27Jan10 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

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SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL Wednesday 27 January 2010 | 7.30 pm MIRACULOUS LOGIC: THE MUSIC OF JEAN SIBELIUS OSMO VÄNSKÄ conductor HENNING KRAGGERUD violin

SIBELIUS The Wood Nymph

SIBELIUS Six Humoresques for violin and orchestra INTERVAL

†

PROGRAMME £3 CONTENTS 2 List of Players 3 Orchestra History 4 Leader 5 Osmo Vänskä 6 Henning Kraggerud 7 Programme Notes 11 Recordings 12 Southbank Centre 13 Supporters 14 Philharmonic News 15 Administration 16 Future Concerts

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

(21’)

SIBELIUS Symphony 1 in E minor

Page 1

(38’)

supported by Macquarie Group

CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

(20’)

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LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

FIRST VIOLINS Pieter Schoeman* Leader Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader Julia Rumley Jeongmin Kim Katalin Varnagy Catherine Craig Thomas Eisner Tina Gruenberg Geoffrey Lynn Robert Pool Florence Schoeman Sarah Streatfeild Yang Zhang Alain Petitclerc Galina Tanney Midori Sugiyama SECOND VIOLINS Fredrik Paulsson Principal Joseph Maher Kate Birchall Chair supported by David and Victoria Graham Fuller

Nancy Elan Fiona Higham Nynke Hijlkema Ashley Stevens Andrew Thurgood Dean Williamson Sioni Williams Alison Strange Peter Graham Stephen Stewart Mila Mustakova

VIOLAS Alexander Zemtsov* Principal Agnieszka Orlowska Robert Duncan Benedetto Pollani Emmanuella Reiter Daniel Cornford Alistair Scahill Isabel Pereira Miranda Davis Sarah Malcolm Rebecca Carrington Georgina Payne CELLOS Susanne Beer Principal Francis Bucknall Santiago Sabino Carvalho + Jonathan Ayling Chair supported by Caroline, Jamie and Zander Sharp

Sue Sutherley Susanna Riddell Helen Rathbone Pavlos Carvalho Bozidar Vukotic David Bucknall DOUBLE BASSES Kevin Rundell* Principal Laurence Lovelle George Peniston David Johnson Roger Linley Helen Rowlands Catherine Ricketts Lowri Morgan

FLUTES Laura Lucas Guest Principal Eilidh Gillespie Stewart McIlwham* PICCOLOS Stewart McIlwham* Principal Eilidh Gillespie

TROMBONES Mark Templeton* Principal David Whitehouse BASS TROMBONE Lyndon Meredith Principal TUBA Lee Tsarmaklis Principal

OBOES Ian Hardwick Principal Angela Tennick

TIMPANI Simon Carrington* Principal

CLARINETS Robert Hill* Principal Nicholas Carpenter

PERCUSSION Andrew Barclay* Principal Keith Millar

BASS CLARINET Paul Richards Principal

HARP Rachel Masters* Principal

BASSOONS John Price Principal Gareth Newman* HORNS John Ryan Principal Martin Hobbs Richard Bayliss Gareth Mollison TRUMPETS Paul Beniston* Principal Anne McAneney* Chair supported by Geoff and Meg Mann

Nicholas Betts Co-Principal

* 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: Richard Karl Goeltz John and Angela Kessler Richard and Victoria Sharp Julian and Gill Simmonds Mrs Steven Ward 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

‘… the standard of execution by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Chamber Choir of the Moscow Conservatory, magnificently corralled by Jurowski, was exemplary.’

ANDREW CLARK, FINANCIAL TIMES, 19 NOVEMBER 2009

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LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

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PIETER SCHOEMAN LEADER

the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Tours in 2009/10 include visits to Germany, Australia, France, China, the Canaries and the USA. 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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In 2002, Pieter Schoeman joined the London Philharmonic Orchestra as Co-Leader. In 2008 he was appointed Leader.

Born in South Africa, he made his solo debut with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra at the age of ten. He studied with Jack de Wet in South Africa, winning numerous competitions, including the 1984 World Youth Concerto Competition in America. In 1987 he was offered the Heifetz Chair of Music scholarship to study with Edouard 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 Schoeman has performed as a soloist and recitalist throughout the world 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 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, he has performed Arvo Pärt’s Double Concerto and Benjamin Britten’s Double Concerto, which was recorded for the Orchestra’s own record label. Most recently he also played concertos with the Wiener Concertverein and Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice.

In 1995 Pieter Schoeman became Co-Leader of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice. During his tenure there he performed frequently as Guest Leader with the symphony orchestras of Barcelona, Bordeaux, Lyon, Baltimore and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

A frequent guest of the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London, Pieter Schoeman returned in October 2006 to lead that orchestra on a three week tour of Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

Pieter Schoeman has recorded numerous violin solos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra for Chandos, Opera Rara, Naxos, the BBC and for American film and television. He led the Orchestra in its soundtrack recordings for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. He teaches at Trinity College of Music.

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OSMO VÄNSKÄ CONDUCTOR

As a guest conductor in America, Vänskä has appeared with the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland, National Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras. In Europe, he has conducted the Berlin Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Czech Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, London Philharmonic and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestras as well as the Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig and the Orchestre de Paris.

Praised for his intense and dynamic performances, Osmo Vänskä is recognised for compelling interpretations of the standard, contemporary and Nordic repertoires, as well as for the close rapport he establishes with the musicians he leads.

In 2003, Vänskä became the tenth Music Director of the Minnesota Orchestra and has since drawn extraordinary reviews for concerts both at home and abroad, including appearances at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center New York, major European tours, and a visit in 2009 to venues such as the Cologne and Berlin Philharmonie, Frankfurt Alte Oper, Vienna Musikverein and the Barbican in London. His Minnesota Orchestra contract has been renewed until 2015.

Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra have recently completed a five-year, five-disc project to record the complete Beethoven symphonies on the BIS label. The collection has amassed rave reviews and their recording of Beethoven’s Symphony 9 received a 2008 Grammy nomination for ‘Best Orchestral Performance’. Last year Vänskä embarked on a series of new recordings, including all five Beethoven piano concertos with pianist Yevgeny Sudbin; a disc of Bruckner’s Symphony 4; and live recordings of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concertos 1, 2 and 3 and Concert Fantasia with pianist Stephen Hough.

Vänskä was Music Director of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra from 1988, and now holds the position of Conductor Laureate. He transformed the regional ensemble into one of Finland’s flagship orchestras.

Their partnership has received widespread attention through its collection of innovative Sibelius recordings on the BIS label and its international performances in London, Birmingham, Vienna and New York.

Osmo Vänskä began his music career as a clarinettist.

He held the co-principal chair of the Helsinki Philharmonic from 1977-82 and the principal chair of the Turku Philharmonic from 1971-76. Following conducting studies under Jorma Panula at Finland’s Sibelius Academy, he was awarded first prize at the 1982 Besançon International Young Conductors’ Competition. Three years later he began his tenure with the Lahti Symphony as Principal Guest Conductor, while also serving as Music Director of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the Tapiola Sinfonietta. In addition, Vänskä served as Chief Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra from 1997-2002.

In recent years, Vänskä has enjoyed a return to performing on the clarinet. He has often played chamber music with members of the Minnesota Orchestra and has performed as a clarinettist at Napa Valley’s Music in the Vineyards Festival and the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York.

Vänskä has recorded extensively on the BIS label. His numerous Sibelius recordings with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra have amassed numerous awards, including a 1996 Gramophone Award and Cannes Classical Award for the original version of the Symphony 5. His first-ever complete recording of The Tempest won the 1993 Prix Académie Charles Cros, and his original version of the Sibelius Violin Concerto with Leonidas Kavakos won the 1991 Gramophone Awards for ‘Record of the Year’ and ‘Best Concerto Recording’.

Vänskä was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Glasgow in recognition of his tenure as Chief Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and was also honoured with a Royal Philharmonic Society Award for his outstanding contribution to classical music.

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HENNING KRAGGERUD VIOLIN

Norwegian violinist Henning Kraggerud is one of Scandinavia’s most sought after artists. He performs as a soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras, both in Europe and in North America, and is increasingly in demand as a player/director. He has performed with the Oslo Philharmonic, Budapest Festival, St Petersburg Philharmonic, Stockholm Radio, Netherlands Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Prague Symphony, Bergen Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Melbourne Symphony, Baltimore Symphony and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestras as well as with the Verdi Orchestra Milano, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris and many of the British orchestras. Henning enjoys successful artistic collaborations with many conductors including Paavo Berglund, Stephane Deneve, Ivan Fischer, Marek Janowski, Mariss Jansons, Yakov Kreizberg, Kirill Petrenko, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Kurt Sanderling.

such as Piotr Anderszewski, Leif Ove Andsnes, Martha Argerich, Jeffrey Kahane, Stephen Kovacevich, Truls Mørk, Kathryn Stott and Lars Anders Tomter. In 2004 he was Artist in Residence at the Bergen International Music Festival where he performed recitals, chamber music and concertos and, in 2005, he played with Leif Ove Andsnes in his Perspectives Season at Carnegie Hall, New York. Next season he will return to many festivals including Bergen, Risor and Verbier, and give recitals at Wigmore Hall. Adding to his multi-faceted career, Henning is an innovative improviser and composer, performing many of his own cadenzas and arrangements in concert, and several of his compositions have been performed at festivals worldwide.

Henning Kraggerud has recorded three critically acclaimed CDs for Naxos – Grieg Violin Sonatas (with Helge Kjekshus), a set of Norwegian pieces for violin and orchestra and the Sibelius and Sinding Violin Concertos with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

The most recent addition to his discography is the complete unaccompanied Violin Sonatas by Ysaÿe for Simax for which he received the prestigious Spellemann CD award and great critical acclaim. He has recently recorded four new discs for Naxos including two discs of Sinding’s works for violin and piano, a selection of Ysaÿe chamber works and Spohr Double Concertos, all of which were released during the 2008/09 season.

Henning was also involved in making a major television and cinema documentary about the Norwegian violin virtuoso and composer, Ole Bull (1810-80), which was released in November 2006 and is now available on DVD with English subtitles. Henning subsequently received the Ole Bull Prize in 2007.

Future engagements will take him to the City of Birmingham Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Scottish Chamber, Tampere Philharmonic, Lahti Symphony, Stavanger Symphony, Helsingborg Symphony, Hiroshima Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Detroit Symphony and Toronto Symphony Orchestras as well as to the Britten Sinfonia, Staatsorchester Stuttgart, NDR Sinfonieorchester, Orchestre Capitole du Toulouse, Orchestre National de Lyon and Orchestre National de Bordeaux. He will also return to the Oslo Philharmonic, Hallé and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestras with all of which he enjoys a special relationship.

Born in Oslo in 1973, he studied with Camilla Wicks and Emanuel Hurwitz and is a recipient of Norway’s prestigious Grieg Prize. In 2007 he was awarded the Sibelius Prize for his interpretations and recordings of Sibelius’s music throughout the world. He is a Professor at the Barratt-Due music conservatoire.

A committed chamber musician, Henning Kraggerud also performs on both violin and viola at the major international festivals collaborating with musicians

Henning Kraggerud plays on a 1744 Guarneri del Gesu, provided by Dextra Musica AS. This company is founded

by Sparebankstiftelsen DnB NOR.

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PROGRAMME NOTES

MIRACULOUS LOGIC: THE MUSIC OF JEAN SIBELIUS No conductor today has done more than Osmo Vänskä to challenge and enrich our understanding of the great Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. Not only is he a truly exceptional interpreter of the composer’s music but he has also brought to light vast quantities of unknown or little known Sibelius music.

In a series of four concerts Vänskä takes us through the entire chain of Sibelius symphonies, pausing on the way to explore some lesser known gems such as The Wood Nymph and the Cantique and Devotion for cello and orchestra, as well as allowing us to hear the great orchestral tone poem Tapiola and the intoxicating vocal tone poem Luonnotar.

Tonight we start on our journey with the little known Wood Nymph and end with Sibelius’s Symphony 1. Between these two pieces, Osmo Vänskä is joined by the Norwegian violinist, Henning Kraggerud, for Sibelius’s six Humoresques for violin and orchestra.

Jean Sibelius 1865-1957 ‘You mention interconnections between themes and other such matters, all of which are quite subconscious on my part. Only afterwards can one discern this or that relationship but for the most part one is merely the vessel. That miraculous logic (let us call it God) which governs a work of art, that is the important thing.’

JEAN SIBELIUS TO HIS FRIEND AXEL CARPELAN

SPEEDREAD The two big orchestral works in this evening’s concert show Sibelius struggling – and heroically succeeding – to free himself from the influence of the great late romantics Wagner and Tchaikovsky. For some unknown reason Sibelius seems to have taken against his early tone poem The Wood Nymph, and it wasn’t heard for many years until the conductor Osmo Vänskä took it up in concert and made the first ever recording. Though in some ways still overshadowed by Wagner and the

Russian nationalists, it emerges as a powerfully stirring work, looking forward to the artistic triumph of the First Symphony, four years later. Sibelius refused to give any hints as to the ‘meaning’ of the First Symphony, which was probably for the best – the music’s grandly tragic character speaks for itself. The six Humoresques for violin and orchestra are much later, and lighter in tone, yet in their more modest way they too are marvellous achievements, and wonderfully in tune with the soul of the violin – the instrument of which the young Sibelius had dreamed of being a master.

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THE WOOD NYMPH, OP. 15

Like many young composers towards the end of the 19th century, Sibelius experienced a ‘Wagner crisis’.

Enthralled and intoxicated by Wagner’s music, the 29 year-old Sibelius set off in 1894 for Bayreuth, to witness the mighty music dramas in their true, sacred setting – and to draw inspiration for an opera of his own. But the love-affair, though intense, was also brief. By August 1894 he was writing to his wife Aino that his plans had changed radically. He was going to write a tone poem, not an opera, and his model would be, not Wagner, but the great ‘tone poet’ and pioneer of programme music, Franz Liszt. So it is striking that the tone poem that emerged later in 1894, The Wood Nymph, should be inspired by a story of a young hero, Björn, who becomes fatally ensnared by intoxicating magic – the story set out in a poem by the Swedish writer and devotee of Norse legend, Viktor Rydberg. In the final line of Rydberg’s poem we are told that ‘the heart that is stolen by a wood-nymph is never returned’. Consciously or not,

Sibelius may well have seen depicting Björn’s fate in music as a way of purging himself of another kind of dangerous magic.

Still Wagner’s influence lingers, not just in some of the rich orchestral sonorities, but also in the way the music of The Wood Nymph frequently anchors itself to one essentially static harmony – rather like the famous Prelude to Wagner’s Das Rheingold, which weaves a fabulous orchestral tapestry around a long-sustained chord of E flat. Yet Sibelius is already well on the way to artistic freedom, as can be heard in the heroic opening brass theme above surging, riding string figures. The unmistakably tragic ending already looks forward to the ‘Quasi una Fantasia’ finale of the First Symphony, composed four years later. Why Sibelius eventually decided against publishing this impressive early effort remains a mystery.

SIX HUMORESQUES FOR VIOLIN AND ORCHESTRA, OP. 87/89 HENNING KRAGGERUD violin

As a young man Sibelius had dreamed of a career, not as a composer, but as a violinist. Teachers at the Helsinki University were encouraging (one called him a ‘genius’), but in the end his nerves got the better of him and his technique suffered. For a while he thought of giving up music altogether – ‘and living the life of an idiot, for which I’m well qualified.’ Fortunately the urge to create music was too strong. Sibelius bowed to the inevitable – he was to be a composer, not a violinist – but not without lasting regret. As late as 1915, when he was working on his Fifth Symphony, Sibelius noted wistfully in his diary, ‘Dreamt I was twelve years old and a virtuoso.’

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Interestingly it was around that time that Sibelius started making sketches for a Second Violin Concerto – ideas for this eventually ended up in the Sixth and Seventh Symphonies. But if the concerto plan came to nothing, the notion of writing for violin and orchestra soon produced a rather different kind of fruit. The two sets of Humoresques were composed quite quickly in 1917, after Sibelius had finished the second version of his Fifth Symphony. The orchestral forces are relatively small, the scale and ambition modest, yet these are enchantingly fresh miniatures – unchallenging for the listener (though not for the soloist!), yet rewarding, melodically rich and often haunting. At times one

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PROGRAMME NOTES

catches echoes of the ‘gypsy’ virtuosity majestically incarnate in the first movement of Sibelius’s famous Violin Concerto; at others one senses an atmosphere

which – to quote the writer Robert Layton – is ‘as unmistakable and difficult to put in words as that of the long still evenings of the Scandinavian summer.’

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

SYMPHONY 1 IN E MINOR, OP. 39 Andante ma non troppo – Allegro energico | Andante (ma non troppo lento) | Scherzo: Allegro – Lento (ma non troppo) – Tempo I | Finale (Quasi una Fantasia): Andante – Allegro molto

When Sibelius’s First Symphony appeared in 1899, he was still in the process of freeing himself from the spell of late romanticism. He may have put Wagner firmly behind him, but the allure of Tchaikovsky was harder to resist: ‘There is much in that man that I recognise in myself’, he wrote to Aino that same year. For all his close involvement in his native Finland’s attempts to break free from Russian political domination, music was another matter. Tchaikovskian touches aren’t hard to find in Sibelius’s First: the sumptuous, languishing major-minor tune that opens the slow movement strongly recalls Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique Symphony, which Sibelius had heard twice in Helsinki since its Russian première in 1893 – as does the First Symphony’s tragic ending, firmly in the dark minor key.

And yet, despite these clear resemblances, what is most striking about the First Symphony is how much Sibelius is already his own man. Now there is no literary programme to ‘explain’ the form and character: the musical argument must convince on its own terms. His decision to wait until his thirties before tackling his

official ‘Symphony No 1’ is fully justified: although there are elements that invite interpretation – perhaps even hints of some underlying ‘storyline’ – the drama convinces ultimately as music, leaving the listener’s imagination free to dream for him- or herself. The very opening is like nothing else in the 19th century symphonic repertoire: a quiet drum-roll introduces a long-breathed, mournful, quasi-improvisatory melody on solo clarinet – for many Finns this is strongly evocative of ancient folk-lament. The clarinet finishes its meditation alone, as if lost in thought; then a high violin tremolando announces a striking new motif, echoed by high low strings. This builds to a rock-like climax, with the original string motif now hammered out by brass and timpani. The second theme is expertly contrasted: shimmering strings and harp forming a magical haze around delicate, elfin woodwind phrases.

The opposition of these two very different elements develops in a gripping musical drama, culminating in another granite-like brassy fortissimo, then a huge crescendo drum-roll is brusquely truncated by two E minor chords from pizzicato (plucked) strings and harp.

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The slower second movement also exploits the contrast between two themes: the ‘languishing’ Tchaikovskian tune mentioned above, and a more resolute chordal tune introduced by woodwind and horns. Soon we are in territory that could only be Sibelius: the bare woodwind writing for woodwind alone, the eerie passage for flutes, oboes, timpani and solo cello which follows the first big climax, the rising and falling string figures recalling wind in the tree-tops, or perhaps waves on a storm-tossed sea, look forward to the elemental drama of the tone poem Oceanides or the icy forestscape of his last masterpiece, Tapiola. At last the Tchaikovsky-like tune returns, but in mid-phrase, bringing a kind of uneasy repose.

Pulsating pizzicato string chords and a sharply rhythmic motif for timpani launch the pounding dance of the Scherzo. Here the debt is more to Bruckner than Tchaikovsky, though the modal flavouring of the music and the orchestral colours are unmistakably Nordic.

Again Sibelius provides strong dramatic contrast in the slower and quieter Trio section, introduced by a

plangent motif from horns, tuba, bassoons and cello.

But soon the elemental dance returns still more powerfully, this time building to a characteristically brusque conclusion. Sibelius marks his Finale ‘Quasi una Fantasia’ (‘Like a fantasy’) – a direct comparison with Beethoven’s two Op. 27 piano sonatas (including the famous Moonlight), which both treat conventional forms with unusual freedom. But Sibelius was surely also thinking of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Fantasy Overture’ Romeo and Juliet, and the still more tragic ‘Symphonic Fantasy’ Francesca da Rimini. The finale’s ardent opening theme for strings is in fact another version of the long clarinet melody that began the first movement, and the sense of the symphony coming full circle is underlined by the ending. The ardent second theme builds to a huge climax, then a massive drum-roll fades into two pizzicato string chords of E minor, echoing and intensifying the end of the first movement, now even more final.

Programme notes by Stephen Johnson © 2010

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

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RECORDINGS ON THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA’S OWN RECORD LABEL

LPO-0005 Paavo Berglund conducts Sibelius’s Symphonies 2 in D and 7 in C ‘Both here and in the Seventh Symphony’s magnificent singlemovement span, Berglund judges the music’s shifts of pace with unerring sureness, and really makes the big moments happen.’

MALCOLM HAYES, CLASSIC FM, DECEMBER 2005

LPO-0036 Osmo Vänskä conducts Rachmaninov’s Symphony 3 and Bax’s Tintagel ‘Vänskä’s account of the Third Symphony is a marvel of measured, uninflated eloquence.’

PAUL DRIVER, THE SUNDAY TIMES, 23 NOVEMBER 2008

LPO-0006 The Founding Years: Thomas Beecham conducts Mozart, Chabrier, Sibelius and Handel ‘The LPO’s first issues include this disc of recordings from the 1930s, when the orchestra and its founder, Thomas Beecham, were making history. The excerpts from Sibelius’s Tempest music, never issued before, are a fascinating rarity… The studio versions of Mozart’s Haffner Symphony and Chabrier’s España are scintillating examples of the playing that transformed the British orchestral scene.’

THE SUNDAY TIMES, 9 OCTOBER 2005

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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Miraculous Logic: The Music of Jean Sibelius Wed 27 January - Fri 5 February 2010 Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall Four concerts featuring all seven Sibelius symphonies plus music for soloists and orchestra

‘Vänskä drew playing of utmost subtlety from the LPO’ JOHN ALLISON, THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, MAY 2008

OSMO VÄNSKÄ conductor HENNING KRAGGERUD violin HELENA JUNTUNEN soprano KRISTINA BLAUMANE cello

For full details of these concerts, see page 16.

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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 email at customer@southbankcentre.co.uk or phone 020 7960 4250.

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

12 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

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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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 Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp Julian & Gill Simmonds Mrs Steven Ward Simon Yates & Kevin Roon Garf & Gill Collins David & Victoria Graham Fuller Richard Karl Goeltz John & Angela Kessler Mr & Mrs Makharinsky Geoff & Meg Mann Eric Tomsett Guy & Utti Whittaker 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 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 Benefactors Mrs A Beare Dr & Mrs Alan Carrington CBE FRS Mr & Mrs Stewart Cohen Mr Alistair Corbett Mr David Edgecombe Mr Richard Fernyhough Ken Follett

Michael & Christine Henry 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 Ms Sarah Needham 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 Ruth Berkowitz Charitable Trust The Samuel Sebba Charitable Trust Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation Stansfield Trust UK Friends of the FelixMendelssohn-BartholdyFoundation The Underwood Trust and others who wish to remain anonymous.

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PHILHARMONIC NEWS

January Podcast Osmo Vänskä is one of the world’s foremost interpreters of the music of his fellow countryman, Jean Sibelius. In January’s podcast, the conductor speaks to Edward Seckerson about his series of concerts (27 January - 5 February) featuring all seven symphonies as well as less well known orchestral songs.

Also, following the success of November’s Between Two Worlds festival, violinist Clare Duckworth has a look at what the critics made of the music of Russian composer Alfred Schnittke, and shares some of her experiences of performing this extraordinary music.

You can listen to the January podcast online or subscribe via itunes to download each edition to your mp3 player. Visit www.lpo.org.uk/podcasts.

Grammy Nomination The London Philharmonic Orchestra’s recording of Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto has been nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Classical Contemporary Composition category at the 52nd Grammy Awards.

The recording, conducted by Marin Alsop and with percussionist Colin Currie, also features James MacMillan’s The Confession of Isobel Gowdie and Thomas Adès’s Chamber Symphony. The winners will be announced in Los Angeles on 31 January.

The low temperatures and heavy snowfall did not prevent visits to the sites of Beijing during the Orchestra’s New Year tour. Here they are in a snowy Forbidden City.

Shenzhen audience was particularly enthusiastic and insisted on all three encores. Our rendition of one of the encores, Jasmine Flower, was enhanced by special coaching at the rehearsal from our Taiwanese violinist, Joanne Chen. Generous parties laid on by the Shenzhen Concert Hall and JW Marriott Hotel allowed the musicians to see in the New Year in style.

The Orchestra then flew to Shanghai for two concerts at the Oriental Art Center before the tour was completed with two concerts at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing.

These concerts were generously supported by Aviva, the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s International Touring Partner.

China

Save the Children

Despite blizzards and temperatures of -16˚C, the Orchestra’s tour of China over the New Year with conductor, Christoph Eschenbach, went extremely well.

Many thanks to all who contributed to our fund-raising event at Waterloo Station on 15 December. Members of our brass and percussion sections along with singers from the London Philharmonic Choir regaled commuters and travellers on the main concourse with a selection of carols and Christmas music, raising a whopping £1,991 for Save the Children.

The trip started with two concerts in Shenzhen, one an all Dvo˘rák programme and the other comprising music

by Ravel, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky. The second

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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 Sir George Christie CH 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 Dr Louise Miller Honorary Doctor

Roanna Chandler Concerts Director Ruth Sansom Artistic Administrator Graham Wood Concerts, Recordings and Glyndebourne Manager Alison Jones Concerts Co-ordinator Hattie Garrard Tours and Engagements Manager Camilla Begg Concerts and Tours Assistant Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager Sarah Thomas Librarian Michael Pattison Stage Manager Hannah Tucker Assistant Orchestra Personnel Manager Ken Graham Trucking Instrument Transportation (Tel: 01737 373305)

EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMME

ARCHIVES Edmund Pirouet Consultant

Matthew Todd Education and Community Director

Philip Stuart Discographer

Anne Newman Education Officer

Gillian Pole Recordings Archive

Isobel Timms Community Officer

INTERN

Alec Haylor Education and Community Assistant

Josephine Langston Marketing

Richard Mallett Education and Community Producer

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

DEVELOPMENT Emma O’Connell Development Director Nick Jackman Charitable Giving Manager Phoebe Rouse Corporate Relations Manager Sarah Tattersall Corporate Relations and Events Manager Anna Gover Charitable Giving Officer Melissa Van Emden Corporate Relations and Events Officer MARKETING Kath Trout Marketing Director

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 Sibelius courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London.

Photograph on the front cover

by Benjamin Ealovega.

Programmes printed by Cantate.

Janine Howlett Marketing Manager Brighton, Eastbourne, Community & Education Frances Cook Publications Manager Samantha Kendall Box Office Administrator (Tel: 020 7840 4242) Heather Barstow Marketing Co-ordinator Valerie Barber Press Consultant (Tel: 020 7586 8560)

†Supported by Macquarie Group

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FUTURE CONCERTS AT SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL

MIRACULOUS LOGIC: THE MUSIC OF JEAN SIBELIUS Saturday 30 January 2010 | 7.30pm Sibelius Symphony 3 Sibelius Selected songs including Höstkväll, from Five Songs, Op. 38 Sibelius Symphony 2 Osmo Vänskä conductor Helena Juntunen soprano

Wednesday 10 February 2010 | 7.30pm Ravel Suite 2, Daphnis et Chloé Ravel Valses nobles et sentimentales Poulenc Concerto for Two Pianos Debussy Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune Debussy La Mer Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Melvyn Tan piano Ronald Brautigam piano

Osmo Vänskä and Helena Juntunen

FREE Pre-Concert Event 6.15pm | Royal Festival Hall Yannick Nézet-Séguin introduces the evening’s programme.

MIRACULOUS LOGIC: THE MUSIC OF JEAN SIBELIUS Wednesday 3 February 2010 | 7.30pm

Yannick NézetSéguin and Lisa Milne

Sibelius Luonnotar Sibelius Symphony 4 Sibelius Symphony 5 Saturday 13 February 2010 | 7.30pm

Osmo Vänskä conductor Helena Juntunen soprano FREE Pre-Concert Event 6.00pm | Royal Festival Hall A performance by Lambeth and Southwark school children marking the culmination of their composition project, inspired by this evening’s repertoire.

Osmo Vänskä and Kristina Blaumane

MIRACULOUS LOGIC: THE MUSIC OF JEAN SIBELIUS JTI Friday Series | Friday 5 February 2010 | 7.30pm Sibelius Tapiola Sibelius Cantique and Devotion for cello and orchestra Sibelius Symphony 6 Sibelius Symphony 7 Osmo Vänskä conductor Kristina Blaumane cello

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Ravel Pavane pour une Infante défunte Ravel Le Tombeau de Couperin Debussy Nocturnes Fauré Pavane Poulenc Stabat Mater Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Lisa Milne soprano London Philharmonic Choir

TO BOOK Tickets £9-£38 / Premium seats £55 London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office 020 7840 4242 | www.lpo.org.uk Mon-Fri 10am-5pm; no booking fee Southbank Centre Ticket Office | 0844 847 9920 www.southbankcentre.co.uk/lpo Daily, 9am-8pm. £2.50 telephone / £1.45 online booking fees; no fee for Southbank Centre members