDR Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, Bremen Philharmonic, Warsaw Philharmonic, Strasbourg Philharmonic, China Philharmonic, China National Symphony, Shanghai Symphony, Polish National Radio Symphony, Bern Symphony, Latvian National Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic and Singapore Symphony orchestras.

Sa Chen was born in Chongqing, China, and began her musical studies at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music and the Shenzhen School of Arts. Following her success at Leeds in 1996, she was offered a scholarship at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London, where she studied with Joan Havill and obtained her Master’s Degree in Performance. Since 2001, Sa Chen has also studied with Arie Vardi at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover. She now lives in Germany.

Most recently she performed with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra at Suntory Hall, toured with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Vasily Petrenko in Spain, appeared in recital at the Louvre, Paris, and performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts with Yan Pascal Tortelier.

Her performances have taken her to many of the music centres of the world: New York (Carnegie Hall), Washington DC (Kennedy Center), London (Barbican, Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room and Cadogan Hall), Warsaw (Philharmonic Hall), Milan (Sala Verdi), Berlin (Broadcast Hall), Zurich (Tonhalle), Linz (Bruckner Hall), Basel (Foundation Beyeler Museum and Vitra Design Museum), Copenhagen (Louisiana Museum) and Boston (Symphony Hall). She has also given concerts in Asia 6 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Sa Chen’s Chopin album for PentaTone Classics was released worldwide in 2008, and was awarded a Best CD Award by Classic FM. A disc of works by Rachmaninoff and Mussorgsky followed in 2009, and a CD featuring Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Grieg’s Piano Concerto was released in autumn 2011.

A recipient of several major awards and honours, Sa Chen won First Prize at the 1994 China International Piano Competition. While still only in her early 20s she won fourth place at the 14th International Chopin Piano Competition as well as the prize for Best Polonaise Performance, and she was a prizewinner at the 12th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

Programme notes

Speedread Tonight’s concert features four great musical Romantics in particularly romantic moods. After Dvořák’s whizzing curtain-raiser, part of his ‘Nature, Life and Love’ trilogy, comes Rachmaninoff’s hearton-sleeve Second Piano Concerto. Few can resist its charms, whether it be David Lean, who chose the score to accompany the thundering trains and beating hearts of Brief Encounter in 1945, or Eric

Antonín Dvořák

Carmen, whose schmaltzy ‘All by Myself’ draws on the slow movement. Far more serious, philosophical even, is Wagner’s music in Tristan und Isolde, an intense study of erotic love, before Tchaikovsky takes over with his depiction of history’s most famous pair of lovers, finding solace in each other’s arms while their families duke it out on the streets of Verona.

Carnival Overture

1841–1904

Carnival, the second part of Dvořák’s ‘Nature, Life and Love’ trilogy of concert overtures, was written between 28 July and 12 September 1891. The composer was at the height of his powers, with the Eighth Symphony, the Requiem and the ‘Dumky’ piano trio all dating from this period. He had already been highly praised in London, following the world premieres of The Spectre’s Bride and St Ludmilla, and his works were performed regularly elsewhere in Europe. Sometimes Dvořák’s pursuit of foreign outlets for his music caused consternation – ‘Smetana was a thousand times the more potent artist, since he never sold off his art, in which nationality was a basic element, in return for a little success abroad’, the critic and writer Zdeněk Nejedlý later opined – yet he was soon to be equally honoured at home, by the Prague Artistic Society, the Czech University of Prague and the Czech Academy of Sciences and Arts in turn.

Little wonder Carnival is such a happy, celebratory work.

the people giving vent to their feelings in songs and dances.’ The festivities have an unmistakably Czech feel, with swinging syncopations not dissimilar to those in the ‘furiants’ of Dvořák’s symphonies or his widely performed Slavonic Dances. And like the particularly famed G minor Slavonic Dance, Carnival constantly sways between major and minor, before revealing a gorgeous evocation of ‘a pair of straying lovers’, led by the cor anglais, at the beginning of the development section. But they, like the ‘lonely, contemplative wanderer’, are soon pulled back into the party.

According to the composer, the Overture depicts ‘a lonely, contemplative wanderer reaching a city at twilight where a festival is in full swing. On every side is heard the clangour of instruments, mingled with shouts of joy and the unrestrained hilarity of

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 7

Programme notes continued

Sergei Rachmaninoff 1873–1943

Rachmaninoff was initially known as a pianist. A virtuoso in the grand tradition of Chopin and Liszt, his fame soon spread beyond Russia. He came to London in 1899 and made his debut at the Queen’s Hall. At that same concert he conducted his orchestral work The Rock, as well as playing his imposing Prelude in C sharp minor and other piano pieces. Although happy with the success of the concert, the Philharmonic Society had expected Rachmaninoff to appear with his Second Piano Concerto (not a note of which had been written). Truth be told, Rachmaninoff was in no mood to compose. The premiere of his First Symphony in 1897 had been a total disaster.

Although the quality of the performance was partly to blame, conducted by the usually reliable Glazunov, there can be no doubt that his compatriot Cui’s description of a ‘programme symphony on the Seven Plagues of Egypt’ had dented Rachmaninoff’s pride significantly. For three years, he hardly wrote a note.

Something – or someone – had to break the deadlock.

Although Rachmaninoff busied himself with his new-found career as a conductor (as well as regular appearances at the piano), his composing ambitions seemed dead in the water. Friends arranged for him to meet Tolstoy, in an attempt to rekindle inspiration, but it proved useless. Instead, it was a hypnosis-practising physician who finally achieved breakthrough and Rachmaninoff slowly returned to composition, first completing passages of his opera Francesca da Rimini, and then beginning his much-vaunted Second Piano Concerto.

The work emerges from a period of self-doubt with an ever-emboldening sequence of chords. They trigger tearing arpeggios and a bruised string theme. A more

Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18 Sa Chen piano 1 Moderato 2 Adagio sostenuto – Più animato – Tempo I 3 Allegro scherzando

yearning second section moves us into a major key via a flare of horns. Having been submerged within the thick textures of the orchestra, the piano now comes to the surface. Rising melodies are accompanied by tumbling left hand arpeggios, giving a feeling of emotional freedom. Thick chromatic harmonies intensify these gestures before various solos from the woodwind and horns weave amorous dialogues with the piano. A development follows, seemingly unaffected by the turmoil of what has gone before. But once we reach a restatement of the opening themes, the piano’s manic march figure underlines that the feelings professed are not to be taken lightly.

A pining E major emerges at the beginning of the second movement. As at the opening of the Concerto, the piano plays a series of arpeggios, though here they are much more reflective. A flute states a new theme, before it is passed to the clarinet, sounding against a halo of strings. Harmonic shifts deepen these sentiments in a series of variations, moving freely between orchestra and piano.

The finale begins with a whirlingly impudent dance, shifting us back to the overriding C minor tonality.

Snappy rhythms and virtuoso blurs give way to a pounding rhapsody. There is evidently unfinished emotional business and the rapid tempo slumps into a brooding new theme. The piano responds, complete with aching suspensions, and it is this theme that comes to dominate. Although the orchestra tries to whip up the tempo, the piano leads them in a huge restatement of that main theme, triumphant in its amorous glory, before the assembled forces launch into a joyful coda.

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

8 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

London Philharmonic Orchestra 2014/15 season

Rachmaninoff: Inside Out A year-long exploration of the composer’s life and music Friday 3 October 2014 The Isle of the Dead | Piano Concerto No. 1 (original version) | Symphonic Dances Wednesday 29 October 2014 Piano Concerto No. 3 | Symphony No. 2 Friday 7 November 2014 Piano Concerto No. 4 (final version) Friday 28 November 2014 Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Wednesday 3 December 2014 Symphony No. 1

Saturday 7 February 2015 Three Russian Songs | Spring Wednesday 11 February 2015 Piano Concerto No. 2 | The Bells Friday 13 February 2015 Piano Concerto No. 4 (original version) Wednesday 25 March 2015 Piano Concerto No. 1 (final version) Wednesday 29 April 2015 Four Pieces | Ten Songs | Symphony No. 3

Wednesday 21 January 2015 The Miserly Knight

2014/15 season now on sale lpo.org.uk | Call 0207 840 4242 for a season brochure

Richard Wagner

Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde

1813–83

Wagner was halfway through work on his gargantuan four-opera project Der Ring des Nibelungen when he broke off to write Tristan und Isolde. While the reasons are not entirely clear, many have postulated combinations of practical, philosophical and emotional necessity. The opera was a realistic work in that it was intended to be composed quickly and for relatively moderate forces, thus allowing wide and speedy dissemination and much-needed income for the nigh-penniless Wagner. Philosophically, he was enthralled by the writings of Arthur Schopenhauer at the time, particularly the great philosopher’s idea that redemption is only attainable through the mystical oblivion of death. And emotionally, Wagner had fallen in love with his patron Otto Wesendonck’s wife, Mathilde.

The resulting opera is completely extraordinary and few works have had such an impact on the history of music. Tristan und Isolde has pulled figures as diverse as Berg, Debussy, Mahler, Messiaen, Schoenberg, Strauss and Szymanowski into its orbit. Listening to the very opening and very final music of the opera, it is easy to hear why. The Prelude conjures a vast psychodrama by means of pining passions and ever-mounting sequences, emerging from one note before building to a towering inferno of sound. The music’s seemingly endless chain of dissonances, triggered by the first homophonic sound in the score, the ‘Tristan chord’, is only finally resolved in what has become known as the Liebestod (love death), but which Wagner named Isolde’s Verklärung (transfiguration), the music of which is dictated to her by Tristan in the opera’s fervent second act.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 9

Programme notes continued

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Romeo and Juliet (Fantasy Overture)

1840–93

Tchaikovsky was no stranger to thwarted love. A homosexual within a highly patriarchal and judgmental society, he channelled his frustrations into a sequence of works on impossible love, beginning with his ‘Fantasy Overture’ Romeo and Juliet in 1869 (subsequently revised), and continuing with his ballet Swan Lake, his opera Eugene Onegin and the highly fatalistic Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Symphonies. While he attempted to marry in the late 1870s – ‘to shut the mouths of assorted contemptible creatures whose opinions mean nothing to me, but who are in a position to cause distress to those near to me’, as he wrote to his gay brother Modest – the union was a failure.

No less doomed is the relationship of Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet in William Shakespeare’s great tragedy. The idea of a tone-poem on the subject was suggested to Tchaikovsky by Balakirev, who likewise advised the young composer to draw three separate elements from the drama, namely the solemn Friar Laurence (whose potions prove so fatal), the swordfighting Montagues and Capulets, and the eponymous lovers. Tchaikovsky brilliantly combines the first two in the development section of this sonata-form piece, before crowning the work with an outspoken declamation of the lovers’ theme.

Programme notes © Gavin Plumley

Tchaikovsky on the LPO Label

Symphonies Nos. 1 & 6

Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5

Manfred Symphony

Vladimir Jurowski conductor

Vladimir Jurowski conductor

Vladimir Jurowski conductor

£10.99 (2CDs) | LPO-0039

£10.99 (2CDs) | LPO-0064

£9.99 (1CD) | LPO-0009

Also available from lpo.org.uk/recordings, the LPO Ticket Office (020 7840 4242) and all good CD outlets Available to download or stream online via iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and others.

10 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Next LPO concerts at Royal Festival Hall

Wednesday 19 February 2014 | 7.30pm

Friday 7 March 2014 | 7.30pm

Balakirev Islamey (Oriental Fantasy) Khachaturian Piano Concerto Kalinnikov Symphony No. 1

JTI Friday Series

Osmo Vänskä conductor Marc-André Hamelin piano Free pre-concert discussion 6.15–6.45pm | Royal Festival Hall David Nice discusses the evening’s programme.

Dvořák Scherzo capriccioso Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 Mahler Blumine Shostakovich Symphony No. 1 Ilyich Rivas conductor Simon Trpčeski piano

Friday 14 March 2014 | 7.30pm Friday 21 February 2014 | 7.30pm

JTI Friday Series

JTI Friday Series

Mendelssohn Violin Concerto Bruckner Symphony No. 3 (1889 Nowak edition)

Berlioz Overture, Le Corsaire Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Elgar Symphony No. 2 Vasily Petrenko conductor Kirill Gerstein piano

Wednesday 26 February 2014 | 7.30pm Brahms Double Concerto for violin and cello Bruckner Symphony No. 2 Vladimir Jurowski conductor Julia Fischer violin Daniel Müller-Schott cello

Stanisław Skrowaczewski conductor Benjamin Beilman violin Free pre-concert performance 6.00–6.45pm | Royal Festival Hall Musicians from the LPO join students from London Music Masters’ innovative music education programme, the Bridge Project, for a musical celebration.

Booking details Tickets £9–£39 (premium seats £65)

Saturday 1 March 2014 | 7.30pm Julian Anderson Alleluia Beethoven Symphony No. 9 (Choral) Vladimir Jurowski conductor Emma Bell soprano Anna Stéphany mezzo soprano John Daszak tenor Gerald Finley baritone London Philharmonic Choir

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

Southbank Centre Ticket Office 0844 847 9920 Daily 9.00am–8.00pm southbankcentre.co.uk Transaction fees: £1.75 online, £2.75 telephone No transaction fee for bookings made in person

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 11

London Philharmonic Orchestra Annual Appeal 2013/14

Do you remember the first time you saw an orchestra live?

Every year the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s schools’ concerts allow over 16,000 young people to see the Orchestra live. Six out of ten children attending the concerts will be experiencing an orchestra for the very first time.

Andrew Barclay

Then: aged 16

Now: Principal Percussion

I started playing percussion when I was 12, but I didn’t see an orchestra live until I was 16! Concerts for schools didn’t exist when I was growing up in south London, or at least if they did, my school didn’t take advantage of them. I am so pleased the LPO offers this opportunity. Fill our concert hall – give £9 today to help a south London child attend for free and enjoy their first orchestral experience.

Tickets for the concerts cost £9. However, for some of the most disadvantaged schools in south London this amount remains a barrier to attending. Whether you want to help one child (£9), three children (£27), donate a row of seats in the stalls (£108), or allow a whole class to attend (£270), you can help us to fill our concert hall and allow many children to enjoy their first orchestral experience.

Visit lpo.org.uk/ticketsplease, where you can select the seats you wish to donate, or call 020 7840 4212 to donate over the phone.

Donate £9 at lpo.org.uk/ticketsplease 12 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

#ticketsplease

Orchestra news

New Principal Guest Conductor The London Philharmonic Orchestra is delighted to announce the appointment of Andrés Orozco-Estrada as its new Principal Guest Conductor, effective from September 2015. He becomes Principal Guest Conductor Designate when the tenure of Canadian Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who has been in the role since 2008, ends at the end of the current season.

Colombian-born Orozco-Estrada first worked with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in November 2013, conducting a major tour of Germany, and made his Royal Festival Hall debut with the Orchestra on 29 January 2014.

Thirty-six-year-old Orozco-Estrada already holds the position of Music Director of the Tonkünstler Orchestra in Vienna. In the 2014/15 season he will become Music Director of the Houston Symphony Orchestra and Chief Conductor of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra.

We look forward to a long and fruitful partnership with Andrés Orozco-Estrada, and many more successful concerts to come.

New CD release: Jurowski conducts Brahms Just released on the LPO Label is a CD of Brahms’s Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.

This CD completes Jurowski’s survey of Brahms’s four symphonies – his previous Brahms disc, of Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2 (Feb 2010), received great critical acclaim including BBC Music Magazine’s ‘Disc of the Month’ and the recommended version of Symphony No. 2 by BBC Radio 3’s ‘Building a Library’.

Priced £9.99, the new CD is also available from lpo.org.uk/shop, the LPO Ticket Office (020 7840 4242) and all good CD retailers. Alternatively you can download it from iTunes, Amazon and others, or stream via Spotify.

Spring tours

New Composer in Residence from 2014/15

Earlier this month the Orchestra, along with Glyndebourne Festival Opera soloists and chorus under Sir Mark Elder, took Britten’s Billy Budd to New York for four performances at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg will become the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Composer in Residence from the beginning of the 2014/15 season.

Last month the Orchestra travelled to Madrid with conductor Vladimir Jurowski to give two concerts at the city’s Auditorio Nacional de Música. Yulianna Avdeeva performed Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1, and the Orchestra gave the Spanish premiere of James MacMillan’s Viola Concerto with soloist Lawrence Power, following the world premiere here at Royal Festival Hall on 15 January.

Previously Composer in Residence at the New York Philharmonic from 2009–12, Lindberg has been described by The Times as ‘one of the major voices of 21st-century composition’. The LPO 2014/15 season will open with a performance of his Chorale on 24 September 2014. The season also features the world premiere of a new work for soprano and orchestra, performed by Barbara Hannigan on 28 January 2015; and the UK premiere of his Second Piano Concerto, given by Yefim Bronfman on 21 March 2015.

Still to come this spring are visits to Paris to perform Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 under Vladimir Jurowski; Dortmund with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and pianist Nicholas Angelich; and Moscow with Jurowski for performances of Britten’s War Requiem and Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with soloist Lisa Batiashvili.

As Composer in Residence, Lindberg will also play an active role in the Orchestra’s education activities including the Leverhulme Young Composers and Foyle Future Firsts programmes.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 13

Catalyst: Double Your Donation

The London Philharmonic Orchestra is building its first ever endowment fund, which will support the most exciting artistic collaborations with its partner venues here in London and around the country.

Thanks to a generous grant pledge from Arts Council England’s Catalyst programme, the Orchestra is able to double the value of all gifts from new donors up to a maximum value of £1 million. Any additional gifts from existing generous donors will also be matched.

By the end of the campaign we aim to have created an endowment with a value of £2 million which will help us work with partners to provide a funding injection for activities across the many areas of the Orchestra’s work, including: • More visionary artistic projects like The Rest Is Noise at Southbank Centre • Educational and outreach activities for young Londoners like this year’s Noye’s Fludde performance project • Increased touring to venues around the UK that might not otherwise have access to great orchestral music To give, call Development Director Nick Jackman on 020 7840 4211, email support@lpo.org.uk or visit www.lpo.org.uk/support/double-your-donation.html

Catalyst Endowment Donors Masur Circle Arts Council England Emmanuel & Barrie Roman The Sharp Family The Underwood Trust Welser-Möst Circle John Ireland Charitable Trust Tennstedt Circle Simon Robey The late Mr K Twyman Solti Patrons Anonymous Suzanne Goodman The Rothschild Foundation Manon Williams & John Antoniazzi Haitink Patrons Lady Jane Berrill Moya Greene Tony and Susie Hayes Lady Roslyn Marion Lyons Diana and Allan Morgenthau Charitable Trust Ruth Rattenbury

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Sir Bernard Rix TFS Loans Limited The Tsukanov Family Foundation Guy & Utti Whittaker Pritchard Donors Anonymous Linda Blackstone Michael Blackstone Jan Bonduelle Richard and Jo Brass Britten-Pears Foundation Lady June Chichester Lindka Cierach Mr Alistair Corbett Mark Damazer David Dennis Bill & Lisa Dodd Mr David Edgecombe David Ellen Commander Vincent Evans Mr Daniel Goldstein Ffion Hague Rebecca Halford Harrison Michael & Christine Henry Honeymead Arts Trust John Hunter

Ivan Hurry Tanya Kornilova Howard & Marilyn Levene Mr Gerald Levin Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Dr Frank Lim Geoff & Meg Mann Ulrike Mansel Marsh Christian Trust John Montgomery Rosemary Morgan John Owen Edmund Pirouet Mr Michael Posen John Priestland Tim Slorick Howard Snell Stanley Stecker Lady Marina Vaizey Helen Walker Laurence Watt Des & Maggie Whitelock Christopher Williams Victoria Yanakova Mr Anthony Yolland

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 Anonymous William and Alex de Winton Simon Robey The Sharp Family Julian & Gill Simmonds Garf & Gill Collins Andrew Davenport Mrs Sonja Drexler David & Victoria Graham Fuller Mr & Mrs Makharinsky Geoff & Meg Mann Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp Eric Tomsett Jane Attias John & Angela Kessler Guy & Utti Whittaker Manon Williams & John Antoniazzi Principal Benefactors Mark & Elizabeth Adams Lady Jane Berrill Desmond & Ruth Cecil Mr John H Cook David Ellen

Commander Vincent Evans Mr Daniel Goldstein Don Kelly & Ann Wood Peter MacDonald Eggers Mr & Mrs David Malpas Mr Maxwell Morrison Mr Michael Posen Mr & Mrs Thierry Sciard Mr & Mrs G Stein Mr & Mrs John C Tucker Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood Lady Marina Vaizey Mr Anthony Yolland Benefactors Mrs A Beare David & Patricia Buck Mrs Alan Carrington Mr & Mrs Stewart Cohen Mr Alistair Corbett Mr David Edgecombe Mr Richard Fernyhough Ken Follett Michael & Christine Henry Malcolm Herring Ivan Hurry Mr Glenn Hurstfield Mr R K Jeha Per Jonsson

Mr Gerald Levin Sheila Ashley Lewis Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Dr Frank Lim Paul & Brigitta Lock Mr Brian Marsh Andrew T Mills John Montgomery Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill Martin and Cheryl Southgate Professor John Studd Mr Peter Tausig Mrs Kazue Turner Howard & Sheelagh Watson Mr Laurie Watt 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

Trusts and Foundations

Silver: AREVA UK Berenberg Bank British American Business Carter-Ruck Thomas Eggar LLP

Angus Allnatt Charitable Foundation Ambache Charitable Trust Ruth Berkowitz Charitable Trust The Boltini Trust Borletti-Buitoni Trust Britten-Pears Foundation The Candide Trust The Ernest Cook Trust The Coutts Charitable Trust The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Dunard Fund Embassy of Spain, Office for Cultural and Scientific Affairs The Equitable Charitable Trust Fidelio Charitable Trust The Foyle Foundation J Paul Getty Junior Charitable Trust Lucille Graham Trust The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust Help Musicians UK The Hinrichsen Foundation The Hobson Charity The Idlewild Trust Kirby Laing Foundation The Leverhulme Trust Marsh Christian Trust

Bronze: Lisa Bolgar Smith and Felix Appelbe of Ambrose Appelbe Appleyard & Trew LLP Berkeley Law Charles Russell Leventis Overseas Preferred Partners Corinthia Hotel London Heineken Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd Sipsmith Steinway Villa Maria In-kind Sponsors Google Inc Sela / Tilley’s Sweets

The Mayor of London’s Fund for Young Musicians Adam Mickiewicz Institute The Peter Minet Trust Maxwell Morrison Charitable Trust The Ann and Frederick O’Brien Charitable Trust Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de musique romantique française Polish Cultural Institute in London PRS for Music Foundation The R K Charitable Trust Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation The Samuel Sebba Charitable Trust Schroder Charity Trust Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation The David Solomons Charitable Trust The Steel Charitable Trust The John Thaw Foundation The Tillett Trust Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement Garfield Weston Foundation The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust Youth Music and others who wish to remain anonymous London Philharmonic Orchestra | 15

Administration

Board of Directors

Chief Executive

Orchestra Personnel

Public Relations

Victoria Sharp Chairman Stewart McIlwham* President Gareth Newman* Vice-President Richard Brass Desmond Cecil CMG Vesselin Gellev* Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS Dr Catherine C. Høgel Martin Höhmann* George Peniston* Sir Bernard Rix Kevin Rundell* Julian Simmonds Mark Templeton* Natasha Tsukanova Timothy Walker AM Laurence Watt Dr Manon Williams

Timothy Walker AM Chief Executive and Artistic Director

Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager

Albion Media (Tel: 020 3077 4930) Archives

Finance

Sarah Holmes Sarah Thomas Librarians (job-share)

David Burke General Manager and Finance Director

Christopher Alderton Stage Manager

David Greenslade Finance and IT Manager

Julia Boon Assistant Orchestra Personnel Manager

* Player-Director Advisory Council Victoria Sharp Chairman Christopher Aldren Richard Brass Sir Alan Collins KCVO CMG Andrew Davenport Jonathan Dawson Christopher Fraser OBE Lord Hall of Birkenhead CBE Clive Marks OBE FCA Stewart McIlwham Baroness Shackleton Lord Sharman of Redlynch OBE Martin Southgate Sir Philip Thomas 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 Dr. Felisa B. Kaplan Jill Fine Mainelli Kristina McPhee Dr. Joseph Mulvehill Harvey M. Spear, Esq. Danny Lopez Hon. Chairman Noel Kilkenny Hon. Director Victoria Sharp Hon. Director Richard Gee, Esq Of Counsel Jenifer L. Keiser, CPA, EisnerAmper LLP

Philip Stuart Discographer Gillian Pole Recordings Archive Professional Services

Development

Charles Russell Solicitors

Nick Jackman Development Director

Crowe Clark Whitehill LLP Auditors

Graham Wood Concerts and Recordings Manager

Katherine Hattersley Charitable Giving Manager

Dr Louise Miller Honorary Doctor

Jenny Chadwick Tours Manager

Helen Searl Corporate Relations Manager

Tamzin Aitken Glyndebourne and UK Engagements Manager

Molly Stewart Development and Events Manager

Alison Jones Concerts and Recordings Co-ordinator

Sarah Fletcher Development and Finance Officer

Jo Cotter PA to the Chief Executive / Tours Co-ordinator

Rebecca Fogg Development Assistant

Concert Management Roanna Gibson Concerts Director

Marketing Digital Projects Alison Atkinson Digital Projects Manager Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant Education and Community

Kath Trout Marketing Director Mia Roberts Marketing Manager Rachel Williams Publications Manager

Isabella Kernot Education Director

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

Alexandra Clarke Education and Community Project Manager

Libby Northcote-Green Marketing Co-ordinator

Lucy Duffy Education and Community Project Manager Richard Mallett Education and Community Producer

16 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

London Philharmonic Orchestra 89 Albert Embankment London SE1 7TP Tel: 020 7840 4200 Fax: 020 7840 4201 Box Office: 020 7840 4242 Email: admin@lpo.org.uk lpo.org.uk The London Philharmonic Orchestra Limited is a registered charity No. 238045.

Photographs of Dvořák, Rachmaninoff, Wagner and Tchaikovsky courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London.

Front cover photograph © Patrick Harrison.

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