Prokofiev: Man of the People?

Man of the people?

13 January – 1 February 2012 Get closer to Sergei Prokofiev Artistic Director: Vladimir Jurowski

“In my view, the composer, just as the poet, the sculptor or the painter, is in duty bound to serve Man, the people. He must beautify human life and defend it. He must be a citizen first and foremost, so that his art might consciously extol human life and lead man to a radiant future. Such is the immutable code of art as I see it.”

– Sergei Prokofiev

Artistic Director Vladimir Jurowski introduces this festival of fourteen events over twenty days that explores one of the most misunderstood men in 20th-century music.

lpo.org.uk/prokofiev

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Prokofiev: Man of the people?

A festival curated by Vladimir Jurowski

A brief introduction to Sergei Prokofiev – – Born in 1891, Prokofiev He avoided conscription was a precocious musical and moved first to the talent, writing his first USA in 1918 and then works for piano at the age to Paris where he of five. At the age of 13 remained until 1936 he entered St Petersburg Conservatoire

– His compositions for stage and screen include the ballet Chout in collaboration with Diaghilev (25 January), and film scores for Eisenstein’s Alexander Nevsky and Ivan the Terrible (world première of new version, 28 January)

– Prokofiev died aged 61 on the day Stalin’s death was announced. He had lived near Red Square, and for three days the throngs gathered to mourn Stalin, making it impossible to carry Prokofiev’s body out for the funeral service

As with most composers of the 20th century, there’s a discrepancy between our perception of Prokofiev the artist and his ‘persona’.

One can’t help feeling involved with the experiences of his life against the backdrop of the Soviet Union, which can lead to misunderstandings.

I feel there has been a reluctance to recognise Prokofiev as a genius because of how his politics are understood. After escaping the restrictive creative environment of his homeland in 1918, moving to the USA and then Paris, Prokofiev felt compelled to return to the Soviet Union in 1936, bearing the brunt of artistic censorship until his death in 1953.

This festival gives us the opportunity to gain a more in-depth understanding of him as a composer and as a man, enriching the black and white over-simplified view that tends to be held – especially in Britain.

By sidestepping his popular output and looking at his lesser-known works for the concert hall, stage and screen we will try to analyse his work in terms of its relationship with neighbouring art forms, and his connection or otherwise with fellow composers. We’ll be giving the world-première performance of an unknown oratorio version of the music Prokofiev wrote for Eisenstein’s film Ivan the Terrible, prepared by his confidant Levon Atovmyan.

To me Prokofiev may be clever and virtuosic but he had as much heart as head, and he found ways of including that emotion in his music. He doesn’t readily put it on show or give it away easily.

We are starting out on a new journey – both Orchestra and audience together – to discover the vulnerable soul that lies behind the façade.

“Prokofiev has made an immense, priceless contribution to the musical culture of Russia. A composer of genius, he has expanded the artistic heritage left to us by the great classical masters of Russian music – Glinka, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninov.”

–

Dmitri Shostakovich

–

Vladimir Jurowski, Artistic Director

4/5 23 April Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev is born in the farming village of Sontsovka, Ukraine (then part of the Russian Empire)

Drastic new Communist economic policies plunge Russia into famine. Prokofiev sees no room for his experimental music there, so leaves for the USA _

Writes his first composition, a piano piece called Indian Galop

7 August Premières his own First Piano Concerto in Moscow, which he later describes as his ‘first more or less mature composition as regards to conception and fulfilment’

September Age 13, Prokofiev becomes the youngest-ever student accepted into the St Petersburg Conservatoire where his teachers include Glazunov, RimskyKorsakov and Liadov

1928

Prokofiev composes his Third Symphony, praised by conductor Sergei Koussevitzky as ‘the greatest symphony since Tchaikovsky’s Sixth’

1923

1918

1917

1914

1913–14 Prokofiev first visits Paris and London, where he meets Sergei Diaghilev and the highly successful Ballets Russes.

Diaghilev commissions Prokofiev to write a ballet, which eventually became Chout (The Buffoon)

1913

1912

1904

1900

1896

1891

Prokofiev’s first visit to Moscow, where he sees Gounod’s opera Faust and Borodin’s Prince Igor. Both have a profound effect on him and he immediately decides to begin composing his own opera, called The Giant

Prokofiev receives a contract from the Chicago Opera for a new opera The Love for Three Oranges, but the première is postponed after the director’s death and Prokofiev is left unpaid

1920

Timeline

Russian Revolution: Czar Nicholas II is overthrown, ending Imperial Russian rule forever _ Summer 1917 Prokofiev composes his First Symphony.

He names it the ‘Classical’ – according to Prokofiev, it was written in the style that Haydn would have used if he had been alive at the time

Outbreak of First World War: Prokofiev returns to St Petersburg Conservatoire, studying the organ to avoid conscription

Prokofiev marries the Spanish soprano Lina Llubera, whom he had met in Chicago

April Prokofiev leaves the USA due to financial difficulties and travels to Paris

Prokofiev, and others, become a target of the government censorship and intimidation campaign known as ‘Zhdanovshchina’, and his works fall out of official favour _

Prokofiev collaborates with film director Sergei Eisenstein on the historical epic Alexander Nevsky Prokofiev joins Eisenstein in Kazakhstan, where he composes the film score Ivan the Terrible and the ballet Cinderella

Prokofiev marries his second wife, Mira Mendelson, after separating from Lina in 1941

Prokofiev composes the ballet Romeo and Juliet

Outbreak of Second World War. During the war years, government restrictions on music are loosened and Prokofiev is able to compose more freely

Missing his homeland, Prokofiev returns permanently to the Soviet Union with Lina and their two sons _ Prokofiev composes Lieutenant Kijé, his first Soviet commission

1953

1952

1948

Despite being weakened by illness, Prokofiev completes his final Symphony, the Seventh

1945

1944

1943

1941

22 June German invasion of Russia. Prokofiev begins work on the opera War and Peace based on Leo Tolstoy’s epic novel

1939

1938

1936

1935

1932

Union of Soviet Composers established, which becomes the major regulatory body for Russian music.

Stalin’s cultural policy of Socialist Realism dictates that ‘the main attention of the Soviet composer must be directed towards the victorious progressive principles of reality, towards all that is heroic, bright and beautiful’

Prokofiev composes his Fifth Symphony in just one month – it would turn out to be the most popular of all his symphonies

January Prokofiev suffers near-fatal concussion following a fall. He never completely recovers, suffering recurring headaches and dangerously high blood pressure until his death _ End of the Second World War, and the Soviet authorities are once again able to tighten their grip on artistic output

Prokofiev (1891–1953)

5 March Prokofiev dies aged 61, the day Stalin’s death is announced. He lived near Red Square, and for three days the throngs gathered to mourn Stalin, making it impossible to carry Prokofiev’s body out for the funeral service

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Friday 13 January 2012 7.30pm – Royal Festival Hall

Prokofiev Suite, Lieutenant Kijé Prokofiev Cello Concerto, Op. 58 Prokofiev Symphony No. 7 – Alexander Vedernikov conductor Danjulo Ishizaka cello

Tickets £9–£39 Premium seats £65

‘Kijé was a devilish job’, said Prokofiev of his first attempt to write a film score, ‘but what gay music!’

How right he was. This artistically demanding screen satire needed a fine score and it got one – drawing from Prokofiev his most delightfully frivolous themes and smile-inducing orchestrations, the Troika famously propelled by a joyous combination of bells, piano, harp and percussion. Getting new and enchanting sounds from his orchestra was Prokofiev’s priority in his Seventh Symphony, too. This sonic tapestry hands the listener a succession of enchantingly beautiful shapes and song-like themes that dance along with the utmost grace.

Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Festival multi-buy discounts available See page 15 – Free pre-concert event 6.00–6.45pm Royal Festival Hall ‘I don’t know your crazy instrument’ Prokofiev to Gregor Piatigorsky, cellist, and dedicatee of Prokofiev’s Cello Concerto Alexander Ivashkin leads a discussion and performance of Prokofiev’s works for the cello

Exclusive free download See page 15

Danjulo Ishizaka

Repertoire includes Adagio Op. 97, his unfinished solo cello Sonata Op. 133 – Prokofiev’s final work – and his grandson Gabriel Prokofiev’s Outta Pulser for nine cellos performed

by TrinityGold Cello Ensemble directed

by Natalia Pavlutskaya – JTI Friday Series

Wednesday 18 January 2012 7.30pm – Royal Festival Hall

Prokofiev Symphonic Song, Op. 57 Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 5 Prokofiev Symphony No. 6 – Vladimir Jurowski conductor Steven Osborne piano

Tickets £9–£39 Premium seats £65

Three pieces ripe for creative renewal are sure to receive it from Vladimir Jurowski. Prokofiev noted in his diary the ‘vigorous major themes’ that came to him as he sketched his Fifth Piano Concerto, a temperamental but brilliantly accomplished piece.

The Concerto precedes the Sixth Symphony, arguably Prokofiev’s masterwork, written in 1947. ‘Now we are rejoicing in our great victory’, said the composer, ‘but each of us has wounds which cannot be healed, which must not be forgotten.’ Thus the Symphony became both commemorative and life-affirming – a sharp, ringing musical testament, laden with grief but plumbing a huge spectrum of emotional depths.

Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Festival multi-buy discounts available See page 15 – Free pre-concert event 6.00–6.45pm Royal Festival Hall Prokofiev String Quartet No. 1 Prokofiev Quintet Performed by musicians from the Royal College of Music

“I played the Fifth Concerto for the first time on 31 October 1932 with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Furtwängler. I was late coming from another concert and reached Berlin in time for only the final rehearsal. ‘I left one rehearsal for you, but that is of course not enough for such a difficult score,’ Furtwängler said.”

–

Steven Osborne

Sergei Prokofiev

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Saturday 21 January 2012 7.30pm – Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall Royal College of Music

Prokofiev (arr. Kabalevsky) Concertino for Cello Prokofiev Two Poems, Op. 7 Prokofiev Ode to the End of the War Prokofiev Symphony No. 2 – Vladimir Jurowski conductor Kristina Blaumane cello Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra and Chorus

Tickets £10–£20

Following the dazzling success of their performance as part of the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Schnittke festival Between Two Worlds in 2009, Vladimir Jurowski returns to conduct the Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in works that span Prokofiev’s entire career.

Prokofiev’s Piano Music Part of Southbank Centre’s weekly Friday Lunch series, an opportunity to hear some of Prokofiev’s music up close and intimate Admission free

“Anyone considering student orchestras as not capable of great performances would have needed to think again after this.”

– Classical Source on Vladimir Jurowski and the Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra

“31 January 1910: A little later I started rehearsals with the girls. They liked the piece and enjoyed singing it; I was transmogrified into ‘the composer’, ‘the maestro’, my stock in the Conservatoire rose rapidly, and I became a well-known figure within its walls, just as I had dreamed of before writing The Swan.

I was ‘a composer’ who had written a ‘very beautiful’ chorus.”

– Sergei Prokofiev on Two Poems

Kristina Blaumane

Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk – Royal College of Music Box Office 020 7591 4314 rcm.ac.uk/boxoffice (£1.95 booking fee) – Friday 20 January 2012 1.00pm Level 2 Central Bar at Royal Festival Hall

Sunday 22 January 2012 3.30pm – Royal Festival Hall

The Prokofiev Diaries – Vladimir Jurowski conductor Simon Callow as Prokofiev Piers Lane piano

Tickets £15

From student days at St Petersburg until 1933, just before he finally returned from the West to live out the remainder of his life in the Soviet Union, Prokofiev kept a uniquely revealing diary to which he confided his innermost thoughts, the struggles and triumphs of his creative life; his spiritual strivings; his relationships with lovers, friends, fellow musicians and other prominent artists; the events and encounters of his turbulent life at the centre of the most explosive period of 20th-century art. Anthony Phillips, who translated the diaries into English, has devised a programme in which readings from the diaries and other autobiographical writings, alongside musical extracts, will throw light on what lies behind some of the music created by this most complex, elusive and original genius.

Save £5 if you book with tickets to an evening concert See page 15 Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Please note there will be no interval

Simon Callow

Prokofiev Diary illustration

Concert generously supported by Mr Leonid and Mrs Olga Makharinsky

Wednesday 25 January 2012 7.30pm – Royal Festival Hall

Prokofiev Chout (concert suite) Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 4 (for the left hand) Prokofiev Cinderella (excerpts) – Vladimir Jurowski conductor Leon Fleisher piano

Tickets £9–£39 Premium seats £65

‘What I wished to express above all in the music of Cinderella’, said Prokofiev, ‘was the poetic love of Cinderella and the Prince – the birth and flowering of that love, the obstacles in its path and finally the dream fulfilled.’ Prokofiev’s score captures precisely that: here is music above which a sprinkling of fairy dust seems to hover, so glistening are its orchestrations, so enchanting its textures. The composer’s music for the ballet Chout (or The Buffoon) was altogether different. This absurdist satire on Russian village life prompted a tight, tuneful and mischievous score from Prokofiev, with shades of Stravinsky’s Petrushka.

Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Festival multi-buy discounts available See page 15

Leon Fleisher

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Saturday 28 January 2012 2.00–5.30pm – Level 5 Function Room Royal Festival Hall

The Unknown Prokofiev

Tickets £10

Leading Prokofiev experts Simon Morrison, David Nice and Fiona McKnight discuss Prokofiev’s popular music for Soviet consumption and why these works are virtually unknown. His grandson Gabriel Prokofiev provides a personal insight into the reasons behind Prokofiev’s return to Stalin’s Russia only to endure censorship and difficulties as a Soviet composer.

Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk

Sergei Prokofiev

In collaboration with The Serge Prokofiev Foundation

12 / 12 12/13 Saturday 28 January 2012 7.30pm – Royal Festival Hall

Prokofiev Incidental music to Egyptian Nights* Prokofiev (arr. Atovmyan) Ivan the Terrible** (world première of this version) – Vladimir Jurowski conductor Ewa Podles contralto Andrey Breus baritone Simon Callow narrator London Philharmonic Choir

Tickets £9–£39 Premium seats £65

Prokofiev’s colleagues were astounded that he wrote film and stage incidental music with the same levels of passion and inspiration with which he approached his concert works. Exactitude, polish, vivid characterisation and powerful imagery abound in the music Prokofiev wrote for Eisenstein’s Ivan the Terrible films. Tender, mystical, wild, but somehow majestic, too – the music had a complicated life, slices of it appearing in subsequent works by Prokofiev.

This concert presents an arrangement that lay untouched for decades, made by Levon Atovmyan – confidant of both Shostakovich and Prokofiev, and a man who has done more than anyone else to bring the unheard work of both composers to life.

Festival multi-buy discounts available See page 15 – Free pre-concert event 6.00–6.45pm Royal Festival Hall Prokofiev String Quartet No. 2 Prokofiev Humoresque for 4 bassoons Prokofiev Sonata for two violins Performed by musicians from the Royal College of Music

*With excerpts from texts by George Bernard Shaw, Pushkin and Shakespeare **Generously supported by The Serge Prokofiev Foundation

Vladimir Jurowski

Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk

Saturday 28 January 2012 c. 9.45pm – The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall

Trapeze A classical club night with music and dance

Free – unticketed

A late-night collaboration between the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Rambert Dance Company and Nonclassical. Prokofiev’s early ballet score Trapeze enjoys a fresh new interpretation as part of an hour-long classical club night curated

by Gabriel Prokofiev’s Nonclassical. It is performed by young artists associated with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Rambert Dance Company: Foyle Future Firsts and Quicksilver.

Wednesday 1 February 2012 7.30pm – Royal Festival Hall

Prokofiev Symphony No. 1 (Classical) Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2 Prokofiev Symphony No. 5 – Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Janine Jansen violin

Tickets £9–£39 Premium seats £65

Here we have three linchpins of Prokofiev’s orchestral art: the charmingly refracted view of the music of Mozart and Haydn that formed his First Symphony; his equally neat and symmetrical Second Violin Concerto, ordered but spiked with distinctively inventive harmonies and tunes that break out on adventures; and finally his central, most astounding symphony, the Fifth. Prokofiev himself described the latter as ‘a symphony of the greatness of the human spirit’. In it he explored new spiritual horizons, creating what one commentator labelled ‘not so much symphony as exciting symphonic drama.’ Yannick Nézet-Séguin harnesses the propulsive energy of Prokofiev in this, the last performance of our festival.

Book now 020 7840 4242 lpo.org.uk Festival multi-buy discounts available See page 15 – Free pre-concert event 6.00–6.45pm Royal Festival Hall Next generation Prokofiev Over 100 young performers present their brand new work inspired by the music of Prokofiev, the culmination of a project between the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Southwark schools and the Southwark Youth Orchestra

Yannick Nézet-Séguin

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Booking information

Book more, pay less: Series discounts Book for 3–4 evening concerts at Royal Festival Hall and receive a 10% discount.

Book for all 5 evening concerts at Royal Festival Hall and receive a 15% discount.

Book for any Prokofiev festival evening concert at Royal Festival Hall and save £5 on The Prokofiev Diaries (22 January).

London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office 020 7840 4242 Monday to Friday 10.00am–5.00pm lpo.org.uk (no transaction fee) – Southbank Centre Ticket Office 0844 847 9920 Daily 9.00am–8.00pm southbankcentre.co.uk (transaction fees apply) In person at Royal Festival Hall Ticket Office Daily 10.00am–8.00pm (no transaction fee) – Royal College of Music (21 January only) Box Office 020 7591 4314 Monday to Friday 10.00am–4.00pm rcm.ac.uk/boxoffice (£1.95 booking fee)

Access Southbank Centre is accessible to people with disabilities. To join the Access list, telephone 0844 847 9910, email accesslist@southbankcentre.co.uk or visit southbankcentre.co.uk/access The Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall at the Royal College of Music has six spaces for wheelchair-users. Direct access is available from Prince Consort Road, located to the left of the main entrance. For further access information, please call 020 7591 4314.

– Concessions A limited allocation of half-price tickets is available for full-time students, benefit recipients (Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support, and Pension Credit) and under-16s (maximum 4 per transaction. Not applicable to the concert at Royal College of Music 21 January).

Prokofiev free download offer Book any festival event and get a free download of Danjulo Ishizaka playing Prokofiev’s Symphony Concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra –

This download has been made available with kind support from JTI All discounts are subject to availability

Full details of how to download will be included with your tickets

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Venue information

NORTH

THE LONDON EYE

Royal Festival Hall at Southbank Centre Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX

SOUTHBANK CENTRE CAR PARK BELVEDERE ROAD

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FESTIVAL RIVERSIDE

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ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL SOUTHBANK CENTRE SQUARE

RIVERSIDE TERRACE FESTIVAL PIER

SOUTHBANK CENTRE CAR PARK HAYWARD GALLERY

Southbank Centre Car Park – Belvedere Road (7am–1am daily)

HAYWARD GALLERY

Southbank Centre Car Park – Hayward Gallery (7am–1am daily) WAT ERLO

Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall, Royal College of Music Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2BS

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QUEEN ELIZABETH HALL

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KENSINGTON GARDENS

HIGH STREET KENSINGTON

South Kensington or Gloucester Road

9,10,52,452 KENSINGTON ROAD

Prince Consort Road, Queen’s Gate or Kensington Road For detailed bus information call 0845 300 7000 or visit tfl.org.uk/buses

PRINCE’S GATE

360 PRINCE CONSORT ROAD

CALLENDAR ROAD

QUEEN’S GATE TERRACE

JAY MEWS

ROYAL ALBERT HALL

ROYAL COLLEGE OF MUSIC

AYRTON ROAD

EXHIBITIONR ROAD

Waterloo For detailed bus information call 0845 300 7000 or visit tfl.org.uk/buses

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Waterloo, Waterloo East or Charing Cross

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Southbank Centre is situated on the Thames Riverside between the Golden Jubilee Bridge and Waterloo Bridge Waterloo, Embankment or Charing Cross

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SOUTH KENSINGTON

Royal Festival Hall Seating information

London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office 020 7840 4242 Monday to Friday 10.00am–5.00pm lpo.org.uk (no transaction fee) – Southbank Centre Ticket Office 0844 847 9920 Daily 9.00am–8.00pm southbankcentre.co.uk (transaction fees apply) In person at Royal Festival Hall Ticket Office Daily 10.00am–8.00pm (no transaction fee)

Ticket prices for Royal Festival Hall evening concerts £9

£12

£16

£27

£33

£39

£21

Premium seats £65 We have selected the very best seats in the front stalls to be sold at premium price to ensure you the finest acoustic and view.

Balcony

Boxes

Boxes Rear stalls

Front stalls

Side stalls

Side stalls Performance area

Information in this brochure was correct at time of going to press.

The right is reserved to substitute artists and to vary programmes if necessary The London Philharmonic Orchestra gratefully acknowledges the financial support of Arts Council England and Southbank Centre

The London Philharmonic Orchestra is a registered charity No. 238045.

Southbank Centre is a registered charity No. 298909

Choir seats

Design: Roundel

lpo.org.uk/prokofiev

Prokofiev cover imagery: The Serge Prokofiev Estate

To discover more about Sergei Prokofiev through resources including audio clips of the music being performed, podcasts and interviews, and for forthcoming details of extra events at Pushkin House visit: