7 May 2010 programme 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

AM†

JTI FRIDAY SERIES

PROGRAMME £3

SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL Friday 7 May 2010 | 7.30 pm BENJAMIN NORTHEY conductor ARNALDO COHEN piano

TCHAIKOVSKY Francesca da Rimini (Fantasy after Dante) LISZT Piano Concerto 2 in A

(22’)

INTERVAL VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis DVOŘÁK Symphonic Variations

†

(15’)

(21’)

supported by Macquarie Group

CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

CONTENTS 2 List of Players 3 Orchestra History 4 Southbank Centre 5 Benjamin Northey 6 Arnaldo Cohen 7 Programme Notes 11 Recordings 13 Supporters 15 Administration 16 Future Concerts The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide.

(24’)

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LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

FIRST VIOLINS Roberto Cani Guest Leader Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader Katalin Varnagy Catherine Craig Martin Höhmann Chair supported by Richard Karl Goeltz

Geoffrey Lynn Yang Zhang Rebecca Shorrock Alain Petitclerc Peter Nall Galina Tanney Toby Tramaseur Madeleine Easton Alina Petrenko SECOND VIOLINS Evgeny Gratch Guest Principal Joseph Maher Kate Birchall Chair supported by David and Victoria Graham Fuller

Nancy Elan Fiona Higham Marie-Anne Mairesse Ashley Stevens Andrew Thurgood Imogen Williamson Sioni Williams Heather Badke Peter Graham

VIOLAS Edward Vanderspar Guest Principal Robert Duncan Anthony Byrne Chair supported by John and Angela Kessler

Susanne Martens Benedetto Pollani Emmanuella Reiter Laura Vallejo Daniel Cornford Isabel Pereira Naomi Holt CELLOS Josephine Knight Guest Principal Francis Bucknall Laura Donoghue Jonathan Ayling Chair supported by Caroline, Jamie and Zander Sharp

Sue Sutherley Tom Roff Emily Isaac Alexandra McKenzie DOUBLE BASSES Kevin Rundell* Principal George Peniston Tom Walley Damian Rubido Gonzalez Charlotte Kerbegian Antonia Bakewell

FLUTES Jaime Martin* Principal Susan Thomas* Katherine Bicknell

TRUMPETS Paul Beniston* Principal Anne McAneney*

PICCOLO Katherine Bicknell

Nicholas Betts Co-Principal Daniel Newell

OBOES Ian Hardwick Principal Angela Tennick COR ANGLAIS Sue Bohling Principal Chair supported by Julian and Gill Simmonds

CLARINETS Nicholas Carpenter Principal Emily Sutcliffe BASSOONS John Price Principal Simon Estell HORNS John Ryan Principal Martin Hobbs Catherine O’Connell Eleanor Reed

Chair supported by Geoff and Meg Mann

Chair supported by Mrs Steven Ward

TROMBONES Mark Templeton* Principal David Whitehouse BASS TROMBONE Lyndon Meredith Principal TUBA Lee Tsarmaklis Principal TIMPANI Antoine Bedewi Guest Principal PERCUSSION Keith Millar Principal Alex Neal Oliver Yates HARP Rachel Masters* Principal

* Holds a professorial appointment in London

Chair Supporters The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert: Andrew Davenport Richard and Victoria Sharp 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.

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

‘This pulsating concert was the best possible advertisement for the rest of Osmo Vänskä’s Sibelius cycle ... If any musical event this season has a better Finnish than this, I’m a Norseman.’

RICHARD MORRISON, THE TIMES, 29 JANUARY 2010

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LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

SOUTHBANK CENTRE

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

WELCOME TO SOUTHBANK CENTRE

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

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.

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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 phone on 020 7960 4250 or by email at customer@southbankcentre.co.uk 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 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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BENJAMIN NORTHEY CONDUCTOR

Australian born conductor Benjamin Northey graduated with first class honours in performance and later a Masters degree in conducting from the University of Melbourne in 2000 where he commenced conducting studies under British conductor John Hopkins. In 2001 he undertook ten weeks of intensive daily study with Finnish maestro Jorma Panula in Sydney as part of the Symphony Australia Conductor Development Programme. He was subsequently awarded several prizes, including 1st prize in the 2001 Symphony Australia Young Conductor of the Year Competition.

In 2002 he was accepted as the highest placed applicant at the Sibelius Academy conducting class in Helsinki where he studied with Leif Segerstam. His 2005 diploma concert with the Sibelius Academy Symphony Orchestra was awarded the international jury’s highest possible mark. In 2006 he completed his formal studies as a guest student under Jorma Panula at the Stockholm Royal Academy of Music.

Northey made his critically acclaimed professional debut in 2003 conducting Beethoven’s Symphony 6 with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. In 2005 he appeared in Austria with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg and assisted Leif Segerstam in Latvia with the Liepaja Symphony Orchestra and in Austria with the Graz Symphony Orchestra. He toured Sweden in 2006 with the Sodra Halsinglands Orkesterforening and conducted Stockholm’s Futurum Ensemble Sinfonietta in a concert of music by Salvatore Sciarrino for the Stockholm Festival of New Music. He has participated in international masterclasses with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Israel’s Haifa Symphony Orchestra.

Returning to reside in Melbourne in 2006, Northey has rapidly become a leading figure in Australian orchestral music. One of the country’s brightest and most versatile musical stars, he is in constant demand as a guest conductor of all Australian state orchestras and has premièred numerous contemporary works by leading composers including Brett Dean, Peter Sculthorpe and Matthew Hindson. He is also a regular guest conductor for the State Opera South Australia having led productions of Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore and Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann in 2006 and 2009.

He has collaborated with leading international soloists including Canadian pianist Marc-André Hamelin, and German cellist Alban Gerhardt and is a regular recording artist for ABC Classics record label.

Northey’s first experience with the London Philharmonic Orchestra came as a result of being selected as one of three participants worldwide to the International Conductors’ Academy of the Allianz Cultural Foundation in 2007. This elite programme involved a mentorship with both the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philharmonia Orchestra under conductors Vladimir Jurowski and Christoph von Dohnányi. The Allianz Academy culminated in a special concert performance with the London Philharmonic Orchestra of Stravinsky’s Symphony in C in June 2008 at Royal Festival Hall.

Northey writes: ‘The Allianz Academy made a huge impact on me both professionally and personally. The mentorship with Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra particularly was a transforming experience – I gained so much from my time with the Orchestra and will be forever shaped by what I learned.

I am delighted to have the honour of returning to the Orchestra from whom I gained so much.’

In addition to this return performance with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, in 2010 Northey makes his debut with London’s Southbank Sinfonia on 13 May before returning to the Melbourne, Adelaide, Queensland and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. On New Year’s Eve, he makes his debut with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.

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ARNALDO COHEN PIANO

engagements in the United States, Canada, Europe and South America, he returned to the Philadelphia Orchestra and to the orchestras of Milwaukee, Seattle and Utah.

Brazilian-born pianist Arnaldo Cohen enjoys an increasingly successful career that has taken him to the major concert halls of Europe, and North and South America. He has performed with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Santa Cecilia Orchestra of Rome under leading conductors such as Kurt Masur and Wolfgang Sawallisch.

Arnaldo Cohen’s recent North American performances have spanned the United States; highlights have included engagements with the Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic amongst others. His demand as a recitalist continues with appearances at prestigious concert series including a critically acclaimed performance at New York’s Town Hall.

This season he performs all the Beethoven Concertos and the Triple Concerto with Carlos Kalmar and the Oregon Symphony Orchestra, returns to the Seattle Symphony Orchestra for Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto 4 and to the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra for Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto 3.

During 2009, he recorded Rachmaninov’s 1st and 4th Concertos with the Sao Paulo State Symphony Orchestra and Yan Pascal Tortelier conducting, finishing their recording of the complete cycle of Rachmaninov Concertos with the Paganini Variations, which is scheduled for release in autumn 2010.

During the 2008/09 season he performed Beethoven’s 4th Piano Concerto with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and returned in recital to San Francisco, Philadelphia, Quebec and Portland. In addition to recital

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Arnaldo Cohen came to prominence after winning First Prize at the 1972 Busoni International Piano Competition and made his debut at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. For five years he was a member of the acclaimed Amadeus Trio and has performed with many string quartets including the Lindsay and Chillingirian Quartets. He is a frequent recording artist, his recent discs including the two Liszt Piano Concertos and the Totentanz with the Sao Paulo State Symphony Orchestra for BIS Records. His other two CDs on the same label, an all-Liszt solo and his pioneering CD, Three Centuries of Brazilian Music, have also generated accolades by critics. He has also recorded for Vox and Naxos.

An artist of diverse interests and talents, Cohen began his musical studies at the age of five, graduating from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro with an honours degree in both piano and violin, while also studying for an engineering degree. He went on to become a professional violinist in the Rio de Janeiro Opera House Orchestra to earn his livelihood while continuing piano studies with Jacques Klein, a disciple of the legendary American pianist William Kapell. Cohen pursued further training in Vienna with Bruno Seidlhofer and Dieter Weber.

Arnaldo Cohen is the recipient of an honorary fellowship awarded by the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, and until recently held a professorship at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

He recently relocated to the United States, where he holds a piano professorship at Indiana University in Bloomington.

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PROGRAMME NOTES

SPEEDREAD What a contrast of moods and colours there is in this concert! First Tchaikovsky takes us on a one-way journey into the Inferno in his ‘fantasy’ Francesca da Rimini – a depiction of the terrifying fate of a young woman and her adulterous lover, caught for all eternity in a hellish whirlwind, but whose pain and grief ultimately stir only compassion. After this comes a dazzling pianistic showcase: Liszt’s Second Piano Concerto – more tender and reflective at times than the better-known First Concerto, but ultimately hair-raisingly acrobatic.

Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY

Lyrical meditation is at the heart of Vaughan Williams’s much-loved Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis for strings, composed for a performance in Gloucester Cathedral, and hauntingly evocative of its ethereal and shadowy spaces and its tantalising glimpse of a vanished ‘Age of Faith’ that could create such masterpieces. Finally we hear Dvořák’s Symphonic Variations, in which the Czech composer found new technical resources as a composer, but also discovered that intellectual ingenuity, impish humour and fantasy can make excellent companions.

FRANCESCA DA RIMINI (FANTASY AFTER DANTE)

1840-1893

Throughout his life, Tchaikovsky was prone to feelings of guilt and foreboding. Arguments have raged about whether his homosexuality was wholly or partly the cause of this; but it is almost certain that Tchaikovsky was also bi-polar – or, to use the older, more familiar label, manic-depressive. Feelings of guilt, sometimes inexplicable, and of dread for some indefinable fate, are common symptoms of the depressive phase. In Tchaikovsky’s case however he was able to channel these feelings into some of his most remarkable music, and there were times when this may well have saved his sanity.

No doubt the presence of such powerful emotions, so memorably expressed in the poetry of Dante’s Inferno, was one reason for Tchaikovsky’s attraction to the subject of Francesca da Rimini. In the poem, Francesca’s punishment for her adulterous affair is to be blown ceaselessly through dark space by whirlwinds. Almost certainly the theme of forbidden love added another strand of fascination for Tchaikovsky, in which case he

would have been strongly moved by Dante’s description of his own reaction to Francesca’s fate: hearing her story from her lips Dante is so struck with compassion that he faints, ‘falling like a corpse to the ground’. Francesca’s narrative begins with one of the most famous remarks in the whole of Inferno: ‘There is no greater grief than to remember happy times in the midst of misery’ – words Tchaikovsky clearly took to heart.

Initially Tchaikovsky thought of turning the story of Francesca into an opera. A libretto was provided for him by the Russian critic and composer Hermann Laroche early in 1876. But for a variety of reasons Tchaikovsky turned against the idea. When his brother Modest suggested an orchestral work, Tchaikovsky knew he had found the solution, and the resulting ‘Fantasy after Dante’ was composed quickly. Tchaikovsky’s estimation of his own works often swung as widely as his own moods, but this time his pride in his musical achievement lasted: ‘I wrote it with love and that lover, it seems, has come out rather well.’ In fact Francesca da

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PROGRAMME NOTES

Rimini is not only one of his most stirring works, but as a whole it reconciles musical form and feeling triumphantly. The grim introduction is compact and tense, leading seamlessly into the music of the whirlwind, which gathers momentum, then falls back

Franz LISZT

into the grim introductory music. Now the storm builds to full fury. As it abates, a solo clarinet introduces the love theme – we can imagine Francesca recalling those lost ‘happy times’. But then, inevitably, the storm returns, now rising to a devastating conclusion.

PIANO CONCERTO 2 IN A ARNALDO COHEN piano

1811-1886

A prodigiously brilliant virtuoso pianist, it was natural that Liszt would want to write concertos for himself to play. Like Chopin he began to work on two concertos very early in his career; but unlike Chopin he didn’t send them straight out into the world. Liszt continued to revise and re-revise both works over the next two decades. The Second Concerto was only given its first performance in 1857, when Liszt was 46 – and there were more revisions to come.

In the case of the concertos Liszt’s caution was justified.

In the earliest versions of the scores that survive, the orchestral writing lags way behind the piano parts in technical accomplishment; one generally pro-Liszt commentator has described the orchestration as ‘undistinguished and at times even helpless’. But sympathetic tutoring by the composer Joachim Raff, followed by several years’ experience as orchestral conductor in Weimar in the 1840s, did wonders for Liszt’s understanding. At the same time the piano writing in these early versions is so demanding as to be virtually unplayable, even by today’s standards. With time Liszt came to realise that it was possible to create scintillating, even superhuman-sounding effects on the piano without stretching the performer to breaking

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point. The first big solo in the work, in which the piano responds with delicate cascades of notes to solos from horn and woodwind, is an excellent example: it may not exactly be easy, but it does now seem to have been written with human hands in mind.

It is interesting that Liszt spent more time revising the Second Concerto than he did over the First. No. 1 may be the more enduringly popular of the two, but the Second Concerto is subtler, particularly in its attitude to form. Both concertos play without a break, but while in the First Concerto one can easily hear the outlines of four movements, in the second the sections morph into one another more fluidly, giving the sequence of ideas a more romantic, dreamlike quality. This impression is enhanced by the way the concerto begins: not with an arresting orchestral tutti, but with plaintive woodwind solos, leading to the long, slow-paced lyrical passage described above. Though there is plenty of exciting, showcase piano writing (a natural showman like Liszt would hardly be likely to have renounced circus acrobatics in a concerto), the reflective melodic character of the opening section is never quite forgotten – at least not until the dazzling exhibitionism of the concluding Allegro animato.

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PROGRAMME NOTES

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

Ralph VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

FANTASIA ON A THEME BY THOMAS TALLIS

1872-1958

Vaughan Williams’s Tallis Fantasia is so well known today that it’s hard to imagine that it could ever have been found ‘difficult’. But at the first performance, in Gloucester Cathedral in 1910, the music seems to have baffled most of its audience. The Cathedral’s organist, Herbert Brewer, summed up its composer (then in his late thirties) as ‘a queer, mad fellow from Chelsea’.

Though for a few, including the young composers Herbert Howells and Ivor Gurney, the Tallis Fantasia was a revelation – a pointer to a new path, leading away from the German romantic models followed by Elgar and his generation.

What was it about the Tallis Fantasia that was so challenging? Vaughan Williams wasn’t the first British composer to look to the Tudor age for inspiration. But what he found in Thomas Tallis’s Psalm-tune was more than quaint olde-worlde colouring. Tallis’s tune is in the old church ‘Phrygian Mode’ (try imagining a scale of E on keyboard using only the white notes), and there are strikingly abrupt major-minor contrasts. These elements (considered ‘exotic’ in the early 20th century) are reflected again and again in the themes and harmonies of Vaughan Williams’s Tallis Fantasia. Then there is the

division of the string orchestra into contrasting ‘choirs’: a string quartet, an ensemble of ten stringed instruments, and a larger string orchestra – reminiscent of Tallis’s atmospheric great choral motet Spem in Alium with its eight distinct five-part choirs.

Tallis’s theme isn’t heard in full right away. First we hear five hushed chords for full strings, the first of which has a luminous, serene quality which, once heard, is hard to forget. There is an echo here of Vaughan Williams’s cantata Toward the Unknown Region, a work about the soul’s final journey in death. Then Tallis’s theme emerges slowly, in skeletal fragments (pizzicato lower strings), as though from the shadows. As the Fantasia builds to its magnificent climax there is a growing sense of restlessness, of impassioned searching, as though the music were striving to recapture the fleeting ethereal vision from the very beginning. The end does bring a kind of resolution, but that serene opening chord never quite returns in its original form. Its memory haunts the mind, yet its essence eludes the seeker – perhaps like the Christian faith which so moved Vaughan Williams in Tallis’s music, yet which never quite overcame the doubts in his own mind.

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PROGRAMME NOTES

Antonín DVOŘÁK

SYMPHONIC VARIATIONS, OP. 78

1841-1904

According to one account, Dvořák’s Symphonic Variations were the result of a dare. A friend pointed to the angular, chromatic melody in one of Dvořák’s partsongs for male chorus, entitled Huslar (‘The Fiddle-player’), and challenged him to write a set of variations on such an ‘intractable’ theme. What Dvořák produced in response is generally acknowledged to be the finest set of variations in any format. Dvořák obviously realised that the theme’s starkly individual characteristics – the simple but memorable rhythm of the first phrase, its arresting chromaticism (a sharpened fourth soon followed by a ‘pure’ fourth) and its irregular phraselengths – could prove fertile for development. He was almost certainly encouraged by the success of the orchestral ‘St Antoni’ Variations by his friend and champion Brahms, composed in 1873. Brahms’s Variations are also based on a theme of irregular phrase lengths: five-bar phrases alternating with four-bar phrases. These establish a background pattern – a kind of rhythmic ‘template’ – which can remain the same no matter how much the composer varies the melodic and harmonic material, thereby binding the variations together on the deepest level.

symphonies by the time he came to write them, but the symphony he wrote after the Variations, No. 6 (1880), shows a new level of mastery in developing motifs and the use of the orchestra. The experience of grappling with his ‘intractable’ theme, of decking it out in new colours, or deriving new ideas from its basic melodic patterns, enriched his technique and orchestral imagination. The 27 variations and the fugal Finale are endlessly inventive and strongly contrasted. While the Finale makes great show of Dvořák’s contrapuntal skills, there are wonderful touches of humour throughout the work, especially in Variation 15, where a brassy, selfassured opening statement from the orchestra is instantly mocked by high woodwind. Equally delicious are the alternating muted horn and flute (against a background of soft strings) in Variation 14, and the combination of hymn-like horns and dancing high string figurations in No. 18. And while most of the Finale is earnestly fugal, high spirits break out again at the end as the tempo notches higher and higher, and the full orchestra sounds out like the joyous pealing of bells.

Programme notes by Stephen Johnson ©2010 The Symphonic Variations were also a turning point for Dvořák. He had already completed five orchestral

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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RECORDINGS ON THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA’S OWN RECORD LABEL

LPO-0039 Vladimir Jurowski conducts Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies 1 and 6 ‘Both are exceptional performances, superbly recorded with a breathtaking range of dynamics … In both works, the playing of the LPO is world class.’

ANDREW CLEMENTS, THE GUARDIAN, 4 SEPTEMBER 2009

LPO-0009 Vladimir Jurowski conducts Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony ‘it is a wonderfully vivid recording of an exceptionally vibrant, immaculately played performance ... a superb disc.’

THE GUARDIAN, 2 JUNE 2006

LPO-0042 Neeme Järvi conducts Dvo˘rák’s Requiem.

‘Neeme Järvi leads a sturdy, evocative performance graced by gorgeous singing from the London Philharmonic Choir.’

JOSHUA KOSMAN, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, 7 MARCH 2010

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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Our season ends with a new beginning – the first performance of Ravi Shankar’s Symphony.

Tuesday 18 May, 7.30pm Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall

Thursday 1 July 2010 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall John Adams Shaker Loops Philip Glass Violin Concerto 1 Ravi Shankar Symphony (world première) David Murphy conductor Robert McDuffie violin Anoushka Shankar sitar

FREE Pre-Concert Event 6.15pm | Royal Festival Hall An introduction to the music of Ravi Shankar.

Tickets £9-£38 / Premium seats £55 For booking details see page 16.

Imogen Cooper piano/director* Jacqueline Shave leader/director Britten Sinfonia Mozart Symphony No.35 in D major, K.385 Janáček Quartet No.1 for strings (arr. Richard Tognetti ) Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 ( Emperor ) * ‘The organic power and economy of Beethoven’s writing felt more dynamic than ever. Cooper’s own rhythmic regeneration of theme and counter-theme, her sense of direction, and her ability to let the music yield and breathe, led to a fearless cadenza with a movingly hushed exit’ The Times Tickets: £30, £25, £20, £15, £10 Box Office: 0844 847 9910 www.southbankcentre.co.uk

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We would like to acknowledge the generous support of the following Thomas Beecham Group Patrons, Principal Benefactors and Benefactors: Thomas Beecham Group Mr & Mrs Richard & Victoria Sharp Julian & Gill Simmonds Mrs Steven Ward Simon Yates & Kevin Roon

Guy & Utti Whittaker

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 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 Commander Vincent Evans

Benefactors Mrs A Beare Dr & Mrs Alan Carrington CBE FRS Marika Cobbold & Michael Patchett-Joyce Mr & Mrs Stewart Cohen Mr Alistair Corbett Mr David Edgecombe Mr Richard Fernyhough

Garf & Gill Collins Andrew Davenport David & Victoria Graham Fuller Richard Karl Goeltz John & Angela Kessler Mr & Mrs Makharinsky Geoff & Meg Mann Caroline, Jamie and Zander Sharp Eric Tomsett

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

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

Corporate Members Appleyard & Trew llp 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 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 Dorset Foundation 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 The Rubin Foundation Ruth Berkowitz Charitable Trust The Samuel Sebba Charitable Trust Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation Sound Connections Stansfield Trust UK Friends of the FelixMendelssohn-BartholdyFoundation The Underwood Trust and others who wish to remain anonymous.

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Industrial soundscapes, phasing textures and sonic shifts created by LPO young composers and performed

by Foyle Future Firsts and members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra

Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall Friday 14 May 2010 | 7.30pm Lutoslawski Mini Overture Aaron Parker Moiré Isa Khan 06 Ravel Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé Varèse Octandre Sasha Siem Queen Anne’s Lace Strauss Serenade for thirteen winds Tristan Brookes SERRA: Pessoa Stravinsky Dumbarton Oaks Clement Power conductor Rachael Lloyd mezzo soprano The composers have been working on their pieces throughout the academic year in a series of workshops, mentored by Composer in Residence Mark-Anthony Turnage, composer Jonathan Cole and conductor Clement Power.

The Foyle Future Firsts programme is a dedicated apprenticeship scheme for 16 gifted instrumentalists embarking on professional orchestral careers.

Come and hear new sound worlds and discover young talent at the highest level.

Visit www.lpo.org.uk/debutsounds to learn about the LPO young composers and preview the new works.

Tickets £9 | Students £4 For booking details see page 16.

The Foyle Future Firsts Programme is generously funded by the Foyle Foundation with additional support from The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust, The Fenton Arts Trust, Musicians Benevolent Fund and The UK Friends of the Felix-Mendelssohn-BartholdyFoundation. The Orchestra’s Young Composers Scheme is supported by Eranda Foundation, The Idlewild Trust and the Paul Morgan Charitable Trust.

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FUNharmonics Family Concert

Journeys Saturday 8 May 2010 | 11.30am Royal Festival Hall Adams Short Ride in a Fast Machine Dvořák Symphony 9 (From the New World) – Scherzo Mendelssohn Symphony 3 (Scottish) – Second Movement Marianelli The Seahorse’s Journey Debussy Ibéria – Le Matin d’un jour de fête Rozsa The Golden Voyage of Sinbad Schifrin (arr. Townend) Mission Impossible Ralf Sochaczewsky conductor Chris Jarvis presenter Foyer Events from 10am You can try your hand at playing an orchestral instrument in one of our Have-a-Go sessions, get your face painted or join our human orchestra – all in the foyers before and after the performance.

Generously supported by The Jeniffer & Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust.

TICKETS Child £4-£7; Adult £8-£14 For booking details see page 16.

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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 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 Horwath Clark Whitehill LLP Auditors Dr Louise Miller Honorary Doctor

Roanna Chandler Concerts Director

EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMME

Gillian Pole Recordings Archive

Isobel Timms Community Officer LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Alec Haylor Education and Community Assistant

89 Albert Embankment London SE1 7TP Tel: 020 7840 4200 Fax: 020 7840 4201 Box Office: 020 7840 4242

Richard Mallett Education and Community Producer DEVELOPMENT Nick Jackman Development Director Phoebe Rouse Corporate Relations Manager

Graham Wood Concerts, Recordings and Glyndebourne Manager

Melissa Van Emden Corporate Relations and Events Officer

Alison Jones Concerts Co-ordinator

Anna Gover Charitable Giving Officer

Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant

MARKETING

ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL

Kath Trout Marketing Director

Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager

Frances Cook Publications Manager

Sarah Thomas Librarian

Samantha Kendall Box Office Administrator (Tel: 020 7840 4242)

Ken Graham Trucking Instrument Transportation (Tel: 01737 373305)

Philip Stuart Discographer

Anne Newman Education Officer

Ruth Sansom Artistic Administrator

Camilla Begg Assistant Orchestra Personnel Manager

Edmund Pirouet Consultant

Matthew Todd Education and Community Director

Sarah Tattersall Corporate Relations and Events Manager

Michael Pattison Stage Manager

ARCHIVES

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 Tchaikovsky, Liszt, Vaughan Williams and Dvořák courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London.

Photograph on the front cover

by Benjamin Ealovega.

Programmes printed by Cantate.

Valerie Barber Press Consultant (Tel: 020 7586 8560) INTERN Jo Langston Marketing †Supported by Macquarie Group

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FUTURE CONCERTS AT SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL

Saturday 22 May 2010 | 7.30pm

Thursday 1 July 2010 | 7.30pm

Debussy Ibéria Lalo Symphonie espagnole Strauss Don Juan Ravel Boléro

Adams Shaker Loops Glass Violin Concerto 1 Shankar Symphony (world première) David Murphy conductor Robert McDuffie violin Anoushka Shankar sitar

Christoph Eschenbach conductor Christian Tetzlaff violin

FREE Pre-Concert Event 6.15pm | Royal Festival Hall An introduction to the music of Ravi Shankar.

Christoph Eschenbach and Christian Tetzlaff

JTI Friday Series | Friday 28 May 2010 | 7.30pm

David Murphy and Robert McDuffie

Rachmaninoff (arr. Dumbraveanu) Variations on a Theme of Corelli Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto 4 (revised version) Rachmaninoff Symphony 1 Neeme Järvi conductor Alexei Lubimov piano Supported by the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation.

FREE Pre-Concert Event 6.15pm | Royal Festival Hall Geoffrey Norris introduces the music of Rachmaninoff.

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

Neeme Järvi and Alexei Lubimov

Glyndebourne Festival Opera Later this month, the London Philharmonic Orchestra starts its next season as Resident Symphony Orchestra at Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Glyndebourne’s first ever production of Britten’s Billy Budd conducted by Mark Elder opens the 2010 season. The Orchestra will also play for a revival of the 2007 production of Verdi’s Macbeth conducted by Vasily Petrenko, a revival of the 2008 production of Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel conducted by Robin Ticciati, and a revival of the 1975 David Hockney production of Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.

16 | London Philharmonic Orchestra