Issuu

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 17 May 2013 | 7.30pm

vladimir JUROWSKI conductor patricia kopatchinskaja violin

stravinsky Jeu de Cartes (21’) prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 63 (26’) Interval shostakovich Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 54 (30’)

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

PROGRAMME £3 CONTENTS 2 Welcome 3 Tonight’s works in context 4 About the Orchestra 5 Leader 6 On stage tonight 7 Vladimir Jurowski 8 Patricia Kopatchinskaja 9 Programme notes 12 Shostakovich on the LPO Label 13 Orchestra news 14 LPO Friends 15 Supporters 16 LPO administration The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide.

Welcome

WELCOME TO SOUTHBANK CENTRE We hope you enjoy your visit. We have a Duty Manager available at all times. If you have any queries please ask any member of staff for assistance. Eating, drinking and shopping? Southbank Centre shops and restaurants include Foyles, EAT, Giraffe, Strada, YO! Sushi, wagamama, Le Pain Quotidien, Las Iguanas, ping pong, Canteen, Caffè Vergnano 1882, Skylon, Concrete 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 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. 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.

Southbank Centre’s The Rest Is Noise, inspired by Alex Ross’s book The Rest Is Noise Presented by Southbank Centre in partnership with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. southbankcentre.co.uk/therestisnoise The Rest Is Noise is a year-long festival that digs deep into 20th-century history to reveal the influences on art in general and classical music in particular. Inspired by Alex Ross’s book The Rest Is Noise, we use film, debate, talks and a vast range of concerts to reveal the fascinating stories behind the century’s wonderful and often controversial music. We have brought together the world’s finest orchestras and soloists to perform many of the most significant works of the 20th century. We reveal why these pieces were written and how they transformed the musical language of the modern world. Over the year, The Rest Is Noise focuses on 12 different parts. The music is set in context with talks from a fascinating team of historians, scientists, philosophers, political theorists and musical experts as well as films, online content and other special programmes. If you’re new to 20th-century music, then this is your time to start exploring with us as your tour guide. There has never been a festival like this. Jude Kelly Artistic Director, Southbank Centre

2 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Tonight’s works in context

1880

1882 Igor Stravinsky born in Oranienbaum, Russia 1886 First sales of Coca-Cola in the USA, originally marketed as a patent medicinal remedy

1890

1891 Sergei Prokofiev born in Sontsovka, Russia. Carnegie Hall opened in New York City 1896 Henri Becquerel discovered radioactivity. First modern Olympic games held in Athens

1900 1910

1901 Death of Queen Victoria 1904 Prokofiev becomes the youngest ever student accepted into the St Petersburg Conservatoire 1906 Dmitri Shostakovich born in St Petersburg 1908 First commercial radio transmission 1912 Sinking of the RMS Titanic. Premiere of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire in Berlin 1914 Outbreak of World War I 1916 Albert Einstein published his Theory of General Relativity

1920

1918 End of World War I. Prokofiev leaves Russia for the USA 1920 Stravinsky moved with his family to France 1922 Creation of the Soviet Union (USSR)

1930

1929 Wall Street Crash 1932 London Philharmonic Orchestra founded by Sir Thomas Beecham 1935 Premiere of Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in Madrid 1937 Premiere of Stravinsky’s Jeu de Cartes in New York

1940

1939 Premiere of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 6 in Leningrad 1945 End of World War II

1950

1949 Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four published 1953 Death of Prokofiev in Moscow. Death of Joseph Stalin 1955 Vietnam War began

1960 1970

1962 Cuban Missile Crisis 1969 Neil Armstrong became the first man on the Moon. Stonewall riots in New York 1971 Death of Stravinsky in New York 1975 Death of Shostakovich in Moscow

1980 London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3

‘The LPO’s playing throughout was exceptional in its warmth, finesse and detail.’ The Guardian (23 January 2013, Royal Festival Hall: Webern, Schoenberg and Mahler)

The London Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the world’s finest orchestras, balancing a long and distinguished history with a reputation as one of the UK’s most adventurous and forward-looking orchestras. As well as giving classical concerts, the Orchestra also records film and video game soundtracks, has its own record label, and reaches thousands of Londoners every year through activities for schools and local communities.

century American works with Marin Alsop; Haydn and Strauss with Yannick Nézet-Séguin; and the UK premiere of Carl Vine’s Second Piano Concerto with pianist Piers Lane under Vassily Sinaisky. Throughout 2013 the Orchestra is collaborating with Southbank Centre on The Rest Is Noise festival, based on Alex Ross’s book of the same name and charting the 20th century’s key musical works and historical events.

The Orchestra was founded by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1932, and since then its Principal Conductors have included Sir Adrian Boult, Sir John Pritchard, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. The current Principal Conductor is Vladimir Jurowski, appointed in 2007, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin is Principal Guest Conductor.

The Orchestra has flourishing residencies in Brighton and Eastbourne, and performs regularly around the UK. Every summer, the Orchestra leaves London for four months and takes up its annual residency accompanying the famous Glyndebourne Festival Opera, where it has been Resident Symphony Orchestra since 1964. The Orchestra also tours internationally, performing concerts to sell-out audiences worldwide. Tours in the 2013/14 season include visits to the USA, Romania, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Belgium, France and Spain.

The Orchestra is Resident Orchestra at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London, where it has performed since it opened in 1951, giving around 40 concerts there each season. 2012/13 highlights have included three concerts with Vladimir Jurowski based around the theme of War and Peace in collaboration with the Russian National Orchestra; Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera, also conducted by Jurowski; 20th4 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

The London Philharmonic Orchestra has recorded many blockbuster scores, from The Lord of the Rings trilogy to Lawrence of Arabia, The Mission, East is East, Hugo, and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. It also

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Pieter Schoeman leader

In summer 2012 the London Philharmonic Orchestra performed as part of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the River Thames, and was also chosen to record all the world’s national anthems for the London 2012 Olympics. The London Philharmonic Orchestra maintains an energetic programme of activities for young people and local communities. Highlights include the Deutsche Bank BrightSparks Series; the Leverhulme Young Composers project; and the Foyle Future Firsts orchestral training programme for outstanding young players. Over recent years, developments in technology and social networks have enabled the Orchestra to reach even more people worldwide: all its recordings are available to download from iTunes and, as well as a YouTube channel, news blog, iPhone app and regular podcasts, the Orchestra has a lively presence on Facebook and Twitter. lpo.org.uk facebook.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra twitter.com/LPOrchestra

London Philharmonic Orchestra 2013/14 season – on sale now! Our 2013/14 season at Royal Festival Hall opens on Saturday 28 September 2013 with a concert performance of Britten’s Peter Grimes under Vladimir Jurowski. Browse the season and book online at www.lpo.org.uk/newseason or call us on 020 7840 4208 to request a copy of the season brochure or to book by phone.

Pieter Schoeman was appointed Leader of the LPO in 2008, having previously been Co-Leader since 2002.

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 Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5 and Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, both with Vladimir Jurowski; Brahms’s Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3 with Klaus Tennstedt; a disc of orchestral works by Mark-Anthony Turnage; and the world premiere of the late Ravi Shankar’s First Symphony conducted by David Murphy.

Born in South Africa, he made his solo debut aged 10 with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra. He studied with Jack de Wet in South Africa, winning numerous competitions including the 1984 World Youth Concerto Competition in the US. In 1987 he was offered the Heifetz Chair of Music scholarship to study with Eduard Schmieder in Los Angeles and in 1991 his talent was spotted by Pinchas Zukerman, who recommended that he move to New York to study with Sylvia Rosenberg. In 1994 he became her teaching assistant at Indiana University, Bloomington. Pieter has performed worldwide as a soloist and recitalist in such famous halls as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Moscow’s Rachmaninov Hall, Capella Hall in St Petersburg, Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. As a chamber musician he regularly performs at London’s prestigious Wigmore Hall. As a soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Pieter has performed Arvo Pärt’s Double Concerto with Boris Garlitsky, Brahms’s Double Concerto with Kristina Blaumane, and Britten’s Double Concerto with Alexander Zemtsov, which was recorded and released on the Orchestra’s own record label to great critical acclaim. He has recorded numerous violin solos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra for Chandos, Opera Rara, Naxos, X5, the BBC and for American film and television, and led the Orchestra in its soundtrack recordings for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. In 1995 Pieter became Co-Leader of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice. Since then he has appeared frequently as Guest Leader with the Barcelona, Bordeaux, Lyon, Baltimore and BBC symphony orchestras, and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. Pieter is a Professor of Violin at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. London Philharmonic Orchestra | 5

On stage tonight

First Violins Pieter Schoeman* Leader Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader Chair supported by John & Angela Kessler

Ilyoung Chae Chair supported by Moya Greene

Katalin Varnagy Chair supported by Sonja Drexler

Catherine Craig Tom Eisner Robert Pool Sarah Streatfeild Rebecca Shorrock Galina Tanney Peter Nall Amanda Smith Elizabeth Lamberton Caroline Frenkel Ishani Bhoola Alina Petrenko Second Violins Sophie Langdon Guest Principal Jeongmin Kim Joseph Maher Kate Birchall Chair supported by David & Victoria Graham Fuller

Fiona Higham Ashley Stevens Marie-Anne Mairesse Eugene Lee Caroline Simon Harry Kerr Sioni Williams Alison Strange Stephen Stewart Elizabeth Baldey Stephen Dinwoodie John Dickinson

Violas Andriy Viytovych Guest Principal Robert Duncan Gregory Aronovich Katherine Leek Laura Vallejo Susanne Martens Michelle Bruil Alistair Scahill Naomi Holt Daniel Cornford Isabel Pereira Sarah Malcolm Pamela Ferriman Rebecca Carrington

Flutes María José Ortuño Benito Guest Principal Sue Thomas

Cellos Kristina Blaumane Principal Francis Bucknall Gregory Walmsley Santiago Carvalho† Sue Sutherley Susanna Riddell Tom Roff Tae-Mi Song Sibylle Hentschel David Bucknall Emily Isaac William Routledge

Cor Anglais Sue Bohling Principal Chair supported by Julian

Double Basses Kevin Rundell* Principal Tim Gibbs Laurence Lovelle George Peniston Richard Lewis Kenneth Knussen Helen Rowlands Jeremy Watt Tom Walley Catherine Ricketts

Chair supported by the Sharp Family

Chair supported by Geoff & Meg Mann

Stewart McIlwham*

Nicholas Betts Co-Principal Daniel Newell

Piccolo Stewart McIlwham* Principal

Trombones Mark Templeton* Principal David Whitehouse

Oboes Ian Hardwick Principal Angela Tennick Sue Bohling

Bass Trombone Lyndon Meredith Principal Tuba Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal Timpani Simon Carrington* Principal

& Gill Simmonds

Clarinets Robert Hill* Principal Emily Meredith Bass Clarinet Paul Richards Principal E-flat Clarinet Nicholas Carpenter* Principal Bassoons Daniel Jemison Guest Principal Gareth Newman* Simon Estell Contrabassoon Simon Estell Principal Horns John Ryan* Principal David Pyatt* Principal Chair supported by Simon Robey

Martin Hobbs Mark Vines Co-Principal Gareth Mollison

6 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Trumpets Paul Beniston* Principal Anne McAneney*

Percussion Andrew Barclay* Principal Chair supported by Andrew Davenport

Keith Millar Ignacio Molins Richard Horne Sarah Mason Harp Rachel Masters* Principal Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra

Celeste Catherine Edwards Assistant Conductor Ilyich Rivas

* Holds a professorial appointment in London † Chevalier of the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco

Vladimir Jurowski

Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor

One of today’s most sought-after and dynamic conductors, acclaimed worldwide for his incisive musicianship and adventurous artistic commitment, Vladimir Jurowski was born in Moscow, and completed the first part of his musical studies at the Music College of the Moscow Conservatory. In 1990 he relocated with his family to Germany, continuing his studies at the High Schools of Music in Dresden and Berlin. In 1995 he made his international debut at the Wexford Festival conducting Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night, and the same year saw his debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, with Nabucco. Vladimir Jurowski has been Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera since 2001, and in 2003 was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, becoming the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor in September 2007. He also holds the titles of Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Artistic Director of the Russian State Academic Symphony Orchestra. He has also held the positions of First Kapellmeister of the Komische Oper, Berlin (1997–2001); Principal Guest Conductor of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna (2000–03); and Principal Guest Conductor of the Russian National Orchestra (2005–09). Vladimir Jurowski is a regular guest with many leading orchestras in both Europe and North America, including the Berlin and Oslo Philharmonic orchestras; the Dresden Staatskapelle; the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester; the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich; and the Royal Concertgebouw, Philadelphia, Chicago Symphony, Bavarian Radio Symphony and Mahler Chamber orchestras. Highlights of the 2012/13 season and beyond include his debuts with the Vienna Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, New York Philharmonic, NHK Symphony and San Francisco Symphony orchestras, and return visits to the Chamber Orchestra of Europe; the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich; the Accademia di Santa Cecilia; and the Philadelphia, St Petersburg Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw and Chicago Symphony orchestras.

Jurowski made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, in 1999 with Rigoletto, and has since returned for Jenůfa, The Queen of Spades and Hansel and Gretel. He has conducted Parsifal and Wozzeck at Welsh National Opera; War and Peace at the Opera National de Paris; Eugene Onegin at Teatro alla Scala, Milan; Ruslan and Ludmila at the Bolshoi Theatre; and Iolanta and Die Teufel von Loudon at the Dresden Semperoper, as well as The Magic Flute, La Cenerentola, Otello, Macbeth, Falstaff, Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Don Giovanni, The Rake’s Progress, The Cunning Little Vixen and Peter Eötvös’s Love and Other Demons at Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Future engagements include new productions of Ariadne auf Naxos at Glyndebourne; Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Metropolitan Opera; Moses und Aron at the Komische Oper, Berlin; and The Fiery Angel at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. Jurowski’s discography includes the first ever recording of the cantata Exil by Giya Kancheli for ECM; Meyerbeer’s L’etoile du Nord for Marco Polo; Massenet’s Werther for BMG; and a series of records for PentaTone with the Russian National Orchestra. The London Philharmonic Orchestra has released a wide selection of his live recordings on its LPO Live label, including Brahms’s Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2; Mahler’s Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2; Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances; Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies 1, 4, 5, 6 and Manfred; and works by Turnage, Holst, Britten, Shostakovich, Honegger and Haydn. His tenure as Music Director at Glyndebourne has been documented in a CD release of Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery, and DVD releases of his performances of La Cenerentola, Gianni Schicchi, Die Fledermaus, Don Giovanni, and Rachmaninoff’s The Miserly Knight. Other DVD releases include Hansel and Gretel from the Metropolitan Opera New York; his first concert as the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Principal Conductor featuring works by Wagner, Berg and Mahler; and DVDs with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (Beethoven’s Symphonies Nos. 4 and 7) and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (Strauss and Ravel), all released by Medici Arts. Vladimir Jurowski’s position as Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra is generously supported by the Tsukanov Family Foundation and one anonymous donor.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 7

Patricia Kopatchinskaja violin

Violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja’s repertoire ranges from baroque and classical music (often played on gut strings) to a number of new commissions and re-interpretations of modern masterworks. Highlights of the 2011/12 season included a performance of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Violin Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra (with the composer conducting); concerts with the Deutsches SymphonieOrchester Berlin under Leonard Slatkin and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under Vladimir Ashkenazy; an appearance with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra at Cologne’s Philharmonie; and performances at the Folle Journée in Nantes, televised live by ARTE. In May 2012 she presented a programme dedicated to raising both funds and awareness for environmental causes in her native Moldova, in collaboration with members of the Staatskapelle Berlin and conductor Pablo Heras-Casado. 2012/13 sees Patricia Kopatchinskaja appear with the WDR Sinfonieorchester, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and the Iceland and Finnish Radio symphony orchestras. She has been re-invited to perform with both the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Deutsches SymphonieOrchester Berlin, and also continues her regular collaborations with the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées and Camerata Salzburg. Touring plays a prominent part in Patricia’s concert activities this season: she tours the Netherlands with both the Amsterdam Sinfonietta and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and will embark on a 12-concert tour of Australia with the Australian Chamber Orchestra later this summer. Tonight is her Royal Festival Hall debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, after performing with the Orchestra under Vladimir Jurowski on tour in the Canary Islands earlier this year. Chamber music is of immense importance to Kopatchinskaja’s artistic life. Her regular chamber partners include Fazil Say, Sol Gabetta, Markus Hinterhäuser and Polina Leschenko, as well as members 8 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

of her own family. She is also a founding member of the newly formed ‘quartet-lab’, a string quartet with Pekka Kuusisto, Lilli Maijala and Pieter Wispelwey. This autumn the quartet will embark on a European tour including performances at London’s Wigmore Hall, Berlin Konzerthaus, Eindhoven Muziekgebouw and Beethovenfest Bonn. Patricia Kopatchinskaja records exclusively for Naïve Classique. Releases for the label include her reading of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with Philippe Herreweghe and the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées, and more recently, a critically acclaimed all-Hungarian CD featuring Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2, Ligeti’s Violin Concerto and Peter Eötvös’s Seven with the composer conducting, in collaboration with the hr-Sinfonieorchester and Ensemble Modern. She has also recorded works by Tigran Mansurian with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta for ECM Records. The winner of numerous prizes, Patricia Kopatchinskaja was recently announced as the recipient of the 2012 Praetorius Musikpreis Niedersachsen Award in the Music Innovation category. Patricia Kopatchinskaja plays a violin made by Giovanni Francesco Pressenda in 1834. She is a Goodwill Ambassador for the charity Terre des Hommes, through which she supports projects for children in Moldova.

Programme notes

Russians abroad and at home This programme consists of music from the 1930s by three composers, born in successive decades, who could all call St Petersburg home, but whose careers followed contrasting paths. Igor Stravinsky was abroad at the time of the Russian Revolution, and remained in the West for the rest of his life. His playful ballet score Jeu de Cartes was written in 1935/36 in his first adopted home country, France, for a company in what was to be his final home country, the USA. It is conceived as a stylised poker game, dominated by the shape-shifting figure of the Joker. Sergei Prokofiev emigrated soon after the Revolution, but with official permission; he remained in touch with the authorities in the USSR and eventually

Igor Stravinsky 1882–1971

Stravinsky’s Jeu de Cartes, or ‘The Card Game’, is one of the liveliest and wittiest products of his neoclassical ‘middle period’. It was written between December 1935 and December 1936 for the newly formed American Ballet company (later New York City Ballet). The composer, at that time living in France, travelled to New York to supervise the choreographer George Balanchine’s final rehearsals, and to conduct the first performance at the Metropolitan Opera House in April 1937. Stravinsky was inspired to write the work by childhood memories of family holidays in German spa towns, where casinos formed part of the entertainment. One specific memory is enshrined in the ‘Introduction’ to each of the three parts, or ‘deals’, of the score: the ‘trombone voice’ of a master of ceremonies announcing ‘Ein neues Spiel, ein neues Glück’ – ‘New game, new fortune’. In more general

returned to settle there in 1936. His Second Violin Concerto, written the previous year (and premiered in the month in which Stravinsky began writing Jeu de Cartes) combines warmly lyrical melodies with passages of brilliant virtuosity. Dmitri Shostakovich remained in the USSR for his entire career, for much of the time fighting his corner in battles with the artistic bureaucracy of the state. In his Sixth Symphony of 1939, a large-scale, intense slow movement is followed, if hardly balanced, by a scherzo and a lively rondo with an ending of broad humour – in apparent, but probably ironic, conformity with official demands for lightness and optimism.

Jeu de Cartes Ballet in three ‘deals’ 1 2 3

First Deal: Alla breve – Moderato assai – Tranquillo Second Deal: Alla breve – Marcia – Variazioni 1–5 – Coda – Marcia Third Deal: Alla breve – Valse – Presto – Tempo del principio

terms, the casino setting inspired a number of allusions to 19th-century music that might have been played by the spa orchestras. Stravinsky himself mentioned ‘tunes by Rossini, Messager, Johann Strauss’. But the work’s spirit of play extends also to quotations from works by Beethoven, Ravel, Tchaikovsky and Delibes, not to mention Stravinsky’s own early Symphony in E-flat. As a regular poker player, Stravinsky conceived the ballet as a stylised poker game, played out by the cards themselves without human intervention. For different occasions, he produced different versions of the scenario. But they have in common the central figure of the Joker, unpredictable and dangerous because of his ability to represent any other card at will. In the First Deal, in a ‘Pas d’action’, he is unable to tip the balance between two even ‘straights’; he expresses his fury in a

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 9

Programme notes

‘Dance of the Joker’, but fails to impress the other cards, which dance a serene ‘Waltz-Coda’. In the Second Deal, the cards enter to a ‘March’; four Queens and the Jack of Hearts dance a sequence of ‘Variations’ (in the balletic sense of short solo dances) and a joint ‘Coda’; but in a reprise of the ‘March’ followed by an ‘Ensemble’, they are defeated by the Joker and four Aces. In the Third

Deal, there is a graceful ‘Waltz’ for a ‘flush’ of the Nine to Five of Hearts; a fierce ‘Presto (Combat between Spades and Hearts)’, in which these cards are overcome by the Joker, leading the Ten to Seven of Spades; and a ‘Final Dance (Triumph of the Hearts)’, in which the Joker and his Spades are in turn vanquished by the Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten of Hearts, a ‘royal flush’.

Sergei Prokofiev

Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 63

1891–1953

Prokofiev remained in touch with the Soviet Union during his years in the West, and he went back to live there in 1936. One of the last works he composed before this decisive move, though chiefly during an extended visit to the USSR which preceded it in the summer of 1935, was the second of his two violin concertos. It was written for the Franco-Belgian violinist Robert Soetens, who gave the first performance in Madrid in December 1935. The Concerto is scored for a small orchestra, without trombones, tuba or timpani, but including some unpitched percussion. The music foreshadows Prokofiev’s next major work, the ballet Romeo and Juliet, in its generous melodic invention, its occasional hints of serious undercurrents, and its marking-off of sections with changes of tempo and time signature. The first movement begins in moderate triple time, soon made livelier by a slight speeding-up and the superimposition of the first of the soloist’s many flights of virtuosity; but

Patricia Kopatchinskaja violin 1 Allegro moderato 2 Andante assai 3 Allegro, ben marcato

the second subject is at a slower tempo and in 4/4 time. This gloriously lyrical melody recurs with a descant from the soloist in the middle of the central development section, interrupting a gradual accelerando, and again in its proper place in the recapitulation; but the last word in the movement goes to the more austere first theme. The E-flat major slow movement is structured around three statements of another long lyrical melody, which initially unwinds in the soloist’s high register over an imperturbable pizzicato accompaniment in 12/8 time (four triplet beats to the bar). The first of the two intervening episodes is a little faster and has three beats to the bar; the second, and longer, episode includes an Allegretto in 4/4 with its own simple and expressive melody. The brittle finale, beginning in B-flat major but ending in G major, is a rondo on a main theme in quick waltz time (later given a Spanish colouring by the addition of castanets), with an athletic subsidiary idea in 7/4 time, and a hectic coda beginning in 5/4.

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

10 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Dmitri Shostakovich

Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 54 1 Largo 2 Allegro 3 Presto

1906–75

Shostakovich composed the sixth of his 15 symphonies in his native Leningrad (St Petersburg) between April and October 1939. It was first performed in the same city in November that year under Yevgeny Mravinsky, as part of an annual Festival of Soviet Music. It was Shostakovich’s first major work since he had rehabilitated himself in official eyes, after the criticism of his opera The Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, with his Fifth Symphony of 1937. As an abstract symphony, the Sixth may well have suffered in the comparison with another work premiered at the Festival, the powerfully patriotic cantata drawn by Prokofiev from his score for the film Alexander Nevsky. But Shostakovich’s work soon attracted criticism on its own account, for its apparently unbalanced and unsymphonic three-movement structure. The first, and by far the longest, movement is the opening Largo. This slow movement begins at high voltage with an even slower introduction, anticipating the two main thematic elements of the first subject proper – which begins at the point where the home key of B minor is established, over rocking triplets. These two ideas generate a whole complex of melodies, and build up to the movement’s first climax. The secondsubject group, beginning with a funeral march melody on the cor anglais, is similarly a complex of related ideas, reaching its own forceful culmination. One of Shostakovich’s large-scale, epic development sections now seems to be called for: but instead a flute muses quietly on the funeral march over string trills, and then a celeste trill leads the way to the recapitulation. This is severely truncated: the first-subject group is much less expansive than at first; the second-subject group is represented only by a few fragmentary bars on muted violins as the movement fades into silence.

Overall, this is a movement of unfulfilled expectations: a powerful introduction and a substantial opening section are followed by a middle section that is not much more than a bridge passage and a recapitulation that is not much more than a coda. And in the context of the work as a whole, the scale and seriousness of the movement creates expectations that are hardly matched by the two remaining movements. The first of these is a scherzo, initially light-textured but becoming more strident. There is a strongly accented trio section, underpinned throughout by insistent repeated semiquavers, and occasionally disrupting the 3/8 metre with odd bars of 4/8 and 5/8. The reprise of the scherzo is both varied and greatly shortened – to make room, as it turns out, for the return of the repeated semiquavers and some of the thematic ideas of the trio section. But, as in the first movement, the whole of this final section is restrained in dynamics. The concluding Presto is a lightweight and athletic rondo, recalling the ballet music of Shostakovich’s compatriot Prokofiev. There is a contrasting central episode in quick waltz time, initially heavy and ponderous in the bass register, but later with shrill and insistent repeated figures in the high treble. The coda is based on a transformed version of the heavy waltz, which brings the Symphony to a B major close in the manner of a riotous circus galop. It is above all the incongruity of this conclusion that has exercised writers on Shostakovich. A typical view from the Soviet period was that of the composer’s biographer Dmitri Rabinovich, who described the ending as a ‘brazen display of vulgarity’, a ‘stylistic somersault’ that ‘ruins the ideological concept of the Sixth Symphony’. But his idea of that ‘ideological concept’ was that the

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 11

Programme notes

first movement embodies contemplation of memories of the past, before the composer turns ‘to real life, to its sparkle and joy’. This chimed with Shostakovich’s own statement, for official public consumption, that he wanted the work to convey ‘the moods of spring, joy, youth’.

‘It’s been tremendously exciting to look on as the works I discuss in The Rest Is Noise have come together in Southbank Centre’s festival. Twentieth-century classical music is an extraordinary creative achievement that has shaped so many aspects of what we hear now, classical or not. There will always be something smouldering at the heart of this repertoire, something dangerous and untamed, but placing the music in a broad cultural and historical context should help people to become more comfortable with it and to understand how it came to be.’

More recently, though, commentators have pointed out that there was not much spring-like ‘sparkle and joy’ in the USSR of the late 1930s: an uneasy time when the worst of the Stalinist Terror appeared to be over, but the fear of arrest, imprisonment and execution was still ever-present; and also the period in which Fascist Germany was bewilderingly transformed overnight by the Nazi-Soviet Pact of August 1939 from hated enemy to trusted ally. Soviet composers were officially exhorted at this time to lift the nation’s flagging morale by concentrating on light music. So it may well be that in Shostakovich’s mind it was the grim but unassertive first movement of the Symphony that represented the ‘real life’ of the time – while the two final movements were his ironic response to official demands for lightness, cheerfulness and optimism.

Alex Ross, author, The Rest Is Noise southbankcentre.co.uk/therestisnoise

Piano Concertos and Piano Quintet (Vladimir Jurowski/ Martin Helmchen) | £9.99

Symphonies Nos. 1 & 5 (Kurt Masur) | £9.99

Symphony No. 8 (Gennady Rozhdestvensky) | £9.99

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LPO-0069

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Enjoy the LPO at home – Shostakovich on the LPO Label

Symphony No. 10 (Bernard Haitink) | £9.99

Over 70 live, studio and archive recordings available from www.lpo.org.uk/shop, the LPO Box Office (020 7840 4242), all good CD outlets and the Royal Festival Hall shop. Also available to download from iTunes, Amazon, eMusic and classicsonline.com

12 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Orchestra news

LPO at Glyndebourne

LPO at the BBC Proms: 27 & 30 August 2013

Tonight is our last Royal Festival Hall concert of the 2012/13 season, but a busy summer lies ahead. Tomorrow (Saturday 18 May) we open the 2013 Glyndebourne Festival with the first performance of a new production of Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos conducted by Vladimir Jurowski. Between now and the end of August, the Orchestra will also give performances of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro with Jérémie Rhorer (a revival of the 2012 production); Donizetti’s Don Pasquale with Enrique Mazzola (a revival of the 2011 Tour production); and a revival of the 2010 production of Britten’s Billy Budd with Sir Andrew Davis.

This summer the Orchestra makes two appearances at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. On Tuesday 27 August our Glyndebourne Prom celebrates Britten’s centenary with a semistaged performance of Billy Budd under Sir Andrew Davis, with the cast of the 2013 Glyndebourne Festival Opera production. And on Friday 30 August, Vladimir Jurowski conducts the Orchestra in The Witch of Atlas by British composer Sir Granville Bantock, Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with soloist Anika Vavic, Sibelius’s Pohjola’s Daughter and Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra.

This summer marks the LPO’s 50th year as Resident Symphony Orchestra at Glyndebourne, as well as Vladimir Jurowski’s 13th and final season as Glyndebourne’s Music Director before he is succeeded by Robin Ticciati in 2014. Tickets start from £10 and you can book by telephone (01273 813813), or via the Glyndebourne website:

Prices range from £7.50–£57, or you can queue on the day for standing ‘Promming’ tickets for just £5. Book directly with the Royal Albert Hall Box Office: phone 0845 401 5040 or book online: bbc.co.uk/proms

glyndebourne.com

Live and Local: the LPO in Liverpool and Manchester

New LPO Label release: Vladimir Jurowski conducts Mahler’s Symphony No. 1

Following last week’s successful concerts in Bradford and Blackburn, our summer ‘Live and Local’ tour of the North-West and Yorkshire continues next month with concerts at Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall (22 June) and Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall (26 June).

This month saw an exciting new release on the Orchestra’s own CD label: Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 under Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski, recorded live in concert at Royal Festival Hall on 4 December 2010 (LPO-0070). The recording includes the Symphony’s original second movement, ‘Blumine’.

The Orchestra will perform alongside high-definition films of breathtaking NASA footage in two celestialthemed concerts featuring Holst’s The Planets, Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra and John Adams’s Short Ride in a Fast Machine. Thanks to the generous support of our long-term corporate partner JTI, tickets to each concert are just £15. So whether you live in the North-West, are visiting the area, or have friends and family who might enjoy a night with the LPO, book now! www.lpo.org.uk/newseason/liveandlocal.html

This is the second Mahler symphony recording by Vladimir Jurowski on the LPO Label – Symphony No. 2 (released in 2011) met with great acclaim and has become one of the label’s best-selling recordings. The new CD is priced £9.99 and is available now from lpo.org.uk/shop, the LPO Box Office (020 7840 4242) and all good CD retailers. Alternatively you can download it from iTunes. Visit lpo.org.uk/shop for more details.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 13

LPO Friends The London Philharmonic Orchestra would like to acknowledge the following supporters for their contribution as Friends of the Orchestra for ten years or more: Mrs E Angus, Anonymous x 4, Dr Kirsten Asmussen, Mr John Michael Bamforth, Dr P W C Barnard, Mrs B Bash, Mr & Mrs B J Beine, Mr Patrick Benner, Mr Graham Binner, Mrs E Boden, Sir Alan & Lady Bowness, Miss P Braby, Mr Francis Neville Brammer, Mr Clifford Brown, Mrs Patricia Buck, Mr G Cansdale, Dr A E Carter, Miss Juliet Chaplin MBE, Mr Stuart Chillingworth, Mr Michael J Ching, Dr Gillian Clack, Alison Clarke & Leo Pilkington, Mr Jack Clay, Mr Stephen Clayton, Mr C Clement, Mr Geoffrey A Collens, Mr O J Colman, Mr R K Connell, Mr J L N Coombs, Miss Tessa Cowie, Dr & Mrs J E Danziger, Miss Sylvia Evelyn Mary Dowle, Mr Bryn Drew, Ms E M Duckworth, Miss Roberta Dunbavand, Mr Robin Duval, Mr Ross Egerton, Mr D Ehn, Mrs Janet Flynn, Mr & Mrs Frumkin, Ms Annette Furley, Mrs F Godfrey, Mr C Harris, Mrs D Hayden, Mr Colin Hickman, Miss Gillian Hosack, Rev C R James, Dr M A Kalina, Mrs Judith King-Farlow, Mr A Kinsman, Mr & Mrs Maurice Lambert, Ms L C Lawton, Mr Dexter Lee, Mrs A B Lees, Mrs Rosanne Levy, Mr K F Lovegrove, Mr K I Martlew, Mrs Amelia Mas, Mrs Margaret Mary Meecham, Mr John Moore & Ms Wiggins, Mr B O’Shaughnessy, Mrs Jennifer Oxley, Mr & Mrs J M Peters, Mr David Pether, Mr A R Platts, Mr Ivan Powell, Mr James A Reece, Mrs Bridget Royle, Mr B C Secrett, Mr Brian Neville Sharp, Mr T W Sharp, Mr F D Short, Mr R H Small, Mr Brian D Smith, Mr John Snelling, Mr & Mrs Stern, Mr David P Stewart, Mr & Mrs Cedric and Gillian Stylianou, Clive Swift, Mr J A Trigg, Miss M Venables, Mr & Mrs Brian Webb, Mr Grenville Williams, Mr C D Yates. Thank you for your support. 30305 wgh_Opera advert_2

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2013 SEASON THE THREEPENNY OPERA

with Meow Meow as Jenny Music by Kurt Weill, Libretto by Bertolt Brecht. A production by London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Foyle Future Firsts Friday 26th and Saturday 27th July

THE TALES OF HOFFMANN

Jacques Offenbach. Based on stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann A West Green House - Opera Project Production Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th August “At West Green, gardening and opera come together as a total package… done with a degree of super stylish fantasy that takes your breath away” Michael White – Critic 2012

Opera catering by Mosimann’s

West Green House Opera Ltd - Booking information A: West Green House, Thackhams Lane, Hartley Wintney, RG27 8JB T: (+44) 01252 844611 E: enquiries@westgreenhouse.co.uk W: www.westgreenhouse.co.uk Image Richard Studer

14 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Registered Charity Number: 114839

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

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 John Soderquist & Mr Costas Michaelides Mr & Mrs G Stein Mr & Mrs John C Tucker Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood Lady Marina Vaizey Howard & Sheelagh Watson Mr Anthony Yolland Benefactors Mrs A Beare Dr & Mrs Alan Carrington CBE FRS Mr & Mrs Stewart Cohen Mr Alistair Corbett Mr David Edgecombe Mr Richard Fernyhough Ken Follett Michael & Christine Henry Ivan Hurry Mr Glenn Hurstfield

Mr R K Jeha Mr Gerald Levin Sheila Ashley Lewis Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Mr Frank Lim Paul & Brigitta Lock Mr Brian Marsh Andrew T Mills John Montgomery Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill Edmund Pirouet Professor John Studd Mr Peter Tausig Mrs Kazue Turner Mr Laurie Watt Des & Maggie Whitelock Christopher Williams Bill Yoe Hon. Benefactor Elliott Bernerd Hon. Life Members Kenneth Goode Pehr G Gyllenhammar Edmund Pirouet Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE

The generosity of our Sponsors, Corporate Members, supporters and donors is gratefully acknowledged: Corporate Members Silver: AREVA UK British American Business Destination Québec – UK Hermes Fund Managers Pritchard Englefield Bronze: Lisa Bolgar Smith and Felix Appelbe of Ambrose Appelbe Appleyard & Trew LLP Berkeley Law Charles Russell Lazard Leventis Overseas Corporate Donor Lombard Street Research Preferred Partners Corinthia Hotel London Heineken Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd Villa Maria In-kind Sponsors Google Inc Sela / Tilley’s Sweets

Trusts and Foundations BBC Performing Arts Fund The Boltini Trust Sir William Boreman’s Foundation The Boshier-Hinton Foundation Britten-Pears Foundation The Candide Trust The Ernest Cook Trust The Coutts Charitable Trust Diaphonique, Franco-British fund for contemporary music 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 The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust Capital Radio’s Help a London Child The Hobson Charity The Kirby Laing Foundation The Idlewild Trust The Leverhulme Trust Marsh Christian Trust Adam Mickiewicz Institute

The Peter Minet Trust Paul Morgan Charitable Trust The Diana and Allan Morgenthau Charitable Trust Maxwell Morrison Charitable Trust Musicians Benevolent Fund Newcomen Collett Foundation The Ann and Frederick O’Brien Charitable Trust The Austin & Hope Pilkington Trust The R K Charitable Trust Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation The Rothschild Foundation The Samuel Sebba Charitable Trust The Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation John Thaw Foundation The Tillett Trust The Underwood Trust Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement Kurt Weill Foundation for Music Garfield Weston Foundation and others who wish to remain anonymous

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 15

Administration

Board of Directors

General Administration

Orchestra Personnel