LPO programme: 30 Sep 2023 - Tchaikovsky’s Fourth (Edward Gardner/Christian Tetzlaff)

2023/24 concert season at the Southbank Centre

Free 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

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall

Saturday 30 September 2023 | 7.30pm

Tchaikovsky’s Fourth

Beethoven

Overture, Egmont (8’)

Bartók

Violin Concerto No. 2 (36’)

Interval (20’)

Tchaikovsky

Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36 (44’)

Contents 2

Edward Gardner conductor

Generously supported by Aud Jebsen

Christian Tetzlaff violin

The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide. Concert presented by the London Philharmonic Orchestra

This concert is being recorded by BBC Radio 3 for broadcast on Wednesday 4 October at 7.30pm. It will remain available for 30 days on BBC Sounds.

Welcome LPO news

Welcome to the Southbank Centre

We’re the largest arts centre in the UK and one of the nation’s top visitor attractions, showcasing the world’s most exciting artists at our venues in the heart of London. We’re here to present great cultural experiences that bring people together, and open up the arts to everyone.

The Southbank Centre is made up of the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, Hayward Gallery, National Poetry Library and Arts Council Collection. We’re one of London’s favourite meeting spots, with lots of free events and places to relax, eat and shop next to the Thames.

We hope you enjoy your visit. If you need any information or help, please ask a member of staff. You can also write to us at Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX, or email hello@southbankcentre.co.uk

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Drinks

You are welcome to bring drinks from the venue’s bars and cafés into the Royal Festival Hall to enjoy during tonight’s concert. Please be considerate to fellow audience members by keeping noise during the concert to a minimum, and please take your glasses with you for recycling afterwards. Thank you.

Enjoyed tonight’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, or visit lpo.org.uk/donate. Thank you.

Apple Music Classical

We are excited to announce a new LPO partnership with Apple Music Classical, the new streaming app designed specifically for classical music.

All 120+ LPO Label recordings are available on the app, along with over 5 million other tracks, making it the world’s largest classical music catalogue. Thousands of recordings – including selected LPO Label releases – are available in immersive Spatial Audio featuring Dolby Atmos, and we will be working with Apple Music Classical to bring listeners exclusive LPO content and recordings.

The first release as part of of the partnership is Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust with Edward Gardner, recorded live at the Royal Festival Hall on 4 February 2023 (see page 15). It will be available to stream exclusively on Apple Music Classical for three months from 3 November 2023, and then will be released on all other streaming platforms and on physical disc on 3 February 2024.

Find Apple Music Classical in the App Store or the Google Play Store.

Just released: Elgar – The Legacy

In February 1933, just four months after the LPO was founded, Edward Elgar had already begun making his own recordings with the new Orchestra. Over the summer we launched a new series of digital recordings celebrating the legacy of Elgar as a composer and conductor.

Volume 1 is out now on all streaming services, with three further volumes to follow. Each release includes a digital booklet with insightful notes by Andrew Neill, former Chairman of the Elgar Society, offering a compelling narrative of Elgar’s creative vision and the historical and technological context of the recordings. lpo.org.uk/recordings

On stage tonight

First Violins

Pieter Schoeman* Leader

Chair supported by Neil Westreich

Alice Ivy-Pemberton Co-Leader

Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader

Kate Oswin

Chair supported by Eric Tomsett

Lasma Taimina

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

Minn Majoe

Thomas Eisner

Cassandra Hamilton

Yang Zhang

Martin Höhmann

Katalin Varnagy

Chair supported by Sonja

Drexler

Elizaveta Tyun

Nilufar Alimaksumova

Sophie Phillips

Rasa Zukauskaite

Ronald Long

Second Violins

Tania Mazzetti Principal

Emma Oldfield Co-Principal

Molly Cockburn

Kate Birchall

Nancy Elan

Fiona Higham

Chair supported by David & Yi

Buckley

Joseph Maher

Marie-Anne Mairesse

Sioni Williams

Ricky Gore

Lyrit Milgram

Sheila Law

Nynke Hijlkema

Charlie MacClure

Violas

Caroline Harrison Guest Principal

Martin Wray

Katharine Leek

Lucia Ortiz Sauco

Benedetto Pollani

Michelle Bruil

Alistair Scahill

James Heron

Kate De Campos

Raquel López Bolívar

Laura Vallejo

Julia Doukakis

Cellos

Kristina Blaumane Principal

Chair supported by Bianca & Stuart Roden

Waynne Kwon

Francis Bucknall

David Lale

Sue Sutherley

Helen Thomas

George Hoult

Sibylle Hentschel

Gregory Walmsley

Hee Yeon Cho

Double Basses

Kevin Rundell* Principal

Sebastian Pennar

Co-Principal

George Peniston

Laura Murphy

Lowri Morgan

Adam Wynter

Elen Roberts

Thea Sayer

Flutes

Juliette Bausor Principal

Fiona Kelly Guest Principal

Stewart McIlwham*

Piccolo

Stewart McIlwham* Principal

Oboes

Rainer Gibbons Guest Principal

Alice Munday

Cor Anglais

Sue Böhling* Principal

Chair supported by Dr Barry Grimaldi

Clarinets

Benjamin Mellefont Principal

Thomas Watmough

Chair supported by Roger Greenwood

Bass Clarinet

Paul Richards* Principal

Bassoons

Jonathan Davies Principal

Chair supported by Sir Simon Robey

Hunter Gordon

Simon Estell*

Contrabassoon

Simon Estell* Principal

Horns

John Ryan* Principal

Martin Hobbs

Mark Vines Co-Principal

Gareth Mollison

Andrew Budden

Trumpets

Paul Beniston* Principal

Tom Nielsen Co-Principal

Anne McAneney*

Trombones

Mark Templeton* Principal

Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton

David Whitehouse

Bass Trombone

Lyndon Meredith Principal

Timpani

Simon Carrington* Principal

Chair supported by Victoria Robey OBE

Percussion

Andrew Barclay* Principal Chair supported by Gill & Garf Collins

Karen Hutt

Chair supported by Mr B C Fairhall

Oliver Butterworth

Harp

Rachel Masters Principal

Celeste

Catherine Edwards

Assistant Conductor

Charlotte Politi

*Holds a professorship at a London conservatoire

The LPO also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert:

Friends of the Orchestra

Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Uniquely groundbreaking and exhilarating to watch and hear, the London Philharmonic Orchestra has been celebrated as one of the world’s great orchestras since Sir Thomas Beecham founded it in 1932. With every performance we aim to bring wonder to the modern world and cement our position as a leading orchestra for the 21st century.

Our home is here at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, where we’re at the beating heart of London’s cultural life. You’ll also find us at our resident venues in Brighton, Eastbourne and Saffron Walden, and on tour throughout the UK and internationally, performing to sell-out audiences worldwide. Each summer we’re resident at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, combining the magic of opera with Glyndebourne’s glorious setting in the Sussex countryside.

Sharing the wonder

You’ll find us online, on streaming platforms, on social media and through our broadcast partnership with Marquee TV. During the pandemic period we launched ‘LPOnline’: over 100 videos of performances, insights and introductions to playlists, which led to us being named runner-up in the Digital Classical Music Awards 2020. During 2023/24 we’re once again be working with Marquee TV to broadcast selected live concerts, so you can share or relive the wonder from your own living room.

Our conductors

Our Principal Conductors have included some of the greatest historic names like Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. In 2021 Edward Gardner became our 13th Principal Conductor, taking the Orchestra into its tenth decade. Vladimir Jurowski became Conductor Emeritus in recognition of his impact as Principal Conductor from 2007–21. Karina Canellakis is our current Principal Guest Conductor and Tania León our Composer-in-Residence.

Soundtrack to key moments

Everyone will have heard the London Philharmonic Orchestra, whether it’s playing the world’s National Anthems at every medal ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, our iconic recording with Pavarotti that made Nessun Dorma a global football anthem, or closing the flotilla at The Queen’s Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant. And you’ll almost certainly have heard us on the soundtracks for major films including The Lord of the Rings

We also release live, studio and archive recordings on our own label, and are the world’s most-streamed orchestra, with over 15 million plays of our content each month.

© Benjamin Ealovega

Pieter Schoeman Leader

Next generations

There’s nothing we love more than seeing the joy of children and families enjoying their first musical moments, and we’re passionate about equipping schools and teachers through schools’ concerts, resources and training. Reflecting our values of collaboration and inclusivity, our OrchLab and Open Sound Ensemble projects offer music-making opportunities for adults and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

Our LPO Junior Artists programme is leading the way in creating pathways into the profession for young artists from under-represented communities, and our LPO Young Composers and Foyle Future Firsts schemes support the next generation of professional musicians, bridging the transition from education to professional careers. We also recently launched the LPO Conducting Fellowship, supporting the development of outstanding early-career conductors from backgrounds currently under-represented in the profession.

Looking forward

The centrepiece of our 2023/24 season is our spring 2024 festival The Music in You. Reflecting our adventurous spirit, the festival embraces all kinds of expression – dance, music theatre, and audience participation. We’ll collaborate with artists from across the creative spectrum, and give premieres by composers including Tania León, Julian Joseph, Daniel Kidane, Victoria Vita Polevá, Luís Tinoco and John Williams.

Rising stars making their debuts with us in 2023/24 include conductors Tianyi Lu, Oksana Lyniv, Jonathon Heyward and Natalia Ponomarchuk, accordionist João Barradas and organist Anna Lapwood. We also present the long-awaited conclusion of Conductor Emeritus Vladimir Jurowski’s Wagner Ring Cycle, Götterdämmerung, and, as well as our titled conductors Edward Gardner and Karina Canellakis, we welcome back classical stars including Anne-Sophie Mutter, Robin Ticciati, Christian Tetzlaff and Danielle de Niese. lpo.org.uk

Pieter Schoeman was appointed Leader of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008, having previously been Co-Leader since 2002. He is also a Professor of Violin at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance.

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 the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall. As a chamber musician he regularly appears at London’s prestigious Wigmore Hall. His chamber music partners have included Anne-Sophie Mutter, Veronika Eberle, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Boris Garlitsky, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Martin Helmchen and Julia Fischer.

Pieter has performed numerous times as a soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Highlights have included an appearance as both conductor and soloist in Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at the Royal Festival Hall, the Brahms Double Concerto with Kristina Blaumane, and the Britten Double Concerto with Alexander Zemtsov, which was recorded and released on the LPO Label to great critical acclaim.

Pieter has appeared as Guest Leader with the BBC, Barcelona, Bordeaux, Lyon and Baltimore symphony orchestras; the Rotterdam and BBC Philharmonic orchestras; and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.

Pieter’s chair in the LPO is generously supported by Neil Westreich.

© Benjamin Ealovega

Edward Gardner

Principal Conductor, London Philharmonic Orchestra

In demand as a guest conductor, recent seasons have seen Edward make debuts with the Cleveland Symphony, Staatskapelle Berlin, Bavarian Radio Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia, San Francisco Symphony, Berlin Radio Symphony and Vienna Symphony orchestras; while returns have included engagements with the Chicago Symphony, Montreal Symphony and Philharmonia orchestras, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, and the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano. He also continued his longstanding collaboration with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, where he was Principal Guest Conductor from 2010–16, and with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, whom he has conducted at both the First and Last Nights of the BBC Proms.

Edward Gardner has been Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra since September 2021. He is also Chief Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic, a position he will relinquish at the end of the 2023/24 season. From August 2024 he will undertake the Music Directorship of the Norwegian Opera and Ballet, having been their Artistic Advisor since February 2022.

During the 2023/24 season Edward will conduct the LPO in ten concerts at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, and tour with the Orchestra to South Korea, Taiwan, and major European cities including Paris, Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Bruges. As part of the LPO's cross-arts festival ‘The Music in You’ in spring 2024, Edward will conduct concerts including Haydn’s The Creation; a reinvention of Szymanowski’s ballet Harnasie in collaboration with choreographer Wayne McGregor; Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins; and Mozart’s Mass in C minor. Other highlights with the Orchestra this season include Holst’s The Planets and Stravinsky’s Petrushka

Edward opened the Bergen Philharmonic season earlier this month with Mahler’s Symphony No. 1. He completes his tenure as Chief Conductor at the closing of next summer's Bergen International Festival, conducting Mahler’s Symphony No. 8. The orchestra will be joined by several choirs, including the Edvard Grieg Kor, of which Edward is the Principal Conductor.

As Artistic Advisor of the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, this season Edward will conduct a triple-bill of Schumann’s Frauen-Liebe und Leben, Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Zemlinsky’s A Florentine Tragedy. Future plans with the company include a Wagner Ring Cycle commencing in spring 2026.

Music Director of English National Opera for eight years (2007–15), Edward has also built a strong relationship with New York’s Metropolitan Opera, where he has conducted productions of The Damnation of Faust, Carmen, Don Giovanni, Der Rosenkavalier and Werther In London he made his Royal Opera House debut in 2019 in a new production of Káťa Kabanová, followed by Werther a season later. Elsewhere, he has conducted at the Bavarian State Opera, La Scala, Chicago Lyric Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Opéra National de Paris, and this season he will conduct a double-bill of Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Poulenc's La voix humaine at Teatro di San Carlo.

A passionate supporter of young talent, Edward founded the Hallé Youth Orchestra in 2002 and regularly conducts the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. He has a close relationship with The Juilliard School of Music and with the Royal Academy of Music, which appointed him its inaugural Sir Charles Mackerras Conducting Chair in 2014.

Born in Gloucester in 1974, Edward was educated at Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music. He went on to become Assistant Conductor of the Hallé and Music Director of Glyndebourne Touring Opera. His many accolades include being named Royal Philharmonic Society Award Conductor of the Year (2008), an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera (2009), and an OBE for Services to Music in The Queen’s Birthday Honours (2012).

Edward Gardner’s position at the LPO is generously supported by Aud Jebsen.

© Photographer London

Christian Tetzlaff violin

Christian Tetzlaff is regularly invited as an Artist-inResidence to present his musical views over a longer period of time, including with the Berlin Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic and Dresden Philharmonic. In the 2021/22 season he was given this honour at London’s Wigmore Hall, and in 2022/23 he was a Portrait Artist at the London Symphony Orchestra.

Christian Tetzlaff is one of the most sought-after violinists and most exciting musicians on the classical music scene. His concerts often become an existential experience for the interpreter and audience alike, familiar works suddenly appearing in a completely new light. In addition, he frequently turns his attention to forgotten masterpieces such as Joachim’s Violin Concerto and the Violin Concerto No. 22 by Giovanni Battista Viotti, a contemporary of Mozart and Beethoven. To broaden his repertoire, he also commits himself to substantial new works, such as Jörg Widmann’s Violin Concerto, which he premiered in 2013. He cultivates an unusually extensive repertoire and performs approximately 100 concerts every year.

Christian is a regular guest of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and next week will tour with the Orchestra and Edward Gardner to South Korea, performing Brahms’s Violin Concerto in Seoul and Bucheon. In February 2024 he will again join the LPO on tour in Athens, Essen and Vienna, performing Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1 under Karina Canellakis.

Other highlights of Christian’s 2023/24 season include performances with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris and Orchestre National de France. With the Philharmonia Orchestra he gives performances in Grafenegg and at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, and with the BBC Symphony Orchestra he appears at the BBC Proms. He also returns to the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and records Thomas Adès’s Violin Concerto with the BBC Philharmonic. In the US, he returns to the Cincinnati Symphony and Los Angeles Chamber orchestras.

Over the course of his career, Christian Tetzlaff has made guest appearances with all the great orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, and all the London orchestras. He has worked with legendary conductors such as Sergiu Celibidache, Bernard Haitink, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur and Christoph von Dohnányi. Close artistic ties have also been forged with Edward Gardner, Karina Canellakis, Vladimir Jurowski, Daniel Harding, Paavo Järvi, Andris Nelsons, Simon Rattle, François-Xavier Roth, Robin Ticciati, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Michael Tilson Thomas, Barbara Hannigan, Ingo Metzmacher and Kent Nagano.

In 1994 Christian founded his own string quartet with his sister, the cellist Tanja Tetzlaff, and to this day chamber music remains close to his heart. This season he appears in recital with pianist Kirill Gerstein in New York, Washington and Boston, and with the Tetzlaff Quartet at Berlin’s Boulez Hall, the Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, Vienna’s Musikverein and BOZAR in Brussels. The Quartet was awarded a Diapason d’Or in 2015, and Christian’s trio with Tanja Tetzlaff and pianist Lars Vogt was nominated for a GRAMMY award in 2016. The trio’s last recording, of works by Schubert was only released after Lars Vogt’s untimely passing, and was awarded the OPUS Klassik for best chamber music recording in 2023.

Christian Tetzlaff has also received numerous prizes for his solo recordings, including the Jahrespreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik and the Diapason d’Or in 2018. Of special significance is his 2017 solo recording of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas, which The Strad praised as ‘an attentive and lively answer to the beauty of Bach’s solos’. The Ondine label released a recording of the Beethoven and Sibelius concertos in 2019, followed by Brahms and Berg in 2022 – both with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin under Robin Ticciati.

Christian Tetzlaff plays a violin by Peter Greiner and teaches regularly at the Kronberg Academy. He lives in Berlin with his wife – the photographer Giorgia Bertazzi – and three children.

© Giorgia Bertazzi

Programme notes

Overture, Egmont 1810

Goethe’s play Egmont concerns the life of the 16th-century Dutch warrior Lamoral, Count of Egmont, and his fight against the Spanish Duke of Alba. Egmont’s unstinting belief in freedom and justice led him to ultimate sacrifice, but it also ensured his position within the mythology of the Dutch nation. The quintessence of the proto-Romantic Sturm und Drang movement, Goethe’s historical drama first appeared in 1788, just as the young Beethoven was coming of age. And it was to Beethoven that the Burgtheater in Vienna turned in 1809, when its director asked the composer to provide incidental music for its new production. Although no fee was offered, Beethoven accepted, due to his ‘love of the poet’.

His Overture offers a brilliant snapshot of the drama as a whole, as well as demonstrating the depth of Egmont’s psychological struggle. The initial use of the sarabande, a triple-time dance from the Iberian peninsula, hints at the roots of Egmont’s adversary.

Its insistent rhythms then continue in an Allegro section, with the cellos outlining a darkly plunging theme, which combines with a much terser, four-note violin motif. The latter sounds not unlike the recurrent tattoo in Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, which had just received its premiere. Indeed, the Overture can also be seen as a sort of precis of that symphonic drama, as darkness is finally overcome and the music ends with a blaze of major-key glory.

Courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London

Programme notes

Béla Bartók

1881–1945

Violin Concerto No. 2 1939

Christian Tetzlaff violin

1 Allegro non troppo

2 Andante tranquillo

3 Allegro molto

The Concerto is characterised by a great sense of scale and swagger. Delivering all the outward show of a concerto, it is also ingenious in its structure, with the outer movements mirroring each other, while bookending a further variation scheme within the Andante. This was something of a compromise, given that Székely had wanted a traditional concerto, while Bartók wished to write a one-movement theme and variations. In the end, he did both: ‘I managed to outwit you’, Bartók joked to his friend, ‘I wrote variations after all.’

When the Hungarian violinist Zoltán Székely, the Concertgebouw Orchestra and conductor Willem Mengelberg gave the premiere of a new work by Béla Bartók on 23 March 1939, it was simply billed as his ‘Violin Concerto’. It had no predecessor, at least as far as the composer was concerned, as Bartók had excluded his ‘First’ Violin Concerto from the catalogue. Composed in 1907–08, this earlier work had been a highly personal creation, dedicated to Stefi Geyer, the thwarted object of Bartók’s affection. It was therefore remarkable that he returned to the genre at all. Yet despite any personal and musical apprehensions, to say nothing of the troubling political climate in Europe in the late 1930s, Bartók achieved dazzling results.

In fact, the whole composition is a meeting of worlds and ideas. The opening, for instance, melds the folk traditions of Transylvania and something more akin to the generous lyricism of the Romantic concerto. It also bridges a diatonic soundworld, rooted in the modally inflected home key of B major, and an evolving interest in 12-tone composition, with a central kernel constantly varied over the course of the Allegro. Bartók even drew a direct comparison to the work of his Viennese contemporaries, telling the young Yehudi Menuhin that he ‘wanted to show Schoenberg that one can use all 12 tones and still remain tonal’.

If the constant return of the pulsing harp and the almost whimsical theme help allay some of the tensions in that first movement, it is only really in the Andante that the freneticism abates. Tender and pacifying at first, the theme evolves in sections that prove both skeletal and serene, with the harp reappearing in otherworldly garb,

Courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London

Programme notes

as well as giving a hint of the more feral joys of the Finale.

Here, Bartók may return to the discursive material and structural outline of the first movement, though this is no simple repeat. Instead, he turns the occasionally introspective nature of that initial Allegro into something much more extrovert. But despite all its virtuosity and resolute delivery, to say nothing of the dance’s unbridled

conclusion, the music adopts an optimism that was soon to prove elusive. By March 1939 and the work’s premiere, Bartók’s intention to find a home far from war-directed Europe was far advanced. When the composer’s mother died in Budapest that December, he was finally free to leave, though it meant that Bartók did not hear his Violin Concerto in concert until 1943, on the other side of the Atlantic.

Interval – 20 minutes

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

More star violinists this season

29 Nov 2023: Pieter Schoeman plays Florence Price’s Violin Concerto No. 2

13 Jan 2024: Anne-Sophie Mutter plays John Williams’s Violin Concerto No. 2 (UK premiere)

23 Feb 2024: Frank Peter Zimmermann plays Elgar’s Violin Concerto

16 Mar 2024: Julia Fischer plays Daniel Kidane’s Violin Concerto (world premiere)

22 Mar 2024: Randall Goosby plays Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3

6 Apr 2024: Leila Josefowicz plays Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto

Programme notes

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

1840–93

Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36

1877–88

1 Andante sostenuto — Moderato con anima

2 Andantino in modo di canzona

3 Scherzo: Pizzicato ostinato — Allegro

4 Finale: Allegro con fuoco

Tchaikovsky began work on his fourth of seven symphonies (including the Manfred) in May 1877, shortly before his disastrous marriage to Antonina Milyukova. He had written to his brother Modest, who was also gay, about his impulse to marry the previous year:

I am now going through a very critical period of my life. I will go into more detail later, but for now I will simply tell you, I have decided to get married. It is unavoidable. I must do it, not just for myself but for you, Modest, and all those I love. I think that for both of us our dispositions are the greatest and most insuperable obstacle to happiness, and we must fight our natures to the best of our ability. So far as I am concerned, I will do my utmost to get married this year, and if I lack the necessary courage, I will at any rate abandon my habits forever.

As Tchaikovsky’s fame grew, the balance between his public and private life became ever more precarious. But rather than accepting Antonina, Tchaikovsky treated her abominably, and their marriage lasted but a couple of months. These events form the emotional backdrop to the Fourth Symphony, which was completed alongside Tchaikovsky’s equally tragic opera Eugene Onegin

The fanfare that opens the Symphony was, Tchaikovsky described to his friend and patron Nadezhda von Meck, representative of ‘the fatal power which prevents one from attaining the goal of happiness’. ‘There is nothing to be done’, Tchaikovsky added, ‘but submit to it and

Courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London

Programme notes

lament in vain’. Lamentation is the overriding mood of the first movement, offering a stuttering (if not broken) evocation of a waltz, one of Tchaikovsky’s favourite dance forms. The composer’s ballet Swan Lake, completed in 1876, is also induced by the tonality of F minor, which accompanies the dastardly villain Von Rothbart and his ‘black swan’ daughter Odile’s gloating triumph over Prince Siegfried. There are hints too of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, as Tchaikovsky revealed to fellow composer Sergei Taneyev, though none of that work’s rapidity or its promises of triumph endure here, as Tchaikovsky piles thundering attack on top of thundering attack.

While the mood of the ensuing Andantino seems less aggressive, its descending oboe melody offers a clear echo of the first movement. The Scherzo’s jig shrugs off that spectre, though in the context of the Symphony as a whole, its pizzicato textures take on a ghostly edge. Revealingly, the very first gesture of this dance is another descending scale and, although firmly couched in F major, the Scherzo’s harmonic palette has a disturbing tendency towards minor colours, with the strained outline of the tritone appearing in the upper reaches of the melody. The woodwind introduces a new texture, melody and mood in the middle of the movement, dominated by shrill piccolo and then, in its wake, the brass section heralds the mania of the Finale.

This Allegro con fuoco begins with a triumphant sally of F major, describing a helter-skeltering downward scale, which is answered by a strident march. At first, this has a proto-Shostakovich sneer, before threatening a return of the fanfare with which the Symphony began. But there is also an outwardly gentler theme within this final movement: the Russian folk tune ‘In the Field a Little Birch Tree Stood’. Far from evoking the song’s charming imagery of braided birch wreaths floating in a stream, however, Tchaikovsky veers erratically between dance rhythms and a more threatening symphonicism. The legend goes: if the wreath floats, there will be a happy marriage; if it spins in a circle, the marriage will not take place; and if it sinks, death is on the cards. Given the repeated plunging gestures of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony, underlined in this whirling Finale, musicologist Roland John Wiley has suggested that the composer is predicting a decidedly bleak future. Such a view is confirmed when the brass finally bursts through the texture with a reprise of the opening fanfare. Tchaikovsky adds a hysterical coda, but its rictus grin and repetitive cymbal blasts cannot allay the fundamental negativity of this brutal Symphony.

Programme notes © Gavin Plumley

Recommended recordings of tonight’s works

by Laurie Watt

Beethoven: Egmont Overture

London Philharmonic Orchestra | Klaus Tennstedt (LPO Label LPO-0085, with Symphony No. 6: see page 14) or

London Philharmonic Orchestra | Klaus Tennstedt (Warner Classics)

Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 2

Christian Tetzlaff | Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra | Hannu Lintu (Ondine)

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4

London Philharmonic Orchestra | Vladimir Jurowski (LPO Label LPO-0064: see page 14) or

London Philharmonic Orchestra | Paavo Berglund (Classic FM) or BBC Symphony Orchestra | Gennady Rozhdestvensky (ICA Classics)

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Wednesday 25 October 2023 | 7.30pm

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R Strauss Death and Transfiguration

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Saturday 28 October 2023 | 7.30pm

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Friday 3 November 2023 | 7.30pm

Dukas The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Ravel Piano Concerto in G

Stravinsky Petrushka (1947 revised version)

Edward Gardner conductor

Hélène Grimaud piano

Hélène Grimaud’s performance is generously supported by HSH Dr Donatus, Prince of Hohenzollern.

Tchaikovsky: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5 Vladimir

‘It’s an emotional rollercoaster through the depths of despair to a form of musical redemption, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra expertly guiding us through.’

Beethoven:

Egmont Overture

Symphony No. 6

Klaus Tennstedt conductor

LPO-0085

LPO-0064

Jurowski conductor

Classic FM (Album of the Week)

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

Welser-Möst Circle

William & Alex de Winton

John Ireland Charitable Trust

The Tsukanov Family Foundation

Neil Westreich

Tennstedt Circle

Valentina & Dmitry Aksenov

Richard Buxton

The Candide Trust

Michael & Elena Kroupeev

Kirby Laing Foundation

Mr & Mrs Makharinsky

Alexey & Anastasia Reznikovich

Sir Simon Robey

Bianca & Stuart Roden

Simon & Vero Turner

The late Mr K Twyman

Solti Patrons

Ageas

John & Manon Antoniazzi

Gabor Beyer, through BTO Management Consulting AG

Jon Claydon

Mrs Mina Goodman & Miss Suzanne

Goodman

Roddy & April Gow

The Jeniffer & Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust

Mr James R.D. Korner

Christoph Ladanyi & Dr Sophia

Ladanyi-Czernin

Robert Markwick & Kasia Robinski

The Maurice Marks Charitable Trust

Mr Paris Natar

The Rothschild Foundation

Tom & Phillis Sharpe

The Viney Family

Haitink Patrons

Mark & Elizabeth Adams

Dr Christopher Aldren

Mrs Pauline Baumgartner

Lady Jane Berrill

Mr Frederick Brittenden

David & Yi Yao Buckley

Mr Clive Butler

Gill & Garf Collins

Mr John H Cook

Mr Alistair Corbett

Bruno De Kegel

Georgy Djaparidze

David Ellen

Christopher Fraser OBE

David & Victoria Graham Fuller

Goldman Sachs International

Mr Gavin Graham

Moya Greene

Mrs Dorothy Hambleton

Tony & Susie Hayes

Malcolm Herring

Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle

Mrs Philip Kan

Rehmet Kassim-Lakha de Morixe

Rose & Dudley Leigh

Lady Roslyn Marion Lyons

Miss Jeanette Martin

Duncan Matthews KC

Diana & Allan Morgenthau

Charitable Trust

Dr Karen Morton

Mr Roger Phillimore

Ruth Rattenbury

The Reed Foundation

The Rind Foundation

Sir Bernard Rix

David Ross & Line Forestier (Canada)

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 CBE AM

Christopher Williams

Peter Wilson Smith

Mr Anthony Yolland

and all other donors who wish to remain anonymous

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

The American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra

Anonymous donors

Mrs Aline Foriel-Destezet

Aud Jebsen

In memory of Mrs Rita Reay

Sir Simon & Lady Robey OBE

Orchestra Circle

William & Alex de Winton

Edward Gardner & Sara Övinge

Patricia Haitink

Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle

Mr & Mrs Philip Kan

Neil Westreich

Principal Associates

Richard Buxton

Gill & Garf Collins

In memory of Brenda Lyndoe

Casbon

In memory of Ann Marguerite Collins

Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik V. G. Cave

George Ramishvili

The Tsukanov Family

Mr Florian Wunderlich

Associates

Mrs Irina Andreeva

In memory of Len & Edna Beech

Steven M. Berzin

The Candide Trust

John & Sam Dawson

HSH Dr Donatus, Prince of Hohenzollern

Stuart & Bianca Roden

In memory of Hazel Amy Smith

Gold Patrons

David & Yi Buckley

In memory of Allner Mavis Channing

Sonja Drexler

Peter & Fiona Espenhahn

Mr B C Fairhall

Hamish & Sophie Forsyth

Virginia Gabbertas MBE

Mr Roger Greenwood

Malcolm Herring

Julian & Gill Simmonds

Eric Tomsett

The Viney Family

Guy & Utti Whittaker

Silver Patrons

Dame Colette Bowe

David Burke & Valerie Graham

Cameron & Kathryn Doley

Ulrike & Benno Engelmann

Dmitry & Ekaterina Gursky

The Jeniffer & Jonathan Harris

Charitable Trust

John & Angela Kessler

Mrs Elena & Mr Oleg Kolobov

Mrs Elizabeth Meshkvicheva

Mikhail Noskov & Vasilina

Bindley

Tom & Phillis Sharpe

Mr Joe Topley & Ms Tracey

Countryman

Andrew & Rosemary Tusa

Laurence Watt

Bronze Patrons

Anonymous donors

Chris Aldren

Michael Allen

Mrs A Beare

Mr Anthony Blaiklock

Lorna & Christopher Bown

Mr Bernard Bradbury

Simon Burke & Rupert King

Desmond & Ruth Cecil

Mr John H Cook

Deborah Dolce

Ms Elena Dubinets

David Ellen

Christopher Fraser OBE

Mr Daniel Goldstein

David & Jane Gosman

Mr Gavin Graham

Lord & Lady Hall

Mrs Dorothy Hambleton

Iain & Alicia Hasnip

Eugene & Allison Hayes

J Douglas Home

Molly Jackson

Mrs Farrah Jamal

Mr & Mrs Jan

Mr & Mrs Ralph Kanza

Mr Peter King

Jamie & Julia Korner

Rose & Dudley Leigh

Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE

JP RAF

Drs Frank & Gek Lim

Mr & Mrs Makharinsky

Mr Gordon McNair

Andrew T Mills

Denis & Yulia Nagy

Andrew Neill

Jamie Njoku-Goodwin

Peter & Lucy Noble

Oliver & Josie Ogg

Mr Stephen Olton

Simon & Lucy Owen-Johnstone

Mr Roger Phillimore

Mr Michael Posen

Saskia Roberts

John Romeo

Priscylla Shaw

Mr & Mrs John C Tucker

Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood

Karina Varivoda

Jenny Watson CBE

Grenville & Krysia Williams

Joanna Williams

Principal Supporters

Anonymous donors

Ralph & Elizabeth Aldwinckle

Mr John D Barnard

Roger & Clare Barron

Dr Simona Cicero & Mr Mario Altieri

Mr Alistair Corbett

Guy Davies

David Devons

Igor & Lyuba Galkin

Alexander Greaves

Prof Emeritus John Gruzelier

Michael & Christine Henry

Mrs Maureen Hooft-Graafland

Per Jonsson

Mr Ian Kapur

Ms Elena Lojevsky

Pippa Mistry-Norman

Mrs Terry Neale

John Nickson & Simon Rew

Mr James Pickford

Filippo Poli

Mr Robert Ross

Martin & Cheryl Southgate

Mr & Mrs G Stein

Christopher Williams

Supporters

Anonymous donors

Mr Francesco Andronio

Julian & Annette Armstrong

Mr Philip Bathard-Smith

Emily Benn

Mr Julien Chilcott-Monk

Alison Clarke & Leo Pilkington

Mr Peter Coe

Mr Joshua Coger

Miss Tessa Cowie

Caroline Cox-Johnson

Mr Simon Edelsten

Will Gold

Mr Stephen Goldring

Mr & Mrs Graham & Jean Pugh

Mr Geordie Greig

Mr Peter Imhof

The Jackman Family

Mr David MacFarlane

Paul & Suzanne McKeown

Nick Merrifield

Dame Jane Newell DBE

Mr David Peters

Nicky Small

Mr Brian Smith

Mr Michael Timinis

Mr & Mrs Anthony Trahar

Tony & Hilary Vines

Mr John Weekes

Mr Roger Woodhouse

Mr C D Yates

Hon. Benefactor

Elliott Bernerd

Hon. Life Members

Alfonso Aijón

Kenneth Goode

Carol Colburn Grigor CBE

Pehr G Gyllenhammar

Robert Hill

Keith Millar

Victoria Robey OBE

Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE

Timothy Walker CBE AM

Laurence Watt

Thomas Beecham Group Members

David & Yi Buckley

Gill & Garf Collins

William & Alex de Winton

Sonja Drexler

Mr B C Fairhall

The Friends of the LPO

Roger Greenwood

Dr Barry Grimaldi

Mr & Mrs Philip Kan

John & Angela Kessler

Sir Simon Robey

Victoria Robey OBE

Bianca & Stuart Roden

Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp

Julian & Gill Simmonds

Eric Tomsett

Neil Westreich

Guy & Utti Whittaker

Corporate Donor

Barclays

LPO Corporate Circle

Principal

Bloomberg

Carter-Ruck Solicitors

French Chamber of Commerce

Tutti

Lazard

Natixis Corporate Investment

Banking

Sciteb Ltd

Walpole

Preferred Partners

Jeroboams

Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd

Neal’s Yard

OneWelbeck

Sipsmith Steinway

In-kind Sponsor

Google Inc

Thank you

Trusts and Foundations

ABO Trust

The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust

BlueSpark Foundation

The Boltini Trust

Borrows Charitable Trust

Cockayne – Grants for the Arts

The London Community Foundation

Dunard Fund

Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation

Foyle Foundation

Garrick Charitable Trust

Idlewild Trust

Institute Adam Mickiewicz

John Coates Charitable Trust

John Horniman’s Children’s Trust

John Thaw Foundation

Kirby Laing Foundation

The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music

Lord and Lady Lurgan Trust

Lucille Graham Trust

The Marchus Trust

PRS Foundation

The R K Charitable Trust

The Radcliffe Trust

Rivers Foundation

Rothschild Foundation

Scops Arts Trust

TIOC Foundation

The Thriplow Charitable Trust

Vaughan Williams Foundation

The Victoria Wood Foundation

The Viney Family

and all others who wish to remain anonymous.

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

Kara Boyle

Jon Carter

Jay Goffman

Alexandra Jupin

Natalie Pray

Damien Vanderwilt

Marc Wassermann

Elizabeth Winter

Catherine Høgel Hon. Director

Jenifer L. Keiser, CPA, EisnerAmper LLP

LPO International Board of Governors

Natasha Tsukanova Co-Chair

Martin Höhmann Co-Chair

Mrs Irina Andreeva

Steven M. Berzin

Shashank Bhagat

Veronika Borovik-Khilchevskaya

HSH Dr Donatus, Prince of Hohenzollern

Aline Foriel-Destezet

Irina Gofman

Olivia Ma

George Ramishvili

Sophie Schÿler-Thierry

Florian Wunderlich

London Philharmonic Orchestra Administration

Board of Directors

Dr Catherine C. Høgel Chair

Lord Hall of Birkenhead CBE Vice-Chair

Martin Höhmann* President

Mark Vines* Vice-President

Emily Benn

Kate Birchall*

David Burke

Deborah Dolce

Elena Dubinets

Tanya Joseph

Hugh Kluger*

Katherine Leek*

Minn Majoe*

Tania Mazzetti*

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

Roger Barron Chairman

Christopher Aldren

Richard Brass

Helen Brocklebank

YolanDa Brown OBE

David Buckley

Simon Burke

Simon Callow CBE

Desmond Cecil CMG

Sir Alan Collins KCVO CMG

Andrew Davenport

Guillaume Descottes

Cameron Doley

Christopher Fraser OBE

Jenny Goldie-Scot

Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS

Marianna Hay MBE

Nicholas Hely-Hutchinson DL

Amanda Hill

Dr Catherine C. Høgel

Martin Höhmann

Rehmet Kassim-Lakha

Jamie Korner

Geoff Mann

Andrew Neill

Nadya Powell

Sir Bernard Rix

Victoria Robey OBE

Baroness Shackleton

Thomas Sharpe KC

Julian Simmonds

Barry Smith

Martin Southgate

Chris Viney

Laurence Watt

Elizabeth Winter

General Administration

Elena Dubinets

Artistic Director

David Burke Chief Executive

Chantelle Vircavs PA to the Executive

Concert Management

Roanna Gibson

Concerts and Planning Director

Graham Wood

Concerts and Recordings Manager

Maddy Clarke

Tours Manager

Madeleine Ridout

Glyndebourne and Projects Manager

Alison Jones

Concerts and Recordings Co-ordinator

Robert Winup

Concerts and Tours Assistant

Matthew Freeman

Recordings Consultant

Andrew Chenery

Orchestra Personnel Manager

Sarah Thomas

Martin Sargeson

Librarians

Laura Kitson

Stage and Operations Manager

Stephen O’Flaherty

Deputy Operations Manager

Benjamin Wakley

Assistant Stage Manager

Felix Lo

Orchestra and Auditions Manager

Finance

Frances Slack

Finance Director

Dayse Guilherme

Finance Manager

Jean-Paul Ramotar

Finance and IT Officer

Education and Community

Talia Lash

Education and Community Director

Lowri Davies

Hannah Foakes

Education and Community Project Managers

Hannah Smith

Education and Community Co-ordinator

Claudia Clarkson Regional Partnerships Manager

Development

Laura Willis

Development Director

Rosie Morden

Individual Giving Manager

Siân Jenkins

Corporate Relations Manager

Anna Quillin

Trusts and Foundations Manager

Katurah Morrish

Development Events Manager

Eleanor Conroy

Al Levin

Development Co-ordinators

Nick Jackman

Campaigns and Projects Director

Kirstin Peltonen

Development Associate

Marketing

Kath Trout

Marketing and Communications Director

Sophie Harvey

Marketing Manager

Rachel Williams

Publications Manager

Gavin Miller

Sales and Ticketing Manager

Ruth Haines

Press and PR Manager

Hayley Kim

Residencies and Projects

Marketing Manager

Greg Felton

Digital Creative

Alicia Hartley

Digital and Marketing

Co-ordinator

Isobel Jones

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 Chris Aldren

Honorary ENT Surgeon

Mr Simon Owen-Johnstone

Hon. Orthopaedic Surgeon

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 illustration

Selman Hoşgör

2023/24 season identity

JMG Studio

Printer John Good Ltd