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Principal Conductor 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†

JTI FRIDAY SERIES

PROGRAMME £3

SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL Friday 18 March 2011 | 7.30pm

CONTENTS

VLADIMIR JUROWSKI conductor EMANUEL AX piano PROKOFIEV Suite from ‘The Love for Three Oranges’ (15’) STRAVINSKY Capriccio for piano and orchestra

(17’)

INTERVAL HAYDN Piano Concerto in D

(19’)

SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 6 in B minor

†

(30’)

supported by Macquarie Group

CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 12 13 14 15 16

List of Players Orchestra History Leader Vladimir Jurowski Emanuel Ax JTI Programme Notes Southbank Centre Supporters Recordings Administration Future Concerts

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

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LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

FIRST VIOLINS Pieter Schoeman* Leader Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader Chair supported by John and Angela Kessler

Katerina Mitchell Katalin Varnagy Catherine Craig Thomas Eisner Tina Gruenberg Martin Hรถhmann Chair supported by Richard Karl Goeltz

Geoffrey Lynn Robert Pool Sarah Streatfeild Yang Zhang Rebecca Shorrock Peter Nall Galina Tanney Joanne Chen

VIOLAS Alexander Zemtsov* Principal Chair supported by The Tsukanov Family

Robert Duncan Janis Lielbardis Katharine Leek Susanne Martens Benedetto Pollani Emmanuella Reiter-Bootiman Laura Vallejo Daniel Cornford Isabel Pereira Michelle Bruil Naomi Holt CELLOS Kristina Blaumane Principal Susanne Beer Co-Principal Francis Bucknall Laura Donoghue Jonathan Ayling

SECOND VIOLINS Clare Duckworth Principal Chair supported by Richard and Victoria Sharp

Jeongmin Kim Joseph Maher Nancy Elan Fiona Higham Nynke Hijlkema Ashley Stevens Sioni Williams Heather Badke Peter Graham Stephen Stewart Mila Mustakova Sheila Law Elizabeth Baldey

Chair supported by Caroline, Jamie and Zander Sharp

Santiago Sabino Carvalho + Gregory Walmsley Sue Sutherley Susanna Riddell Tom Roff DOUBLE BASSES Kevin Rundell* Principal Tim Gibbs Co-Principal Laurence Lovelle George Peniston Richard Lewis Kenneth Knussen Tom Walley Joe Melvin

OBOES Ian Hardwick Principal Tom Barber COR ANGLAIS Sue Bohling Principal Chair supported by Julian and Gill Simmonds

CLARINETS Robert Hill* Principal Nicholas Carpenter Katie Lockhart E FLAT CLARINET Nicholas Carpenter Principal BASS CLARINET Paul Richards Principal

TUBA Lee Tsarmaklis Principal TIMPANI Simon Carrington* Principal PERCUSSION Rachel Gledhill Principal Andrew Barclay* Co-Principal Chair supported by Andrew Davenport

Keith Millar Ignacio Mollins HARPS Rachel Masters* Principal Helen Sharp CELESTE Catherine Edwards

BASSOONS John Price Principal Gareth Newman* CONTRA BASSOON Simon Estell Principal

ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR Thomas Blunt

HORNS Abel Pereira Guest Principal Martin Hobbs Marcus Bates Gareth Mollison Alistair Rycroft TRUMPETS Paul Beniston* Principal Daniel Newell Nicholas Betts Co-Principal Robin Totterdell

FLUTES Sue Thomas* Principal Eilidh Gillespie

TROMBONES Mark Templeton* Principal David Whitehouse

PICCOLO Stewart McIlwham* Principal

BASS TROMBONE Lyndon Meredith 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: David and Victoria Graham Fuller Geoff and Meg Mann

2 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

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LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Patrick Harrison

Seventy-eight 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 2010/11 include an exploration of Mahler’s symphonies and complete song cycles during the composer’s anniversary season; the premières of works by Matteo D’Amico, Magnus Lindberg and Brett Dean; a rare opportunity to hear Rossini’s opera Aureliano in Palmira in collaboration with long term partner Opera Rara; and works by the Orchestra’s new Composer in Residence, Julian Anderson. In addition to its London season and a series of concerts at Wigmore Hall, 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 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 London Philharmonic Orchestra. Tours in 2010/11 include visits to Finland, Germany, South Korea, Spain, France, Belgium and Luxembourg. 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 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 London Philharmonic Orchestra made its first recordings on 10 October 1932, just three days after its first public performance. It has recorded and broadcast

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3

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LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

PIETER SCHOEMAN

regularly ever since, and in 2005 established its own record label. The recordings on its own label are taken mainly from live concerts given with distinguished conductors over the years including the Orchestra’s Principal Conductors from Beecham and Boult, through Haitink, Solti and Tennstedt, to Masur and Jurowski. Recent additions to the catalogue have included acclaimed releases of Christmas choral music conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, Bruckner’s Symphony No. 6 conducted by Christoph Eschenbach, Verdi’s Requiem conducted by Jesús López-Cobos, Holst’s The Planets conducted by Vladimir Jurowski and Elgar’s Symphony No. 1 and Sea Pictures with Vernon Handley and Janet Baker. The Orchestra’s own-label CDs are also widely available to download. Visit www.lpo.org.uk/shop for the latest releases.

‘ … a simply tremendous performance of Mahler’s 3rd Symphony … Jurowski and his players plunged us into a winter of discontent so profoundly expectant that even the inveterate coughers were silenced.’ EDWARD SECKERSON, THE INDEPENDENT, 23 SEPTEMBER 2010

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, download our iPhone application and join us on Facebook and Twitter.

4 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

In 2002, Pieter Schoeman joined the London Philharmonic Orchestra as Co-Leader. He was appointed Leader in 2008. 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 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 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 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, he has performed Arvo Pärt’s Double Concerto with Boris Garlitsky and Benjamin Britten’s Double Concerto with Alexander Zemtsov, which was recorded and released on the Orchestra’s own record label to great critical acclaim. Last October he performed the Brahms Double Concerto with Kristina Blaumane. In 1995 Pieter Schoeman became Co-Leader of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice. Since then he has performed frequently as Guest Leader with the symphony orchestras of Barcelona, Bordeaux, Lyon and Baltimore as well as the BBC Symphony Orchestra. This season he has been invited to lead the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra on several occasions. Pieter Schoeman has recorded numerous violin solos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra for Chandos, Opera Rara, Naxos, X5, 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 in London.

Patrick Harrison

LEADER

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VLADIMIR JUROWSKI

Karen Robinson

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 in Dresden and 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 Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night. The same year saw his brilliant debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in Nabucco. In 1996 he 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 di Venezia, Opéra Bastille de Paris, Théâtre de la Monnaie Bruxelles, Maggio Musicale Festival Florence, Rossini Opera Festival Pesaro, Edinburgh Festival, Semperoper Dresden and the 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 is a regular guest with many of the world’s leading orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Dresden Staatskapelle, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestras as well as the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. Highlights of the 2010/11 season and beyond include his debuts with the Vienna Philharmonic, Cleveland, San Francisco Symphony and Mahler Chamber Orchestras, and return visits to the Chicago Symphony, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, St Petersburg Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestras. His operatic engagements have included Jenůfa, The Queen of Spades and Hänsel und Gretel at the Metropolitan Opera, Parsifal and Wozzeck at Welsh National Opera, War and Peace at the Opéra National de Paris, Eugene Onegin at La Scala Milan, as well as Die Zauberflöte, La Cenerentola, Otello, Macbeth, Falstaff, Tristan und Isolde, Don Giovanni, The Rake’s Progress and Peter Eötvös’ Love and Other Demons at Glyndebourne Opera. Future engagements include new productions of Die Meistersinger and The Cunning Little Vixen at Glyndebourne, Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Metropolitan Opera, Russlan and Ludmila at the Bolshoi Theatre, and Iolanta at the Dresden Semperoper. Jurowski’s discography includes the first ever recording of Giya Kancheli’s cantata Exil for ECM (1994), L’Étoile du Nord by Meyerbeer for Naxos-Marco Polo (1996), and Werther for BMG (1999) as well as live recordings of works by Rachmaninov, Turnage, Tchaikovsky, Britten, Brahms and Shostakovich on the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s own label, and Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery on Glyndebourne Opera’s own label. He also records for PentaTone with the Russian National Orchestra, with releases to date including Tchaikovsky’s Suite No. 3 and Stravinsky’s Divertimento from Le Baiser de la fée, Shostakovich’s Symphonies Nos 1 and 6, Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 and Tchaikovsky’s Hamlet Incidental Music. Glyndebourne have released DVD recordings of his performances of La Cenerentola, Gianni Schicchi, Die Fledermaus and Rachmaninov’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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EMANUEL AX PIANO

J Henry Fair

culminate in a series of three at Lincoln Center, New York.

Emanuel Ax is renowned not only for his poetic temperament and unsurpassed virtuosity, but also for the exceptional breadth of his performing activity. Each season his engagements include appearances with major symphony orchestras worldwide, recitals in the most celebrated concert halls, a variety of chamber music collaborations, the commissioning and performance of new music, and additions to his acclaimed discography on Sony Classical. He first captured public attention in 1974 when, at the age of 25, he won the first Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Tel Aviv. Five years later he took the coveted Avery Fisher Prize in New York. He has been an exclusive Sony Classical artist since 1987, making his debut on that label with a collection of Chopin scherzos and mazurkas. His recent releases include Mendelssohn’s piano trios with Itzhak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma, period-instrument performances of Chopin’s complete works for piano and orchestra with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Sir Charles Mackerras, and Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Bernard Haitink and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Other notable recordings are the Grammyaward winning albums of Haydn piano sonatas and Beethoven and Brahms sonatas for cello and piano with Yo-Yo Ma. Highlights of the current season include return visits to the Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, London Philharmonic and Orchestre de Paris and performances of both Brahms piano concertos with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Bernard Haitink at the Lucerne Piano Festival and BBC Proms. In addition he performs a number of recitals focussed on the music of Schubert in London, Germany, Italy and Spain which

6 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

In recognition of the bicentenaries of Chopin and Schumann in 2010 and in partnership with London’s Barbican, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony, Emanuel Ax commissioned new works from composers Thomas Adès, Peter Lieberman and Stephen Prutsman for three recital programmes presented in each of those cities with colleagues Yo-Yo Ma and Dawn Upshaw. In addition to this large-scale project, recent tours have included performances in Asia with the New York Philharmonic on their first tour with Music Director Alan Gilbert and European tours with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and James Conlon and the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Ivan Fischer. Other recent engagements include his collaboration with the Mark Morris Dance Group, playing Mozart piano concertos in a series of performances in New York, London and Vienna. Born in Lvov, Poland, Emanuel Ax moved to Winnipeg, Canada, with his family when he was a young boy. His studies at the Juilliard School were supported by sponsorship from the Epstein Scholarship Program of the Boys Clubs of America and he subsequently won the Young Concert Artists Award. His piano teacher was Mieczylaw Munz. He also attended Columbia University where he majored in French. In 2007 he was made an Honorary Doctor of Music at Yale University and in 2008 he received an Honorary Degree from Columbia. He lives in New York with his wife, the pianist Yoko Nozaki. They have two children, Joseph and Sarah.

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The London Philharmonic Orchestra has maintained accessible ticket prices for its Friday concerts for more than half a century. Our support of the â€˜JTI Friday Seriesâ€™ ensures it can continue to do so. JTI is driven by the creativity of 25,000 diverse, enquiring minds made up of 90 nationalities. Imagine the potential.

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PROGRAMME NOTES

SPEEDREAD Prokofiev made a delightfully crazy opera out of a dramatic fable by the 18th-century Italian playwright Carlo Gozzi. For the concert hall he compiled the orchestral suite that opens this evening’s concert. The eccentric march, which provides the third of six movements, is one of Prokofiev’s most popular and typical numbers. Stravinsky was at his most zestful and witty when he composed his Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra. Being fond of the Hungarian cimbalom, he wrote some of the piano part in the middle movement as if for that instrument.

Sergei PROKOFIEV

Haydn’s Piano Concerto in D quickly became one of his international hits. It was typical of him in sporty vein to make much of a simple three-note figure in the first movement. Another simple theme is the basis of the eloquent slow movement. The lively finale is labelled as Hungarian style but is actually based on a Bosnian dance. Shostakovich’s Sixth Symphony starts with a brooding but not ultimately despairing Largo. A fantastic and perhaps ambiguous scherzo follows. The finale is a highspirited rondo in the vein that Prokofiev successfully exploited, and all seems to be boisterous joy at the end. © Eric Mason

1891-1953

Carlo Goldoni, the 18th-century Venetian playwright, had an accomplished rival in Carlo Gozzi (1720-1806), who sought to uphold the commedia dell’arte tradition in opposition to the new French ideas that were influencing the Italian theatre. In one of his dramatic fairy tales, The Love for Three Oranges, Gozzi turned an Italian fable into a witty lampoon against Goldoni. A century and a half later, in 1914, a group of Russian dramatists seized on Gozzi’s play as a means of satirising the contemporary Russian theatre and published an adapted version of it. This appealed to the young Prokofiev as a subject for an opera, and he was working on it when he arrived in America for the first time in 1918. The Chicago Opera agreed to produce the work, which received a delayed first performance on 30 December 1921 with the composer conducting. Set to brilliantly scored music, it is a cheerfully crazy operatic pantomime about a prince’s search for three

8 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

magic oranges. The orchestral suite, which Prokofiev arranged in 1924, has six movements. The Odd Fellows begins with the opening of the opera and continues with the music that accompanies the activities of ‘Ten Reasonable Spectators’, a motley crew who occupy a stage box, criticise the show and at crucial moments invade the stage. In the next number while Fata Morgana, a witch, plays a card game with the King’s magician, some little devils perform their dance. The King’s son is a melancholy hypochondriac who can be saved only if he is made to laugh. Theatrical festivities are arranged for this purpose, and Truffaldino, the sorrowful Prince’s servant, conducts his master to them. Their eccentric March, the opera’s most famous number, continues as an interlude before the next scene.

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PROGRAMME NOTES

When the Prince at last bursts into laughter at the sight of the witch’s bloomers, she puts a curse on him. He is to fall in love with three oranges and travel the world until he finds them. Pausing on their journey across a desert, the Prince and Truffaldino encounter Farfarello, a little devil with a pair of bellows, who wafts them on their way to the strains of the Scherzo. Three giant oranges are discovered and prove to contain princesses. The first two quickly die of thirst, but the third and most beautiful princess is saved by the ‘Reasonable Spectators’, who produce a bucket of water.

Igor STRAVINSKY

Prince and Princess declare their love in a scene from which the fifth movement of the suite is drawn. Finally, the conspirators who have tried to rob the Prince of his inheritance are unmasked, the ‘Reasonable Spectators’ doing their bit to banish these evil influences. But amid the confusion the witch’s magic produces a trapdoor, through which the miscreants make their escape. © Eric Mason

CAPRICCIO FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA EMANUEL AX piano Presto – | Andante rapsodico – | Allegro capriccioso ma tempo giusto

1882-1971

Stravinsky was no mean pianist, and he composed the Capriccio for himself to play on concert tours. He gave the first performance on 6 December 1929 in Paris with Ernest Ansermet conducting. The score was revised in 1949, mainly to correct errors. In adopting the title Capriccio the composer had in mind its definition by Michael Praetorius (1571-1621) as synonymous with the fantasia, a free form, and he constructed the work by juxtaposing episodes of various kinds. He thought Weber’s piano sonatas might have exerted a spell while he was writing it, and although one should not expect this music to sound like anything but Stravinsky one might recognise Weber’s influence in the lightness and brilliance of the piano writing. Another influence is that of Bach, and the orchestra contains, as might a baroque concerto grosso, a concertino quartet of violin, viola, cello and double-bass separated from the other strings. The violins are not divided into firsts and seconds. There are no breaks between movements.

Quick rising scales on the full strings contrasted with a slow descent by the concertino group make an introduction and coda to frame the first movement. The main body of this movement is a sort of moto perpetuo, at least from the pianist’s point of view. Variants of the introduction’s scales are added, then the key changes from G minor to G major for a passage with piano and flutes in partnership. A short episode for clarinet, bassoon, horn and piano marks the mid-point of the movement, after which an elaborated reprise of the G minor music leads to the coda. Stravinsky was fond of the cimbalom (the dulcimer much used in Hungary and Romania) and kept one in Paris. He gave up writing for it because good players were hard to find, but he conceived some of the piano part in the slow movement of the Capriccio in cimbalom style. The principal F minor theme given out by the woodwind calls Bach’s arias to mind, the piano supplying an obbligato. The soloist introduces a new theme in the F major middle section. Then the first is

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PROGRAMME NOTES

recapitulated and a cimbalom-type cadenza (Stravinsky called it ‘a kind of Romanian restaurant music’) leads to the finale. This is another moto perpetuo and is remarkable for its zest and wit. The piano succeeds at its third attempt to get the music going, and then leads the orchestra to a

loud chord that launches the G major Allegro proper. The piano’s lively theme is accompanied by and then exchanged with a closely related one for the orchestra. The development is brilliant, light and rhythmically pointed, and the playfulness is maintained to the end. © Eric Mason

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

Joseph HAYDN

PIANO CONCERTO IN D, HOB.XVIII:2 EMANUEL AX piano Vivace | Un poco Adagio | Rondo all’Ungherese: Allegro assai

1732-1809

Returning to the medium of the concerto after a break of almost twenty years, Haydn composed two in the early 1780s, the Cello Concerto in D in 1783 and this one in the same key ‘For the Harpsichord or Fortepiano’. We do not know the exact date of composition, but modern research has suggested that a Fräulein von Hartenstein played this concerto at a private concert in Vienna on 20 February 1780. What is certain is that the concerto rapidly became popular internationally; in the composer’s own lifetime eight publishers in five countries issued it. When Haydn wrote to the London publisher William Forster in April 1787, offering him

10 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

various recent works including ‘a big pianoforte concerto’, he did not know that the concerto had already been on sale for some time in rival editions. The soloist is accompanied by an orchestra of two oboes, two horns and strings, which opens the substantial 4/4 Vivace with a succinct exposition of the main thematic ideas. The first subject is typical of Haydn’s sporty style in having its nimble first phrase answered by emphatic forzati, and much is to be made later of three simple notes (D-D-A) at the end of that opening phrase. A gentler second subject for oboes and

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PROGRAMME NOTES

violins, still in D, leads to more treatment of the first with syncopations, another prominent feature of the movement. The pianist enters and elaborates these ideas. A large part of the development exploits the potential of that D-D-A figure in other major and minor keys. The recapitulation is followed by what is probably Haydn’s own piano cadenza, and a five-bar coda neatly rounds the movement off. A simple theme constructed from the common chord is the basis of the eloquent slow movement in A. Introduced by the violins, it is taken up and embellished by the soloist as if freely rhapsodising. Another simple idea, a triplet violin figure from the fourth bar, is the subject of a beautiful, poetic dialogue between piano and strings in the middle section, which is unexpectedly in E minor. After a reprise of the first theme and a solo cadenza the Adagio closes with another treatment of

Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH

the triplet figure, enhanced by the oboes and an octave pedal point on the horns. Despite the title the main theme of the zestful Rondo all’Ungherese finale is not Hungarian but Bosnian; it is the 2/4 tune of a round dance called the Siri kolo. The soloist introduces it in the orthodox key of D and a few bars later offers an alternative version in alien E minor. The rondo soon develops both forms into a wild dance incorporating features of folk music. A darker episode in D minor with chains of trills from the piano is offset by a burst of the rondo theme in the major, which in turn leads to an episode with a new subject in B minor. A varied recapitulation follows. Then brisk antiphonal exchanges between soloist and orchestra bring the concerto to its end. © Eric Mason

SYMPHONY NO. 6 IN B MINOR, OP. 54 Largo | Allegro | Presto

1906-1975

Having been officially denounced in 1936 for ‘formalistic perversions’ and the ‘raucous cacophony’ of his music, Shostakovich restored himself to the Soviet authorities’ favour the following year with his Fifth Symphony. Shortly afterwards he disclosed that he was starting work on a symphony inspired by the character and ideals of Lenin, but there is no evidence that the Sixth Symphony, which was completed in 1939 and received its first performance the same year in St Petersburg, has any connection with Lenin. One Soviet interpretation sees this symphony as reflecting further on the subjective problems that underlay the Fifth Symphony. This seems to be borne out by the posthumously published Testimony, in which the composer reportedly confesses to having been near to

suicide after the denunciation. ‘I came out of the crisis stronger than before, more confident of my own strength.’ Some of these thoughts, Shostakovich is reported as saying, can be found in the closing pages of the Fourth Symphony and were also in his mind when writing the first part of the Sixth. The symphony’s layout is unusual, beginning with what would have been the second movement in a conventional four-movement scheme. This brooding Largo consists of two long sections and a brief reprise. Although the home key is B minor, the movement opens in E minor with an aspiring theme that rises from the depths and is capped by a new phrase containing a trill. These two ideas recur in various parts of the texture,

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PROGRAMME NOTES

each giving rise to a different continuation. After the first climax the arrival in B minor is marked by the recurrence of the trill phrase on first violins, accompanied by running quavers in the lower strings, a pattern derived from the symphony’s first two bars. From the same source comes the first phrase of the cor anglais solo that opens the second section. Its rising third shifts uncertainly between minor and major. This figure then appears in various forms in a forlorn environment that brings Mahler to mind. Eventually it spurs a solo flute into a florid cadenza suggestive of a hopeful outcome. A horn solo against a shimmering background leads into a succinct summary of the movement. For second movement Shostakovich offers a brilliantly scored scherzo of fantastic character. This has prompted divergent interpretations. Is it vivacious and light-

footed, as one commentator would have it, or biting and sardonic as another hears it? There is a proliferation of themes, the principal one being given out at the start by an E flat clarinet. When this theme returns in the latter stages, it is given to the bass clarinet while its inversion appears simultaneously on a flute. The finale is a high-spirited rondo in a vein that Prokofiev successfully exploited. Its main theme of two strains proves amenable to inventive variation, and at one point Shostakovich invokes the shade of Rossini. After a noisy central episode with contrasting material a solo violin leads back to the rondo theme. Towards the end Shostakovich enters the circus ring with a rowdy brass transformation of this theme. Can there be any doubt about the B major gaiety at the close? © Eric Mason

WELCOME

A few points to note for your comfort and enjoyment:

TO SOUTHBANK CENTRE

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

We hope you enjoy your visit. We have a Duty Manager available at all times. If you have any queries please ask any member of staff for assistance. Eating, drinking and shopping? Southbank Centre shops and restaurants include: 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 Kenelm Roberts, our Head of Customer Relations, at Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX or email customer@southbankcentre.co.uk or phone 020 7960 4250. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

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PHOTOGRAPHY is not allowed in the auditorium

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 Julian & Gill Simmonds The Tsukanov Family Garf & Gill Collins Andrew Davenport David & Victoria Graham Fuller Richard Karl Goeltz John & Angela Kessler Mr & Mrs Makharinsky Geoff & Meg Mann Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp Eric Tomsett Guy & Utti Whittaker Principal Benefactors Mark & Elizabeth Adams Jane Attias Lady Jane Berrill Desmond & Ruth Cecil Mr John H Cook Mrs Sonja Drexler Mr Charles Dumas David Ellen Commander Vincent Evans

Mr Daniel Goldstein Mrs Barbara Green Oliver Heaton 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 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 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 AREVA UK 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 Donor Lombard Street Research In-kind Sponsors Google Inc Heineken The Langham London Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd Sela / Tilley’s Sweets Villa Maria

Trusts and Foundations Allianz Cultural Foundation The Andor Charitable Trust Arts and Business Ruth Berkowitz Charitable Trust The Boltini Trust Borletti-Buitoni Trust Britten-Pears Foundation 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 Equitable Charitable Trust The Eranda Foundation The Ernest Cook Trust The Fenton Arts Trust The Foyle Foundation The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust Capital Radio’s Help a London Child The Idlewild Trust The Emmanuel Kaye Foundation The Leverhulme Trust Lord and Lady Lurgan Trust Maurice Marks Charitable Trust The Michael Marks Charitable Trust

Marsh Christian Trust UK Friends of the FelixMendelssohn-Bartholdy Foundation The Mercers’ Company Adam Mickiewicz Institute Paul Morgan Charitable Trust Maxwell Morrison Charitable Trust Musicians Benevolent Fund The R K Charitable Trust Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation The Reed Foundation The Rubin Foundation The Seary Charitable Trust The Samuel Sebba Charitable Trust Sound Connections The Stansfield Trust The Steel Charitable Trust The Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation The Swan Trust John Thaw Foundation The Underwood Trust Garfield Weston Foundation Youth Music and others who wish to remain anonymous.

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RECORDINGS ON THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA’S OWN RECORD LABEL LPO-0001 Kurt Masur conducts Shostakovich’s Symphonies Nos 1 and 5 ‘... displays this orchestra’s excellence ... with some superb soloists, serious class in every department.’ CLASSIC FM MAGAZINE

LPO-0034 Bernard Haitink conducts Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10 ‘Haitink’s long-term vision of the music’s organic development comes across compellingly in this live recording.’ GEOFFREY NORRIS, THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, 23 AUGUST 2008

LPO-0028 Vladimir Jurowski conducts Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14 with soloists Tatiana Monogarova and Sergei Leiferkus as part of Volume 3 of the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s 75th Anniversary Box Sets ‘ ... a wonderfully “felt” performance in the way conductor and orchestra articulate and sustain this intimate, death-ridden song cycle.’ ANDREW CLARK, FINANCIAL TIMES, 27 OCTOBER 2007

This volume features four CDs by the Orchestra’s most recent Principal Conductors: Klaus Tennstedt (Beethoven Symphony No. 9), Franz WelserMöst (Strauss, Mozart, Schubert and Bruckner), Kurt Masur (Shostakovich Symphonies Nos 1 and 5) and Vladimir Jurowski (Shostakovich Symphony No. 14 as above). LPO-0051 Vladimir Jurowski conducts Haydn’s The Seven Last Words of our Saviour on the Cross with Lisa Milne, Ruxandra Donose, Andrew Kennedy, Christopher Maltman and the London Philharmonic Choir ‘This meld of orchestra, chorus and soloists is moving and magnificent, in both idea and execution.’ MICHAEL CHURCH, THE INDEPENDENT, 28 JANUARY 2011

The recordings may be downloaded in high quality MP3 format from www.lpo.org.uk/shop. CDs 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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