6 nov 09 - 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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PROGRAMME £3 CONTENTS 2 List of Players 3 Orchestra History 4 Leader 5 Yutaka Sado 6 Denis Matsuev 7 Southbank Centre / Recordings 8 JTI 9 Programme notes 13 Supporters 14 Philharmonic News 15 Administration 16 Future Concerts

SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL Friday 6 November 2009 | 7.30 pm

YUTAKA SADO conductor DENIS MATSUEV piano

(8’)

TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto 1 in B flat minor

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

(33’)

INTERVAL DVORˇ ÁK Symphony 9 in E minor (From the New World)

†

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AM†

JTI FRIDAY SERIES

VERDI Overture, La forza del destino

14:32

supported by Macquarie Group

CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

(40’)

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LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

FIRST VIOLINS Pieter Schoeman* Leader Katalin Varnagy Catherine Craig Thomas Eisner Tina Gruenberg Martin Hรถhmann Chair supported by Richard Karl Goeltz

Geoffrey Lynn Robert Pool Sarah Streatfeild Yang Zhang Peter Nall Galina Tanney Midori Sugiyama Anna Croad Heather Badke Jennifer Christie 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

Fiona Higham Nynke Hijlkema Marie-Anne Mairesse Ashley Stevens Andrew Thurgood Sioni Williams Alison Strange Peter Graham Stephen Stewart Mila Mustakova

VIOLAS Caroline Harrison Guest Principal Anthony Byrne Chair supported by John and Angela Kessler

Katharine Leek Susanne Martens Benedetto Pollani Laura Vallejo Sarah Malcolm Miranda Davis Claudio Cavalletti Karin Norlen Rachel Benjamin Justin Ward CELLOS Susanne Beer Principal Francis Bucknall Santiago Sabino Carvalho + Jonathan Ayling Susanna Riddell Emily Isaac Philip Taylor Steve Anstee Tae-Mi Song Jessica Hayes DOUBLE BASSES Kevin Rundell* Principal Laurence Lovelle George Peniston Richard Lewis Kenneth Knussen David Johnson Helen Rowlands Tom Walley FLUTES Jaime Martin Guest Principal Stewart McIlwham*

OBOES Ian Hardwick Principal Angela Tennick

PERCUSSION Rachel Gledhill Principal Andrew Barclay* Co-Principal

COR ANGLAIS Sue Bohling Principal

HARPS Rachel Masters* Principal Helen Sharp

Chair supported by Julian and Gill Simmonds

CLARINETS Robert Hill* Principal Nicholas Carpenter BASSOONS Gareth Newman* Principal Simon Estell HORNS Nicholas Korth Guest Principal Martin Hobbs Adrian Uren Gareth Mollison Marcus Bates TRUMPETS Paul Beniston* Principal Anne McAneney* Chair supported by Geoff and Meg Mann

TROMBONES Mark Templeton* Principal David Whitehouse BASS TROMBONE Lyndon Meredith Principal TUBA Lee Tsarmaklis Principal TIMPANI Simon Carrington* Principal

* Holds a professorial appointment in London +

PICCOLO Stewart McIlwham* Principal

Chevalier of the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco

Chair Supporters The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert: Mrs Steven Ward Simon Yates and Kevin Roon

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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.

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 has been performing The London Philharmonic Orchestra performs to enthusiastic audiences all round the world. In 1956 it at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall since it opened became the first British orchestra to appear in Soviet in 1951, becoming Resident Orchestra in 1992. It plays Russia and in 1973 it made the first ever visit to China by there around 40 times each season with many of the a Western orchestra. Touring continues to form a world’s most sought after conductors and soloists. significant part of the Orchestra’s schedule, with regular Concert highlights in 2009/10 include Between Two appearances in North America, Europe and the Far East, 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 ‘The LPO rose to the occasion with some very fine conducted by Kurt Masur and dedicated to playing: eloquent solo work combined with fullthe 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin textured passages of often sumptuous beauty.’

Wall; and new works by Rautavaara, Górecki, Philip Glass, Ravi Shankar and the BARRY MILLINGTON, EVENING STANDARD, 4 SEPTEMBER 2009

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LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

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PIETER SCHOEMAN LEADER

often headlining at major festivals. 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 Shostakovich’s monumental Tenth Symphony under Bernard Haitink; a disc of contemporary works by composers Thomas Adès, James MacMillan and Jennifer Higdon conducted by Marin Alsop; Rachmaninov’s Symphony 3 along with Bax’s Tintagel conducted by Osmo Vänskä; a CD of early Britten works conducted by Vladimir Jurowski; and Mahler’s Symphony 6 under the baton of Klaus Tennstedt. 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 in London.

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YUTAKA SADO CONDUCTOR

‘Giuseppe Verdi’. He has also conducted major orchestras throughout Europe including the Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Symfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Sachsische Staatskapelle Dresden, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Orchestra Sinfonica dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia of Rome, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI and Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.

Critics have unanimously hailed Yutaka Sado as one of the most enthralling and charismatic conductors of the new generation. Born in Kyoto, Japan, Sado studied flute at Kyoto City University of the Arts. In 1987 he won the confidence of Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa at the Tanglewood Music Festival. The following year he served as assistant to Bernstein and toured Europe with the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival Orchestra.

In 2005 Sado was appointed Artistic Director of the Hyogo Performing Arts Centre and its resident orchestra in Nishinomiya, Japan.

He has recorded over 20 CDs. His most recent was a CD of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony 5 with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.

Sado captured world attention by receiving first prize at the 39th International Conducting Competition in Besançon in 1989, and first prize at the Leonard Bernstein International Competition in Jerusalem in 1995. He assisted Leonard Bernstein, Michael Tilson Thomas and the London Symphony Orchestra in 1990 at the inauguration of the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, where he served as resident conductor and later as guest conductor.

In 1993, Sado was appointed Principal Conductor of the Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux, Paris, and in 1999 he became First Guest Conductor of the Orchestre National Bordeaux-Aquitaine and Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano

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DENIS MATSUEV PIANO

Denis Matsuev will tour Europe with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse and Tugan Sokhiev; the United States with the Mariinsky Orchestra and Valery Gergiev; and Germany and Great Britain with the St Petersburg Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestra and Yuri Temirkanov. He will give recitals at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris. He will also return to the world famous Ravinia Festival in Chicago for a recital and a performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Since his triumphant victory at the 11th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1998, Denis Matsuev is fast becoming a rising star on the international concert stage and is quickly establishing himself as one of the most sought-after pianists of his generation. He has given recitals in the most prestigious concert halls of the world and has collaborated with the world’s best known orchestras, such as the Chicago Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus, BBC Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic and European Chamber Orchestras as well as the Filarmonica della Scala, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Orchestre de Paris. He is continually re-engaged by Russian orchestras such as the St Petersburg Philharmonic and Mariinsky Orchestras.

Denis Matsuev appears regularly with the most prominent conductors on the platform today, including Lorin Maazel, Yuri Temirkanov, Valery Gergiev, Mariss Jansons, Semyon Bychkov, Mikhail Pletnev, Leonard Slatkin, Ivan Fischer, Gianandrea Noseda, Myung-Whun Chung, Vladimir Fedoseyev and others.

Highlights of upcoming seasons include appearances with the New York Philharmonic and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras with Valery Gergiev; London Symphony Orchestra with Semyon Bychkov; Orchestra and Choir of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino under Zubin Mehta; Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Leonard Slatkin; Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Orchestre de Paris with Paavo Järvi; National Symphony Orchestra; and BBC Symphony Orchestra with Semyon Bychkov at the BBC Proms.

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In 2007, his Sony BMG disc entitled Unknown Rachmaninoff received strong positive reviews praising his execution and creativity. His recital at Carnegie Hall in November 2007 was recorded and will be released this year as an album entitled Denis Matsuev – Concert at Carnegie Hall. The New York Times praised his performance, writing, ‘…his poetic instincts held fast in tender moments, with trills as thrillingly precise as one might ever hope to hear’. Next month, the new Mariinsky label will release Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto 3, which Denis Matsuev recorded with Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra in the Mariinsky Concert Hall in St Petersburg.

Over the past three years, Denis Matsuev has collaborated with the Sergei Rachmaninoff Foundation and its president Alexander Rachmaninoff, the grandson of the composer. He was chosen by the Foundation to perform and record unknown pieces of Rachmaninoff on the composer’s own piano at the Rachmaninoff house in Lucerne. In October 2008, at the personal invitation of Alexander Rachmaninoff, Denis Matsuev was named Artistic Director of the Sergei Rachmaninoff Foundation. As part of this partnership, he will perform in a series of gala concerts in some of the most prestigious concert halls throughout Europe and the United States.

Denis Matsuev is Artistic Director of two important Russian Festivals: ‘Stars on Baikal’ in Irkutsk, Siberia, and ‘Crescendo’, a series of events held in many different international cities, such as Moscow, St Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Tel Aviv, Kaliningrad, Paris and New York. These remarkable festivals present a new generation of students from Russia’s music schools performing with the best Russian orchestras.

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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.

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

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

RECORDINGS ON THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA’S OWN RECORD LABEL

LPO-0009 Vladimir Jurowski conducts Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony

LPO-0039 Vladimir Jurowski conducts Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies 1 and 6

‘it is a wonderfully vivid recording of an exceptionally vibrant, immaculately played performance ... a superb disc.’

‘Both are exceptional performances, superbly recorded with a breathtaking range of dynamics …

In both works, the playing of the LPO is world class.’

THE GUARDIAN, 2 JUNE 2006

ANDREW CLEMENTS, THE GUARDIAN, 4 SEPTEMBER 2009

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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JTI Friday Series

Music to everyone’s ears Every Friday in 1953, music lovers young and old came to enjoy a night of classical music from the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

At just five shillings (25p) a seat, the concerts almost always sold out.

The Orchestra has maintained accessible ticket prices for its Friday concerts for more than half a century. Today, thanks to the support of JTI and the launch of the ‘JTI Friday Series’, it can continue to make its high quality live musical performances available to everyone.

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PROGRAMME NOTES

SPEEDREAD Three of the great musical figures of the Romantic age are in tonight’s programme, each represented by one of his most popular orchestral works. Verdi’s overture to La forza del destino brings a taste of the bursting urgency, spirit and lyricism of his operas right into the concert hall, Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto is a work whose rich tunefulness and colour mean that it will surely never

Giuseppe VERDI

lose its place in the public’s affection, and Dvořák’s New World is simply one of the most perfectly composed, lyrical and evocative symphonies of the second half of the nineteenth century. By curious chance all three works were premièred outside their composer’s native land, yet each one is nevertheless deeply flavoured by its country of origin.

OVERTURE, LA FORZA DEL DESTINO

1813-1901

When, early in 1860, Verdi accepted a commission to compose an opera for the Imperial Theatre in St Petersburg, it signalled the end of what at one stage had looked like an early retirement. Despite the success of Un ballo in maschera the year before, he was now concerning himself more with managing his estates at Busseto: ‘I no longer manufacture notes but only plant beans and cabbages’, he wrote to a friend. Perhaps recent political events, including a war which had freed much of northern Italy from Austrian rule, were also occupying his mind; in 1861 he was even persuaded somewhat reluctantly to become a member of parliament. Yet when the commission came from Russia, Verdi allowed himself to be tempted. His first idea was to compose an opera on Hugo’s Ruy Blas, but by the time he had got it past the censors a different subject had caught his imagination, in the form of the

play Don Alvaro, o La fuerza del sino by the Spanish playwright Angel de Saavedra, Duke of Rivas. Set in eighteenth-century Spain, it related the tragic consequences following on the separation of two lovers at the moment of their intended elopement.

The opera was premièred in 1862, but its success was only moderate, and by the time it received its first Italian performance in Milan in February 1869, Verdi had made substantial changes, one of which was to compose a full-scale overture to replace the original version’s much shorter prelude. The overture is in fact partly based on that prelude, but in the main it is a patchwork of themes taken from the opera itself, all knitted together by recurring references to the first, driving string theme.

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PROGRAMME NOTES

Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY 1840-1893 That his First Piano Concerto would rise to become one of the most popular of all would no doubt have come as a surprise to Tchaikovsky had he been informed of it on the morning of Christmas Day 1874. The previous night he had played it through to his friend and mentor, Nikolay Rubinstein, hoping for helpful comments, a few suggestions for improving the piano-writing (Rubinstein was one of the great pianists of the age), and, presumably, a little moral support. He can hardly have anticipated what actually happened. Later he recalled how, when he had finished playing: ‘there began to flow from Nikolay Grigoryevich’s mouth a stream of words, quiet at first, but subsequently assuming more and more the tone of Jove the Thunderer. It appeared that my concerto was worthless, that it was unplayable, that passages were trite, awkward, and so clumsy that it was impossible to put them right, that as composition it was bad and tawdry, that I had filched this bit from here and that bit from there, that there were only two or three pages that could be retained, and that the rest would have to be scrapped or completely revised.’

Probable exaggeration aside, this was clearly an inauspicious start. Yet Tchaikovsky chose not to bin the concerto, and neither did he make changes to it.

Rubinstein was to have given the première, but instead the composer took it to another pianistic lion, Hans von Bülow, who gave the first performance in Boston in October 1875. And in time Rubinstein softened to the point of performing the work himself both as soloist and conductor, while Tchaikovsky too began to take on board the suggestions of various soloists and revise the piano part.

Why this discouraging start to the work’s life? Well, Tchaikovsky was no great pianist, and perhaps his

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PIANO CONCERTO 1 IN B FLAT MINOR DENIS MATSUEV piano Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso – Allegro con spirito | Andantino semplice – Prestissimo | Allegro con fuoco private performance did not show the work at its best.

But Rubinstein was a composer of conservative cast, and the formal oddities of Tchaikovsky’s concerto may well have left him perplexed – as indeed they have often baffled other listeners since. Strangest of all its features is the very opening, where, after a lofty horncall, the music shifts immediately into the ‘wrong’ key (D flat major) for one of the grandest and most memorable of all concerto tunes. Curiouser still, this turns out after a while to have been a giant introduction featuring music that will not figure in the concerto again. The main part of the movement, when it is reached, is for the most part comparatively gentle, its two main themes being a skipping minor-key melody for the soloist, based on a Ukrainian folk-song, and an elegantly shaped tune first heard on the clarinet.

The central slow movement also has an unusual design: returning to D flat major, it opens with a tranquil melody shared between piano and woodwinds, to the tenderest of string accompaniments. Even for Tchaikovsky this is inspired lyricism, and its nostalgic air is reinforced by the knowledge that the string tune over which the piano throws featherlight decoration in the ensuing Prestissimo section is based on a song once beloved of Désirée Artôt, a singer to whom Tchaikovsky had briefly been engaged a few years earlier. The movement ends with a shortened reprise of the opening music.

The finale bursts in with another energetic Ukrainian folk melody, but it is another ‘big tune’ which dominates the movement in a manner that Rachmaninoff would later employ to great effect.

Gently squeezed out at first by the violins, then quickly taken over by the piano, this broad melody later returns in glory after thunderous bravura piano octaves, before the Concerto races to the finish in a brilliant coda.

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PROGRAMME NOTES

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

Antonín ˇ ÁK DVOR

SYMPHONY 9 IN E MINOR, OP. 95 (FROM THE NEW WORLD) Adagio – Allegro molto | Largo | Scherzo: Molto vivace | Allegro con fuoco

1841-1904 ‘Apparently I am to show them the path to the promised land and the kingdom of a new, independent art; in short, to create a national music!’ Having been appointed Director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York, Dvorˇák knew that great things were expected of him, as his letters home show. American music in the second half of the nineteenth century was strongly dominated by German-trained composers who aligned it firmly with the central European classical tradition, and it must have been with a view to breaking free from this somewhat stifling influence that the wealthy Jeanette Thurber founded her new conservatory in 1892 and invited Dvorˇák, one of Europe’s most prominent ‘nationalist’ composers, for a three-year term as its first Director. By her own account, it was Mrs Thurber who also suggested to Dvorˇák the idea of composing a symphony that would reflect his impressions of America. He began it in January 1893 and completed it the following May. It was premièred amid huge public interest and acclaim on 16 December.

The ideal identity of an American national music was at this time the subject of considerable debate,

one desirable element recognised by many being the influence of black and native American music. Dvorˇák espoused the cause straightaway. Having heard spirituals sung to him by a black student (and no doubt encountered the ‘plantation songs’ of the popular white composer Stephen Foster), he declared in an interview in the New York Herald in May 1893: ‘I am now convinced that the future music of this country must be built on the foundations of the songs which are called Negro melodies. They must become the basis of a serious and original school of composition which should be established in the USA.’ His recently completed symphony – which by the time of its première had acquired the title From the New World – undoubtedly embodied this ambition.

But although few would deny the American feel of the New World Symphony, or the audibility of its influence

‘The new American school of music must strike its roots deeply into its own soil.’

ANTONÍN DVORˇÁK

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PROGRAMME NOTES

on later American composers (not least ‘I should be glad if something occurred to me as a those who wrote for Hollywood), Dvorˇák main idea that occurs to Dvorˇák only along the way.’ was clear that he did not use existing JOHANNES BRAHMS folk melodies, and sought only to reproduce ‘the spirit of Negro and Indian music’ with ‘characteristic themes’. In to establish its new and unusual key (D flat major), a this sense he was doing much the same as in his solo cor anglais intones the simple, spiritual-like theme ‘Slavonic’ music, and indeed, given that such features as that is surely one of the most glorious melodies in all syncopations and pentatonic melodies are common to music. The warm sense of pastoral nostalgia is briefly many of the world’s folk-musics (Czech among them), broken by some forest stirrings and a fleeting glimpse there is much to be said for considering this a work of of the first movement’s wider vistas, but at the end truly dual nationality. Though he loved America, Dvorˇák there is a return to the opening’s mood of wistfulness. was often homesick while there, and with a different set of ears it is not hard to hear the symphony as an The stamping dance of the Scherzo seems to inhabit the expression of longing for his Bohemian homeland, world of the native American – indeed, Dvorˇák later said displaying (as the twentieth-century conductor Václav that, like the Largo, it was inspired by a scene in Talich once put it) ‘the rhythm and melody of his Longfellow’s poem Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast. Its form is surroundings ... remoulded by Dvorˇák’s Czechness’. unusual, containing in addition to its lightly skipping central Trio a song-like second theme within its main The Symphony opens with a pensive introduction repeated section. containing a slow melody whose syncopations gradually draw it towards the athletic main theme of the allegro The finale introduces a striking new theme, but while which follows (and which will make several strategic this rightly dominates the movement, Dvorˇák makes returns later in the symphony). This first movement also much play of bringing back melodic fragments from features two contrasting themes, both introduced by earlier movements. The music works to an almost winds and both with a syncopated nature that would Wagnerian climax before the symphony ends in a final seem to qualify them as ‘characteristically’ American. surprise gesture of longing.

There is a stormy central development section, and after the main themes have been reprised, a driving finish.

Programme notes © Lindsay Kemp The slow movement is a gem whose celebrity is richly deserved. After a sequence of solemn chords has helped

Download London Philharmonic Orchestra recordings from www.lpo.org.uk/shop It’s easy to take the London Philharmonic Orchestra with you wherever you go! Visit our downloads site to choose the works (or even single movements) you’d like to buy, and download high quality MP3s to your computer for transfer to an MP3 player or CD. With regular additions of new recordings with conductors from Beecham to Jurowski you’ll always have a selection of great music to choose from.

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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 Gold Deloitte & Touche Silver British American Business Man Group plc Bronze Appleyard & Trew llp Charles Russell Destination Québec – UK Diagonal Consulting Lazard Leventis Overseas Québec Government Office in London Corporate Donors Lombard Street Research Redpoint Energy Limited In-kind Sponsors Heineken Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd Sela Sweets Ltd

The United Grand Lodge of England 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 Sergei Rachmaninoff Foundation Stansfield Trust The Underwood Trust and others who wish to remain anonymous.

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PHILHARMONIC NEWS

Between Two Worlds – a festival exploring the life and work of Alfred Schnittke Born in 1934 in Germany, but living for most of his life in Soviet Russia, Alfred Schnittke wrote music for the theatre and concert hall as well as 66 film scores. His music is a melting pot of styles and sounds with influences from both classical Europe – from Bach, Haydn and Beethoven, to Mahler, Berg and Shostakovich – and the Russian tradition of medieval and church music as well as Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky and Shostakovich.

Running from 15 November to 1 December, Between Two Worlds explores Schnittke’s popular and lesser known operatic, orchestral, chamber and choral works as well as his extensive contribution to animation, film and theatre. Concerts, film screenings, discussions and an international symposium let you choose how to approach this fascinating and uncategoriseable composer.

But rather than focus entirely on music by Schnittke, the events seek to place him in context – his opera The History of Dr Faustus is preceded by the prelude to Wagner’s Parsifal, Schnittke’s Cello Concerto 2 is paired with Haydn’s Seven Last Words.

The major events at Southbank Centre are listed on page 16 of this programme but there are also two events at the Royal College of Music – an orchestral concert on 15 November when Jurowski conducts the Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra in Schnittke’s Gogol Suite and Monologue, and Prokofiev’s Symphony 6; and a choral concert on 19 November when the Moscow Conservatory Chamber Choir performs works by Schnittke, Bortnyansky, Rachmaninoff, Chesnokov and Shchedrin with their conductor Boris Tevlin.

Schnittke’s prolific work for the cinema will also be celebrated in screenings of some of the films for which he wrote scores. At 2.30pm on 28 November there will be a screening of Elem Klimov’s 1974 film The Agony, music from which was used in the finale of the Cello Concerto 2 to be performed that evening. The film is an account of Rasputin’s influence on Russia’s monarch and the damning events that followed fuelled

14 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Pick up a leaflet in the foyer this evening for full details of the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Schnittke Festival

controversy that would make cinema history. The film was forbidden in the Soviet Union for fifteen years.

There will also be screenings of other films – Larisa, The Ascent and The Commissar – at Pushkin House on 26 and 27 November.

As part of Leonidas Kavakos: An Artist in Focus and the International Chamber Music Season at Southbank Centre, Kavakos will take part in a performance of Schnittke’s String Trio along with Tchaikovsky’s Piano Trio at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 1 December.

To find out more, pick up a leaflet in the foyer or visit www.lpo.org.uk/Schnittke where there are sound clips of the music being performed, podcasts, interviews and videoclips.

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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

*Non-Executive Directors

THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC TRUST 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 Dr John Viney Timothy Walker AM † Laurence Watt Simon Yates 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 Deloitte & Touche Auditors Dr Louise Miller Honorary Doctor

Alison Atkinson Digital Projects Manager Julius Hendriksen Assistant to the Chief Executive and Artistic Director FINANCE David Burke Finance Director David Greenslade Finance and IT Manager Joshua Foong Finance Officer

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

Christina Hickman 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

CONCERT MANAGEMENT

Emma O’Connell Development Director

Roanna Chandler Concerts Director

Phoebe Rouse Corporate Relations Manager

Ruth Sansom Artistic Administrator

Sarah Tattersall Corporate Relations and Events Manager

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)

Anna Gover Charitable Giving Officer Melissa Van Emden Corporate Relations and Events Officer MARKETING Kath Trout Marketing Director Janine Howlett Marketing Manager Brighton, Eastbourne, Community & Education

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.

Photographs of Verdi, Tchaikovsky and Dvo˘rák courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London.

Photograph on the front cover

by Benjamin Ealovega.

Programmes printed by Cantate.

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

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 15

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FUTURE CONCERTS AT SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL

Wednesday 18 November 2009 | 7.30pm Haydn Symphony 22 (The Philosopher) Wagner Prelude and Good Friday Spell from ‘Parsifal’ Schnittke Excerpts from ‘The History of D. Johann Faustus’ (UK première)

6.00pm | Royal Festival Hall FREE Pre-Concert Event A performance of works including the Bach/Webern Ricercar and Schnittke’s Polyphonic Tango by Foyle Future Firsts conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.

Barlines | Central Bar, Level 2 Foyer FREE Post-Concert Event An informal discussion with Vladimir Jurowski and the evening’s soloist, Leonidas Kavakos.

Sung in German with English surtitles.

Vladimir Jurowski conductor Stephen Richardson Dr Faustus Anna Larsson Mephistophila Marco Lazzara Mephistophiles Markus Brutscher Narrator Moscow Conservatory Chamber Choir 6.15pm | Royal Festival Hall FREE Pre-Concert Event A performance of Schnittke’s String Quartet 3 by the Harpham Quartet.

Alexander Ivashkin and Lisa Milne

Saturday 28 November 2009 | 2.30pm A screening of Elem Klimov’s 1974 film The Agony with score by Alfred Schnittke.

Saturday 28 November 2009 | 7.30pm

Stephen Richardson and Anna Larsson

Sunday 22 November 2009 | Study Day Queen Elizabeth Hall IN THE LABYRINTH OF ALFRED SCHNITTKE An absorbing day of music and discussion celebrating the life and music of Alfred Schnittke. Pick up a leaflet in the foyer for full details.

Vladimir Jurowski and Leonidas Kavakos

Wednesday 25 November 2009 | 7.30pm Webern Passacaglia Lindberg Chorale Berg Violin Concerto Schnittke Symphony 3 Vladimir Jurowski conductor Leonidas Kavakos violin

16 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Schnittke Cello Concerto 2 Haydn The Seven Last Words Vladimir Jurowski conductor Alexander Ivashkin cello Lisa Milne soprano Ruxandra Donose mezzo soprano Andrew Kennedy tenor Christopher Maltman baritone London Philharmonic Choir 6.00pm | Royal Festival Hall FREE Pre-Concert Event Vladimir Jurowski and Alexander Ivashkin discuss the life and music of Alfred Schnittke with his widow Irina Schnittke.

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