14Apr10 programme notes

51714 LPO 14 April 10_51714 LPO 14 April 10 08/04/2010 13:10 Page 1

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

AM†

SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL Wednesday 14 April 2010 | 7.30 pm

GIANANDREA NOSEDA conductor ENRICO DINDO cello

VERDI Dances (Ballabili) from ‘Otello’ (6’) DVOŘÁK Cello Concerto in B minor

(40’)

INTERVAL RICHARD STRAUSS Aus Italien (47’)

†

supported by Macquarie Group

CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

PROGRAMME £3 CONTENTS 2 List of Players 3 Orchestra History 4 Southbank Centre 5 Gianandrea Noseda 6 Enrico Dindo 7 Programme Notes 11 New Recordings 13 Supporters 14 Philharmonic News 15 Administration 16 Future Concerts

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

51714 LPO 14 April 10_51714 LPO 14 April 10 08/04/2010 13:10 Page 2

LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

FIRST VIOLINS Natalia Lomeiko Guest Leader Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader Julia Rumley Chair supported by Mrs Steven Ward

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

Geoffrey Lynn Robert Pool Florence Schoeman Sarah Streatfeild Rebecca Shorrock Alain Petitclerc Peter Nall Galina Tanney Joanne Chen SECOND VIOLINS Clare Duckworth Principal

VIOLAS Alexander Zemtsov* Principal Fiona Winning Robert Duncan Julia McCarthy Anthony Byrne Chair supported by John and Angela Kessler

Katharine Leek Susanne Martens Benedetto Pollani Emmanuella Reiter Laura Vallejo Michelle Bruil Daniel Cornford CELLOS Kristina Blaumane Principal Chair supported by Simon Yates and Kevin Roon

Susanne Beer Co-Principal Laura Donoghue Santiago Sabino Carvalho + Jonathan Ayling

Chair supported by Richard and Victoria Sharp

Jeongmin Kim Joseph Maher Nancy Elan Fiona Higham Marie-Anne Mairesse Ashley Stevens Imogen Williamson Peter Graham Heather Badke Stephen Stewart Mila Mustakova Sheila Law Elizabeth Baldey

Chair supported by Caroline, Jamie and Zander Sharp

Gregory Walmsley Sue Sutherley Susanna Riddell David Lale Pavlos Carvalho DOUBLE BASSES Kevin Rundell* Principal Laurence Lovelle George Peniston David Johnson Damian Rubido Gonzalez Rebecca Welsh Tom Walley Lowri Morgan

FLUTES Jaime Martin* Principal Eilidh Gillespie

CORNETS Daniel Newell Principal

PICCOLO Stewart McIlwham* Principal

David Hilton

OBOES Ian Hardwick Principal Angela Tennick COR ANGLAIS Sue Bohling Principal Chair supported by Julian and Gill Simmonds

Chair supported by Mrs Steven Ward

TROMBONES Philip Harrison Guest Principal Richard Watkin BASS TROMBONE Lyndon Meredith Principal TUBA AND CIMBASSO Lee Tsarmaklis Principal

CLARINETS Robert Hill* Principal Nicholas Carpenter

TIMPANI Antoine Bedewi Guest Principal

BASSOONS John Price Principal Gareth Newman* Simon Estell Emma Harding

PERCUSSION Rachel Gledhill Principal Andrew Barclay* Co-Principal Keith Millar Ignacio Molins

CONTRA BASSOON Simon Estell Principal

HARPS Rachel Masters* Principal Helen Sharp

HORNS John Ryan Principal Martin Hobbs Adrian Uren Gareth Mollison Nicolas Wolmark TRUMPETS Nicholas Betts Principal Anne McAneney* Chair supported by Geoff and Meg Mann

* Holds a professorial appointment in London +

Chevalier of the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco

Chair Supporters The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose player is not present at this concert: David and Victoria Graham Fuller

2 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

51714 LPO 14 April 10_51714 LPO 14 April 10 08/04/2010 13:10 Page 3

LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

© Richard Cannon

Seventy-seven 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 2009/10 include Between Two Worlds – an exploration of the music and times of Alfred Schnittke; a Sibelius symphony cycle with Osmo Vänskä in January/February 2010; a performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah conducted by Kurt Masur and dedicated to the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall; and new works by Rautavaara, Philip Glass, Ravi Shankar and the Orchestra’s Composer in Residence, Mark-Anthony Turnage.

Imaginative programming and a commitment to new music are at the heart of the Orchestra’s activity, with regular commissions and world première performances.

In addition to its London season, 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 it 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

‘This pulsating concert was the best possible advertisement for the rest of Osmo Vänskä’s Sibelius cycle ... If any musical event this season has a better Finnish than this, I’m a Norseman.’

RICHARD MORRISON, THE TIMES, 29 JANUARY 2010

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3

51714 LPO 14 April 10_51714 LPO 14 April 10 08/04/2010 13:10 Page 4

LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

SOUTHBANK CENTRE

the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Tours in 2009/10 include visits to Germany, Australia, France, China, the Canaries and the USA.

WELCOME TO SOUTHBANK CENTRE

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 extensively 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 Orchestra also enjoys strong relationships with the major record labels and in 2005 began reaching out to new global audiences through the release of live, studio and archive recordings on its own CD label. Recent additions to the catalogue have included acclaimed releases of early Britten works conducted by Vladimir Jurowski; Mahler’s Symphony 6 under the baton of Klaus Tennstedt; Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies 1 and 6 conducted

by Vladimir Jurowski; Sir Thomas Beecham recordings of Mozart, Delius and Rimsky-Korsakov from the 1930s; a CD of John Ireland’s works taken from his 70th Birthday Concert in 1949; and Dvo˘rák’s Requiem conducted by Neeme Järvi. The Orchestra’s own-label releases are available to download by work or individual track from its website: www.lpo.org.uk/shop.

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 and join us on Facebook.

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: MDC music and movies, Foyles, EAT, Giraffe, Strada, wagamama, Le Pain Quotidien, Las Iguanas, ping pong, Canteen, Caffé Vergnano 1882, Skylon and Feng Sushi, as well as cafes, restaurants and shops inside Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Hayward Gallery.

If you wish to get in touch with us following your visit please contact our Head of Customer Relations at Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX, by phone on 020 7960 4250 or by email at 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 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

51714 LPO 14 April 10_51714 LPO 14 April 10 08/04/2010 13:10 Page 5

GIANANDREA NOSEDA CONDUCTOR

Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Orchestre National de France, DSO Berlin and Israel Philharmonic. Next season he makes his debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra and National Symphony Orchestra.

Gianandrea Noseda has been Music Director of Teatro Regio in Turin since September 2007. His first seasons have included performances of Falstaff, Salome, Thaïs and The Queen of Spades. With a tour of Germany in May 2008 he also began an increasingly important international schedule which will lead to a residence in Japan and China in July/August 2010 when he will present their new production of La traviata, which opened the 2009/10 season.

He is also Principal Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. His work with them has included studio recordings, subscription concerts at the Bridgewater Hall, their annual appearance at the BBC Proms in London and extensive tours in Italy, the Czech Republic, Spain, Austria, Germany and Japan. In September 2008 they had the privilege of performing Beethoven’s Symphony 9 at the Proms.

Gianandrea Noseda started his international career in 1997, when he became the first foreign Principal Guest Conductor at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, where he also set up the Mariinsky Young Philharmonic Orchestra and served as its Principal Conductor. Since 1998 he has been Principal Conductor of the Orquesta de Cadaqués and between 1999 and 2003 he was Principal Guest Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic and between 2003 and 2006 of the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Turin. Also, since 2000, he has been Artistic Director of the Stresa Festival in Italy.

At the Mariinsky Theatre Gianandrea Noseda has conducted new productions of opera and ballet including La sonnambula, Così fan tutte and Il trittico. In 2002 he made his Metropolitan Opera debut conducting Prokofiev’s War and Peace followed by La forza del destino in 2006, Un ballo in maschera in 2007/08 and Il trovatore in 2008/09. Future projects include La traviata, Lucia di Lammermoor (on tour in Japan) and Macbeth.

Since 2002 Gianandrea Noseda has been an exclusive Chandos artist. His extensive discography includes recordings of Prokofiev (the first complete recording of The Stone Flower), Karlowitz, Dvořák, Smetana, Shostakovich, Rachmaninov’s rarely recorded operas Francesca da Rimini, The Miserly Knight and Aleko as well as the Symphonies Nos 1 and 2, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 10. He is also completing an important survey of the music of Italian composers Respighi, Dallapiccola, Wolf-Ferrari and Casella. His complete cycle of Liszt’s symphonic works on five discs has already received acclaim from the international press and his release of orchestral works by Wolf-Ferrari received the Diapason d’or in France. For Deutsche Grammophon he conducted the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra on Anna Netrebko’s first CD. Live performances of Beethoven’s complete symphonies from the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, by the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Gianandrea Noseda in 2005 attracted 1.4 million download requests in a BBC trial which was offered as part of Radio 3’s The Beethoven Experience.

In recognition of his musical activities in Italy and abroad, Gianandrea Noseda has received the Cavaliere Ufficiale al Merito della Repubblica Italiana.

He has appeared all over the world with orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, Toronto Symphony, London Symphony, Tokyo Symphony,

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 5

51714 LPO 14 April 10_51714 LPO 14 April 10 08/04/2010 13:10 Page 6

ENRICO DINDO CELLO

Enrico Dindo has been a guest at numerous festivals and concert halls worldwide among them London’s Wigmore Hall, Paris Evian, Montpellier, Santiago de Compostela, Budapest Spring Festival, Settimane Musicali of Stresa, and White Nights Festival in St Petersburg. He was also invited to the Dubrovnik Festival and by Gidon Kremer to the Lockenhaus Festival.

Enrico Dindo was born into a family of musicians. At the age of six he began studying the cello and afterwards graduated from the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatoire of Music in Turin. Later on, he completed his studies with Egidio Roveda and Antonio Janigro. In 1987, at the age of 22, he began performing as principal cellist in the Teatro alla Scala Orchestra, and stayed there until 1998.

In 1997 he won First Prize at the Rostropovich Competition in Paris, the great Russian cellist writing about him: ‘He is a cellist of exceptional qualities, a complete artist and a formed musician, with an extraordinary sound which flows in a splendid Italian voice.’

Since then, he has performed as a soloist in many countries with prestigious orchestras such as the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Nationale de France, Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, Filarmonica della Scala, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai, Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia, St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, State Orchestra of Sao Paulo, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He has also played with distinguished conductors such as Riccardo Chailly, Aldo Ceccato, Gianandrea Noseda, Myung-Whun Chung, Daniele Gatti, Paavo Järvi, Valery Gergiev, Riccardo Muti and Mstislav Rostropovich.

6 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

In May 2000 the Italian National Association of Musical Critics conferred on him the Abbiati Prize as the best soloist of the 1998/99 Season. In August 2004 he was named overall winner of the Sixth International Web Concert Hall Competition, and in November 2005 the President of the Italian Republic, Carlo Azelio Ciampi, awarded him the Vittorio De Sica Prize for music.

This season’s engagements include concerts at the Cello Festival in Kronberg and with the Swedish Radio Orchestra in Stockholm. In September 2010 he will tour Europe with the Gewandhaus Orchestra, conducted by Riccardo Chailly, giving concerts in Leipzig, Stuttgart and Vienna as well as at the Luzern and MiTo Festivals.

Among the composers who have dedicated works to him are Giulio Castagnoli (Concerto for Cello and double orchestra), Carlo Boccadoro (L’Astrolabio del mare for cello and piano and Asa Nisi Masa for cello, two horns and strings), Carlo Galante (Luna in Acquario, for cello and ten instruments) and Roberto Molinelli (Twin Legends for cello and strings and Crystalligence for cello solo).

Enrico Dindo records for Decca and plays a Pietro Giacomo Rogeri cello of 1717 (ex Piatti), given to him by the Pro Canale Foundation.

51714 LPO 14 April 10_51714 LPO 14 April 10 08/04/2010 13:10 Page 7

PROGRAMME NOTES

SPEEDREAD Two evocations of Mediterranean life frame today’s programme. The ballet music Verdi added to his opera Otello presents a rapid but invigorating musical tour of countries and cultures that border on Europe’s great inland sea. At the end of the programme comes Richard Strauss’s first tone poem, Aus Italien – the twenty-two year-old composer’s response to a life-changing trip across Italy, and the first work in which he voiced what he called his new ‘expressionist’ style of composition.

Giuseppe VERDI

Brahmsian classicism was now a thing of the past; what mattered was the poetic evocation of places and sights, and of the emotions they aroused. Brahms’s response to hearing Dvořák’s Cello Concerto was vehement: ‘Why on earth didn’t I know that one could write a cello concerto like this? If I had only known, I would have written one long ago!’ For many the greatest of all cello concertos, this intensely lyrical, ultimately nostalgic work effectively re-established the cello as a concert solo instrument.

BALLABILI (DANCES) FROM ‘OTELLO’

1813-1901

Verdi’s Otello belongs to that very select group of operas that are frequently described as ‘perfect’. Verdi himself was well aware that he had achieved something special in Otello. However when the opera was given its Paris première in 1894 – eight years after the opera was completed – he realised he had to make concessions to popular taste. The Parisians liked their operas to have substantial ballet sections, and if these could feature a few provocatively-clad female dancers, so much the better. Accordingly Verdi provided a sequence of six short dances to be inserted in Act III, as part of the festivities welcoming the Venetian ambassadors to Cyprus, where Otello is governor.

The dances are rarely heard in performances of the opera (as Verdi would almost certainly have preferred it), but they are colourful and exciting, and clearly more than empty padding. In effect, they offer a short

musical tour of the various Mediterranean cultures as late 19th Europeans would have understood them. The introduction features a flute and piccolo tune with a hint of Arabic modal flavouring – in fact to modern ears this may well sound more persuasively North African than the folksy ‘Arabic Dance’ that follows. This breaks off dramatically for the ‘Invocation to Allah’, in which bassoons and horns (against tremolando high strings) portray an Islamic muezzin, intoning the call to prayer from the tower of his mosque. A lilting ‘Greek Song’ follows, with harps and strings imitating the sound of the Greek bazouki (a bright lute-like instrument played with a plectrum), which moves seamlessly into a woodwind melody called simply ‘Dance’. A lively Murano dance in 6/8 time leads neatly into ‘Warriors’ Chant’ on cornets, with pounding bass brass and bassoons, then the sequence is rounded off by a short invigorating coda.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 7

51714 LPO 14 April 10_51714 LPO 14 April 10 08/04/2010 13:10 Page 8

PROGRAMME NOTES

Antonín DVOŘÁK

CELLO CONCERTO IN B MINOR, OP. 104 ENRICO DINDO cello Allegro | Adagio ma non troppo | Allegro moderato

1841-1904

Few people are surprised today when a composer chooses to write a cello concerto. As the great examples

by Dvořák, Elgar, Schumann, Walton and Shostakovich show, this noble, rich-toned, soulfully expressive and remarkably agile instrument makes a splendid concerto soloist. But when the Czech composer Antonín Dvořák wrote his Cello Concerto in 1894-5, even connoisseurs were surprised. When Johannes Brahms – composer of one the greatest violin concertos in the repertoire – first saw Dvořák’s score, he exclaimed, ‘Why on earth didn’t I know that one could write a cello concerto like this? If I had only known, I would have written one long ago!’

Actually there’s no reason why Brahms should have known: in his and Dvořák’s day the cello was rarely played well as a solo instrument. In fact the situation seems to have lasted for some time after Dvořák’s death. As late as 1939, the famous Manchester Guardian critic Neville Cardus complained of ‘the waspin-the-window effect which most times we have to put up with whenever a cellist gets to work.’ But there is also the issue of balance. The cello may seem to have a powerful voice, but its lower notes in particular can easily be overwhelmed if the orchestral accompaniment is too rich and strong. Dvořák copes superbly with this potential problem. Though he uses a relatively large orchestra, the cello soloist rarely has to contend with anything like its full force. There are loud, impressive orchestral tuttis, but in these passages the cellist is mostly silent. The result is that, given a reasonably strong player, every note of the cello part should be audible. That must have been one of the concerto’s features that so impressed Brahms.

8 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Beyond that, Brahms can hardly fail to have been won over by Dvořák’s melodic writing. The Cello Concerto brims over with wonderful long tunes and characterful short motifs. Not all of these are initially identified with the cello. Like most concertos of the ‘classical’ era of Mozart and Beethoven, Dvořák begins the first movement with a long passage for orchestra alone.

There is a darkly memorable theme for low woodwind at the start then, after the first big climax, a glorious long tune for solo horn. So when the cello enters for the first time, it not only has to cope with Dvořák’s technical assault course, it also has to claim these themes for itself.

In the slow movement, the cellist’s powers as an instrumental singer are tested to the full. The first theme is relaxed and reflective, with strong suggestions of folksong. This is interrupted by a darker minor-key central section; and here there is a definite autobiographical element. While Dvořák was working on the Concerto, he heard that his sister-in-law, Josefina Kaunitzova, was seriously ill – in his youth Dvořák had been in love with her. Josefina was particularly fond of Dvořák’s song ‘Leave me alone’ (Op. 82, No. 1), and in this slow movement he has the cello quote its melody just after the first stern entry of the trombones and tuba. This same melody re-appears near the end of the finale – where Dvořák inserted it in response to the news of Josefina’s death. The finale’s opening march theme does return in triumph to end the concerto, but that poignant reminiscence of lost love lingers in the memory – is this where the concerto’s heart truly lies?

51714 LPO 14 April 10_51714 LPO 14 April 10 08/04/2010 13:10 Page 9

PROGRAMME NOTES

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

Richard STRAUSS

AUS ITALIEN (‘FROM ITALY’) Auf der Campagna (On the Campagna) | In Roms Ruinen (In the Ruins of Rome) | Am Strande von Sorrent (On the beach at Sorrento) | Finale: Neapolotanisches Volsleben (Life of the People of Naples)

1864-1949

For many cultivated Germans in the 19th century, Italy was a kind of earthly paradise: the land of sun, of deep red wines and of a sensuality apparently unclouded by guilt. German Lieder composers returned again and again to Goethe’s famous poem, Kennst du das Land? (‘Do you know the land where the lemon trees bloom?’), which painted a picture of Italian rural life as a kind of uncorrupted Garden of Eden and voiced the yearning of the exile to return. The fact that Italy was separated from Germany by a barrier of mountains – which even in Strauss’s younger days could be dangerous to cross – only added to the attraction and the sense of poignant separation.

It was Brahms who suggested to the twenty-two year old Richard Strauss that he make a tour of Italy. Strauss left soon afterwards, for an extensive trip which took in Bologna, Florence, Rome, Naples and the island of Capri.

It was a momentous journey for Strauss, artistically as well as personally. However much he may have grumbled in his letters home about being overcharged

by shopkeepers, and despite being underwhelmed by a lot of the Italian music he heard, other experiences were overwhelming. Raphael’s painting of St Cecilia moved him to tears, while the ancient ruins of Rome filled his head to bursting with musical ideas. Ironically, the experience confirmed Strauss’s growing suspicion that he could no longer follow Brahms’s path as a composer.

Brahms had set his face against the notion of illustrative ‘programme music’ – as pioneered by Liszt and the New German School – preferring to find inspiration in the music of the past, and in the more abstract ideals of classicism. Strauss had already enjoyed some success with a very Brahmsian symphonic work: the Symphony in F minor (1884). But the music that came to him in Italy was of a new kind: what mattered now was the poetic evocation of the spirit of place, and of the emotions aroused in the mind of the beholder.

The result was Aus Italien (1886), subtitled ‘symphonic fantasy’, and in effect Strauss’s first tone poem. Unlike

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 9

51714 LPO 14 April 10_51714 LPO 14 April 10 08/04/2010 13:10 Page 10

PROGRAMME NOTES

the later, better-known tone poems, it is in several movements – broadly speaking like a classical symphony – but like them it shows a highly free and imaginative approach to symphonic form. In a Brahmsian symphony the first movement is a complex and weighty business, but in Aus Italien, the opening ‘On the Campagna’ is more of an atmospheric prelude to the longer and much more dramatic ‘In the Ruins of Rome’, which Strauss described in the score as ‘Fantastic pictures of vanished splendour, feelings of melancholy and grief amidst the sunniest surroundings.’ The most poetic, texturally luscious music comes in the third movement, ‘On the Beach at Sorrento’ – Strauss’s use of

the harp and of divided strings is particularly imaginative, and strikingly ‘advanced’ for its time.

Finally comes a bacchanalian depiction of Neopolitan street life, making extensive use of phrases from the famous popular song ‘Funiculi, Funicula’. It may be hard to believe, but at the première in Strauss’s home city, Munich, in 1887 this movement was booed in some parts of the hall – at which Strauss expressed himself ‘immensely proud. This is the first work of mine to have met with the opposition of the mob, so it must be of some importance.’

Programme notes by Stephen Johnson © 2010

Download London Philharmonic Orchestra recordings from www.lpo.org.uk/shop It’s easy to take the London Philharmonic Orchestra with you wherever you go! Visit our downloads site to choose the works (or even single movements) you’d like to buy, and download high quality MP3s to your computer for transfer to an MP3 player or CD. With regular additions of new recordings with conductors from Beecham to Jurowski you’ll always have a selection of great music to choose from.

10 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

51714 LPO 14 April 10_51714 LPO 14 April 10 08/04/2010 13:10 Page 11

NEW RECORDINGS ON THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA’S OWN RECORD LABEL LPO-0042 Neeme Järvi conducts Dvo˘rák’s Requiem.

‘Neeme Järvi leads a sturdy, evocative performance graced by gorgeous singing from the London Philharmonic Choir.’

JOSHUA KOSMAN, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, 7 MARCH 2010

LPO-0043 Vladimir Jurowski conducts Brahms’s Symphonies 1 and 2 ‘This pair of budget-priced CDs on the LPO’s own label demonstrate how, in the right hands, the first two symphonies can thrill and delight … exquisite wind playing …genuinely exciting …’

GRAHAM RICKSON, THE ARTS DESK, 22 FEBRUARY 2010

LPO-0044 Klaus Tennstedt conducts Mahler’s Symphony 2 (Resurrection) with soloists Yvonne Kenny, Jard Van Nes and the London Philharmonic Choir ‘This live version of the Resurrection is frequently startling – extremely expansive but exciting, dramatic and highly charismatic …The playing and singing are excellent, and the recording, made by the Music Performance Research Centre, is near-faultless.’

GRAHAM RICKSON, THE ARTS DESK, 22 MARCH 2010

LPO-0045 Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Brahms’s A German Requiem with Elizabeth Watts, Stéphane Degout and the London Philharmonic Choir NEW RELEASE

The recordings may be downloaded in high quality MP3 format from www.lpo.org.uk/shop. They 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

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 11

51714 LPO 14 April 10_51714 LPO 14 April 10 08/04/2010 13:10 Page 12

Our season ends with a new beginning – the first performance of Ravi Shankar’s Symphony.

FUNharmonics Family Concert

Journeys Saturday 8 May 2010 | 11.30am Royal Festival Hall Adams Short Ride in a Fast Machine Dvořák Symphony 9 (From the New World) – Scherzo Mendelssohn Symphony 3 (Scottish) – Second Movement Marianelli The Seahorse’s Journey Debussy Ibéria – Le Matin d’un jour de fête Rozsa The Golden Voyage of Sinbad Schifrin (arr. Townend) Mission Impossible Ralf Sochaczewsky conductor Chris Jarvis presenter

Thursday 1 July 2010 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall John Adams Shaker Loops Philip Glass Violin Concerto 1 Ravi Shankar Symphony David Murphy conductor Robert McDuffie violin Anoushka Shankar sitar

FREE Pre-Concert Event 6.15pm | Royal Festival Hall An introduction to the music of Ravi Shankar.

Tickets £9-£38 / Premium seats £55 For booking details see page 16.

12 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Foyer Events from 10am You can try your hand at playing an orchestral instrument in one of our Have-a-Go sessions, get your face painted or join our human orchestra – all in the foyers before and after the performance.

Generously supported by The Jeniffer & Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust.

TICKETS Child £4-£7; Adult £8-£14 For booking details see page 16.

51714 LPO 14 April 10_51714 LPO 14 April 10 08/04/2010 13:10 Page 13

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

Mr Daniel Goldstein Mrs Barbara Green Mr Ray Harsant Oliver Heaton Peter MacDonald Eggers Mr & Mrs David Malpas Andrew T Mills Mr Maxwell Morrison 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 Andrew Davenport Mrs Sonja Drexler Mr Charles Dumas David Ellen Commander Vincent Evans

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 Mr Richard Fernyhough Ken Follett

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

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 Michael Posen 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 British American Business Charles Russell Destination Québec – UK Diagonal Consulting Lazard Leventis Overseas Man Group plc Québec Government Office in London Corporate Donors Lombard Street Research Redpoint Energy Limited In-kind Sponsors Heineken Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd Sela Sweets Ltd Villa Maria Education Partners Lambeth City Learning Centre London Borough of Lambeth Southwark EiC

Trusts and Foundations Adam Mickiewicz Institute Allianz Cultural Foundation The Andor Charitable Trust The Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation Borletti-Buitoni Trust The Candide Charitable Trust The John S Cohen Foundation The Coutts Charitable Trust The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Dunard Fund The Emmanuel Kaye Foundation The Equitable Charitable Trust The Eranda Foundation The Ernest Cook Trust The Fenton Arts Trust The Foyle Foundation Garfield Weston Foundation The Henry Smith Charity The Idlewild Trust John Lyon’s Charity John Thaw Foundation The Jonathan & Jeniffer Harris Trust The Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust

Lord Ashdown Charitable Settlement Marsh Christian Trust Maurice Marks Charitable Trust Maxwell Morrison Charitable Trust The Michael Marks Charitable Trust The Modiano Charitable Trust Musicians Benevolent Fund Paul Morgan Charitable Trust The R K Charitable Trust The Rubin Foundation Ruth Berkowitz Charitable Trust The Samuel Sebba Charitable Trust Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation Sound Connections Stansfield Trust UK Friends of the FelixMendelssohn-BartholdyFoundation The Underwood Trust and others who wish to remain anonymous.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 13

51714 LPO 14 April 10_51714 LPO 14 April 10 08/04/2010 13:10 Page 14

PHILHARMONIC NEWS

Indian Spring and Summer

his pioneering work in bringing Indian music to the West. He has collaborated with George Harrison and Philip Glass and composed extensively for films and ballets. His works already include two concertos for sitar and orchestra, violin/sitar compositions for Yehudi Menuhin and himself and music for flute virtuoso JeanPierre Rampal. Join us on 1 July to hear his latest orchestral composition.

On 8 April the Orchestra’s Renga ensemble returned from a short trip to India. This small group of players from the Orchestra, who regularly collaborate with musicians from outside the classical mainstream, gave three concerts with the Karnataka College of Percussion at Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi under the leadership of Scott Stroman.

New Music Alongside these performances, Orchestra musicians took part in workshops for local schools and education institutions. Led by animateur Lucy Forde, the workshops introduced students to different orchestral instruments and showcased exciting works from the Western classical repertoire.

If you want to catch the Orchestra’s Renga ensemble in the UK, they will be performing with folk group Bellowhead on The Clore Ballroom at the Royal Festival Hall at 5.30pm on Wednesday 12 May. On 7 April at the Royal Festival Hall the London Philharmonic Orchestra took part in a concert of music

by A. R. Rahman who has written music for many films including Slumdog Millionaire. The concert was part of Southbank Centre’s Alchemy festival which this year was curated by BBC Asian Network DJ, Nihal Arthanayake.

Later this season, on 1 July, we are delighted to be performing the world première of Ravi Shankar’s Symphony.

Ravi Shankar

14 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

This legendary sitarist and composer is India’s most esteemed musical ambassador. He is well known for

Hanya Chlala/Arena PAL

The trip was generously supported by Aviva, the International Touring Partner of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra’s next concert on 17 April, conducted by Marin Alsop, features the UK première of Texan Tenebrae by our Composer in Residence, Mark-Anthony Turnage. Turnage’s current major project is an opera, Anna Nicole, to be premièred at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden next February. Texan Tenebrae is not an excerpt from the score of the opera, but an independent fantasy, lasting about nine Mark-Anthony Turnage minutes, on one of its main musical ideas. Texan Tenebrae was given its world première in January 2010 by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, in the Auditorio de Tenerife, as part of the Canary Islands Music Festival.

Also in the programme on 17 April is the European première of Philip Glass’s Second Violin Concerto subtitled The American Four Seasons. The soloist will be Robert McDuffie for whom the work was composed.

The last item in the programme will be Górecki’s Symphony 3 (The Symphony of Sorrowful Songs) with Joanna Woś as the soprano soloist. Regrettably, due to health problems, Henryk Górecki was unable to complete the Symphony 4 which was scheduled to receive its world première on this date.

51714 LPO 14 April 10_51714 LPO 14 April 10 08/04/2010 13:10 Page 15

ADMINISTRATION

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

GENERAL ADMINISTRATION

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

*Non-Executive Directors

Alison Atkinson Digital Projects Manager Julius Hendriksen Assistant to the Chief Executive and Artistic Director FINANCE David Burke General Manager and Finance Director David Greenslade Finance and IT Manager

THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC TRUST

Joshua Foong Finance Officer

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 Simon Yates

CONCERT MANAGEMENT

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 Horwath Clark Whitehill LLP Auditors

Roanna Chandler Concerts Director

EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMME

ARCHIVES Edmund Pirouet Consultant

Matthew Todd Education and Community Director

Philip Stuart Discographer

Anne Newman Education Officer

Gillian Pole Recordings Archive

Isobel Timms Community Officer

INTERN

Alec Haylor Education and Community Assistant

Jo Langston Marketing

Richard Mallett Education and Community Producer

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

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

Ruth Sansom Artistic Administrator

Sarah Tattersall Corporate Relations and Events Manager

Graham Wood Concerts, Recordings and Glyndebourne Manager

Melissa Van Emden Corporate Relations and Events Officer

Alison Jones Concerts Co-ordinator

Anna Gover Charitable Giving Officer

Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant

MARKETING

Photographs of Verdi, Dvořák and Strauss courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London.

ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL

Kath Trout Marketing Director

Photograph on the front cover

by Benjamin Ealovega.

Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager

Frances Cook Publications Manager

Programmes printed by Cantate.

Sarah Thomas Librarian

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

Michael Pattison Stage Manager Camilla Begg Assistant Orchestra Personnel Manager

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

Valerie Barber Press Consultant (Tel: 020 7586 8560)

Ken Graham Trucking Instrument Transportation (Tel: 01737 373305)

Dr Louise Miller Honorary Doctor †Supported by Macquarie Group

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 15

51714 LPO 14 April 10_51714 LPO 14 April 10 08/04/2010 13:10 Page 16

FUTURE CONCERTS AT SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL

Saturday 17 April 2010 | 7.30pm

Saturday 1 May 2010 | 7.30pm

Turnage Texan Tenebrae (UK première) Glass Violin Concerto 2 – ‘The American Four Seasons’ (European première) Górecki Symphony 3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs)

Wagner Overture to Faust Brahms Alto Rhapsody Liszt Faust Symphony

Marin Alsop conductor Robert McDuffie violin Joanna Woś soprano

Vladimir Jurowski conductor Anna Larsson contralto Peter Auty tenor London Philharmonic Choir

FREE Pre-Concert Event 6.15pm | Royal Festival Hall Marin Alsop introduces the evening’s programme.

FREE Pre-Concert Event 6.15pm | Royal Festival Hall An exploration of Faust in music.

This concert is supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of POLSKA! YEAR.

Anna Larsson and Peter Auty Marin Alsop and Nicolas Hodges

Wednesday 21 April 2010 | 7.30pm Ives The Unanswered Question Bernstein Symphony 2 (Age of Anxiety) Shostakovich Symphony 5 Marin Alsop conductor Nicolas Hodges piano

Vladimir Jurowski and Danjulo Ishizaka

Wednesday 28 April 2010 | 7.30pm Prokofiev Sinfonia concertante Myaskovsky Symphony 6 Vladimir Jurowski conductor Danjulo Ishizaka cello London Philharmonic Choir Barlines | FREE Post-Concert Event Clore Ballroom Floor, Royal Festival Hall Foyer An informal discussion with Vladimir Jurowski on Myaskovsky’s Symphony 6.

16 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Friday 7 May 2010 | 7.30pm Tchaikovsky Francesca da Rimini Liszt Piano Concerto 2 Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis Dvořák Symphonic Variations Benjamin Northey conductor Arnaldo Cohen piano

TO BOOK

Tickets £9-£38 / Premium seats £55 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