Issuu

2021/22 concert season at Congress Theatre

Concert programme

Principal Conductor Edward Gardner supported by Aud Jebsen Principal Guest Conductor Karina Canellakis Conductor Emeritus Vladimir Jurowski Patron HRH The Duke of Kent KG Artistic Director Elena Dubinets Chief Executive David Burke Leader Pieter Schoeman supported by Neil Westreich

Congress Theatre, Eastbourne Sunday 24 April 2022 | 3.00pm

Spirit of the City Coleridge-Taylor Ballade for Orchestra in A minor, Op. 33 (12’) Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26 (23’) Interval (20’) Vaughan Williams A London Symphony (Symphony No. 2) (43’) Tom Gauterin conductor Daniel Pioro violin

The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide. CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA IN ASSOCIATION WITH EASTBOURNE BOROUGH COUNCIL

Contents 2 3

Welcome LPO 2022/23 season at the Congress Theatre 4 Tom Gauterin 5 Daniel Pioro 6 London Philharmonic Orchestra 8 On stage today 9 Programme notes 14 Thank you 16 LPO administration

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 24 April 2022 • Spirit of the City

Welcome to the Congress Theatre

LPO 2022/23 season at the Congress Theatre

Theatre Director Chris Jordan

Welcome to this afternoon’s performance. We are pleased to welcome back the London Philharmonic Orchestra and its patrons to the Congress Theatre.

Welcome to our final concert of the 2021/22 season at the Congress Theatre. We are thrilled to share with you details of next season: concert listings are on the opposite page. Priority booking (for customers booking for all six concerts) opens at 9am this Monday, 25 April. General booking opens at 9am on Tuesday 3 May.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra gave the first ever performance at this Grade II listed building when it originally opened in 1963. This historic building was purpose-built as a theatre and conference venue designed by Bryan and Norman Westwood Architects. What makes the theatre unique is that it is conceived to be a perfect cube, and has fantastic acoustics to enhance your experience of live music. We thank you for continuing to support the concert series.

Starting in October, we bring some of the most beautiful music written for orchestra to Eastbourne, including hugely popular works by Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Mozart, alongside Bizet, Rodrigo and an Eastbourne premiere for British composer David Bruce. We’re joined by sensational soloists, including exciting young artists making waves in the world of classical music. Rising star Ana de la Vega joins us for Mozart’s First Flute Concerto; Zlatomir Fung, the youngest musician to win First Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition Cello Division, plays Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations; 15-year-old violinist Leia Zhu performs Vaughan Williams’s Lark Ascending; and BBC New Generation Artist for 2021–23 Tom Borrow plays Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3. We are also joined by former BBC New Generation Artist Tai Murray for Dvořák’s Violin Concerto and we welcome back guitarist Miloš Karadaglić for a programme that promises to bring Spanish sunshine to the South Coast.

Please sit back in your seats and enjoy the concert and your visit here. As a courtesy to others, please ensure mobile phones are switched off during the performance. Thank you.

We look forward to the future with excitement and hope you will join us at the Congress Theatre for what is set to be another memorable season! Book online at eastbournetheatres.co.uk or by phone on 01323 412000.

LPO concerts on Marquee TV We are delighted that a selection of concerts from our 2021/22 and 2022/23 Royal Festival Hall seasons are being filmed and broadcast on Marquee TV. Concerts will be available for a limited period to watch for free without a Marquee TV subscription; however if you would like to subscribe for unlimited access to Marquee TV’s extensive range of music, opera, theatre and dance productions, you can enjoy 50% off with code LPO2022. Visit marquee.tv/LPO2022 to find out more, enjoy a free trial or subscribe.

2022/23 concert season at the Congress Theatre Beethoven’s Fifth

Poetry and Passion

Sunday 30 October 2022 | 3.00pm

Sunday 12 February 2023 | 3.00pm

Schubert Overture, Rosamunde Mozart Flute Concerto No. 1 Beethoven Symphony No. 5

Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet: Fantasy Overture Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5

Gábor Káli conductor Ana de la Vega flute

Gergely Madaras conductor Zlatomir Fung cello*

Landscapes and Fairytales

*LPO Alexandra Jupin Award recipient: An annual award for an artist making their debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Sunday 11 December 2022 | 3.00pm Smetana Vltava Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade Kerem Hasan conductor Leia Zhu violin

Miloš plays Rodrigo Sunday 15 January 2023 | 3.00pm De Falla The Three-Cornered Hat: Suite No. 1 David Bruce The Peacock Pavane Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez Bizet Carmen Suites Nos. 1 & 2 Bizet Farandole from L’Arlésienne Suite No. 2 Karen Kamensek conductor Miloš Karadaglić guitar

Romantic Journeys Sunday 26 March 2023 | 3.00pm Mendelssohn Symphony No. 3 (Scottish) Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 Patrick Hahn conductor Tom Borrow piano

Imaginary Landscapes Sunday 16 April 2023 | 3.00pm Mendelssohn Hebrides Overture Dvořák Violin Concerto Brahms Symphony No. 3 Chloé van Soeterstède conductor Tai Murray violin

Priority booking opens Monday 25 April General sale Tuesday 3 May Book online eastbournetheatres.co.uk Ticket Office 01323 412000

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 24 April 2022 • Spirit of the City

Tom Gauterin conductor

Away from music, Tom is a tax lawyer and might otherwise be found reading, enjoying a glass of Rioja, being defeated by The Times crossword or being used as a climbing frame by his two young daughters.

Today’s concert is Tom’s debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Tom Gauterin was born in 1980 and read English at Jesus College, Oxford. In 2004 he co-founded the Brunel Sinfonia, which quickly established itself as one of the most innovative and popular Bristol orchestras. He conducted the Brunel Sinfonia from its inception until 2013, leading them in many thrilling concerts including the first-ever performance in Bristol by an amateur orchestra of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, and the first performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 in Bristol for 30 years. Tom later established the Bristol Classical Players with the aim of giving players the chance to work fast and to a high standard, and has been privileged to conduct them in all nine Beethoven symphonies and several concerts with international soloists including Nicola Benedetti, Jennifer Pike and Stephen Hough. Although largely self-taught, Tom participated in Martyn Brabbins’s conducting masterclass at the 2005 Cheltenham Festival and has received informal guidance from Neil Thomson, Alexander Shelley and John Wilson. Tom’s musical interests are wide, although his area of special interest is English music from the first half of the 20th century, notably Vaughan Williams, Elgar and Bax. Engagements later this year include Verdi’s Requiem, Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with Stephen Hough, and an all-Vaughan Williams programme celebrating the composer’s 150th anniversary.

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 24 April 2022 • Spirit of the City

Daniel Pioro violin

During the 2020/21 season Daniel and his regular duo partner Katherine Tinker performed numerous new works for violin and piano and new adaptations for violin and chamber organ for their debut at Snape Maltings Festival and their return to the Wigmore Hall. The duo’s incredibly creative programmes included new compositions by Cassandra Miller, Nico Muhly, Linda Catlin Smith, Nick Martin and Laurence Crane, intertwined with well-known works by Biber and J S Bach. Orchestral projects included a live broadcast for BBC Radio 3 with the BBC Philharmonic and Ryan McAdams, performing a selection of works by Hildegard of Bingen, Tartini, Biber, and Rameau, arranged in collaboration with composer Tom Coult. In April 2021 Daniel joined the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in the new role of Associate Artist in Contemporary String Performance and launched a new contemporary music group called Studio Collective, designed to challenge students’ approach to choosing repertoire, engaging with the score, and their own musical decisions.

Daniel Pioro is a soloist, collaborative artist, and advocate for new and experimental music. He actively promotes new music and is interested in finding new ways of listening to and creating sound, as well as developing strong collaborations with composers, artists, choreographers, dancers and writers.

Daniel Pioro’s celebrated association with the composer and guitarist Jonny Greenwood led Greenwood to write and dedicate a new violin concerto, Horror Vacui, for Pioro. Daniel premiered the piece to much acclaim at the BBC Proms in 2019 with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Hugh Brunt, which was praised by the BBC as ‘the ultimate display of musical virtuosity’. In September 2019, Daniel’s recording of Bach’s Partita No. 2 was the first release on Greenwood’s label, Octatonic Records.

After making his debut at the BBC Proms in 2019, where his performance was described as ‘the most inventive and engaging’ by The Daily Telegraph, Daniel continues to grow his international career. In February 2020 he received acclaim for his performance with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, when he stepped in at short notice to play Oliver Knussen’s Violin Concerto. The 2021/22 season sees Daniel Pioro give two world premieres: Tom Coult’s violin concerto Pleasure Garden with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, and Joseph Davies’s violin concerto Parallax with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. He will perform the Coult concerto once again with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Andrew Manze at London’s Royal Festival Hall on 26 October 2022. Other highlights of this season include a return to the BBC Philharmonic, an appearance at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival performing Biber’s complete Rosary Sonatas, and his debut at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg performing music from his debut album ‘Dust’, as well as other works by his close collaborator, Valgeir Sigurðsson.

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 24 April 2022 • Spirit of the City

London Philharmonic Orchestra

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 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 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. 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 highlights include Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11 and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 under Vladimir Jurowski, and a commemorative box set of historic recordings with former Principal Conductor Sir Adrian Boult.

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 September 2021 Edward Gardner became the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor, succeeding Vladimir Jurowski, who became Conductor Emeritus in recognition of his transformative impact on the Orchestra as Principal Conductor from 2007–21. Karina Canellakis is the Orchestra’s current Principal Guest Conductor and Brett Dean is the Orchestra’s current Composer-in-Residence.

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 Orchestra is resident at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London, where it gives around 40 concerts each season. It also enjoys flourishing residencies in Brighton, Eastbourne and Saffron Walden, and performs regularly around the UK. Each summer

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 24 April 2022 • Spirit of the City

Today’s Leader

The London Philharmonic Orchestra is committed to inspiring the next generation of musicians, and recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of its 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. Its 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. Over the pandemic period the LPO further developed its relationship with UK and international audiences through its ‘LPOnline’ digital content: over 100 videos of performances, insights, and introductions to playlists, which collectively received over 3 million views worldwide and led to the LPO being named runner-up in the Digital Classical Music Awards 2020. From Autumn 2020 the Orchestra was delighted to be able to return to its Southbank Centre home to perform a season of concerts filmed live and streamed free of charge via Marquee TV.

Vesselin Gellev

Bulgarian violinist Vesselin Gellev has been the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Sub-Leader since 2007. Praised by the New York Times for his ‘warmth and virtuosic brilliance’, Vesselin has been a featured soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Spoleto Festival Orchestra, New Haven Symphony Orchestra and Juilliard Orchestra, among others. He won First Prize at the Concert Artists Guild Competition in New York as a member of the Antares Quartet, and has recorded several albums and toured worldwide as Concertmaster of Kristjan Järvi’s Grammy-nominated Absolute Ensemble.

September 2021 saw the opening of a new live concert season at the Royal Festival Hall, featuring many of the world’s leading musicians including Sheku KannehMason, Klaus Mäkelä, Renée Fleming, Bryn Terfel and this season’s Artist-in-Residence, Julia Fischer. The Orchestra is delighted to be continuing to offer digital streams to selected concerts throughout the season through its ongoing partnership with Intersection and Marquee TV.

Prior to joining the LPO, Vesselin was Leader of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra in the USA and the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in Italy. He performs regularly as Guest Leader with numerous orchestras in the UK and abroad including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

lpo.org.uk

Vesselin received Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School, New York, as a student of Robert Mann. He has served on the violin and chamber music faculties of Cornell University in Ithaca, NY and the Eleazar de Carvalho Music Festival in Fortaleza, Brazil.

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 24 April 2022 • Spirit of the City

On stage today First Violins

Vesselin Gellev Leader Lasma Taimina

Chair supported by Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik V. G. Cave

Minn Majoe Martin Höhmann

Chair supported by Chris Aldren

Jeff Moore John Dickinson Amanda Smith Amanda Smith Ricky Gore Elizaveta Tyun Katherine Waller Gavin Davies

Second Violins

Tania Mazzetti Principal

Cellos

Francis Bucknall Susanna Riddell Leo Melvin Auriol Evans Iain Ward

Bassoons

Double Basses

Piccolos

Rebecca Chambers Guest Principal

Benedetto Pollani Martin Wray Julia Kornig Anna Growns Abby Bowen Charles Cross

Guest Principal

Percussion

Feargus Brennan Guest Principal

Simon Estell* Principal

Horns

Harps

Guest Principal

Jonathan Phillips

Contrabassoon

Martin Hobbs Duncan Fuller Gareth Mollison

Harry Winstanley

Timpani

Emmanuel Joste Stefan Beckett Laura Bradford

John Ryan* Principal Andrew Littlemore

Flutes

Chair supported by David & Yi Buckley

Violas

Luke Tucker Guest Principal Antonia Lazenby

Kevin Rundell* Principal Hugh Kluger George Peniston Laura Murphy

Imogen Royce Maja Persson

Joseph Maher Clarice Curradi Sioni Williams Harry Kerr Jamie Hutchinson Rebecca Dinning

Paul Richards* Principal

Guest Principal

Chair supported by Countess Dominique Loredan

Emma Oldfield Fiona Higham

Bass Clarinet

Bozidar Vukotic

Sue Blair Guest Principal Elin Samuels * Holds a professorial appointment in London

Trumpets

Paul Beniston* Principal Anne McAneney*

Maja Persson Imogen Royce

Cornets

Thomas Nielsen David Hilton

Oboes

Katherine Bryer

Trombones

Guest Principal

Eleanor Sullivan

Mark Templeton* Principal Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton

Cor Anglais

David Whitehouse

Sue Böhling* Principal Chair supported by Dr Barry Grimaldi

Bass Trombone

Lyndon Meredith Principal

Clarinets

Thomas Watmough

Tuba

Principal

Stuart Beard* Guest Principal

Chair supported by Roger Greenwood

Lewis Graham

The LPO also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert: The Candide Trust Gill & Garf Collins Sonja Drexler Friends of the Orchestra Bianca & Stuart Roden Sir Simon Robey Victoria Robey OBE Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp Eric Tomsett Neil Westreich

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 24 April 2022 • Spirit of the City

Programme notes Samuel Coleridge-Taylor 1875–1912

Ballade for Orchestra in A minor, Op. 33 1898

Born in London in 1875, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was apparently known as a man of dignity and patience. It seems to have served him well, for while his career as a musician was reasonably successful, one might well wonder how much more he might have achieved had he not suffered the predictable professional setbacks that followed from him being a man of colour.

that September, and repeated at London’s Crystal Palace two months later. The piece shows perhaps the expected 1890s influences of Tchaikovsky, Dvořák and in certain places Grieg, but its melodies – an athletic, agile opening theme with more than a hint of British bluster, and a romantic second theme for strings derived from the melodic leaps of the first – are strong and memorable.

The son of an English mother and a doctor from Sierra Leone, his talent was clear enough. He entered the Royal College of Music at the age of 15 to study violin, but soon was composing as well, as a pupil of Charles Villiers Stanford. A church anthem by him was published as early as 1891, and works of his received frequent public performances throughout his student years, including chamber music, songs and a symphony. In 1898 came his greatest success – and the work for which he is mainly remembered – the choral cantata Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast, hugely enjoyed by audiences in Britain and the USA for several decades, and leading to many festival commissions for similar compositions. In the 1900s he was busy as a conductor, both in the theatre (for which he often composed as well) and with numerous choral societies. At one time he contemplated moving to the USA, a country he toured three times, where a choral society for black singers was named after him, and which stimulated in him an interest in black music that found its way into works such as the African Dances for orchestra and the 24 Negro Melodies for piano. His death from pneumonia in 1912, aged just 37, is thought to have been caused by overwork.

Programme note © Lindsay Kemp

Yet he did have influential admirers in England: Stanford was fiercely loyal, Elgar’s publisher A J Jaeger rated him ‘a genius’, and when in 1898 the Three Choirs Festival wanted to commission a new orchestral piece from an unwilling Elgar, it was Elgar himself who recommended Coleridge-Taylor for the job instead. The result was the Ballade in A minor, premiered to acclaim in Gloucester

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 24 April 2022 • Spirit of the City

Programme notes Max Bruch 1838–1920

Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26 1864–68 Daniel Pioro violin 1 Prelude: Allegro moderato – 2 Adagio 3 Finale: Allegro energico The massive imbalance in popularity between Max Bruch’s First Violin Concerto and the rest of his notinconsiderable output has lasted from his time right up to ours. Even he complained that it overshadowed all but a handful of his other works, which included three operas, three symphonies, two further violin concertos and a fair amount of chamber music, choral music and songs. Not that he wasn’t a widely respected figure in the musical world, as a succession of conducting posts in Koblenz, Sondershausen, Liverpool and Breslau (now Wrocław), an Honorary Doctorate at Cambridge and a Professorship at the Berlin Academy (where he briefly taught Respighi and Vaughan Williams, among others) all attest. Yet the affection in which the First Violin Concerto is held is well deserved, for it is an impeccably wrought masterpiece of warming melody and wholly lovable Romantic richness. In 1906 the great Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim, looking back on his long career, offered a concise comparison of what he considered to be ‘Germany’s four violin concertos’, describing the Beethoven as ‘the most uncompromising’, the Brahms as ‘vying with it for seriousness’, and the Mendelssohn as the ‘most inward, the heart’s jewel’. Bruch’s (which undoubtedly owes a debt to the Mendelssohn) he called simply ‘the most seductive’, a judgment with which probably few would disagree. Yet when Bruch began writing it in 1864, at the age of 26, he found it hard going. ‘I do not feel sure

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 24 April 2022 • Spirit of the City

Programme notes of my feet on this terrain’, he wrote in a letter, and four years later he was still at work on it, despite the fact that in the meantime it had been premiered, in Koblenz in 1866 with Otto von Königslow as soloist. The final version was premiered in Bremen in January 1868, by which time it had received the benefit of numerous improving suggestions from its new soloist, Joachim himself. Indeed the final result has such an ease in both its formal unfolding and its writing for the violin that we are left to wonder what all the struggle can have been about.

the work, a string of gorgeous melodies unwinds, firstly in the hands of the violin, and later with the orchestra in tender accord, soaring to a brief but ardent climax before drifting slowly and lightly back to earth. The Finale brings a total change of mood, as a mounting tremor of orchestral anticipation propels us excitedly into a theme with an exuberant gipsy flavour. As usual, the theme is introduced by the violin, but it is the orchestra that later delivers the movement’s biggest tune, which is then played back to it by the violin digging deep into its bottom string. As in the first two movements, the formal structure here is simple but perfectly judged, with no loss of momentum and nothing overplayed. And if Bruch’s Concerto echoes Mendelssohn’s at times, it is not difficult to suppose that a few years later Brahms, who so liked to embrace the gipsy style himself, was hearing this finale in his head when he came to write his own violin concerto for the same Hungarian soloist.

The Concerto opens in improvisatory vein, as a sombre drum-roll and a melancholy woodwind motif introduce some pensive flourishes from the violin. They eventually lead to the exposition of two main themes – one gritty with a loping accompaniment, the other sunny and smooth – both of which are announced by the soloist. An impassioned orchestral development follows, before the opening gestures return to conduct us directly into the second movement. Here, at the emotional core of

Programme note © Lindsay Kemp

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

OFFSTAGE Our weekly podcast, LPO Offstage, takes a look behind-the-scenes of the LPO, bringing you closer than ever to the world of orchestral music. Hosted by award-winning saxophonist and presenter YolanDa Brown, delve deep into the world of the LPO. Find LPO Offstage free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Acast, or wherever you listen.

lpo.org.uk/podcast

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 24 April 2022 • Spirit of the City

Programme notes Ralph Vaughan Williams 1872–1958

A London Symphony (Symphony No. 2) 1914

1 Lento – Allegro risoluto 2 Lento 3 Scherzo (Nocturne): Allegro vivace 4 Andante con moto Ralph Vaughan Williams was born in the Gloucestershire village of Down Ampney in 1872, the son of a clergyman. As a child he learned the piano and the violin, and received a conventional upper-middle-class education at Charterhouse, after which he delayed entry to Cambridge, preferring instead to study at the Royal College of Music, where his teachers included Hubert Parry and Walter Parratt, later Master of the Queen’s Musick. In 1892 he took up his place at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read History, but took composition lessons from Charles Wood. After graduation he returned to the Royal College, where he studied composition with Stanford, and, perhaps more significant, became a friend of a fellow student, Gustav Holst. The friendship with Holst was to prove of great importance in frank exchanges of views on one another’s compositions in the years that followed.

The even tenor of Vaughan Williams life was interrupted by the First World War, when he enlisted at once in the Royal Army Medical Corps as a private. 1914 was also the year of tonight’s work, the London Symphony, as well as his rhapsodic work for violin and orchestra, The Lark Ascending. Three years later, after service in Salonica, he took a commission in the Royal Garrison Artillery and was posted to France. There he was also able to make some use of his abilities as a musician. After the war he returned to the Royal College of Music, now as a Professor of Composition, a position he retained until 1938. In these years he came to occupy a commanding position in the musical life of the country. Vaughan Williams’s London Symphony, composed, as he himself said, by a Londoner, owed its origin to the encouragement of George Butterworth. It was he who urged Vaughan Williams to attempt a symphony, against his original intentions and inclination. There had been earlier sketches for a symphony, but these had been abandoned. Plans had been made, however, for a symphonic poem on the theme of London, and this material the composer decided to recast in symphonic form. The work was given its first performance under Geoffrey Toye in 1914, to undergo slight changes in the war years and revision for a further performance in 1920 under Albert Coates. There were later revisions in subsequent years, notably for performances under Sir Thomas Beecham in the 1930s.

In 1897 Vaughan Williams took the opportunity to visit Berlin, where he had lessons from Max Bruch and widened his musical experience. In England he turned his attention to the collection of folk music in various regions of the country, an interest that materially influenced the shape of his musical language. In 1908 he went to Paris to take lessons, particularly in orchestration, from Ravel, and had by now begun to make a reputation for himself as a composer, not least with the first performance in 1910 of his first symphony, A Sea Symphony, setting words by Walt Whitman, and his Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis in the same year.

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 24 April 2022 • Spirit of the City

Programme notes In A London Symphony Vaughan Williams offers, often with thematic material seemingly derived from the English countryside as much as from the streets of the city, a busy picture of the English capital. The work opens with what might be mistaken for a regular pea-souper, bearing marked similarities, as Constant Lambert pointed out, to Debussy’s La mer. The sound of Big Ben, in harp harmonics, leads to an Allegro risoluto in which the city awakes with a rich medley of thematic material that suggests the varied life of London, with an added nautical flavour. The symphonic exposition is followed by the development of further themes and the transformation of earlier melodies, the recapitulation leading to a great climax, after a quiet opening. The second movement, marked Lento, introduces a cor anglais solo above a richly harmonised string accompaniment, a traditional melody, it would appear, complemented by the lavender-seller’s street-cry later in a movement that is brought to a hushed conclusion by a solo viola. This is followed by a Scherzo, a ‘nocturne’ only in the sense that it provides a lively enough picture at first of nightlife in an unsleeping London, with themes and fragments of themes, as well as mouth-organ and street barrel-organ heard in the Trio, a reminiscence perhaps of Stravinsky’s ‘Butter Fair’ in Petrushka, before the city eventually sleeps and all lies still. The last movement, with its echoes of the first, brings London awake again, with a stirring march. The sound of Big Ben introduces a final epilogue in which the mists once again descend and a solo violin leads the way to the final string chords, dying away to nothing.

A young Ralph Vaughan Williams

Programme note © Keith Anderson, reproduced by kind permission of Naxos Records.

Enjoyed today’s concert? Help us to share the wonder of the LPO by making a donation today. Use the QR code to donate via the LPO website. Thank you.

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 24 April 2022 • Spirit of the City

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

Anonymous donors Mrs Aline Foriel-Destezet Mrs Christina Lang Assael In memory of Mrs Rita Reay Sir Simon & Lady Robey OBE

Orchestra Circle

The Candide Trust William & Alex de Winton Aud Jebsen Mr & Mrs Philip Kan Neil Westreich The American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra

Principal Associates An anonymous donor Richard Buxton Gill & Garf Collins In memory of Brenda Lyndoe Casbon In memory of Ann Marguerite Collins Hamish & Sophie Forsyth The Tsukanov Family

Associates

Anonymous donors Mrs Irina Andreeva In memory of Len & Edna Beech Steven M. Berzin Ms Veronika BorovikKhilchevskaya Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik V. G. Cave The Lambert Family Charitable Trust Countess Dominique Loredan Mr & Mrs Makharinsky George Ramishvili Stuart & Bianca Roden Julian & Gill Simmonds In memory of Hazel Amy Smith Deanie & Jay Stein

Gold Patrons

An anonymous donor Chris Aldren David & Yi Buckley David Burke & Valerie Graham David & Elizabeth Challen

In memory of Allner Mavis Channing Sonja Drexler The Vernon Ellis Foundation Peter & Fiona Espenhahn Marie-Laure Favre-Gilly de Varennes de Beuill Mr Roger Greenwood Malcolm Herring John & Angela Kessler Dame Theresa Sackler Scott & Kathleen Simpson Eric Tomsett Andrew & Rosemary Tusa The Viney Family Guy & Utti Whittaker

Silver Patrons

Mrs A Beare The Rt Hon. The Lord Burns GCB Bruno De Kegel Jan & Leni Du Plessis Ulrike & Benno Engelmann Simon & Meg Freakley Pehr G Gyllenhammar The Jeniffer & Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Sofiya Machulskaya Mrs Elizabeth Meshkvicheva The Metherell Family Andrew Neill Peter & Lucy Noble Marianne Parsons Tom & Phillis Sharpe Laurence Watt Grenville & Krysia Williams

Bronze Patrons

Anonymous donors Michael Allen Dr Manon Antoniazzi Julian & Annette Armstrong Roger & Clare Barron Mr Philip Bathard-Smith Sir Peter Bazalgette Mikhail Noskov & Vasilina Bindley Mr Bernard Bradbury Sally Bridgeland In memory of Julie Bromley Desmond & Ruth Cecil Mr John H Cook Howard & Veronika Covington John & Sam Dawson

Cameron & Kathryn Doley David Ellen Christopher Fraser OBE Virginia Gabbertas MBE David & Jane Gosman Mr Gavin Graham Mrs Dorothy Hambleton J Douglas Home The Jackman Family Mr & Mrs Ralph Kanza Jamie & Julia Korner Rose & Dudley Leigh Drs Frank & Gek Lim Nicholas & Felicity Lyons Geoff & Meg Mann Harriet & Michael Maunsell Marianne Parsons Dr Wiebke Pekrull Mr Gerald Pettit Mr Roger Phillimore Gillian Pole Mr Michael Posen Mr Christopher Querée Sir Bernard Rix Mr Robert Ross Priscylla Shaw Patrick & Belinda Snowball Charlotte Stevenson Mr Robert Swannell Joe Topley Tony & Hilary Vines Mr & Mrs John C Tucker Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood Marina Vaizey Jenny Watson CBE Mr John Weekes Christopher Williams

Principal Supporters

Anonymous donors Dr R M Aickin Mr Mark Astaire Sir John Baker Tessa Bartley Mr Geoffrey Bateman Mrs Julia Beine Mr Anthony Boswood Dr Anthony Buckland Dr Carlos Carreno Mr Julien Chilcott-Monk Mr & Mrs Stewart Cohen David & Liz Conway Mr Alistair Corbett Andrew Davenport Mr Simon Douglas Mr B C Fairhall Mr Richard Fernyhough Mrs Janet Flynn Mrs Ash Frisby

Jason George Mr Stephen Goldring Mr Daniel Goldstein Mr Milton Grundy Prof. Emeritus John Gruzelier Nerissa Guest & David Foreman Michael & Christine Henry Mark & Sarah Holford Ivan Hurry Per Jonsson Alexandra Jupin & John Bean Mr Ian Kapur Ms Kim J Koch Richard & Briony Linsell Paul & Brigitta Lock Mr Peter Mace Nicholas & Lindsay Merriman Andrew T Mills Simon & Fiona Mortimore Mrs Terry Neale John Nickson & Simon Rew Mr James Pickford Michael & Carolyn Portillo Mr David Russell Colin Senneck & the Hartley and District LPO Group Mr John Shinton Nigel Silby Mr Brian Smith Martin & Cheryl Southgate Mr & Mrs G Stein Dr Peter Stephenson Mr Ian Tegner Dr June Wakefield Howard & Sheelagh Watson Joanna Williams Roger Woodhouse Mr John Wright

Supporters

Anonymous donors Ralph & Elizabeth Aldwinckle Alexander & Rachel Antelme Julian & Annette Armstrong Lindsay Badenoch Mr Mark Bagshaw & Mr Ian Walker Mr John Barnard Mr John D Barnard Damaris, Richard & Friends Mr David Barrett Diana Barrett Mr Simon Baynham Harvey Bengen Nick & Rebecca Beresford Mr Paul Bland Mr Keith Bolderson Mr Andrew Botterill

Julian & Margaret Bowden & Mr Paul Michel Richard & Jo Brass Mr & Mrs Shaun Brown Mr Alan C Butler Lady Cecilia Cadbury Mrs Marilyn Casford Miss Yousun Chae Alison Clarke & Leo Pilkington J Clay Mr Joshua Coger Mr Martin Compton Mr Martin Connelly Mr Stephen Connock Miss Tessa Cowie Mr David Davies Mr Roderick Davies Mr David Devons Anthony & Jo Diamond Miss Sylvia Dowle Patricia Dreyfus Mr Andrew Dyke Mr Declan Eardly Mrs Maureen Erskine Mr Peter Faulk Mr Joe Field Ms Chrisine Louise Fluker Mr Kevin Fogarty Mr Richard France Mr Bernard Freudenthal Mrs Adele Friedland & Friends Will Gold Mrs Alison Goulter Mr Andrew Gunn Mr K Haines Mr Martin Hale Roger Hampson Mr Graham Hart Mr & Mrs Nevile Henderson The Jackman Family Martin Kettle Mr Justin Kitson Ms Yvonne Lock Mrs Sally Manning Belinda Miles Dr Joe Mooney Christopher & Diane Morcom Dame Jane Newell DBE Oliver & Josie Ogg Mr Stephen Olton Mari Payne Mr David Peters Nadya Powell Ms Caroline Priday Mr Richard Rolls Mr Richard Rowland Mr & Mrs Alan Senior Tom Sharpe Mr Kenneth Shaw

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 24 April 2022 • Spirit of the City

Thank you

Ruth Silvestre Barry & Gillian Smith Mr David Southern Ms Mary Stacey Mr Simon Starr Mrs Margaret Thompson Philip & Katie Thonemann Mr Owen Toller Mrs Rose Tremain Ms Mary Stacey Ms Caroline Tate Mr Peter Thierfeldt Dr Ann Turrall Michael & Katie Urmston Dr June Wakefield Mr Dominic Wallis Mrs C Willaims Joanna Williams Mr Kevin Willmering Mr David Woodhead

Corporate Donors

Hon. Benefactor

Tutti

Elliott Bernerd

Hon. Life Members Alfonso Aijón Kenneth Goode Carol Colburn Grigor CBE Pehr G Gyllenhammar Robert Hill Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE Laurence Watt

Thomas Beecham Group Members Chris Aldren David & Yi Buckley Gill & Garf Collins William & Alex de Winton 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 Neil Westreich Guy & Utti Whittaker

Barclays CHANEL Fund for Women in the Arts and Culture Pictet Bank

LPO Corporate Circle Leader freuds Sunshine

Principal Berenberg Bloomberg Carter-Ruck French Chamber of Commerce Lazard Russo-British Chamber of Commerce Walpole

Trialist Allianz Musical Insurance Ogilvy UK Sciteb

Preferred Partners Gusbourne Estate Lidl Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd OneWelbeck Steinway

In-kind Sponsor Google Inc

Trusts and Foundations

The Boltini Trust Borrows Charitable Trust Boshier-Hinton Foundation The Candide Trust Cockayne – Grants for the Arts The London Community Foundation The David Solomons Charitable Trust The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Dunard Fund Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation

The Fidelio Charitable Trust Foyle Foundation Garrick Charitable Trust The Leche Trust Lucille Graham Trust John Horniman’s Children’s Trust John Thaw Foundation The Idlewild Trust Kirby Laing Foundation The Marchus Trust Adam Mickiewicz Institute PRS Foundation The Radcliffe Trust Rivers Foundation The R K Charitable Trust Romanian Cultural Institute Rothschild Foundation RVW Trust Schroder Charity Trust Scops Arts Trust Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation Sir William Boreman’s Foundation Souter Charitable Trust The Stanley Picker Trust The Thomas Deane Trust The Thriplow Charitable Trust The Vaughan Williams Charitable Trust The Victoria Wood Foundation The Viney Family The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust The William Alwyn Foundation and all others who wish to remain anonymous. The LPO would also like to acknowledge all those who have made donations to the Play On Appeal and who have supported the Orchestra during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Board of the American Friends of the LPO 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 Jay Goffman Alexandra Jupin William A. Kerr Kristina McPhee Natalie Pray Damien Vanderwilt Elizabeth Winter Victoria Robey OBE Hon. Director Jenifer L. Keiser, CPA, EisnerAmper LLP

LPO International Board of Governors Natasha Tsukanova Co-Chair Martin Höhmann Co-Chair Mrs Irina Andreeva (Russia) Steven M. Berzin (USA) Veronika Borovik-Khilchevskaya (Cyprus) Marie-Laure Favre Gilly de Varennes de Bueil (France) Aline Foriel-Destezet (France) Irina Gofman (Russia) Countess Dominique Loredan (Italy) Olivia Ma (Greater China Area) Olga Makharinsky (Russia) George Ramishvili (Georgia) Victoria Robey OBE (USA) Jay Stein (USA)

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 24 April 2022 • Spirit of the City

London Philharmonic Orchestra Administration Board of Directors Victoria Robey OBE Chairman Martin Höhmann* President Dr Catherine C. Høgel Vice-Chairman Mark Vines* Vice-President Kate Birchall* David Buckley David Burke Bruno De Kegel Deborah Dolce Elena Dubinets Tanya Joseph Hugh Kluger* Al MacCuish Tania Mazzetti* Stewart McIlwham* Jamie Njoku-Goodwin Andrew Tusa Neil Westreich Simon Freakley (Ex officio – Chairman of the American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra) *Player-Director

Advisory Council Martin Höhmann Chairman Christopher Aldren Dr Manon Antoniazzi Roger Barron Richard Brass Helen Brocklebank YolanDa Brown Simon Callow CBE Desmond Cecil CMG Sir Alan Collins KCVO CMG Andrew Davenport Guillaume Descottes Cameron Doley Christopher Fraser OBE Lord Hall of Birkenhead CBE Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS Marianna Hay MBE Amanda Hill Rehmet Kassim-Lakha Jamie Korner Geoff Mann Clive Marks OBE FCA Stewart McIlwham Andrew Neill Nadya Powell Sir Bernard Rix Victoria Robey OBE Baroness Shackleton Thomas Sharpe QC Julian Simmonds

Barry Smith Martin Southgate Chris Viney Laurence Watt Elizabeth Winter

Finance

General Administration

Jean-Paul Ramotar Finance and IT Officer

Frances Slack Finance Director Dayse Guilherme Finance Manager

Elena Dubinets Artistic Director David Burke Chief Executive Chantelle Vircavs PA to the Executive

Education and Community Talia Lash Interim Education and Community Director

Concert Management

Rebecca Parslow Education and Community Project Manager

Roanna Gibson Concerts Director

Hannah Foakes Tilly Gugenheim Education and Community Project Co-ordinators

Graham Wood Concerts and Recordings Manager Fabio Sarlo Glyndebourne and Projects Manager

Development Laura Willis Development Director

Grace Ko Tours Manager

Scott Tucker Development Events Manager

Alison Jones Concerts and Recordings Co-ordinator Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager

Felix Lo Orchestra and Auditions Manager

Greg Felton Digital Creative Kiera Lockard Marketing Assistant

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 Simon Owen-Johnstone Hon. Orthopaedic Surgeon

Kirstin Peltonen Development Associate

Marketing Kath Trout Marketing and Communications Director Mairi Warren Marketing Manager Rachel Williams Publications Manager

Sophie Harvey Digital and Residencies Marketing Manager

Rosie Morden Individual Giving Manager

Nick Jackman Campaigns and Projects Director

Freddie Jackson Assistant Stage Manager

Ruth Haines (née Knight) Press and PR Manager

Mr Chris Aldren Honorary ENT Surgeon

Priya Radhakrishnan Georgia Wiltshire Development Assistants

Laura Kitson Stephen O’Flaherty Stage Managers

Gavin Miller Sales and Ticketing Manager

Siân Jenkins Corporate Relations Manager

Anna Quillin Trusts and Foundations Manager

Sarah Thomas Martin Sargeson Librarians

Harrie Mayhew Website Manager

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 Cover photo James Wicks 2021/22 season identity JMG Studio Printer John Good Ltd