5 Feb 10 - LPO prog notes

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Principal Conductor VLADIMIR JUROWSKI Principal Guest Conductor YANNICK NÉZET-SÉGUIN Leader PIETER SCHOEMAN Composer in Residence MARK-ANTHONY TURNAGE Patron HRH THE DUKE OF KENT KG Chief Executive and Artistic Director TIMOTHY WALKER

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AM†

JTI FRIDAY SERIES

PROGRAMME £3

SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL Friday 5 February 2010 | 7.30 pm MIRACULOUS LOGIC: THE MUSIC OF JEAN SIBELIUS OSMO VÄNSKÄ conductor KRISTINA BLAUMANE cello SIBELIUS Tapiola (19’) SIBELIUS Cantique and Devotion: Two Serious Melodies for cello and orchestra (10’) INTERVAL SIBELIUS Symphony 6 in D minor SIBELIUS Symphony 7 in C

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(27’)

(22’)

supported by Macquarie Group

CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

CONTENTS 2 List of Players 3 Orchestra History 5 Osmo Vänskä 6 Kristina Blaumane 7 Programme Notes 11 Recordings 12 Southbank Centre 13 Supporters 14 Philharmonic News 15 Administration 16 Future Concerts

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

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LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

FIRST VIOLINS Abigail Young Guest 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

FLUTES Laura Lucas Guest Principal Eilidh Gillespie

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

PICCOLO Stewart McIlwham* Principal

Nicholas Betts Co-Principal

Susanne Martens Benedetto Pollani Emmanuella Reiter Daniel Cornford Isabel Pereira Miranda Davis Sarah Malcolm Karin Norlen

OBOES Ian Hardwick Principal Angela Tennick

TROMBONES Mark Templeton* Principal David Whitehouse

COR ANGLAIS Sue Bohling Principal

BASS TROMBONE Lyndon Meredith Principal

CELLOS Kristina Blaumane Principal

CLARINETS Nicholas Carpenter Principal Emily Sutcliffe

Chair supported by John and Angela Kessler

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

Chair supported by Julian and Gill Simmonds

TIMPANI Simon Carrington* Principal Andrew Barclay* Co-Principal HARP Rachel Masters* Principal

BASS CLARINET Paul Richards Principal BASSOONS Gareth Newman* Principal Simon Estell Molly Neilsen CONTRA BASSOON Simon Estell Principal HORNS John Ryan Principal Martin Hobbs Brendan Thomas Gareth Mollison Nicolas Wolmark * Holds a professorial appointment in London

Chair Supporters The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose player is not present at this concert: Caroline, Jamie and Zander Sharp

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LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

© Richard Cannon

Seventy-seven years after Sir Thomas Beecham founded the London Philharmonic Orchestra, it is recognised today as one of the finest orchestras on the international stage. Following Beecham’s influential founding tenure the Orchestra’s Principal Conductorship has been passed from one illustrious musician to another, amongst them Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. This impressive tradition continued in September 2007 when Vladimir Jurowski became the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor, and in a further exciting move, the Orchestra appointed Yannick Nézet-Séguin, its new Principal Guest Conductor from September 2008.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra has been performing at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall since it opened in 1951, becoming Resident Orchestra in 1992. It plays there around 40 times each season with many of the world’s most sought after conductors and soloists.

Concert highlights in 2009/10 include Between Two Worlds – an exploration of the music and times of Alfred Schnittke; a Sibelius symphony cycle with Osmo Vänskä in January/February 2010; a performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah conducted by Kurt Masur and dedicated to the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall; and new works by Rautavaara, Philip Glass, Ravi Shankar and the Orchestra’s Composer in Residence, Mark-Anthony

Turnage. Imaginative programming and a commitment to new music are at the heart of the Orchestra’s activity, with regular commissions and world première performances.

In addition to its London season, the Orchestra has flourishing residencies in Brighton and Eastbourne, and performs regularly around the UK. It is unique in combining these concert activities with esteemed opera performances each summer at Glyndebourne Festival Opera where it has been the Resident Symphony Orchestra since 1964.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra performs to enthusiastic audiences all round the world. In 1956 it became the first British orchestra to appear in Soviet Russia and in 1973 it made the first ever visit to China by a Western orchestra. Touring continues to form a significant part of the Orchestra's schedule and is supported by Aviva, the International Touring Partner of

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

ANDREW CLARK, FINANCIAL TIMES, 19 NOVEMBER 2009

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LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Until July 2010 the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Tours in 2009/10 include visits to Germany, Australia, France, China, the Canaries and the USA.

Project Artistic Director Marin Alsop

Having long been embraced by the recording, broadcasting and film industries, the London Philharmonic Orchestra broadcasts regularly on domestic and international television and radio. It also works extensively with the Hollywood and UK film industries, recording soundtracks for blockbuster motion pictures including the Oscar-winning score for The Lord of the Rings trilogy and scores for Lawrence of Arabia, The Mission, Philadelphia and East is East.

The Orchestra also enjoys strong relationships with the major record labels and in 2005 began reaching out to new global audiences through the release of live, studio and archive recordings on its own CD label. Recent additions to the catalogue have included acclaimed releases of early Britten works conducted by Vladimir Jurowski; Mahler’s Symphony 6 under the baton of Klaus Tennstedt; Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies 1 and 6 conducted

by Vladimir Jurowski; Sir Thomas Beecham recordings of Mozart, Delius and Rimsky-Korsakov from the 1930s; a CD of John Ireland’s works taken from his 70th Birthday Concert in 1949; and Dvo˘rák’s Requiem conducted by Neeme Järvi. The Orchestra’s own-label releases are available to download by work or individual track from its website: www.lpo.org.uk/shop.

The Orchestra reaches thousands of Londoners through its rich programme of community and school-based activity in Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, which includes the offshoot ensembles Renga and The Band, its Foyle Future Firsts apprenticeship scheme for outstanding young instrumentalists, and regular family and schools concerts.

To help maintain its high standards and diverse workload, the Orchestra is committed to the welfare of its musicians and in December 2007 received the Association of British Orchestras/Musicians Benevolent Fund Healthy Orchestra Bronze Charter Mark.

There are many ways to experience and stay in touch with the Orchestra’s activities: visit www.lpo.org.uk, subscribe to our podcast series and join us on Facebook.

4 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

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The Bernstein Project

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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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KRISTINA BLAUMANE CELLO

festivals in Moscow. She has also performed chamber music with artists such as Isaac Stern, Gidon Kremer, Yo Yo Ma, Yuri Bashmet, Leif Ove Andsnes, Janine Jansen, Julian Rachlin, Bruno Giuranna, Misha Maisky, Nikolaj Znaider, Tatyana Grindenko, Oleg Maisenberg and others.

Kristina Blaumane was born in Riga into a family of musicians. After graduating from the Latvian Academy of Music where she studied with Eleonora Testeleca, she moved to England and studied with Stefan Popov at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Educated in the best traditions of Latvian and British schools she became a winner of many prestigious competitions and awards including the Latvian Philharmonic Young Musician of the Year, the Latvian Television Competition ‘Alternativa’, the Carmel International Competition, the Musicians Benevolent Fund and the Lord Mayor’s Prize. Kristina has twice, in 2005 and 2007, become a laureate of the Great Music Award, the highest prize given by the Latvian State in the field of music.

She is now enjoying a busy career giving recitals and performing with orchestras such as the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Chicago Civic Orchestra, Kremerata Baltica, Britten Sinfonia, Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, Latvian National Opera Orchestra, Sinfonietta Riga, Liepaja Symphony Orchestra and Netherlands Wind Ensemble under conductors including Thomas Sanderling, Lev Markiz, Andris Nelsons, Takuo Yuasa and Peter Oundjian.

Kristina has been a guest at major international festivals such as Lockenhaus, Gstaad, Salzburg, Verbier, Basel, Jerusalem, Utrecht, Spitalfields, Cheltenham and Aldeburgh as well as the Homecoming and Crescendo

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Last season Kristina Blaumane released her debut recital CD with Russian pianist Jacob Katsnelson on the Quartz label. The album comprises sonatas by Barber and Grieg as well as Martinu˚’s Variations on a Slovakian Theme. She has also recorded for Onyx and Conifer Classics as well as for BBC, Dutch, Israeli, Russian and Latvian radio and television.

At the age of 22, Kristina was appointed Principal Cello of the Amsterdam Sinfonietta and in November 2007 she was appointed Principal Cello of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Her chair is supported by Simon Yates and Kevin Roon. She also regularly appears as a guest leader with Kremerata Baltica.

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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 is taking 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.

The series comes to an end this evening with his last two symphonies.

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 the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s fourconcert survey of the music of Jean Sibelius offers two astounding examples of that subconscious interconnection of musical ideas from which this minifestival has taken its name. ‘Miraculous logic’, Sibelius said in 1908, governed his musical thought process. It reached its highest and purest state in the Sixth and Seventh Symphonies. In the former, one musical commentator has said, every bar of the music seems to have grown out of what preceded it. The Seventh, according to Gustav Mahler, had ‘a profound logic that created an inner connection between all the motifs.’

That’s precisely the reason Sibelius’s music remains so enjoyable, fascinating and important.

While Sibelius’s works have long proved fascinating for musicologists, at the time of their creation they were vital for Finland. Suppressed by its ruler Russia, the Duchy of Finland was in search of an identity through which she could push for independence. Sibelius became a sort of figurehead for his countrymen in a way few other musicians have. That’s discernible by the extent to which he remains in the consciousness of Finns today: Sibelius T-shirts, mugs and CDs hog sizeable retail corners at Helsinki’s airport. Something sonically Finnish in Sibelius’s music has as much to do with this as politics does. Finland’s curious and elusive light; the shape and texture of its land; the prevailing mood of its populace: all are built into Sibelius’s music. In the forest-scape of Tapiola and the haunting but simple nobility of the Two Serious Melodies – as well as in both tonight’s symphonies – there’s much of Finland to hear.

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PROGRAMME NOTES

TAPIOLA, OP. 112

Sibelius didn’t have to wait for his career to reach its apex before becoming a national hero in Finland. A fusion of nationalistic politics with the composer’s captivating and innately Finnish music made sure of that. And while the European mainland was a little slower to acknowledge the composer’s significance, the British and Americans commissioned and applauded his music with great enthusiasm. In the 1930s the New York Philharmonic’s audience voted Sibelius their favourite living composer; by the 1940s he was being treated to passing references in the movies.

It was for the bustling metropolis of 1920s New York that Sibelius conceived Tapiola, a depiction of far flung Finnish forests named after their inhabiting god in the Kalevala, Finland’s national epic. Tapiola would prove to be Sibelius’s last completed work. And in that fact there’s more than a touch of poignancy: not only did the composer display the same insecurities when it came to presenting Tapiola that had been born in his very first orchestral creations, he also had over three creatively silent decades to live.

As difficult as that latter fact is to come to terms with for Sibelius devotees, some comfort can be drawn from the quality and imagination of this, his final public statement. In it Sibelius creates a landscape of raw elemental power typified by the climate of the far reaches of Finland. ‘Ancient, mysterious, brooding savage dreams’, said the accompanying poem that Sibelius sent to his publishers in 1926, ‘Within them dwells the Forest’s mighty god’. The composer’s single theme, heard initially on strings, is transformed over and over – blowing, tumbling and trouncing its way through dark and magical states before an ominous climax. Then comes a final coda, compared to ‘an icy wind sweeping through the forest’ by Walter Damrosch, the conductor at the first performance in New York on 26 December 1926. Those, including Damrosch, who believed Tapiola to be among the composer’s finest works (not knowing that it would be his last) pointed not only to the remarkable stretching out of that initial fragmentary theme, but also to the strange, distinctly Nordic sense of impressionism Sibelius conjures.

CANTIQUE AND DEVOTION: TWO SERIOUS MELODIES FOR CELLO AND ORCHESTRA, OP. 77 KRISTINA BLAUMANE cello Laetare anima mea (Cantique) | Ab imo pectore (Devotion)

With these two short movements we dip briefly into the period 1914-15, that gave birth predominantly to Sibelius’s Fifth Symphony. They were dark times for the composer and for Finland: the onset of war meant that the Duchy, aligned with its oppressive ruler Russia, faced not only mass slaughter but also the annihilation of its timber exporting industry. Hopes of Finnish independence, spearheaded by a faction which saw Sibelius as its figurehead, grew ever fainter.

The two ‘serious melodies’ exist for various instrument combinations, but were first heard in that for cello and

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orchestra used tonight; the soloist with the Helsinki Orchestra on 30 March 1916 was Ossian Fohström. Both movements have an underlying melancholy. The first bears the Latin subtitle Rejoice, my soul, but the nostalgic, elegiac mood of the musical material, led by the song of the soloist, doesn’t overtly rejoice. The second piece, From my very heart, appears more restless, travelling through varying keys in an eventually impassioned search for contentment.

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PROGRAMME NOTES

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

SYMPHONY 6 IN D MINOR, OP. 104 Allegro molto moderato | Allegro moderato | Poco vivace | Allegro molto

A number of major symphony cycles include a ‘Cinderella’ – the piece that’s never quite had the draw of its neighbours but instead carries its own curious and individual charm. If there’s a symphony by Sibelius that best fits that description, it’s his Sixth. It’s arguably the most delicate and intricately crafted of the seven, and is certainly the most rapturous, limpid and untroubled.

In accordance with Sibelius’s standard working method at the time, separate ideas for the Sixth Symphony were sketched in a running notebook that the composer initiated in 1919. We know he recalls his childhood in the countryside of Hämmenlinna in many of those ideas, reflected in a spring-like freshness and playfulness. But by 1922 when Sibelius came to weave those ideas together and construct the symphony proper, there was plenty of darkness in his life, too. The death of his brother Christian in July threw the composer into a sustained period of grief while his debts grew ever-more unmanageable. His concentration on the symphony, though, remained steadfast. On 19 February 1923, the work was premièred in Helsinki.

While the Sixth stands apart – not just from the composer’s other symphonies but from almost any other symphonic creation of the 20th century – it does include gestures that are unmistakably those of its composer. There’s the distinct mysteriousness of the strings, so often busily repetitive or stepping through sequences; there are typically bird-like effects in the woodwind; there are brass gestures which feel thick-set like rock formations. What there isn’t, is the typically

Sibelian ‘big tune’ – or to put it more elegantly, the hymn-like striving that characterizes the Second and Fifth Symphonies.

Sibelius himself sums this up better than most when he describes the Sixth Symphony as ‘pure, cold water’ against the champagne and liqueur soundscapes offered by other composers of the time. Certainly, the symphony isn’t rich or heavy, instead carrying a particular luminous quality. Sibelius’s biographer Guy Rickards has suggested that the piece actually reflects the same landscape as the dark, disorientating Fourth Symphony, but here in a more benevolent season.

Among the notable features to listen out for in the Sixth Symphony are the charming orchestral ‘flicks’ in the first and third movements. In the Allegro these snatches of rapture, punctuated by fluttering flute and darting harp, are heard after the appearance of a song-like theme which itself follows the ethereal opening idea; they present a rare opportunity to hear Sibelius smiling gregariously through his orchestra. In the scherzo third movement – making overt use of the Dorian mode that’s prevalent across the symphony and appears to sit between major and minor – it’s the brass which punctuate the texture with excitable salvos. There’s a feeling of cross-country journeying propelled by the power of the wind to much of the symphony. As usual, Sibelius didn’t reveal much explicit programmatic detail in respect of the piece, but he did label one of the more turbulent ideas in his finale ‘the pine tree spirit and the wind’.

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PROGRAMME NOTES

SYMPHONY 7 IN C, OP. 105 Adagio – Vivacissimo – Allegro moderato – Vivace – Presto – Adagio

Sibelius might not have intended it thus, but his symphonic journey happens to end with a piece which is cast in a single movement and usually lasts a little over twenty minutes in performance. It was premièred in Stockholm in March 1924 as the Symphonic Fantasia.

Sibelius suggested the title ‘Symphony No. 7’ when choosing the work as a centerpiece for subsequent concerts in Norway and Denmark. But even if this unusually-shaped piece is the accidental conclusion to the composer’s symphony-writing career (he famously worked on and then destroyed an eighth symphony), it’s still a fitting culmination: extraordinary, profound, majestic and transcendent.

Self-criticism escalated in Sibelius in the years 1923-24 as he worked on the piece, growing to ‘impossible proportions’ in the composer’s own words. Day-to-day domestic life in the Sibelius household was fraught with tension, too: the composer’s excessive drinking had resulted in two embarrassing public episodes following which his wife, Aino, began communicating with him via handwritten notes left about the house.

Sibelius’s creative modus operandi at this time was to work through the night until losing consciousness either through drunkenness or tiredness; Aino would find him slumped over his desk in the morning. If that paints a sorrowful picture of this towering twentieth century artist, then the music of the Seventh Symphony does the opposite, carrying an inspiring poignancy and nobility in its taut, rapid discourse.

The music of the Seventh proceeds without a break during which there emerge floating sections akin to the traditional constituent parts of a symphony (scherzo, slow movement, sonata-form Allegro, for example).

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Perhaps it was Sibelius’s recognizing of the prominence of these sections that initiated his changing of the work’s title. And yet despite all this, there’s so much space and breadth in the work: it feels so expansive and rich in material without ever sounding overly busy and tricking the mind in its invisible transitions from section to section. Musicologist Stephen Johnson gets near to explaining the unexplainable when he observes that, listening to the piece, you can become aware of ‘two different kinds of music – one fast, the other slow – happening at the same time’.

Early on in the symphony comes its thematic centerpiece – a noble solo on the trombone, traced out as if outlining a mountainous horizon on top of the orchestral landscape. The theme returns twice: firstly troubled, atop chromatic, frantic strings and secondly in a state of majestic transcendence which cues the start of the symphony’s climax. Each time there’s a natural inevitability to its arrival which isn’t teed-up in the traditional symphonic sense by the ‘working out’ and preparing of themes. Instead, the music finds its own natural path, as if self-perpetuating.

Sibelius described the achieving of this as a subconscious process: he could recognize the structural path of a piece when looking back on it after composition, but the process of writing was controlled, he wrote in 1908, by a ‘miraculous logic’. In the entire way the music flowers and unfolds throughout the brief span of this symphony, it seems indeed a miracle – probably more so than in any other of the composer’s works.

Programme notes by Andrew Mellor © 2010

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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 in A minor 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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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 Mrs Steven Ward Simon Yates & Kevin Roon Garf & Gill Collins David & Victoria Graham Fuller Richard Karl Goeltz John & Angela Kessler Mr & Mrs Makharinsky Geoff & Meg Mann Caroline, Jamie and Zander Sharp Eric Tomsett Guy & Utti Whittaker Principal Benefactors Mark & Elizabeth Adams Jane Attias Lady Jane Berrill Desmond & Ruth Cecil Mr John H Cook Andrew Davenport Mrs Sonja Drexler Mr Charles Dumas David Ellen

Commander Vincent Evans Mr Daniel Goldstein Mrs Barbara Green Mr Ray Harsant Oliver Heaton Peter MacDonald Eggers Mr & Mrs David Malpas Andrew T Mills Mr Maxwell Morrison Mr & Mrs Thierry Sciard Mr John Soderquist & Mr Costas Michaelides Mr & Mrs G Stein Mr & Mrs John C Tucker Howard & Sheelagh Watson Mr Laurie Watt Mr Anthony Yolland Benefactors Mrs A Beare Dr & Mrs Alan Carrington CBE FRS Mr & Mrs Stewart Cohen Mr Alistair Corbett Mr David Edgecombe Mr Richard Fernyhough Ken Follett

Michael & Christine Henry Mr Glenn Hurstfield Mr R K Jeha Mr & Mrs Maurice Lambert Mr Gerald Levin Sheila Ashley Lewis Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Mr Frank Lim Paul & Brigitta Lock Mr Brian Marsh Ms Sarah Needham Mr & Mrs Egil Oldeide Edmund Pirouet Mr Michael Posen Mr Peter Tausig Mrs Kazue Turner Lady Marina Vaizey Mr D Whitelock Hon. Benefactor Elliott Bernerd Hon. Life Members Kenneth Goode Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE

The generosity of our Sponsors, Corporate Members, supporters and donors is gratefully acknowledged.

Corporate Members Appleyard & Trew llp British American Business Charles Russell Destination Québec – UK Diagonal Consulting Lazard Leventis Overseas Man Group plc Québec Government Office in London Corporate Donors Lombard Street Research Redpoint Energy Limited In-kind Sponsors Heineken Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd Sela Sweets Ltd Villa Maria Education Partners Lambeth City Learning Centre London Borough of Lambeth Southwark EiC

Trusts and Foundations Adam Mickiewicz Institute Allianz Cultural Foundation The Andor Charitable Trust The Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation Borletti-Buitoni Trust The Candide Charitable Trust The John S Cohen Foundation The Coutts Charitable Trust The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Dunard Fund The Emmanuel Kaye Foundation The Equitable Charitable Trust The Eranda Foundation The Ernest Cook Trust The Fenton Arts Trust The Foyle Foundation Garfield Weston Foundation The Henry Smith Charity The Idlewild Trust John Lyon’s Charity John Thaw Foundation The Jonathan & Jeniffer Harris Trust The Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust

Lord Ashdown Charitable Settlement Marsh Christian Trust Maurice Marks Charitable Trust Maxwell Morrison Charitable Trust The Michael Marks Charitable Trust Musicians Benevolent Fund Paul Morgan Charitable Trust The R K Charitable Trust Ruth Berkowitz Charitable Trust The Samuel Sebba Charitable Trust Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation Stansfield Trust UK Friends of the FelixMendelssohn-BartholdyFoundation The Underwood Trust and others who wish to remain anonymous.

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PHILHARMONIC NEWS

The Canaries Following its concerts in a chilly China over the New Year the London Philharmonic Orchestra flew off to sunnier climes on 19 January for four concerts as part of the 2010 Canary Islands Music Festival.

With their Principal Conductor, Vladimir Jurowski, the Orchestra gave two concerts in Tenerife followed by a further two in Gran Canaria. The repertoire comprised the Shostakovich/Szymanowski programme given in London on 16 January as well as Beethoven’s Piano Concerto 2, Prokofiev’s Symphony 4 and the world première of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Texan Tenebrae.

Travelling with the Orchestra were soloists Carolin Widmann (violin) and Mitsuko Uchida (piano). The London Philharmonic Orchestra’s next trip abroad is to the USA in March.

Pre- and Post-Concert Events For those of you who are able to get to the Royal Festival Hall in good time, there are some enticing events coming up based around our February concerts.

On 10 February, fresh from his outstanding debut at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, Yannick Nézet-Séguin introduces the evening’s programme of French music at a pre-concert event at 6.15pm in the Royal Festival Hall.

It was with a French opera – Bizet’s Carmen – that Yannick brought out the superlatives in the American press. ‘Glittering conducting’, wrote the New York Post

of Yannick’s Carmen, while Martin Bernhaim of the Financial Times dubbed it ‘a most auspicious debut’.

According to Mike Silverman of The Associated Press: ‘Much of the evening’s success is due to the inspired conducting of Yannick Nézet-Séguin. From the whirlwind pace of the opening measures, Nézet-Séguin displays a rare sureness of touch and an ability to shape the lyrical and dramatic elements of the score into a unified whole.’ Tickets are still available for his two concerts of French music with us on 10 and 13 February.

On 24 February, again at 6.15pm in the Royal Festival Hall, writer and broadcaster, Stephen Johnson, takes a closer look at Shostakovich’s The Gamblers and The Nose which form part of our Shostakovich programme with Vladimir Jurowski that evening.

For those of you who are able to linger after the 20 February concert, there will be an informal discussion between Vladimir Jurowski and Southbank Centre’s Marshall Marcus on the Clore Ballroom Floor about the evening’s repertoire of Janácˇek’s Taras Bulba and The Eternal Gospel, and Suk’s Symphony 2 (Asrael).

Questions will be welcome so do make your way down to Level 2 at the end of the concert.

Thomas Beecham Group Evening Soirée On Thursday 28 January 2010 the Finnish Ambassador, His Excellency Jaakko Laajava, hosted an evening at his private residence to mark the Orchestra’s Sibelius Cycle.

Members of the Orchestra’s Thomas Beecham Group were joined by conductor Osmo Vänskä for an intimate evening of music and discussion offering a unique insight into the work of this fascinating Finnish composer and the musicians who bring it to life.

Marco Borggreve

There are many ways that you can become involved in the life of the Orchestra, supporting us in our work and gaining access to a wonderful programme of events each season. For further information please contact Nick Jackman on 020 7840 4212 or email nick.jackman@lpo.org.uk

Yannick Nézet-Séguin (left) will be talking about his French programmes with us at a pre-concert event at 6.15pm on 10 February in the Royal Festival Hall

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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

Wednesday 10 February 2010 | 7.30pm

Saturday 20 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

Janá˘cek Taras Bulba Janá˘cek The Eternal Gospel Suk Symphony 2 (Asrael)

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 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.

Vladimir Jurowski and Sergei Leiferkus 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

Yannick NézetSéguin and Lisa Milne

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

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Wednesday 24 February 2010 | 7.30pm Shostakovich The Gamblers Shostakovich Suite from ‘The Nose’ Shostakovich Symphony 1 Vladimir Jurowski conductor Mikhail Urusov Ikharev, a gambler Vladimir Ognev Gavryushka, his servant Sergei Leiferkus Uteshitelny, a gambler Sergei Aleksashkin Shvokhnev, a gambler Viacheslav Voynarovskiy Krugel, a gambler Mikhail Petrenko Alexey, his servant FREE Pre-Concert Event 6.15pm | Royal Festival Hall Musicologist Stephen Johnson takes a closer look at Shostakovich’s The Gamblers and The Nose.

TO BOOK

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