Ja
ISLE OF
19
y– December r a 20 u n
NOISES Landmark classics inspired by the British Isles 1689 – 2019
Concert programme
lpo.org.uk
Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor VLADIMIR JUROWSKI Principal Conductor Designate EDWARD GARDNER Leader PIETER SCHOEMAN supported by Neil Westreich Patron HRH THE DUKE OF KENT KG Chief Executive and Artistic Director TIMOTHY WALKER AM
Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall Saturday 7 December 2019 | 7.30pm
Purcell (arr. Manze) Suite (15’) Thomas Adès Violin Concerto (Concentric Paths) (20’) Interval (20’) Lawes (arr. Manze) Fantasy (6’) Vaughan Williams Job: A Masque for Dancing (43’)
Andrew Manze conductor Anthony Marwood violin
Free pre-concert event 6.00–6.45pm | Royal Festival Hall The LPO’s Foyle Future Firsts Development Programme bridges the transition between college and the professional platform for up to 17 outstanding young musicians. Meet this season’s new cohort in a lively programme of British music conducted by Michael Seal.
The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide. CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
ISLE OF
NOISES Contents 2 Welcome LPO Ring Cycle 2021 3 On stage tonight 4 About the Orchestra 5 Leader: Kevin Lin 6 Andrew Manze 7 Anthony Marwood 8 Programme notes 11 Recommended recordings 12 New on the LPO Label 13 Sound Futures donors 14 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 a member of staff for assistance. Eating, drinking and shopping? Enjoy fresh seasonal food for breakfast and lunch, coffee, teas and evening drinks with riverside views at Concrete Cafe, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and Riverside Terrace Cafe, Level 2, Royal Festival Hall. Visit our shops for products inspired by our artistic and cultural programme, iconic buildings and central London location. Explore across the site with Foyles, Giraffe, Strada, wagamama, YO! Sushi, Le Pain Quotidien, Las Iguanas, ping pong, Spiritland, Honest Burger, Côte Brasserie, Skylon and Topolski. 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 us on 020 3879 9555, 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 AND WATCHES should be switched off before the performance begins.
Out now The Autumn 2019 edition of our free LPO magazine, Tune In. Copies are available at the Welcome Desk, Level 2, Royal Festival Hall, or phone the LPO office on 020 7840 4200 to receive one in the post. Also available digitally: issuu.com/londonphilharmonic
2 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
Wagner’s Ring Cycle with Vladimir Jurowski January/February 2021
Join us as we reach the end of a remarkable three-year journey with two star-studded semi-staged complete Ring Cycles at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall. ‘Jurowski’s Wagner is fit for the gods … Jurowski and the London Philharmonic on fine form had as much to say as many a fully-staged production.’ The Financial Times Ring Cycle 1 Das Rheingold Die Walküre Siegfried Götterdämmerung
Mon 25 Jan 2021 Wed 27 Jan 2021 Fri 29 Jan 2021 Sun 31 Jan 2021
7.00pm 5.00pm 4.00pm 3.00pm
Ring Cycle 2 Das Rheingold Die Walküre Siegfried Götterdämmerung
Fri 5 Feb 2021 Sat 6 Feb 2021 Mon 8 Feb 2021 Wed 10 Feb 2021
7.00pm 4.00pm 4.00pm 3.00pm
On sale now For full cast information and booking, visit lpo.org.uk or call the LPO Ticket Office on 020 7840 4242. Support us as we realise this bold project and enjoy an enhanced concert experience. Include an add-on donation with your order. Visit lpo.org.uk or call 020 7840 4212 for more details.
On stage tonight
First Violins Kevin Lin Leader Chair supported by The Candide Trust
Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader Molly Cockburn Catherine Craig Martin Hรถhmann Robert Pool Sarah Streatfeild Yang Zhang Chair supported by Eric Tomsett
Tina Gruenberg Amanda Smith Morane Cohen-Lamberger Katherine Waller Miranda Allen Joseph Devalle John Dickinson Naori Takahashi Second Violins Tania Mazzetti Principal Chair supported by Countess Dominique Loredan
Kate Birchall Nancy Elan Fiona Higham Chair supported by David & Yi Buckley
Nynke Hijlkema Marie-Anne Mairesse Ashley Stevens Mathilde Gheorghiu Sheila Law Alison Strange Gavin Davies Judith Choi-Castro Maria Oguren Ellie Consta
Violas David Quiggle Principal Richard Waters Co-Principal Robert Duncan Ting-Ru Lai Katharine Leek Susanne Martens Chair supported by Gill & Garf Collins
Benedetto Pollani Laura Vallejo Stanislav Popov Naomi Holt Alistair Scahill Daniel Cornford Cellos David Lale Principal Francis Bucknall Laura Donoghue Gregory Walmsley Elisabeth Wiklander Sue Sutherley Tom Roff Helen Rathbone Sibylle Hentschel Iain Ward
Alto Flute Katherine Bicknell
Trombones David Whitehouse Principal Tom Berry
Oboes Ian Hardwick* Principal Alice Munday
Bass Trombone Lyndon Meredith Principal
Cor Anglais Max Spiers
Tuba Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal
Clarinets Benjamin Mellefont Principal
Timpani Simon Carrington* Principal Chair supported by Victoria Robey OBE
Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra
Percussion Andrew Barclay* Principal
Thomas Watmough Chair supported by Roger Greenwood
Chair supported by Andrew Davenport
Henry Baldwin Co-Principal Keith Millar
Paul Richards* Bass Clarinet Paul Richards* Principal
Harps Rachel Masters Principal Lucy Haslar
Alto Saxophone Martin Robertson Bassoons Jonathan Davies Principal Chair supported by Sir Simon Robey
Double Basses Kevin Rundell* Principal Hugh Kluger George Peniston Tom Walley Lowri Morgan Cathy Colwell Joseph Cowie Kenneth Knussen
Gareth Newman Simon Estell*
Flutes Sue Thomas* Principal
Trumpets Paul Beniston* Principal
Chair supported by Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp
Chair supported by Donors to the 2019 Gala Player Appeal
Hannah Grayson Katherine Bicknell
Christopher Hart Guest Principal Anne McAneney*
Piccolos Katherine Bicknell Sue Thomas*
Chair supported by Geoff & Meg Mann
Horns John Ryan* Principal Martin Hobbs Mark Vines Co-Principal Gareth Mollison Duncan Fuller
Organ Catherine Edwards * Holds a professorial appointment in London Meet our members: lpo.org.uk/players
The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert: The Chiltern Friends of the LPO William & Alex de Winton Sonja Drexler Dr Barry Grimaldi Bianca & Stuart Roden Neil Westreich
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3
London Philharmonic Orchestra
The London Philharmonic is playing at the peak of its form. Richard Fairman, The Financial Times (27 September 2019: Jurowski conducts Knussen, Britten & Tchaikovsky at Royal Festival Hall)
One of the finest orchestras on the international stage, the London Philharmonic Orchestra balances a long and distinguished history with its reputation as one of the UK’s most forward-looking ensembles. As well as its concert performances, the Orchestra also records film soundtracks, releases CDs and downloads on its own label, and reaches thousands of people every year through activities for families, schools and local communities. The Orchestra was founded by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1932, and has since been headed by many great conductors including Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. In 2017 Vladimir Jurowski celebrated his tenth anniversary as the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor. Edward Gardner is currently Principal Conductor Designate, and will take up the position when Jurowski’s tenure concludes in September 2021. 4 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
The Orchestra is resident at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London, where it gives around 40 concerts each season. Throughout the rest of 2019 we celebrate the music of Britain in our festival Isle of Noises, exploring music from and inspired by the British Isles, from Purcell to the present day. 2020 will see a new series entitled 2020 Vision, which features some of the most exciting works written since 2000, each combined in concert with pieces composed exactly 100 and 200 years earlier. The London Philharmonic Orchestra enjoys flourishing residencies in Brighton, Eastbourne and Saffron Walden, and performs regularly around the UK. Every summer, the Orchestra takes up its annual residency at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, where it has been Resident Symphony Orchestra for over 50 years. The Orchestra also tours internationally, performing to sellout audiences worldwide.
Kevin Lin leader
The London Philharmonic Orchestra has recorded many blockbuster film scores, 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 100 releases available on CD and to download. Recent additions include Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, Beethoven’s Symphonies Nos. 3 & 5 under the late Kurt Masur, and a film music disc under Dirk Brossé. 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. We recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of our Education and Community department, whose work over three decades has introduced so many people of all ages to orchestral music and created opportunities for people of all backgrounds to fulfil their creative potential. Our dynamic and wide-ranging programme provides first musical experiences for children and families; offers creative projects and professional development opportunities for schools and teachers; inspires talented teenage instrumentalists to progress their skills; and develops the next generation of professional musicians. The Orchestra’s work at the forefront of digital technology has enabled it to reach millions of people worldwide: all its recordings are available to download and stream and, as well as a YouTube channel and podcast series, the Orchestra has a lively presence on social media. lpo.org.uk facebook.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra twitter.com/LPOrchestra
Kevin Lin joined the London Philharmonic Orchestra as Co-Leader in August 2017. Originally from New York, Kevin has received international recognition for his musicianship and ‘soulful’ playing (The Arts Desk). He has performed as a soloist and recitalist in the UK, Taiwan, South Korea and Canada, in addition to numerous performances in the USA. He was previously Guest Concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony and Houston Symphony, and in 2015 was invited to lead the Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra at the Aspen Music Festival and School. He has also served as Concertmaster at The Colburn School and The Curtis Institute of Music. An avid chamber musician, Kevin’s recent collaborations include performances with the Tokyo and Ebène quartets, Edgar Meyer, Cho-Liang Lin, Orion Weiss and Andrew Bain. In recent years he has received prizes from the Irving M. Klein International Competition and the Schmidbauer International Competition, and competed in the George Enescu International Violin Competition and the Menuhin International Violin Competition. Kevin spent his early years studying with Patinka Kopec in New York, before going on to study with Robert Lipsett at The Colburn School in Los Angeles, where he received his Bachelor of Music degree. He then continued his studies at The Curtis Institute in Philadelphia as a Mark E. Rubenstein Fellowship recipient, under the pedagogy of Aaron Rosand.
youtube.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra instagram.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra
Kevin’s chair in the London Philharmonic Orchestra is generously supported by The Candide Trust.
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 5
Andrew Manze conductor
[Manze] is a musical tour-guide of unrivalled knowledge, instinct and understanding where this repertoire is concerned. © Benjamin Ealovega
The Independent, August 2018 (Vaughan Williams & Haydn with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at the BBC Proms)
Andrew Manze is widely celebrated as one of the most stimulating and inspirational conductors of his generation. His extensive and scholarly knowledge of the repertoire, together with his boundless energy and warmth, mark him out. He has been Chief Conductor of the NDR Radiophilharmonie, Hannover, since September 2014 and his contract has recently been extended until summer 2023. In the 2018/19 season he was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition to a busy touring schedule within Germany, during the 2019/20 season the NDR Radiophilharmonie returns to China, following its highly successful autumn 2016 tour, and makes its BBC Proms debut. Manze and the orchestra have embarked on a major series of award-winning recordings for Pentatone, focussed on the works of Mendelssohn and Mozart; the first recording in the Mendelssohn series won the German Record Critics’ Prize. In summer 2019 Manze also finished recording a cycle of the complete Vaughan Williams symphonies with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra for Onyx Classics. In great demand as a guest conductor across the globe, Manze has longstanding relationships with leading orchestras that include the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Camerata Salzburg and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He is also a regular guest at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York City. Recent and forthcoming guest conducting highlights include engagements with the Los Angeles Philharmonic
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Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, Hallé Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra of Europe. From 2006–14 Andrew Manze was Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra in Sweden. During this time he made a number of recordings with the orchestra including Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ Symphony (Harmonia Mundi) and a cycle of Brahms symphonies (CPO). He was also Principal Guest Conductor of the Norwegian Radio Symphony Orchestra from 2008–11, and held the title of Associate Guest Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra for four seasons. After reading Classics at Cambridge University, Andrew Manze studied the violin and rapidly became a leading specialist in the world of historical performance practice. He became Associate Director of the Academy of Ancient Music in 1996, and then Artistic Director of the English Concert from 2003–07. As a violinist he released an astonishing variety of recordings, many of them award-winning. Andrew Manze is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, Visiting Professor at the Oslo Academy, and has contributed to new editions of sonatas and concerti by Bach and Mozart, published by Bärenreiter and Breitkopf & Härtel. He also teaches, writes about, and edits music, as well as broadcasting regularly on radio and television.
Anthony Marwood violin
If there were rock-star equivalents in the classical music world, ace British violinist Anthony Marwood would be on the list.
© Felix van Dijk
The Age, Australia
Anthony Marwood enjoys a wide-ranging international career as a soloist, director and chamber musician. Recent solo engagements include performances with the Leipzig Gewandhaus, St Louis Symphony, Boston Symphony, New World Symphony and Sydney Symphony orchestras. As well as tonight’s performance with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, other invitations this season include Schumann with the Adelaide Symphony; his concerto debut in Budapest (Beethoven’s Violin Concerto and Triple Concerto with pianist Dénes Várjon and cellist Miklós Perényi) at the Liszt Academy under András Keller; his debut with the Spanish National Orchestra in Madrid; a multi-concert residency at the Adelaide Festival; and his debut at the Tanglewood Festival, playing Ligeti’s Violin Concerto. He will also return to Les Violons du Roy in Canada, where he is Principal Artistic Partner, and to the Amsterdam Sinfonietta to perform Mendelssohn’s Double Concerto with pianist Alexander Melnikov. Anthony has worked with conductors including Valery Gergiev, Andrew Davis, Thomas Søndergård, David Robertson, Gerard Korsten, Ilan Volkov, Jaime Martín and Douglas Boyd. The 2019/20 season includes recitals with pianist Aleksandar Madžar in Serbia and London, and with accordionist James Crabb in Australia and New Zealand. Anthony will appear at festivals in the USA (Yellow Barn, La Jolla Music Society SummerFest) and Brazil (Illumina Festival São Paulo).
Many leading composers have written concertos for him, including Thomas Adès, Steven Mackey, Sally Beamish and Samuel Carl Adams. Anthony is a prolific recording artist, and his most recent release – his 50th on the Hyperion label – is a recording of Walton’s Violin Concerto with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Martyn Brabbins. The disc received wide critical acclaim, including a 5-star review in The Guardian and a ‘Recommended Recording’ in The Strad magazine, whilst The Sunday Times described him as ‘a thrilling, virtuosic soloist’. Anthony studied with Emanuel Hurwitz and David Takeno in London. He has collaborated with numerous actors, Indian classical dancer Mayuri Boonham, Irish singer-songwriter Sinead O’Connor, sculptress Nicole Farhi and South African guitarist Derek Gripper. He was the violinist of the Florestan Trio for 16 years and won the Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist Award in 2006. Anthony is co-Artistic Director of the Peasmarsh Chamber Music Festival in East Sussex, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2018. He performs annually at the Yellow Barn Festival in Vermont and enjoys a close association with the Australian National Academy of Music in Melbourne. He was appointed an MBE in the 2018 Queen’s New Year’s Honours List and was made a Fellow of the Guildhall School of Music in 2013. He plays a 1736 Carlo Bergonzi violin, kindly bought by a syndicate of purchasers, and a 2018 violin made by Christian Bayon.
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Programme notes
Speedread A wealth of great music from three very different periods in English history is opened out in this concert. William Lawes wrote his exquisite viol consorts in times of great political and religious unrest. Unsurprisingly they seek consolation by turning inward. Henry Purcell wrote after the restoration of the monarchy brought far greater stability, and his manner is outward, brilliant and openly expressive. Conductor Andrew Manze’s Suite adapts three of Purcell’s finest short instrumental works for modern orchestra, showing how this music can speak to us as directly as it did to Purcell’s own contemporaries. Thomas Adès’s Violin Concerto Concentric Paths is only 14 years old, yet it has already established itself as a repertory piece. The title is a kind of riddle: does the music take us on a journey, or circle around a still
Henry Purcell 1659–95 arranged by Andrew Manze (born 1965)
Henry Purcell isn’t just an outstanding figure amongst British composers: he’s one of the giants of the European Baroque era. And yet – apart from a few favourites like ‘When I am laid in earth’ from Dido and Aeneas – it’s startling how little of his music is widely known in this country. Andrew Manze’s Suite takes four of Purcell’s most impressive works for varied ensembles and transforms them into a powerful sequence for modern orchestra. Purcell composed the starkly powerful Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary in 1695. Very unusually he used slide trumpets which,
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point? But this is far from an abstract intellectual exercise. The violin part in particular is lyrical, exploratory, movingly reflective – sometimes rather like Lawes’s Fantasy in spirit, if not in sound. Finally comes one of the richest and most wide-ranging of Vaughan Williams’s orchestral works, the ballet Job, based on the dreamlike biblical illustrations of William Blake, and charged throughout with a haunting Blake-like atmosphere. A self-confessed ‘Christian agnostic’, Vaughan Williams was fascinated by how Blake brought out both the transcendent glories and the discordant elements in the story of Job, tormented by Satan on God’s instruction. The result is what many would say is one of his greatest achievements, and a work with plenty to say to us, in an age with very mixed views about faith and the transcendent.
Suite 1 2 3 4
Funeral March for Queen Mary Fantasy on one note Chacony (ed. Benjamin Britten) Funeral March (reprise)
unlike the normal Baroque trumpets, were capable of playing in the minor key. Then comes the Fantasy on one note, originally for five-part viol consort, which weaves an increasingly intricate polyphony around a single repeated note in the middle of the texture. The great Chacony, which made such an impression on Benjamin Britten, builds steadily over a repeated bass pattern to a climax of sombre grandeur. Then the Funeral March returns, this time on full orchestra, to remind us perhaps that within months of composing it Purcell himself would be dead.
Thomas Adès born 1971
Violin Concerto (Concentric Paths) Anthony Marwood violin 1 Rings 2 Paths 3 Rounds
Commissioned by the Berliner Festspiele and by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Music Director, underwritten by Lenore and Bernard Greenberg. First performance: 4 September 2005 at the Berliner Festspiele, Kammermusiksaal, Berlin, Germany. Performed by Anthony Marwood/Chamber Orchestra of Europe/Thomas Adès (conductor).
When criticised by a famous violinist for writing ‘impossible’ music, Beethoven replied, ‘When I composed that, I was conscious of being inspired by God Almighty. Do you think I should consider your puny little fiddle when He speaks to me?’ As Anthony Marwood received the pages of Thomas Adès’s freshlycomposed Violin Concerto by fax, page by page, there was a moment when he braced himself for a similar reply. Near the end of the first movement was a passage where Adès expected Marwood to leap from one of the highest notes on the violin to the lowest at incredible speed. But when Marwood nervously questioned the composer, the reply was reassuring: ‘Well, I know you. I know you can do that.’ The depth of Adès’s understanding of and respect for Anthony Marwood’s musicianship – the fruit of a long collaboration – can be heard throughout the Violin Concerto, Concentric Paths (2005). However challenging the solo writing (and it can be very challenging), there’s never a sense of the music being written ‘against’ the violin – or the soloist. Whatever terrifying acrobatics the instrument may be expected to perform, it is still music that speaks from the heart, and especially from the heart of the violin, most of all in the central slow movement. And despite
the richness of the orchestral writing, Adès is careful to ensure that it never swamps the soloist. Even some of the most celebrated violin concertos aren’t beyond criticism in that department. The idea of ‘Concentric Paths’ – a variety of journeys, but all with the same centre, and possibly even the same goal – is easier to feel in this music than to explain. But then this is music that does rely ultimately on feeling rather than intellectual persuasion. The titles of both outer movements suggest circular movement, but the most striking moments are often those when the soloist seems to stand aside from the busy motion for a moment and to dwell on a striking motif or a telling melodic phrase. The title of the central movement, Paths, suggests something more linear, but this movement is actually a chaconne – a form in which a bass-line or sequence of chords keeps repeating in the background, behind the lyrical and polyphonic surface invention, thus forming another kind of circular pattern. If all this sounds dauntingly abstract, the liveliness, humour and tenderness of the writing should come as a wonderful surprise, right through to the finale’s brilliant ending.
Interval – 20 minutes An announcement will be made five minutes before the end of the interval.
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Programme notes continued
William Lawes 1602–45
Fantasy
arranged by Andrew Manze (born 1965)
William Lawes’s viol consorts are a shamefully undervalued box of delights. Their contrapuntal sophistication and expressive power left a deep impression on Purcell, and more recently on Britten and Michael Tippett. The six-part Fantasy shows Lawes’s mercurial brilliance at its finest – never quite predictable, it maintains a fine balance between capriciousness and a delicious sweet-and-sour melancholy.
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Job: A Masque for Dancing
1872–1958
Scene I
Introduction. Pastoral Dance. Satan’s appeal to God. Saraband of the Sons of God Scene II Satan’s Dance Scene III Minuet of the sons and daughters of Job Scene IV Job’s dream. Dance of plague, pestilence, famine and battle Scene V Dance of the Messengers Scene VI Dance of Job’s comforters. Job’s curse. A vision of Satan Scene: VII Elihu’s dancer of youth and beauty Pavane of the Sons of the Morning Scene VIII Galliard of the Sons of the Morning. Altar dance and heavenly pavane Scene IX Epilogue
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The Biblical Book of Job has fascinated some commentators, perplexed and disturbed others. In it, God accepts a challenge from Satan to put His virtuous servant Job to all sorts of terrible tests. Will Job keep the faith? At first he does so heroically, but then comes a terrifying moment when Job, strained to breaking point, curses the day he was born. Eventually he is won round again when God appears to him in a whirlwind and lectures him about the greatness of His own achievements. To some , like the philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, this was a wonderful demonstration of the need for trust, not in flawed reason, but in powers higher than ourselves; for others, like the psychologist C.G. Jung, it looked a lot more like bullying.
Vaughan Williams’s attitude to religion was nuanced and characteristically honest. He knew there was something important in it, but that it couldn’t be what it literally claimed to be – he was reportedly delighted when a friend described him as ‘the Christian agnostic’. So when, in 1928, he was approached to write music for a ballet based on William Blake’s Illustrations of the Book of Job, one can imagine him responding with instant enthusiasm. Blake’s mysticism, reflected in his poetry and engravings, appealed to Vaughan Williams throughout his adult life, but so too did Blake’s refreshingly original, heterodox take on religion. For Blake, the God of the Old Testament was a highly ambiguous figure: a vengeful lawgiver who was nevertheless perfectly capable of instructing Satan to do his dirty work in torturing Job. Blake’s illustrations brilliantly and movingly reflect the troubling but endlessly absorbing elements of the story, and Vaughan Williams responded to them at the fullness of his powers. As a ballet, Job was quickly judged a failure at its premiere in 1931, and it has never had much of a life in the theatre; but as music it was instantly welcomed as one of Vaughan Williams’s richest and most profound achievements. The sense of grand symphonic sweep is as impressive as in any of the numbered symphonies, and the themes are wonderfully characteristic; but there’s something else too – a refined sense of orchestral colour and atmosphere Vaughan Williams rarely matched elsewhere. At times it is as though Blake’s haunting visual imagery has been translated directly into music. The Introduction reveals Job in contemplation to the wonderful veiled sounds of low strings, harp and low flutes (including the rare alto flute), leading to archaicsounding pastoral sounds (oboes and cor anglais) . Satan’s entry is unmissable: sinister, angular dissonant figures on low woodwind and pizzicato cellos and basses. God’s response is grandly impassive (‘All that he hath is in thy power’), then the Sons of the Morning (angels) dance a Saraband in God’s honour. In Satan’s Dance, the diabolical adversary seizes God’s now empty throne and dances in obscene triumph. Near the end muted brass blare out a parody of the chant Gloria in excelsis Deo (‘Glory to God in the highest’.) The destruction of Job’s wealth and of his family are depicted grimly in the ‘Minuet of the sons and daughters of Job’. Job’s Dream begins in moving, hushed dignity (strings) but the dream itself is a nightmare,
then the three messengers (oboes and cor anglais, clarinets and bass clarinet), bring the terrible news of death and destruction; yet the dignified hushed music endures as Job continues to bless God. But his patience is finally destroyed by the three false ‘comforters’, their tones caught to perfection by an unctuous alto saxophone. Harried to despair, Job curses God, then the heavens open and Job sees Satan seated on God’s throne, to a terrific outburst for the full orchestra and organ. The soothing process is begun by the young, beautiful Elihu (solo violin), then the stately ‘Pavane of the Sons of the Morning’ indicates that God is returning and Satan’s reign is at its end. Satan is banished and a robust Galliard depicts the rebuilding of Job’s fortunes. (Strikingly, God’s harangue to Job from the whirlwind is omitted). Finally the music from the Introduction returns, showing Job humbled and serene, and leading to a touching final benediction. Programme notes © Stephen Johnson Explanatory surtitles © Andrew Neill, operated by Sophie Rashbrook
Recommended recordings of tonight’s works by Laurie Watt Thomas Adès – Violin Concerto (Concentric Paths) Anthony Marwood | Chamber Orchestra Of Europe Thomas Adès (Warner Classics: digital download) or Augustin Hadelich | Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra | Hannu Lintu (Avie) Vaughan Williams – Job: A Masque for Dancing London Philharmonic Orchestra | Adrian Boult (EMI Classics) or London Philharmonic Orchestra | Vernon Handley (EMI Classics)
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 11
New charity Christmas single out now
RING THE BELLS A new Christmas carol from composer Paul Fincham and the London Philharmonic Choir. Proceeds from the single will go towards Crisis and its mission to end homelessness.
Download or stream online from all major platforms.
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New and recent releases on the LPO Label
BEETHOVEN
MAHLER
MOZART
Symphonies Nos. 3 & 5
Symphony No. 4
Kurt Masur conductor
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Sofia Fomina soprano
Flute Concerto No. 2 Sinfonia Concertante for Four Winds Bassoon Concerto
£9.99 LPO-0112 Released March 2019
£9.99 LPO-0113 Released July 2019
CDs available from lpo.org.uk/recordings, the LPO Ticket Office (020 7840 4242) and all good CD outlets. Download or stream online via Spotify, Apple Music, Idagio and others.
12 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
Vladimir Jurowski conductor Juliette Bausor flute Jonathan Davies bassoon Ian Hardwick oboe John Ryan horn Thomas Watmough clarinet
£9.99 | LPO-0114 Released November 2019
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 Mr & Mrs Makharinsky David & Victoria Graham Fuller Alexey & Anastasia Reznikovich Goldman Sachs International Sir 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 The Rind Foundation Robert Markwick & Kasia Robinski The Maurice Marks Charitable Trust Sir Bernard Rix David Ross & Line Forestier (Canada) Mr Paris Natar
Carolina & Martin Schwab Dr Brian Smith Lady Valerie Solti Mr & Mrs G Stein Dr Peter Stephenson Miss Anne Stoddart TFS Loans Limited 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 Querée 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
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 13
Thank you
We are extremely grateful to all donors who have given generously to the LPO over the past year. Your generosity helps maintain the breadth and depth of the LPO’s activities, as well as supporting the Orchestra both on and off the concert platform.
Artistic Director’s Circle An anonymous donor Mrs Aline Foriel-Destezet Sir Simon & Lady Robey OBE Orchestra Circle The Candide Trust Mr & Mrs Philip Kan Neil Westreich Principal Associates Richard Buxton In memory of Brenda Lyndoe Casbon In memory of Ann Marguerite Collins Associates Steven M. Berzin Kay Bryan William & Alex de Winton Hamish & Sophie Forsyth Mrs Irina Gofman Countess Dominique Loredan Mr & Mrs Makharinsky George Ramishvili Stuart & Bianca Roden In memory of Hazel Amy Smith Gold Patrons An anonymous donor David & Yi Buckley In memory of Allner Mavis Channing The Chiltern Friends of the LPO Gill & Garf Collins Andrew Davenport Sonja Drexler Mrs Gillian Fane Marie-Laure Favre-Gilly de Varennes de Beuill Virginia Gabbertas MBE Mr Roger Greenwood The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust Geoff & Meg Mann Francis & Marie-France Minkoff Julian & Gill Simmonds Eric Tomsett The Viney Family Laurence Watt
Silver Patrons Ms Terri Borain Andrea d’Avack Georgy Djaparidze Ulrike & Benno Engelmann Peter & Fiona Espenhahn Rehmet Kassim-Lakha de Morixe John & Angela Kessler Jamie & Julia Korner The Metherell Family Denis & Yulia Nagy Mikhail Noskov & Vasilina Bindley Tom & Phillis Sharpe Andrew & Rosemary Tusa Guy & Utti Whittaker Grenville & Krysia Williams Bronze Patrons Anonymous donors Michael Allen Mr Mark Astaire Margot Astrachan Mr Geoffrey Bateman Mrs A Beare Dr Anthony Buckland Mr Alan C Butler Desmond & Ruth Cecil The Earl & Countess of Chichester Mr Michael Cole-Fontayn Mr John H Cook Howard & Veronika Covington Mrs Maria Danilova Guy Davies Bruno De Kegel Cameron & Kathryn Doley Jill Dyal David Ellen Ignor & Lyuba Galkin Mr Daniel Goldstein David & Jane Gosman Mr Gavin Graham Lord & Lady Hall Mrs Dorothy Hambleton Wim & Jackie Hautekiet-Clare Eugene & Allison Hayes Ms Elena Heinz Malcolm Herring Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle J Douglas Home Rose & Dudley Leigh
14 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
Elena Lileeva & Adrian Pabst Drs Frank & Gek Lim Mrs Elizabeth Meshkvicheva Maxim & Natalia Moskalev Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill Peter & Lucy Noble Linda & Tim O’Neill Jacopo Pessina Mr Alex Petrov Mr Roger Phillimore Mr Michael Posen Mr Alex Smedley Ms Nadia Stasyuk Ms Sharon Thomas Mr & Mrs John C Tucker Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood Marina Vaizey Ms Jenny Watson CBE Christopher Williams Mr Anthony Yolland Principal Supporters Anonymous donors Ralph & Elizabeth Aldwinckle Helen Brocklebank Mr Philip Bathard-Smith Ms Phyllia Chen Mr & Mrs Stewart Cohen David & Liz Conway Mr Alistair Corbett In honour of Bea Crumbine Mr Jonathan Davies Mr Richard Fernyhough Mr Michael Fox Mr Stephen Goldring Mr Milton Grundy Mr Ian Haslegrave Michael & Christine Henry Lady Hill Mrs Maureen Hooft-Graafland Jamilya Jakisheva Per Jonsson Vadim Levin Lady Leonora, Countess of Lichfield Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Paul & Brigitta Lock Mr Peter Mace Michael & Patricia MclarenTurner Alice P. Melly
Mr John Meloy Andrew T Mills Dr Karen Morton Maxim & Natalia Moskalev Mrs Jannifer Oxley Mr James Pickford Natalie Pray Mr Christopher Querée Sir Bernard Rix Mr Robert Ross Barry & Gillian Smith Mr Bill Smith Martin & Cheryl Southgate Mr & Mrs G Stein Dr Peter Stephenson Matthew Stephenson & Roman Aristarkhov Marina Vaizey Howard & Sheelagh Watson Supporters Anonymous donors Mr John D Barnard Mr Bernard Bradbury Mr Richard Brooman Mrs Alan Carrington Mr Julien Chilcott-Monk Alison Clarke & Leo Pilkington Mr Joshua Coger Mr Geoffrey A Collens Miss Tessa Cowie Mr David Devons Mr Anthony Diamond Samuel Edge Manuel Fajardo & Clémence Humeau Mrs Janet Flynn Scott & Icy Frantz Christopher Fraser OBE Will Gold Mr Peter Gray The Jackman Family Mr & Mrs Bon Jasperson Mr David MacFarlane Peter & Isabel Malkin Mr Frederic Marguerre Mr Mark Mishon Trevor Mulineaux Dame Jane Newell DBE Bill & Jane Nickerson Mr Stephen Olton Anju & Radhika Patel Mr David Peters
Candace Procaccini Mr & Mrs Graham & Jean Pugh Mr David Russell Deb & Jay Shaw Ms Elizabeth Shaw Mr Kenneth Shaw Ms Natalie Spraggon & Mr David Thomson Mrs John E Stauffer Ronald & Davidde Strackbein Mr John Weekes Joanna Williams Hon. Benefactor Elliott Bernerd Hon. Life Members Alfonso Aijón Kenneth Goode Carol Colburn Grigor CBE Pehr G Gyllenhammar Robert Hill Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE Laurence Watt LPO International Board of Governors Natasha Tsukanova Chair Steven M. Berzin (USA) Veronika Borovik-Khilchevskaya (Cyprus) Kay Bryan (Australia) Marie-Laure Favre Gilly de Varennes de Bueil (France) Aline Foriel-Destezet (France) Irina Gofman (Russia) Joyce Kan (China/Hong Kong) Countess Dominique Loredan (Italy) Olivia Ma (Greater China Area) Olga Makharinsky (Russia) George Ramishvili (Georgia) Victoria Robey OBE (USA)
Thomas Beecham Group Members David & Yi Buckley The Candide Trust The Chiltern Friends of the LPO Gill & Garf Collins Andrew Davenport William & Alex de Winton Donors to the 2019 Gala Player Appeal Sonja Drexler The Friends of the LPO Irina Gofman Roger Greenwood Dr Barry Grimaldi Mr & Mrs Philip Kan John & Angela Kessler Countess Dominique Loredan Sir Simon Robey Victoria Robey OBE Bianca & Stuart Roden Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp Julian & Gill Simmonds Eric Tomsett Natasha Tsukanova Neil Westreich Guy & Utti Whittaker We are grateful to the Board of the American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, who assist with fundraising for our activities in the United States of America: Simon Freakley Chairman Alexandra Jupin William A. Kerr Kristina McPhee Natalie Pray Stephanie Yoshida Antony Phillipson Hon. Chairman Victoria Robey OBE Hon. Director Richard Gee, Esq Of Counsel Jenifer L. Keiser, CPA, EisnerAmper LLP
Connecticut Gala Committee Bea Crumbine & Jill Dyal Co-Chairmen Rodica Brune Mandy DeFilippo Rachel Franco Nick Gutfreund Mary Hull Steve Magnuson Natalie Pray Victoria Robey OBE Lisa & Scot Weicker Corporate Donors Barclays L Catterton Paul Hastings LLP Payne Hicks Beach Pictet Bank White & Case LLP LPO Corporate Circle Leader freuds Sunshine Principal Berenberg Carter-Ruck French Chamber of Commerce Tutti Ageas Lazard Russo-British Chamber of Commerce Walpole Preferred Partners After Digital Heineken Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd London Orthopaedic Clinic Steinway Villa Maria In-kind Sponsor Google Inc
Trusts and Foundations The Bernarr Rainbow Trust The Boltini Trust Sir William Boreman’s Foundation Borletti-Buitoni Trust Boshier-Hinton Foundation The Candide Trust The Chalk Cliff Trust Cockayne – Grants for the Arts The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Dunard Fund Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation The Fidelio Charitable Trust Foyle Foundation Lucille Graham Trust John Horniman’s Children’s Trust John Thaw Foundation The Idlewild Trust Kirby Laing Foundation The Lawson Trust The Leverhulme Trust Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation The London Community Foundation Lord & Lady Lurgan Trust Marsh Christian Trust Adam Mickiewicz Institute PRS For Music Foundation The Radcliffe Trust Rivers Foundation The R K Charitable Trust Romanian Cultural Institute RVW Trust The Sampimon Trust Schroder Charity Trust Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation The Steel Charitable Trust Spears-Stutz Charitable Trust The Thomas Deane Trust The Viney Family The Clarence Westbury Foundation Garfield Weston Foundation The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust The William Alwyn Foundation and all others who wish to remain anonymous.
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 15
Administration
Board of Directors Victoria Robey OBE Chairman Martin Höhmann* President Gareth Newman* Vice-President Dr Catherine C. Høgel Vice-Chairman Henry Baldwin* Roger Barron David Buckley Bruno De Kegel Al MacCuish Susanne Martens* Stewart McIlwham* Pei-Jee Ng* Andrew Tusa Timothy Walker AM Neil Westreich David Whitehouse* * Player-Director Advisory Council Martin Höhmann Chairman Rob Adediran Christopher Aldren Dr Manon Antoniazzi Richard Brass Helen Brocklebank Desmond Cecil CMG Sir Alan Collins KCVO CMG Andrew Davenport William de Winton Cameron Doley Edward Dolman Christopher Fraser OBE Lord Hall of Birkenhead CBE Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS Amanda Hill Rehmet Kassim-Lakha Jamie Korner Geoff Mann Clive Marks OBE FCA Stewart McIlwham Andrew Neill Jamie Njoku-Goodwin Nadya Powell Sir Bernard Rix Victoria Robey OBE Baroness Shackleton Thomas Sharpe QC Julian Simmonds Barry Smith Martin Southgate Andrew Swarbrick Sir John Tooley Chris Viney Timothy Walker AM Laurence Watt Elizabeth Winter
General Administration Timothy Walker AM Chief Executive and Artistic Director
Education and Community Isabella Kernot Education and Community Director
David Burke General Manager and Finance Director
Talia Lash Education and Community Manager
Sarah Gee PA to the Chief Executive/ Office Administrator
Emily Moss Education and Community Project Manager
Finance Frances Slack Finance and Operations Manager
Hannah Tripp Education and Community Project Co-ordinator
Dayse Guilherme Finance Officer
Development Laura Willis Development Director
Concert Management Roanna Gibson Concerts Director
Vicky Moran Development Events Manager
Graham Wood Concerts and Recordings Manager Sophie Richardson Glyndebourne and Projects Manager (maternity leave) Fabio Sarlo Glyndebourne and Projects Manager (maternity cover) Grace Ko Tours Manager Alison Jones Concerts and Recordings Co-ordinator Christina Perrin Concerts and Tours Assistant Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager Sarah Holmes Librarian Sarah Thomas Librarian Christopher Alderton Stage Manager Laura Kitson Stage Manager Damian Davis Transport Manager Hannah Verkerk Orchestra Co-ordinator and Auditions Administrator
16 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
Christina McNeill Corporate Relations Manager Rosie Morden Individual Giving Manager Anna Quillin Trusts and Foundations Manager Izzy Keig Development Assistant Lewis Hammond Development Assistant ~ Nick Jackman Campaigns and Projects Director Kirstin Peltonen Development Associate Marketing Kath Trout Marketing Director Mairi Warren Marketing Manager Alexandra Lloyd Projects and Residencies Marketing Manager Megan Macarte Box Office Manager (Tel: 020 7840 4242) Rachel Williams Publications Manager Rachel Smith Website Manager Greg Felton Digital Creative Georgie Gulliver Marketing Assistant
Public Relations Premier classical@premiercomms.com Tel: 020 7292 7355/ 020 7292 7335 Archives Philip Stuart Discographer Gillian Pole Recordings Archive Professional Services Charles Russell Speechlys Solicitors Crowe Clark Whitehill LLP Auditors Dr Barry Grimaldi Honorary Doctor Mr Chris Aldren Honorary ENT Surgeon Mr Brian Cohen Mr Simon Owen-Johnstone Honorary Orthopaedic Surgeons 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 courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London. Cover artwork Ross Shaw @JMG Studio Printer Cantate