3 Feb 2010 prog notes - LPO

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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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AM†

SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL Wednesday 3 February 2010 | 7.30 pm MIRACULOUS LOGIC: THE MUSIC OF JEAN SIBELIUS OSMO VÄNSKÄ conductor HELENA JUNTUNEN soprano

SIBELIUS Luonnotar

PROGRAMME £3 CONTENTS 2 List of Players 3 Orchestra History 4 Leader 5 Osmo Vänskä 6 Helena Juntunen 7 Programme Notes 12 Recordings 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.

(10’)

SIBELIUS Symphony 4 in A minor

Page 1

(32’)

INTERVAL SIBELIUS Symphony 5 in E flat

(31’) This concert is being recorded

by BBC Radio 3 for broadcast on Monday 15 February 2010.

†

supported by Macquarie Group

CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

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LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

FIRST VIOLINS Pieter Schoeman* Leader Julia Rumley Chair supported by Mrs Steven Ward

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

Geoffrey Lynn Robert Pool Florence Schoeman Sarah Streatfeild Yang Zhang Rebecca Shorrock Alain Petitclerc Peter Nall SECOND VIOLINS Clare Duckworth Principal Chair supported by Richard and Victoria Sharp

Jeongmin Kim 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 Peter Graham Mila Mustakova Sheila Law

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

Susanne Martens Benedetto Pollani Emmanuella Reiter Daniel Cornford Isabel Pereira Miranda Davis Sarah Malcolm Karin Norlen CELLOS Kristina Blaumane Principal Chair supported by Simon Yates and Kevin Roon

Susanne Beer Co-Principal Francis Bucknall Laura Donoghue Sue Sutherley Susanna Riddell Pavlos Carvalho Tae-Mi Song Tom Roff Helen Rathbone DOUBLE BASSES Kevin Rundell* Principal Laurence Lovelle George Peniston Richard Lewis David Johnson Roger Linley Helen Rowlands Catherine Ricketts

FLUTES Laura Lucas Guest Principal Eilidh Gillespie PICCOLO Stewart McIlwham* Principal OBOES Ian Hardwick Principal Angela Tennick CLARINETS Nicholas Carpenter Principal Emily Sutcliffe

BASS TROMBONE Lyndon Meredith Principal TIMPANI Simon Carrington* Principal Antoine Bedewi PERCUSSION Keith Millar Principal HARPS Rachel Masters* Principal Helen Sharp

BASS CLARINET Paul Richards Principal BASSOONS Gareth Newman* Principal Simon Estell HORNS John Ryan Principal Martin Hobbs Brendan Thomas Gareth Mollison Nicolas Wolmark TRUMPETS Paul Beniston* Principal Anne McAneney* Chair supported by Geoff and Meg Mann

Nicholas Betts Co-Principal TROMBONES Mark Templeton* Principal David Whitehouse * Holds a professorial appointment in London

Chair Supporters The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert: Caroline, Jamie and Zander Sharp Julian and Gill Simmonds

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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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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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HELENA JUNTUNEN SOPRANO

One of the most successful young Finnish artists of today, soprano Helena Juntunen opened the 2007/08 season as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte in Geneva and Helsinki, as The Countess in Le nozze di Figaro in Nice and as Mimi in La bohème in her role debut in Helsinki.

She also returned to the Minnesota Orchestra for Beethoven’s Symphony 9. Engagements this season and beyond include her return to Malaga for Strauss’s Four Last Songs and Mahler’s Symphony 4, the title role in Veli-Matti Puumala’s opera Anna Liisa at the Helsinki Festival, her debut in Gothenburg as Mimi, her role debut as Marie/Marietta in Die tote Stadt in Nancy, and her debuts at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam in Sibelius’s The Tempest and with L’Ensemble Intercontemporain of Paris.

During the 2006/07 season she sang the role of Pamina at the Theater an der Wien and in Luxembourg, and the role of Jenny in Mahagonny in Nancy and Luxembourg, as well as making her debut at the London Proms performing Sibelius tone poems, and singing Mahler’s Symphony 2 in subscription concerts with the Minnesota Orchestra. She enjoyed a busy 2005/06 season with Pamina at La Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, followed by the same role in Nancy, Zdenka in Arabella in Helsinki, Marie in Wozzeck in Nice and Pamina for the Aix-en-Provence Festival and the Wiener Festwochen. In the same season she made her Salzburg Festival debut in Handel’s Alexander’s Feast, sang Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 in Malaga in Spain, and made her Minnesota Orchestra debut in Beethoven’s Symphony 9.

In 2004/05 Helena Juntunen made her debut in the role of Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier at the Finnish National Opera, followed by her debut at Brussels’

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Théâtre de la Monnaie as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte as well as a return to the Savonlinna Festival for the role of Liu in Turandot. The 2003/04 season was one of debuts for Miss Juntunen, beginning with her Italian debut at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa as Madama Cortese in Il viaggio a Reims, followed by her Antwerp debut as Zdenka in Arabella, and her Dresden Staatsoper debut as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte. In October 2003 she made her New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weil Recital Hall in a programme of Lieder and song in German, French, Finnish, Swedish and Italian. She also made her American stage debut as Marguerite in Faust with the Connecticut Grand Opera. Earlier in the same season she appeared with the National Orchestra of Belgium in Villa-Lobos’s Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, among other works under the baton of Mikko Franck and took the the role of Liu in a new production of Puccini's Turandot at the Savonlinna Festival.

At the 2002 Savonlinna Festival in Finland, Helena Juntunen generated great critical acclaim in her debut as Marguerite in Gounod’s Faust. She has appeared at the Finnish National Opera since the 1999-2000 season, most recently as Zdenka in Strauss’s Arabella and Madame Cortese in Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims. She has also worked as a soloist with internationally renowned conductors such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Mikko Franck and Osmo Vänskä. Her repertoire also encompasses the roles of Gilda in Rigoletto, Adina in L'elisir d’amore, both Mimi and Musetta in La bohème, Siebel in Gounod’s Faust, and Miss Wordsworth in Britten’s Albert Herring, which she has performed in theatres throughout Finland.

Miss Juntunen’s discography to date includes the role of Hilda in Rautavaara’s Aleksis Kivi and Irene in The House of the Sun by the same composer. She has also recorded a solo CD of Finnish Songs by Leevi Madetoja, all of which have been released by the Ondine label.

The recipient of numerous awards and prizes, Helena Juntunen was awarded First Prize in the Lappeenranta Singing Competition 2002, the Tampere Opera Grand Prix in 2001 and the Timo Mustakallio Singing Competition in 2000. She is an alumna of the Sibelius Academy, and studied Lieder with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Hartmut Holl, Mitsuko Shirai and Ilmo Ranta.

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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.

This evening Helena Juntunen joins us for Luonnotar and we hear two contrasting Sibelius symphonies – Nos 4 and 5.

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 Tonight we get a snapshot of Sibelius from the period 1909-1915 – a turbulent time for the man and his beloved Finland, but a period of rich creativity.

No two of Sibelius’s symphonic neighbours pose as striking a contrast as the Fourth and Fifth Symphonies.

The former conveys a bleakness and desolation that was quite without precedent at the time of its first performance in 1911. If you leave at the interval, your evening of music will have ended on one of the most unsettling symphonic conclusions in history: eight disorientated mezzo forte chords, neither triumphant nor defeated, determined nor resigned. The Fifth Symphony

also concludes with stand-alone orchestral chords, but here the mood couldn’t be more different: inspired by nature, Sibelius crafted one of the most uplifting and bold symphonic full-stops in history.

In the remarkable music that precedes these different endings, both symphonies could bid admirably for the accolade of Sibelius’s finest. Both expose the composer’s unmatched ability to capture Finland’s national ideals, landscape and climate in music. Both display their composer’s hard-hitting, enchanting and stylistically unique orchestral craft. In Luonnotar, meanwhile, we glimpse not only Sibelius’s storytelling credentials but also his ability to gift the Finnish language with music of touching respect and clarity.

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LUONNOTAR, OP. 70 HELENA JUNTUNEN soprano

As Finland bristled under Russian rule in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, she searched for a true identity to which she could cleave. Creatively, the move to Finnish independence can trace its roots back as early as 1829, when the writer Elias Lonnrot collated and transcribed the Kalevala – a collection of folk stories passed down by the indigenous people of the area for centuries.

The impact of the Kalevala’s publication was huge and long term. It soon seeped into every Finn’s consciousness, and remains a core part of Finnish education today.

Sibelius found a wealth of material in the work; dozens of his pieces – including the orchestral depictions of Lemminkäinen and the broad landscape of his cantata Kullervo – are directly inspired by it. In July 1913, following a commission from Britain’s Three Choirs Festival, Sibelius acted on his longstanding ambition to write a symphonic poem based on the Kalevala’s creation myth of Luonnotar, ‘the daughter of the air’.

I received very little recognition outside my circle of friends’. But it was well received in Gloucester Cathedral on 10 September 1913. The soprano dedicatee Aino Ackte said of the song in advance of that performance that ‘the compass and emphasis of the syllables as well as the tone range of the words themselves were so natural that I had the feeling I was merely reciting.’

Sibelius had a rare ability to synthesize his national language with music, highlighted even more so when, as tonight, the exponent is a singer of classic Finnish tone.

Luonnotar is said to have formed the heavens, the stars and the moon by cracking a duck’s egg – the sung text tells the story directly. Sibelius referred to the music he wrote as being ‘in my own very personal style, for which

Chronologically, Luonnotar came between the two symphonies to be heard tonight. In the song you can sense the sparing means of the Fourth Symphony, building to a single climax as in that work’s third movement. But there’s also a fascinating exploitation of tempo – particularly in depicting flight – which will be further explored in the Fifth Symphony. Sibelius uses slight alterations in speed across the same thematic material (in this case his distinct, gracefully but determinedly journeying music) to depict the descent of the duck onto Luonnotar’s protruding limb (cued in the text), comparable with the ascent of the Fifth Symphony’s swans.

Olipa impi, ilman tyttö, Kave Luonnotar korea, Ouostui elämätään, Aina yksin ollessansa, Avaroilla autioilla.

Laskeusi lainehille, Aalto impeä ajeli, Vuotta seitsemän sataa Vieri impi veen emona, Uipi luotehet, etelät, Uipi kaikki ilman rannat.

Tuli suuri tuulen puuska, Meren kuohuille kohotti. ”Voi, poloinen, päiviäni.

Parempi olisi ollut Ilman impenä elää.

Air’s young daughter was a virgin, Fairest daughter of creation.

Long did she abide a virgin, Dwelling ever more so lonely In those far-extending deserts.

After this the maid descending Sank upon the tossing billows, Seven long centuries together.

Then she swam, the Water-Mother Southward swam and swam to north-west.

Swam around in all directions.

Then a sudden mighty tempest Threw her up on the foamy waves.

‘Oh how wretched is my fortune Better were it I had tarried, Virgin in the airy regions.

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PROGRAMME NOTES

Oi, Ukko, ylijumala!

Käy tänne kutsuttaissa.”

Tuli sotka, suora lintu, Lenti kaikki ilman rannat, Lenti luotehet, etelät, Ei löyä pesän soia. ”Ei, ei, ei.

Teenkö tuulehen tupani, Aalloillen asuinsiani, Tuuli kaatavi, Aalto viepi asuinsiani.”

Niin silloin veen emonen, Nosti polvea lainehesta.

Siihen sorsa laativi pesänsä, Alkoi hautoa.

Impi tuntevi tulistuvaksi.

Järkytti jäsenehensä.

Pesä vierähti vetehen, Katkieli kappaleiksi.

Muuttuivat munat kaunoisiksi: Munasen yläinen puoli Yläiseksi taivahaksi, Yläpuoli valkeaista, Kuuksi kumottamahan, Mi kirjavaista, Tähiksi taivaalle, Ne tähiksi taivaalle.

Ukko, thou of Gods the highest Hasten here for thou art needed.’

Then a beauteous teal came flying Flew around in all directions, Southward flew and flew to north-west, Searching for a spot to rest in.

‘No! No! No! Should I make the wind my dwelling.

Then the winds Will overturn it, Or the waves will sweep it from me.’

Then the Mother of the Waters From the waves her knee uplifted; Gentle there the teal alighting So she might her nest establish Then the maiden felt a burning And her limbs convulsive shaking, Rolled the eggs into the water And to splinters they were broken, And to fragments they were shattered.

From the egg’s upper fragment Rose the lofty arch of heaven, From the white the upper fragment Rose the moon that shines so brightly; All that in the egg was mottled Now became the stars in heaven.

Now became the stars in heaven.

Freely adapted from the Kalevala I, 111–242

English translation: William Forsell Kirby (1907)

SYMPHONY 4 IN A MINOR, OP. 63 Tempo di moderato, quasi adagio | Allegro molto vivace | Il tempo largo | Allegro

The Fourth Symphony is Sibelius’s most challenging and disturbing creation. For some, it’s a masterpiece. For the musicians of the Vienna Philharmonic, it was a nemesis: they gave up rehearsing the work’s stark, troubled and silence-stalked opening pages in 1912 and still haven’t returned to it. One critic in Finland referred to the symphony as Barkbröd – a period of famine in the country which forced its people to eat the bark from trees to survive.

Even after he’d become the darling of Finland and a true voice for independence, Sibelius retained his weaknesses – namely alcohol, cigars, raucous socialising and poor financial management. In 1908 he had undergone several operations to remove an incipient tumour in his throat. The events and resulting enforced abstinence from alcohol and tobacco constituted ‘a frightening warning from above’ for Sibelius. It had practical side effects, too: as he set to work on the

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Fourth Symphony in May 1909, Sibelius was informed that his debts now amounted to a colossal 100,000 Finnish marks.

The symphony effectively combines its composer’s internal feelings of pain and anguish with the physical terrain of a remote area of Karelia – the district of eastern Finland in which the Kalevala tradition took root. Before starting work on the piece, Sibelius had made a visit to the bleak outpost of Koli with his brother-in-law. Its remoteness and snow-covered colourlessness are instantly recognisable in music which seems sketched rather than painted. Also significant is the distinct light of this area of Finland: in early autumn, when Sibelius visited, the glowing, 22hour light of summer makes way for the unsure, cool and similarly all-day darkness of winter.

Excerpts from Sibelius’s diary make disturbing reading against the music of the Fourth Symphony; the composer appears near mental collapse just as his music does close to tonal meltdown as it struggles to maintain a hold on the home key of A minor. But while the work’s stark textures and periods of hesitance can feel disorientating against the busy journeying of the Third and Fifth Symphonies, there is plenty of Sibelius’s

‘miraculous logic’ at work in the way the piece develops its material. The eerie ‘tritone’ interval that opens the symphony (a C, D and F sharp growled on low strings) is a constant reference point, while other material is developed extensively from small, fragmentary means.

The opening movement is the most desolate of the four and perhaps the most affecting. It seems to search hesitantly for light, which is occasionally forthcoming in a series of rich but strangely chilling shafts of brass.

Like the finale, the second movement appears to initiate a thaw, but its gaiety turns only to wringing inner turmoil as a brass salvo from the first movement re-appears, darkly transformed. The movement is halted by three abrupt timpani strokes.

The soft, ambivalent nature of those timpani strokes is a chilling, disorientating tool. But the manner in which Sibelius ends his symphony is even more so: a handful of lonely mezzo forte chords. Tchaikovsky and Bruckner created something of a trend for ending symphonies on a pianissimo rather than the traditional forte Beethovenian full-stop, but never had a multimovement piece wound up so suddenly on an exhausted middle ground like this.

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

SYMPHONY 5 IN E FLAT, OP. 82 Tempo di moderato – Allegro moderato | Andante mosso, quasi allegretto | Allegro molto – Un pochettino largamente

In the early 1910s, Sibelius could add to his own personal financial and health problems those of Finland itself. Russia was attempting to strengthen its grip on the province, suspending the parliament and attempting to drive out the Finnish language. As Europe slipped towards the First World War, Finland, aligned with Russia, faced not only mass slaughter but also the

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annihilation of its timber-exporting industry. It’s a mark of his humanity and nationalism that Sibelius was so depressed and terrified at this prospect. ‘In a deep mire again, but already I begin to see dimly the mountain that I shall ascend’, he wrote as the outbreak of war approached, ‘God opens His door for a moment and His orchestra plays the Fifth Symphony.’

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Despite Sibelius’s depression, the prevailing mood of the new symphony would represent a distinct thawing from the cold darkness of the Fourth. Sibelius was planning it in his mind: themes were to involve the onset of spring, and the spirit of the composer’s country home at Järvenpää. Then, on the 12th April 1914, the symphony’s genesis was rubber-stamped. Sibelius witnessed a sight which would affect him deeply and almost write the Fifth Symphony’s main theme for him.

It was a flock of sixteen swans, soaring slowly upwards from the Järvenpää lake for their migration.

Sibelius was profoundly moved by the sighting. ‘One of my greatest experiences’, he wrote in his diary, ‘the Fifth Symphony’s final theme – legato in the trumpets.’ The semi-programmatic nature implied by the swans prompted Sibelius to abandon sonata form for the first time in his symphonic oeuvre, though the feeling of development towards a thematic goal is triumphantly retained. There were originally four movements at the time of the first performance in Helsinki on 8 December 1915, Sibelius later telescoping his first movement and scherzo into the eventual opening movement.

The symphony opens with a glowing theme on horns and woodwind followed by typically Sibelian woodwind activity in thirds. After the entry of the strings the music gains momentum and folds outwards, two halves of the orchestra falling over themselves in contrary motion towards the proclamation of a major-fourth by the trumpet. After the violins have worked furiously

stepping through a series of adjacent notes (another Sibelius hallmark) the opening motif soon appears again, returning in another form as the symphony is injected with optimism by an upward-pining theme in the trumpets. As it goes on to incorporate themes from Sibelius’s original scherzo, the movement gathers pace for a spirited conclusion.

Sibelius’s Andante is based on a five-note rhythm which almost becomes the basis for a set of variations. In contrast, the final movement begins with frightened, scurrying strings. Soon enough one detects a spacious idea growing from the bottom of the orchestral texture: it begins with the spelling out in the double basses of a fifth, augmenting as the bottom note drops twice, stepping back up in the manner of an ostinato; here are the Järvenpää swans. As it’s taken up by the horns, the theme gains the pace and grandeur of flight, like the graceful rise and fall of a feathered wing. Then the music suddenly shifts key: Sibelius’s pedal-note disappears like the falling away of a runway, and the swans – magically, gloriously – take flight. After more intricate woodwind writing, the swans can be seen in the distance, returning as if to bid Sibelius a final farewell. Again, they soar inspiringly upwards, cutting through a tangling orchestral texture as if to break free from their creator’s earthly concerns, before six resigned and valedictory orchestral jabs bid them a final earthly farewell.

Programme notes by Andrew Mellor © 2010

Miraculous Logic: The Music of Jean Sibelius Final Concert | Fri 5 February 2010 | 7.30pm Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall SIBELIUS Tapiola; Cantique and Devotion for cello and orchestra; Symphony 6; Symphony 7 OSMO VÄNSKÄ conductor KRISTINA BLAUMANE cello For booking details see page 16.

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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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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 & 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 & 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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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.

Roger Wright Controller, BBC Radio 3

Tonight’s concert will be broadcast in Performance on 3 on Monday 15 February at 7pm, and is available online for 7 days after broadcast at bbc.co.uk/radio3

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.

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 the 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 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

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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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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 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

Wednesday 17 February 2010 | 7.30pm Tchaikovsky Fantasy Overture, Romeo and Juliet Prokofiev Piano Concerto 1 Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet (excerpts) Vladimir Jurowski conductor Alexander Toradze piano

Osmo Vänskä conductor Kristina Blaumane cello

Osmo Vänskä and Kristina Blaumane

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

Vladimir Jurowski and Alexander Toradze

Saturday 20 February 2010 | 7.30pm Janá˘cek Taras Bulba Janá˘cek Eternal Gospel Suk Symphony 2 (Asrael) Vladimir Jurowski conductor Sofia Fomina soprano Michael König tenor London Philharmonic Choir Barlines | FREE Post-Concert Event Clore Ballroom Floor, Royal Festival Hall Foyer An informal discussion with Vladimir Jurowski following the evening’s performance.

TO BOOK Tickets £9-£38 / Premium seats £55 Melvyn Tan and Ronald Brautigam

Saturday 13 February 2010 | 7.30pm 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

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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