London Philharmonic Orchestra 12 February 2016 concert programme

A festival of concerts, talks and exploratory events celebrating the musical legacy of the world’s greatest playwright

Concert programme 2015/16 London Season lpo.org.uk

Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor VLADIMIR JUROWSKI supported by the Tsukanov Family Foundation Principal Guest Conductor ANDRÉS OROZCO-ESTRADA Leader pieter schoeman supported by Neil Westreich Composer in Residence magnus lindberg Patron HRH THE DUKE OF KENT KG Chief Executive and Artistic Director TIMOTHY WALKER AM

JTi Friday Series Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall Friday 12 February 2016 | 7.30pm

Nicolai Overture, The Merry Wives of Windsor (8’) Korngold Violin Concerto in D, Op. 35 (25’) Interval Elgar Symphony No. 1 in A flat major, Op. 55 (52’)

Osmo Vänskä conductor Hyeyoon Park violin

Free pre-concert event 6.00–6.45pm | Royal Festival Hall Oliver Urquhart Irvine, Royal Librarian, talks about Shakespeare in the Royal Collections at Windsor, while Sonia Massai, Professor of English, King’s College London, looks at global adaptations of The Merry Wives of Windsor.

CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Contents 2 Welcome

LPO 2016/17 season 3 Shakespeare400 4 About the Orchestra 6 On stage tonight 7 Osmo Vänskä 8 Hyeyoon Park 9 Programme notes 12 Recordings & video 13 Next concerts 14 Sound Futures donors 15 Supporters 16 LPO administration The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide.

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, Feng Sushi and Topolski, as well as cafes, restaurants and shops inside Royal Festival Hall.

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.

LPO 2016/17 season

LPO 2016/17 season now on sale!

Next season's LPO concerts at Royal Festival Hall are now open for booking. After the huge success of The Rest Is Noise festival in 2013, we are excited to be collaborating once again with the Southbank Centre on another large-scale multi-artform festival.

Belief and Beyond Belief will interest secular audiences and those of all faiths. We have devoted our 2017 concerts to the festival, beginning with Beethoven's profound statement on the human condition, Fidelio.

Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor Vladimir Jurowski takes a major role throughout as we explore belief as revealed in works ranging from Haydn's The Creation to John Adams's Harmonielehre.

Other season highlights include:

• •

Anne-Sophie Mutter playing Beethoven's Violin Concerto The return of Osmo Vänskä to conduct a Sibelius symphony cycle alongside major British works by Britten, Elgar, Walton and Vaughan Williams

Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Hayward Gallery are closed for essential refurbishment until 2018. During this period, our resident orchestras are performing in venues including St John's Smith Square. Find out more at southbankcentre.co.uk/sjss

•

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.

Browse the new season brochure online at lpo.org.uk/newseason or call us on 020 7840 4200 to request a copy in the post.

MOBILES, PAGERS AND WATCHES should be switched off before the performance begins.

2 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

•

Jurowski's continuation of his Mahler and Bruckner symphony cycles Mahler's epic Symphony No. 8 (Symphony of a Thousand), preceded by Tallis's 40-part motet Spem in Alium Landmark works by Steve Reich and Gavin Bryars The world premiere of the American jazz composer Wayne Shorter's Clarinet Concerto.

Cabaret diva Meow Meow with members of the cross-genre band Pink Martini

lpo.org.uk/shakespeare

Concerts at Royal Festival Hall

In collaboration with some of London’s leading cultural, creative and educational institutions, the London Philharmonic Orchestra joins Shakespeare400 with a celebration of the Bard’s love of music, and his influence on it. Join the LPO at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall this year for a celebration of creativity and collaboration, and dive into a musical world born of the words of the legendary William Shakespeare.

Wednesday 3 February 2016 | 7.30pm Dvořák | Othello Wednesday 10 February 2016 | 7.30pm Sibelius | The Tempest

Friday 12 February 2016 | 7.30pm | JTI Friday Series Nicolai | The Merry Wives of Windsor Friday 26 February 2016 | 7.30pm | JTI Friday Series R Strauss | Macbeth Mendelssohn | A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Pre-concert talks

For four and a half centuries, the most admired playwright and poet in history has inspired music both intimate and grand, devastating and uplifting.

Shakespeare’s body of plays and poems has exercised more influence over composers and musicians than anything else in literature bar the Bible, and continues to inspire across the generations of today.

Special performances

Welcome to our Shakespeare400 series, part of a UKwide festival of concerts, talks and exploratory events celebrating the musical legacy of the world’s greatest playwright, William Shakespeare.

Friday 15 April 2016 | 7.30pm | JTI Friday Series Prokofiev | Romeo and Juliet Saturday 23 April 2016 | 7.30pm Anniversary Gala Concert featuring very special guests Sunday 5 June 2016 | 12 noon FUNharmonics Family Concert | Bottom’s Dream Wednesday 3 February 2016 | 6.00pm Adapting Othello Wednesday 10 February 2016 | 6.00pm Late works of Shakespeare and others Friday 12 February 2016 | 6.00pm Shakespeare’s Windsor Friday 26 February 2016 | 6.00pm The Macbeths Friday 15 April 2016 | 6.00pm Think you know Romeo & Juliet?

Wednesday 27 January 2016 | 6.00pm Hamlet in Russia: Shostakovich’s Hamlet Wednesday 10 February 2016 | 5.00pm New Horizons: Inspired by Shakespeare Saturday 5 March 2016 | 6.00pm Foyle Future Firsts: Ophelia Dances Saturday 9 April 2016 | 6.00pm LPO Soundworks & Quicksilver: Inspired by Shakespeare Saturday 30 April 2016 | post-concert RCM Big Band: Such Sweet Thunder

London Philharmonic Orchestra

‘It was one of those unforgettable evenings where everything and everyone performed beautifully [with] an extraordinary performance by the London Philharmonic ... The ovation should have been standing.’

Andrew Collins, The News, March 2015 Recognised today as one of the finest orchestras on the international stage, the London Philharmonic Orchestra balances a long and distinguished history with a reputation as one of the UK’s most forwardlooking ensembles. As well as its performances in the concert hall, the Orchestra also records film and video game soundtracks, releases CDs on its own record label, and reaches thousands of people every year through activities for families, schools and community groups.

The Orchestra was founded by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1932. It has since been headed by many of the world’s greatest conductors including Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur.

Vladimir Jurowski is currently the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor, appointed in 2007.

Andrés Orozco-Estrada took up the position of Principal Guest Conductor in September 2015. Magnus Lindberg is the Orchestra’s current Composer in Residence.

The Orchestra is resident at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London, where it gives over 30 concerts each season. Throughout 2014/15 the Orchestra gave a series of concerts entitled Rachmaninoff: Inside Out, a festival exploring the composer’s major

4 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

orchestral masterpieces. 2015/16 is a strong season for singers, with performances by Toby Spence and Anne Sofie von Otter amongst others; Sibelius enjoys 150th anniversary celebrations; distinguished visiting conductors include Stanisław Skrowaczewski, JukkaPekka Saraste and Vasily Petrenko, with Robin Ticciati returning after his debut in 2015; and in 2016 the LPO joins many of London’s other leading cultural institutions in Shakespeare400, celebrating the Bard’s legacy 400 years since his death. The Orchestra continues its commitment to new music with premieres of commissions including Magnus Lindberg’s Second Violin Concerto and Alexander Raskatov’s Green Mass.

Outside London, the Orchestra has flourishing residencies in Brighton and Eastbourne, and performs regularly around the UK. Each summer the Orchestra takes up its annual residency at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in the Sussex countryside, where it has been Resident Symphony Orchestra for over 50 years. The Orchestra also tours internationally, performing to sell-out audiences worldwide. In 1956 it became the first British orchestra to appear in Soviet Russia and in 1973 made the first ever visit to China by a Western orchestra. Touring remains a large part of

Saturday 23 April 2016 | 7.30pm Royal Festival Hall the Orchestra’s life: highlights of the 2015/16 season include visits to Mexico City as part of the UK Mexico Year of Culture, Spain, Germany, the Canary Islands, Belgium, a return to the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam and the Orchestra’s premiere at La Scala, Milan.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra has recorded the soundtracks to numerous blockbuster films, from The Lord of the Rings trilogy to Lawrence of Arabia, East is East, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Thor: The Dark World. It also broadcasts regularly on television and radio, and in 2005 established its own record label.

There are now over 90 releases available on CD and to download. Recent additions include Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 3 and 10 Songs under Vladimir Jurowski, and archive recordings of Mahler Symphonies and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 conducted by Klaus Tennstedt.

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. In 2013 it was the winner of the RPS Music Award for Ensemble.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra is committed to inspiring the next generation of musicians through an energetic programme of activities for young people.

Highlights include the BrightSparks schools’ concerts and FUNharmonics family concerts; the Young Composers Programme; and the Foyle Future Firsts orchestral training programme for outstanding young players. Its work at the forefront of digital engagement and social media has 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 and regular podcast series, the Orchestra has a lively presence on Facebook and Twitter. lpo.org.uk facebook.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra

Shakespeare400: Anniversary Gala Concert A special gala event celebrating the greatest playwright that ever lived Scenes from: Verdi Otello Tchaikovsky Hamlet Vaughan Williams Serenade to Music Britten A Midsummer Night’s Dream Mendelssohn A Midsummer Night’s Dream Berlioz Roméo et Juliette Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet Thomas Adès The Tempest Walton Henry V Verdi Falstaff Vladimir Jurowski conductor Simon Callow director London Philharmonic Orchestra The Glyndebourne Chorus Soloists including: Kate Royal soprano Allison Bell soprano Dame Felicity Palmer mezzo soprano Rachael Lloyd mezzo soprano Iestyn Davies countertenor Toby Spence tenor Ronald Samm tenor Alasdair Elliott tenor Andrew Shore baritone Simon Keenlyside baritone Lukas Jakobski bass Tickets £12–£48 (premium seats £75) London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office: 020 7840 4242 Monday–Friday 10.00am–5.00pm lpo.org.uk Transaction fees: £1.75 online, £2.75 telephone

twitter.com/LPOrchestra youtube.com/londonphilharmonic7 instagram.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra

Concert generously supported by Victoria Robey OBE and members of the Shakespeare400 Syndicate

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 5

On stage tonight First Violins Yang Xu Guest Leader Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader Ilyoung Chae Chair supported by an anonymous donor

Ji-Hyun Lee Chair supported by Eric Tomsett

Catherine Craig Thomas Eisner Martin Höhmann Chair supported by The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust

Geoffrey Lynn Chair supported by Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp

Robert Pool Sarah Streatfeild Yang Zhang Tina Gruenberg Grace Lee Rebecca Shorrock Amanda Smith Galina Tanney Second Violins Andrew Storey Principal Nancy Elan Lorenzo Gentili-Tedeschi Fiona Higham Joseph Maher Marie-Anne Mairesse Helena Nicholls Harry Kerr Mila Mustakova Emma Wragg Elizabeth Baldey Stephen Stewart Nilufar Alimaksumova John Dickinson

Violas Cyrille Mercier Principal Robert Duncan Gregory Aronovich Katharine Leek Susanne Martens Benedetto Pollani Emmanuella Reiter Laura Vallejo Naomi Holt Alistair Scahill Daniel Cornford Stanislav Popov Cellos Pei-Jee Ng Principal Laura Donoghue David Lale Elisabeth Wiklander Chair supported by The Viney Family

Sue Sutherley Susanna Riddell Tom Roff Helen Rathbone Michael Wigram Emily Isaac Double Basses Kevin Rundell* Principal George Peniston Laurence Lovelle Tom Walley Lowri Morgan Helen Rowlands Charlotte Kerbegian Laura Murphy

Flutes Joshua Batty Guest Principal Clare Childs Stewart McIlwham* Piccolo Stewart McIlwham* Principal Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra

Trumpets Paul Beniston* Principal Anne McAneney* Chair supported by Geoff & Meg Mann

Nicholas Betts Co-Principal Trombones Mark Templeton* Principal Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton

David Whitehouse

Oboes Ian Hardwick* Principal Alice Munday

Bass Trombone Sam Freeman

Cor Anglais Sue Böhling* Principal

Tuba David Kendall

Clarinets Robert Hill* Principal Thomas Watmough

Timpani Simon Carrington* Principal

Bass Clarinet Paul Richards Principal Bassoons Gareth Newman Principal Emma Harding Contrabassoon Simon Estell Principal Horns David Pyatt* Principal Chair supported by Simon Robey

John Ryan* Principal Chair supported by Laurence Watt

Martin Hobbs Mark Vines Co-Principal Gareth Mollison

Percussion Andrew Barclay* Principal Chair supported by Andrew Davenport

Henry Baldwin Co-Principal Chair supported by Jon Claydon

Keith Millar Harps Rachel Masters* Principal Lucy Haslar Celeste Ian Tindale * Holds a professorial appointment in London Meet our members: lpo.org.uk/players

Chair Supporters The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert: Sonja Drexler • David & Victoria Graham Fuller • Victoria Robey OBE • Bianca and Stuart Roden • Neil Westreich

6 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Osmo Vänskä conductor

Vänskä is one of the greatest living Sibelius conductors.

© Kaapo Kamu

Paul Gent, The Telegraph, April 2013

Music Director of the Minnesota Orchestra for over a decade, Osmo Vänskä is recognised for his compelling interpretations of repertoire from all ages, passionately conveying the authentic message of the composer’s score.

Recent and forthcoming performances include Vänskä’s returns to the Chicago and San Francisco symphony orchestras, The Cleveland Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. He regularly conducts the London Philharmonic and London Symphony orchestras, the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Vienna Symphony and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and has developed strong relationships with the Helsinki Philharmonic, the New World Symphony and the Mostly Mozart Festival, New York.

Last season he led the Minnesota Orchestra in a historic first visit by a major US orchestra to Cuba since the normalisation of relations between the two governments. He also became Principal Guest Conductor of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, having previously held the position of Music Director. As one of the most renowned interpreters of Sibelius’s music, he contributed to the composer’s 150th anniversary celebrations at the BBC Proms and with the São Paulo, Lahti and Yomiuri Nippon symphony orchestras.

Vänskä is a distinguished recording artist, primarily for the BIS label. In 2014 his album with the Minnesota Orchestra of Sibelius’s Symphonies Nos. 1 and 4 won a Grammy award for Best Orchestral Performance, following the nomination of Symphonies Nos. 2 and 5 the year before. In 2008 the London Philharmonic

Orchestra released on its own label Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 3 and Bax’s Tintagel (LPO-0036, below).

Formerly Music Director of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Chief Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Vänskä studied conducting at Finland’s Sibelius Academy and was awarded first prize in the 1982 Besançon Competition. He began his career as a clarinettist, occupying the co-principal chair of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, and in recent years has enjoyed a return to the clarinet, including on a 2012 recording of Kalevi Aho’s chamber works.

Vänskä is the recipient of a Royal Philharmonic Society Award, the Finlandia Foundation’s Arts and Letters award, and the 2010 Ditson Award from Columbia University. He holds honorary doctorates from the universities of Glasgow and Minnesota and was named Musical America’s 2005 Conductor of the Year. In 2013 he received the Annual Award from the German Record Critics' Award Association for his involvement in BIS’s recordings of the complete works by Sibelius.

Vänskä conducts on the LPO Label Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 3 Bax Tintagel Osmo Vänskä conductor London Philharmonic Orchestra LPO-0036 | £9.99 Available from lpo.org.uk/recordings, the LPO Ticket Office (020 7840 4242), the Royal Festival Hall shop and all good CD outlets.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 7

Hyeyoon Park violin

You have winners, and you have future stars. Hyeyoon Park is among the latter.

© Benjamin Ealovega

Markus Thiel, Münchner Merkur (2009 ARD International Music Competition, Munich)

Hyeyoon Park has emerged as one of the most promising violinists of her generation. In 2012 she received the London Music Masters Award, which brought her to prominent venues in the UK. Hyeyoon is passionate about music education and this award has also provided her with a platform to bring her music and performance into London schools, many in underprivileged areas. She was previously awarded the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award in 2011 and she was the youngest ever First Prize winner of the ARD International Music Competition in Munich.

Hyeyoon Park made her orchestra debut at the age of nine with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. Since then she has performed with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, German Symphony Orchestra Berlin, hr-Symphony Orchestra Frankfurt, NDR Symphony Orchestra Hamburg, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Tokyo and Hong Kong Sinfonietta.

Tonight's concert with the London Philharmonic Orchestra marks Hyeyoon Park's London concerto debut. Other highlights this season include a return to Sweden for her debuts with both the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Eugene Tzigane and the Umeå Symphony Orchestra under Dalia Stasevka. Last season Hyeyoon performed on tour with the Baltic Youth Orchestra under Kristjan Järvi and the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie under Michael Francis, and made a successful UK debut with the Royal Northern Sinfonia at Sage Gateshead. This summer she will direct an ensemble of conservatoire students in performances at the Hindsgavl and Tivoli festivals in Denmark.

8 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Hyeyoon appears regularly as a recitalist and chamber musician, including a highly successful debut at the 2015 Newbury Spring Festival with pianist Huw Watkins, performing the world premiere of a work

by Mark Bowden. She also performs in duo with Benjamin Grosvenor, this season returning to the Newbury Festival and to St Denis, Paris, Dundee, York and Harrogate. She has also appeared at Wigmore Hall, Schleswig-Holstein, Rheingau, Festspiele MecklenburgVorpommern, Musical Olympus and Les Violons de la Paix. She has collaborated with Gidon Kremer, Andras Schiff, Yuri Bashmet, Lars Vogt, Daniel Hope, Alban Gerhardt, Antje Weithaas, Jan Vogler and Florian Uhlig.

Born in 1992 in Seoul, Hyeyoon Park studied at the junior colleges of the Korean National University of Arts and at the University of Cincinnati with teacher Piotr Milewski. Since 2006 she has studied with Antje Weithaas at the Hochschule für Musik 'Hanns Eisler' in Berlin, and she has been a Young Soloist at the Kronberg Academy with Christian Tetzlaff since 2012. These studies are funded by the Nikolas Gruber Stipendium.

Hyeyoon Park has also participated in and performed at the Marlboro Festival, USA, at the invitation of Mitsuko Uchida.

Hyeyoon Park plays a violin by the German violinmaker Stefan Peter Greiner. twitter.com/hyeyoon_park

Programme notes

Speedread ‘Gentlemen, let us now rehearse the greatest symphony of modern times, and not only in this country.’ Conductor Hans Richter, preparing for the London premiere of Elgar’s First Symphony, surely articulated not only the intense public interest in the arrival of a symphony from a composer whose reputation was then riding high, it also raised the idea that this robust and powerful work could be a new dawn for the British symphony. As one of the last of the great Romantics, Erich Wolfgang Korngold could have been made for Hollywood, where his

Otto Nicolai

music adorned some of the most popular action films of the 1930s. Yet he never stopped writing for a more traditional audience, and his most popular concert work is his Violin Concerto, many of whose irresistible themes are borrowed from film scores, skilfully reworked into a feast of opulent lyricism.

The overture to Otto Nicolai’s comic opera The Merry Wives of Windsor, composed 40 years before Verdi tackled the same story in his Falstaff, continues the LPO’s contribution to this year’s Shakespeare400 celebrations.

Overture, The Merry Wives of Windsor

1810–49

Otto Nicolai is not a well-known name today and he only lived a short life, but he still made his mark on German music. Born in Königsberg, he studied for a career as a church musician and spent three years as organist at the chapel of the German Embassy in Rome before the opera bug bit him at the age of 26. His first four operas were for Italian houses, but it was as a conductor that he was subsequently engaged by the Vienna Court Opera, where he presented Beethoven’s Fidelio and also established an important series of Beethoven symphony performances that eventually became the Philharmonic Concerts, precursor to the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. His reputation as a conductor and orchestra trainer continued to grow, and in 1848 he moved to Berlin to take charge of both the cathedral choir and the opera. He died of a stroke, however, the following year.

Nicolai was a man of intellect who often found it difficult to make up his mind about a libretto, and it was after much searching through high-class literary sources that he eventually picked Shakespeare’s comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor, with the fat boaster Sir John Falstaff as its central character, to be the subject of his one and only German-language opera. First produced in Berlin in March 1849, only months before his death, Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor mixed the lightness of touch and feeling for melody he had learned in Italy with a richness of harmony and scoring rooted in his German background, and was an immediate success; within a decade performances had followed in a number of European cities, and it is still performed in opera houses today. The lively and assured overture, largely based on themes from the drama itself, has also gained a concert life of its own.

Programme note and Speedread © Lindsay Kemp

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 9

Programme notes

Erich Wolfgang Korngold 1897–1957

The Jewish-born Korngold enjoyed a successful career in Central Europe before the rise of the Nazis and their branding of his work as ‘Entartete’ (degenerate). Of all the composers to have had their European careers destroyed by Joseph Goebbels’ cultural programme, Korngold is the one to have established himself most successfully elsewhere, becoming the leading musical light of Hollywood. After the war, however, Korngold resumed his ‘art music’ career, but despite his mimicry of the sound world of his pre-war music he never again enjoyed the success of that bygone era.

The 1945 Violin Concerto is an unabashed essay in postromanticism, littered with quotations from Korngold’s movie scores. The yearning theme that opens the concerto (based on a theme from the 1937 score for Another Dawn, though also reminiscent of the theme that opens Bartók’s Second Violin Concerto) sets the nostalgic tone for the whole work. A more virtuosic section, with leaping semiquavers, accompanied by the woodwind, prepares the way for a second equally melancholic theme (itself taken from the 1939 film score Juarez). The thematic areas are combined in a dialogue between soloist and orchestra, as the music explores a variety of tonal areas before an exuberant cadenza. This in turn prepares the recapitulation of the two main themes (now led by the orchestra, with virtuosic interjections from the violin).

Violin Concerto in D, Op. 35 Hyeyoon Park violin 1 Moderato nobile 2 Romance: Andante 3 Finale: Allegro assai vivace

The second movement is in tertiary form with the outer sections, led first by a solo clarinet and then by the violin, based on a theme from Anthony Adverse (1936).

The hesitant orchestral accompaniment is rich with the colour of string harmonics, percussion, celeste and harp.

The central section is more mysterious, with bitonal harmonies undermining the overall air of romance, but any sense of disturbance is short-lived and the music returns rhapsodically to the safe confines of the lyrical first theme, with a coda recalling the bittersweet shimmer of the ‘Silver Rose’ music from Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier.

The third movement is not so civilised in its frames of reference and the boisterous jig is Rodeo-like in character, perhaps reflecting both the European and American periods in Korngold’s career. Although both the soloist and orchestra hurtle through various harmonic centres, the music is defiantly diatonic. The second thematic area (itself based on a theme from Korngold’s 1937 score for The Prince and the Pauper) is only a brief haven of calm before the soloist strides off into increasingly wild double-stopped variations with virtuoso orchestral accompaniment. The orchestra takes over in a magisterial fashion – sounding every bit the echo of Hollywood grandeur – before the violinist catches its breath and the jig returns for a final hoedown.

Programme note © Gavin Plumley

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

10 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Edward Elgar 1857–1934

The first performance of Elgar’s Enigma Variations in June 1899 was the great turning point in his career.

Elgar was now the ‘coming man’ of British music. But its success brought a huge burden of responsibility. Here surely was the composer who would give the world the first great British symphony, and thus end German domination in the field of symphonic music.

Elgar’s confidence was shaky enough at the best of times and, faced with such expectations, he prevaricated. It wasn’t until the summer of 1907, just after his 50th birthday, that Elgar at last felt ready to put his ideas into coherent order. The premiere of the newly completed Symphony No. 1 in December 1908 was an even more dazzling success than that of the Enigma Variations.

The conductor Hans Richter called it ‘the greatest symphony of modern times’. By the end of the following year it had notched up nearly a hundred performances.

Naturally people wanted to know what the Symphony was ‘about’. Elgar replied that there was ‘no programme beyond a wide experience of human life with great charity (love) and a massive hope in the future’ – a rousing symphonic hymn, it would appear, to what Elgar was later to call the ‘glad confident morning’ of the Edwardian age. But the way the Symphony develops invites more complex interpretations. It begins and ends with a magnificent nobilmente theme, a splendid processional tune that easily suggests ‘great charity’ and ‘massive hope’. But the beginning of the Allegro plunges us directly into a world of turbulence, passion, conflict.

If the nobilmente theme represents Elgar’s ‘public face’ – confident and aspiring – this Allegro music reveals a more restless, searching, passionate nature: the Elgar known only to his closest friends.

Symphony No. 1 in A flat major, Op. 55 1 Andante. Nobilmente e semplice – Allegro 2 Allegro molto – 3 Adagio 4 Lento – Allegro

theme; and after further battles it returns gloriously in A-flat major, asserting itself through a rich counterpoint of motifs from the Allegro. And yet the ending of the movement is uncertain, still unstable – the full return of ‘massive hope’ is still a long way off.

Nervous, edgy string figures begin the Allegro molto second movement, building to a grim, swaggering marching tune. This is contrasted with calmer, sweeter music from liquid flutes and harp: for Elgar this was ‘like something heard down by the river’. The march returns but eventually the fury subsides; then comes a superbly engineered transformation. As the momentum ebbs, the rushing violin figure heard at the start of the movement slows down and stabilises into a rapt, slow melody – the Adagio has begun. This too is intensely noble music, though here one may also detect a note of yearning: if this is music of ‘love’ then it is almost certainly of the more earthly, human kind. Towards the end of this movement Elgar subtly recalls the first movement’s nobilmente theme on hushed strings, alternating magically with triplet figures on muted brass and timpani. ‘Massive hope’ is remembered, yet it feels worlds away.

The finale begins with sombre, mysterious, fragmentary sounds passed between the various sections of the orchestra. Suddenly the Allegro bursts into action, the surging energy sustained until almost the end of the movement. Eventually the nobilmente theme returns in triumph on trumpets, through flurries and surges of strings and woodwind. Nobility, glad confidence and charity have the last word, but whether this represents an out-and-out triumph is left for the listener to decide.

Programme note © Stephen Johnson

The first movement is the longest of the four. After the Allegro has wrenched us away from the initial ‘glad confidence’, we do hear memories of the nobilmente

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 11

Recordings & video

Recommended recordings of tonight’s works

Mini film guides to this season’s works

Many of our recommended recordings, where available, are on sale this evening at the Foyles stand in the Royal Festival Hall foyer.

For our 2015/16 season we’ve produced a series of short films introducing the music we’re performing.

Watch on our YouTube channel at youtube.com/londonphilharmonic7

Nicolai: Overture, The Merry Wives of Windsor Vienna Philharmonic | Willi Boskovsky [Decca] Korngold: Violin Concerto Anne-Sophie Mutter | Vienna Philharmonic | André Previn [Deutsche Grammophon] Elgar: Symphony No. 1 London Philharmonic Orchestra | Georg Solti [Decca] or London Philharmonic Orchestra | Adrian Boult [Lyrita] or London Philharmonic Orchestra | Leonard Slatkin [RCA] or London Philharmonic Orchestra | Vernon Handley [Classics for Pleasure]

Rachmaninoff: New CD release on the LPO Label Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 3 10 Songs (arr. Jurowski) Vladimir Jurowski conductor Vsevolod Grivnov tenor £9.99 LPO-0088

Available from lpo.org.uk/recordings, the LPO Ticket Office (020 7840 4242) and all good CD outlets Download or stream online via iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and others

12 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Next concerts at Royal Festival Hall Wednesday 24 February | 7.30pm Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto Tchaikovsky Manfred Symphony Vasily Petrenko conductor Augustin Hadelich violin

Friday 26 February | 7.30pm JTI friday series

Mendelssohn Overture, A Midsummer Night's Dream* Khachaturian Violin Concerto R Strauss Macbeth Stravinsky The Firebird Suite (1919 version)* Andrés Orozco-Estrada conductor Kristóf Baráti violin * Please note a change to the programme from originally advertised

Saturday 5 March | 7.30pm Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 3 Zemlinsky Six Maeterlinck Songs Szymanowski Stabat Mater* Vladimir Jurowski conductor Elżbieta Szmytka soprano Anne Sofie von Otter mezzo soprano Andrzej Dobber baritone London Philharmonic Choir * Organised in collaboration with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the Polska Music Programme, to commemorate the 1050th anniversary of the Baptism of Poland

Wednesday 9 March | 7.30pm Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 Zemlinsky Die Seejungfrau (The Mermaid) Vladimir Jurowski conductor Marc-André Hamelin piano Broadcast live by BBC Radio 3

Friday 18 March | 7.30pm Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 Brief Encounter (film with live orchestra) David Charles Abell conductor Jayson Gillham piano By arrangement with ITV Studios Global Entertainment & Park Circus Films

Tickets £9–£39 (premium seats £65) London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office: 020 7840 4242 Monday–Friday 10.00am–5.00pm lpo.org.uk Transaction fees: £1.75 online, £2.75 telephone.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 13

Sound Futures Donors We are grateful to the following donors for their generous contributions to our Sound Futures campaign. Thanks to their support, we successfully raised £1 million by 30 April 2015 which has now been matched pound for pound by Arts Council England through a Catalyst Endowment grant. This has enabled us to create a £2 million endowment fund supporting special artistic projects, creative programming and education work with key venue partners including our Southbank Centre home. Supporters listed below donated £500 or over. For a full list of those who have given to this campaign please visit lpo.org.uk/soundfutures.

Masur Circle Arts Council England Dunard Fund Victoria Robey OBE Emmanuel & Barrie Roman The Underwood Trust

The Rothschild Foundation Tom & Phillis Sharpe The Viney Family

Haitink Patrons Mark & Elizabeth Adams Dr Christopher Aldren Mrs Pauline Baumgartner Welser-Möst Circle Lady Jane Berrill William & Alex de Winton Mr Frederick Brittenden John Ireland Charitable Trust David & Yi Yao Buckley The Tsukanov Family Foundation Mr Clive Butler Neil Westreich Gill & Garf Collins Tennstedt Circle Mr John H Cook Valentina & Dmitry Aksenov Mr Alistair Corbett Richard Buxton Bruno de Kegel The Candide Trust Georgy Djaparidze Michael & Elena Kroupeev David Ellen Kirby Laing Foundation Christopher Fraser OBE & Lisa Fraser Mr & Mrs Makharinsky David & Victoria Graham Fuller Alexey & Anastasia Reznikovich Goldman Sachs International Simon Robey Mr Gavin Graham Bianca & Stuart Roden Moya Greene Simon & Vero Turner Mrs Dorothy Hambleton The late Mr K Twyman Tony & Susie Hayes Malcolm Herring Solti Patrons Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle Ageas Mrs Philip Kan John & Manon Antoniazzi Rehmet Kassim-Lakha de Morixe Gabor Beyer, through BTO Rose & Dudley Leigh Management Consulting AG Lady Roslyn Marion Lyons Jon Claydon Miss Jeanette Martin Mrs Mina Goodman & Miss Duncan Matthews QC Suzanne Goodman Diana & Allan Morgenthau Roddy & April Gow Charitable Trust The Jeniffer & Jonathan Harris Dr Karen Morton Charitable Trust Mr Roger Phillimore Mr James R.D. Korner Ruth Rattenbury Christoph Ladanyi & Dr Sophia The Reed Foundation Ladanyi-Czernin Robert Markwick & Kasia Robinski The Rind Foundation The Maurice Marks Charitable Trust Sir Bernard Rix David Ross & Line Forestier (Canada) Mr Paris Natar

14 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Carolina & Martin Schwab Dr Brian Smith Lady Valerie Solti Mr & Mrs G Stein Dr Peter Stephenson Miss Anne Stoddart TFS Loans Limited Lady Marina Vaizey Jenny Watson Guy & Utti Whittaker Pritchard Donors Ralph & Elizabeth Aldwinckle Mrs Arlene Beare Mr Patrick & Mrs Joan Benner Mr Conrad Blakey Dr Anthony Buckland Paul Collins Alastair Crawford Mr Derek B. Gray Mr Roger Greenwood The HA.SH Foundation Darren & Jennifer Holmes Honeymead Arts Trust Mr Geoffrey Kirkham Drs Frank & Gek Lim Peter Mace Mr & Mrs David Malpas Dr David McGibney Michael & Patricia McLaren-Turner Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill Mr Christopher Queree The Rosalyn & Nicholas Springer Charitable Trust Timothy Walker AM Christopher Williams Peter Wilson Smith Mr Anthony Yolland and all other donors who wish to remain anonymous

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 Neil Westreich William and Alex de Winton Mrs Philip Kan* Simon Robey Victoria Robey OBE Bianca & Stuart Roden Laurence Watt Anonymous Jon Claydon Garf & Gill Collins* Andrew Davenport Mrs Sonja Drexler David & Victoria Graham Fuller The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust Mr & Mrs Makharinsky Geoff & Meg Mann Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp Julian & Gill Simmonds* Eric Tomsett The Viney Family John & Manon Antoniazzi Jane Attias David Goldstone CBE LLB FRICS John & Angela Kessler Guy & Utti Whittaker * BrightSparks Patrons: instead of supporting a chair in the Orchestra, these donors have chosen to support our series of schools’ concerts.

Principal Benefactors Mark & Elizabeth Adams David & Yi Yao Buckley Desmond & Ruth Cecil Mr John H Cook Mr Bruno de Kegel David Ellen Mr Daniel Goldstein Drs Frank & Gek Lim Peter MacDonald Eggers Dr Eva Lotta & Mr Thierry Sciard Mr & Mrs David Malpas Virginia Slaymaker Mr & Mrs G Stein Mr & Mrs John C Tucker Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood Grenville & Krysia Williams Mr Anthony Yolland Benefactors Mr Geoffrey Bateman Mrs A Beare Ms Molly Borthwick David & Patricia Buck Mrs Alan Carrington Mr & Mrs Stewart Cohen Mr Alistair Corbett Mr Timothy Fancourt QC Mr Richard Fernyhough Mr Gavin Graham Wim and Jackie Hautekiet-Clare Tony & Susan Hayes Mr Daniel Heaf and Ms Amanda Hill Michael & Christine Henry Malcolm Herring J. Douglas Home

Ivan Hurry Mr Glenn Hurstfield Per Jonsson Mr Gerald Levin Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Paul & Brigitta Lock Mr Peter Mace Ms Ulrike Mansel Mr Robert Markwick and Ms Kasia Robinski Mr Brian Marsh Andrew T Mills Dr Karen Morton Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill Mr Roger Phillimore Mr James Pickford Mr Michael Posen Alexey & Anastasia Reznikovich Mr Konstantin Sorokin Martin and Cheryl Southgate Mr Peter Tausig Lady Marina Vaizey Simon and Charlotte Warshaw Howard & Sheelagh Watson Des & Maggie Whitelock Christopher Williams Bill Yoe and others who wish to remain anonymous Hon. Benefactor Elliott Bernerd Hon. Life Members Kenneth Goode Carol Colburn Grigor CBE Pehr G Gyllenhammar Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE

The generosity of our Sponsors, Corporate Members, supporters and donors is gratefully acknowledged: Corporate Members Silver: Accenture Berenberg Carter-Ruck We are AD Bronze: Appleyard & Trew LLP BTO Management Consulting AG Charles Russell Speechlys Lazard Russo-British Chamber of Commerce Willis Towers Watson Preferred Partners Corinthia Hotel London Heineken Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd Sipsmith Steinway Villa Maria In-kind Sponsor Google Inc

Trusts and Foundations Angus Allnatt Charitable Foundation Axis Foundation The Bernarr Rainbow Trust The Boltini Trust Borletti-Buitoni Trust The Candide Trust Cockayne – Grants for the Arts The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Dunard Fund The Equitable Charitable Trust The Foyle Foundation Lucille Graham Trust The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust Help Musicians UK The Idlewild Trust Kirby Laing Foundation The Leverhulme Trust The London Community Foundation London Stock Exchange Group Foundation Lord and Lady Lurgan Trust Marsh Christian Trust Adam Mickiewicz Institute The Peter Minet Trust

The Ann and Frederick O’Brien Charitable Trust Office for Cultural and Scientific Affairs of the Embassy of Spain in London The Austin and Hope Pilkington Trust The Stanley Picker Trust The Radcliffe Trust Rivers Foundation The R K Charitable Trust RVW Trust Schroder Charity Trust Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation The David Solomons Charitable Trust Souter Charitable Trust The John Thaw Foundation The Tillett Trust UK Friends of the Felix-MendelssohnBartholdy-Foundation The Viney Family Garfield Weston Foundation The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust and all others who wish to remain anonymous

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 15

Administration Board of Directors Victoria Robey OBE Chairman Stewart McIlwham* President Gareth Newman* Vice-President Dr Manon Antoniazzi Roger Barron Richard Brass Desmond Cecil CMG Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS Amanda Hill Dr Catherine C. Høgel Rachel Masters* George Peniston* Kevin Rundell* Natasha Tsukanova Mark Vines* Timothy Walker AM Laurence Watt Neil Westreich David Whitehouse* * Player-Director

Chief Executive

Education and Community

Digital Projects

Timothy Walker AM Chief Executive and Artistic Director

Isabella Kernot Education Director (maternity leave)

Alison Atkinson Digital Projects Director

Amy Sugarman PA to the Chief Executive / Administrative Assistant

Clare Lovett Education Director (maternity cover)

Finance

Talia Lash Education and Community Project Manager

Albion Media (Tel: 020 3077 4930)

Lucy Sims Education and Community Project Manager

Philip Stuart Discographer

David Burke General Manager and Finance Director David Greenslade Finance and IT Manager Dayse Guilherme Finance Officer

Richard Mallett Education and Community Producer

Concert Management

Development

Advisory Council Victoria Robey OBE Chairman Christopher Aldren Richard Brass David Buckley Sir Alan Collins KCVO CMG Andrew Davenport Jonathan Dawson William de Winton Cameron Doley Edward Dolman Christopher Fraser OBE Lord Hall of Birkenhead CBE Rehmet Kassim-Lakha Jamie Korner Clive Marks OBE FCA Stewart McIlwham Sir Bernard Rix Baroness Shackleton Lord Sharman of Redlynch OBE Thomas Sharpe QC Julian Simmonds Barry Smith Martin Southgate Sir Philip Thomas Sir John Tooley Chris Viney Timothy Walker AM Elizabeth Winter

Roanna Gibson Concerts Director

Nick Jackman Development Director

Graham Wood Concerts and Recordings Manager

Catherine Faulkner Development Events Manager

American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Inc. Jenny Ireland Co-Chairman William A. Kerr Co-Chairman Kyung-Wha Chung Xenia Hanusiak Alexandra Jupin Jill Fine Mainelli Kristina McPhee David Oxenstierna Harvey M. Spear, Esq. Danny Lopez Hon. Chairman Noel Kilkenny Hon. Director Victoria Robey OBE Hon. Director Richard Gee, Esq Of Counsel Jenifer L. Keiser, CPA, EisnerAmper LLP Stephanie Yoshida

Damian Davis Transport Manager

Jenny Chadwick Tours Manager Tamzin Aitken Glyndebourne and UK Engagements Manager Alison Jones Concerts and Recordings Co-ordinator

Kathryn Hageman Individual Giving Manager Laura Luckhurst Corporate Relations Manager Anna Quillin Trusts and Foundations Manager Rebecca Fogg Development Co-ordinator

Jo Cotter Tours Co-ordinator

Helen Yang Development Assistant

Orchestra Personnel

Kirstin Peltonen Development Associate

Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager Sarah Holmes Sarah Thomas Librarians (job-share) Christopher Alderton Stage Manager

Madeleine Ridout Assistant Orchestra Personnel Manager

16 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Marketing Kath Trout Marketing Director Libby Northcote-Green Marketing Manager Rachel Williams Publications Manager Samantha Cleverley Box Office Manager (Tel: 020 7840 4242) Anna O’Connor Marketing Co-ordinator Natasha Berg Marketing Intern

Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant Public Relations

Archives

Gillian Pole Recordings Archive Professional Services Charles Russell Speechlys Solicitors Crowe Clark Whitehill LLP Auditors Dr Louise Miller Honorary Doctor London Philharmonic Orchestra 89 Albert Embankment London SE1 7TP Tel: 020 7840 4200 Box Office: 020 7840 4242 Email: admin@lpo.org.uk lpo.org.uk The London Philharmonic Orchestra Limited is a registered charity No. 238045.

Composer photographs except Korngold courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London.

Photograph of Korngold © Franz Lowy.

Front cover photograph: Ilyoung Chae, First Violin © Benjamin Ealovega.

Cover design/ art direction: Ross Shaw @ JMG Studio.

Printed by Cantate.