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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

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall Wednesday 19 February 2014 | 7.30pm

Balakirev (arr. Casella) Islamey (Oriental Fantasy) (9’) Khachaturian Piano Concerto in D flat major (31’) Interval Kalinnikov Symphony No. 1 in G minor (37’)

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 Osmo Vänskä Marc-André Hamelin 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.

Osmo Vänskä conductor Marc-André Hamelin piano

Free pre-concert event 6.15–6.45pm | Royal Festival Hall David Nice discusses the evening’s programme.

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

This concert is being broadcast live by the BBC on Radio 3 Live In Concert. Listen online in HD Sound for 7 days at bbc.co.uk/radio3

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 Igor Yuzefovich Guest Leader Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader Ji-Hyun Lee Chair supported by Eric Tomsett

Katalin Varnagy Chair supported by Sonja Drexler

Thomas Eisner Martin Höhmann Robert Pool Sarah Streatfeild Yang Zhang Rebecca Shorrock Galina Tanney Caroline Frenkel Caroline Sharp Catherine van de Geest Robert Yeomans Robin Wilson Second Violins Victoria Sayles Guest Principal Joseph Maher Nancy Elan Fiona Higham Nynke Hijlkema Ashley Stevens Dean Williamson Sioni Williams Alison Strange Helena Nicholls Harry Kerr Stephen Stewart Elizabeth Baldey Stephen Dinwoodie

Violas Cyrille Mercier Principal Robert Duncan Gregory Aronovich Katharine Leek Benedetto Pollani Susanne Martens Laura Vallejo Daniel Cornford Naomi Holt Isabel Pereira Alistair Scahill Claudio Cavalletti Cellos Josephine Knight Guest Principal Francis Bucknall Santiago Carvalho† David Lale Elisabeth Wiklander Sue Sutherley Susanna Riddell Helen Rathbone Sibylle Hentschel Philip Taylor Double Basses Kevin Rundell* Principal Laurence Lovelle George Peniston Helen Rowlands Tom Walley Catherine Ricketts Laura Murphy Charlotte Kerbegian Flutes Katie Bedford Guest Principal Joanna Marsh Hannah Grayson

Piccolo Stewart McIlwham* Principal

Trumpets Paul Beniston* Principal Anne McAneney* Chair supported by Geoff & Meg Mann

Oboes Ian Hardwick Principal Jinny Shaw

David Hilton William O’Sullivan

Cor Anglais Sue Böhling Principal

Trombones Mark Templeton* Principal

Chair supported by Julian & Gill Simmonds

Clarinets Thomas Watmough Guest Principal Emma Canavan Bass Clarinet Paul Richards Principal E-flat Clarinet Emma Canavan Bassoons Rebecca Mertens Guest Principal Gareth Newman* Stuart Russell Contrabassoon Simon Estell Principal Horns John Ryan* Principal David Pyatt* Principal Chair supported by Simon Robey

Tim Ball Duncan Fuller Gareth Mollison

Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton

Matthew Knight Bass Trombone Lyndon Meredith Principal Tuba Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal Timpani Dominic Hackett Guest Principal Percussion Andrew Barclay* Principal Chair supported by Andrew Davenport

Karen Hutt Keith Millar Sarah Mason James Bower Ross Garrod Harps Rachel Masters* Principal Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra

Lucy Haslar Musical Saw Katharina Micada * 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 players are not present at this concert: David & Victoria Graham Fuller  Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp  The Sharp Family

4 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Osmo Vänskä

conductor

Hailed as ‘exacting and exuberant’ (The New York Times), Osmo Vänskä is recognised for his compelling interpretations of the standard, contemporary and Nordic repertoires. Music Director of the Minnesota Orchestra from 2003–13, Vänskä is internationally in demand as a guest conductor and has received extraordinary acclaim for his work with many of the world’s leading orchestras including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Boston and Chicago symphony orchestras, The Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. He has also developed regular relationships with the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York and the BBC Proms. The 2013/14 season includes performances with the Orchestre National de Lyon, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, The Cleveland Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and the San Francisco, National, New World, Vienna, Bamberg, Lahti and Singapore symphony orchestras. Recording for the BIS label, Vänskä gained distinction with his landmark Sibelius cycle with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, described by Gramophone as ‘the finest survey of the past three decades’. In 2012 a new recording of Sibelius’s Second and Fifth Symphonies with the Minnesota Orchestra was released, followed by Symphonies Nos. 1 and 4 in spring 2013; both of which were nominated for Grammy Awards. A further Minnesota Orchestra disc – featuring Beethoven’s Piano Concertos with Yevgeny Sudbin – will be released later this year. For the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s own label Vänskä has recorded Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 3 and Bax’s Tintagel, released in 2008 (LPO-0036; see opposite). Formerly Principal Conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Chief Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of the Iceland

Symphony Orchestra, Vänskä studied conducting at Finland’s Sibelius Academy and was awarded First Prize in the 1982 Besançon International Young Conductors’ Competition. He began his professional music career as a clarinettist, holding the Co-Principal chair of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and the Principal chair of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, and in recent years has enjoyed a return to the clarinet, including on a recent recording of Kalevi Aho’s chamber works. Osmo Vänskä is the recipient of a Royal Philharmonic Society Award, Musical America’s 2005 Conductor of the Year award, and the Arts and Letters Award from the Finlandia Foundation. He has been awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Glasgow and the University of Minnesota, as well as the 2010 Ditson Award from Columbia University for his support of American music. In 2013 he received the Annual Award from the German Record Critics’ Award Association for his extensive involvement in BIS’s project to record the complete works of Sibelius.

Osmo Vänskä conducts on the LPO Label 'Vänskä and the LPO are firing on all cylinders in this invigorating live pairing.’ Gramophone

Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 3 Bax Tintagel Osmo Vänskä conductor London Philharmonic Orchestra LPO-0036 | £9.99 Available from lpo.org.uk/recordings, the LPO Ticket Office (020 7840 4242), the Royal Festival Hall shop and all good CD outlets. Available to download or stream online via iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and others.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 5

Marc-André Hamelin

piano

Pianist Marc-André Hamelin’s unique blend of musicianship and virtuosity brings forth interpretations remarkable for their freedom, originality and prodigious mastery of the piano’s resources. A musician of broad musical interests and curiosity, he is renowned in equal measure for his fresh readings of the established repertoire and for his exploration of lesser-known works of the 19th and 20th centuries, both in the recording studio and the concert hall. Four multi-concert Artist Portrait series form much of Marc-André Hamelin’s 2013/14 season: the Celebrity Series of Boston, San Francisco Performances, London’s Wigmore Hall, and De Singel in Antwerp. He will perform in solo recitals and collaborate with guest artists including the Pacifica and Takács quartets as well as violinist Anthony Marwood, clarinettist Martin Fröst and pianist Emanuel Ax. He recently gave the world premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Piano Concerto with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Other highlights this season include recitals at the Berlin Philharmonie, Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center for the Washington Performing Arts Society, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, Munich’s Herkulessaal, and the Musikgebouw in Amsterdam. Past recital appearances include his debut at the 2011 BBC Proms with an all-Liszt programme, a recital at Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall as part of the International Piano Series, and appearances in Stuttgart, Florence, Berlin and Moscow. Recent and future orchestral highlights include the New York Philharmonic with Sir Andrew Davis, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Bernard Labadie, the London Symphony Orchestra with Osmo Vänskä, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra with Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, and a European tour with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Kent Nagano. Previous appearances include concerts with the Vienna 6 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Tonkünstler Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic, and Brahms’s Paganini Variations at the 2011 BBC Proms with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Marc-André Hamelin records exclusively for Hyperion Records. His most recent release is Haydn concertos with Les Violons du Roy and Bernard Labadie. This season will feature a disc of late piano works by Busoni. Other releases include three double-disc sets of Haydn sonatas; a solo disc of works by Liszt; and an album of his own compositions, Hamelin: Études, which received a 2010 Grammy nomination (his ninth) and First Prize from the German Record Critics’ Award Association. The Hamelin Études are published by Edition Peters. His complete Hyperion discography includes concertos and solo works by composers such as Alkan, Godowsky and Medtner, as well as brilliantly received performances of Brahms, Chopin, Liszt and Schumann. A resident of Boston, Marc-André Hamelin is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement prize from the German Record Critics’ Award Association, an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Chevalier de l’Ordre du Québec, and a member of the Royal Society of Canada.

Programme notes

Speedread Since the early 1800s, Russian poets and musicians have had a love affair with their neighbouring lands to the south. It is a romanticised longing, not unlike that of many Nordics for the sun and sensuality of the Mediterranean; and for many inhabitants of Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and the Crimea it is hard to stomach, given the shadow of Russian and Soviet imperialism. But the fact remains that Russian national identity has been indelibly marked by it. For Mily Balakirev, figurehead of the so-called ‘Mighty Handful’, the Caucasus mountains were a favourite holiday destination, and it was here that he heard the folk dance that became one of the two main themes of his 1869 ‘Oriental Fantasy’ Islamey, the other hailing from the Crimea (to Russians ‘oriental’ could always mean geographically south, so long as it was associated with the exotic).

Mily Balakirev

For Khachaturian – born in Georgia but with family roots in Armenia – adoption and adaptation of the folk idiom was a rather more synthetic affair. But the verve and colour he brought to it remain as hard to resist now as they were in 1936 when his Piano Concerto burst onto the scene. And here, too, the slow movement is based on an authentic Transcaucasian melody. There is plenty of folksiness to enjoy in Vasily Kalinnikov’s First Symphony, which was actually composed in the Crimea. In fact, whatever the sources, freshness of melodic invention and rhythmic joie de vivre bubble to the surface in all four movements. More than anything else he composed, Kalinnikov’s Symphony suggests that his early death robbed us of potentially one of the finest Russian composers of the generation between Balakirev and Khachaturian.

Islamey (Oriental Fantasy) (arr. Casella)

1837–1910

The name of Mily Balakirev is forever associated with the group of composers dubbed by the essayist Vladimir Stasov ‘The Mighty Handful’ (in Russian moguchaya kuchka) in 1867. Within that five-man band, Balakirev assumed the role of teacher and adviser, and his influence – direct and hands-on – extended not only to Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, Mussorgsky and Cui, but also at times to those outside the Handful, such as Tchaikovsky. Of all these composers, he was the only professionally competent performer, though after some prestigious early appearances he turned away from a possible career as a concert pianist. His most famous composition in any medium is the ‘Oriental Fantasy’ Islamey, composed in 1869 at the height of his early prowess, just before a period of withdrawal from the

musical world, brought on by a nervous collapse, that saw him working for a time as a clerk for the Russian railway. During the 1860s – Balakirev’s golden decade and the high-point for Russian musical nationalism as a whole – he collected and published numerous folksongs. It was during one of his three trips to the Caucasus that he encountered the Kabardian dance-tune known as ‘Islamey’, which would feature in the outer sections of his Oriental Fantasy, while the languorous middle section is a Tartar melody from the Crimea that Balakirev heard from the Armenian actor de Lazar in Tchaikovsky’s house. Continued overleaf London Philharmonic Orchestra | 7

Programme notes continued

True to the technique established by Glinka in his Kamarinskaya overture, the folk themes themselves remain little changed, while Balakirev supplies numerous re-harmonisations and textures of increasingly dazzling virtuosity (borrowed mainly from Liszt’s ‘Transcendental’ and ‘Paganini’ Variations). The result is a benchmark in keyboard pyrotechnics that remains to this day a high-tariff option for piano competitions and encores.

Transferring the percussive impact of the piano original to the orchestra is a challenge that has been taken up by several arrangers. The two best-known versions are by the Russian composer-pianist Sergey Lyapunov, made for a Fokine ballet in 1912, and by the Italian Alfredo Casella in 1907, the latter of which the composer approved and will be heard in tonight’s concert.

Aram Khachaturian

Piano Concerto in D flat major, Op. 38

1903–78

For 20 years or more after its appearance in 1936, Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto seemed destined for repertoire status. This was the case not only in Russia but also in England, where Moura Lympany was one of its great champions (her 1945 recording is still in the CD catalogue), and in America, where Arthur Rubinstein and William Kapell vied with one another in popularising it. Nowadays it is a rarer bird, and one whose raucous voice and gaudy plumage tend to raise at best an indulgent smile. Yet to write music that was modern in sound (at least in Russia in the mid-1930s), yet not gratuitously ugly or angst-ridden, and that may be enjoyed at first hearing by the average concertgoer, is hardly an unworthy aim. And no one could deny that Khachaturian gives the soloist a splendid vehicle for virtuoso display. As early as his student days on either side of 1930, Khachaturian was aware that his delight in the folk idioms of the Transcaucas gave him a distinctive musical voice. He was actually born and brought up in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, and lived most of his professional life in Moscow, so his contact with folk music was in its urbanised rather than authentic form. But his family roots were in Armenia, and it was that country whose traditions he most often drew on and which in turn acknowledged him as its chief musical spokesman. As a student of Mikhail Gnesin and Nikolay 8 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Marc-André Hamelin piano 1 Allegro ma non troppo e maestoso 2 Andante con anima 3 Allegro brillante

Myaskovsky, Khachaturian was schooled in the same procedures that the composers of the Mighty Handful – above all, perhaps, Borodin – had used to put Russian nationalism onto the international map. Happily for him, this amalgam of folk and art traditions was also close to the line increasingly required of composers during the Stalin era. This was no mere toadyism. Joie de vivre, swaggering display and broadly accessible lyricism – the preferred ingredients of Socialist Realism – all came naturally to him, while irony, prankishness and melancholy, of the kind favoured by Shostakovich and Prokofiev and which so often got them into trouble, were not in his nature. Only in the paranoid post-war atmosphere of Andrey Zhdanov’s ‘anti-formalism’ campaigns did he find himself stigmatised, along with his more stylistically progressive colleagues. In point of fact, anything less formalist than Khachaturian’s vivid orchestration and emotional candour would be hard to imagine. Khachaturian was not an early starter as a performer, and unlike many of his fellow Soviet composers he never became a performing pianist. But he was quick to absorb styles around him, especially the keyboard gymnastics of Prokofiev. Indeed he must surely have had the scores of Prokofiev’s First and Third Concertos on his desk, or at least near the front of his mind, while working on his Piano Concerto. The opening clamorous

triple-time march already announces that affinity, and although the quiet oboe theme that follows is full of Eastern promise and exudes more than a whiff of Ravel, its treatment by the piano in a kind of premature lyrical cadenza is again pure Prokofiev. The piano takes charge through the central phases of the movement, and all the way through the long cadenza to the imperious conclusion the spotlight is rarely off the soloist. As Khachaturian much later revealed, the slow movement is based on an Oriental urban song once popular in the Transcausus; and he declared himself surprised that even Georgian and Armenian musicians of his acquaintance had not spotted the allusion. Before its appearance the stage is set by gloomy bass clarinet musings under muted strings. The piano then announces the languorous main theme, which will appear in ever more ecstatic guises throughout the movement. For some of these the score indicates optional doubling on flexatone (a percussion instrument of less than totally predictable pitch and tone-colour, which Khachaturian directs should only be included if the effect is ‘more whistling than ringing’). The instrument was only patented in 1922, and there is some evidence to suggest that in the 1920s and 30s ‘flexatone’ may also have been used to designate the musical saw, an ‘instrument’ known in traditional

Russian and Armenian music. A musical saw will be used in tonight’s performance. The finale is the concerto equivalent of the fast, male-dominated group dances that held the Russian stage from Borodin’s time through to the heyday of the Red Army Song and Dance ensemble (which is to say, pretty much all the way to the present day). There is even a hint of ragtime rhythm, albeit faster and more aggressive than the real thing. The solo writing is plastered all over the keyboard, not least in the gradually accelerating cadenza, after which the grandiose opening theme of the first movement makes its reappearance and points the way home. The premiere of the Piano Concerto took place on 12 July 1936, on an open-air stage at Moscow’s Sokolniki Park. The soloist on that occasion was Lev Oborin, winner of First Prize at the 1927 Chopin competition where Shostakovich was semi-finalist; later chamber partner of David Oistrakh; and teacher of, among others, Vladimir Ashkenazy. The score carries a dedication to Oborin. It would remain Khachaturian’s only concerto for piano, though he added a ConcertoRhapsody in 1967, in the same key of D flat major and, though it may be hard to believe, even more blatant in its invention.

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

Vasily Kalinnikov 1866–1901

Vasily Kalinnikov is one of the great might-have-beens of Russian music. That was certainly the verdict of the best-known of all Russian musicologists, Boris Asafyev, and his verdict was based not only on the composer’s ill-health and early demise but also on the extraordinary promise of Kalinnikov’s First Symphony.

Symphony No. 1 in G minor 1 2 3 4

Allegro moderato Andante commodamente Scherzo. Allegro non troppo Finale. Allegro moderato

Not able to pay his fees at Moscow Conservatory, Kalinnikov studied at the less prestigious Moscow Philharmonic Society Music School, on a scholarship as a bassoonist, and thereafter scratched a living as theatre musician, copyist and theory teacher. In 1892 he came to the attention of Tchaikovsky, who London Philharmonic Orchestra | 9

Programme notes continued

recommended him for a conductorship at the Maly Theatre (sister company to the larger Bolshoi). Soon afterwards, however, his health gave way, and he spent the remainder of his life in the Crimea, succumbing to tuberculosis three days before his 35th birthday. Composed in 1895–96, shortly after his move south, Kalinnikov’s First Symphony is filled to bursting with the health and energy he did not enjoy in real life. The first movement conforms outwardly to the textbook model of sonata form, but within those bounds it is surprised by joy at every turn. A folksy modal theme on the strings is immediately questioned by a chromatic riposte in the horns, setting up a contrast symbolic of Nature and Art – of life outdoors and indoors – that will animate the entire Symphony. And if the opening tune is fairly routine by Russian symphonic standards, Kalinnikov has one up his sleeve that is worthy of Borodin, or even of Tchaikovsky himself. Horn, violas and cellos introduce it, before the violins sing their hearts out with it. These ideas are stitched together with impressive displays of counterpoint and modulation, neither dulled by duty nor driven towards dramatic hysteria, but instead constantly touched by the delight of discovery. Then just when it seems that the first movement’s sense of proportion may have deserted it, Kalinnikov wraps things up with a stern coda. Close your eyes and you could imagine that an ensemble of balalaikas had crept onstage to introduce the slow movement. That magical evocation in fact comes simply from muted violins and harp in unison, setting the scene for a heaven-sent melody on the cor anglais (how quickly César Franck’s Symphony in D minor of 1888 – or perhaps news of it – seems to have reached impressionable Russian ears). According to a biographer friend, the movement came to Kalinnikov on a sleepless night when ‘the silence itself seems to vibrate’. The harp continues beneath the contrasting tune on the oboe, which initiates a central section in which ‘one hears the throbbing of one’s heart and experiences a feeling of loneliness’. The Scherzo is once again built from folksong-like fragments, reconciled to a Beethovenian momentum (a possibility Beethoven himself had explored in his ‘Razumovsky’ string quartets), while the Trio section is another oboe melody, in moderate dance tempo.

10 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

The finale winds the clock back to the opening of the first movement, and for a moment it seems as though the wells of inspiration may have run dry. But Kalinnikov is a subtle strategist, as becomes clear when the horn/ viola/cello tune returns, at first like a welcome guest to the festivities, but then whisked off in a fast dance, so that it does not know quite whether to be shocked or thrilled. Kalinnikov dedicated the Symphony to his friend and support Semyon Kruglikov, who submitted it for inspection to Rimsky-Korsakov, who in turn was put off by numerous errors in the score (possibly the fault of an inexperienced copyist). Nevertheless in 1897 the work was successfully premiered in Kiev, and performances soon followed in Moscow, Vienna, Berlin and Paris. Kalinnikov could not repeat its freshness in his Second (and last) Symphony, but the First has never lost its place on the fringes of the repertory or in the hearts of those lucky enough to encounter it. Programme notes © David Fanning

New for 2013/14 – LPO mini film guides This season we’ve produced a series of short films introducing the pieces we’re performing. We’ve picked one work from each concert, creating a bitesized introduction to the music and its historical background. Watch Patrick Bailey introduce Kalinnikov’s Symphony No. 1: lpo.org.uk/explore/videos.html

Next LPO concerts at Royal Festival Hall

Friday 21 February 2014 | 7.30pm

Friday 14 March 2014 | 7.30pm

JTI Friday Series

Berlioz Overture, Le Corsaire Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Elgar Symphony No. 2

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

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

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

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.

Wednesday 19 March 2014 | 7.30pm Mozart Symphony No. 38 (Prague) R Strauss Burleske J S Bach Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, BWV 1052 R Strauss Death and Transfiguration David Zinman conductor Emanuel Ax piano

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

Friday 7 March 2014 | 7.30pm JTI Friday Series Dvořák Scherzo capriccioso Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 Mahler Blumine Shostakovich Symphony No. 1 Ilyich Rivas conductor Simon Trpčeski piano

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.

Katalin Varnagy

Then: aged 10

Now: First Violin

I grew up in Hungary and began to play the violin when I was five. The first time I saw an orchestra was when my father was leading the Szeged Symphony Orchestra. I was lucky enough to be born into a musical family, but many children do not get to experience orchestral music at an early age like I did. Music should be for everyone, not just those who are lucky – give £9 today to help young south Londoners hear a live orchestra.

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.

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#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.

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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 Grenville & Kyrsia Williams 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 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 * 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 Sir John Tooley Chris Viney Timothy Walker AM Elizabeth Winter American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Inc. Jenny Ireland Co-Chairman William A. Kerr Co-Chairman Kyung-Wha Chung Alexandra Jupin 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

Orchestra Personnel

Public Relations

Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager

Albion Media (Tel: 020 3077 4930)

Chief Executive

Sarah Holmes Sarah Thomas Librarians (job-share)