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Concert programme lpo.org.uk

London Philharmonic Orchestra 21 Feb 2015 programme

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Page 1: London Philharmonic Orchestra 21 Feb 2015 programme

Concert programmelpo.org.uk

Page 2: London Philharmonic Orchestra 21 Feb 2015 programme
Page 3: London Philharmonic Orchestra 21 Feb 2015 programme

Winner of the RPS Music Award for Ensemble

Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor VLADIMIR JUROWSKI*Leader PIETER SCHOEMAN†Composer in Residence MAGNUS LINDBERGPatron HRH THE DUKE OF KENT KG

Chief Executive and Artistic Director TIMOTHY WALKER AM

Contents

2 Welcome3 On stage tonight 4 About the Orchestra5 Leader: Pieter Schoeman 6 Marin Alsop7 David Fray8 Programme notes10 International Piano Series at Southbank Centre LPO Piano Concerto concerts11 Programme notes continued12 Rachmaninoff: Inside Out Latest LPO CD release Recommended Recordings13 2015/16 new season14 Supporters15 Sound Futures donors16 LPO administration

The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide.

* supported by the Tsukanov Family Foundation † supported by Neil Westreich

CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival HallSaturday 21 February 2015 | 7.30pm

Beethoven Overture, Leonore No. 3 (13’)

Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37 (34’)

Interval

Beethoven Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92 (36’)

Marin Alsop conductor

David Fray piano

Free pre-concert event 6.00pm–6.45pm | The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival HallAnimate Orchestra is an ‘orchestra for the 21st century’ run by the LPO with Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and four boroughs from south-east London. Tonight’s concert features new music created by the ensemble in response to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, the ‘apotheosis of the dance’.

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2 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Welcome

Welcome to Southbank Centre

We hope you enjoy your visit. We have a Duty Manager available at all times. If you have any queries please ask any member of staff for assistance.

Eating, drinking and shopping? Southbank Centre shops and restaurants include Foyles, EAT, Giraffe, Strada, YO! Sushi, wagamama, Le Pain Quotidien, Las Iguanas, ping pong, Canteen, Caffè Vergnano 1882, Skylon, Concrete, Feng Sushi and Topolski, as well as cafes, restaurants and shops inside Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Hayward Gallery.

If you wish to get in touch with us following your visit please contact the Visitor Experience Team at Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX, phone 020 7960 4250, or email [email protected]

We look forward to seeing you again soon.

A few points to note for your comfort and enjoyment:

PHOTOGRAPHY is not allowed in the auditorium.

LATECOMERS will only be admitted to the auditorium if there is a suitable break in the performance.

RECORDING is not permitted in the auditorium without the prior consent of Southbank Centre. Southbank Centre reserves the right to confiscate video or sound equipment and hold it in safekeeping until the performance has ended.

MOBILES, PAGERS AND WATCHES should be switched off before the performance begins.

London Philharmonic Orchestra

LPO on TourWelcome to tonight’s London Philharmonic Orchestra all-Beethoven concert at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall. The Orchestra recently performed the same programme on tour in Groningen, Utrecht, Eindhoven and Bruges. The LPO has no time to stand still as the players are off to Istanbul and Mannheim early next month. Tickets are available for these events so you could treat yourselves to an LPO concert during a city break. Full details at lpo.org.uk/whats-on-and-tickets

2015/16 season launchBooking for the new season is now well and truly open. Highlights include Shakespeare400: a joint celebration with other leading cultural organisations of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. We present a series of concerts celebrating some of the wonderful music inspired by the great playwright, including works by Sibelius, Dvořák, Prokofiev, Strauss and Britten. The series culminates in a specially curated Anniversary Gala Concert directed by Simon Callow. Find out more at lpo.org.uk/performances

More Beethoven, please!Tonight’s concert is sure to whet your appetite for more of the German genius’s music. This coming Wednesday 25 February the Orchestra will be performing the Egmont Overture and, arguably, the most famous piece of classical music of all time, Symphony No. 5. Christoph Eschenbach conducts, with Ray Chen performing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. Tickets are selling fast but if you do miss out you can listen to the concert live on BBC Radio 3. www.lpo.org.uk/whats-on-and-tickets

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London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3

TrumpetsPaul Beniston* PrincipalAnne McAneney*

Chair supported by Geoff & Meg Mann

Tom Rainer

Off-stage TrumpetPaul Beniston

TrombonesMark Templeton* Principal

Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton

David Whitehouse

Bass TromboneLyndon Meredith

Principal

TimpaniSimon Carrington*

Principal

* Holds a professorial appointment in London

† Chevalier of the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco

Meet our members: lpo.org.uk/players

On stage tonight

First ViolinsPieter Schoeman* Leader

Chair supported by Neil Westreich

Vesselin Gellev Sub-LeaderJi-Hyun Lee

Chair supported by Eric Tomsett

Catherine CraigThomas EisnerRobert PoolSarah StreatfeildYang ZhangRebecca ShorrockAlina PetrenkoGalina TanneyCaroline SharpRobert YeomansGavin Davies

Second ViolinsEmily Davis Guest PrincipalKate Birchall

Chair supported by David & Victoria Graham Fuller

Nancy ElanFiona HighamJoseph MaherMarie-Anne MairesseAshley StevensDean WilliamsonHelena NichollsHarry KerrStephen StewartJohn Dickinson

ViolasCyrille Mercier PrincipalRobert DuncanSusanne MartensBenedetto PollaniLaura VallejoAlistair ScahillMartin FennStanislav PopovRichard CooksonMartin Wray

CellosMorwenna Del Mar

Guest PrincipalLaura DonoghueSantiago Carvalho†David LaleElisabeth WiklanderSue Sutherley Susanna RiddellSibylle Hentschelf

Double BassesKevin Rundell* PrincipalLaurence LovelleGeorge PenistonKenneth KnussenHelen RowlandsCharlotte Kerbegian

FlutesAlja Velkaverh

Guest PrincipalStewart McIlwham*

OboesIan Hardwick* PrincipalAlice Munday

ClarinetsRobert Hill* PrincipalThomas Watmough

BassoonsGareth Newman PrincipalStuart Russell

HornsJohn Ryan* PrincipalMartin HobbsMark Vines Co-PrincipalGareth Mollison

Chair Supporters

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

Sonja Drexler

Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp

Victoria Robey OBE

Simon Robey

Friends of the Orchestra

Andrew Davenport

Anonymous donor

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4 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

London Philharmonic Orchestra

The London Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the world’s finest orchestras, balancing a long and distinguished history with its present-day position as one of the most dynamic and forward-looking ensembles in the UK. As well as its performances in the concert hall, the Orchestra also records film and video game soundtracks, releases CDs on its own record label, and reaches thousands of people every year through activities for families, schools and community groups.

The Orchestra was founded by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1932. It has since been headed by many of the world’s greatest conductors including Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. Vladimir Jurowski is currently the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor, appointed in 2007. From September 2015 Andrés Orozco-Estrada will take up the position of Principal Guest Conductor. Magnus Lindberg is the Orchestra’s current Composer in Residence.

The Orchestra is based at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London, where it has performed since the Hall’s opening in 1951 and been Resident Orchestra since 1992. It gives around 30 concerts there each season with many of the world’s top conductors and

soloists. Throughout 2013 the Orchestra collaborated with Southbank Centre on the year-long The Rest Is Noise festival, charting the influential works of the 20th century. 2014/15 highlights include a season-long festival, Rachmaninoff: Inside Out, exploring the composer’s major orchestral masterpieces; premieres of works by Harrison Birtwistle, Julian Anderson, Colin Matthews, James Horner and the Orchestra’s new Composer in Residence, Magnus Lindberg; and appearances by many of today’s most sought-after artists including Maria João Pires, Christoph Eschenbach, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Osmo Vänskä, Lars Vogt, Barbara Hannigan, Vasily Petrenko, Marin Alsop, Katia and Marielle Labèque and Robin Ticciati.

Outside London, the Orchestra has flourishing residencies in Brighton and Eastbourne, and performs regularly around the UK. Each summer it takes up its annual residency at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in the Sussex countryside, where it has been Resident Symphony Orchestra for over 50 years. The Orchestra also tours internationally, performing to sell-out audiences worldwide. In 1956 it became the first British orchestra to appear in Soviet Russia and in 1973 made the first ever visit to China by a Western orchestra.

Full marks to the London Philharmonic for continuing to offer the most adventurous concerts in London.The Financial Times, 14 April 2014

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London Philharmonic Orchestra | 5

Touring remains a large part of the Orchestra’s life: highlights of the 2014/15 season include appearances across Europe (including Iceland) and tours to the USA (West and East Coasts), Canada and China.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra has recorded the soundtracks to numerous blockbuster films, from The Lord of the Rings trilogy to Lawrence of Arabia, East is East, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Thor: The Dark World. It also broadcasts regularly on television and radio, and in 2005 established its own record label. There are now over 80 releases available on CD and to download. Recent additions include organ works by Poulenc and Saint-Saëns with Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Strauss’s Don Juan and Ein Heldenleben with Bernard Haitink; Shostakovich’s Symphonies Nos. 6 & 14 and Zemlinsky’s A Florentine Tragedy with Vladimir Jurowski; and Orff’s Carmina Burana with Hans Graf. In summer 2012 the London Philharmonic Orchestra performed as part of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the River Thames, and was also chosen to record all the world’s national anthems for the London 2012 Olympics. In 2013 it was the winner of the RPS Music Award for Ensemble.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra is committed to inspiring the next generation of musicians through an energetic programme of activities for young people. Highlights include the BrightSparks schools’ concerts and FUNharmonics family concerts; the Young Composers Programme; and the Foyle Future Firsts orchestral training programme for outstanding young players. Its work at the forefront of digital engagement and social media has enabled the Orchestra to reach even more people worldwide: all its recordings are available to download from iTunes and, as well as a YouTube channel and regular podcast series, the Orchestra has a lively presence on Facebook and Twitter.

Find out more and get involved!

lpo.org.uk

facebook.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra

twitter.com/LPOrchestra

youtube.com/londonphilharmonic7

Pieter Schoemanleader

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Pieter Schoeman was appointed Leader of the LPO in 2008, having previously been Co-Leader since 2002.

Born in South Africa, he made his solo debut aged 10 with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra.

He studied with Jack de Wet in South Africa, winning numerous competitions including the 1984 World Youth Concerto Competition in the US. In 1987 he was offered the Heifetz Chair of Music scholarship to study with Eduard Schmieder in Los Angeles and in 1991 his talent was spotted by Pinchas Zukerman, who recommended that he move to New York to study with Sylvia Rosenberg. In 1994 he became her teaching assistant at Indiana University, Bloomington.

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 Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. As a chamber musician he regularly performs at London’s prestigious Wigmore Hall.

As a soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Pieter has performed Arvo Pärt’s Double Concerto with Boris Garlitsky, Brahms’s Double Concerto with Kristina Blaumane, and Britten’s Double Concerto with Alexander Zemtsov, which was recorded and released on the Orchestra’s own record label to great critical acclaim. He has recorded numerous violin solos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra for Chandos, Opera Rara, Naxos, X5, the BBC and for American film and television, and led the Orchestra in its soundtrack recordings for The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

In 1995 Pieter became Co-Leader of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice. Since then he has appeared frequently as Guest Leader with the Barcelona, Bordeaux, Lyon, Baltimore and BBC symphony orchestras, and the Rotterdam and BBC Philharmonic orchestras. He is a Professor of Violin at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London. Pieter’s chair in the London Philharmonic Orchestra is supported by Neil Westreich.

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6 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Marin Alsopconductor

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Marin Alsop is recognised across the world for her innovative approach to programming, her deep commitment to education and to the development of audiences of all ages. Her tenure as Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra since 2007, now extended to 2021, has been a huge success, and she has created bold initiatives that have contributed to the wider community and reached new audiences.

She became Principal Conductor of the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra in 2012 and Music Director in July 2013, steering the orchestra in its artistic and creative programming, recording ventures and its education and outreach activities. She led the orchestra on a European tour in 2012, with acclaimed performances at the BBC Proms and at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

Since 1992, Marin Alsop has been Music Director of California’s Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, and retains strong links with her previous orchestras including Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (Principal Conductor 2002–8; now Conductor Emeritus) and Colorado Symphony Orchestra. She has guest-conducted many of the great orchestras of the world including Philadelphia, Cleveland, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Royal Concertgebouw, and she regularly returns to the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and the Czech Philharmonic. Alsop has a close relationship with the London Symphony and London Philharmonic, appearing with both orchestras most seasons, as well as with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. She is also Artist in Residence at Southbank Centre in London. She made history as the first female conductor of the 2013 BBC Last Night of the Proms.

Marin Alsop is the recipient of numerous awards and is the only conductor to receive the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, given to US residents in recognition of exceptional creative work. She was inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame in 2010 and was the only classical musician to be included in The Guardian’s ‘Top 100 women’, in 2011. In 2012 Alsop was presented with Honorary Membership (HonRAM) of the Royal Academy of Music.

Her extensive discography on Naxos includes a notable set of Brahms symphonies with the LPO and a highly praised Dvořák series with the Baltimore Symphony. Other award-winning recordings include Bernstein’s Mass (Editor’s Choice, Gramophone Awards 2010) and Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto (Grammy Award 2010).

Born in New York City, Marin Alsop attended Yale University and received her Master’s Degree from The Juilliard School. Her conducting career was launched when, in 1989, she was a prize-winner at the Leopold Stokowski International Conducting Competition and in the same year was the first woman to be awarded the Koussevitzky Conducting Prize from the Tanglewood Music Center, where she was a pupil of Leonard Bernstein.

www.marinalsop.com

Marin Alsop seems to have reached a new high in terms of expressive intensity.”Baltimore Sun, September 2014

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London Philharmonic Orchestra | 7

David Fraypiano

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David Fray maintains an active career as a recitalist, soloist and chamber musician worldwide. He has collaborated with leading orchestras and distinguished conductors such as Marin Alsop, Pierre Boulez, Semyon Bychkov, Christoph Eschenbach, Paavo Järvi, Kurt Masur, Riccardo Muti and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Orchestral highlights in Europe have included performances with the Royal Concertgebouw, Bayerische Rundfunk, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Deutsche Sinfonie Orchester, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala and Orchestre de Paris. He made his US debut in 2009 with the Cleveland Orchestra which was followed by performances with the Boston Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestras. Recital debuts followed in Carnegie Hall, at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York and the Chicago Symphony Hall.

This season David Fray will perform with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Tonhalle Zurich, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. Among this season’s recital appearances are concerts at the Théâtre de Champs Élysées in Paris, the Philharmonie in Berlin and the Van Cliburn Foundation in Fort Worth, Texas. In recital he will partner violinist Renaud Capuçon playing sonatas by Bach and Beethoven.

David Fray has won multiple awards including the prestigious German Echo Klassik Prize for Instrumentalist of the Year, and the Young Talent

Award from the Ruhr Piano Festival. In 2008 he was named Newcomer of the Year by BBC Music Magazine.

An exclusive Warner Classics artist, David Fray recorded his first CD, works by Bach and Boulez, to great critical acclaim. The disc was praised as the ‘best record of the year’ by The Times and Le Soir. His second release was a recording of Bach keyboard concertos with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen awarded by the German Recording Academy, followed by Schubert’s Moments Musicaux and Impromptus. Recent releases include a Schubert recital, Mozart piano concertos with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Jaap van Zweden, and Bach Partitas Nos. 2 and 6 along with Toccata in C minor. In 2008 the television network ARTE +7 presented a documentary on David Fray directed by the French director Bruno Monsaingeon. The film David Fray records Johann Sebastian Bach was subsequently released on DVD.

David Fray studied with Jacques Rouvier at the National Superior Conservatory of Music in Paris where he currently resides.

David Fray performs the first movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22 with Marin Alsop conductingwww.youtube.com/watch?v=xPLw6RUa4sY

David Fray has a brilliant technique and a serious and thoughtful regard for the musicJohn von Rhein, Chicago Tribune, December 2011

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8 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Programme notes

Two centuries on from his time on this planet, we seem to have arrived at the conclusion that Ludwig van Beethoven was the most important composer who ever lived. His significance isn’t just musical, it’s sociological. When Brian May stood on the roof of Buckingham Palace in 2002 and played God Save the Queen on his electric guitar, the historian Tim Blanning was on hand to remind us all that without Beethoven’s example, May would have been bowing and scraping in the background, to be heard but barely seen. Beethoven turned musicians from artists into heroes, and he did so chiefly through a series of nine symphonies that proved musical game-changers.

Tonight we hear one of the most extraordinary of those symphonies, a piece controlled by rhythm like none before it, proving remarkably prescient. But Beethoven did more than just write symphonies. He was a working musician – a pianist and conductor whose exploits in those fields were curtailed by the torture of encroaching deafness. When he wrote his Third Piano Concerto in the very first years of the 19th century, Beethoven was beginning to realise that his hearing was in serious trouble. The tension he felt is there in the Concerto, just as a fierce belief in social freedom saturates his only opera, a story of liberation from prisons both physical and ideological.

Speedread

Ten years, two re-writes, four overtures: Fidelio – as Beethoven’s only opera is now known – was one of the composer’s most troubled creative projects. All that work, though, should be indicative of how keen Beethoven was to get the mood and construction of it just right from the off. The overture known as Leonore No. 3 was written for the first revision of the score, four months after the premiere of the opera in November 1805 (it was originally named after its heroine Leonore but renamed Fidelio at the 1805 relaunch). This is the prelude most often performed in concert, probably as it’s the best at capturing Beethoven’s style and beliefs in microcosm; its solitary, heroic trumpet representing the man commanding society (the orchestra) into action.

In that sense, the dramatic subject matter of the opera is at the heart of the overture too: the rescue of Florestan from unjust imprisonment by his beloved Leonore, reflecting the ideals of humanism, heroism and brotherhood that Beethoven held so dear. The harmonic ambiguity of the slow opening section might well reflect the discomfort of the imprisoned Florestan; a glimmer of optimism shines through in the stating of the main theme of Florestan’s ‘dungeon aria’ by the clarinet and bassoon, which leads to a brief climax before the more heroic Allegro section in which an off-stage trumpet heralds the impending rescue.

Overture, Leonore No. 3Ludwig vanBeethoven

1770–1827

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London Philharmonic Orchestra | 9

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

Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37

David Fray piano

1 Allegro con brio2 Largo – 3 Rondo: Allegro

Ludwig vanBeethoven

As turning-points go, this one was pretty major. While some ideas in Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto date from the late 1790s, the piece is, in effect, his first large-scale orchestral creation of the 19th century. More significant than the change in date, though, was the Concerto’s personal chronology. Beethoven was at work on the piece as he began to realise that the problems with his hearing weren’t going to improve; that they were, in fact, likely to develop into complete deafness.

That realisation had a cataclysmic effect on Beethoven as a person and shot entirely new sentiments and concepts into his works, starting with this piece. One of the most obvious implications of the composer-pianist’s impending deafness – one he knew about all too well – was his potential inability to perform and improvise on stage with an orchestra.

Thus the soloist’s part in the Third Concerto becomes that bit more defined: the pianist taking on a noticeably more individual, imposing and energetic role with cadenzas (the passages in which the solo pianist traditionally improvised to demonstrate prowess) written out in full – instructions for future pianists to obey to the letter long after Beethoven himself could no longer manage a performance. Then, following the cadenza in the first movement, Beethoven’s solo piano joins the orchestra for the ‘coda’, the movement’s last word. This was a bold act with only one tentative precedent – that of Mozart’s Piano Concerto K491.

That Mozart concerto, in fact, looms large over many aspects of Beethoven’s Third – key, first movement shape and the use of themes built on ‘thirds’, for example. But the feelings of heroic conflict and tension in this piece are entirely new. Here, the piano initiates a stand-off against the orchestra in a manner unusual even for Beethoven; major keys tussle with minor ones throughout the opening Allegro.

It’s in the slow movement that Beethoven reaches for expressive tools that are best described as ‘Romantic’. The key (E major) is radiant but together with its G major successor quite distant from the C minor ‘home’ key. Moreover, the meditative qualities of the movement’s main ideas suggest Beethoven clinging on dearly to the music’s beauty – as if he knew he’d soon not be able to hear at all.

He does his listeners the service, though, of sending them out with a gregarious finale. This may sound impish and witty, but its theme (stated initially by the piano and immediately thereafter by the oboe, clarinet and horn) actually measures a whole eight bars – the longest Beethoven used in any of his concertos. Fitting for a concerto that’s longer than any that had gone before it, and which unequivocally heralds one of music history’s most potent revolutions.

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10 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Media Partner The International Piano Series is devised, co-ordinated and developed by Harrison Parrott

Ivo PogorelichTuesday 24 February 2015

Liszt, Schumann, Stravinsky and Brahms

Sunwook KimTuesday 3 March 2015

Bach, Beethoven and Mussorgsky

Maurizio PolliniTuesday 17 March 2015

Schumann and Chopin

Jonathan BissTuesday 31 March 2015

Berg, Schoenberg, Schumann and Beethoven

YundiMonday 13 April 2015

Chopin

Stephen HoughTuesday 28 April 2015

Debussy and Chopin

Yevgeny SudbinWednesday 13 May 2015

Haydn, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Scriabin and Saint-Saëns

Alice Sara Ott & Francesco TristanoThursday 11 June 2015

Ravel, Debussy, Tristano and Stravinsky

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Alice Sara Ott & Francesco Tristano © Marie Staggat Photography

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More Piano Concertos with the LPO at Royal Festival Hall

Wednesday 11 March 2015 | 7.30pmElgar Introduction and AllegroIreland Piano ConcertoWalton Symphony No. 1

Andrew Manze conductor | Piers Lane piano Supported by the John Ireland Charitable Trust

Saturday 21 March 2015 | 7.30pmProkofiev Chout (excerpts)Magnus Lindberg Piano Concerto No. 2 (UK premiere)Stravinsky Petrushka (1911 version)

Vladimir Jurowski conductor | Yefim Bronfman piano

Wednesday 25 March 2015 | 7.30pmRachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 1 (final version)

Ilyich Rivas conductor | Dmitry Mayboroda piano

Part of Rachmaninoff: Inside Out, see page 12 for full concert details

Wednesday 15 April 2015 | 7.30pmBeethoven Piano Concerto No. 4Bruckner Symphony No. 4 (Romantic) (Nowak Edition)

Robin Ticciati conductor Menahem Pressler piano

Tickets £9–£39 (premium seats £65)

London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office020 7840 4242 Monday–Friday 10.00am–5.00pm lpo.org.uk | Transaction fees: £1.75 online,

£2.75 telephone.

Southbank Centre Ticket Office 0844 847 9920 Daily 9.00am–8.00pm southbankcentre.co.uk Transaction fees: £1.75 online, £2.75 telephone. No transaction fee for bookings made in person

Page 13: London Philharmonic Orchestra 21 Feb 2015 programme

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 11

Each movement in the symphony is controlled by the repetition of a rhythmic ‘cell’, and in the first movement it drives the music through a swinging six-in-a-bar time signature. But that’s only after a slow prologue. In this, we hear Beethoven referencing the two ‘foreign’ keys with which the whole symphony flirts: the oboe introduces a theme in C (a third above the key note, A) and the flute one in F (a third below it).

The symphony’s Allegretto is strangely intoxicating, music of hypnotic power that has been described as ‘part march, part rondo, part variation’. The music does march, and it does present variations on that march (each increasing in volume). But when the opening theme returns to complete the ABA rondo pattern after breaking off for a fugue, the melody seems eventually to disintegrate altogether, leaving just the rhythmic tread behind. The third movement Presto uses a rhythmic pattern that makes for explosive playfulness, music that seems uncannily physical. But if this music seems to swing, the finale appears more like an unstoppable flow – an elemental outpouring that uses a rustic, dancing tune (not an Irish folk song as originally believed, but Beethoven’s own) that drives the music towards near burn-out with intense jubilation. Back in 1813, it must have seemed as though the world had somehow re-aligned itself when this music was played. Beethoven’s confidante, Anton Schindler, described the premiere as ‘one of the most important moments in the life of the master’, while the audience welcomed it more warmly than they had any other symphony by the composer.

Programme notes © Andrew Mellor

Programme notes continued

Beethoven was a revolutionary artist in a revolutionary age. Around him, as the 18th century ticked into the 19th, everything was changing. France was erupting in social upheaval. America was overthrowing its imperial rulers. Those imperial rulers, the English, were igniting the industrial revolution that would eventually change the whole world. Beethoven was on hand to provide a seismic shift for artists and musicians, themselves experiencing the first throws of Romanticism. He set about freeing the artist from servant status and turning him into a hero – a leader, a genius and a revolutionary in his own right. And through his unprecedented and unsurpassed collection of nine symphonies, he succeeded.

Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony is one of his most unusual, fascinating and bold. It’s also the piece with which the composer’s contemporary reputation was sealed and was, at the time of its premiere in December 1813, that with which the increasingly deaf composer made his last public appearance as a conductor.

One element that still thrusts hard-and-fast out of the Seventh Symphony is its rhythmic power. It wasn’t for another century, at least, that any piece of music would be written in the western world that placed more importance on rhythmic impulse and direction than it did on melodic or harmonic content. But Beethoven’s Seventh could be said to have laid the groundwork. You can hear the controlling rhythms in almost every part of the symphony, whether in the propulsive energy of the outer movements or in the inevitable tread of the slow march. Some experts claim that the themes and tunes that do appear in the Seventh Symphony are effectively controlled and shaped by the rhythms they cleave to.

Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92

1 Poco sostenuto – vivace2 Allegretto3 Presto4 Allegro con brio

Ludwig vanBeethoven

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12 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Wednesday 25 March 2015 | 7.30pmMozart Symphony No. 36 (Linz) Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 1 (final version)

Dvořák Symphony No. 8

Ilyich Rivas conductor Dmitry Mayboroda piano

Wednesday 29 April 2015 | 7.30pmRachmaninoff (arr. Butsko) Piano Works, Four Movements (arr. Jurowski) 10 Songs Symphony No. 3

Vladimir Jurowski conductor Vsevolod Grivnov tenor

Tickets £9–£39 (premium seats £65)

London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office020 7840 4242 Monday–Friday 10.00am–5.00pm lpo.org.uk | Transaction fees: £1.75 online, £2.75 telephone.

The final two concerts in this year-long series

lpo.org.uk/rachmaninoff

Rachmaninoff Inside Out is presented in co-operation with the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation.

Latest LPO CD release: Vaughan Williams Symphonies 4 & 8

Released this month on the LPO Label is a pair of Vaughan Williams Symphonies: Nos. 4 & 8, (LPO–0082) conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth and Vladimir Jurowski respectively. They were recorded live in concert at the Royal Festival Hall on 24 September 2008 (Symphony No. 8) and 1 May 2013 (Symphony No. 4).

Priced £9.99, the CD is available from lpo.org.uk/shop (where you can listen to soundclips before you buy), the LPO Ticket Office (020 7840 4242) and all good CD retailers.

Alternatively you can download it from iTunes, Amazon and others, or stream via Spotify.

Recommended recordings of tonight’s works by Beethoven

Overture Leonore No. 3 London Philharmonic Orchestra/ Klaus Tennstedt [EMI]

Piano Concerto No. 3 Alfred Brendel/ London Philharmonic Orchestra/Bernard Haitink [Philips]

Symphony No. 7 Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra/Carlos Kleiber [Deutsche Grammophon]

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2015/16 season at Royal Festival HallHighlights

2015Wednesday 23 SeptemberMahler Symphony No 7Vladimir Jurowski conductor

Wednesday 14 OctoberPenderecki conducts Penderecki including UK premieres of Harp Concerto and Adagio for Strings

Saturday 31 OctoberBruckner Symphony No. 5Stanisław Skrowaczewski conductor

Friday 6 November A celebration of Mexican orchestral music Alondra de la Parra conductor JTI Friday Series

2016Shakespeare400In 2016 the LPO joins many of London’s other leading cultural institutions to celebrate the legacy of Shakespeare, 400 years since his death. Highlights include:

Wednesday 3 FebruaryDvorák Overture, Otello

Wednesday 10 FebruarySibelius The Tempest (extracts)

Friday 15 AprilProkofiev Romeo and Juliet (extracts) JTI Friday Series

Saturday 23 AprilAnniversary Gala ConcertIncluding:Verdi Otello and Falstaff (extracts)Music from Britten, Mendelssohn and WaltonVladimir Jurowski conductor Simon Callow director

Booking now Tickets from £9.00Ticket office 020 7840 4242lpo.org.uk

LP14_LPO_SeasonBrochure_FullPage_Advert_AW3_2.indd 2 03/02/2015 12:35

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14 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

We would like to acknowledge the generous support of the following Thomas Beecham Group Patrons, Principal Benefactors and Benefactors:

Thomas Beecham Group

The Tsukanov Family Foundation

Neil Westreich

William and Alex de Winton Simon Robey Victoria Robey OBEJulian & Gill Simmonds*

Anonymous Garf & Gill Collins*Andrew Davenport Mrs Sonja DrexlerDavid & Victoria Graham Fuller Mrs Philip Kan*Mr & Mrs MakharinskyGeoff & Meg MannCaroline, Jamie & Zander SharpEric Tomsett

John & Manon Antoniazzi John & Angela Kessler Guy & Utti Whittaker

* BrightSparks patrons. Instead of supporting a chair in the Orchestra, these donors have chosen to support our series of schools’ concerts.

Principal BenefactorsMark & Elizabeth AdamsDesmond & Ruth CecilMr John H CookDavid EllenMr Daniel Goldstein Drs Frank & Gek LimPeter MacDonald Eggers Dr Eva Lotta & Mr Thierry Sciard Mr & Mrs David MalpasMr Michael PosenMr & Mrs G SteinMr & Mrs John C TuckerMr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood Lady Marina Vaizey Laurence Watt Grenville & Krysia Williams Mr Anthony Yolland

BenefactorsMrs A Beare David & Patricia BuckMrs Alan CarringtonMr & Mrs Stewart CohenMr Alistair Corbett Georgy Djaparidze Mr David Edgecombe Mr Timothy Fancourt QCMr Richard FernyhoughTony & Susan Hayes Michael & Christine HenryMalcolm Herring J. Douglas HomeIvan Hurry

Mr Glenn HurstfieldPer JonssonMr Gerald LevinWg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAFPaul & Brigitta Lock Mr Peter MaceMs Ulrike Mansel Robert MarkwickMr Brian Marsh Andrew T MillsJohn Montgomery Dr Karen Morton Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill Tom & Phillis SharpeMartin and Cheryl Southgate Professor John StuddMr Peter TausigMrs Kazue Turner Simon Turner Howard & Sheelagh Watson Des & Maggie WhitelockChristopher WilliamsBill Yoe and others who wish to remain

anonymous

Hon. BenefactorElliott Bernerd

Hon. Life MembersKenneth Goode Carol Colburn Grigor CBE Pehr G GyllenhammarMrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE

The generosity of our Sponsors, Corporate Members, supporters and donors is gratefully acknowledged:Corporate Members

Silver: AREVA UK BerenbergBritish American BusinessCarter-Ruck

Bronze: Appleyard & Trew LLP BTO Management Consulting AG Charles Russell SpeechlysLeventis Overseas

Preferred Partners Corinthia Hotel London Heineken Lindt & Sprüngli LtdSipsmith Steinway Villa Maria In-kind SponsorsGoogle IncSela / Tilley’s Sweets

Trusts and Foundations Angus Allnatt Charitable Foundation Ambache Charitable Trust Ruth Berkowitz Charitable Trust The Boltini Trust

Borletti-Buitoni TrustBritten-Pears Foundation The Candide Trust The Peter Carr Charitable Trust, in memory

of Peter CarrThe Ernest Cook TrustThe Coutts Charitable TrustThe D’Oyly Carte Charitable TrustDunard FundThe Equitable Charitable Trust Fidelio Charitable TrustThe Foyle FoundationLucille Graham TrustThe Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris

Charitable TrustHelp Musicians UK The Hinrichsen Foundation The Hobson Charity The Idlewild Trust Kirby Laing Foundation The Leche Trust London Stock Exchange Group FoundationMarsh Christian TrustThe Mayor of London’s Fund for Young

MusiciansAdam Mickiewicz Institute The Peter Minet TrustThe Ann and Frederick O’Brien

Charitable Trust

Office for Cultural and Scientific Affairs ofthe Embassy of Spain in London

Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de musiqueromantique française

The Austin and Hope Pilkington Trust Polish Cultural Institute in London PRS for Music FoundationThe Radcliffe TrustRivers Foundation The R K Charitable TrustSerge Rachmaninoff Foundation Romanian Cultural Institute Schroder Charity Trust Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation The David Solomons Charitable Trust The Steel Charitable TrustThe John Thaw FoundationThe Tillett Trust UK Friends of the Felix-Mendelssohn-

Bartholdy-Foundation The Viney FamilyGarfield Weston FoundationThe Barbara Whatmore Charitable TrustYouth Music and others who wish to remain anonymous

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SOUND FUTURES DONORS

We are grateful to the following donors for their generous contributions to Sound Futures, which will establish our first ever endowment. Donations from those below have already been matched pound for pound by Arts Council England through a Catalyst Endowment grant.

By May 2015 we aim to have raised £1 million which, when matched, will create a £2 million fund supporting our Education and Community Programme, our creative programming and major artistic projects at Southbank Centre.

We thank those who are helping us to realise the vision.

Masur Circle

Arts Council EnglandDunard Fund Victoria Robey OBE Emmanuel & Barrie RomanThe Underwood Trust

Welser-Möst Circle

John Ireland Charitable Trust The Tsukanov Family Foundation

Neil Westreich

Tennstedt Circle

Richard Buxton Simon Robey Simon & Vero Turner The late Mr K Twyman

Solti Patrons

Ageas John & Manon Antoniazzi Georgy DjaparidzeMrs Mina Goodman and

Miss Suzanne GoodmanRobert Markwick & Kasia RobinskiThe Rothschild Foundation

Haitink Patrons

Mark & Elizabeth AdamsMrs Pauline BaumgartnerLady Jane BerrillMr Frederick BrittendenDavid & Yi Yao BuckleyBruno de KegelMr Gavin GrahamMoya GreeneTony and Susie HayesCatherine Høgel & Ben MardleMrs Philip Kan

Rose and Dudley LeighLady Roslyn Marion LyonsMiss Jeanette MartinDiana and Allan Morgenthau

Charitable TrustDr Karen MortonRuth RattenburyThe Reed Foundation Sir Bernard RixDavid Ross and Line Forestier (Canada)Carolina & Martin SchwabTom and Phillis SharpeDr Brian SmithMr & Mrs G SteinMiss Anne StoddartTFS Loans LimitedLady Marina VaizeyMs Jenny WatsonGuy & Utti Whittaker

Pritchard Donors

Ralph and Elizabeth AldwinckleMichael and Linda BlackstoneDr Anthony BucklandBusiness Events SydneyLady June ChichesterJohn Childress & Christiane WuillamieLindka CierachPaul CollinsMr Alistair CorbettDavid DennisMr David EdgecombeDavid EllenMr Timothy Fancourt QCKarima & David GMr Daniel GoldsteinMr Derek B. GrayMr Roger GreenwoodRebecca Halford Harrison

Honeymead Arts TrustMrs Dawn HooperRehmet Kassim-LakhaMr Geoffrey KirkhamPeter LeaverDrs Frank & Gek LimPeter MaceMr David MacfarlaneGeoff & Meg MannMarsh Christian TrustDr David McGibneyMichael & Patricia McLaren-TurnerJohn MontgomeryRosemary MorganParis NatarMr Roger H C PattisonThe late Edmund PirouetMr Michael PosenSarah & John PriestlandMr Christopher QuereeMr Peter RussellMr Alan SainerTim SlorickLady Valerie SoltiTimothy Walker AMLaurence WattMr R WattsDes & Maggie WhitelockChristopher WilliamsPeter Wilson SmithVictoria YanakovaMr Anthony Yolland

And all other donors who wish to remain anonymous

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16 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Administration

Board of DirectorsVictoria Robey OBE Chairman Stewart McIlwham* President Gareth Newman* Vice-PresidentDr Manon Antoniazzi Richard Brass Desmond Cecil CMG Vesselin Gellev* Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS Dr Catherine C. HøgelMartin Höhmann* George Peniston* Kevin Rundell* Julian SimmondsMark Templeton*Natasha TsukanovaTimothy Walker AM Laurence WattNeil Westreich

* Player-Director

Advisory CouncilVictoria Robey OBE Chairman Christopher Aldren Richard Brass David Buckley Sir Alan Collins KCVO CMG Andrew Davenport Jonathan Dawson Edward Dolman Christopher Fraser OBE Lord Hall of Birkenhead CBE Jamie Korner Clive Marks OBE FCA Stewart McIlwham Sir Bernard Rix Baroness ShackletonLord Sharman of Redlynch OBE Thomas Sharpe QC Martin SouthgateSir Philip Thomas Sir John TooleyChris VineyTimothy Walker AMElizabeth Winter

American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Inc.Jenny Ireland Co-ChairmanWilliam A. Kerr Co-ChairmanKyung-Wha ChungAlexandra JupinDr. Felisa B. KaplanJill Fine MainelliKristina McPhee Dr. Joseph MulvehillHarvey M. Spear, Esq.Danny Lopez Hon. ChairmanNoel Kilkenny Hon. DirectorVictoria Robey OBE Hon. DirectorRichard Gee, Esq Of Counsel Jenifer L. Keiser, CPA,

EisnerAmper LLP

Chief Executive

Timothy Walker AM Chief Executive and Artistic Director

Amy SugarmanPA to the Chief Executive / Administrative Assistant

Finance

David BurkeGeneral Manager and Finance Director

David GreensladeFinance and IT Manager

Samanta Berzina Finance Officer Concert Management

Roanna Gibson Concerts Director

Graham WoodConcerts and Recordings Manager

Jenny Chadwick Tours Manager

Tamzin Aitken Glyndebourne and UK Engagements Manager

Alison JonesConcerts and Recordings Co-ordinator

Jo CotterTours Co-ordinator Orchestra Personnel

Andrew CheneryOrchestra Personnel Manager

Sarah Holmes Sarah ThomasLibrarians ( job-share)

Christopher AldertonStage Manager

Damian Davis Transport Manager

Ellie Swithinbank Assistant Orchestra Personnel Manager

Education and Community

Isabella Kernot Education Director

Alexandra ClarkeEducation and Community Project Manager

Lucy DuffyEducation and Community Project Manager

Richard MallettEducation and Community Producer

Development

Nick JackmanDevelopment Director

Catherine Faulkner Development Events Manager

Kathryn HagemanIndividual Giving Manager

Laura Luckhurst Corporate Relations Manager

Anna Quillin Trusts and Foundations Manager

Helen Etheridge Development Assistant

Rebecca FoggDevelopment Assistant

Kirstin PeltonenDevelopment Associate

Marketing

Kath TroutMarketing Director

Mia RobertsMarketing Manager

Rachel WilliamsPublications Manager (maternity leave)

Sarah BreedenPublications Manager (maternity cover)

Samantha CleverleyBox Office Manager(Tel: 020 7840 4242)

Libby Northcote-GreenMarketing Co-ordinator

Digital Projects

Alison Atkinson Digital Projects Director

Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant Public Relations

Albion Media (Tel: 020 3077 4930) Archives

Philip StuartDiscographer

Gillian Pole Recordings Archive Professional Services

Charles RussellSolicitors

Crowe Clark Whitehill LLPAuditors

Dr Louise MillerHonorary Doctor

London Philharmonic Orchestra89 Albert Embankment London SE1 7TPTel: 020 7840 4200Box Office: 020 7840 4242Email: [email protected]

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

Photograph of Beethoven courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London. Front cover photograph: Martin Hobbs, horn © Julian Calverley. Cover design/ art direction: Chaos Design.

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