London Symphony Orchestra Programme

ŠRanald Mackechnie

NCH International Concert Series 2018/2019

London Symphony Orchestra Gianandrea Noseda conductor Daniil Trifonov piano Philip Cobb trumpet Antoine Tamestit viola Friday 14 June 2019

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International Concert Series 2018/2019

Welcome/Fáilte Regarded as one of the top five orchestras in the world (Gramophone), the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) has been a regular visitor to the National Concert Hall in recent years. This evening we are delighted to welcome the orchestra back in the company of no less than three outstanding soloists and led by its distinguished Principal Guest Conductor Gianandrea Noseda.

Following his spell-binding solo recital at the NCH two seasons ago we are thrilled to welcome back pianist Daniil Trifonov for his Dublin concerto debut, joined, for the Piano Concerto No. 1 by Shostakovich by the LSO’s Principal Trumpet Philip Cobb. French viola player Antoine Tamestit also makes his first appearance in our International Concert Series, as soloist in the Byron-inspired Harold in Italy, marking the 150th anniversary of its composer Hector Berlioz’s death.

This evening’s concert brings our 2018/19 International Concert Series to a resounding conclusion. We hope it leaves you all uplifted and enthused to return for the opening of the next season on September 4th when the Staatskapelle Dresden, with Myung-Whun Chung and star pianist Yuja Wang pick up where the LSO leave off! Full details of the fourteen concerts in the 2019/20 International Concert Series can be found on nch.ie.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you, our Friends, sponsors, patrons and concert goers, for your ongoing support throughout the last season and our particular thanks also to our media partner The Irish Times.

We hope you enjoy this evening’s performance and we look forward to welcoming you to NCH many times in the season ahead.

Simon Taylor Chief Executive

Maura McGrath Chairperson

Board Of Directors Maura McGrath Chair • James Cavanagh • Rebecca Gageby Gerard Gillen • Eleanor McEvoy • Máire O’Connor Michael O’Donovan • John Reynolds • Don Thornhill Patron Michael D. Higgins President of Ireland 1

International Concert Series 2018/2019

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International Concert Series 2018/2019

Programme Beethoven

Egmont Overture in F minor, Op. 84

Shostakovich Concerto No. 1 in C minor, Op. 35 for piano, trumpet and strings INTERVAL Berlioz

Harold in Italy Op. 16

REMINDERS Mobile Devices Please ensure all mobile devices are switched off during the performance.

Camera, Video and Recording Equipment Camera, video and recording equipment are NOT permitted in the auditorium.

Intervals and Timings Interval will be 20 minutes. Latecomers will not be admitted until there is a suitable break in the performance.

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London Symphony Orchestra

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ŠIgor Emmerich

From delivering artistic excellence on stage, in recordings and on film, to its world-leading music education and community programme, the London Symphony Orchestra strives to bring great music to as many people as possible. Established in 1904, the LSO was one of the first self-governing orchestras, built on the values of partnership and artistic ownership. That entrepreneurial spirit continues today.

International Concert Series 2018/2019

The LSO has been the Resident Orchestra at the Barbican in the City of London since the Centre opened in 1982.

Every year, it gives 70 concerts there and performs over 50 worldwide. The LSO also programmes concerts and workshops at LSO St Luke’s through its pioneering community and education programme, LSO Discovery, which was one of the first in the UK. Much of LSO Discovery’s work is captured and disseminated digitally, enabling enthusiasts, pupils and teachers from around the world to benefit from its activities. The Orchestra also champions new music, regularly commissioning some of the foremost British composers to write significant new works for full orchestra and mixed-ability ensembles.

The LSO has developed a close family of artists who continually demonstrate their commitment to this Orchestra, with Sir Simon Rattle as Music Director, Gianandrea Noseda and François-Xavier Roth as Principal Guest Conductors and Michael Tilson Thomas as Conductor Laureate. It also enjoys long-standing relationships with some of the world’s greatest conductors and soloists who relish the boundless professional ambitions that the LSO offers.

The LSO has a history of innovation that helps to keep it relevant and contemporary. With the formation of its own recording label LSO Live in 1999, the Orchestra brought about a revolution in how live orchestral music was recorded.

Since then, LSO Live has produced over 120 releases and continually embraces new digital technologies, having made pioneering moves into digital film, Blu-Ray Audio, downloads and streaming. The Orchestra has more recordings to its name than any other orchestra, and many millions have enjoyed the LSO through its work as a leading orchestra for film, which includes hundreds of classic scores from Star Wars to The King’s Speech and Indiana Jones.

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The LSO is determined to ensure the future of great music throughout the world and in its London home. The Orchestra is a leading partner in Culture Mile in the City of London alongside the Corporation, the Barbican Centre, the Museum of London and the Guildhall School. Its Barbican Residency is funded by The Corporation of London and the LSO is a National Portfolio Organisation of the Arts Council England.

The Orchestra relies on all of its strategic partnerships at home and abroad, plus its generous funders, to enable it to continue delivering a dynamic range of work.

“The LSO offered unstinting attentiveness to detail and colour, and flawless technique�

The Times

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Gianandrea Noseda

Gianandrea Noseda is one of the world’s most sought-after conductors, equally recognised for his artistry in both the concert hall and opera house. He was named the National Symphony Orchestra’s seventh music director in January 2016 and began his four-year term with the 2017–2018 season. In September 2018, at the start of his second season with the NSO, his contract was extended for four more years, through the 2024–2025 season. He led 12 weeks of subscription concerts with the Orchestra this season, as well as their first appearance together at Carnegie Hall in New York in May 2019 and Lincoln Center in November 2019.

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In addition to his position with the NSO, Noseda also serves as Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Principal Conductor of the Orquestra de Cadaqués, and Artistic Director of the Stresa Festival in Italy. In July 2018, the Zurich Opera House appointed him the next General Music Director beginning in the 2021–2022 season where the centerpiece of his tenure will be a new Ring Cycle directed by Andreas Homoki, the opera house’s artistic director.

Nurturing the next generation of artists is important to Noseda, as evidenced by his ongoing work in masterclasses and tours with youth orchestras, including the European Union Youth Orchestra, and with his recent appointment as music director of the newly-created Tsinandali Festival and Pan-Caucasian Youth Orchestra in the village of Tsinandali, Georgia, which begins in fall 2019.

Noseda has conducted the most important orchestras and at leading opera houses and festivals including the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, La Scala, Munich Philharmonic, Met Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Philadelphia Orchestra, Royal Opera House, Salzburg Festival, Vienna Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, and Zurich Opera House. From 2007 until 2018, Noseda served as Music Director of Italy’s Teatro Regio Torino where he ushered in a transformative era for the company matched with international acclaim for its productions, tours, recordings, and film projects.

Gianandrea Noseda also has a cherished relationship with the Metropolitan Opera dating back to 2002. He returned to the Met on New Year’s Eve 2018 and January 2019 to lead critically acclaimed performances of a new production of Adriana Lecouvreur featuring Anna Netrebko. In May 2020,

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he leads the Met Orchestra in a concert at Carnegie Hall. In recent years, he has conducted Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, which received its premiere at the New Year’s Eve Gala in 2016, and a new production of Les pêcheurs de perles which premiered at the New Year’s Eve Gala in 2015. His widely praised interpretation of Prince Igor from the 2013–2014 season is available on DVD from Deutsche Grammophon.

The institutions where he has had significant roles include the BBC Philharmonic which he led from 2002–2011; the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, where the Victor de Sabata Chair was created for him as principal guest conductor from 2010–2014; and the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, which appointed him its first-ever foreign principal guest conductor in 1997, a position he held for a decade. He was Principal Guest Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic from 1999 to 2003 and Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI from 2003 to 2006.

Noseda’s intense recording activity counts more than 60 CDs, many of which have been celebrated by critics and received awards. His Musica Italiana project, which he initiated more than ten years ago, has chronicled under-appreciated Italian repertoire of the 20th century and brought to light many masterpieces. Conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra Teatro Regio Torino, he has also recorded opera albums with celebrated vocalists such as Ildebrando d’Arcangelo, Rolando Villazon, Anna Netrebko, and Diana Damrau.

A native of Milan, Noseda is Commendatore al Merito della Repubblica Italiana, marking his contribution to the artistic life of Italy. In 2015, he was honored as Musical America’s Conductor of the Year, and was named the 2016 International Opera Awards Conductor of the Year. In December 2016 he was privileged to conduct the Nobel Prize Concert in Stockholm.

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Philip Cobb trumpet

Philip Cobb was appointed Principal Trumpet with the London Symphony Orchestra in July 2009, while he was only 21 years of age. A fourth generation Salvationist, he comes from a family that is intrinsically linked with Salvation Army music-making at its highest level. From a young age, Philip regularly featured as a cornet soloist, appearing alongside his brother Matthew and father Stephen, accompanied by his mother Elaine, making more regular appearances as a soloist in ensuing years. In 2000 he gained a place in the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain, where he became Principal Cornet on a number of courses and won the prestigious Harry Mortimer Award on four occasions.

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As a student at the Guildhall School, Philip studied with Paul Beniston and Alison Balsom. In 2006 he took part in the Maurice André International Trumpet Competition and was awarded one of the major prizes as the Most Promising Performer. While studying, Philip played in the Salvation Army’s International Staff Band and also released his debut solo CD, Life Abundant, in 2007. The following year he received the Candide Award at the London Symphony Orchestra’s Brass Academy, and also played with the European Union Youth Orchestra as Principal Trumpet.

Prior to leaving the Guildhall School, Philip was already working with leading orchestras in London, and by the time he had completed his music degree he had secured his current post in the London Symphony Orchestra. Despite his busy schedule with the Orchestra, Philip continues to maintain his solo career and a continued interest in brass bands.

He is also actively involved with the recently formed Superbrass, Eminence Brass and LSO Brass ensembles. He enjoys pursuing film music with the LSO and as a freelance trumpet player; he can be heard on soundtracks for Jurassic World, Rise of the Guardians and Solo: A Star Wars Story, and featured in the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games.

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Antoine Tamestit

Antoine Tamestit is recognised internationally as one of the great violists - soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. He has been described as possessing “a flawless technique, and combines effortless musicality with an easy communicative power” (Bachtrack). In addition to his peerless technique and profound musicianship, he is known for the depth and beauty of his sound with its rich, deep, burnished quality. His repertoire is broad, ranging from the Baroque to the contemporary, and he has performed and recorded several world premieres.

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In the 2018/19 season, Tamestit is Artist-in-Residence SWR Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart with which he will perform the Schnittke, Walton and Hoffmeister concerti. He will also play/direct the orchestra in a programme of Bach, Hindemith, Britten and Brahms. Elsewhere this season, he will tour the US with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique and will appear as Gardiner’s soloist with the orchestra of Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. He returns to the London Symphony Orchestra, and will perform with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Dresden Saatskapelle, Orchestre de Paris in Paris and on tour, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra.

In recital and chamber music, he will appear at the Berlin Philharmonie, Wigmore Hall, Vienna Konzerthaus, Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels and the Prinzregententheater in Munich.

Since giving the world premiere performance of Jörg Widmann’s Viola Concerto in 2015 with the Orchestre de Paris and Paavo Järvi, Tamestit has given performances of the concerto with the co-commissioners, Swedish Radio Symphony and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, both under Daniel Harding, again with the Orchestre de Paris, with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony, and the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Tamestit has also appeared as soloist with orchestras such as the Czech Philharmonic, Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich, WDR Köln, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Philharmonia, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra of Europe. He has worked with many great conductors including Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Valery Gergiev, Riccardo Muti, Daniel Harding, Marek Janowski, Antonio Pappano, François-Xavier Roth and Franz Welser-Möst.

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Antoine Tamestit is a founding member of Trio Zimmermann with Frank Peter Zimmermann and Christian Poltera. Together they have recorded a number of acclaimed CDs for BIS Records and played in Europe’s most famous concert halls and series. Other chamber music partners include Nicholas Angelich, Gautier Capucon, Martin Fröst, Leonidas Kavakos, Nikolai Lugansky, Emmanuel Pahud, Francesco Piemontesi, Christian Tetzlaff, Cédric Tiberghien, Yuja Wang, Jörg Widmann, Shai Wosner and the Ebene and Hagen Quartets.

Antoine Tamestit records for Harmonia Mundi and released the Widmann Concerto, recorded with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Harding in February 2018.

The recording was selected as Editor’s Choice in BBC Music Magazine. His first recording on Harmonia Mundi was Bel Canto: The Voice of the Viola, with Cédric Tiberghien released in February 2017. Tamestit’s distinguished discography includes Berlioz’s Harold en Italie with the London Symphony Orchestra and Valery Gergiev for LSO Live; for Naïve he has recorded three Bach Suites, Hindemith solo and concertante works with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and Paavo Järvi; and an earlier recording of Harold in Italy with Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre. In 2016 he appeared with Frank Peter Zimmermann and the Chamber Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra on a new recording of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante (Hännsler Classic).

Tamestit’s other world premiere performances and recordings include Thierry Escaich’s La Nuit Des Chants in 2018, the Concerto for Two Violas by Bruno Mantovani written for Tabea Zimmermann and Tamestit, and Olga Neuwirth’s Remnants of Songs. Works composed for Tamestit also include Neuwirth’s Weariness Heals Wounds and Gérard Tamestit’s Sakura.

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Together with Nobuko Imai, Antoine Tamestit is co-artistic director of the Viola Space Festival in Japan, focusing on the development of viola repertoire and a wide range of education programmes.

Born in Paris, Antoine Tamestit studied with Jean Sulem, Jesse Levine, and with Tabea Zimmermann. He was the recipient of several coveted prizes including first prize at the ARD International Music Competition, the William Primrose Competition and the Young Concert Artists (YCA) International Auditions, as well as BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artists Scheme, Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award and the Credit Suisse Young Artist Award in 2008.

Tamestit has taught at both the Cologne Hochschule fĂźr Musik and Paris Conservatoire, and regularly gives masterclasses worldwide.

Antoine Tamestit plays on a viola made by Stradivarius in 1672, loaned by the Habisreutinger Foundation.

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Daniil Trifonov piano

Daniil Trifonov, winner of Gramophone's 2016 Artist of the Year Award, has made a spectacular ascent as a solo artist, chamber musician and composer. Combining consummate technique with rare sensitivity and depth, his performances are recognised for their profound musical insight and expressive intensity. Martha Argerich has said of Trifonov that “He has everything and more … tenderness and also the demonic element. I never heard anything like that".

Trifonov recently added a first Grammy Award to his already considerable string of honours, winning Best Instrumental Solo Album of 2018 with Transcendental, a double album of Liszt’s works that marks his third title as an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist. As The Times notes, he is “without question the most astounding pianist of our age.”

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In September 2018, Trifonov launched the New York Philharmonic’s 2018-19 season, playing Ravel’s Concerto in G for the opening-night gala under incoming Music Director Jaap van Zweden before rejoining the orchestra the following night for Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5. Trifonov also performed the Ravel at the opening of his London Symphony Orchestra Artist Portrait series with Sir Simon Rattle; he performed the same concerto as part of his residency at Vienna’s Musikverein, which also included the Austrian premiere of his own Piano Concerto. Further performances as part of the LSO Artist Portrait Series included Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 with Tilson Thomas and Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 1 with Noseda. In spring 2019, Trifonov embarked on a tour of Asia with the Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst.

During a multi-faceted, season-long residency with the Berlin Philharmonic, Trifonov plays Scriabin’s concerto under Andris Nelsons. Other orchestral highlights include a return to Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium for Schumann Piano Concerto with the Met Orchestra and Gergiev, Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 with Marin Alsop and the Chicago Symphony, and Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 3 with Nelsons and the Boston Symphony. Trifonov also released his new Deutsche Grammophon recording Destination Rachmaninov: Departure, on which he performs the Russian composer’s Second and Fourth Concertos, again with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, his partners on 2015’s Rachmaninov: Variations.

In recital this season, Trifonov plays Beethoven, Schumann and Prokofiev on Carnegie’s mainstage and in Berlin, where his Berlin Philharmonic residency features multiple solo and chamber concerts. These include performances of his own

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Piano Quintet, of which he also gave the Cincinnati premiere with the Ariel Quartet. In Berlin, as well as at New York’s 92nd Street Y, he plays duo recitals with his frequent partner, German baritone Matthias Goerne.

Last season, Trifonov released Chopin Evocations, his fourth album for Deutsche Grammophon, which pairs works by Chopin with those of the 20th-century composers he influenced. Trifonov performed a similar programme throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia, including at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall, the Philharmonie de Paris and London’s Wigmore Hall. At Carnegie Hall, Trifonov curated his seven concert, season-long Perspectives series, which included a performance of his own piano concerto with Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra, as well as a similar series at the Vienna Konzerthaus and in San Francisco, where he gave a season closing performance with the San Francisco Symphony. He also undertook a solo tour of Asia, and European tours in collaboration with Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica, the London Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and La Scala Orchestra.

Additional orchestral appearances included Strauss’s Burleske with the Spanish National Orchestra and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra; Schumann with Lisbon’s Gulbenkian Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic; Prokofiev with the Mariinsky and Cleveland Orchestras; Scriabin’s Piano Concerto with the Seattle Symphony and Ludovic Morlot; a performance of his own Piano Concerto with the Detroit Symphony; and further Rachmaninov performances with the Munich Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony, and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

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Trifonov’s first recording as an exclusive Deutsche Grammophone artist, Trifonov: The Carnegie Recital, was released in October 2013. The disc was recorded live at his sold-out 2013 Carnegie Hall recital debut, and received a Grammy nomination. Besides the similarly Grammy-nominated Rachmaninov Variations, recorded with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, his discography also features a Chopin album for Decca and a recording of Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto with Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra on the ensemble’s own label.

During the 2010-11 season, Trifonov won medals at three of the music world’s most prestigious competitions, taking Third Prize in Warsaw’s Chopin Competition, First Prize in Tel Aviv’s Rubinstein Competition, and both First Prize and Grand Prix – an additional honour bestowed on the best overall competitor in any category – in Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Competition. In 2013 he was also awarded the prestigious Franco Abbiati Prize for Best Instrumental Soloist by Italy’s foremost music critics.

Born in Nizhny Novgorod in 1991, Trifonov began his musical training at the age of five, and went on to attend Moscow’s Gnessin School of Music as a student of Tatiana Zelikman, before pursuing his piano studies with Sergei Babayan at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He has also studied composition, and continues to write for piano, chamber ensemble, and orchestra. When he premiered his own Piano Concerto in 2013, the Cleveland Plain Dealer commented “Even having seen it, one cannot quite believe it. Such is the artistry of pianist-composer Daniil Trifonov.”

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2019/2020 Programme 22

International Concert Series 2018/2019

Staatskapelle Dresden | Myung-Whun Chung conductor | Yuja Wang piano | London Mozart Players | Howard Shelley piano/conductor Christian Tetzlaff violin Lars Vogt piano | RIAS Kammerchor | Justin Doyle chief conductor Bahar & Ufuk Dördüncü pianos | Joseph Calleja tenor | Claudia Boyle soprano | RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra | Proinnsías Ó Duinn conductor | English Chamber Orchestra | José Serebrier conductor | Natalie Clein cello Simon Trpčeski piano | Bach Collegium Japan Masaaki Suzuki conductor | Tenebrae Aurora Orchestra | Emanuel Ax piano | Vienna Chamber Orchestra | Paul Lewis piano Camerata Ireland | Barry Douglas piano/ conductor | Lynn Harrell cello | Dmitry Sitkovetsky violin | Joyce DiDonato mezzosoprano | Il pomo d’oro | Maxim Emelyanychev conductor/harpsichord | The Hallé | Sir Mark Elder conductor | Benjamin Grosvenor piano Pantha du Prince | Philip Glass Residency Swordfishtrombones Revisited | Laurie Anderson | Damon Albarn and many more Up to 15% discount available on 11+ concerts (or 20% for NCH Friends, Season Friends and Patrons)

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International Concert Series 2018/2019

Programme Notes Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827) Egmont Overture in F minor, Op. 84 In the autumn of 1809, Beethoven was commissioned to compose a set of incidental music for what was to be the Viennese premiere of the tragedy Egmont (1788) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Set during the struggle for Dutch independence in the sixteenth century, Goethe’s drama concerns the Dutch nobleman Count Egmont, and his doomed fight against the despotic Duke of Alba. Threatened with arrest, Egmont refuses to flee and, effectively betrayed and abandoned, becomes a political prisoner and is sentenced to death. In the final scene, as he awaits his execution, Egmont falls asleep and has a vision—mimed, to music—of Freedom personified, foreseeing the liberation of the Netherlands from Spanish rule.

Beethoven found Goethe’s writing inspiring, reportedly saying to friends that ‘Goethe… is alive, and he wants us all to live with him. That is why he can be set to music’. Moved by the libertarian message of Egmont—and, no doubt, by the resemblance of parts of the story-line to his opera Fidelio—Beethoven created an overture and nine further pieces (including two songs for soprano and orchestra) to accompany the play, and the work was first performed on 15 June 1810. Nowadays the incidental music is rarely heard as a complete set, but the overture has become one of Beethoven’s most popular short orchestral works.

Despite its brevity, this work charts a heroic journey that can be seen as a microcosm of Beethoven’s larger-scale experiments in form from this time. The overture consists of a funereal slow introduction leading to a restless Allegro, 24

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which develops two main themes. Before this central section fully resolves, however, the material is stopped by a short chorale-like linking passage. This leads directly to a celebratory coda, causing the overture to end on an unexpected note of elation. This sudden change of mood possibly suggests the ‘victory symphony’ that Goethe indicates is to be heard at the conclusion of the play, as if anticipating the eventual triumph of freedom.

Programme note Michael Lee © 2019

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) Concerto No. 1 in C minor for Piano, Trumpet and Strings, Op. 35 Allegretto-Allegro Lento Moderato Finale: Allegro con brio Shostakovich’s First Piano Concerto dates from 1933, the period between his Third and Fourth Symphonies and following the initial success of his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District. The early 1930s also brought a number of film scores, the ballets The Golden Age and The Bolt and the twenty-four Piano Preludes.

Having abandoned the idea of following a career as a concert pianist, Shostakovich was now a fully fledged composer but his earlier connections with the cinema as a pianist, supplying various scores for the growing film industry and his interest in operetta gave his music something of a rather wicked sense of humour with parody an essential ingredient.

But there is also a serious intent in his music of the early 1930s with, as the commentator David Hurwitz points out, “a clear-cut melody…. And the structural use of tonality.” His 25

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musical language is diverse and occasionally ambivalent as might be expected when gravity and triviality run side by side.

The First Piano Concerto is a case in point.

Recalling the First Symphony of 1924/5, the Concerto opens with a muted trumpet and, in addition, a piano flourish, which then points to a minor key tune. This launches the first movement in its sonata-cum-rondo form where two subjects precede a development section. The first idea is then repeated before the emergence of a third subject. Following a piano and strings dialogue the tempo shifts to Allegro vivace and the trumpet reappears for the first time since its muted opening. The mood is giddy, with the key having taken a major turn. The development involves piano, trumpet and strings before the return of the Allegretto tempo. The third theme eschews the trumpet in its Allegro comic-operetta style. The movement closes quietly with the piano’s opening idea accompanied by the trumpet’s long, low phrases.

Shostakovich’s slow movement has a serious bent. It is a kind of waltz in binary form set in train by muted strings and followed by an extended piano solo before piano and strings join together. The second subject is an emotional interlude for piano with some distinctive string comments. The waltz theme is recalled on the trumpet, which gives it a haunting blues atmosphere but the connection is more French than American. Some commentators believe this is Shostakovich’s lampooning of ‘bourgeois decadence’.

The short third movement is basically a prelude to the Finale.

It begins with a piano cadenza after which the violins engage the movement’s only subject. The mood is one of reverie as piano and the upper strings have a languorous duet. There is a moment’s hesitation and a sprightly piano run across the keyboard indicates the rondo Finale is underway.

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Violins present the joyful first theme, which abounds in repeated notes. It brings to mind both the music hall and the Parisian composer Francis Poulenc (1899-1963). This leads to a presto gallop with prominent trumpet fanfares and the merest hint of Rossini’s William Tell. There is a skilful return to the opening subject before a new idea emerges with a swaying trumpet solo and con legno bows on strings. Theme one makes a brief reappearance before the two-part coda. There is a brilliant piano cadenza to send the concerto along the witty passage to its conclusion.

Programme note Pat O’Kelly © 2019

INTERVAL Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) Harold en Italie Op. 16 i. Harold aux montagnes ii. Marche des pèlerins iii. Sérénade iv. Orgie de brigands In December 1832 Hector Berlioz returned to Paris, having spent nearly two years in Italy as a recipient of the Prix de Rome. Anxious to re-establish himself in the capital, he arranged a concert of his own orchestral works at the Paris Conservatoire, including a revised version of the Symphonie fantastique. The concert attracted a glittering audience including such figures as Franz Liszt, Frédéric Chopin, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, George Sand—and more besides.

As Berlioz describes in his Mémoires, ‘one member of the audience stayed behind… a man with flowing hair, piercing eyes and a strange, ravaged countenance, a creature haunted by genius… He stopped me in the passage and seizing my hand uttered such glowing eulogies that my heart and brain were set on fire. It was [Niccolò] Paganini.’

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Just over a year later, the great violinist visited the composer.

Having just obtained a Stradivarius viola and, anxious to play it in public, Paganini insisted Berlioz write him a new work for it. The composer found he had little choice but to agree, despite warning that he didn’t know the viola well enough to create a virtuoso work. Looking at a sketch of the first movement a few weeks later, however, Paganini saw that Berlioz’s emerging concept differed greatly from the concerto showpiece that he had in mind, and withdrew his interest, but by now Berlioz was too involved to abandon the project.

Berlioz’s original idea was to compose a piece entitled ‘The Last Moments of Mary Stuart’ (with the soloist presumably representing the tragic heroine), but this soon changed to a work loosely based around the title character of Lord Byron’s narrative poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Berlioz later described the work that emerged: ‘a series of orchestral scenes in which the solo viola would be involved, to a greater or lesser extent, like an actual person, retaining the same character throughout. I wanted to make the viola a kind of melancholy dreamer in the style of Byron's Childe Harold by placing it in the milieu of poetic impressions recollected from my wanderings in the Abruzzi. Hence the title of the symphony, Harold en Italie.’ There is an autobiographical element at work: while Berlioz seemed ambivalent about his recent time in Italy, that stay had nevertheless affected his musical approach, and this work reflects a newfound sense of colour and energy.

As with the Symphonie fantastique, Harold en Italie features a principal theme, or ‘idée fixe’, the beginning of which the solo viola plays on its first entry. This theme, in effect ‘Harold’s melody’, becomes an obsessive point of return for the viola, and is simply superimposed over the orchestral material whenever it emerges. This creates an unusual relationship between soloist and orchestra, with the soloist suggesting the

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isolated presence of a solitary observer, while the life of the particular location, evoked in the orchestra, continues on regardless.

The atmospheric opening scene, ‘Harold in the mountains,’ is introduced by a chromatic fugue. This is followed by the ‘March of the pilgrims’, its rhythmic effects suggesting the distant movement of figures, as one imagines Harold observing a procession of pilgrims passing through a valley beneath him. The use of pastoral woodwind in the ‘Serenade’, along with jaunty rhythms and drone basses, echoes Italian folk music, with the melody of the mountain shepherd— serenading his beloved—introduced by the solo cor anglais.

The final scene, ‘the brigand’s orgy’ imagines Harold, almost completely withdrawn, in a rowdy gathering, as we hear the abrupt motif of the brigands interwoven with memories from the other three scenes.

Harold in Italy, a work Berlioz described as a ‘symphony in four parts with solo viola’ had its premiere in Paris in November of 1834. Paganini, his health by this time in decline, did not see it performed until four years later. At that performance, however, he was so overwhelmed by the work that he drew Berlioz onto the stage to publicly acknowledge him, kneeling at his feet and kissing his hand, to the applause of the musicians on stage. A few days later, he wrote to the composer, congratulating him and enclosing a draft for 20,000 francs, as a token of gratitude and homage.

Programme note Michael Lee © 2019

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London Symphony Orchestra Music Director: Sir Simon Rattle OM CBE Principal Guest Conductors: Gianandrea Noseda, François-Xavier Roth Conductor Laureate: Michael Tilson Thomas Choral Director: Simon Halsey CBE First Violins José Blumenschein Emily Nebel Clare Duckworth Ginette Decuyper Laura Dixon Gerald Gregory William Melvin Laurent Quenelle Harriet Rayfield Colin Renwick Sylvain Vasseur Rhys Watkins Marciana Buta Lyrit Milgram Hilary Jane Parker Erzsebet Racz Second Violins Julian Gil Rodriguez Thomas Norris Sarah Quinn Miya Väisänen Matthew Gardner Naoko Keatley Alix Lagasse

Flutes Gareth Davies Patricia Moynihan

Csilla Pogany Andrew Pollock Paul Robson Dmitry Khakhamov Grace Lee Hazel Mulligan Greta Mutlu

Piccolo Patricia Moynihan

Violas Edward Vanderspar Malcolm Johnston German Clavijo Stephen Doman Robert Turner Heather Wallington Michelle Bruil Luca Casciato May Dolan Philip Hall Cynthia Perrin Alistair Scahill

Percussion Neil Percy David Jackson Sam Walton

Cor Anglais Christine Pendrill

Harp Bryn Lewis

Clarinets Andrew Marriner Chi-Yu Mo

LSO Admin Kathryn McDowell Managing Director Miriam Loeben Tours Manager Emily Rutherford Tours Co-ordinator Carina McCourt Orchestra Personnel Manager Alan Goode Stage & Transport Manager Nathan Budden Stage Manager

Contra-Bassoon Dominic Morgan Horns Timothy Jones Angela Barnes Alexander Edmundson Jonathan Lipton Trumpets Philip Cobb David Carstairs Niall Keatley Gerald Ruddock

Double Basses Nikita Naumov Colin Paris Patrick Laurence Matthew Gibson Thomas Goodman Joe Melvin Josie Ellis José Moreira

Trombones Isobel Daws James Maynard Bass Trombone Paul Milner 30

Timpani Nigel Thomas

Oboes Juliana Koch Maxwell Spiers

Bassoons Daniel Jemison Christopher Gunia Susan Frankel

Cellos Tim Hugh Alastair Blayden Jennifer Brown Noel Bradshaw Daniel Gardner Hilary Jones Anna Beryl Morwenna Del Mar Leo Melvin Joel Siepmann

Tuba Sam Elliott

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International Concert Series 2018/2019

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