LPO programme: 3 Feb 2024 - Frank Peter Zimmermann plays Elgar (Edward Gardner, conductor)

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 3 February 2024 | 7.30pm

Frank Peter Zimmermann plays Elgar Elgar Violin Concerto (45’) Interval (20’)

Contents 2

Welcome LPO news 3 On stage tonight 4 London Philharmonic Orchestra 5 Leader: Pieter Schoeman 6 Edward Gardner 7 Frank Peter Zimmermann 8 Programme notes 11 Recommended recordings 12 Next concerts 13 Sound Futures donors 14 Thank you 16 LPO administration

R Schumann Symphony No. 2 (34’) Edward Gardner conductor

Generously supported by Aud Jebsen

Frank Peter Zimmermann violin

Free pre-concert performance: Foyle Future Firsts and the Royal Academy of Music 6.00pm | Royal Festival Hall Our current cohort of Future Firsts join forces with students from the Royal Academy of Music and members of the LPO for a performance conducted by Edward Gardner. The programme features music inspired by trees, including Ácana by our Composer-in-Residence, Tania León.

All welcome – free to attend and no ticket required.

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 for broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on Wednesday 28 February at 7.30pm. It will remain available for 30 days after that on BBC Sounds.

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 3 February 2024 • Frank Peter Zimmermann plays Elgar

Welcome

LPO news

Welcome to the Southbank Centre

Foyle Future Firsts and the Royal Academy of Music

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.

This evening we welcome our talented LPO Foyle Future Firsts, who give a free pre-concert performance on the Royal Festival Hall stage at 6pm alongside LPO musicians and students from the Royal Academy of Music, conducted by Edward Gardner. The programme features music inspired by trees, including Ácana by our Composer-in-Residence, Tania León. It also includes works highlighting the talents of different sections of the ensemble, including Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments, Tippett’s Little Music for String Orchestra and Mabel Daniels’s Deep Forest. Please do come along!

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.

Participants on the LPO’s annual Foyle Future Firsts programme are early-career instrumentalists who aspire to become professional orchestral musicians. Across the year Future Firsts benefit from individual mentoring from London Philharmonic Orchestra Principals, mock auditions, involvement in full orchestral rehearsals and Education & Community projects, and wider professional development sessions. Members of the scheme are supported and nurtured to the highest standards and we are proud to see current and past Foyle Future Firsts consistently taking professional engagements with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and other world-class ensembles.

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 Subscribers to our email updates are the first to hear about new events, offers and competitions.

Just head to our website to sign up.

Drinks

lpo.org.uk/fff

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.

The Foyle Future Firsts Development Programme is generously funded by the Foyle Foundation with additional support from the Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust, the Idlewild Trust and the Golsoncott Foundation.

Tune In: new issue out now Hot off the press is the Spring 2024 edition of our twice-yearly LPO magazine, Tune In.

We’d love to hear from you We hope you enjoy tonight’s concert.

Could you spare a few moments afterwards to complete a short survey about your experience?

Your feedback is invaluable to us and will help to shape our future plans.

Scan the QR code or visit issuu.com/londonphilharmonic to read it online, or call 020 7840 4200 to request a copy in the post.

Just scan the QR code to begin the survey.

Thank you!

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London Philharmonic Orchestra • 3 February 2024 • Frank Peter Zimmermann plays Elgar

On stage tonight First Violins

Cellos

Chair supported by Neil Westreich

Chair supported by Bianca & Stuart Roden

Pieter Schoeman* 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 Martin Höhmann Katalin Varnagy

Chair supported by Sonja Drexler

Elizaveta Tyun Cassandra Hamilton Rasa Zukauskaite Jamie Hutchinson Nilufar Alimaksumova Alice Apreda Howell

Second Violins

Emma Oldfield Principal Molly Cockburn Ashley Stevens Claudia Tarrant-Matthews

Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra

Marie-Anne Mairesse Nancy Elan Joseph Maher Nynke Hijlkema Sioni Williams Lyrit Milgram Kate Cole Sheila Law

Violas

Shira Majoni Guest Principal Martin Wray Katharine Leek Benedetto Pollani Laura Vallejo Kate de Campos Raquel López Bolívar James Heron Alistair Scahill Julia Doukakis

Kristina Blaumane Principal Waynne Kwon Francis Bucknall David Lale Helen Rathbone Sibylle Hentschel Jane Lindsay Colin Alexander

Horns

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

Trumpets

Paul Beniston* Principal Tom Nielsen Co-Principal Anne McAneney*

Double Basses

Kevin Rundell* Principal Hugh Kluger George Peniston Tom Walley

Trombones

Mark Templeton* Principal

Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton

David Whitehouse

Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton

Laura Murphy Charlotte Kerbegian

Flutes

Juliette Bausor Principal Stewart McIlwham*

Oboes

Ian Hardwick* Principal Alice Munday

Bass Trombone

Lyndon Meredith Principal

Tuba

Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal

Timpani

Simon Carrington* Principal

Chair supported by Victoria Robey CBE

*Professor at a London conservatoire

Clarinets

Benjamin Mellefont* Principal Thomas Watmough Chair supported by Roger Greenwood

Bassoons

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

Contrabassoon

David & Yi Buckley Gill & Garf Collins Mr B C Fairhall Dr Barry Grimaldi Sir Simon Robey Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp

Guylaine Eckersley Guest Principal Emma Harding

Simon Estell* Principal

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London Philharmonic Orchestra • 3 February 2024 • Frank Peter Zimmermann plays Elgar

© Mark Allan

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Our conductors

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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London Philharmonic Orchestra • 3 February 2024 • Frank Peter Zimmermann plays Elgar

Pieter Schoeman Leader

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.

© Benjamin Ealovega

Next generations

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.

Looking forward

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.

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.

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, Florence Price’s Violin Concerto No. 2, 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.

lpo.org.uk

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

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London Philharmonic Orchestra • 3 February 2024 • Frank Peter Zimmermann plays Elgar

Edward Gardner Principal Conductor, London Philharmonic Orchestra

© Photographer London

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.

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.

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.

This season Edward conducts the LPO in ten concerts at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall. In October 2023 he toured with the Orchestra to South Korea and Taiwan, and this season will also take them to 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.

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 opened the Bergen Philharmonic season in September 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.

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

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London Philharmonic Orchestra • 3 February 2024 • Frank Peter Zimmermann plays Elgar

Frank Peter Zimmermann violin

© Irène Zandel/Hänssler Classic

sonatas for piano and violin with Martin Helmchen (BIS); a sonata and two partitas by J S Bach (BIS); Shostakovich’s two violin concertos with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and Alan Gilbert (BIS; nominated for a Grammy Award); and J S Bach’s violin concertos with the Berlin Baroque Soloists (Hänssler Classic). In September 2021 the Berlin Philharmonic released a special CD on its own label with Frank Peter Zimmerman’s performances of the Bartók, Beethoven and Berg concertos under conductors Alan Gilbert, Daniel Harding and Kirill Petrenko respectively. In 2022 the release received both a Gramophone Award and the German Radio Critics’ Award.

Frank Peter Zimmerman has received a number of special prizes and honours, including the Premio del Accademia Musicale Chigiana, Siena (1990); the Rheinischer Kulturpreis (1994); the Musikpreis of the city of Duisburg (2002); the Bundesverdienstkreuz 1. Klasse der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (2008); and the Paul-Hindemith-Preis der Stadt Hanau (2010).

Frank Peter Zimmermann is widely regarded as one of the foremost violinists of his generation. Praised for his selfless musicality, his brilliance and his keen intelligence, he has been performing with the world’s major orchestras for well over three decades, collaborating with the most renowned international conductors. His many concert engagements have taken him to all the major concert venues and to international music festivals in Europe, the USA, Asia, South America and Australia.

In 2010 he founded the Trio Zimmermann with violist Antoine Tamestit and cellist Christian Poltéra; the trio has performed at all the major venues and festivals in Europe for well over a decade. BIS Records has released award-winning CD recordings of works for string trio

by J S Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Schoenberg and Hindemith.

Highlights of the 2023/24 season include a tour with the Vienna Philharmonic and Daniel Harding; concerts with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, all conducted by Harding; and performances with the Bavarian State Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski, the Bamberg Symphony and Andrew Manze, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Kazuki Yamada, and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and Alan Gilbert, as well as with the Montreal and Toronto symphony orchestras under Rafael Payare and Gustavo Gimeno respectively. He also gives recitals in Europe with pianists Martin Helmchen and Dmytro Choni.

Frank Peter Zimmermann has given the world premieres of Magnus Lindberg’s Violin Concerto No. 2, Matthias Pintscher’s violin concerto En Sourdine, Brett Dean’s violin concerto The Lost Art of Letter Writing and Augusta Read Thomas’s Violin Concerto No. 3, Juggler in Paradise.

Born in 1965 in Duisburg, Germany, Frank Peter Zimmermann started playing the violin aged five, giving his first concert with orchestra at the age of 10.

He studied with Valery Gradov, Saschko Gawriloff and Herman Krebbers.

Over the years Frank Peter Zimmermann has built up an impressive discography for EMI Classics, Sony Classical, BIS Records, Hänssler Classic, Ondine, Decca, Teldec Classics and ECM Records. He has recorded virtually all the major concerti, ranging from Bach to Ligeti, as well as recital repertoire. Many of these highly acclaimed recordings have received prestigious awards and prizes worldwide. His most recent releases include Martinů’s two violin concertos with the Bamberg Symphony and Jakub Hrůša, coupled with Bartók’s Sonata for Solo Violin (BIS); Beethoven’s complete

He plays the 1711 Antonio Stradivari ‘Lady Inchiquin’ violin, which is kindly provided by the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, ‘Kunst im Landesbesitz’.

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London Philharmonic Orchestra • 3 February 2024 • Frank Peter Zimmermann plays Elgar

Programme notes Edward Elgar 1857–1934

Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61 1910 Frank Peter Zimmermann violin

1 Allegro 2 Andante 3 Allegro molto On 10 November 1910 Elgar conducted the premiere of his Violin Concerto in London’s Queen’s Hall. The soloist, and dedicatee of the Concerto, was the great Austrian virtuoso Fritz Kreisler (1875–1962). Dora Penny (the subject of ‘Variation X’ from the Enigma Variations) recalled the occasion: ‘The place was simply packed.

Kreisler came on looking white as a sheet – even for a player of his great experience it must have been a nervous moment – but he played superbly. E.E. was also, obviously, very strung up, but all went well and the ovation at the end was tremendous.’ Kreisler was unequivocal in his enthusiasm for the Concerto: ‘You have written an immortal work’, he told Elgar after spending some of the autumn of 1910 in the composer’s company.

their home in Hereford, Lady (Alice) Elgar noted that her husband ‘was possessed with his music for the Violin Concerto’.

Although he learnt the violin and for some time taught the instrument, Elgar was wise enough to seek advice about fingering and structure from W H (Billy) Reed, the leader of the London Symphony Orchestra. Kreisler, who attended the 1910 Gloucester Three Choirs Festival, met with Elgar and they went through the Concerto together before an invited audience. Reed, who was present, described the event as ‘a wonderful artistic experience’. Another witness wrote: ‘Kreisler stood, splendidly dignified as always, fiddle in hand.

At one moment Kreisler would edge Elgar off the piano stool while he himself took the composer’s place, and, with a deprecatory remark: “Na, na, Edward”, and in an appeal to us the audience, would attempt to show the composer his idea of the right and proper manner in which the music should go. Of course Elgar would lift him from the piano stool laughingly and say: “Na, na Fritz, this is how I want it played”.’

Elgar had begun a violin concerto in the 1890s, but destroyed the sketches. It was after meeting Kreisler at the Leeds Festival in 1904 that he gave serious consideration to composing a concerto, and the following year Kreisler began to exert pressure through an interview in the Hereford Times: ‘If you want to know whom I consider to be the greatest living composer, I say without hesitation Elgar … I say this to please no one; it is my own conviction … I wish Elgar would write something for the violin. He could do so, and it would be certainly something effective’. However, The Kingdom (1906) and the First Symphony (1908) would come before Elgar settled down to the serious business of composing the Violin Concerto in the spring of 1909, while the Elgar family were staying near Rome. Back at

One of the inspirations behind the Concerto was Mrs Alice Stuart-Wortley, daughter of the painter Sir John Everett Millais. A close relationship had developed between the Elgars and the Stuart-Wortleys, and Elgar had nicknamed Alice ‘Windflower’ after the white anemone nemerosa, a flower that meant much to them. Elgar would refer in correspondence with this ‘other’ Alice to the themes in the Concerto as

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London Philharmonic Orchestra • 3 February 2024 • Frank Peter Zimmermann plays Elgar

Programme notes ‘Windflower’. At the head of the score, Elgar quotes, in Spanish, from the novel Gil Blas by the 17th-century French novelist Alain-René Lesage, the following: ‘Aqui está encerrada el alma de . . . . .’ (Herein is enshrined the soul of . . . . .’). The five dots, as Elgar made clear, stood for a woman’s name.

The substantial opening tutti states the main themes of the movement before a single horn heralds the entrance of the violin, which emerges from the orchestral texture playing the second part of the first subject. Soloist and orchestra explore the material before the beguiling second subject follows, surely a statement of Elgar’s feelings for his ‘Windflower’. Elgar then develops the material, his mastery complete, as the soloist rhapsodises on the various themes. As the movement moves to the recapitulation, the intensity increases, the dialogue between the violin and orchestra becoming more complex before the final bars.

In contrast, the Andante opens quietly in the key of B flat, the opening theme given to the orchestra. The violin introduces a new theme and, as the movement develops, the soloist is ‘enshrined’ in music of subtle nobility. It is also a world of great intimacy, the listener seeming to intrude, before the movement ends with soloist and orchestra communing together in a hushed reverie. Elgar once said of the ending of the Andante: ‘This is where two souls merge and melt into one another.’

In the third movement, the violin leaps away in rising passages before the orchestra states the principal theme (Vivace). Elgar moves from the virtuosic to the lyrical almost from bar to bar, but a change to Allegro (marked ‘nobilmente’) settles the music before arriving at the key of B major and a theme from the Andante.

Then the soloist embarks on the most original part of the Concerto, the accompanied cadenza and its pizzicato tremolando. Elgar asks the stringed instruments of the orchestra ‘to be “thrummed” with the soft part of three or four fingers across the strings.’

Material from previous movements is considered by the violin and orchestra before a coda leads to the Concerto’s triumphant ending.

Yehudi Menuhin and Elgar on the steps of Abbey Road Studios before the 16-year-old violinist began recording the Concerto on 14 July 1932.

Programme note © Andrew Neill

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

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London Philharmonic Orchestra • 3 February 2024 • Frank Peter Zimmermann plays Elgar

Programme notes Robert Schumann 1810–56

Symphony No. 2 in C major, Op. 61 1846

1 Sostenuto assai — Allegro ma non troppo 2 Scherzo: Allegro vivace 3 Adagio espressivo 4 Allegro molto vivace Of Schumann’s four symphonies, the Second is the one that has polarised opinion the most. For the eminent 19th-century musicologist Philipp Spitta, it had a ‘graver and more mature depth of feeling; its bold decisiveness of form and overpowering wealth of expression reveal distinctively the relationship in art between Schumann and Beethoven.’ But for the British critic Mosco Carner, the Symphony was a ‘pathetic failure … Laborious, dull, often mediocre in thematic invention, plodding and repetitive in argument’ – a direct consequence, Carner suggested, of Schumann’s ‘mental state’ at the time he wrote it. How can a piece of music provoke such extreme reactions? Schumann himself provided a clue:

brass fanfare confidently rises above an evenly flowing theme on low strings. But the fast main movement is dominated by an obsessively repetitive theme. For some, clearly, this obsessiveness is too much, but in the right interpretative hands its dogged determination can be enormously compelling, drawing the listener directly into Schumann’s own struggles to work himself free from the coils of crippling depression.

The first movement ends with hope renewed, the opening quiet brass fanfare now sounding out thrillingly in the trumpets. But there is something restless and edgy about the energy of the following Scherzo that the two gentler Trio sections do little to pacify. It is in the great Adagio espressivo that Schumann finally confronts melancholy and desolation head on. The opening motif (violins) recalls Bach, who in his two great Passions transformed the darkest emotions into glorious, noble lyricism. Schumann later admitted that composing this music was not all pain: the ‘mournful bassoon’ solo at the heart of the movement, he said, gave him ‘peculiar pleasure’.

I wrote my symphony in December 1845, and I sometimes fear my semi-invalid state can be divined from the music. I began to feel more myself when I wrote the last movement, and I was certainly much better when I finished the whole work. All the same it reminds me of dark days.

‘Semi-invalid’ is an understatement. In 1844, after four years of volcanic creativity, Schumann fell into terrible, paralysing depression. For about a year he wrote virtually nothing. But in May–July 1845 he was at last able to force himself back to work, first completing his Piano Concerto, then beginning work on the Second Symphony. Mosco Carner’s intensely negative response to it may be more understandable as a reaction to its emotional character, especially to the first movement.

At first everything seems hopeful enough: a hushed

‘I began to feel more myself when I wrote the last movement …’ The finale is in fact one of Schumann’s most original symphonic arguments. A rousing first theme is followed by a more lyrical second, itself a transformation of the slow movement’s Bachian main motif. Both themes are developed and recapitulated – all very proper and classical, if a bit on the brief side.

But then comes something very unusual: a plaintive

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London Philharmonic Orchestra • 3 February 2024 • Frank Peter Zimmermann plays Elgar

Programme notes inversion of the Adagio theme brings the music back to the slow movement’s sombre minor key, the energy flags, and the music comes to a halt – almost as though this were an alternative, tragic ending for the Adagio.

Recommended recordings of tonight’s works

by Laurie Watt

What happens next is that Schumann draws breath and simply starts again. First we hear a new theme in woodwind harmonies. This is a near-quotation from Beethoven’s song cycle An die ferne Geliebte (‘To the distant beloved’), which Schumann had alluded to in several works during his agonisingly protracted courtship of his wife Clara. The words of the song Schumann invokes here are, in English, ‘Take, O take these songs I offer’ – surely an offering of thanks to Clara for her help in getting him through the crisis of 1844–5. After this comes a long but compelling crescendo of affirmation, culminating in a wordless hymn of love for full orchestra.

Elgar: Violin Concerto Nigel Kennedy | London Philharmonic Orchestra Vernon Handley (Warner Masters) or Ida Haendel | City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra | Simon Rattle (Testament) Schumann: Symphony No. 2 London Philharmonic Orchestra | Kurt Masur (Warner Classics)

Programme note © Stephen Johnson

Listen on

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Next LPO concerts at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall OKSANA LYNIV CONDUCTS DVOŘÁK Friday 9 February 2024 | 7.30pm

Janáček Suite, The Cunning Little Vixen Victoria Vita Polevá The Bell - Symphony No. 4 for Violoncello and Orchestra (UK premiere)* Dvořák Symphony No. 8 Oksana Lyniv conductor Inbal Segev cello *Co-commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Dallas Symphony Orchestra

COLOUR AND FANTASY Friday 16 February 2024 | 7.30pm

Stravinsky Scherzo fantastique Francisco Coll Ciudad sin Sueño (Fantasia for piano and orchestra)* (world premiere) de Falla Nights in the Gardens of Spain Stravinsky The Firebird Suite (1919 version) Gustavo Gimeno conductor Javier Perianes piano *Co-commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonieorchester Basel and Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía

CANELLAKIS CONDUCTS BRAHMS Wednesday 21 February 2024 | 7.30pm

Mussorgsky (orch. Shostakovich) Dawn on the Moscow River (Prelude to Khovanshchina) Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1 Brahms Symphony No. 4 Karina Canellakis conductor Pablo Ferrández cello

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London Philharmonic Orchestra • 3 February 2024 • Frank Peter Zimmermann plays Elgar

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 CBE 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)

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Carolina & Martin Schwab Dr Brian Smith Lady Valerie Solti Mr & Mrs G Stein Dr Peter Stephenson Miss Anne Stoddart TFS Loans Limited 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

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 3 February 2024 • Frank Peter Zimmermann plays Elgar

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 CBE

Orchestra Circle

William & Alex de Winton Edward Gardner & Sara Övinge Patricia Haitink Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle Mr & Mrs Philip Kan Neil Westreich

Principal Associates

An anonymous donor 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 Jenny & Duncan Goldie-Scot Mr Roger Greenwood Malcolm Herring Julian & Gill Simmonds

Dame Colette Bowe David Burke & Valerie Graham Clive & Helena Butler Cameron & Kathryn Doley Ulrike & Benno Engelmann Dmitry & Ekaterina Gursky The Jeniffer & Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust John & Angela Kessler Mrs Elena & Mr Oleg Kolobova Mrs Elizabeth Meshkvicheva Mikhail Noskov & Vasilina Bindley Tom & Phillis Sharpe Mr Joe Topley & Ms Tracey Countryman Andrew & Rosemary Tusa Jenny Watson CBE Laurence Watt

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 Andrew & Cindy Peck Mr Roger Phillimore Mr Michael Posen Saskia Roberts John Romeo Priscylla Shaw Mr & Mrs John C Tucker Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood Karina Varivoda Grenville & Krysia Williams Joanna Williams

Bronze Patrons

Principal Supporters

Eric Tomsett The Viney Family Guy & Utti Whittaker

Silver Patrons

Anonymous donors Ralph & Elizabeth Aldwinckle Mr John D Barnard Roger & Clare Barron Dr Anthony Buckland Dr Simona Cicero & Mr Mario Altieri Mr Alistair Corbett Guy Davies David Devons Igor & Lyuba Galkin Prof. Erol & Mrs Deniz Gelenbe In memory of Enid Gofton Alexander Greaves Prof. Emeritus John Gruzelier Michael & Christine Henry Mrs Maureen Hooft-Graafland Per Jonsson Mr Ian Kapur Ms Elena Lojevsky Dr Peter Mace 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 Mr Rodney Whittaker Christopher Williams

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 Cristina & Malcolm Fallen 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

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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 Simon & Fiona Mortimore Dame Jane Newell DBE Mr David Peters Nicky Small Mr Brian Smith Mr Michael Timinis Mr & Mrs Anthony Trahar Tony & Hilary Vines Dr June Wakefield 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 CBE Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE Timothy Walker CBE AM Laurence Watt

London Philharmonic Orchestra • 3 February 2024 • Frank Peter Zimmermann plays Elgar

Thank you

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 CBE 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

German-British Chamber of Industry & Commerce Lazard Natixis Corporate Investment Banking Walpole

Preferred Partners Jeroboams Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd Neal’s Yard OneWelbeck Sipsmith Steinway

Trusts and Foundations

Board of the American Friends of the LPO

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 The Golsoncott Foundation 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 The Lennox Hannay Charitable Trust 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

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 MBE 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 HSH Dr Donatus, Prince of Hohenzollern Aline Foriel-Destezet Irina Gofman Olivia Ma George Ramishvili Sophie Schÿler-Thierry Florian Wunderlich

and all others who wish to remain anonymous.

In-kind Sponsor Google Inc

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London Philharmonic Orchestra • 3 February 2024 • Frank Peter Zimmermann plays Elgar

London Philharmonic Orchestra Administration Board of Directors

General Administration

Dr Catherine C. Høgel 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

Elena Dubinets Artistic 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 CBE Baroness Shackleton Thomas Sharpe KC Julian Simmonds Barry Smith Martin Southgate Chris Viney Laurence Watt Elizabeth Winter

Education and Community Talia Lash Education and Community Director

David Burke Chief Executive Chantelle Vircavs PA to the Executive and Employee Relations Manager

Lowri Davies Education and Community Project Manager Hannah Smith Education and Community Co-ordinator

Concert Management Roanna Gibson Concerts and Planning Director

Claudia Clarkson Regional Partnerships Manager

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

Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager

Siân Jenkins Corporate Relations Manager

Mr Chris Aldren Honorary ENT Surgeon

Anna Quillin Trusts and Foundations Manager

Mr Simon Owen-Johnstone Hon. Orthopaedic Surgeon

Sophie Harvey Marketing Manager

Finance

Rachel Williams Publications Manager

Frances Slack Finance Director

Gavin Miller Sales and Ticketing Manager

Dayse Guilherme Finance Manager

Ruth Haines Press and PR Manager

Jean-Paul Ramotar Finance and IT Officer

Hayley Kim Residencies and Projects Marketing Manager

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Professional Services

Dr Barry Grimaldi Honorary Doctor

Kath Trout Marketing and Communications Director

Felix Lo Orchestra and Auditions Manager

Gillian Pole Recordings Archive

Rosie Morden Individual Giving Manager

Marketing

Benjamin Wakley Assistant Stage Manager

Philip Stuart Discographer

Crowe Clark Whitehill LLP Auditors

Kirstin Peltonen Development Associate

Stephen O’Flaherty Deputy Operations Manager

Archives

Laura Willis Development Director

Nick Jackman Campaigns and Projects Director

Laura Kitson Stage and Operations Manager

Isobel Jones Marketing Assistant

Charles Russell Speechlys Solicitors

Eleanor Conroy Al Levin Development Co-ordinators

Sarah Thomas Martin Sargeson Librarians

Alicia Hartley Digital and Marketing Co-ordinator

Development

Katurah Morrish Development Events Manager

Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant

Greg Felton Digital Creative

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