9 Feb 2013 LPO programme notes by London Philharmonic Orchestra

Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor VLADIMIR JUROWSKI* Principal Guest Conductor YANNICK NÉZET-SÉGUIN Leader pieter schoeman Composer in Residence JULIAN ANDERSON Patron HRH THE DUKE OF KENT KG Chief Executive and Artistic Director TIMOTHY WALKER AM

SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL Saturday 9 February 2013 | 7.30pm

ENRIQUE MAZZOLA conductor JAVIER PERIANES piano MARIA LUIGIA BORSI soprano

respighi Fountains of Rome (15’) falla Nights in the Gardens of Spain (23’)

PROGRAMME £3 CONTENTS 2 Welcome 3 Tonight’s works in context 4 About the Orchestra 5 Leader 6 On stage tonight 7 Enrique Mazzola 8 Javier Perianes / Maria Luigia Borsi 9 Programme notes 11 Il Tramonto text 13 Programme notes contd. 15 Supporters 16 LPO administration The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide.

Interval respighi Il Tramonto (16’) ravel Pavane pour une infante défunte (6’) ravel Rapsodie espagnole (15’) Supported by the Office for Cultural and Scientific Affairs, Embassy of Spain

* supported by the Tsukanov Family Foundation and one anonymous donor CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

This concert is being recorded by the BBC for broadcast on Sunday 10 February 2013 at 2.00pm, on Sunday Concert.

Welcome

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 Foyles, EAT, Giraffe, Strada, YO! Sushi, wagamama, Le Pain Quotidien, Las Iguanas, ping pong, Canteen, Caffè Vergnano 1882, Skylon, Concrete and Feng Sushi, as well as cafes, restaurants and shops inside Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Hayward Gallery. If you wish to get in touch with us following your visit please contact the Visitor Experience Team at Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX, phone 020 7960 4250, or email 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.

Southbank Centre’s The Rest Is Noise, inspired by Alex Ross’s book The Rest Is Noise Presented by Southbank Centre in partnership with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. southbankcentre.co.uk/therestisnoise The Rest Is Noise is a year-long festival that digs deep into 20th-century history to reveal the influences on art in general and classical music in particular. Inspired by Alex Ross’s book The Rest Is Noise, we use film, debate, talks and a vast range of concerts to reveal the fascinating stories behind the century’s wonderful and often controversial music. We have brought together the world’s finest orchestras and soloists to perform many of the most significant works of the 20th century. We reveal why these pieces were written and how they transformed the musical language of the modern world. Over the year, The Rest Is Noise focuses on 12 different parts. The music is set in context with talks from a fascinating team of historians, scientists, philosophers, political theorists and musical experts as well as films, online content and other special programmes. If you’re new to 20th-century music, then this is your time to start exploring with us as your tour guide. There has never been a festival like this. Jude Kelly Artistic Director, Southbank Centre

2 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Tonight’s works in context

1870 1875 Maurice Ravel born in Ciboure, France, close to the border with Spain 1876 Manuel de Falla born in Cadiz, Spain

1880

1879 Ottorino Respighi born in Bologna, Italy 1882 Premiere of Wagner’s opera Parsifal in Bayreuth, Germany 1886 First sales of Coca-Cola in the USA, originally marketed as a patent medicinal remedy

1890

1891 Carnegie Hall opened in New York City 1896 Henri Becquerel discovered radioactivity. First modern Olympic games held in Athens 1897 Marconi awarded a patent for radio communication

1900

1901 Death of Queen Victoria 1902 Premiere of Ravel’s Pavane pour une infante défunte in its original piano version. (The orchestral version was first performed in 1910.) 1908 Premiere of Ravel’s Rapsodie espagnole

1910

1912 Sinking of the RMS Titanic. Premiere of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire in Berlin. 1915 Premiere of Respighi’s Il Tramonto 1916 Premiere of Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain

1920

1917 Premiere of Respighi’s Fountains of Rome 1922 Creation of the Soviet Union (USSR). British Broadcasting Company (BBC) formed 1925 Premiere of Berg’s opera Wozzeck in Berlin

1930

1929 Wall Street Crash 1932 London Philharmonic Orchestra founded by Sir Thomas Beecham 1936 Death of Respighi 1937 Death of Ravel

1940

1939 Outbreak of World War II in Europe 1945 End of World War II 1946 Death of Falla

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3

The LPO were on exceptional form, and the performance had a real edge-of-yourseat excitement. The Guardian (29 September 2012, Royal Festival Hall: Rachmaninoff, Shchedrin, Denisov & Miaskovsky)

The London Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the world’s finest orchestras, balancing a long and distinguished history with a reputation as one of the UK’s most adventurous and forward-looking orchestras. As well as giving classical concerts, the Orchestra also records film and video game soundtracks, has its own record label, and reaches thousands of Londoners every year through activities for schools and local communities. The Orchestra was founded by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1932, and since then its Principal Conductors have included Sir Adrian Boult, Sir John Pritchard, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. The current Principal Conductor is Vladimir Jurowski, appointed in 2007, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin is Principal Guest Conductor. The Orchestra is Resident Orchestra at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London, where it has performed since it opened in 1951, giving around 40 concerts there each season. 2012/13 highlights include three concerts with Vladimir Jurowski based around

4 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

the theme of War and Peace in collaboration with the Russian National Orchestra; Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera, also conducted by Jurowski; 20th-century American works with Marin Alsop; Haydn and Strauss with Yannick Nézet-Séguin; and the UK premiere of Carl Vine’s Second Piano Concerto with pianist Piers Lane under Vassily Sinaisky. Throughout 2013 the Orchestra will collaborate with Southbank Centre on The Rest Is Noise festival, based on Alex Ross’s book of the same name and charting the 20th century’s key musical works and historical events. The Orchestra has flourishing residencies in Brighton and Eastbourne, and performs regularly around the UK. Every summer, the Orchestra leaves London for four months and takes up its annual residency accompanying the famous Glyndebourne Festival Opera, where it has been Resident Symphony Orchestra since 1964. The Orchestra also tours internationally, performing concerts to sell-out audiences worldwide. Tours in the 2012/13 season include visits to Spain, Germany, France, Switzerland, the USA and Austria.

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Pieter Schoeman leader

In summer 2012 the London Philharmonic Orchestra performed as part of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the River Thames, and was also chosen to record all the world’s national anthems for the London 2012 Olympics. The London Philharmonic Orchestra maintains an energetic programme of activities for young people and local communities. Highlights include the Deutsche Bank BrightSparks Series; the Leverhulme Young Composers project; and the Foyle Future Firsts orchestral training programme for outstanding young players. Over recent years, developments in technology and social networks have enabled the Orchestra to reach even more people worldwide: all its recordings are available to download from iTunes and, as well as a YouTube channel, news blog, iPhone app and regular podcasts, the Orchestra has a lively presence on Facebook and Twitter. Find out more and get involved! lpo.org.uk facebook.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra

Pieter Schoeman was appointed Leader of the LPO in 2008, having previously been Co-Leader since 2002.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra has recorded many blockbuster scores, from The Lord of the Rings trilogy to Lawrence of Arabia, The Mission, East is East, Hugo, and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. It also broadcasts regularly on television and radio, and in 2005 established its own record label. There are now nearly 70 releases available on CD and to download. Recent additions include Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5 with Vladimir Jurowski; Brahms’s Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3 with Klaus Tennstedt; a disc of orchestral works by Mark-Anthony Turnage; and the world premiere of the late Ravi Shankar’s First Symphony conducted by David Murphy.

Born in South Africa, he made his solo debut aged 10 with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra. He studied with Jack de Wet in South Africa, winning numerous competitions including the 1984 World Youth Concerto Competition in the US. In 1987 he was offered the Heifetz Chair of Music scholarship to study with Eduard Schmieder in Los Angeles and in 1991 his talent was spotted by Pinchas Zukerman, who recommended that he move to New York to study with Sylvia Rosenberg. In 1994 he became her teaching assistant at Indiana University, Bloomington. Pieter has performed worldwide as a soloist and recitalist 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 Southbank Centre’s 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, Pieter has performed Arvo Pärt’s Double Concerto with Boris Garlitsky, Brahms’s Double Concerto with Kristina Blaumane, and Britten’s Double Concerto with Alexander Zemtsov, which was recorded and released on the Orchestra’s own record label to great critical acclaim. He has recorded numerous violin solos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra for Chandos, Opera Rara, Naxos, X5, the BBC and for American film and television, and led the Orchestra in its soundtrack recordings for The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

twitter.com/LPOrchestra In 1995 Pieter became Co-Leader of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice. Since then he has appeared frequently as Guest Leader with the Barcelona, Bordeaux, Lyon, Baltimore and BBC symphony orchestras, and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. Pieter is a Professor of Violin at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. London Philharmonic Orchestra | 5

On stage tonight

First Violins Pieter Schoeman* Leader Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader Chair supported by John & Angela Kessler

Katalin Varnagy Chair supported by Sonja Drexler

Catherine Craig Tina Gruenberg Geoffrey Lynn Robert Pool Sarah Streatfeild Alina Petrenko Peter Nall Alain Petitclerc Galina Tanney Kay Chappell Naoko Keatley Charlotte Scott Catherine Van de Geest Second Violins Takane Funatsu Guest Principal Joseph Maher Kate Birchall Chair supported by David & Victoria Graham Fuller

Fiona Higham Ashley Stevens Marie-Anne Mairesse Nancy Elan Emma Wragg Chloé Boireau Helena Nicholls Sioni Williams Alison Strange Peter Graham Stephen Stewart

Violas Andriy Viytovych Guest Principal Gregory Aronovich Benedetto Pollani Laura Vallejo Susanne Martens Alistair Scahill Michelle Bruil Daniel Cornford Naomi Holt Martin Fenn Sarah Malcolm Rebecca Carrington Cellos Kristina Blaumane Principal Francis Bucknall Laura Donoghue Jonathan Ayling Chair supported by Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp

Gregory Walmsley Santiago Carvalho† Sue Sutherley Elisabeth Wiklander Helen Rathbone Tae-Mi Song Double Basses Kevin Rundell* Principal Laurence Lovelle George Peniston Richard Lewis Kenneth Knussen Helen Rowlands Tom Walley Catherine Ricketts Flutes Wissam Boustany Guest Principal Sue Thomas

Piccolos Julia Crowell Marta Santamaria

Trombones Mark Templeton* Principal David Whitehouse

Oboes Ian Hardwick Principal Angela Tennick

Bass Trombone Lyndon Meredith Principal

Cor Anglais Sue Bohling Principal Chair supported by Julian & Gill Simmonds

Clarinets Nicholas Carpenter* Principal Katie Lockhart Bass Clarinet Paul Richards Principal Bassoons Lola Descours Guest Principal Gareth Newman* Claire Webster

Tuba Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal Timpani Simon Carrington* Principal Percussion Andrew Barclay* Principal Chair supported by Andrew Davenport

Keith Millar Jeremy Cornes Olly Yates Eddy Hackett Sarah Mason Harps Rachel Masters* Principal Stephanie Beck

Contrabassoon Simon Estell Principal

Piano Catherine Edwards

Horns John Ryan* Principal David Pyatt Principal Martin Hobbs Mark Vines Co-Principal Gareth Mollison

Celeste Bernard Robertson

Trumpets Paul Beniston* Principal Anne McAneney*

* Holds a professorial appointment in London

Chair supported by Geoff & Meg Mann

Nicholas Betts Co-Principal

Organ Henry Parkes

† Chevalier of the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco

Chair supported by the Sharp Family

Julia Crowell

The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporter whose player is not present at this concert: Moya Greene

6 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Enrique Mazzola

conductor

Italian conductor Enrique Mazzola became the new Music Director at Orchestre National d’Île de France (ONDIF) at the beginning of the 2012/13 season. Among the most dynamic artists of his generation, he is an expert interpreter of bel canto opera and specialises in the classical and early romantic periods. Tonight’s concert is his symphonic debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Other plans this season include his debut with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and a symphonic project with Oper Nuremberg. He also returns to the Swedish Radio Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic and Brussels Philharmonic orchestras, as well as extensive projects with ONDIF including several performances at Salle Pleyel across the season. Opera appearances this season include Deutsche Oper Berlin (The Barber of Seville, The Flying Dutchman), the Bolshoi Theatre (La sonnambula) and a new production of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Future engagements include debuts with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Orchestre National de Lyon, and returns to the Scottish Chamber and New Japan Philharmonic orchestras, Opera du Rhin, Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Théâtre des ChampsElysées.

Mazzola has conducted at major European festivals including an acclaimed new production of Falstaff at the Aix-en-Provence Festival; and at the München Opernfestspiele, Festival de Radio France, Rossini Opera Festival, Biennale of Venice, Wexford Opera Festival, Festival de Granada and Buxton Festival. Between 1999 and 2003 he was Artistic and Music Director of the Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte in Montepulciano, where he conducted many symphonic concerts and new operatic productions with the Royal Northern College of Music Symphony Orchestra. An accomplished interpreter of contemporary music, in 2010 Mazzola conducted all-contemporary programmes (including several premieres) at ONDIF and the Orquestra Nacional do Porto. He conducted the world premiere of Alberto Colla’s Il processo at La Scala, Il re nudo by Luca Lombardi at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Medusa by Arnaldo de Felice at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Isabella by Azio Corghi at the Rossini Opera Festival, and many other premieres with major European orchestras.

Highlights in recent seasons include many highly successful debuts, notably the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Oslo Philharmonic, Scottish Chamber, New Japan Philharmonic, Taipei Symphony, Brussels Philharmonic and Swedish Radio Symphony orchestras. Recent opera engagements include Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Glyndebourne on Tour (La Cenerentola, L’elisir d’amore), Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (L’italiana in Algeri), Opera de Nice (L’elisir d’amore), New National Theatre Tokyo (Don Giovanni), Opera du Rhin (Macbeth), Orchestre National de France at Théâtre des Champs-Elysées (Don Pasquale), Deutsche Oper Berlin (The Barber of Seville, Falstaff) and Teatro alla Scala (Don Pasquale). London Philharmonic Orchestra | 7

Maria Luigia Borsi

piano

soprano

The acclaim accorded to pianist Javier Perianes by international audiences and critics alike confirms his status as one of Spain’s most exciting young artists. A sought-after participant at many renowned Spanish festivals, he was Artist in Residence at the Granada Festival in 2012 and will be in-residence at the Teatro de la Maestranza and the Seville Orchestra this season. He has performed worldwide, having made notable appearances at New York’s Carnegie Hall, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, the Shanghai Conservatory, the Ravinia and Gilmore festivals in Chicago, and the Konzerthaus, Berlin. Perianes has worked with leading conductors including Lorin Maazel, Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Jesús López Cobos, Antoni Wit and Vassily Petrenko. Recent and forthcoming highlights include appearances with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse under Tugan Sokhiev, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra under Hugh Wolff, the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris under Joseph Swensen, the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini under Kazushi Ono, the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra under Yuri Temirkanov, the New World Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas, the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra under Eduardo Portal and the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra under Claus Peter Flor. Recording exclusively for Harmonia Mundi, Perianes has released Schubert’s Impromptus and Klavierstücke, Blasco de Nebra’s keyboard sonatas, Mompou’s Música Callada and Falla’s piano music, including Nights in the Gardens of Spain, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Josep Pons. Javier’s latest CD release, ‘Beethoven: Moto perpetuo’ features Sonatas Nos. 12, 17, 22 and 27. In 2012 he was awarded the National Music Prize by the Ministry of Culture of Spain for his commitment to the dissemination of Spanish music, his international presence with renowned orchestras and directors, and his human values. 8 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Javier Perianes

Maria Luigia Borsi was born in Sora, south of Rome. She completed her formal musical studies with the highest honours at the P. Mascagni Music Institute in Livorno, under the guidance of Lucia Stanescu. In 2004 she performed the role of Liù in Turandot at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, directed by Carlo Rizzi. In the same year she also made her debut at La Fenice, Venice, singing Violetta in La traviata under the direction of Lorin Maazel, with stage direction by Robert Carsen. Maria Luigia made her American debut as Desdemona in Otello at the Cincinnati Opera Association in 2010. She recently made her role debut as Cio-Cio San in Madame Butterfly at the Royal Danish Opera, and has been invited to return for further performances. She has appeared in La bohème at the Liceu in Barcelona and Suor Angelica with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin at the Philharmonie, which was her debut there and a huge success. In December 2012 she received fantastic reviews for her performances in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and with the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, both conducted by Lorin Maazel. Other recent engagements include Liù in Turandot at the Chorégies d’Orange with Roberto Alagna, and Cantaloube’s Songs of the Auvergne with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra; an orchestra with whom she regularly collaborates, following her success in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Future engagements include Madame Butterfly with Pittsburgh Opera this season and with Cincinnati Opera next season, and Otello with Oviedo Opera and in concerts with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and Myung-Whun Chung in April. In concert this year, Maria Luigia will sing Verdi’s Requiem at the Beethoven and Grafenegg festivals; with the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona; and in a concert celebrating Verdi’s 200th anniversary with the Hallé and Sir Mark Elder. Maria Luigia has recorded Don Giovanni with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta, in which her final Donna Elvira aria received great acclaim.

Programme notes

The spirit of place This programme is built around three brilliantly orchestrated works from the first two decades of the 20th century, all of which in different ways evoke southern European landscapes and landmarks. Ottorino Respighi’s colourful Fountains of Rome was suggested by four fountains in the composer’s adopted home city of Rome, viewed at different times of day beginning at dawn and ending at twilight – the time of day that is the starting-point of Respighi’s Il Tramonto, a setting for voice and strings of Shelley’s

Ottorino Respighi 1879–1936

Ottorino Respighi belonged to a generation of Italian composers who wished to re-establish national interest in orchestral music – one of the glories of Italian music in the Baroque era – after a century of almost exclusive domination by vocal music and in particular opera. His own orchestral style was formed through his studies with the master-orchestrator Rimsky-Korsakov at the beginning of the 20th century, and also by close attention to the new music of Debussy, Ravel, Richard Strauss and others. His mastery of the orchestra is nowhere better displayed than in the triptych of symphonic poems inspired by the fountains, pines and festivals of his adopted home city of Rome. The first of these, Fountains of Rome, was composed between 1914 and 1916, and first performed in Rome itself in March 1917. But it had no success until it was taken up in Milan the following year by the great conductor Arturo Toscanini, who became one of Respighi’s foremost champions in Europe and America. The work portrays, in a continuous sequence, four Roman fountains at different times of day from dawn

poem The Sunset. Manuel de Falla’s atmospheric Nights in the Gardens of Spain, for piano and orchestra, conjures up three scenes in Falla’s native Andalusia, in music coloured by the folk idioms of the region. Maurice Ravel’s love of Spain, reflected in the title of his poignant Pavane pour une infante défunte, is fully evident in his Rapsodie espagnole, in which a ‘Prelude to the night’ (another twilight scene!) introduces three movements in Spanish dance rhythms.

Piano Fontane Concerto di Roma No. (Fountains 3 in D minor, of Rome): Op. 30 symphonic poem Simon Trpčeski piano 1 The Fountain of Valle Giulia at Dawn: Andante mosso – 1 maFountain non tanto 2 Allegro The Triton in the Morning: Vivo – 2 Adagioat– noon: Allegro moderato – 3 Intermezzo: The Trevi Fountain 3 breve Finale: AllegroAlla vivace – Largamente – 4 The Villa Medici Fountain at Sunset: Andante

to dusk – sometimes describing the scene, sometimes imagining the fountain’s statuary coming to life. The first section depicts the fountain of Valle Giulia, in (at the time) a pastoral landscape: to quote the composer’s note, ‘flocks of sheep pass and disappear in the fresh, damp mists of a Roman dawn’. A sudden blast on the horns signals the start of the second section, suggested by Bernini’s Triton fountain, in the Piazza Barberini, in the morning: here the composer imagined the nymphs and tritons of the fountain ‘running in pursuit of each other, and mingling in a frenzied dance among the jets of water’. The third section, which begins with a rising theme passing through the orchestra until it reaches the trumpets, was inspired by the famous Trevi fountain at midday: Respighi pictures ‘Neptune’s chariot drawn by sea-horses, followed by a train of sirens and tritons’, passing across the water, and finally vanishing into the distance. In the final section, harps, celeste and glockenspiel evoke the rippling waters of the fountain in the gardens of the Villa Medici at sunset: ‘The air is full of the sound of bells, twittering birds, rustling leaves; then all fades gently into the silence of the night.’ London Philharmonic Orchestra | 9

Programme notes

Manuel de Falla 1876–1946

Manuel de Falla was the composer who brought Spain into the mainstream of 20th-century European music, treating the material of the country’s distinctive folk music with subtle imagination and a unique flair for orchestration. His Noches en los Jardines de España (Nights in the Gardens of Spain) reflects his love of his native Andalusia, in its conception as a series of scenes set in the south of the country and its absorption of the region’s Arab-tinged musical idioms. He began writing it in 1909, during his seven-year sojourn in Paris; it was suggested by a book of garden paintings by the Catalan artist and writer Santiago Rusiñol. At that stage, the work was intended to be a set of nocturnes for solo piano, to be played by the Paris-based Spanish pianist Ricardo Viñes. But Viñes persuaded Falla to rework the piece for piano and orchestra. Falla began this task in the summer of 1915, while staying at the home of the artist Rusiñol in Sitges, near Barcelona, and completed it early the following year in Madrid. The result, now subtitled ‘symphonic impressions’, was first performed in Madrid in April 1916. Viñes did not give the premiere, because his near-sightedness prevented him learning the solo part from the manuscript, but he was still rewarded with the dedication of the work.

Nights in the Gardens of Spain: symphonic impressions for piano and orchestra Javier Perianes piano 1 In the Generalife: Allegretto tranquillo e misterioso 2 Distant Dance: Allegretto giusto – 3 In the Gardens of the Sierra de Córdoba: Vivo

his block of flats in Madrid. Gradually the ideas of the opening section return, with the piano at one point imitating the rapid strumming of repeated notes in flamenco guitar playing. The second movement is a ‘Distant Dance’, consisting of a sequence of variations on the opening woodwind melody, another sequence of variations on a smooth idea introduced by flute and high tremolo violins, and a closing section in which elements of both themes are developed and intermingled. This movement leads without a break into the finale, ‘In the Gardens of the Sierra de Córdoba’ – the mountain range overlooking the city of Córdoba. The scene pictured here is said to be a gypsy fiesta, which would explain the movement’s profusion of melodic ideas, most of them growing out of the opening triple-time dance. One of these ideas, played by the piano in high octaves, imitates the flamenco genre of cante jondo, or ‘deep song’, with its elaborate ornamentation; and this theme returns shortly before the calm ending.

The first movement is set ‘In the Generalife’, the historic gardens on the Alhambra hill in Granada. It begins with tremolo violas alternating between two adjacent notes, a motif that generates a wide range of fragmentary ideas in constantly varied colours. Later, a simple tune emerges on the piano, which Falla later recognised as one he used to hear played by a blind beggar outside

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

10 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Ottorino Respighi 1879–1936

Piano Il Tramonto Concerto (TheNo. Sunset) 3 in D minor, Op. 30 for soprano and strings Simon Trpčeski piano Maria Luigia Borsi soprano 1 Allegro ma non tanto 2 Intermezzo: Adagio – 3 Finale: Alla breve

Respighi composed Il Tramonto (The Sunset) in the summer of 1914, and dedicated it to his friend the singer Chiarina Fino Savio, who gave the first performance in Rome in May 1915. The piece is a poemetto lirico, or ‘little lyric poem’, for voice and string quartet or, as tonight, string orchestra. The text is a poem by Shelley, written in 1816 (before his Italian sojourn), and translated into Italian by Roberto Ascoli. It describes a moment of ecstasy shared by a young couple at sunset, after which the man dies, leaving

the woman to a long, lonely, grief-stricken existence. Respighi’s vocal line begins as recitative, with a hint of Puccini, but soon opens out to include more expansively lyrical writing. The strings support the voice with expressive melodic lines, often in twining triplets, over a firm harmonic foundation. The setting mirrors the outline of the poem with changes of tempo and texture: luxuriant in the earlier stages, then emptier, and smooth and subdued in the woman’s final prayer for peace.

Il Tramonto

The Sunset

Già v’ebbe un uomo, nel cui tenue spirto (qual luce e vento in delicata nube che ardente ciel di mezzo-giorno stempri) la morte e il genio contendeano. Oh! quanta tenera gioia, che gli fè il respiro venir meno (così dell’aura estiva l’ansia talvolta) quando la sua dama, che allor solo conobbe l’abbandono pieno e il concorde palpitar di due creature che s’amano, egli addusse pei sentieri d’un campo, ad oriente da una foresta biancheggiante ombrato ed a ponente discoverto al cielo! Ora è sommerso il sole; ma linee d’oro pendon sovra le cineree nubi, sul verde piano sui tremanti fiori sui grigi globi dell’ antico smirnio, e i neri boschi avvolgono, del vespro mescolandosi alle ombre. Lenta sorge ad oriente l’infocata luna tra i folti rami delle piante cupe: brillan sul capo languide le stelle. E il giovine sussura:

There late was One within whose subtle being, As light and wind within some delicate cloud That fades amid the blue noon’s burning sky, Genius and death contended. None may know The sweetness of the joy which made his breath Fail, like the trances of the summer air, When, with the Lady of his love, who then First knew the unreserve of mingled being, He walked along the pathway of a field Which to the east a hoar wood shadowed o’er, But to the west was open to the sky. There now the sun had sunk, but lines of gold Hung on the ashen clouds, and on the points Of the far level grass and nodding flowers And the old dandelion’s hoary beard, And, mingled with the shades of twilight, lay On the brown massy woods – and in the east The broad and burning moon lingeringly rose Between the black trunks of the crowded trees, While the faint stars were gathering overhead. ‘Is it not strange, Isabel,’ said the youth, Please turn the page quietly London Philharmonic Orchestra | 11

Respighi: Il Tramonto (The Sunset) continued

«Non è strano? Io mai non vidi il sorgere del sole, o Isabella. Domani a contemplarlo verremo insieme.»

‘I never saw the sun? We will walk here To-morrow; thou shalt look on it with me.’

Il giovin e la dama giacquer tra il sonno e il dolce amor congiunti ne la notte: al mattin gelido e morto ella trovò l’amante. Oh! nessun creda che, vibrando tal colpo, fu il Signore misericorde. Non morì la dama, né folle diventò: anno per anno visse ancora. Ma io penso che la queta sua pazienza, e i trepidi sorrisi, e il non morir ... ma vivere a custodia del vecchio padre (se è follia dal mondo dissimigliare) fossero follia. Era, null’altro che a vederla, come leggere un canto da ingegnoso bardo intessuto a piegar gelidi cuori in un dolor pensoso. Neri gli occhi ma non fulgidi più; consunte quasi le ciglia dalle lagrime; le labbra e le gote parevan cose morte tanto eran bianche; ed esili le mani e per le erranti vene e le giunture rossa del giorno trasparia la luce. La nuda tomba, che il tuo fral racchiude, cui notte e giorno un’ombra tormentata abita, è quanto di te resta, o cara creatura perduta!

That night the youth and lady mingled lay In love and sleep – but when the morning came The lady found her lover dead and cold. Let none believe that God in mercy gave That stroke. The lady died not, nor grew wild, But year by year lived on – in truth I think Her gentleness and patience and sad smiles, And that she did not die, but lived to tend Her aged father, were a kind of madness, If madness ‘tis to be unlike the world. For but to see her were to read the tale Woven by some subtlest bard, to make hard hearts Dissolve away in wisdom-working grief; Her eyes were black and lustreless and wan: Her eyelashes were worn away with tears, Her lips and cheeks were like things dead – so pale;

«Ho tal retaggio, che la terra non dà: calma e silenzio, senza peccato e senza passione. Sia che i morti ritrovino (non mai il sonno!) ma il riposo, imperturbati quali appaion, o vivano, o d’amore nel mar profondo scendano; oh! che il mio epitaffio, che il tuo sia: Pace!» Questo dalle sue labbra l’unico lamento.

‘Inheritor of more than earth can give, Passionless calm and silence unreproved, Where the dead find, oh, not sleep! but rest, And are the uncomplaining things they seem, Or live, a drop in the deep sea of Love; Oh, that like thine, mine epitaph were – Peace!’ This was the only moan she ever made.

Italian translation by Roberto Ascoli

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)

12 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Her hands were thin, and through their wandering veins And weak articulations might be seen Day’s ruddy light. The tomb of thy dead self Which one vexed ghost inhabits, night and day, Is all, lost child, that now remains of thee!

Programme notes

Maurice Ravel

Piano PavaneConcerto pour uneNo. infante 3 in Ddéfunte minor, Op. 30 Simon Trpčeski piano 1 Allegro ma non tanto 2 Intermezzo: Adagio – 3 Finale: Alla breve

1875–1937

Like several of Ravel’s best-known works, the Pavane pour une infante défunte was written for piano, and only later orchestrated. In its original form it dates from 1899, when Ravel was still studying with Gabriel Fauré at the Paris Conservatoire. It was taken up by a publisher the following year, but it did not receive a public performance until 1902, when it was played by the Spanish pianist Ricardo Viñes in Paris. The orchestral version, modestly scored for seven woodwind, two horns, harp and strings, followed in 1910, and soon became an enormous success. This was a matter of some embarrassment to Ravel, as he was always quick to acknowledge what he saw as the work’s youthful faults, including its indebtedness to the keyboard style of Chabrier – and, he might have added, to the Pavane by Fauré.

The pavane was a Renaissance dance in slow duple time, frequently associated with melancholy in general (as in Dowland’s Lachrimae sequence) or specifically written as an elegy (like Byrd’s Pavane for the Earl of Salisbury). Ravel, who said that he chose the title for its beauty of sound, described his piece as ‘an evocation of a pavane that a little princess might, in former times, have danced at the Spanish court’. At the outset, the solo horn’s grave, winding melody is accompanied by pizzicato muted strings suggesting a guitar or lute; and pizzicato cellos and harp play a similar role when the melody makes its final return.

‘Commonly considered the most purely French of composers, Ravel was in fact something of a cultural mutt, part Basque and part Swiss. Although he was taken to Paris when he was four months old, his Basque origins held sway over his imagination, the connection maintained in the songs his mother sang for him. Manuel de Falla judged Ravel’s Spanish-themed works ‘subtly authentic’, which is a good general description of the composer’s music as a whole. Ravel’s father was a Swiss engineer who helped to pioneer, in unsung ways, the automobile; the Ravel prototype of a gas-powered car perished during the German bombardment of Paris in the Franco-Prussian War. In a sense, Ravel’s music split the difference between his parents’ worlds – his mother’s memories of a folkish past, his father’s dreams of a mechanised future.’ Alex Ross, The Rest Is Noise (Fourth Estate)

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 13

Programme notes

Maurice Ravel

Piano Rapsodie Concerto espagnole No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 Simon 1 Prélude Trpčeski à la piano nuit: Très modéré – 2 Malagueña: Assez vif – Assez lent – 1er Mouvt 1 3 Allegro Habanera: ma non Assez tanto lent et d’un rythme las 2 4 Intermezzo: Feria: Assez Adagio animé– 3 Finale: Alla breve

1875–1937

Ravel’s Rapsodie espagnole (Spanish Rhapsody), his first major work for orchestra but already showing his mastery of orchestral colour and sonority, was composed in 1907 and ‘08, and first performed in Paris in March 1908. It is one of many pieces in his output, including the opera L’heure espagnole on which he was working around the same time, to reflect his interest in Spain and its music. This was something that won the respect of his Spanish colleague Manuel de Falla, who wrote of Ravel’s ‘subtly authentic Spanishness’: Falla attributed this to the influence of Ravel’s mother, who was from the Basque country on the French side of the border, but who spoke fluent Spanish and had spent her youth in Madrid. The piece is unusual among rhapsodies in being in four distinct movements, though three of them are linked by a recurring motto theme. This theme, the descending four-note scale F–E–D–C sharp, runs obsessively across the bar-lines through the atmospheric ‘Prelude to the night’, pausing only for double-stranded cadenzas

by clarinets and bassoons. The Prelude leads directly into the ‘Malagueña’, a dance in a fast triple time, but including towards the end a slower interlude, which begins with a cor anglais solo ‘en Récit’ (in free time) and reintroduces the motto. The third movement is a ‘Habanera’, marked ‘very slow and with weary rhythm’, which Ravel arranged from a two-piano piece he had written as early as 1895 (he had this date printed in the score, to make it clear that any similarity to Debussy’s 1903 piano piece La soirée dans Grenade was the result of Debussy’s plagiarism and not his). The finale, with a title meaning ‘holiday’ or ‘carnival’, is a lively jota, a dance in 6/8 time; there is a slower central section, again with a cor anglais solo and again reintroducing the obsessive motto, before the dance resumes its progress towards a convulsive conclusion. Programme notes by Anthony Burton © 2013

‘It’s been tremendously exciting to look on as the works I discuss in The Rest Is Noise have come together in Southbank Centre’s festival. Twentieth-century classical music is an extraordinary creative achievement that has shaped so many aspects of what we hear now, classical or not. There will always be something smouldering at the heart of this repertoire, something dangerous and untamed, but placing the music in a broad cultural and historical context should help people to become more comfortable with it and to understand how it came to be.’ Alex Ross, author, The Rest Is Noise southbankcentre.co.uk/therestisnoise

14 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

We would like to acknowledge the generous support of the following Thomas Beecham Group Patrons, Principal Benefactors and Benefactors: Thomas Beecham Group The Tsukanov Family Foundation Anonymous The Sharp Family Julian & Gill Simmonds Garf & Gill Collins Andrew Davenport Mrs Sonja Drexler David & Victoria Graham Fuller Moya Greene John & Angela Kessler Mr & Mrs Makharinsky Geoff & Meg Mann Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp Eric Tomsett Guy & Utti Whittaker Manon Williams Principal Benefactors Mark & Elizabeth Adams Jane Attias Lady Jane Berrill Desmond & Ruth Cecil Mr John H Cook Mr Charles Dumas

David Ellen Commander Vincent Evans Mr Daniel Goldstein Mr & Mrs Jeffrey Herrmann Peter MacDonald Eggers Mr & Mrs David Malpas 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 Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood Lady Marina Vaizey Howard & Sheelagh Watson Mr Anthony Yolland Benefactors Mrs A Beare Dr & Mrs Alan Carrington CBE FRS Mr & Mrs Stewart Cohen Mr Alistair Corbett Mr David Dennis Mr David Edgecombe Mr Richard Fernyhough Ken Follett Michael & Christine Henry

Ivan Hurry Mr Glenn Hurstfield Mr R K Jeha Mr Gerald Levin Sheila Ashley Lewis Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Mr Frank Lim Paul & Brigitta Lock Mr Brian Marsh Andrew T Mills John Montgomery Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill Edmund Pirouet Professor John Studd Mr Peter Tausig Mrs Kazue Turner Mr Laurie Watt Des & Maggie Whitelock Christopher Williams Bill Yoe Hon. Benefactor Elliott Bernerd Hon. Life Members Kenneth Goode Pehr G Gyllenhammar Edmund Pirouet Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE

The generosity of our Sponsors, Corporate Members, supporters and donors is gratefully acknowledged: Corporate Members Silver: AREVA UK British American Business Destination Québec – UK Hermes Fund Managers Pritchard Englefield Bronze: Lisa Bolgar Smith and Felix Appelbe of Ambrose Appelbe Appleyard & Trew LLP Berkeley Law Charles Russell Lazard Leventis Overseas Corporate Donor Lombard Street Research Preferred Partners Corinthia Hotel London Heineken Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd Villa Maria

In-kind Sponsors Google Inc Sela / Tilley’s Sweets Trusts and Foundations BBC Performing Arts Fund The Boltini Trust Sir William Boreman’s Foundation The Boshier-Hinton Foundation Britten-Pears Foundation The Candide Trust The Coutts Charitable Trust Diaphonique, Franco-British fund for contemporary music Dunard Fund Embassy of Spain, Office for Cultural and Scientific Affairs The Equitable Charitable Trust Fidelio Charitable Trust The Foyle Foundation J Paul Getty Junior Charitable Trust The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust Capital Radio’s Help a London Child The Hobson Charity The Kirby Laing Foundation

The Idlewild Trust The Leverhulme Trust Marsh Christian Trust Adam Mickiewicz Institute The Peter Minet Trust Paul Morgan Charitable Trust The Diana and Allan Morgenthau Charitable Trust Maxwell Morrison Charitable Trust Musicians Benevolent Fund Newcomen Collett Foundation The Austin & Hope Pilkington Trust Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation The Rothschild Foundation The Samuel Sebba Charitable Trust The Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation John Thaw Foundation The Tillett Trust The Underwood Trust Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement Kurt Weill Foundation for Music Garfield Weston Foundation and others who wish to remain anonymous

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 15

Administration

Board of Directors

General Administration

Orchestra Personnel