26 September 2012 LPO programme book

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 26 September 2012 | 7.30pm

VLADIMIR JUROWSKI conductor HEIKE WESSELS mezzo-soprano (Bianca) Sergei Skorokhodov tenor (Guido Bardi) Albert Dohmen baritone (Simone)

R Strauss Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman without a Shadow) (orchestral excerpts)† (38’)

PROGRAMME £3 CONTENTS 2 Welcome 3 About the Orchestra 4 Tonight’s performers 5 Vladimir Jurowski 6 Leader / Heike Wessels 7 Sergei Skorokhodov /

Albert Dohmen 8 Programme notes 10 Principal Friends 11 Supporters 12 LPO administration The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide.

Interval Zemlinsky A Florentine Tragedy (one-act opera, sung in German with English surtitles) (60’) This concert is being broadcast live by the BBC in Radio 3 Live In Concert.

Free pre-concert discussion 6.15–6.45pm | Royal Festival Hall A discussion on the music of Zemlinsky with David Trendell, College Organist and Senior Lecturer in Music, King’s College London.

* supported by the Tsukanov Family and one anonymous donor † by permission of Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Limited CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Welcome

Welcome to Southbank Centre

Next LPO concerts at Royal Festival Hall

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.

Saturday 29 September 2012 | 7.30pm

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:

Rodion Shchedrin Concerto for Orchestra No. 2 (The Chimes) (UK premiere) Miaskovsky Silentium (UK premiere) Denisov Bells in the Fog (UK premiere) Rachmaninoff The Bells (Choral Symphony) Vladimir Jurowski conductor Tatiana Monogarova soprano Sergei Skorokhodov tenor Vladimir Chernov baritone London Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir London Symphony Chorus Wednesday 3 October 2012 | 7.30pm Britten Sinfonia da Requiem Walton Viola Concerto Prokofiev War and Peace (excerpts) Vladimir Jurowski conductor Lawrence Power viola London Philharmonic Orchestra

PHOTOGRAPHY is not allowed in the auditorium.

Part of Shell Classic International Series Part of War & Peace, 3–5 October 2012

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

Friday 5 October 2012 | 7.30pm

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.

Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture Britten Lachrymae for viola and orchestra, Op. 48a Shostakovich Symphony No. 7 (Leningrad) Vladimir Jurowski conductor Lawrence Power viola London Philharmonic Orchestra Russian National Orchestra Part of Shell Classic International Series Part of War & Peace, 3–5 October 2012

Booking details London Philharmonic Orchestra Box Office 020 7840 4242 Monday to Friday 10.00am–5.00pm lpo.org.uk (no transaction fee) Southbank Centre Box Office (transaction fees apply) 0844 847 9920 Daily 9.00am–8.00pm southbankcentre.co.uk

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 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.

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 broadcasts regularly on television and radio, and in 2005 established its own record label. There are now nearly 70 releases available on CD and to download.

Recent additions include Dvořák’s Stabat Mater under Neeme Järvi; Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5 with Vladimir Jurowski; Sibelius’s Symphonies Nos. 5 & 6 under the late Paavo Berglund; and the world premiere of Ravi Shankar’s First Symphony conducted by David Murphy.

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. The current Principal Conductor is Vladimir Jurowski, ‘Jurowski and the LPO provided the appointed in 2007, and impossible that is perfection ... As things Yannick Nézet-Séguin is Principal Guest Conductor. stand now, the LPO must rate as an

example to all orchestras.’

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 Orchestra is Resident Musicalcriticism.com, July 2011 Orchestra at the Royal (BBC Proms 2011: Liszt, Bartók and Kodály) Festival Hall in London’s Southbank Centre, where it has performed since it The London Philharmonic Orchestra maintains an opened in 1951, giving around 40 concerts there each energetic programme of activities for young people and season. 2012/13 highlights include three concerts with local communities. Highlights include the Deutsche Vladimir Jurowski based around the theme of War Bank BrightSparks schools’ concerts; the Leverhulme and Peace in collaboration with the Russian National Young Composers project; and the Foyle Future Firsts Orchestra; Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera, also orchestral training programme for outstanding young conducted by Jurowski; 20th-century American works players. Over recent years, developments in technology with Marin Alsop; Haydn and Strauss with Yannick and social networks have enabled the Orchestra to Nézet-Séguin; and the UK premiere of Carl Vine’s reach even more people worldwide: all its recordings Second Piano Concerto with pianist Piers Lane under are available to download from iTunes and, as well Vassily Sinaisky. Throughout 2013 the Orchestra will as a YouTube channel, news blog, iPhone app and collaborate with the Southbank Centre on The Rest regular podcasts, the Orchestra has a lively presence on Is Noise festival, based on Alex Ross’s book of the Facebook and Twitter. same name and charting the 20th century’s key musical works.

Find out more and get involved!

The Orchestra has flourishing residencies in Brighton and Eastbourne, and performs regularly around lpo.org.uk the UK. Every summer, the Orchestra leaves London for four months and takes up its annual residency facebook.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra accompanying the famous Glyndebourne Festival Opera, where it has been Resident Symphony Orchestra twitter.com/LPOrchestra since 1964. The Orchestra also tours internationally, performing concerts to sell-out audiences worldwide.

Tours in the 2012/13 season include visits to Spain, Germany, France, Switzerland, the USA and Austria.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3

tonight’s performers

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

Ilyoung Chae Soran Lee Katalin Varnagy Catherine Craig Thomas Eisner Tina Gruenberg Martin Höhmann Chair supported by Moya Greene

Geoffrey Lynn Robert Pool Yang Zhang Grace Lee Rebecca Shorrock Alain Petitclerc Galina Tanney Second Violins Jeongmin Kim Principal Joseph Maher Kate Birchall Chair supported by David & Victoria Graham Fuller

Fiona Higham Ashley Stevens Marie-Anne Mairesse Nynke Hijlkema Andrew Thurgood Sioni Williams Alison Strange Peter Graham Stephen Stewart Mila Mustakova Sheila Law Elizabeth Baldey Sarah Buchan Violas Cyrille Mercier Guest Principal Robert Duncan Gregory Aronovich Katharine Leek Benedetto Pollani Laura Vallejo Susanne Martens Emmanuella ReiterBootiman

Naomi Holt Isabel Pereira Miranda Davis Sarah Malcolm Martin Fenn Stephen Gorringe Cellos Kristina Blaumane Principal Susanne Beer Co-Principal Laura Donoghue Jonathan Ayling Chair supported by Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp

Gregory Walmsley Santiago Carvalho† Susan Sutherley Susanna Riddell Tom Roff Sybille Hentschel Tae-Mi Song Pavlos Carvalho Double Basses Kevin Rundell* Principal Tim Gibbs Co-Principal Laurence Lovelle George Peniston Richard Lewis Helen Rowlands Jeremy Watt Tom Walley Catherine Ricketts Lowri Morgan Flutes Sue Thomas Principal Chair supported by the Sharp Family

Jane Spiers Piccolos Stewart McIlwham* Principal Hannah Grayson Oboes Ian Hardwick Principal Angela Tennick

4 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Cor Anglais Sue Bohling Principal Chair supported by Julian & Gill Simmonds

Clarinets Nicholas Carpenter* Principal Emily Meredith Bass Clarinet Paul Richards Principal Bassett Horn Duncan Gould E-flat Clarinet Douglas Mitchell

Andrew Wood Stephanie Conway Bass Trombones Lyndon Meredith Principal Lewis Edney Simon Minshall Tuba Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal Timpani Simon Carrington* Principal Percussion Andrew Barclay* Principal Chair supported by Andrew Davenport

Bassoons Daniel Jemison Guest Principal Gareth Newman* Claire Webster

Keith Millar Jeremy Cornes Ignacio Molins Eddy Hackett Sarah Cresswell

Contra-bassoon Simon Estell Principal

Harps Rachel Masters* Principal Lucy Haslar

Horns John Ryan* David Pyatt Guest Principal Martin Hobbs Mark Vines Co-Principal Gareth Mollison Anthony Chidell Duncan Fuller Stephen Nicholls Jason Koczur Trumpets Paul Beniston* Principal Anne McAneney* Chair supported by Geoff & Meg Mann

Nicholas Betts Co-Principal Daniel Newell David Hilton Rob Willson Trombones Mark Templeton* Principal David Whitehouse John Randall

Celestes Catherine Edwards Bernard Robertson Organ Henry Parkes Glass Harmonica Alasdair Malloy Mandolin James Ellis Assistant Conductor Gerry Cornelius Chair supported by an anonymous donor

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

VLADIMIR JUROWSKI

© Chris Christodoulou

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 Symphony No. 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 and one anonymous donor.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 5

pieter schoeman

heike wessels

leader

mezzo-soprano (Bianca)

© Patrick Harrison

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

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.

6 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

German mezzo-soprano Heike Wessels studied at the FolkwangHochschule Essen and the Conservatoire National de Strasbourg, later taking masterclasses with Brigitte Fassbaender, Thomas Hampson and Dame Gwyneth Jones.

She has won prizes in several singing competitions, including the Alexander Girardi Competition in Coburg (2003) and the GEDOK-Liedwettbewerb in Wuppertal (2006). She also received a scholarship from the International Wagner Association in 2003. In February 2006, Heike Wessels won the 5th International Competition for Young Wagnerian Voices, the finals of which were held at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. She has appeared in guest engagements at the Wuppertaler Bühnen, Staatsoper Berlin, Staatstheater Braunschweig, Opernhaus Bonn and Staatstheater Wiesbaden.

In 2008 Heike Wessels joined the Ensemble of the Nationaltheater in Mannheim, where she has appeared as Magdalene in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde, Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera, Gertrud in Hansel and Gretel, Maddalena in Rigoletto, and both Fricka and Waltraute in the Ring cycle. In 2010 Heike performed in Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass with the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias in Oviedo, Spain; and Zemlinsky’s A Florentine Tragedy in Rome with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.

In 2011 Heike Wessels sang Ortrud in Lohengrin and Delilah in Samson and Delilah at the Nationaltheater Mannheim, and Prince Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus at the Volksoper Wien. In March 2012 she made a successful debut as Sieglinde in Mannheim’s new Ring cycle directed by Achim Freyer and Dan Ettinger.

Engagements for 2013 include Waltraute in Die Walküre as part of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra’s Wagner cycle, as well as her debuts in the roles of Eboli in Don Carlos and Kundry in Parsifal, both in Mannheim.

tenor (Guido Bardi)

baritone (Simone)

Born in St Petersburg, Sergei Skorokhodov studied at the Glinka Choral School in St Petersburg, and the St Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire. He made his debut at the Mariinsky Theatre in 1999 as Guido Bardi in Zemlinsky’s A Florentine Tragedy. Since 2007, he has been one of the Mariinsky Theatre’s leading tenors.

Albert Dohmen has enjoyed a long international career, during which he has worked with conductors including Zubin Mehta, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Claudio Abbado, Lorin Maazel, James Levine, Kurt Masur, Christian Thielemann, and many others. He has sung all the major bass/baritone roles (including Kurwenal, Pizarro, Amfortas, Holländer, Scarpia, Bluebeard, and Hans Sachs) at the major international opera houses.

In summer 2009, Sergei Skorokhodov replaced an indisposed Rolando Villazón in an open-air gala concert with Anna Netrebko in Munich. He has appeared as Vaudémont in Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta both at Welsh National Opera under Valery Gergiev and in a concert version in Munich. At the Mariinsky Theatre, together with Anna Netrebko, he has appeared in L’elisir d’amore and Lucia di Lammermoor.

© Renato Zacchia

© Balmer & Dixon

SERGEI SKOROKHODOV ALBERT DOHMEN

Albert Dohmen is one of the leading Wotan singers of his generation. He has sung the role in complete Ring cycles at Deutsche Oper Berlin; Vienna State Opera; Nederlandse Opera, Amsterdam; Metropolitan Opera, New York; and the Bayreuth Festival.

During the 2011/12 season Sergei Skorokhodov appeared at the Mariinsky Theatre in Nabucco, Aleko, Boris Godunov, Ariadne auf Naxos and War and Peace.

With the Mariinsky Opera Company he has visited the Netherlands (Concertgebouw, Amsterdam); France (Opéra National, Paris); the UK (Barbican Hall and Coliseum, London); Sweden (Royal Opera, Stockholm); Finland (Mikkeli Music Festival); and Israel (Red Sea Festival, Eilat).

Opera highlights of the past few years include his role debuts as Gurnemanz (Parsifal) in Geneva, Barak (Die Frau ohne Schatten) in Florence, and King Heinrich (Lohengrin) at Deutsche Oper Berlin. Albert Dohmen is also a very successful concert singer. He has sung the entire bass repertoire, from Bach to Schoenberg, in all the world’s major concert halls and at international festivals. In summer 2008 he presented a Lieder programme including Schubert, Brahms, Pfitzner, Strauss and Schoenberg.

Current and future projects include Giasone in a new production of Cherubini’s Médée in Valencia; Vaudémont in a world tour of Iolanta featuring Anna Netrebko in the title role; Grigori Otrepjew in Boris Godunov and Froh in Das Rheingold at the Bavarian State Opera, Munich; and Bacchus in a new production of Ariadne auf Naxos at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 2013.

Further engagements include a new production of the Ring cycle in Barcelona; his role debut as Falstaff in Stuttgart; and performances at the Vienna State Opera (Don Giovanni, Tosca, Der fliegende Holländer), Hamburgische Staatsoper (Der fliegende Holländer), Staatsoper Berlin (Salome), and Opernhaus Zürich (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg).

Albert Dohmen has recorded numerous discs, including Zemlinsky’s A Florentine Tragedy with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Riccardo Chailly, and three recordings under Sir Georg Solti (Die Frau ohne Schatten, Fidelio, and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg).

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PROGRAMME NOTES

Speedread When Richard Strauss and his librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal embarked on Die Frau ohne Schatten, Strauss said that it was to be the ‘last Romantic opera’. The composer may have been talking specifically about the work within the context of their respective careers, but his words were to prove prophetic. Begun before World War I, it was premiered in Vienna in 1919. But however optimistic the opera’s faith in the healing power of romantic

Richard STRAUSS

love, Europe had changed irrevocably. In Alexander Zemlinsky’s A Florentine Tragedy, composed around the same time, Schoenberg’s brother-in-law described more violent truths. Together, these operas represent the heyday of post-Romantic creativity, when theatres were packed to the rafters and the world premiere of a new opera by Strauss, Zemlinsky or their peers was a major event.

Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman without a Shadow) (orchestral excerpts)

1864–1949

Richard Strauss came to prominence with his shockingly dissonant and dissolute operas Salome (1905) and Elektra (1909). He told this pair of ancient world tragedies with all the vividness of a modern murder mystery. Strauss’s inimitable grasp of the orchestra, his jarring mix of luscious and rebarbative motifs, and the innate theatricality of his subject matter made for immediate box office hits. Although many continue to see his and Hofmannsthal’s next opera Der Rosenkavalier (1911) as a turn away from such radicalism, the piece is likewise riddled with contemporary neurosis.

The inspiration for Die Frau ohne Schatten came as the ink was drying on final revisions to Der Rosenkavalier.

Hofmannsthal’s intention was clear: Rosenkavalier was their Figaro; he and Strauss should now write their equivalent to The Magic Flute. The project offered considerable new opportunities for composer and librettist alike but, as it evolved, Europe began to change.

The trouble-free waltzing world of Der Rosenkavalier was dead and gone, and Europe’s youth lay frozen in the trenches of the Somme.

8 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

The opera and this evening’s extracts begin in suitably dark terms. A belligerent tuba motif spells out ‘Keikobad’. He is the father of the Empress and has threatened that, unless his daughter finds a shadow, he will take her back and her husband, the Emperor, will be turned to stone. In order to find that requisite shadow, the Empress and her nurse will have to journey from the spirit world to earth, described in the ensuing interlude.

A broad and victorious theme, which dominates the entire opera, reaches ever higher, only to tumble vertiginously to earth in an aggressive salvo of brass and percussion.

The Nurse’s plan has marked consequences on earth as she intends to steal the shadow from a Dyer’s wife.

The Dyer’s marriage is already unstable and, in the final passages of Act 1, he is barred from his wife’s bed.

Thinking, however, that she may be pregnant, Barak the Dyer sleeps on the floor, accompanied by a restful lullaby and chorale.

It is not only Barak and his wife, however, who are in trouble. The Emperor, threatened with petrification, is looking feverishly for his wife. A falcon, described by a piercing woodwind motif, has led him to a hunting lodge, where he rests uncertain of his future. A solo cello describes his torment before returning to the longing theme from Act 1.

In Barak’s house, things are not going well. The Empress is wracked by guilt, while Barak’s wife is behaving appallingly. After an argument, she storms out with the Nurse, going off into town. Strauss describes her petulance through a manic dance, while Barak and the Empress’s music – replete with scooping intervals and tender harmonies – speaks of the central flaw in the Nurse’s plan. Will this problem ever be resolved?

Power has certainly gone to the Nurse’s head by the time we re-join the story in Act 3. Condemned to wander the mortal world forever, she unleashes a terrifying storm.

Just as in his 1915 orchestral work An Alpine Symphony, Strauss conjures a vivid display from his vast orchestral forces. The noise finally abates and the disconsolate Empress is introduced once more by a solo violin (echoing the cello that accompanied her husband’s own soliloquy).

In another deafening display, featuring a set of Chinese gongs, the Empress begs for mercy, but she is rejected and the Emperor begins to turn to stone. Various motivic fragments sound during her nightmarish sequence, until she is handed a lifeline. A fountain of golden water appears, which will deliver Barak’s wife’s shadow. The Empress refuses to steal another woman’s happiness and, through her compassion, the Empress finally casts a shadow and a choir of unborn children celebrates her newfound fertility. Accompanied by harps and glass harmonica, order is restored and the final bars of Strauss’s ‘last Romantic opera’ eke their way to a pearlescent C major.

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

Alexander ZEMLINSKY

A Florentine Tragedy, Op. 16 (One-act opera) Heike Wessels Bianca Sergei Skorokhodov Guido Bardi Albert Dohmen Simone

1871–1942

Alexander Zemlinsky was one of the leading talents of the Viennese fin de siècle. He taught Arnold Schoenberg – who later became his brother-in-law – and had been the lover of Alma Mahler before her marriage. But, as well as these dizzying connections, Zemlinsky was a highly talented conductor and composer in his own right. Immersed in the new literary and musical trends of his time, not least Vienna’s predilection for the psychosexual, Zemlinsky was primed to write some of the most daring works of the age.

His one-act opera A Florentine Tragedy (1917) – composed while working as music director of the

German Theatre in Prague – is a particularly bold work.

Zemlinsky’s own experience in matters of the heart gave the work its unprecedented force. Oscar Wilde’s fragmentary story provided him with a neat allegory.

Zemlinsky’s sister Mathilde was married to Schoenberg, but she had a disastrous affair with the modernist painter Richard Gerstl. Mathilde eventually returned to Schoenberg, but Gerstl could not stand the separation and killed himself. Zemlinsky’s own failed relationship with Alma Mahler was also still raw after a decade, stoked further by her unseemly affair with Walter Gropius shortly before Mahler’s death. When Alma

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 9

PROGRAMME NOTES

attended the Viennese premiere of A Florentine Tragedy, she was appalled and wrote a scurrilous letter to her former lover. Zemlinsky responded in suitably direct terms.

The treachery of fate drives two people apart.

The husband’s passion for his work leads him to overlook his wife’s beauty, while the woman at his side, finding herself cheated of her youth and physical appeal, becomes a slave to apathy, dejection and open hatred.

Collectively these sore memories provided the catalyst for Zemlinsky’s fevered opera, albeit viewed at a chillingly dispassionate distance.

Simone, a Florentine merchant, returns home early, only to find his wife Bianca with Guido, the son of the Duke of Florence. Bluffing his way through conversation, Simone tries to sell his wares to Guido and eventually offers him a drink. But the conversation takes a turn for the worse and the trio become rather thoughtless in their comments. It is clear that Simone is now fully aware of what has been going on, and the two men fight a duel. Fickle to the last, Bianca at first supports her lover, but when it is clear that he has lost, her affections return to Simone. Guido dies and the couple are reunited over his corpse. ‘Why did you not tell me you were so strong?’ Bianca asks. ‘Why did you not tell me you were so beautiful?’ Simone responds.

Taking his lead from Richard Strauss’s own grisly Wildean tragedy Salome, Zemlinsky created a brutally taut tone-poem for the stage. The orchestral orgy

that introduces the opera is a clear successor to the Marschallin and Octavian’s lovemaking at the beginning of Der Rosenkavalier, though what follows is far removed from that opera’s well-tempered treats. Simone is a particularly threatening presence.

Accompanied by bass clarinet, low strings and a feral boom of trombones, it is little wonder that Bianca’s affections have strayed. The only thing scarier than Simone’s initial appearance, however, is the braying superciliousness with which he greets Guido.

Guido himself offers a spirited contrast. Triggering dance rhythms, he is rather infectious. Alone with Bianca, however, he inspires quite a different tone.

Longing, lyrical and highly erotic, the two sound a sensuous alternative to Simone’s gruff hostility. Yet, as the imagery within the text and Zemlinsky’s shifting diaphanous textures indicate, such dreams are only paper-thin. Talking of reflections, shadows and stars, it is all too easy for Simone to crush such flagrant enthusiasm. He returns the drama to its darkest colours and, pulling erotic victory out of the jaws of sadistic defeat, Zemlinsky frames the closing bars in truly queasy colours.

Programme notes by Gavin Plumley Eine Florentische Tragödie: Opera in one act by Alexander Zemlinsky Libretto by Max Meyerfeld after the play by Oscar Wilde By arrangement with Universal Edition A.G. Wien Surtitles by Kenneth Chalmers, operated by Andrew Huth

Principal Friends In this programme for the opening concert of the season, the London Philharmonic Orchestra acknowledges the generous support of its Principal Friends, whose valuable contributions help us to sustain our work throughout the year.

Our grateful thanks to: Alison Clarke & Leo Pilkington Miss Tessa Cowie Mr James A Reece Mr C D Yates Mr Clifford Brown Mr E Weighman Mr Geoffrey A Collens

10 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Mr Ivan Powell Mr Michael Ching Mr Eric Kennedy Mr and Mrs R and J A Wallhouse Lady Jane Cuckney OBE Mr Ralph Aldwinckle Mr David MacFarlane

Mr Stephen Olton Mr James Pickford Mr & Mrs Graham & Jean Pugh Mr Hugh Herrington Mr David Peters Mrs Lesley Smurthwaite

We would like to acknowledge the generous support of the following Thomas Beecham Group Patrons, Principal Benefactors and Benefactors:

Guy & Utti Whittaker Manon Williams

David Ellen Commander Vincent Evans Mr Daniel Goldstein Mr & Mrs Jeffrey Herrmann Peter MacDonald Eggers Mr & Mrs David Malpas Andrew T Mills 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 Laurie Watt Mr Anthony Yolland

Ken Follett Pauline & Peter Halliday Michael & Christine Henry Mr 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 John Montgomery Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill Edmund Pirouet Mr Peter Tausig Mrs Kazue Turner Mr D Whitelock Bill Yoe

Principal Benefactors Mark & Elizabeth Adams Jane Attias Lady Jane Berrill Desmond & Ruth Cecil Mr John H Cook Mr Charles Dumas

Benefactors Mrs A Beare Dr & Mrs Alan Carrington CBE FRS Mr & Mrs Stewart Cohen Mr Alistair Corbett Mr David Dennis Mr David Edgecombe Mr Richard Fernyhough

Hon. Benefactor Elliott Bernerd

Thomas Beecham Group The Tsukanov Family Anonymous 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

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 Heineken Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd Villa Maria In-kind Sponsors Google Inc Sela / Tilley’s Sweets

Trusts and Foundations Addleshaw Goddard Charitable Trust Angus Allnatt Charitable Foundation The Boltini Trust Britten-Pears Foundation The Candide Charitable Trust The Coutts Charitable Trust Diaphonique, Franco-British fund for contemporary music Dunard Fund The Equitable Charitable Trust The Eranda Foundation 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 Austin & Hope Pilkington Trust Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation The Rothschild Foundation The Seary Charitable Trust The Samuel Sebba Charitable Trust The David Solomons Charitable Trust The Steel Charitable Trust The Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation John Thaw Foundation 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 | 11

ADMINISTRATION

Board of Directors

General Administration

Orchestra Personnel

Archives

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

Timothy Walker AM Chief Executive and Artistic Director

Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager

Philip Stuart Discographer

Sarah Thomas Librarian

Gillian Pole Recordings Archive

Michael Pattison Stage Manager

Professional Services

Finance David Burke General Manager and Finance Director

Julia Boon Assistant Orchestra Personnel Manager

* Player-Director

Advisory Council Lord Currie Jonathan Dawson Clive Marks OBE FCA Victoria Sharp Lord Sharman of Redlynch OBE Timothy Walker AM American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Inc. Victoria Sharp Margot Astrachan Chairman David E. R. Dangoor Vice Chair/Treasurer Kyung-Wha Chung Peter M. Felix CBE Alexandra Jupin Dr. Felisa B. Kaplan William A. Kerr Jill Fine Mainelli Kristina McPhee Dr. Joseph Mulvehill Harvey M. Spear, Esq. Danny Lopez Honorary Chairman Noel Kilkenny Honorary Director Richard Gee, Esq Of Counsel Robert Kuchner, CPA

Alison Atkinson Digital Projects Manager

Charles Russell Solicitors Crowe Clark Whitehill LLP Auditors

Ken Graham Trucking David Greenslade Instrument Transportation FSC_57678 14 January 2011 15/09/2011 12:30 Page Dr 1 Louise Miller Finance and ITLPO Manager Honorary Doctor Development Concert Management Roanna Gibson Concerts Director (maternity leave) Ruth Sansom Artistic Administrator / Acting Head of Concerts Department Graham Wood Concerts and Recordings Manager Barbara Palczynski Glyndebourne and Projects Administrator Jenny Chadwick Tours and Engagements Manager Alison Jones Concerts Co-ordinator Jo Orr PA to the Chief Executive / Concerts Assistant

Nick Jackman Development Director Helen Searl Corporate Relations Manager Katherine Hattersley Charitable Giving Manager Melissa Van Emden Events Manager Laura Luckhurst Corporate Relations and Events Officer Sarah Fletcher Development and Finance Officer Marketing Kath Trout Marketing Director Mia Roberts Marketing Manager

Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant

Rachel Williams Publications Manager

Education & Community

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

Patrick Bailey Education and Community Director Alexandra Clarke Education Manager Caz Vale Community and Young Talent Manager Richard Mallett Education and Community Producer

12 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Libby Northcote-Green Marketing Co-ordinator Claire Lampon Intern Albion Media Public Relations (Tel: 020 3077 4930)

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

Photograph of Strauss © Boosey & Hawkes / Robin Adler. Photograph of Zemlinsky courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London.

Front cover photograph © Patrick Harrison.

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