21 April 2010 LPO Programme notes

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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 21 April 2010 | 7.30 pm MARIN ALSOP conductor NICOLAS HODGES piano

IVES The Unanswered Question

CONTENTS 2 List of Players 3 Orchestra History 4 Southbank Centre 5 Marin Alsop 6 Nicolas Hodges 7 Programme Notes 11 Recordings 13 Supporters 14 Philharmonic News 15 Administration 16 Future Concerts

(6’)

BERNSTEIN The Age of Anxiety: Symphony 2 for piano and orchestra (after W H Auden) (35’) INTERVAL SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony 5 (46’) This concert is part of The Bernstein Project at Southbank Centre, which over the season includes concerts, film, debate and participation events, led by the Festival Artistic Director, Marin Alsop.

†

PROGRAMME £3

supported by Macquarie Group

CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

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

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LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

FIRST VIOLINS Natalia Lomeiko 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 Fredrik Paulsson Guest Principal Clare Duckworth Co-Principal Chair supported by Richard and Victoria Sharp

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

Nancy Elan Fiona Higham Marie-Anne Mairesse Ashley Stevens Andrew Thurgood Dean Williamson Sioni Williams Heather Badke Peter Graham Mila Mustakova

VIOLAS Alexander Zemtsov* Principal Anthony Byrne Chair supported by John and Angela Kessler

Katharine Leek Emmanuella Reiter Laura Vallejo Isabel Pereira Daniel Cornford Naomi Holt Martin Fenn Claudio Cavalletti Rebecca Carrington Sarah Malcolm CELLOS Susanne Beer Principal Francis Bucknall Laura Donoghue Santiago Sabino Carvalho + Gregory Walmsley Sue Sutherley Susanna Riddell David Lale Tom Roff Pavlos Carvalho DOUBLE BASSES Timothy Gibbs Guest Principal Laurence Lovelle George Peniston Richard Lewis Roger Linley Kenneth Knussen David Johnson Rebecca Welsh FLUTES Jaime Martin* Principal Susan Thomas* Stewart McIlwham* Katie Bicknell PICCOLO Stewart McIlwham* Principal

OBOES Ian Hardwick Principal Owen Dennis COR ANGLAIS Sue Bohling Principal Chair supported by Julian and Gill Simmonds

CLARINETS Robert Hill* Principal Thomas Watmough Paul Richards E FLAT CLARINET Thomas Watmough BASS CLARINET Paul Richards Principal BASSOONS John Price Principal Gareth Newman* CONTRA BASSOON Simon Estell Principal

BASS TROMBONE Lyndon Meredith Principal TUBA Lee Tsarmaklis Principal TIMPANI Simon Carrington* Principal PERCUSSION Rachel Gledhill Principal Andrew Barclay* Co-Principal Keith Millar Jeremy Cornes Ignacio Molins HARPS Rachel Masters* Principal Helen Sharp PIANO AND CELESTE Catherine Edwards CELESTE John Alley

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

Daniel Newell Chair supported by Mrs Steven Ward

David Hilton TROMBONES David Whitehouse Principal Robert Workman Richard Watkin

* 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: Caroline, Jamie and Zander Sharp Simon Yates and Kevin Roon

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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

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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.

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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

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MARIN ALSOP

Grant Leighton

CONDUCTOR

Marin Alsop is an inspirational music director.

Internationally acclaimed for her creative approach to programming and interpretation of repertoire from the mainstream to the contemporary, she instils orchestras with new dynamism and deepens their interaction with audiences and the wider community.

In June 2009 Marin Alsop’s success as Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra was recognised when it was announced that the relationship would be extended to 2015. Alsop retains strong links with all of her previous orchestras. From 2002 to 2008 she was Principal Conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and now holds the post of Conductor Emeritus, as well as being Music Director Laureate of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, where she was Music Director from 1993 to 2005. Since 1992 Alsop has been Music Director of California’s Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, building a devoted audience for new music and playing to sold-out houses.

Future European engagements include concerts with the WDR Köln, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony, Stockholm Philharmonic, Danish Radio Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic and Czech Philharmonic. Ms Alsop appears regularly with the London Symphony and London Philharmonic Orchestras. She is a regular guest conductor with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic, and has conducted many other distinguished orchestras worldwide, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Zurich Tonhalle, Orchestre de Paris, Bavarian Radio Symphony and La Scala Milan.

Since beginning her position in Baltimore in September 2007, Alsop has spearheaded educational initiatives which reach more than 60,000 school and pre-school students, and in 2008 launched ‘OrchKids’, an afterschool programme designed to provide music education, instruments and mentorship to the city’s neediest young people.

Musical America’s 2009 Conductor of the Year, Marin Alsop made history in 2007 when she was appointed Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, thus becoming the first woman to head a major American orchestra. In autumn 2008 she became a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Ms Alsop’s extensive discography includes the recent Brahms symphonies set, recorded with the London Philharmonic Orchestra for the Naxos label. Her most recent recordings, of Adams’ Nixon in China and Leonard Bernstein’s Mass, also released on Naxos, have both garnered widespread critical acclaim. The Financial Times gave Nixon in China five stars, calling it an ‘incandescent performance’, while Gramophone magazine chose the ‘standard-setting’ Mass as one of its recordings of the year. Other recordings include music by Bartók, Bernstein, Takemitsu, Weill and Orff, all with the Bournemouth Symphony, in addition to a number of recordings for the Naxos ‘American Classics’ series.

Born in New York City, Marin Alsop attended Yale University and received her Master’s Degree from The Juilliard School. She was the first woman to be awarded the Koussevitsky Conducting Prize from the Tanglewood Music Center where she became a protégé of Leonard Bernstein.

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NICOLAS HODGES PIANO

paired with 20th century works, Hodges has shown commitment to contemporary music second to none.

Nicolas Hodges was born in London in 1970. One of the most exciting performers of his generation, he has successfully carried forward a career encompassing interpretations of classical, romantic, twentieth century and contemporary repertoire that have proved fascinating to audiences worldwide, leading the London Guardian to comment: ‘Hodges’s recitals always boldly go where few other pianists dare ... with an energy that sometimes defies belief.’

Hodges’s concerto engagements have included performances with the Chicago Symphony, St Louis Symphony, BBC Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony, Philharmonia, City of Birmingham Symphony, Bamberger Symphoniker, WDR Symphony, SWR Symphony Freiburg/Baden-Baden, Helsinki Philharmonic, Stockholm Philharmonic and Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestras as well as the London Sinfonietta, Basel Sinfonietta and ASKO/Schoenberg Ensemble Amsterdam. He has played under conductors such as Barenboim, Brabbins, Graf, Knussen, Levine, Masson, Nott, Otaka, Robertson, Rophé, Rundel, Saraste, Slatkin, Valade and Zender. He has been featured at all the major UK festivals including the BBC Proms as well as those in Witten, Darmstadt, Berlin, Luzern, Paris (Festival d’Automne), Innsbruck (Klangspuren), Brussels (Ars Musica), Zurich (Tage für Neue Musik) and Vienna (Wien Modern). He has also performed at Suntory Hall, Japan, and at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall and Orchestra Hall, Chicago, in the USA. As well as the standard repertoire, exemplified both in concerto performances, such as his recently acclaimed Beethoven Concerto 1 with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and mixed recital programmes, such as his programme of Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata

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Elliott Carter wrote his concerto Dialogues specially for Hodges. The première took place in January 2004 with the London Sinfonietta under Oliver Knussen and was immediately followed by a recording of the work with the same artists for Bridge Records. He subsequently gave the US première with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Barenboim and returned to give the New York première with the MET Chamber Ensemble under James Levine. In 2008, in celebration of Elliott Carter’s 100th birthday, he gave further performances of Dialogues at Tanglewood with Levine, at the Concertgebouw with Knussen, and at the Berlin Philharmonic with Daniel Barenboim. His many other performances of the work have included the French, Japanese, Spanish and Portuguese premières. As The Financial Times put it, ‘Hodges virtually owns the piece’.

Other composers who have composed works for him include Harrison Birtwistle, Wolfgang Rihm, Salvatore Sciarrino and Beat Furrer, and he also has close working relationships with Adams, Ferneyhough, Harvey, Kagel, Knussen, Lachenmann, Neuwirth, Nørgård and the late Karlheinz Stockhausen. In 2008 he premièred Thomas Adès’s Concerto In Seven Days at the Royal Festival Hall in London, subsequently performing it in the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s ‘Green Umbrella’ series and with the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra, all under the composer’s direction.

A committed teacher, he educates young pianists, particularly in the relationship between the performance of standard repertoire and contemporary works, constantly resisting the specialisation of his students in one or other direction. This goes hand in hand with his work with young composers, attempting to demystify the complexities of writing for the piano.

An energetic recording artist, he has released more than 20 CDs, including works by Adams, Carter and Gershwin. Many of his discs showcase composers he is committed to, and his missionary zeal in this area has been rewarded by critical acclaim.

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PROGRAMME NOTES

SPEEDREAD Tonight’s programme centres on the inspiring figure of Leonard Bernstein, Marin Alsop’s conducting mentor and the subject of the Southbank Centre’s season-long Bernstein Project. Charles Ives’s mystical The Unanswered Question was a favourite piece of Bernstein’s, and he borrowed its title for his series of Norton Lectures at Harvard University in 1973 – a series devoted to the idea of music as language, which ended characteristically ‘I’m no longer quite sure what the question is, but I do know that the answer is Yes’. Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, the ambiguously triumphant finale of which restored the composer to official Soviet favour in 1937, was in Bernstein’s repertoire for almost the whole of his career:

Charles IVES

older members of the audience may remember a BBC television programme in 1966 which showed him rehearsing it with scorching intensity.

Both works were on the programmes when Bernstein and his New York Philharmonic made their historic visit to Moscow in 1959 – as was his own Second Symphony for piano and orchestra, written ten years earlier. This was inspired by W H Auden’s long poem The Age of Anxiety, which takes the form of a four-way conversation about faith and doubt in wartime New York. It thus takes its place in the sequence of Bernstein’s works reflecting his own search for faith, a sequence which includes all three of his symphonies and culminates in the crowning work of the Bernstein Project, Mass.

THE UNANSWERED QUESTION

1874-1954

declaims a single phrase (except that the last note Charles Ives, a native of Connecticut and a ‘Sunday alternates between two options) seven times. The composer’ who also held an important position in the New York insurance business, was the great pioneer and trumpet calls are followed, each time except the last, by short, dissonant passages for a quartet of flutes, in an the great thinker among American composers. This short piece – written in 1906, revised in the early 1930s, unrelated tempo, faster (and louder) each time. unperformed until 1946, but now one of his best known Ives described the piece as ‘A Cosmic Landscape’, and in works – shows him in typically experimental and a ‘Note for Performers’ prefacing the revised version philosophical mood. It takes place on three distinct planes. Muted strings, quartet or orchestra (ideally placed ‘I’ve always thought of Ives’s Unanswered Question as not a offstage), provide a metaphysical one so much as a strictly musical question: Whither continuous, very quiet background of widely music in our century? … Is that luminous final triad the answer? Is spaced, slowly shifting tonality eternal, immortal? Many have thought so, and some still consonant harmonies. do. And yet that trumpet’s question hangs in the air, unresolved, At intervals against this troubling our calm.’ background, and coordinated with it, a solo LEONARD BERNSTEIN, FROM THE UNANSWERED QUESTION, THE CHARLES ELIOT trumpet quietly NORTON LECTURES AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY IN 1973

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PROGRAMME NOTES

explained its symbolism. The strings, he said, ‘represent “The Silences of the Druids – who Know, See and Hear Nothing”. The trumpet intones “The Perennial Question of Existence”, and states it in the same tone of voice each time. But the hunt for “The Invisible Answer” undertaken by the flutes and other human beings becomes gradually more active … “The Fighting

Leonard BERNSTEIN

Answerers”, as the time goes on, and after a “secret conference”, seem to realise a futility, and begin to mock “The Question” – the strife is over for the moment. After they disappear, “The Question” is asked for the last time, and the “Silences” are heard beyond in “Undisturbed Solitude”.’

THE AGE OF ANXIETY: SYMPHONY 2 FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA (AFTER W H AUDEN) NICOLAS HODGES piano

1918-1990

Part 1 (a) The Prologue: Lento moderato – (b) The Seven Ages (Variations I to VII) – (c) The Seven Stages (Variations VIII to XIV) Part 2 (a) The Dirge: Largo – (b) The Masque: Extremely fast – (c) The Epilogue: L’istesso tempo – Adagio

Koussevitzky in April 1949. And the work derives its shape, of six movements grouped in two continuous Parts, from W H Auden’s long poem (with prose ‘stage directions’) The Age of Anxiety: A Baroque Eclogue. The poem, written in 1944–46 and published in 1947, is a complex examination of humanity’s search for faith, in the form of a conversation in wartime New York among four characters, three men and a woman representing different aspects of the human psyche. The solo piano represents what the composer called ‘an almost autobiographical protagonist’, observing and responding to the discussion.

Leonard Bernstein’s three symphonies are all the major statements that the title has come to imply, but they are nevertheless far from traditionally ‘symphonic’ in scoring ‘No one could be more astonished than I at the extent to which the and form. The programmaticism of this work has been carried. I had not planned a Second, composed ‘meaningful’ work, at least not in the sense of a piece whose between 1947 and meaning relied on details of programmatic implication. I was merely early 1949, includes a writing a symphony inspired by a poem and following the general solo piano – a part which Bernstein form of that poem. Yet when each section was finished I discovered, himself played at the upon re-reading, detail after detail of programmatic relation to the first performance, poem – details that had ‘written themselves’, wholly unplanned and given by the Boston unconscious...’

Symphony Orchestra under Serge LEONARD BERNSTEIN, FROM THE PREFACE TO THE SCORE OF THE AGE OF ANXIETY, 1949

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PROGRAMME NOTES

‘The Prologue’ of the poem sets the scene: the four lonely, insecure characters meet in a New York bar on All Souls’ Night. The corresponding short movement is a theme for two quiet clarinets (originally written when Bernstein was still a student at Harvard), followed by a descending scale which the composer said ‘acts as a bridge into the realm of the unconscious, where most of the poem takes place’. In Auden’s ‘The Seven Ages’, the characters reinterpret Shakespeare’s ‘seven ages of man’ in terms of humanity’s loss of innocence. This is matched by an unusual sequence of seven variations, each a self-contained miniature with its own shape and colouring, but forming a chain in which each variation picks up and develops an idea thrown up by the previous one. The original theme is recalled briefly in Variation VII, followed by a longer version of the descending scale. In ‘The Seven Stages’, the characters attempt unsuccessfully to recapture a state of primordial innocence through an exploration of a dream landscape, corresponding to a Kabbalistic interpretation of the human body, but they nevertheless find themselves drawn closer together. Here a new theme is introduced, derived from the chords in fourths which accompanied the rising scale, and placed over a recurring ground bass figure; and these two ideas form the starting-point for another chain of developing variations, more active than the first and arriving at what Bernstein called ‘a hectic, though inconclusive close’.

In Auden’s ‘The Dirge’, the four characters, in a taxi en route to the woman’s apartment for a nightcap, share a lament for the loss of a reassuring father-figure, a ‘colossal Dad’. The corresponding slow movement evokes two musical father-figures, Schoenberg in a piled-up twelve-note chord which yields some later

ideas, and Stravinsky in heavy, dragging wind chords; there is a more relaxed middle section of what Bernstein called ‘almost Brahmsian romanticism’, ending with a piano meditation leading back to a massive restatement of the twelve-note chord. A coda nostalgically looking back to the middle section and a quiet held string chord lead into ‘The Masque’. In the poem, this scene is a party of desultory sexual advances; by the end, two of the men have left and the third has fallen asleep, leaving the woman to reflect on her Jewish ancestry and faith. In the Symphony, this section is a fast, jazzy scherzo for the solo piano with celeste, harp, pitched and unpitched percussion and a pizzicato double bass, incorporating one melody discarded from Bernstein’s musical On the Town and another in ragtime rhythms but in seven-beat units. The sudden brutal intervention of the full orchestra marks the start of ‘The Epilogue’. Here, in the poem, one of the men, heading for home on an early-morning train, arrives at a tentative assertion of his Christian beliefs. In the Symphony, the seven-time melody of ‘The Masque’ is taken up by an upright piano in the orchestra, while a solo trumpet declaims a quietly optimistic melody (taken from a piano piece Bernstein had written in 1942 for his friend, mentor and fellow-Jew Aaron Copland).

The strings then introduce a new version of the theme of ‘The Prologue’. Originally, Bernstein left his piano protagonist as a silent observer in this movement, apart from a single chord just before the end; but in a revised version in 1965, he gave the soloist a part in the ensuing discussion of the two main ideas, and an extended cadenza (in the course of which the orchestral piano again echoes ‘The Masque’). After this, the optimistic theme returns quietly, marked ‘with serenity’, and is gradually built up to a ringingly affirmative conclusion.

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

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PROGRAMME NOTES

Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH

SYMPHONY 5, OP. 47 Moderato | Allegretto | Largo | Allegro non troppo

1906-1975

The fifth of Shostakovich’s fifteen symphonies was written between April and July 1937, and first performed by the Leningrad Philharmonic under Evgeny Mravinsky in November 1937. It was his first major work since his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk had been severely criticised in the Soviet press, at the direct instigation of Stalin, and Shostakovich had been declared ‘an enemy of the people’. The Symphony, dubbed by a journalist ‘a Soviet artist’s creative reply to justified criticism’, represented a considerable risk. In order to rehabilitate himself, Shostakovich could simply have written a suitably populist patriotic cantata, rather than tackling the dangerously ‘formalist’ medium of the abstract symphony. But by writing a symphony, he made it clear that his ‘creative reply’ was on his own terms. And the work’s immediate success with the public, together with its seeming conformity to Soviet insistence on a positive conclusion, won him back a place in official favour – which was to be strengthened by the international acclaim won by the wartime Leningrad Symphony, and threatened only by the next round of anti-modernist purges in 1948.

The moderately-paced D minor first movement establishes the scale and seriousness of the whole Symphony. The opening section introduces two groups of themes, the first rhetorical, the second much more lyrical; the development section (which begins where the piano first enters) gradually accelerates in tempo, with brutal parodies of the main themes; the recapitulation winds down from a long declamatory melody in unharmonised octaves, to end in tranquillity.

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The second movement is a scherzo and trio in A minor, reminiscent of the symphonic scherzos of Mahler in its easy-going Ländler tempo and its mood of edgy good humour. It is followed by an F sharp minor Largo of elegiac and sometimes tragic intensity: the movement (scored without the brass, and with much-divided string sections) unfolds organically, with remarkably little exact repetition, from the quiet opening to the passionate climax, and finally dies away into silence.

The finale turns the shape of the first movement inside out. It begins with a powerful, accelerating D minor march; there is a slower central section which transforms ideas from the march into calm, expressive melodies, and attains a mood of great stillness; and finally the march returns as if approaching from the distance, to end resplendently in D major. This was the apparently optimistic ending which won Shostakovich official rehabilitation; but even at the time sympathetic listeners seem to have realised that it had a double edge. In Testimony, the composer’s supposed memoirs, which certainly reflect his state of mind towards the end of his life, he described its optimism as forced: ‘It’s as if someone were beating you with a stick, and you rise, shakily, and go marching off muttering, “our business is rejoicing, our business is rejoicing”. What kind of apotheosis is that?’

Programme notes by Anthony Burton © 2010

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RECORDINGS ON THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA’S OWN RECORD LABEL

LPO-0001 Kurt Masur conducts Shostakovich’s Symphonies 1 and 5 ‘... displays this orchestra’s excellence ... with some superb soloists, serious class in every department.’

CLASSIC FM MAGAZINE, AUGUST 2005

LPO-0031 Marin Alsop conducts Turnage’s Twice Through the Heart with Sarah Connolly (mezzo soprano), The Torn Fields with Gerald Finley (baritone) and Hidden Love Song.

‘Striking performances of three of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s most powerful works, conducted by Marin Alsop … Those who say there are no heart and melody in contemporary music should listen to this eloquent composer.’

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, 2 MARCH 2008

LPO-0034 Bernard Haitink conducts Shostakovich’s Symphony 10 ‘Haitink’s long-term vision of the music’s organic development comes across compellingly in this live recording.’

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, 23 AUGUST 2008

LPO-0035 Marin Alsop conducts James MacMillan, Thomas Adès and Jennifer Higdon ‘These live LPO recordings are the best possible advert for new classical music ...’

FINANCIAL TIMES, 1 NOVEMBER 2008

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

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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.

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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.

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

Guy & Utti Whittaker

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 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

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PHILHARMONIC NEWS

Debut Sounds The London Philharmonic Orchestra’s annual Young Talent programme culminates in Debut Sounds, a performance at Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall at 7.30pm on Friday 14 May 2010.

Clement Power conductor Rachael Lloyd mezzo soprano Aaron Parker Moiré Isa Khan 06 Tristan Brookes SERRA: Pessoa Sasha Siem Queen Anne’s Lace Debut Sounds showcases music from this year’s London Philharmonic Orchestra Young Composers. In a concert also featuring Ravel’s Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé, Richard Strauss’s Serenade for thirteen winds and Stravinsky’s Dumbarton Oaks, these exciting new works will be performed by a chamber ensemble comprising members of the Foyle Future Firsts orchestral apprenticeship programme and members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

In Aaron Parker’s Moiré, isorhythms moving out of phase spark new musical textures that imitate the moiré optical effect – where overlapping lines generate new and strange patterns. Isa Kahn’s piece 06 is an

exploration of a sound world that, though initially ambiguous, becomes revealed to the listener through a series of collapses and changes in instrumentation.

Tristan Brookes’ SERRA: Pessoa draws on imagery from the artwork of Richard Serra to create an industrial soundscape and Sasha Siem’s Queen Anne’s Lace creates a dynamic musical fabric which constantly shifts, as though revealing secrets hidden behind a perceived material.

The four up and coming composers have been working on their new pieces throughout the academic year and have had three opportunities to hear their works in progress, in workshops with the full 28-piece ensemble.

They also have had opportunities to receive advice and support from Composer in Residence Mark-Anthony Turnage, composer Jonathan Cole and conductor Clement Power.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Foyle Future Firsts programme is a dedicated apprenticeship programme for 16 gifted and talented young instrumentalists embarking on professional orchestral careers.

Left, Clement Power conducts one of the Young Composers’ workshops

Photos by Benjamin Ealovega

Above, the Orchestra’s Composer in Residence, Mark-Anthony Turnage, and composer Jonathan Cole are on hand with help and advice.

The Foyle Future Firsts programme is generously funded by the Foyle Foundation with additional support from The D'Oyly Carte Charitable Trust, The Fenton Arts Trust, Musicians Benevolent Fund, and The UK Friends of the FelixMendelssohn-Bartholdy-Foundation. The Orchestra's Young Composers Scheme is supported by Eranda Foundation, The Idlewild Trust, and the Paul Morgan Charitable Trust.

14 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

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

*Non-Executive Directors

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

Gillian Pole Recordings Archive

Isobel Timms Community Officer

LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Alec Haylor Education and Community Assistant

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

Richard Mallett Education and Community Producer DEVELOPMENT Nick Jackman Development Director Phoebe Rouse Corporate Relations 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

ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL

Kath Trout Marketing Director

Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager

Frances Cook Publications Manager

Sarah Thomas Librarian

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

Ken Graham Trucking Instrument Transportation (Tel: 01737 373305)

Philip Stuart Discographer

Anne Newman Education Officer

Ruth Sansom Artistic Administrator

Camilla Begg Assistant Orchestra Personnel Manager

Edmund Pirouet Consultant

Matthew Todd Education and Community Director

Sarah Tattersall Corporate Relations and Events Manager

Michael Pattison Stage Manager

ARCHIVES

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

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

Photograph of Ives by Clara Sipprell courtesy of The Charles Ives Papers in the Irving S. Gilmore Music Library of Yale University, Bernstein by Susech Batah, Berlin (DG), and Shostakovich courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London.

Photograph on the front cover

by Benjamin Ealovega.

Programmes printed by Cantate.

Valerie Barber Press Consultant (Tel: 020 7586 8560) INTERN Jo Langston Marketing

Dr Louise Miller Honorary Doctor †Supported by Macquarie Group

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 15

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FUTURE CONCERTS AT SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL

Wednesday 28 April 2010 | 7.30pm

Saturday 22 May 2010 | 7.30pm

Prokofiev Sinfonia concertante Myaskovsky Symphony 6

Debussy Ibéria Lalo Symphonie espagnole Strauss Don Juan Ravel Boléro

Vladimir Jurowski conductor Danjulo Ishizaka cello London Philharmonic ChoirLondon Philharmonic Choir FREE Pre-Concert Event 6.15pm | Royal Festival Hall Clive Marks OBE discusses Myaskovsky and his Symphony 6.

Christoph Eschenbach conductor Christian Tetzlaff violin

Barlines | FREE Post-Concert Event The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall An informal discussion with Vladimir Jurowski on Myaskovsky’s Symphony 6.

Christoph Eschenbach and Christian Tetzlaff

JTI Friday Series | Friday 28 May 2010 | 7.30pm

Vladimir Jurowski and Danjulo Ishizaka

Saturday 1 May 2010 | 7.30pm Wagner Overture to Faust Brahms Alto Rhapsody Liszt Faust Symphony

Rachmaninoff (arr. Dumbraveanu) Variations on a Theme of Corelli Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto 4 (revised version) Rachmaninoff Symphony 1 Neeme Järvi conductor Alexei Lubimov piano Supported by the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation

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

Neeme Järvi and Alexei Lubimov

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

TO BOOK

Tickets £9-£38 / Premium seats £55 Benjamin Northey and Arnaldo Cohen

JTI Friday Series | 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 16 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

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