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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†

MAHLER ANNIVERSARY

PROGRAMME £3

SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL Saturday 4 December 2010 | 7.30pm

VLADIMIR JUROWSKI conductor HÉLÈNE GRIMAUD piano

BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 4 in G

(34’)

INTERVAL MAHLER Symphony No. 1 in D (including ‘Blumine’ movement) (66’)

†

supported by Macquarie Group

CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

CONTENTS 2 3 4 5 6 7 11 12 13 14 15 16

List of Players Orchestra History Leader Vladimir Jurowski Hélène Grimaud Programme Notes Recordings Southbank Centre Supporters Annual Appeal Administration Future Concerts

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

Barlines – FREE Post-Concert Event: Level 2 Foyer at Royal Festival Hall An informal discussion with Vladimir Jurowski following the evening’s performance.

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LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

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

Julia Rumley 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 Naoko Keatley 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 Marie-Anne Mairesse Ashley Stevens Dean Williamson Sioni Williams Heather Badke Peter Graham Alison Strange Stephen Stewart Mila Mustakova Sheila Law VIOLAS Alexander Zemtsov* Principal Chair supported by The Tsukanov Family

Robert Duncan Katharine Leek Susanne Martens Benedetto Pollani Emmanuella Reiter-Bootiman Laura Vallejo Alistair Scahill

Isabel Pereira Naomi Holt Daniel Cornford Sarah Malcolm Anthony Byrne Karin Norlen CELLOS Kristina Blaumane Principal Chair supported by Simon Yates and Kevin Roon

Francis Bucknall Laura Donoghue Santiago Sabino Carvalho + Jonathan Ayling Chair supported by Caroline, Jamie and Zander Sharp

Gregory Walmsley Sue Sutherley Susanna Riddell Tom Roff Helen Rathbone Pavlos Carvalho David Bucknall DOUBLE BASSES Kevin Rundell* Principal Laurence Lovelle George Peniston Richard Lewis Joe Melvin Tom Walley Helen Rowlands Louis Garson Damian Rubido Gonzalez Catherine Ricketts FLUTES Jaime Martin* Principal Laura Lucas Susan Thomas* Marta Santamaria PICCOLOS Susan Thomas* Principal Marta Santamaria OBOES Ian Hardwick Principal Angela Tennick Sue Bohling Rachel Ingleton

2 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

COR ANGLAIS Sue Bohling Principal Chair supported by Julian and Gill Simmonds

CLARINETS Nicholas Carpenter Principal Emily Meredith Paul Richards Thomas Watmough E FLAT CLARINETS Thomas Watmough Guest Principal Emily Meredith BASS CLARINET Paul Richards Principal

BASS TROMBONE Lyndon Meredith Principal TUBA Lee Tsarmaklis Principal TIMPANI Simon Carrington* Principal Christopher Thomas PERCUSSION Andrew Barclay* Principal Chair supported by Andrew Davenport

Keith Millar Ollie Yates HARP Rachel Masters* Principal

BASSOONS John Price Principal Gareth Newman* Simon Estell CONTRA BASSOON Simon Estell Principal HORNS John Ryan Principal Abel Pereira Martin Hobbs Andrew Littlemore Gareth Mollison Nicolas Wolmark Jonathan Bareham Stephen Nicholls

ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR Thomas Blunt

TRUMPETS Paul Beniston* Principal Anne McAneney* Chair supported by Geoff and Meg Mann

Daniel Newell Tom Rainer Tony Cross OFFSTAGE TRUMPETS Nicholas Betts Principal Robin Totterdell Joe Sharp TROMBONES Mark Templeton* Principal David Whitehouse Andrew Connington

* Holds a professorial appointment in London +

Chevalier of the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco

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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

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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 Elgar’s Symphony No. 1 and Sea Pictures with Vernon Handley and Janet Baker; Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 conducted by Klaus Tennstedt; Brahms’s Symphonies Nos 1 and 2 conducted by Vladimir Jurowski; and Dvořák’s Requiem under the baton of Neeme Järvi. 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 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. In 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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HÉLÈNE GRIMAUD PIANO

perform and record Mozart’s Piano Concertos with Claudio Abbado and the Orchestra Mozart in Bologna. Other highlights include return visits to the San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (for a European tour with Vasily Petrenko) and Vienna Symphony Orchestras as well as to the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. Further ahead, the 2011/12 season will feature a return to the Vienna Philharmonic for concerts with Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

For pianist Hélène Grimaud, a truly multi-faceted and charismatic artist, music is a limitless passion. She regularly appears with the most important orchestras in the world, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia and Munich Philharmonic, as well as all the great orchestras in North America. Among the conductors she has performed with are Kurt Masur, Claudio Abbado, Bernard Haitink, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Neeme Järvi, Pierre Boulez, Riccardo Chailly, Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Jurowski, Fabio Luisi and Andris Nelsons. In 2008 she was a soloist at the Last Night of the BBC Proms. An ardent and committed chamber musician, Hélène Grimaud performs regularly at the most prestigious festivals and in the major cultural capitals with a wide range of collaborators including Thomas Quasthoff, Rolando Villazón, Jan Vogler, Truls Mørk, Clemens Hagen and the Capuçon brothers. In 2009 she gave hugely successful debut recitals in China and Korea as well as further concerts throughout Europe. This year she appears as ‘Artiste Etoile’ in five concerts at the Lucerne Festival. An international recital tour encompassing Europe, the USA and Japan dominates her 2010/11 season. Her repertoire will range from Mozart to Bartók. She will perform in Moscow as part of the France-Russia year celebrations with Myung-Whun Chung and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, return to St Petersburg for a performance with Valery Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra, and appear with David Zinman in New Year Gala Concerts in Beijing. In June 2011 she will

6 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

An exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist since 2002, Hélène is one of their most important recording artists with a string of imaginative and highly successful discs to her name. Her most recent release features Bach’s solo and concerto works in which she directs Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen from the keyboard. Previous DG recordings include a Beethoven disc with Staatskapelle Dresden and Vladimir Jurowski, ‘Reflection’ and ‘Credo’ (both of which feature a number of thematically linked works), and a Chopin and Rachmaninov sonatas disc. Hélène also features on two recent DVD releases: a 2010 ECHO Klassik awardwinning DVD of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Claudio Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, and Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G with Vladimir Jurowski and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. A recipient of numerous awards worldwide, Hélène Grimaud received the Musikfest Bremen Award in 2009. She was appointed Officier dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture in 2002 and Chevalier dans l’Ordre National du Mérite in 2008. In 2004 she received a Victoire d’honneur at the Victoires de la Musique and in 2005 she won the ECHO ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ Award. Author of two very successful books, Variations Sauvages and Leçons Particulières, she also champions many charitable causes including the Wolf Conservation Center which she founded in upper New York State in 1999, the International Children’s Camp Villa San Souci, the Worldwide Fund for Nature and Amnesty International.

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PROGRAMME NOTES

SPEEDREAD Innovation and experiment inform both of the works in tonight’s programme. In his Fourth Piano Concerto Beethoven subverted some of the traditions of the day on his way to creating a work in which sublime personal expression and gripping drama sit side by side, while the original five-movement version of Mahler’s First

Ludwig van BEETHOVEN

Symphony highlights the pragmatic, open-minded and often indecisive approach to formal layout that would characterise the composer’s entire symphonic career. Yet with or without the ‘Blumine’ movement that we hear tonight, which Mahler dropped from the symphony after its first three performances, it remains a blazing statement of a young man’s belief in the future.

PIANO CONCERTO NO. 4 IN G, OP. 58 HÉLÈNE GRIMAUD piano Allegro moderato | Andante con moto – | Rondo: Vivace

1770-1827

The Fourth Piano Concerto was composed during a particularly rich phase in Beethoven’s life. Begun in 1804, it was completed two years later and thus dates from the same time as the Fifth Symphony, the Violin Concerto, the three ‘Razumovsky’ string quartets, and the original version of the opera Fidelio. It was premièred, with the composer as soloist, at a concert in the Theater an der Wien in Vienna on 22 December 1808, in a concert which also included the first performances of the Fifth and Sixth symphonies, the Mass in C major and the Choral Fantasy. Beethoven often worked on more than one composition at a time, so it is interesting to see the first movements of both the Fourth Piano Concerto and the Fifth Symphony being dominated by the same four-note rhythmic cell (short–short–short–long). No one would claim that the two works are similar in personality, however; the broad lyrical cast of the Concerto is in marked contrast to the Symphony’s terse, almost violent concentration, and puts it much more in line with the Violin Concerto and ‘Razumovskys’. This relaxed demeanour was a new facet of Beethoven’s style, one that came with the added confidence and mastery of

his so-called ‘middle period’, and in its way it is no less typical or radical than his more familiar stormy side. The Fourth Piano Concerto, a work of exceptional beauty and poetry, is one of its most sublime examples. Without doubt the boldest stroke in the whole concerto is also one of the utmost gentleness. Normally at this time, a concerto would begin with a long passage for the orchestra, who would introduce the movement’s main themes before the soloist joins in later. Beethoven followed this etiquette in his first three piano concertos, but in the Fourth it is the piano which begins the piece on its own, with a touchingly quiet and simple chordal theme. For any audience expecting a grand extrovert opening, or at the very least a sturdy one, it is a heartstopping moment, and though the orchestra subsequently takes over and presents the remaining themes in the normal way, it is too late to pretend that nothing unusual has happened. Several new themes are heard, but that first piano theme (and its rhythm) continue to haunt the music, and it is no surprise that when the piano finally re-enters it is with material derived from it. No less a characteristic of the movement is the way that, at those places where the

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PROGRAMME NOTES

CHAMBER CONTRASTS music does seem to be getting worked up, the tension is soon diffused; not even the climactic fortissimo return of the main theme, in massive chords batted between the pianist’s hands, can maintain its bombast for long. The second movement is another departure from convention, discarding the usual formal models in favour of a dramatic interlude of operatic directness and power. Beethoven liked to think of his instrumental music in narrative terms and, although we do not know what inspired this movement, the comparison of it by his early biographer A.B. Marx to Orpheus taming the Furies is convincing. Certainly there is some kind of confrontation occurring here between the stern unison denouncements of the orchestral strings and the sweetly harmonised, emollient responses of the piano, gradually winning the orchestra over until it falls into line with an acquiescent pizzicato chord. Having won the argument, the piano draws itself to full height in a brief but disquieting show of strength, before the movement comes to a wary close. Beethoven now makes another radical gesture, moving stealthily and smoothly into the finale without a break. As in all his concertos, it is a Rondo, its returning theme being a tidy, fanfare-like tune which prompts the introduction for the first time in this concerto of trumpets and drums. After the high concentration of the slow movement, the mood here is expansive again: the piano’s suavely soaring second theme is subjected to elaborate contrapuntal treatment from the orchestra; the main theme appears in a ravishing smoothed-over version for the violas; and there is space for a spot of cat-and-mouse between the cadenza and the accelerated, headlong finish.

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

8 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Soloists of the London Philharmonic Orchestra with Julian Rowlands bandoneón at Wigmore Hall, London Monday 20 December 2010 | 7.30pm Debussy Sonata for flute, viola and harp Bax Elegiac Trio Vaughan Williams Phantasy Quintet Puccini Crisantemi Piazzolla Five Tango Sensations Now in its fifth season, the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Chamber Contrasts series offers you the chance to hear members of the Orchestra playing chamber music at Wigmore Hall, one of the world’s finest chamber venues. Chamber Contrasts is generously supported by Dunard Fund. TICKETS £12, £16, £22, £26 from London Philharmonic Orchestra Box Office 020 7840 4242 | Mon-Fri, 10am-5pm; no booking fee. www.lpo.org.uk | No booking fee. or Wigmore Hall Box Office 020 7935 2141 | 7 days a week: 10am-7pm. Days without evening concert: 10am-5pm. £2 administration charge per telephone transaction. www.wigmore-hall.org.uk | £1 administration fee per transaction. In Person | 7 days a week: 10am-8.30pm. Days without evening concert: 10am-5pm; no booking fee. No advance booking during the half-hour prior to a performance.

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PROGRAMME NOTES

Gustav MAHLER

SYMPHONY NO. 1 IN D (INCLUDING ‘BLUMINE’ MOVEMENT)

1860-1911

Langsam. Schleppend – Immer sehr gemächlich [Slow, held back – Always very leisurely] ‘Blumine’ [Flowers]: Andante allegretto Kräftig bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell – Trio: Recht gemächlich [Moving strongly, but not too fast – Trio: leisurely] Feierlich und gemessen, ohne zu schleppen – Sehr einfach und schlicht wie eine Volksweise [Solemn and measured, without dragging – Very simple, like a folk melody] Stürmich bewegt – Sehr gesangvoll [Tempestuously – Very melodious] Mahler once told a friend that his First Symphony was ‘the most spontaneous and daringly composed of my works’, a surprising remark when one considers that it probably took him over four years to write (from 1884 to 1888), and that even then it went through several revisions before reaching its final form. At its première in November 1889 in Budapest (where Mahler was at that time conductor of the Royal Opera), it had five movements and went under the title of ‘Symphonic Poem in two parts’; for subsequent performances in Hamburg and Weimar it acquired a title – ‘Titan’, after the novel by the German Romantic writer Jean Paul – and also a written programme; and it was not until its fourth performance, in Berlin in 1896, that it emerged as more or less the four-movement ‘symphony’ we know today, without title or programme. Clearly his initial feeling that ‘it would be child’s play for performers and listeners’ was somewhat misplaced, and indeed audience reaction to the symphony in its early years of existence was hostile. That may explain Mahler’s indecision over how to present it but, for all that, this debut by one of the greatest of all symphonists has a bursting energy and freshness to it that can make the blood run faster in the veins. Tonight’s performance presents it in its original form,

reinstating the movement dropped by Mahler after 1894 and nearly destroyed by him, but recovered from a private collection in 1967. Mahler’s suppressed programme for the ‘Symphonic poem’ labelled its two parts as ‘From the Days of Youth’ (movements 1, 2 and 3) and the Dante-esque ‘Commedia humana’ (movements 4 and 5). Certainly there is a nostalgic feel to the first movement; even though Mahler was only in his mid-twenties when he began it, it is filled with sounds remembered from his Moravian childhood, particularly in the spaciousness of the opening pages, which present a wide-open sonic landscape peppered by cuckoo cries and bugle calls from distant barracks. ‘The awakening of nature and early dawn’ was how Mahler described it in his programme, a phenomenon he may well have missed in his busy conducting career. Eventually the music coalesces into melody and moves into the main part of the movement, where again there is a sense of looking back as Mahler borrows a theme from ‘Ging heut’ Morgens übers Feld’, one of his Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer) composed around the same time as the symphony was begun. The initially radiant but ultimately darkening song had recalled a youthful love gone wrong, and was inspired by just such an episode in Mahler’s own life. The symphonic movement, however, ends in optimistic vein. The original second movement is the one that Mahler later dropped. Entitled ‘Blumine’ (‘Flowers’), it is probably an adaptation of music he had written in 1884 to illustrate an episode in a tableaux vivant production entitled Der Trompeter von Säkkingen, in which a lover wafts his serenade across a moonlit Rhine; certainly it has appropriate stillness and luminosity. Mahler’s stated reason for omitting it was that it was ‘insufficiently symphonic’, and he may have agreed with his friend

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PROGRAMME NOTES

Natalie Bauer-Lechner that it was ‘sentimentally indulgent’, but the presence of such an interlude can be said to have a later and greater parallel in the famous Adagietto of the Fifth Symphony. The third movement is rustic and strongly rhythmic, Mahler’s affectionate evocation of the rural dances of his childhood and their favourite form, the waltz-like Ländler. Again there is melodic material derived from a song – ‘Hans und Grethe’ from his Lieder and Gesänge of the early 1880s – though this time less overtly presented and without apparent specific significance. A central ‘Trio’ brings a more graceful mood, before the bucolic lurchings of the first section return. The ‘Human Comedy’ part of the symphony opens with a funeral march, though one weirdly based on the nursery tune of ‘Frère Jacques’ (or ‘Bruder Martin’, as Mahler would have known it), initially intoned by a glassily muted solo double bass and then taken up and adorned by the other instruments over stately-treading timpani and basses. Mahler’s programme explains that it was inspired by a well-known engraving from an Austrian children’s book, showing a huntsman’s funeral in which the coffin is attended by an assortment of woodland animals and village musicians. ‘The movement is intended to express alternately the moods

of jesting irony and eerie brooding’, Mahler declared; the former can certainly be heard in the twiceappearing episode of Klezmer-like band music, but there is also a central episode, based on another Gesellen song, ‘Die zwei blauen Augen’ which offers perhaps the most dreamily reposeful moments in the whole symphony. The mood is shattered by the intrusion of the last movement – ‘Dall’ Inferno al Paradiso, as the sudden cry of a wounded heart’ according to the discarded programme. The movement brings together material from its predecessors, but there is more than a formal struggle going on here. The frenzied anguish of the opening gives way to a long and consoling string theme, but bursts out again, only to be challenged by a new version of the first theme, proposed quietly at first by the trumpets but then quickly growing in confidence. A return of the nature music of the symphony’s opening questions the seeming inevitability of the direction things are taking, but eventually the main theme creeps back in on violins to begin its inexorable build towards a final peroration, which, when it comes, is as lifeaffirmingly emphatic as in any Mahler symphony.

Programme notes © Lindsay Kemp 2010

ListenAgain – free online concerts We want to share our live music making with as many people as possible and are delighted that this season we’re making a series of concerts available online for a limited period for you to listen to. If you didn’t hear the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s performance of Debussy and Mahler on 1 December, you can listen online for two weeks from 8 December. Visit www.lpo.org.uk/listenagain for a chance to catch up on the concert you missed.

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MAHLER RECORDINGS ON THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA’S OWN RECORD LABEL LPO-0012 Klaus Tennstedt conducts Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 and Songs of a Wayfarer with Thomas Hampson ‘... a stirring account, with his tight control causing Mahler’s climactic outbursts – both joyous and nostalgic – to hit home potently ... The LPO’s lead bassist tackling Mahler’s minor-key overhaul of ‘Frère Jacques’ is fittingly melancholic, while the finale is packed with energy and bracing inevitability.’ CLASSIC FM

LPO-0044 Klaus Tennstedt conducts Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 ‘This live version of the Resurrection is frequently startling – extremely expansive but exciting, dramatic and highly charismatic …The playing and singing are excellent, and the recording, made by the Music Performance Research Centre, is near-faultless.’ GRAHAM RICKSON, THE ARTS DESK, 22 MARCH 2010

LPO-0033 Jaap van Zweden conducts Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 ‘He unfolds the drama of the first movement with a sure grasp of the need for subtle variations of tempo … the finale is a joyous, life-affirming rondo that lifts the spirits.’ MICHAEL KENNEDY, THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, 10 AUGUST 2008

LPO-0038 Klaus Tennstedt conducts Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 ‘This live recording of a 1983 performance of Mahler’s Sixth Symphony might not be at the cutting edge of modern digital technology, but musically it sweeps away everything before it.’ CLASSIC FM MAGAZINE

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

international piano series 2010/11

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.

Maurizio Pollini © Karen Robinson

RAFAL BLECHACZ

LANG LANG

Tuesday 7 December 2010

Tuesday 17 May 2011

NIKOLAI LUGANSKY

INGRID FLITER

Tuesday 11 January 2011

Tuesday 7 June 2011

SERGIO TIEMPO

THE POLLINI PROJECT

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. A few points to note for your comfort and enjoyment: PHOTOGRAPHY is not allowed in the auditorium

Tuesday 15 March 2011

ANGELA HEWITT Tuesday 29 March 2011

Maurizio Pollini’s pilgrimage through seminal piano music from Bach to Modernism. Friday 28 January 2011 Bach

MARC-ANDRÉ HAMELIN

Tuesday 15 February 2011

Wednesday 13 April 2011

Saturday 26 February 2011

Beethoven Schubert

Friday 29 April 2011

CHARLES ROSEN

Chopin, Debussy and Boulez

Talk: Saturday 14 May 2011 Concert: Sunday 15 May 2011

Wednesday 25 May 2011 Schumann, Stockhausen and Liszt Series discounts available if you book for more than one concert.

Tickets £9 – £55 0844 847 9929 SOUTHBANKCENTRE.CO.uk

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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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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 Simon Yates & Kevin Roon

Guy & Utti Whittaker

Commander Vincent Evans Mr Daniel Goldstein Mrs Barbara Green 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

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

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

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

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 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 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 Jonathan & Jeniffer Harris Trust Capital Radio’s Help a London Child The Idlewild Trust The Emmanuel Kaye Foundation 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 Rubin Foundation The Seary Charitable Trust The Samuel Sebba Charitable Trust Sound Connections 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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London Philharmonic Orchestra Annual Appeal 2010/11

The London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Debut Sounds programme offers the cream of the UK’s young composing talent the opportunity to work with Composer in Residence, Julian Anderson, and members of the Orchestra to create a new ten-minute work for performance in June 2011 by a London Philharmonic Orchestra ensemble. Staging the Debut Sounds concert costs in excess of £20,000 and the Orchestra receives no public subsidy for its vital education programme. Great art has never been easy to commission or perform, and even the likes of Haydn and Beethoven were reliant on patronage from supporters taking a leap of faith. Today we are asking you to make an investment to support these young artists at the start of their careers. Give online from Monday 6 December to double your donation. If you donate online, your gift will be matched pound by pound thanks to generous pledges from The Sharp Family and The Big Give. But please hurry – we are competing against other arts organisations for this additional support. You can donate from 10am on 6 December 2010 for one week at this website: www.thebiggive.org.uk/donate/lpo Of course you can still donate by cheque or credit card. Please call Elisenda Ayats on 020 7840 4225.

A year in CDs – the perfect Christmas gift! Struggling for Christmas gift ideas? The London Philharmonic Orchestra is offering a unique CD subscription which would be ideal for your music-loving friends and family. We will send the latest CD on the LPO label each month, so that they always have something new to listen to. CDs will be dispatched before they are available in the shops and we can send the first disc to you so that you can give it in person or send a card with your personalised greeting. Full year CD subscription: £79.99 – 10 CDs (worth at least £100) Half year CD subscription: £44.99 – 5 CDs (worth at least £50) Visit www.lpo.org.uk/gifts to buy online or call the London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office on 020 7840 4242 (Mon-Fri, 10am-5pm). No CDs are issued in July or August and, if there is no new release in any other month, a recording from our back catalogue will be issued.

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ADMINISTRATION

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GENERAL ADMINISTRATION

ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL