28 April 2010 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 28 April 2010 | 7.30 pm VLADIMIR JUROWSKI conductor DANJULO ISHIZAKA cello LONDON PHILHARMONIC CHOIR

PROKOFIEV Symphony-Concerto in E minor for cello and orchestra (37’)

PROGRAMME £3 CONTENTS 2 List of Players 3 Orchestra History 4 Leader 5 Vladimir Jurowski 6 Danjulo Ishizaka 7 London Philharmonic Choir 8 Programme Notes 13 Supporters 14 BBC Radio 3 / Southbank Centre 15 Administration 16 Future Concerts The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide.

INTERVAL MYASKOVSKY Symphony 6 in E flat minor

(75’)

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

†

supported by Macquarie Group

CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

This concert is being recorded

by BBC Radio 3 for broadcast on 5 May 2010.

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LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

FIRST VIOLINS Pieter Schoeman* Leader Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader Julia Rumley Chair supported by Mrs Steven Ward

Katalin Varnagy Catherine Craig Thomas Eisner Martin Höhmann Chair supported by Richard Karl Goeltz

Geoffrey Lynn Florence Schoeman Rebecca Shorrock Galina Tanney Midori Sugiyama Toby Tramaseur Joanne Chen Kay Chappell Alina Petrenko SECOND VIOLINS Fredrik Paulsson Guest Principal Jeongmin Kim Joseph Maher Nancy Elan Fiona Higham Marie-Anne Mairesse Ashley Stevens Andrew Thurgood Dean Williamson Sioni Williams Heather Badke Peter Graham Stephen Stewart Mila Mustakova

VIOLAS Alexander Zemtsov* Principal Robert Duncan Julia McCarthy Anthony Byrne Chair supported by John and Angela Kessler

Benedetto Pollani Emmanuella Reiter Laura Vallejo Daniel Cornford Alistair Scahill Isabel Pereira Naomi Holt Miranda Davis CELLOS Kristina Blaumane Principal Chair supported by Simon Yates and Kevin Roon

Susanne Beer Co-Principal Francis Bucknall Laura Donoghue Santiago Sabino Carvalho + Jonathan Ayling Chair supported by Caroline, Jamie and Zander Sharp

Gregory Walmsley Susanna Riddell Aleksei Kiseliov Tom Roff DOUBLE BASSES Kevin Rundell* Principal George Peniston Richard Lewis Anita Mazzantini David Johnson Helen Rowlands Louis Garson Rebecca Welsh

PICCOLO Stewart McIlwham* Principal OBOES Ian Hardwick Principal Angela Tennick Michael O’Donnell COR ANGLAIS Sue Bohling Principal Chair supported by Julian and Gill Simmonds

CLARINETS Robert Hill* Principal James Burke BASS CLARINET Paul Richards Principal BASSOONS John Price Principal Gareth Newman* Joanna Stark

BASS TROMBONE Lyndon Meredith Principal TUBA Lee Tsarmaklis Principal TIMPANI Simon Carrington* Principal PERCUSSION Rachel Gledhill Principal Andrew Barclay* Co-Principal Keith Millar HARP Rachel Masters* Principal CELESTE Catherine Edwards

CONTRA BASSOON Christopher Cooper HORNS John Ryan Principal Martin Hobbs Adrian Uren Gareth Mollison Joseph Walters Anthony Chidell

ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR Ralf Sochaczewsky

TRUMPETS Nicholas Betts Principal Anne McAneney* Chair supported by Geoff and Meg Mann

Daniel Newell FLUTES Jaime Martin* Principal Eilidh Gillespie Stewart McIlwham*

TROMBONES Mark Templeton* Principal David Whitehouse

Chair supported by Mrs Steven Ward

* Holds a professorial appointment in London +

Chevalier of the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco

Chair Supporters The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert: David and Victoria Graham Fuller Richard and Victoria Sharp

2 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

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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

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.

4 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

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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VLADIMIR JUROWSKI

Roman Gontcharov

CONDUCTOR

Born in Moscow, the son of conductor Mikhail Jurowski, Vladimir Jurowski 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 where he continued his studies at High Schools of Music in Dresden and in Berlin, studying conducting with Rolf Reuter and vocal coaching with Semion Skigin. In 1995 he made his international debut at the Wexford Festival, where he conducted RimskyKorsakov’s May Night. The same year saw his brilliant debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in Nabucco. In 1996 Jurowski joined the ensemble of Komische Oper Berlin, becoming First Kapellmeister in 1997 and continuing to work at the Komische Oper on a permanent basis until 2001.

Since 1997 Vladimir Jurowski has been a guest at some of the world's leading musical institutions including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Teatro La Fenice Venice, Opéra Bastille Paris, Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie Brussels, Maggio Musicale Festival Florence, Rossini Opera Festival Pesaro, Edinburgh Festival, Semperoper Dresden and Teatro Comunale di Bologna (where he served as Principal Guest Conductor between 2000 and 2003). In 1999 he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera New York with Rigoletto.

In January 2001 Vladimir Jurowski took up the position of Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera 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 title of Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and from 2005 to 2009 served as Principal Guest Conductor of the Russian National Orchestra with whom he will continue to work in the years ahead.

Vladimir Jurowski has made highly successful debuts with a number of the world's leading orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Dresden Staatskapelle, and in the USA with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony and Philadelphia Orchestras. Highlights of the 2009/10 season and beyond include his debuts with the Bavarian Radio Symphony, Chicago Symphony and Cleveland Orchestras, and return visits to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchester Zurich, Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Dresden Staatskapelle and Philadelphia Orchestra.

His operatic work has included performances of Jenůfa, The Queen of Spades and Hänsel und Gretel at the Metropolitan Opera, Parsifal and Wozzeck at the Welsh National Opera, War and Peace at the Opéra National de Paris, Eugene Onegin at La Scala Milan, and Die Zauberflöte, La Cenerentola, Otello, Macbeth, Falstaff, Tristan und Isolde and Peter Eötvös’ Love and Other Demons at Glyndebourne Opera. Future engagements include new productions of Don Giovanni and Die Meistersinger and a revival of The Rake’s Progress at Glyndebourne, and Iolanta at the Dresden Semperoper.

Jurowski’s discography includes the first ever recording of Giya Kancheli’s Exile for ECM (1994), Meyerbeer’s L’Etoile du nord for Naxos-Marco Polo (1996), Werther for BMG (1999), and live recordings of works by Rachmaninoff, Turnage, Tchaikovsky, Britten and Shostakovich on the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s own label, as well as Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery on Glyndebourne Opera’s own label. He also records for PentaTone with the Russian National Orchestra, releases to date having included Stravinsky's Divertimento from Le Baiser de la fée, Tchaikovsky's Suite No. 3 and Shostakovich’s Symphonies Nos 1 and 6, Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5, and Tchaikovsky’s Incidental Music from Hamlet. Glyndebourne have released DVD recordings of his performances of La Cenerentola, Gianni Schicchi, Die Fledermaus and Rachmaninoff’s The Miserly Knight, and other recent DVD releases include Hänsel und Gretel from the Metropolitan Opera New York, and his first concert as the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Principal Conductor featuring works by Wagner, Berg and Mahler (released by Medici Arts).

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DANJULO ISHIZAKA CELLO

the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Andrew Davis, as well as his debut performances with the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester and at Carnegie Hall. Ishizaka’s collaboration with Sony Classical underscores the extraordinary success of this young artist. For his debut CD Ishizaka recorded sonatas by Britten, Franck and Mendelssohn with pianist Martin Helmchen. In 2006 the disc was awarded the ‘Echo Klassik’ award of the German Phono Academy.

The German-Japanese cellist, Danjulo Ishizaka, was born in 1979 and received his first cello lessons at the age of four. After completing his studies with Hans Christian Schweiker, he spent time in the United States at Indiana University. Boris Pergamenschikov, with whom he studied from 1998 to 2004 at the Hanns Eisler Conservatory in Berlin, was a fundamental influence. From 2004 to 2006 Ishizaka continued his studies at the Conservatory with Antje Weithaas and Tabea Zimmermann. He has also been strongly influenced by Bernhard Greenhouse, György Kurtág, Menahem Pressler and the Amadeus Quartet.

After previously being awarded first prizes at the 1998 International Gaspar Cassado Cello Competition in Spain and at the 1999 International Lutoslawski Cello Competition in Warsaw, Danjulo Ishizaka won first prize at the renowned ARD International Music Competition in Munich. In 2002, he was awarded the Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann of the Kronberg Academy and the UDK in Berlin. Most recently he was honoured with the Young Artist of the Year award for ‘virtuosity, exceptional musicianship and artistic charisma’.

Based in Germany, Danjulo Ishizaka made his international breakthrough in November 2003, playing concerts in the Musikverein in Vienna with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Krzysztof Penderecki. Following a performance at Frankfurt's Alte Oper, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung noted: ‘Genius breaks new ground.’ Since then Ishizaka has been busy performing around the world with leading orchestras and at renowned festivals. Recent successes have included a tour of Japan with the NHK Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Sir Roger Norrington, European tours with the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra,

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In summer 2007 Danjulo Ishizaka appeared at Verbier and made his debut at the Lucerne Festival. In addition, he participated in the renowned BBC New Generation Artists Scheme, providing him not only with numerous studio recordings for the BBC but also solo appearances with the five BBC Symphony Orchestras and a debut recital at Wigmore Hall. Ishizaka made his BBC Proms debut in August 2008 to great acclaim. The Times commenting on his performance as ‘emotionally resonant no matter how small the composer’s gestures’.

Beyond his activities as a soloist, Ishizaka also enjoys performing chamber music, collaborating with well known artists including Gidon Kremer, Christoph Poppen, Julia Fischer, Lars Vogt, Tabea Zimmermann and Elena Bashkirova with the Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival Ensemble. In March 2008 Ishizaka’s tour of Europe with Lisa Batiashvili, Antoine Tamestit and François Leleux included appearances at the Concertgebouw, the Konzerthaus and the Wigmore Hall.

Danjulo Ishizaka is supported by the Kronberg Academy which also provides him with the W. Schnabl cello, formerly played by Boris Pergamenschikov. In addition, he plays the Stradivarius cello from 1696, the Lord Aylesford, on loan to him from the Nippon Music Foundation.

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LONDON PHILHARMONIC CHOIR PATRON: HRH Princess Alexandra PRESIDENT: Sir Roger Norrington ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: Neville Creed

Sopranos Catherine Allum, Lasma Anspoka, Annette Argent, Fiona Bantock, Tessa Bartley, Katjana Cleasby, Sally Cottam, Shelia Cox, Melanie Dargatz, Sarah Deane-Cutler, Boon Kim Fam, Sarah Fisher, Claudie Gheno, Rachel Gibbon, Marnie Greenrod, Simone Gregoire, Jane Hanson, Sally Harrison, Carolyn Hayman, Jenni Kilvert, Olivia Knibbs, Ilona Kratochvilova, Frances Lake, Charlotte Lawrence, Sophie Mearing-Smith, Linda Park, Teresa Pells, Christine Scholes, Friesia Schuil, Tania Stanier, Rosanna Thomas, Susan Thomas, Jenny Torniainen, Fran Welch, Laura Westcott, Fran Wheare Altos Phye Bell, Susannah Bellingham, Michelle Brockbank, Isabelle Cheetham, Noel Chow, Yvonne Cohen, Liz Cole, Janik Dale, Lauren Dibbs, Moira Duckworth, Fiona Duffy, Elisa Dunbar, Andrea Easey, Lynn Eaton, Carmel Edmonds, Clare Galton, Kathryn Gilfoy, Suzanne Healey, Sophy Holland, Erica Howard, Kasia Hunt, Kate Jackson, Marjana Jovanovic Morrison, Edith Judd, Alice Kershaw, Andrea Lane, Liz Lewis, Lisa MacDonald, Laetitia Malan, Ruth Mariner, Liz Moloney, Mary Moore, Rachel Murray, Elisabeth Nicol, Angela Pascoe, Muriel

Founded in 1947, the London Philharmonic Choir is widely regarded as one of Britain’s finest choirs and consistently meets with great critical acclaim. It has been involved in over 80 recordings and has performed under leading international conductors throughout its history.

The Choir enjoys a close relationship with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, joining it regularly for performances in the UK and abroad. It also works with many other leading orchestras and has enjoyed sharing the stage with Daleks, dinosaurs and various other creatures in 2008’s Doctor Who and last year’s Evolution! Proms.

The Choir often travels overseas and, in the last few years, its visits to Europe have included concerts in Rome, Lucerne and Cologne. It has travelled as far afield as Kuala Lumpur and Perth, Australia, and, in February 2008, visited Hong Kong, where it gave two concerts at the Hong Kong Arts Festival: a performance of Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms and Rachmaninov’s The Bells with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra under Edo de Waart, and a programme of British choral music conducted by the Choir’s Artistic Director, Neville Creed. Over the 2009 New Year, the Choir travelled to Budapest with the London Philharmonic Orchestra to

ACCOMPANIST: Iain Farrington CHAIRMAN: Mary Moore CHOIR MANAGER: Kevin Darnell

Swijghuisen Reigersberg, Helene Richards, Jenny Ryall, Stephanie Saffrey, Carolyn Saunders, Tamara Swire Tenors David Aldred, Geir Andreassen, Robert Beale, Chris Beynon, John Boyne, Tony Brewer, Keith Chaundy, Brian Coulstock, Lorne Cuthbert, Kevin Darnell, Jack Dixon, Dwayne Engh, Philip Evans, Aloysius Fekete, Iain Handyside, Rob Home, Patrick Hughes, Andrew McCall, John Mcleod, Jon Meredith, Kevin Rainey, David Regan, Paul Thirer, Alex Thomas Basses Julian Anderson, Jonathon Bird, Stephen Bonney, Derek Bryanton, Gordon Buky-Webster, Raymond Choi, Geoff Clare, David Clark, Rob Collis, Marcus Daniels, Paul Gittens, Nigel Grieve, Mark Hillier, Stephen Hines, Rylan Holey, Hugh Hudson, Martin Hudson, Aidan Jones, David Kent, Thorsten Laux, Alejandro Lopez Montoya, John Luff, Anthony McDonald, John Morris, Ashley Morrison, Will Parsons, Johan Pieters, David Regan, Daniel Snowman, Greg Thomas, Edwin Tomlins, James Torniainen, James Wilson, Hin-Yan Wong, John Wood

perform Haydn's Die Schöpfung at the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall.

Last season’s highlights included performances of Beethoven’s Missa solemnis and Symphony 9, Dvořák’s Requiem, Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem, Holst’s The Planets, and Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder. This season the Choir has enjoyed performances of Mahler’s Symphony 2, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Haydn’s Seven Last Words and a programme of Christmas music including Honegger’s Une Cantate de Noël. Most recently, the Choir performed Poulenc’s Stabat Mater with Yannick NézetSéguin and Janáček’s The Eternal Gospel with Vladimir Jurowski.

In 2007, the Choir celebrated its 60th anniversary and published a book – Hallelujah: An Informal History of the London Philharmonic Choir. The book is available from retail outlets here at the Southbank Centre and can be ordered through the Choir’s website.

The Choir prides itself on achieving first-class performances from its members, who are volunteers from all walks of life. For more information about the Choir, including details about how to join, please visit www.lpc.org.uk.

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PROGRAMME NOTES

SPEEDREAD Prokofiev and Myaskovsky struck up a friendship as students in the decade before the Bolshevik Revolution.

It was an unlikely conjunction of a trained military officer and a brash Wunderkind ten years his junior. And while Myaskovsky remained firmly within the postTchaikovskian tradition of Russian symphonism, Prokofiev gleefully rebelled. But the association was founded on mutual respect, and each composer offered the other candid criticism. Prokofiev studied Myaskovsky’s romantic-heroic Sixth Symphony closely

Sergei PROKOFIEV 1891-1953

Prokofiev’s Symphony-Concerto began life in Paris in the summer of 1933 as a commission for a cello concerto from fellow-émigré Gregor Piatigorsky. Though Prokofiev managed to show Piatigorsky the completed first movement, he put the rest of the composition on hold.

Back in the USSR, where he settled definitively around New Year 1936, he dusted the score down, discarded half the material he had composed in Paris, and completed the concerto in September 1938. But the première two months later was coolly received, thanks in large part to the temperamental incompatibility of the soloist Lev Berezovsky (at least according to Sviatoslav Richter, who rehearsed the piece with him).

Prokofiev himself was unhappy with the result; the musical threads were not all gathered as he wanted, and he quite uncharacteristically withdrew the work.

There things rested until December 1947, when the young Mstislav Rostropovich played the concerto in its cello and piano version. The fruit of that initiative was

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and expressed guarded admiration for it (though he teased his friend about its 75-minute duration). At its first performance, under Nikolay Golovanov at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre on 4 May 1924, the symphony was greeted by a 15-minute ovation, and the naturally reticent Myaskovsky had to take seven curtain calls. He later revised its scoring, conscious that it lacked the transparency he always admired in Prokofiev’s orchestral work. Myaskovsky did not live to hear Prokofiev’s Symphony-Concerto, but his criticisms of the original version of the piece were one main reason why Prokofiev determined to revise it.

SYMPHONY-CONCERTO IN E MINOR FOR CELLO AND ORCHESTRA, OP. 125 DANJULO ISHIZAKA cello Andante | Allegro giusto | Andante con moto – Allegretto – Allegro marcato

an artistic friendship between composer and cellist that led first to the mellow C major Sonata for cello and piano. Rostropovich persisted in lobbying for a revision of the concerto, however, which Prokofiev, now in ailing health, finally got round to towards the end of 1951, working out many of the details in the cello writing in consultation with the young virtuoso. In fact so much changed in this process of reworking that Prokofiev now called the work Cello Concerto No. 2, and it was performed under this heading in February 1952, with Richter making his conducting debut (during an enforced break from his piano career since he had broken a finger on his right hand). Still dissatisfied, Prokofiev continued to make substantial alterations to the orchestration and to the structure of the finale. The definitive third version, with the title now changed to Symphony-Concerto in recognition of the expanded role of the orchestra, was not heard until after the composer’s death.

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PROGRAMME NOTES

Though the structure was tightened up in the final revision, the Symphony-Concerto remains an elusive work and a true hybrid. Less immediately graspable than Prokofiev’s two violin concertos or his five for piano, and less ostentatious in its gymnastics, it remains highly dependent on the focus given by the soloist’s personality, which makes it also quite distinct from all his symphonies.

The Allegro giusto, much expanded in the revision, begins in etude-like fashion but now has a more highly developed lyrical counterweight than in the original version and touches greater emotional depths. After a short but demanding cadenza, placed quite early on, both themes undergo phantasmagoric transformation, and as in the opening Andante, painful emotional depths are probed before the movement is over.

The opening at least is reassuringly familiar, in that it bases itself on a rising ostinato figure from Romeo and Juliet (a score Prokofiev was working on at the same time as his earliest thoughts for the Concerto), from the scene near the end where Juliet first begins to feel the effects of her sleeping potion. This idea, together with the wiry cello theme overlaid on it, dominates much of the progress of the first movement. Soon brought into contact with it is the veiled, atmospheric string writing that was originally held back for the later stages of the movement.

By comparison with all this instability, the last movement strikes a tone of noble equilibrium and maintains it far more consistently than in its earlier incarnations. Cast as a theme and variations, but with new episodes to link the disparate characters, the finale culminates in broken chords for the soloist in its extreme high register, capping Prokofiev’s output with one last display of unrepentant individualism.

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

LSO St Luke’s

BBC Radio 3 Thursday Lunchtime Concerts Summer Cello series 6 May 1pm: Raphael Wallfisch cello | John York piano 13 May 1pm: Daniel Müller-Schott cello | Nicholas Angelich piano 20 May 1pm: Natalie Clein solo cello 27 May 1pm: Danjulo Ishizaka solo cello Tickets £9 (£7 concessions)

Danjulo Ishizaka © Johannes Ifkovits

161 Old Street EC1V 9NG Box Office 020 7638 8891 | lso.co.uk/lsostlukes

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PROGRAMME NOTES

Nikolai MYASKOVSKY

SYMPHONY 6 IN E FLAT MINOR LONDON PHILHARMONIC CHOIR Poco largamente – Allegro feroce | Presto tenebroso | Andante appassionato | Allegro vivace

1881-1950

Myaskovsky was born in a fortress in Poland (where his father was a military engineer), studied in the cadet corps and joined a Moscow sapper’s battalion. Soon after entering the St Petersburg Conservatory in 1906, he resigned his commission, but his promising career as a symphonist and music critic was suspended by the outbreak of war, when he was drafted to serve at the Austrian front. After the Bolshevik coup he was transferred to the Naval General Staff, moving with it to Moscow in 1918, where he also became involved with the re-organisation of music. With the end of the Civil War in 1921 he was finally demobilised, and he joined the teaching staff at the Moscow Conservatory, where he was to train generations of composers, including Kabalevsky, Khachaturian and Shebalin.

The basic emotional tenor of the Sixth Symphony (composed 1921-3) is clear. The key of E flat minor, extremely rare in symphonic music, has well-established tragic connotations in Russian opera. In this chosen arena, Myaskovsky’s seething chromaticism creates a passionate drama of struggle and sorrow, reinforced by a succession of Scriabinesque performance markings (precipitato, feroce, desiderato, smanioso, con amarezza and addolorato in the first movement alone).

After its portentous opening, the first movement is immediately caught up in whirling currents that might remind British listeners of Elgar, German ones of Strauss or Mahler, and French ones of César Franck. Highly characteristic of Myaskovsky are the early glimpses of a redemptive-sounding theme on horns and trumpet and the halting, breathless transition to the horn’s second subject. In the middle of the movement it becomes evident that the accumulating accelerations and sudden gasps for breath are not weaknesses but convey the dramatic essence of the music. At length a massive declamation on horns and trumpet (actually a slowed-

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down version of the main allegro feroce theme) heralds a full-length recapitulation. The profoundly disconsolate coda alludes both to the death scene from Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov and to the final pages of Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique.

In the early phases of composition Myaskovsky heard of the death of his aunt. He travelled to Petrograd for the funeral, and his diary records that ‘in the ice-cold flat the ideas for the middle movements of the Sixth Symphony came to me’. Russian commentators have seen the presto tenebroso second movement as the evocation of a snow-storm. But the most memorable music comes in the Trio section, where the skies clear, the flute soars like a bird, the oboe remembers the redemptive trumpet theme from the first movement, and violins and celesta creep in with a nostalgic, chorale-like theme that sounds like a Russian cousin to the first movement of Mahler’s Sixth.

The slow movement begins by laying two false trails – a chromatic unison heaving idea, followed by a reworking of the first movement’s second subject. Only with the clarinet’s achingly beautiful music is the main theme reached. These ideas and the trio section from the Scherzo are intensively developed, and the horn’s memory of the redemptive theme tells us that this emotionally unstable phase of the work is about to close.

As if in psychological denial of all these upheavals, the finale launches straight into a swinging theme on six horns, and the party mood continues with the marchlike second theme on the brass. These are in fact two revolutionary French songs – ‘Carmagnole’ and ‘Ça ira’ – adopted, like the ‘Marseillaise’ and others, as anthems for the young Soviet state. Their appearance in a symphonic finale seems to betoken the bright dawn of

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PROGRAMME NOTES

socialism supplanting bourgeois individualism. But Myaskovsky had other ideas, apparently deriving from his reading of the Belgian poet Emile Verhaeren’s Les Aubes, with its depiction of the death of a revolutionary hero and the honour paid to him by the People. So the wind goes out of the revolutionary sails and the dies irae motif, a time-honoured symbol of death, appears in harp, cellos and double basses. Painful sighs follow, echoing the laments of the Holy Fool in Boris Godunov, and the clarinet intones the Russian sacred chant, ‘Of the separation of the Soul from the Body’. Myaskovsky then reruns the early stages of the finale, as though

Programme notes by David Fanning © 2010

O, quid vidimus?

Mirum prodigium, et portentum bonum, corpus mortuum.

Quod abs te, anima, quod relinquebatur, quod relinquebatur, et deserebatur.

Tibi, anima, ad Dei judicium est eundum, o corpus in humum humidum.

Oh, what did we see?

A wonderful sign and portent of good, a dead body.

For you, soul, left the body behind, separated from the body and abandoned it.

You, soul, to God’s judgement are going, the body into moist earth.

Latin text by V.J. Sokolov

English translation © Eric Mason 2010

once again in denial. This time, however, a sharper conflict develops, the dies irae is more assertive, the sighs are more graphic, and the chant is now given (optionally) to a chorus. The first movement’s allusions to the death of Boris Godunov make one last appearance, as does the slow movement’s poignant clarinet theme, as if to depict the words of the chant: the Body goes to Mother Earth, but the Soul ascends to be judged by God on high.

© Copyright Boosey and Hawkes/Editions Le Chant du Monde. Reproduced by permision of Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd.

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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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 (world première) 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.

12 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

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 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 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 Michael Posen 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 Marika Cobbold & Michael Patchett-Joyce 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 John Montgomery Mr & Mrs Egil Oldeide Edmund Pirouet 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 Brown Brothers Harriman 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 Dorset Foundation 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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SOUTHBANK CENTRE

WELCOME TO SOUTHBANK CENTRE We hope you enjoy your visit. We have a Duty Manager available at all times. If you have any queries please ask any member of staff for assistance.

Orchestral concerts are a vital part of BBC Radio 3’s output and I’m delighted that the station will continue its long association with the London Philharmonic Orchestra by bringing performances from this season to the widest possible audience, including those listening at home, on air and online.

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

Roger Wright Controller, BBC Radio 3

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

Tonight’s concert will be broadcast in Performance on 3 on Wednesday 5 May at 7pm, and is available online for 7 days after broadcast at bbc.co.uk/radio3

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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 Dr Louise Miller Honorary Doctor

Roanna Chandler Concerts Director

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

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

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.

Ruth Sansom Artistic Administrator

Sarah Tattersall Corporate Relations and Events 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

Photograph on the front cover

by Roman Gontcharov.

ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL

Kath Trout Marketing Director

Programmes printed by Cantate.

Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager

Frances Cook Publications Manager

Sarah Thomas Librarian

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

Michael Pattison Stage Manager Camilla Begg Assistant Orchestra Personnel Manager Ken Graham Trucking Instrument Transportation (Tel: 01737 373305)

Photograph of Prokofiev courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London, and of Myaskovsky courtesy of RAI Novosti/Lebrecht Music & Arts.

Valerie Barber Press Consultant (Tel: 020 7586 8560) INTERN Jo Langston Marketing †Supported by Macquarie Group

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 15

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FUTURE CONCERTS AT SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL

Saturday 1 May 2010 | 7.30pm

JTI Friday Series | Friday 28 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

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

Neeme Järvi conductor Alexei Lubimov piano Suppported by the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation.

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

Neeme Järvi and Alexei Lubimov

Vladimir Jurowski and Anna Larsson

JTI Friday Series | Friday 7 May 2010 | 7.30pm

Thursday 1 July 2010 | 7.30pm Adams Shaker Loops Glass Violin Concerto 1 Shankar Symphony (world première)

Tchaikovsky Francesca da Rimini Liszt Piano Concerto 2 Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis Dvořák Symphonic Variations

David Murphy conductor Robert McDuffie violin Anoushka Shankar sitar

Benjamin Northey conductor Arnaldo Cohen piano

FREE Pre-Concert Event 6.15pm | Royal Festival Hall An introduction to the music of Ravi Shankar.

Benjamin Northey and Arnaldo Cohen

David Murphy and Robert McDuffie

Saturday 22 May 2010 | 7.30pm Debussy Ibéria Lalo Symphonie espagnole Strauss Don Juan Ravel Boléro Christoph Eschenbach conductor Christian Tetzlaff violin

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

16 | London Philharmonic Orchestra