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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

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall Saturday 30 April 2016 | 7.30pm

Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 4 in G minor, Op. 40 (24’) Interval (20’) R Strauss An Alpine Symphony, Op. 64 (51’)

Vladimir Jurowski conductor Alexey Zuev piano

Free post-concert performance The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall In a rousing finale to our Shakespeare celebrations, the Royal College of Music Big Band, directed by Mark Armstrong, performs Duke Ellington’s Such Sweet Thunder, based on the work of William Shakespeare.

The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide. CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Contents 2 Welcome Orchestra news 3 On stage tonight 4 About the Orchestra 5 Leader: Pieter Schoeman 6 Robert Hill 7 Vladimir Jurowski 8 Alexey Zuev 9 Programme notes 12 Recommended recordings Next concerts 13 LPO 2016/17 season 14 Sound Futures donors 15 Supporters 16 LPO administration

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. 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.

Orchestra news

Welcome to Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall for the final concert of our 2015/16 London season. We hope you’ve enjoyed this season and will join us again in September! Browse all our 2016/17 concerts at lpo.org.uk/newseason. In the meantime, we’ll be busy over the summer performing at Glyndebourne Festival Opera and two concerts at the BBC Proms, as well as our annual Debut Sounds concert showcasing new works by five young composers (see page 12). Find out more at lpo.org.uk. Follow the LPO's summer adventures and find all the latest news on Facebook and Twitter facebook.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra @LPOrchestra

Welcome A warm welcome to our newest member, Sebastian Pennar, who has recently joined the Orchestra as Sub-Principal Double Bass. Sebastian is from Cardiff and studied at the Royal College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. He joins us from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, where he was Assistant Principal. When not behind a bass, Sebastian enjoys going on steam trains, playing darts and walking in the countryside. Meet all of our members: lpo.org.uk/players

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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Foyle Future Firsts 2016/17: applications now open The London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Foyle Future Firsts programme bridges the transition between college and the professional platform for up to 16 outstanding young musicians each year. It is designed to nurture and develop talented orchestral players, forming the base for future orchestral appointments to the London Philharmonic Orchestra and other world-class orchestras and ensembles. Applications for the 2016/17 programme are now open: for more details visit lpo.org.uk/futurefirsts or contact Lucy Sims on 020 7840 4203 or lucy.sims@lpo.org.uk

On stage tonight

First Violins Pieter Schoeman* Leader Chair supported by Neil Westreich

Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader Ilyoung Chae Chair supported by an anonymous donor

Ji-Hyun Lee Chair supported by Eric Tomsett

Katalin Varnagy Chair supported by Sonja Drexler

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 Helena Smart Nilufar Alimaksumova Second Violins Andrew Storey Principal Tania Mazzetti Nancy Elan Lorenzo Gentili-Tedeschi Fiona Higham Nynke Hijlkema Joseph Maher Marie-Anne Mairesse Ashley Stevens Robin Wilson Helena Nicholls Sioni Williams Elizabeth Baldey Alison Strange Georgina Leo Kate Cole Violas David Quiggle Guest Principal Cyrille Mercier Co-Principal Robert Duncan Gregory Aronovich Katharine Leek Susanne Martens

Benedetto Pollani Emmanuella Reiter Laura Vallejo Naomi Holt Alistair Scahill Daniel Cornford Martin Fenn Richard Cookson Cellos Kristina Blaumane Principal Chair supported by Bianca & Stuart Roden

Francis Bucknall Laura Donoghue Santiago Carvalho† David Lale Elisabeth Wiklander Chair supported by The Viney Family

Sue Sutherley Susanna Riddell Tom Roff Helen Rathbone George Hoult Sibylle Hentschel Double Basses Kevin Rundell* Principal Colin Paris George Peniston Laurence Lovelle Lowri Morgan Laura Murphy Kenneth Knussen Helen Rowlands Charlotte Kerbegian Catherine Ricketts Flutes Sue Thomas* Principal Chair supported by Victoria Robey OBE

Hannah Grayson Ian Mullin Stewart McIlwham* Piccolos Stewart McIlwham* Principal Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra

Ian Mullin Oboes Ian Hardwick* Principal Alice Munday Sue Böhling*

Cor Anglais Sue Böhling* Principal

Bass Trombones Lyndon Meredith Principal Sam Freeman

Chair supported by Dr Barry Grimaldi

Heckelphone John Orford

Tubas Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal Sasha Koushk-Jalali

Clarinets Robert Hill* Principal Emily Meredith Paul Richards

Timpani Simon Carrington* Principal Tom Lee

E-flat Clarinet Thomas Watmough Principal

Percussion Andrew Barclay* Principal

Bass Clarinet Paul Richards Principal

Henry Baldwin Co-Principal

Chair supported by Andrew Davenport Chair supported by Jon Claydon

Keith Millar Jeremy Cornes Tom Lee

Bassoons Gareth Newman Principal Laura Vincent Claire Webster Contrabassoon Simon Estell Principal

Harps Rachel Masters* Principal Emma Ramsdale

Horns David Pyatt* Principal

Celeste Catherine Edwards

Chair supported by Simon Robey

Organ Bernard Robertson

John Ryan* Principal Chair supported by Laurence Watt

Martin Hobbs Mark Vines Co-Principal Gareth Mollison Duncan Fuller Alex Wide Stephen Nicholls Meilyr Hughes

Offstage Horns Pip Eastop Stephen Stirling Marcus Bates Jonathan Quaintrell-Evans Daniel Curzon Joseph Ryan Stephen Craigen Adam Howcroft Elise Campbell Rebecca Hill Andrew Littlemore James Pillai

Wagner Tubas John Ryan* Stephen Nicholls Alex Wide Meilyr Hughes Trumpets Paul Beniston* Principal Anne McAneney* Chair supported by Geoff & Meg Mann

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

David Whitehouse

Offstage Trumpets Tom Rainer Tony Cross Offstage Trombones Duncan Wilson Simon Baker * Holds a professorial appointment in London † Chevalier of the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco

The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose player is not present at this concert: David & Victoria Graham Fuller

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Jurowski and the LPO can stand alongside the top international orchestras with pride. Richard Fairman, Financial Times, September 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

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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

Pieter Schoeman leader

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.

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 across social media. lpo.org.uk facebook.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra twitter.com/LPOrchestra youtube.com/londonphilharmonic7 instagram.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra

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 a second volume of works by the Orchestra's former Composer in Residence, Julian Anderson.

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

Robert Hill We bid a fond farewell to our Principal Clarinet, who retires from the Orchestra this summer after 44 years.

Before joining the LPO, Bob studied at the Royal Academy of Music with John Davies and after completing his studies joined the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as Co-Principal Clarinet. In 1972 Bob joined the LPO as Principal Clarinet and has graced the woodwind section ever since.

This evening the London Philharmonic Orchestra would like to pay tribute to one of its most outstanding, longserving and best-loved musicians. Robert Hill has been Principal Clarinet of the LPO for the last 44 years, a remarkable achievement for a principal wind player by any standards. Bob will be stepping down from his position at the end of this season.

As a colleague it has been a privilege to share a part of that time with him on the concert platform and to experience his extraordinary and rare musicianship. Despite the pressures and the ups and downs of life on the London music scene, Bob’s constant good humour and approach have been a source of inspiration and a model of how to survive the demands of the job. There are not really the words to properly do justice to the contribution that Bob has made to the London Philharmonic Orchestra over his long and distinguished career. Tonight we acknowledge with sincere thanks a truly exceptional achievement. Stewart McIlwham, LPO President and Principal Piccolo

New CD release on the LPO Label: Jurowski conducts Julian Anderson Julian Anderson: In lieblicher Bläue: poem for violin and orchestra Alleluia The Stations of the Sun Vladimir Jurowski conductor Carolin Widmann violin London Philharmonic Choir London Philharmonic Orchestra LPO-0089 | £9.99

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

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‘Anderson is a composer of ringing, bell-like harmonies and subtly shifting orchestral colour. There’s a naive glow about his music, a pearly new-dawn iridescence, as if the world has returned to a state of primal innocence’. The Telegraph

Vladimir Jurowski conductor

Jurowski seems to have reached the magic state when he can summon a packed house to hear anything he conducts with the LPO, however unfamiliar.

Geoff Brown, The Arts Desk, February 2015

One of today’s most sought-after conductors, acclaimed worldwide for his incisive musicianship and adventurous artistic commitment, Vladimir Jurowski was born in Moscow and studied at the Music Academies of Dresden and Berlin. In 1995 he made his international debut at the Wexford Festival conducting Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night, and the same year saw his debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, with Nabucco. Vladimir Jurowski was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2003, becoming Principal Conductor in 2007. In October 2015 he was appointed the next Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Rundfunk-sinfonieorchester Berlin, a position he will take up in September 2017, and also accepted the honorary position of Artistic Director of the Enescu International Festival in Bucharest, also from 2017. He has previously held the positions of First Kapellmeister of the Komische Oper Berlin (1997–2001), Principal Guest Conductor of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna (2000–03), Principal Guest Conductor of the Russian National Orchestra (2005–09), and Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera (2001–13). He is a regular guest with many leading orchestras in both Europe and North America, including the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic and Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin; the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; The Philadelphia Orchestra; The Cleveland Orchestra; the Boston, San Francisco and Chicago symphony orchestras; and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden and Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

His opera engagements have included Rigoletto, Jenůfa, The Queen of Spades, Hansel and Gretel and Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Metropolitan Opera, New York; Parsifal and Wozzeck at Welsh National Opera; War and Peace at the Opéra national de Paris; Eugene Onegin at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan; Ruslan and Ludmila at the Bolshoi Theatre; Moses und Aron at Komische and Iolanta and Die Teufel von Loudun at Semperoper Dresden, and numerous operas at Glyndebourne including Otello, Macbeth, Falstaff, Tristan und Isolde, Don Giovanni, The Cunning Little Vixen, Peter Eötvös’s Love and Other Demons, and Ariadne auf Naxos. The Glyndebourne production of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, led by Vladimir Jurowski with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Glyndebourne Chorus won the 2015 BBC Music Magazine Opera Award. During the performance we are all 'in the same boat', so since conductors are meant to be silent during the concert, a friendly encouraging look in the right moment is very helpful, almost as helpful as good conducting technique (the latter being rather obligatory). Vladimir Jurowski on engaging players during a performance

In 2007 Vladimir was a guest on BBC Radio 4's flagship programme Desert Island Discs. Discover his eight records of choice here: bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007w97r

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 7

Alexey Zuev piano

Alexey Zuev challenged memories of the greats, bringing transcendental technique and finely attuned ears, with mature thought and the fullest palette of pianistic colour. © STR Studio, St Petersburg

Peter Grahame Woolf, Seen and Heard

Born in St Petersburg, Alexey Zuev gave his first public performance at the city’s State Cappella aged eight, having taken up piano studies at the School of Music and later the Special Music Conservatory School in St Petersburg. He holds numerous prestigious international awards including overall winner of the St Petersburg International Prokofiev Competition in 1999, the Educational Award at the 2002 London International Piano Competition, prize-winner at the 2008 International Sviatoslav Richter Competition and second prize-winner at the prestigious Géza Anda Piano Competition in 2009. Tonight’s concert is Alexey’s debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. His collaboration with conductor Vladimir Jurowski will continue in September with a performance with the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia in Moscow. Recent concert highlights have included his debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra, a performance of Scriabin’s Mysterium with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Concertgebouw; a reinvitation to appear with the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vassily Sinaisky; and an acclaimed performance of Britten’s Piano Concerto with Musikkolegium Winterthur conducted by Alan Buribayev. Recent recital highlights included a performance with Alexei Lubimov at the Moscow International House of Music and other recitals at the Engelhardt Hall in St Petersburg, the Chopin Festival in Warsaw and the Ravinia Festival in the USA. Other notable past performances included concerts with Georg Solti’s World Orchestra for Peace in St Petersburg and Moscow with Valery Gergiev. Festival appearances included the Kreuth Festival, St Gallen Festival, Kissinger

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Klavier-Olympiade, Sommer and Winterzauber Festivals in Bad Kissingen, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival and ‘Alpenklassik’ in Bad Reichenhall. Alexey Zuev’s CD debut of works by Weber, Schubert and Brahms was issued in 2008 in the ‘Russian Virtuosos’ series by Art-Classics (Moscow). A live recital disc of works by Beethoven, Stravinsky, Schumann, Chopin and Marina Schmotova was released in 2012. A collaboration with fellow pianist Alexei Lubimov saw the release of Debussy’s Trois Nocturnes and Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (arranged for four hands) on a critically acclaimed five-star ECM release in 2012. Another recording collaboration with Lubimov is due later this spring. Alexey’s performances of Schumann, Liszt and Debussy at the Ruhr International Piano Festival are also available on disc.

Programme notes

Speedread Later in their careers, both Richard Strauss and Serge Rachmaninoff were written off as hopelessly oldfashioned. Rachmaninoff’s Fourth Piano Concerto was derided as ‘film music’, and Strauss’s An Alpine Symphony was dismissed as musical travelogue, a sad, stale survival of late-romanticism. But both have survived when most of their ‘up-to-date’ critics are forgotten. Why? Because in both the originality is more than skin-deep. For all its lush romantic manner, Rachmaninoff’s last piano concerto is enigmatic, questioning, in places edgy – even angry. As a reflection of its troubled times it now seems far closer to the truth than many products of the socalled ‘Roaring Twenties’.

Serge Rachmaninoff 1873–1943

In 1917, the year of the Communist Revolution, Rachmaninoff left Russia, taking his family with him. Ostensibly he was simply accepting an invitation to give a series of concerts in Stockholm, but he never returned to his homeland. Two years later he settled permanently in the USA, and devoted himself to a career as virtuoso concert pianist. His output of original compositions plummeted: in fact nothing new appeared until the Fourth Piano Concerto in 1926, which according to the manuscript had been composed in January–August that year. (In fact some of the ideas seem to have occurred to Rachmaninoff at least ten years earlier.) When the first performance turned out to be a colossal flop there was a lot of knowing head-shaking. Rachmaninoff had neglected composition for too long, it was argued, so long that he’d gone off the boil creatively. He’d lost touch with his national roots – and also with his time,

On one level Strauss’s An Alpine Symphony is a brilliantly engineered sequence of pictorial effects, using a vast, colour-enhanced orchestra to evoke spectacular mountain views, waterfalls, vertiginous heights and a spectacular Alpine storm. On another, deeper level however it reflects the concerns of an artist, on the threshold of the First World War, who seems to sense that his world is about to change beyond all recognition. Can nature fill the void left by traditional religion and offer comfort in fearful times? An Alpine Symphony holds out hope that such things can at least be temporarily forgotten.

Piano Concerto No. 4 in G minor, Op. 40 Alexey Zuev piano 1 Allegro vivace 2 Largo 3 Allegro vivace

others argued: who else was writing lush romantic piano concertos in the age of Gershwin, of Stravinsky, and of jazz? Even the traditionalists were disappointed: where were all the big tunes, the gorgeous oceanic climaxes? Why did the Concerto so often seem to thwart expectations? Was Rachmaninoff actually trying, mistakenly, to catch up? It wasn’t until the pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli took up the Concerto in the late 1950s that performers and critics began to think again. Michelangeli had realised something the others hadn’t. The Fourth Piano Concerto isn’t simply a half-hearted or confused attempt to follow in the much earlier successes of the Second and Third Concertos; it’s something quite new, in some ways looking forward to the subtler masterpieces of Rachmaninoff’s late phase: the Third London Philharmonic Orchestra | 9

Programme notes continued

Symphony for instance, or the Symphonic Dances. True, the Fourth Concerto is less easy to grasp on first hearing, but stick with it and the rewards are proportionate. The very opening is surprising. A surging orchestral crescendo suddenly twists in a new harmonic direction and the piano storms in, apparently in the middle of a long, searching melody. Twice this melody seems to lose heart, and eventually the tempo subsides, and soulful cor anglais and horn introduce a more questioning theme for piano solo. The troubled feeling persists even

when the opening theme returns at the end of the movement, its initial buoyancy quickly fading. Normally a Rachmaninoff slow movement is a celebration of long-breathed melody, but the Largo chooses instead to brood on a short falling figure introduced by the piano, and at its heart is some of the most unsettling, angry music Rachmaninoff ever penned. There are moments of a more traditional virtuosic brilliance in the finale, especially at the ending, but the enigmas and shadows persist. Far from dulling Rachmaninoff’s creativity, exile seems to have given him a new perspective: darker perhaps, but if anything still more original.

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

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

‘Jurowski’s spacious, loving yet never overindulgent account of the composer’s last symphony is beautifully played by the LPO.’ The Sunday Times, February 2016

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

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Richard Strauss

An Alpine Symphony, Op. 64

1864–1949

An Alpine Symphony is Richard Strauss’s last ‘tonepoem’, the final peak in a musical mountain chain that stretches back to the defining masterpieces of his twenties: Don Juan (1888) and Death and Transfiguration (1889). During Strauss’s boyhood in his home city of Munich, the Alps were within relatively easy reach, and when he moved to the South Bavarian mountain resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1908 they became the daily backdrop to his domestic life and work, encouraging and invigorating him, and at the same time offering escape from professional and domestic stresses. As early as 1902 Strauss was talking about ideas for an ‘Alpine’ orchestral work, partly inspired by a memory of a boyhood climbing adventure that had gone badly wrong: Strauss and his friends had managed to get lost and then caught in a terrifying storm. (Alpine storms tend to be at the far end of spectacular scale.) Before long Strauss had a basic programme down on paper: ‘Night; sunrise / ascent; forest (hunt) / waterfall (Alpine spirit) / flowery meadows (shepherds) / glacier / thunderstorm / descent and rest. By the time Strauss began sketching ideas for An Alpine Symphony in 1911, that outline had matured. The subject was now 24 hours in the life of a mountain, from dawn to twilight, and the experiences and impressions of a group of people climbing it: wonder at the marvels they witness, joy on scaling the summit, the terror of the stormy descent and the sense of resolution and relief as the base is reached and night returns. This, combined with Strauss’s brilliantly pictorial writing, for a huge colour-enhanced orchestra, has given rise to a widespread belief that there’s really little more to An Alpine Symphony than a sumptuous musical travelogue. In fact there were serious personal and philosophical issues for Strauss as well. 1911 was the year Strauss’s friend, and to an extent rival, Gustav Mahler died, just short of his 51st birthday. Like Strauss, Mahler loved

the Alps, and did much of his composing amongst them. Also like Strauss, Mahler was an admirer of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who found spiritual uplift and intellectual clarity climbing the Swiss Alps, and who depicted his great literary creation, the atheist prophet Zarathustra, as a hermit amid high mountains. This helps explain what might at first seem a rather startling diary entry from 1911, in which Strauss expands on the character of his new symphony. ‘I want to call my Alpine Symphony The Antichrist, because in it we find: moral purification through one’s own strength, freedom through work, worship of eternal and fantastical nature.’ In his book The Antichrist (actually ‘The Anti-Christian’ would be a better translation), Nietzsche had challenged Christian values of humility, self-renunciation and the demonisation of nature. For Strauss, thinking in Nietzschean terms, the ascent of the mountain, the survival of the storm and the sense of serene acceptance as night falls become metaphors for man’s own heroic spiritual quest – a transcendence achieved in this mortal, finite existence, rather than in some promised afterlife. It is possible just to enjoy An Alpine Symphony as superbly evocative tone-painting. ‘At last I have learned how to orchestrate’, Strauss announced to a friend on completing the score – this from one of the acknowledged supreme masters of the art of orchestration! The opening is breathtaking: as a hushed minor scale descends across three octaves, strings fill in every single note of the scale, creating a shimmering ‘cluster’ chord, through which a rock-like bass brass theme emerges like a huge mountain peak through early morning mist. The beginning of ‘The Ascent’ is easy to identify as strings stride upwards in a faster tempo. After this highlights include distant hunting horns (Strauss asks for twelve), the shimmering gossamer

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 11

Still to come this summer ... textures of the Alpine waterfall (prominent harps and celeste), a ‘dangerous moment’ (nervously shimmering strings and angular brass calls), closely followed by ‘On the summit’ – ethereal tremolando violins and an oboe solo that seems at first to catch its breath from sheer wonderment. Then begins the descent, foreboding gradually erupting into the ‘Thunderstorm’, in which the orchestra is joined first by wind machine, then organ. As safety is reached and the sun begins to fall, the organ writing begins to sound more traditionally religious – an odd conclusion for a supposedly ‘Anti-Christian’ symphony? As Strauss worked on the orchestral score in 1914–15, Europe was descending into the catastrophe of World War One, and the world-order was about to change beyond recognition. One thing would endure however: nature, and those stunning, reassuringly solid mountains. As An Alpine Symphony closes with a backward glance at the original massive bass brass theme, perhaps we can sense Strauss drawing comfort from that thought, a comfort others would have found in the God Nietzsche had famously pronounced ‘dead’. In this respect, perhaps An Alpine Symphony isn’t so very anti-Christian after all.

Sunday 5 June | 12.00pm | Royal Festival Hall FUNHARMONICS FAMILY concert

Lose yourself in the woods in this special musical version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, recommended for ages 6–11. Children £5–£9 | Adults £10–£18

7.30pm Monday 4 July 2016 Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall, Royal College of Music

Recommended recordings of tonight’s works Many of our recommended recordings, where available, are on sale this evening at the Foyles stand in the Royal Festival Hall foyer. Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 4 Serge Rachmaninoff | Philadelphia Orchestra | Eugene Ormandy [Naxos] or Alexei Lubimov | Toronto Symphony Orchestra | Jukka-Pekka Saraste [Finlandia] R Strauss: An Alpine Symphony London Philharmonic Orchestra | Andrew Davis [Sony]

Julian Anderson Alhambra Fantasy Oliver Knussen Two Organa Pierre Boulez Dérive 1 Magnus Lindberg Corrente World premieres from LPO Young Composers: Hunter Coblentz Michael Cryne Lisa Illean Katarzyna Krzewin´ska Robert Peate

Timothy Lines conductor Magnus Lindberg conductor Sara Mohr-Pietsch presenter Members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra LPO Foyle Future Firsts RCM New Perspectives

Tickets £8 (students £4) London Philharmonic Orchestra Box Office 020 7840 4242 Mon- Fri 10am-5pm lpo.org.uk/debutsounds The LPO Young Composers Programme is organised in collaboration with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the Polska Music Programme and is generously supported by Cockayne – Grants for the Arts, Help Musicians UK, RVW Trust, The London Community Foundation and The Stanley Picker Trust.

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MUSIC IS OUR WORLD. 2016/17 Concert Season at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall Highlights include: — Sibelius expert Osmo Vänskä — Belief and Beyond Belief, a year-long festival with presents a Symphony Cycle pairing Sibelius’s symphonies Southbank Centre exploring what makes us human in the with concertos by British 21st century, offering the composers opportunity for personal exploration of belief through — Soloists including Anne-Sofie Mutter, Nicola Benedetti, meaning, science, death, Julian Bliss, Steven Isserlis, ideology and society. In Patricia Kopatchinskaja and partnership with Principal Hilary Hahn Conductor and Artistic Advisor Vladimir Jurowski Great choral works including Haydn’s The Creation, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, Mozart’s Requiem, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (Choral)

Book now lpo.org.uk 020 7840 4242 Season discounts of up to 30% available

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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

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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 Dr Barry Grimaldi 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 Roger Greenwood 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 Andrew and Sarah Poppleton 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 French Chamber of Commerce 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 Ernest Cook Trust The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Dunard Fund The Equitable Charitable Trust The Foyle Foundation The Goldsmiths’ Company Lucille Graham Trust The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust Help Musicians UK Derek Hill Foundation 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

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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

Alison Atkinson Digital Projects Director

Talia Lash Education and Community Project Manager

Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant

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

American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Inc. Jenny Ireland Co-Chairman William A. Kerr Co-Chairman Xenia Hanusiak Alexandra Jupin Jill Fine Mainelli Kristina McPhee David Oxenstierna Natalie Pray Robert Watson 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

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

Lucy Sims Education and Community Project Manager

Public Relations Albion Media (Tel: 020 3077 4930)

Richard Mallett Education and Community Producer