London Philharmonic Orchestra 21 Feb 2015 programme

Concert programme lpo.org.uk

Winner of the RPS Music Award for Ensemble Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor VLADIMIR JUROWSKI* Leader PIETER SCHOEMAN† Composer in Residence MAGNUS LINDBERG Patron HRH THE DUKE OF KENT KG Chief Executive and Artistic Director TIMOTHY WALKER AM

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall Saturday 21 February 2015 | 7.30pm

Beethoven Overture, Leonore No. 3 (13’) Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37 (34’) Interval Beethoven Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92 (36’) Marin Alsop conductor David Fray piano

Contents 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10

11 12

13 14 15 16

Welcome On stage tonight About the Orchestra Leader: Pieter Schoeman Marin Alsop David Fray Programme notes International Piano Series at Southbank Centre LPO Piano Concerto concerts Programme notes continued Rachmaninoff: Inside Out Latest LPO CD release Recommended Recordings 2015/16 new season Supporters Sound Futures donors LPO administration

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

Free pre-concert event 6.00pm–6.45pm | The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall Animate Orchestra is an ‘orchestra for the 21st century’ run by the LPO with Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and four boroughs from south-east London. Tonight’s concert features new music created by the ensemble in response to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, the ‘apotheosis of the dance’.

* supported by the Tsukanov Family Foundation † supported by Neil Westreich CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

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, Feng Sushi and Topolski, 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.

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London Philharmonic Orchestra LPO on Tour Welcome to tonight’s London Philharmonic Orchestra all-Beethoven concert at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall. The Orchestra recently performed the same programme on tour in Groningen, Utrecht, Eindhoven and Bruges. The LPO has no time to stand still as the players are off to Istanbul and Mannheim early next month. Tickets are available for these events so you could treat yourselves to an LPO concert during a city break. Full details at lpo.org.uk/whats-on-and-tickets 2015/16 season launch Booking for the new season is now well and truly open.

Highlights include Shakespeare400: a joint celebration with other leading cultural organisations of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. We present a series of concerts celebrating some of the wonderful music inspired by the great playwright, including works by Sibelius, Dvořák, Prokofiev, Strauss and Britten. The series culminates in a specially curated Anniversary Gala Concert directed by Simon Callow. Find out more at lpo.org.uk/performances More Beethoven, please!

Tonight’s concert is sure to whet your appetite for more of the German genius’s music. This coming Wednesday 25 February the Orchestra will be performing the Egmont Overture and, arguably, the most famous piece of classical music of all time, Symphony No. 5.

Christoph Eschenbach conducts, with Ray Chen performing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. Tickets are selling fast but if you do miss out you can listen to the concert live on BBC Radio 3. www.lpo.org.uk/whats-on-and-tickets

On stage tonight

First Violins Pieter Schoeman* Leader Chair supported by Neil Westreich Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader Ji-Hyun Lee Chair supported by Eric Tomsett Catherine Craig Thomas Eisner Robert Pool Sarah Streatfeild Yang Zhang Rebecca Shorrock Alina Petrenko Galina Tanney Caroline Sharp Robert Yeomans Gavin Davies Second Violins Emily Davis Guest Principal Kate Birchall Chair supported by David & Victoria Graham Fuller Nancy Elan Fiona Higham Joseph Maher Marie-Anne Mairesse Ashley Stevens Dean Williamson Helena Nicholls Harry Kerr Stephen Stewart John Dickinson Violas Cyrille Mercier Principal Robert Duncan Susanne Martens Benedetto Pollani Laura Vallejo Alistair Scahill Martin Fenn Stanislav Popov Richard Cookson Martin Wray

Cellos Morwenna Del Mar Guest Principal Laura Donoghue Santiago Carvalho†David Lale Elisabeth Wiklander Sue Sutherley Susanna Riddell Sibylle Hentschelf Double Basses Kevin Rundell* Principal Laurence Lovelle George Peniston Kenneth Knussen Helen Rowlands Charlotte Kerbegian Flutes Alja Velkaverh Guest Principal Stewart McIlwham* Oboes Ian Hardwick* Principal Alice Munday Clarinets Robert Hill* Principal Thomas Watmough Bassoons Gareth Newman Principal Stuart Russell

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

Chair Supporters

Off-stage Trumpet Paul Beniston Trombones Mark Templeton* Principal Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton David Whitehouse Bass Trombone Lyndon Meredith Principal

The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert: Sonja Drexler Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp Victoria Robey OBE Simon Robey Friends of the Orchestra Andrew Davenport Anonymous donor

Timpani Simon Carrington* Principal

* Holds a professorial appointment in London †Chevalier of the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco Meet our members: lpo.org.uk/players

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

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Full marks to the London Philharmonic for continuing to offer the most adventurous concerts in London.

The Financial Times, 14 April 2014 The London Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the world’s finest orchestras, balancing a long and distinguished history with its present-day position as one of the most dynamic and forward-looking ensembles in the UK. 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. From September 2015 Andrés Orozco-Estrada will take up the position of Principal Guest Conductor. Magnus Lindberg is the Orchestra’s current Composer in Residence.

The Orchestra is based at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London, where it has performed since the Hall’s opening in 1951 and been Resident Orchestra since 1992. It gives around 30 concerts there each season with many of the world’s top conductors and

4 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

soloists. Throughout 2013 the Orchestra collaborated with Southbank Centre on the year-long The Rest Is Noise festival, charting the influential works of the 20th century. 2014/15 highlights include a seasonlong festival, Rachmaninoff: Inside Out, exploring the composer’s major orchestral masterpieces; premieres of works by Harrison Birtwistle, Julian Anderson, Colin Matthews, James Horner and the Orchestra’s new Composer in Residence, Magnus Lindberg; and appearances by many of today’s most soughtafter artists including Maria João Pires, Christoph Eschenbach, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Osmo Vänskä, Lars Vogt, Barbara Hannigan, Vasily Petrenko, Marin Alsop, Katia and Marielle Labèque and Robin Ticciati.

Outside London, the Orchestra has flourishing residencies in Brighton and Eastbourne, and performs regularly around the UK. Each summer it 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.

Pieter Schoeman leader

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

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 80 releases available on CD and to download. Recent additions include organ works by Poulenc and Saint-Saëns with Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Strauss’s Don Juan and Ein Heldenleben with Bernard Haitink; Shostakovich’s Symphonies Nos. 6 & 14 and Zemlinsky’s A Florentine Tragedy with Vladimir Jurowski; and Orff’s Carmina Burana with Hans Graf.

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.

© Patrick Harrison

Touring remains a large part of the Orchestra’s life: highlights of the 2014/15 season include appearances across Europe (including Iceland) and tours to the USA (West and East Coasts), Canada and China.

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.

Find out more and get involved! lpo.org.uk facebook.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra twitter.com/LPOrchestra youtube.com/londonphilharmonic7

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 and BBC Philharmonic orchestras. He is a Professor of Violin at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London. Pieter’s chair in the London Philharmonic Orchestra is supported by Neil Westreich.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 5

Marin Alsop conductor

Marin Alsop seems to have reached a new high in terms of expressive intensity.”

© Adriane White

Baltimore Sun, September 2014

Marin Alsop is recognised across the world for her innovative approach to programming, her deep commitment to education and to the development of audiences of all ages. Her tenure as Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra since 2007, now extended to 2021, has been a huge success, and she has created bold initiatives that have contributed to the wider community and reached new audiences.

She became Principal Conductor of the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra in 2012 and Music Director in July 2013, steering the orchestra in its artistic and creative programming, recording ventures and its education and outreach activities. She led the orchestra on a European tour in 2012, with acclaimed performances at the BBC Proms and at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

Since 1992, Marin Alsop has been Music Director of California’s Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, and retains strong links with her previous orchestras including Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (Principal Conductor 2002–8; now Conductor Emeritus) and Colorado Symphony Orchestra. She has guest-conducted many of the great orchestras of the world including Philadelphia, Cleveland, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Royal Concertgebouw, and she regularly returns to the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and the Czech Philharmonic. Alsop has a close relationship with the London Symphony and London Philharmonic, appearing with both orchestras most seasons, as well as with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. She is also Artist in Residence at Southbank Centre in London. She made history as the first female conductor of the 2013 BBC Last Night of the Proms.

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Marin Alsop is the recipient of numerous awards and is the only conductor to receive the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, given to US residents in recognition of exceptional creative work. She was inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame in 2010 and was the only classical musician to be included in The Guardian’s ‘Top 100 women’, in 2011. In 2012 Alsop was presented with Honorary Membership (HonRAM) of the Royal Academy of Music.

Her extensive discography on Naxos includes a notable set of Brahms symphonies with the LPO and a highly praised Dvořák series with the Baltimore Symphony.

Other award-winning recordings include Bernstein’s Mass (Editor’s Choice, Gramophone Awards 2010) and Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto (Grammy Award 2010).

Born in New York City, Marin Alsop attended Yale University and received her Master’s Degree from The Juilliard School. Her conducting career was launched when, in 1989, she was a prize-winner at the Leopold Stokowski International Conducting Competition and in the same year was the first woman to be awarded the Koussevitzky Conducting Prize from the Tanglewood Music Center, where she was a pupil of Leonard Bernstein. www.marinalsop.com

David Fray piano

David Fray has a brilliant technique and a serious and thoughtful regard for the music

© Paolo Roversi

John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune, December 2011

David Fray maintains an active career as a recitalist, soloist and chamber musician worldwide. He has collaborated with leading orchestras and distinguished conductors such as Marin Alsop, Pierre Boulez, Semyon Bychkov, Christoph Eschenbach, Paavo Järvi, Kurt Masur, Riccardo Muti and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Orchestral highlights in Europe have included performances with the Royal Concertgebouw, Bayerische Rundfunk, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Deutsche Sinfonie Orchester, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala and Orchestre de Paris. He made his US debut in 2009 with the Cleveland Orchestra which was followed by performances with the Boston Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestras. Recital debuts followed in Carnegie Hall, at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York and the Chicago Symphony Hall.

This season David Fray will perform with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Tonhalle Zurich, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. Among this season’s recital appearances are concerts at the Théâtre de Champs Élysées in Paris, the Philharmonie in Berlin and the Van Cliburn Foundation in Fort Worth, Texas. In recital he will partner violinist Renaud Capuçon playing sonatas

by Bach and Beethoven.

Award from the Ruhr Piano Festival. In 2008 he was named Newcomer of the Year by BBC Music Magazine.

An exclusive Warner Classics artist, David Fray recorded his first CD, works by Bach and Boulez, to great critical acclaim. The disc was praised as the ‘best record of the year’ by The Times and Le Soir. His second release was a recording of Bach keyboard concertos with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen awarded by the German Recording Academy, followed by Schubert’s Moments Musicaux and Impromptus. Recent releases include a Schubert recital, Mozart piano concertos with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Jaap van Zweden, and Bach Partitas Nos. 2 and 6 along with Toccata in C minor. In 2008 the television network ARTE +7 presented a documentary on David Fray directed by the French director Bruno Monsaingeon. The film David Fray records Johann Sebastian Bach was subsequently released on DVD. David Fray studied with Jacques Rouvier at the National Superior Conservatory of Music in Paris where he currently resides.

David Fray performs the first movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22 with Marin Alsop conducting www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPLw6RUa4sY

David Fray has won multiple awards including the prestigious German Echo Klassik Prize for Instrumentalist of the Year, and the Young Talent

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 7

Programme notes

Speedread Two centuries on from his time on this planet, we seem to have arrived at the conclusion that Ludwig van Beethoven was the most important composer who ever lived. His significance isn’t just musical, it’s sociological. When Brian May stood on the roof of Buckingham Palace in 2002 and played God Save the Queen on his electric guitar, the historian Tim Blanning was on hand to remind us all that without Beethoven’s example, May would have been bowing and scraping in the background, to be heard but barely seen. Beethoven turned musicians from artists into heroes, and he did so chiefly through a series of nine symphonies that proved musical game-changers.

Ludwig van Beethoven

Tonight we hear one of the most extraordinary of those symphonies, a piece controlled by rhythm like none before it, proving remarkably prescient. But Beethoven did more than just write symphonies.

He was a working musician – a pianist and conductor whose exploits in those fields were curtailed by the torture of encroaching deafness. When he wrote his Third Piano Concerto in the very first years of the 19th century, Beethoven was beginning to realise that his hearing was in serious trouble. The tension he felt is there in the Concerto, just as a fierce belief in social freedom saturates his only opera, a story of liberation from prisons both physical and ideological.

Overture, Leonore No. 3

1770–1827

Ten years, two re-writes, four overtures: Fidelio – as Beethoven’s only opera is now known – was one of the composer’s most troubled creative projects. All that work, though, should be indicative of how keen Beethoven was to get the mood and construction of it just right from the off. The overture known as Leonore No. 3 was written for the first revision of the score, four months after the premiere of the opera in November 1805 (it was originally named after its heroine Leonore but renamed Fidelio at the 1805 relaunch). This is the prelude most often performed in concert, probably as it’s the best at capturing Beethoven’s style and beliefs in microcosm; its solitary, heroic trumpet representing the man commanding society (the orchestra) into action.

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In that sense, the dramatic subject matter of the opera is at the heart of the overture too: the rescue of Florestan from unjust imprisonment by his beloved Leonore, reflecting the ideals of humanism, heroism and brotherhood that Beethoven held so dear. The harmonic ambiguity of the slow opening section might well reflect the discomfort of the imprisoned Florestan; a glimmer of optimism shines through in the stating of the main theme of Florestan’s ‘dungeon aria’ by the clarinet and bassoon, which leads to a brief climax before the more heroic Allegro section in which an off-stage trumpet heralds the impending rescue.

Ludwig van Beethoven

Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37 David Fray piano 1 Allegro con brio 2 Largo – 3 Rondo: Allegro

As turning-points go, this one was pretty major. While some ideas in Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto date from the late 1790s, the piece is, in effect, his first large-scale orchestral creation of the 19th century. More significant than the change in date, though, was the Concerto’s personal chronology. Beethoven was at work on the piece as he began to realise that the problems with his hearing weren’t going to improve; that they were, in fact, likely to develop into complete deafness.

That realisation had a cataclysmic effect on Beethoven as a person and shot entirely new sentiments and concepts into his works, starting with this piece. One of the most obvious implications of the composer-pianist’s impending deafness – one he knew about all too well – was his potential inability to perform and improvise on stage with an orchestra.

Thus the soloist’s part in the Third Concerto becomes that bit more defined: the pianist taking on a noticeably more individual, imposing and energetic role with cadenzas (the passages in which the solo pianist traditionally improvised to demonstrate prowess) written out in full – instructions for future pianists to obey to the letter long after Beethoven himself could no longer manage a performance. Then, following the cadenza in the first movement, Beethoven’s solo piano joins the orchestra for the ‘coda’, the movement’s last word. This was a bold act with only one tentative precedent – that of Mozart’s Piano Concerto K491.

That Mozart concerto, in fact, looms large over many aspects of Beethoven’s Third – key, first movement shape and the use of themes built on ‘thirds’, for example. But the feelings of heroic conflict and tension in this piece are entirely new. Here, the piano initiates a stand-off against the orchestra in a manner unusual even for Beethoven; major keys tussle with minor ones throughout the opening Allegro.

It’s in the slow movement that Beethoven reaches for expressive tools that are best described as ‘Romantic’.

The key (E major) is radiant but together with its G major successor quite distant from the C minor ‘home’ key. Moreover, the meditative qualities of the movement’s main ideas suggest Beethoven clinging on dearly to the music’s beauty – as if he knew he’d soon not be able to hear at all.

He does his listeners the service, though, of sending them out with a gregarious finale. This may sound impish and witty, but its theme (stated initially by the piano and immediately thereafter by the oboe, clarinet and horn) actually measures a whole eight bars – the longest Beethoven used in any of his concertos. Fitting for a concerto that’s longer than any that had gone before it, and which unequivocally heralds one of music history’s most potent revolutions.

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

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 9

Ivo Pogorelich

Yundi

Liszt, Schumann, Stravinsky and Brahms

Chopin

Tuesday 24 February 2015

Maurizio Pollini © Philippe Gontier/ DGG

Jonathan Biss © Benjamin Ealovega

International Piano Series 2014/15

Monday 13 April 2015

Stephen Hough

Sunwook Kim

Tuesday 28 April 2015

Tuesday 3 March 2015

Debussy and Chopin

Bach, Beethoven and Mussorgsky

Alice Sara Ott & Francesco Tristano © Marie Staggat Photography

Yevgeny Sudbin

Maurizio Pollini

Wednesday 13 May 2015

Tuesday 17 March 2015

Haydn, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Scriabin and Saint-Saëns

Schumann and Chopin

Jonathan Biss

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Tuesday 31 March 2015

Berg, Schoenberg, Schumann and Beethoven

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Thursday 11 June 2015

Ravel, Debussy, Tristano and Stravinsky Media Partner

The International Piano Series is devised, co-ordinated and developed

by Harrison Parrott

More Piano Concertos with the LPO at Royal Festival Hall Wednesday 11 March 2015 | 7.30pm

Wednesday 15 April 2015 | 7.30pm

Elgar Introduction and Allegro Ireland Piano Concerto Walton Symphony No. 1

Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 Bruckner Symphony No. 4 (Romantic) (Nowak Edition)

Andrew Manze conductor | Piers Lane piano

Robin Ticciati conductor Menahem Pressler piano

Supported by the John Ireland Charitable Trust

Saturday 21 March 2015 | 7.30pm Prokofiev Chout (excerpts) Magnus Lindberg Piano Concerto No. 2 (UK premiere) Stravinsky Petrushka (1911 version) Vladimir Jurowski conductor | Yefim Bronfman piano

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.

Wednesday 25 March 2015 | 7.30pm Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 1 (final version) Ilyich Rivas conductor | Dmitry Mayboroda piano Part of Rachmaninoff: Inside Out, see page 12 for full concert details

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Southbank Centre Ticket Office 0844 847 9920 Daily 9.00am–8.00pm southbankcentre.co.uk Transaction fees: £1.75 online, £2.75 telephone.

No transaction fee for bookings made in person

Programme notes continued

Ludwig van Beethoven

Beethoven was a revolutionary artist in a revolutionary age. Around him, as the 18th century ticked into the 19th, everything was changing. France was erupting in social upheaval. America was overthrowing its imperial rulers. Those imperial rulers, the English, were igniting the industrial revolution that would eventually change the whole world. Beethoven was on hand to provide a seismic shift for artists and musicians, themselves experiencing the first throws of Romanticism. He set about freeing the artist from servant status and turning him into a hero – a leader, a genius and a revolutionary in his own right. And through his unprecedented and unsurpassed collection of nine symphonies, he succeeded.

Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony is one of his most unusual, fascinating and bold. It’s also the piece with which the composer’s contemporary reputation was sealed and was, at the time of its premiere in December 1813, that with which the increasingly deaf composer made his last public appearance as a conductor.

One element that still thrusts hard-and-fast out of the Seventh Symphony is its rhythmic power. It wasn’t for another century, at least, that any piece of music would be written in the western world that placed more importance on rhythmic impulse and direction than it did on melodic or harmonic content. But Beethoven’s Seventh could be said to have laid the groundwork. You can hear the controlling rhythms in almost every part of the symphony, whether in the propulsive energy of the outer movements or in the inevitable tread of the slow march. Some experts claim that the themes and tunes that do appear in the Seventh Symphony are effectively controlled and shaped by the rhythms they cleave to.

Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92 1 Poco sostenuto – vivace 2 Allegretto 3 Presto 4 Allegro con brio

Each movement in the symphony is controlled by the repetition of a rhythmic ‘cell’, and in the first movement it drives the music through a swinging six-in-a-bar time signature. But that’s only after a slow prologue. In this, we hear Beethoven referencing the two ‘foreign’ keys with which the whole symphony flirts: the oboe introduces a theme in C (a third above the key note, A) and the flute one in F (a third below it).

The symphony’s Allegretto is strangely intoxicating, music of hypnotic power that has been described as ‘part march, part rondo, part variation’. The music does march, and it does present variations on that march (each increasing in volume). But when the opening theme returns to complete the ABA rondo pattern after breaking off for a fugue, the melody seems eventually to disintegrate altogether, leaving just the rhythmic tread behind. The third movement Presto uses a rhythmic pattern that makes for explosive playfulness, music that seems uncannily physical.

But if this music seems to swing, the finale appears more like an unstoppable flow – an elemental outpouring that uses a rustic, dancing tune (not an Irish folk song as originally believed, but Beethoven’s own) that drives the music towards near burn-out with intense jubilation. Back in 1813, it must have seemed as though the world had somehow re-aligned itself when this music was played. Beethoven’s confidante, Anton Schindler, described the premiere as ‘one of the most important moments in the life of the master’, while the audience welcomed it more warmly than they had any other symphony by the composer.

Programme notes © Andrew Mellor

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 11

The final two concerts in this year-long series

Wednesday 25 March 2015 | 7.30pm Mozart Symphony No. 36 (Linz) Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 1 (final version) Dvořák Symphony No. 8 Ilyich Rivas conductor Dmitry Mayboroda piano

Wednesday 29 April 2015 | 7.30pm Rachmaninoff (arr. Butsko) Piano Works, Four Movements (arr. Jurowski) 10 Songs Symphony No. 3 Vladimir Jurowski conductor Vsevolod Grivnov tenor Rachmaninoff Inside Out is presented in co-operation with the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation.

Latest LPO CD release: Vaughan Williams Symphonies 4 & 8 Released this month on the LPO Label is a pair of Vaughan Williams Symphonies: Nos. 4 & 8, (LPO–0082) conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth and Vladimir Jurowski respectively. They were recorded live in concert at the Royal Festival Hall on 24 September 2008 (Symphony No. 8) and 1 May 2013 (Symphony No. 4).

Priced £9.99, the CD is available from lpo.org.uk/ shop (where you can listen to soundclips before you buy), the LPO Ticket Office (020 7840 4242) and all good CD retailers.

Alternatively you can download it from iTunes, Amazon and others, or stream via Spotify.

lpo.org.uk/rachmaninoff 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.

Recommended recordings of tonight’s works by Beethoven Overture Leonore No. 3 London Philharmonic Orchestra/ Klaus Tennstedt [EMI] Piano Concerto No. 3 Alfred Brendel/ London Philharmonic Orchestra/Bernard Haitink [Philips] Symphony No. 7 Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra/ Carlos Kleiber [Deutsche Grammophon]

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2015/16 season at Royal Festival Hall Highlights 2015

2016

Wednesday 23 September Mahler Symphony No 7 Vladimir Jurowski conductor

Shakespeare400 In 2016 the LPO joins many of London’s other leading cultural institutions to celebrate the legacy of Shakespeare, 400 years since his death.

Highlights include:

Wednesday 14 October Penderecki conducts Penderecki including UK premieres of Harp Concerto and Adagio for Strings

Wednesday 3 February Dvorˇák Overture, Otello

Saturday 31 October Bruckner Symphony No. 5 Stanisław Skrowaczewski conductor Friday 6 November A celebration of Mexican orchestral music Alondra de la Parra conductor JTI Friday Series

Wednesday 10 February Sibelius The Tempest (extracts) Friday 15 April Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet (extracts) JTI Friday Series Saturday 23 April Anniversary Gala Concert Including: Verdi Otello and Falstaff (extracts) Music from Britten, Mendelssohn and Walton Vladimir Jurowski conductor Simon Callow director Booking now Tickets from £9.00 Ticket office 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.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 The Tsukanov Family Foundation Neil Westreich William and Alex de Winton Simon Robey Victoria Robey OBE Julian & Gill Simmonds* Anonymous Garf & Gill Collins* Andrew Davenport Mrs Sonja Drexler David & Victoria Graham Fuller Mrs Philip Kan* Mr & Mrs Makharinsky Geoff & Meg Mann Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp Eric Tomsett John & Manon Antoniazzi 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 Desmond & Ruth Cecil Mr John H Cook David Ellen Mr Daniel Goldstein Drs Frank & Gek Lim Peter MacDonald Eggers Dr Eva Lotta & Mr Thierry Sciard Mr & Mrs David Malpas Mr Michael Posen Mr & Mrs G Stein Mr & Mrs John C Tucker Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood Lady Marina Vaizey Laurence Watt Grenville & Krysia Williams Mr Anthony Yolland Benefactors Mrs A Beare David & Patricia Buck Mrs Alan Carrington Mr & Mrs Stewart Cohen Mr Alistair Corbett Georgy Djaparidze Mr David Edgecombe Mr Timothy Fancourt QC Mr Richard Fernyhough Tony & Susan Hayes 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 Robert Markwick Mr Brian Marsh Andrew T Mills John Montgomery Dr Karen Morton Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill Tom & Phillis Sharpe Martin and Cheryl Southgate Professor John Studd Mr Peter Tausig Mrs Kazue Turner Simon Turner 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: AREVA UK Berenberg British American Business Carter-Ruck Bronze: Appleyard & Trew LLP BTO Management Consulting AG Charles Russell Speechlys Leventis Overseas Preferred Partners Corinthia Hotel London Heineken Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd Sipsmith Steinway Villa Maria In-kind Sponsors Google Inc Sela / Tilley’s Sweets Trusts and Foundations Angus Allnatt Charitable Foundation Ambache Charitable Trust Ruth Berkowitz Charitable Trust The Boltini Trust

14 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Borletti-Buitoni Trust Britten-Pears Foundation The Candide Trust The Peter Carr Charitable Trust, in memory of Peter Carr The Ernest Cook Trust The Coutts Charitable Trust The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Dunard Fund The Equitable Charitable Trust Fidelio Charitable Trust The Foyle Foundation Lucille Graham Trust The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust Help Musicians UK The Hinrichsen Foundation The Hobson Charity The Idlewild Trust Kirby Laing Foundation The Leche Trust London Stock Exchange Group Foundation Marsh Christian Trust The Mayor of London’s Fund for Young Musicians 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 Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de musique romantique française The Austin and Hope Pilkington Trust Polish Cultural Institute in London PRS for Music Foundation The Radcliffe Trust Rivers Foundation The R K Charitable Trust Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation Romanian Cultural Institute Schroder Charity Trust Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation The David Solomons Charitable Trust The Steel 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 Youth Music and others who wish to remain anonymous

SOUND FUTURES DONORS We are grateful to the following donors for their generous contributions to Sound Futures, which will establish our first ever endowment. Donations from those below have already been matched pound for pound by Arts Council England through a Catalyst Endowment grant.

By May 2015 we aim to have raised £1 million which, when matched, will create a £2 million fund supporting our Education and Community Programme, our creative programming and major artistic projects at Southbank Centre.

We thank those who are helping us to realise the vision.

Masur Circle Arts Council England Dunard Fund Victoria Robey OBE Emmanuel & Barrie Roman The Underwood Trust Welser-Möst Circle John Ireland Charitable Trust The Tsukanov Family Foundation Neil Westreich Tennstedt Circle Richard Buxton Simon Robey Simon & Vero Turner The late Mr K Twyman Solti Patrons Ageas John & Manon Antoniazzi Georgy Djaparidze Mrs Mina Goodman and Miss Suzanne Goodman Robert Markwick & Kasia Robinski The Rothschild Foundation Haitink Patrons Mark & Elizabeth Adams Mrs Pauline Baumgartner Lady Jane Berrill Mr Frederick Brittenden David & Yi Yao Buckley Bruno de Kegel Mr Gavin Graham Moya Greene Tony and Susie Hayes Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle Mrs Philip Kan

Honeymead Arts Trust Mrs Dawn Hooper Rehmet Kassim-Lakha Mr Geoffrey Kirkham Peter Leaver Drs Frank & Gek Lim Peter Mace Mr David Macfarlane Geoff & Meg Mann Marsh Christian Trust Dr David McGibney Michael & Patricia McLaren-Turner John Montgomery Rosemary Morgan Paris Natar Mr Roger H C Pattison The late Edmund Pirouet Mr Michael Posen Sarah & John Priestland Mr Christopher Queree Mr Peter Russell Pritchard Donors Mr Alan Sainer Ralph and Elizabeth Aldwinckle Tim Slorick Michael and Linda Blackstone Lady Valerie Solti Dr Anthony Buckland Timothy Walker AM Business Events Sydney Laurence Watt Lady June Chichester Mr R Watts John Childress & Christiane Wuillamie Des & Maggie Whitelock Lindka Cierach Christopher Williams Paul Collins Peter Wilson Smith Mr Alistair Corbett Victoria Yanakova David Dennis Mr Anthony Yolland Mr David Edgecombe David Ellen And all other donors who wish to Mr Timothy Fancourt QC remain anonymous Karima & David G Mr Daniel Goldstein Mr Derek B. Gray Mr Roger Greenwood Rebecca Halford Harrison Rose and Dudley Leigh Lady Roslyn Marion Lyons Miss Jeanette Martin Diana and Allan Morgenthau Charitable Trust Dr Karen Morton Ruth Rattenbury The Reed Foundation Sir Bernard Rix David Ross and Line Forestier (Canada) Carolina & Martin Schwab Tom and Phillis Sharpe Dr Brian Smith Mr & Mrs G Stein Miss Anne Stoddart TFS Loans Limited Lady Marina Vaizey Ms Jenny Watson Guy & Utti Whittaker

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 15

Administration

Board of Directors Victoria Robey OBE Chairman Stewart McIlwham* President Gareth Newman* Vice-President Dr Manon Antoniazzi Richard Brass Desmond Cecil CMG Vesselin Gellev* Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS Dr Catherine C. Høgel Martin Höhmann* George Peniston* Kevin Rundell* Julian Simmonds Mark Templeton* Natasha Tsukanova Timothy Walker AM Laurence Watt Neil Westreich * Player-Director Advisory Council Victoria Robey OBE Chairman Christopher Aldren Richard Brass David Buckley Sir Alan Collins KCVO CMG Andrew Davenport Jonathan Dawson Edward Dolman Christopher Fraser OBE Lord Hall of Birkenhead CBE Jamie Korner Clive Marks OBE FCA Stewart McIlwham Sir Bernard Rix Baroness Shackleton Lord Sharman of Redlynch OBE Thomas Sharpe QC Martin Southgate Sir Philip Thomas Sir John Tooley Chris Viney Timothy Walker AM Elizabeth Winter American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Inc. Jenny Ireland Co-Chairman William A. Kerr Co-Chairman Kyung-Wha Chung Alexandra Jupin Dr. Felisa B. Kaplan Jill Fine Mainelli Kristina McPhee Dr. Joseph Mulvehill 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

Chief Executive

Education and Community

Digital Projects

Timothy Walker AM Chief Executive and Artistic Director

Isabella Kernot Education Director

Alison Atkinson Digital Projects Director

Alexandra Clarke Education and Community Project Manager

Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant

Amy Sugarman PA to the Chief Executive / Administrative Assistant Finance David Burke General Manager and Finance Director

Lucy Duffy Education and Community Project Manager

Public Relations Albion Media (Tel: 020 3077 4930)

Richard Mallett Education and Community Producer

Archives

David Greenslade Finance and IT Manager

Development

Samanta Berzina Finance Officer

Nick Jackman Development Director

Gillian Pole Recordings Archive

Concert Management

Catherine Faulkner Development Events Manager

Charles Russell Solicitors

Kathryn Hageman Individual Giving Manager

Graham Wood Concerts and Recordings Manager

Crowe Clark Whitehill LLP Auditors

Laura Luckhurst Corporate Relations Manager

Dr Louise Miller Honorary Doctor

Jenny Chadwick Tours Manager

Anna Quillin Trusts and Foundations Manager

Tamzin Aitken Glyndebourne and UK Engagements Manager

Helen Etheridge Development Assistant

Roanna Gibson Concerts Director

Alison Jones Concerts and Recordings Co-ordinator

Rebecca Fogg Development Assistant Kirstin Peltonen Development Associate

Jo Cotter Tours Co-ordinator

Marketing

Orchestra Personnel

Kath Trout Marketing Director

Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager

Mia Roberts Marketing Manager

Sarah Holmes Sarah Thomas Librarians (job-share)

Rachel Williams Publications Manager (maternity leave)

Christopher Alderton Stage Manager

Sarah Breeden Publications Manager (maternity cover)

Damian Davis Transport Manager Ellie Swithinbank Assistant Orchestra Personnel Manager

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Samantha Cleverley Box Office Manager (Tel: 020 7840 4242) Libby Northcote-Green Marketing Co-ordinator

Philip Stuart Discographer

Professional Services

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.

Photograph of Beethoven courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London.

Front cover photograph: Martin Hobbs, horn © Julian Calverley.

Cover design/ art direction: Chaos Design.

Printed by Cantate.