London Philharmonic Orchestra concert programme 29 Jan 2014

Concert programme 2013/14 season

Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor VLADIMIR JUROWSKI*Principal Guest Conductor YANNICK NÉZET-SÉGUINLeader pIETER SChOEMANComposer in Residence JULIAN ANDERSONPatron hRh ThE DUKE OF KENT KG

Chief Executive and Artistic Director TIMOThY WALKER AM

programme £3

Contents

2 Welcome / Leader3 About the Orchestra 4 On stage tonight5 Andrés Orozco-Estrada6 Rudolf Buchbinder7 Programme notes10 2014/15 season launch11 Next concerts12 Annual Appeal: Tickets Please!13 Orchestra news14 Catalyst: Double Your Donation15 Supporters16 LPO administration

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

* supported by the Tsukanov Family Foundation and one anonymous donor

CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival hallWednesday 29 January 2014 | 7.30pm

KodályDances of Galánta (15’)

GriegPiano Concerto in A minor (30’)

Interval

DvořákSymphony No. 7 in D minor (38’)

Andrés Orozco-EstradaconductorPrincipal Guest Conductor Designate, London Philharmonic Orchestra

Rudolf Buchbinderpiano

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.

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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.

Pieter is a Professor of Violin at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.

Pieter Schoemanleader

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3

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 orchestras in the UK. As well as its performances in the concert hall, the Orchestra also records film and video game soundtracks, has its own successful CD label, and enhances the lives of thousands of people every year through activities for schools and local communities.

The Orchestra was founded by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1932, and since then its Principal Conductors have included Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. Vladimir Jurowski is the current Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor, appointed in 2007, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin is Principal Guest Conductor. Julian Anderson is the Orchestra’s current Composer in Residence.

The Orchestra is resident at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London, where it gives around 40 concerts each season. 2013/14 highlights include a Britten centenary celebration with Vladimir Jurowski including the War Requiem and Peter Grimes; world premieres of James MacMillan’s Viola Concerto and Górecki’s Fourth Symphony; French repertoire with Yannick Nézet-Séguin; and a stellar array of soloists including Evelyn Glennie, Mitsuko Uchida, Leif Ove Andsnes, Miloš Karadaglić, Renaud Capuçon, Leonidas Kavakos, Julia Fischer, Emanuel Ax and Simon Trpčeski. Throughout 2013 the Orchestra collaborated with Southbank Centre on the year-long festival The Rest Is Noise, exploring the influential works of the 20th century.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra enjoys flourishing residencies in Brighton and Eastbourne, and performs regularly around the UK. Every summer, the Orchestra takes up its annual residency at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, where it has been Resident Symphony Orchestra for 50 years. The Orchestra also tours internationally, performing concerts to sell-out audiences worldwide. Highlights of the 2013/14 season include visits to the USA, Romania, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Belgium, France and Spain.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra has recorded the soundtracks to numerous blockbuster films, from Lawrence of Arabia, The Mission and East is East to Hugo, The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. It also broadcasts regularly on television and radio, and in 2005 established its own record label. There are now over 70 releases available on CD and to download. Recent additions include Brahms’s Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 and Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 with Vladimir Jurowski; Vaughan Williams’s Symphonies Nos. 5 & 7 with Bernard Haitink; Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Sarah Connolly and Toby Spence; and a disc of new works by the Orchestra’s Composer in Residence, Julian Anderson.

In summer 2012 the Orchestra was invited to take part in The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the River Thames, as well as being chosen to record all the world’s national anthems for the London 2012 Olympics.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra is committed to inspiring the next generation through its BrightSparks schools’ concerts and FUNharmonics family concerts;

the Leverhulme Young Composers programme; and the Foyle Future Firsts orchestral training programme for outstanding young players. Over recent

years, digital advances and social media have enabled the Orchestra to reach even more people across the globe: 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

The LPO are an orchestra on fire at the moment. Bachtrack.com2 October 2013, Royal Festival Hall: Britten centenary concert


On stage tonight

First ViolinsPieter Schoeman* LeaderVesselin Gellev Sub-Leader

Chair supported by John & Angela Kessler

Ilyoung Chae Ji-Hyun Lee

Chair supported by Eric Tomsett

Katalin VarnagyChair supported by Sonja Drexler

Geoffrey LynnChair supported by Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp

Robert PoolMartin HöhmannSarah StreatfeildThomas EisnerCatherine CraigRebecca ShorrockAlina PetrenkoCaroline Frenkel

Second ViolinsPhilippe Honoré

Guest PrincipalJeongmin KimJoseph MaherFiona HighamAshley StevensEugene LeeKate Birchall

Chair supported by David & Victoria Graham Fuller

Harry KerrAlison StrangeStephen StewartElizabeth BaldeyJohn Dickinson

ViolasCyrille Mercier Principal Gregory AronovichSusanne MartensKatharine LeekDaniel CornfordIsabel PereiraMartin FennSarah MalcolmHelen BevinMiriam Eisele

CellosCaroline Dale

Guest Principal Francis BucknallLaura DonoghueGregory WalmsleySantiago Carvalho†Elisabeth WiklanderDavid Lale Sue Sutherley

Double BassesKevin Rundell* PrincipalLaurence LovelleGeorge PenistonRichard LewisHelen RowlandsTom Walley

FlutesSue Thomas Principal

Chair supported by the Sharp Family

Stewart McIlwham*

piccoloStewart McIlwham*

Principal

OboesIan Hardwick PrincipalAlice Munday

ClarinetsThomas Watmough

Guest PrincipalPaul Richards

BassoonsGareth Newman*

PrincipalSimon EstellLaura Vincent

hornsJohn Ryan* PrincipalDavid Pyatt* Principal

Chair supported by Simon Robey

Martin HobbsMark Vines Co-PrincipalGareth Mollison

TrumpetsNicholas Betts PrincipalAnne McAneney*

Chair supported by Geoff & Meg Mann

TrombonesMark Templeton*

PrincipalChair supported by William & Alex de Winton

Audun Breen

Bass TromboneLyndon Meredith Principal

TimpaniSimon Carrington*

Principal

percussionAndrew Barclay* Principal

Chair supported by Andrew Davenport

Sarah Mason

* Holds a professorial appointment in London

† Chevalier of the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco

Chair Supporters

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

Julian & Gill Simmonds


Andrés Orozco-Estradaconductor

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Born in Colombia and trained in Vienna, Andrés Orozco-Estrada is one of the most sought-after conductors of his generation. From September 2015 he will become the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor. From the beginning of

the 2014/15 season he will also take up the positions of Music Director of the Houston Symphony Orchestra and Chief Conductor of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Andrés first came to international attention in 2004, when he took over a concert with the Tonkünstler Orchestra Niederösterreich at the Vienna Musikverein, and was subsequently celebrated by the Viennese press as a ‘wonder from Vienna’. Numerous engagements with international orchestras followed, and he has since developed a highly successful musical partnership with the Tonkünstler Orchestra, one of the most important institutions of traditional Austrian musical culture. Since the beginning of the 2009/10 season he has been its Music Director, an engagement that ends in summer 2015. This Orchestra holds a subscription series at the Vienna Musikverein and is Orchestra in Residence at the Grafenegg Festival. From 2009 until summer 2013, Andrés also held the role of Principal Conductor at the Basque National Orchestra (Orquesta Sinfónica de Euskadi).

Andrés Orozco-Estrada has worked with some of the world’s leading orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Mahler Chamber, Houston Symphony and City of Birmingham Symphony orchestras; the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome; the Radio Symphony Orchestras of Frankfurt (hr) and Hamburg (NDR); and the Orchestre National de France. Following his debut with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in autumn 2010, he was hailed ‘a brilliant stand-in’ (Wiener Zeitung) for Esa-Pekka Salonen, and celebrated as an ‘eminent talent’ (Die Presse). In November 2012, Orozco-Estrada once again stepped in

at short notice, this time for Riccardo Muti, to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic at the Musikverein, and proved to be a ‘stand-in worth his weight in gold’ (Kurier) and ‘an inspired master of communication’ (Der Standard).

Andrés Orozco-Estrada made his debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in November 2013 at Brighton Dome and on tour in Germany and Slovenia. Future engagements include debuts with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; the Royal Stockholm and Oslo Philharmonic orchestras; The Philadelphia Orchestra; The Cleveland Orchestra; and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He will also make his debut at Glyndebourne Festival Opera this summer, conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra in Mozart’s Don Giovanni.

Born in 1977 in Medellín, Colombia, Andrés Orozco-Estrada began his musical studies on the violin and had his first conducting lessons at the age of 15. In 1997 he moved to Vienna, where he joined the conducting class of Uroš Lajovic – pupil of the legendary Hans Swarowsky – at the renowned Vienna Music Academy, completing his degree with distinction by conducting the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Vienna Musikverein. The emphasis of his artistic work lies in the Romantic repertoire and Viennese classics. At the same time, he shows a keen interest in contemporary music and regularly performs premieres of Austrian composers, as well as compositions of Spanish and South American origin. He currently lives in Vienna.


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Rudolf Buchbinderpiano

Rudolf Buchbinder is firmly established as one of the world’s foremost pianists, and is frequently invited by major orchestras and festivals around the world. His emphasis lies on the meticulous study of musical sources. He owns 38 complete editions of Beethoven’s sonatas

and has an extensive collection of autograph scores, first editions and original documents. In addition, he possesses copies of the autograph scores and piano parts of both Brahms concertos. He continues to set standards with his performances of the complete Beethoven sonatas in more than 40 cities, among them Vienna, Berlin, Munich, Zurich, St Petersburg, Buenos Aires, Beijing and Milan. His comprehensive repertoire also encompasses numerous 20th-century compositions.

More than 100 recordings document the scope and diversity of Rudolf Buchbinder’s repertoire. Notable recordings to his credit include Haydn’s complete works for piano, which earned him the Grand Prix du Disque, as well as Waltzing Strauss, a CD featuring piano transcriptions. Today Rudolf Buchbinder favours live recordings, a preference that has resulted in a CD of the Brahms piano concertos (Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra/Nikolaus Harnoncourt) and two DVDs of Mozart concertos with Buchbinder as pianist and conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic at the 2006 Vienna Festwochen. Another live recording of the two Brahms piano concertos, with the Israel Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta, was released in 2010.

In 2011 Rudolf Buchbinder’s performances as pianist and conductor in Beethoven’s five piano concertos with the Vienna Philharmonic at the Musikverein were released on DVD and Blu-ray. These recordings were also released on CD by Sony Classical in October 2013. A live recording of Mozart concertos with Concentus Musicus Wien and Nikolaus Harnoncourt appeared in 2012, and in July 2013 Sony Classical released his latest solo album featuring works by Schubert.

Throughout the 2010/11 season Rudolf Buchbinder maintained a particularly close co-operation with the Staatskapelle Dresden, as the orchestra’s first Artist in Residence. His cycle of the complete Beethoven piano sonatas at the Semperoper in Dresden was recorded live and released in May 2011 as a CD box by Sony/RCA Red Seal. In 2012 it won the prestigious Echo Klassik Award in the ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ category, as well as the Choc de l’année.

Rudolf Buchbinder is the Founding Artistic Director of the Grafenegg Festival, which has quickly become one of Europe’s major orchestral festivals since its foundation in 2007. In his biography Da Capo, which includes an introduction by German music critic Joachim Kaiser, Rudolf Buchbinder offers insights into his life as one of today’s most distinguished pianists.


Programme notes

By the time Antonín Dvořák started writing music in the mid-1800s, composers all over the world had been using indigenous tunes and folksongs in their works for years. Dvořák famously tapped his Czech homeland’s tradition of folksong and fiddle-playing in his symphonies, and even more famously used spirituals from the New World in his final symphonic work.

Nearly half a century later in Hungary, Zoltán Kodály and his colleague Béla Bartók wanted to reform the whole process, reconnecting ‘art music’ to the folk tradition by using real folk tunes (not ones bent into polite shapes by establishment composers such as Dvořák) and letting their raw energy and colour control the music they created.

Tonight we hear both: Dvořák’s best symphony, which aptly captures his refined, concert-hall view of

the folk tradition with some of the most astute and highly developed symphonic writing ever conceived; and Kodály’s unbridled celebration of folk tunes from his own village, which he hoped – combined with the pizzazz of a modern symphony orchestra – would bring those tunes to wider attention.

In between comes a rather different view of a rather different folk music tradition. Norwegian folk music has little of the fire, drive and gypsy bravura of its Hungarian counterpart, instead dealing in an innocent, understated tunefulness (in its songs) and a neat, respectful symmetry (in its dances). Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg decided that these were the values he wanted his music to inhabit. Seasoned with ardour and passion, with a sprinkling of virtuosity, they are also what made Grieg’s Piano Concerto such a hit.

Speedread

ZoltánKodály

1882–1967

Dances of Galánta

1 Lento2 Allegretto moderato3 Allegro con moto, grazioso4 Allegro5 Allegro vivace

Like his compatriot Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály spent much of his career discovering, researching and collating Hungarian folk music. In a sense, his compositional career took a back seat as a result: he wrote only nine orchestral scores and when asked why, protested that he’d been busy ‘educating a public’. But Kodály’s thirst for folk music actually enriched his music immeasurably – not only as the impetus behind its creation but also as the raw material on which he’d forge his own distinctive voice.

It probably all began in 1885 when Kodály’s railway-worker father was posted to the town of Galánta,

on the line between Vienna and Budapest, to work as stationmaster there. The young Zoltán became entranced by the sound of the town’s band. It’s described in various sources as a ‘gypsy band’, but recent research indicates it probably counted versatile instrumentalists among its ranks, who would play Mozart for the bourgeoisie when they weren’t knocking out traditional Hungarian verbunko dances. In 1933, the Budapest Philharmonic Society commissioned a short orchestral work from Kodály, and the composer chose to immortalise his charmed fascination with the Galánta ensemble.

Continued overleaf


The tunes he used for his Dances of Galánta actually came from the widely circulated publication Selected Hungarian National Dances after Several Gypsies of Galánta. Kodály discreetly arranged his selected themes rather than attempting to pit them in a raw dialogue with music of other traditions, as Bartók might have done. The result is music of celebration rather than depth and tension – a piece that combines the virtuoso possibilities of the modern symphony orchestra with the basic life-affirming and propulsive qualities of the folk music Kodály wanted to disseminate.

A series of instrumental solos flow through the piece’s slow introduction, separated by busy string figures and, eventually, a free-feeling solo or ‘cadenza’ on the

Programme notes continued

clarinet – a figure that will return to preface each of the dances. The first of them is stately but spiked by the jerky rhythms of the verbunko, the indigenous local dance that gained a foothold when it was used by military recruiters during the 18th-century Imperial Wars. The second dance is initiated by the flute and uses a theme that circulates haltingly around a single pitch (listen out for the moment when the flute and piccolo appear to play in the ‘wrong’ key); the oboe then introduces another, coloured by a glockenspiel and a violin playing on elusive harmonics. A syncopated rhythm tries to establish itself on the oboe in the next dance, but slower, low-pitched music wins through. Not for long, though, as the syncopations return and drive the music towards a final exhilarating flourish.

piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16

Rudolf Buchbinder piano

1 Allegro molto moderato 2 Adagio3 Allegro moderato molto e marcato

EdvardGrieg

1843–1907

Edvard Grieg’s attitude to his country’s folk music tradition makes a pretty interesting case study next to that of Zoltán Kodály. Aged 15, the talented Norwegian was dispatched to Leipzig to be schooled in composition German-style. But the Leipzig lessons left Grieg cold. Later on in Copenhagen, the hub for Nordic composers in the 19th century, he met fellow Norwegian Richard Nordraak, who introduced Grieg to the many folk songs and national dances that he’d been collecting from the mountains and fjords back home.

That, together with the suggestion from Norwegian composer and violinist Ole Bull that he explore and indulge his own heritage, seems to have prompted Grieg’s sudden awakening to his musical destiny: ‘to find expression for something that lay thousands of miles from Leipzig and its atmosphere’, by which he meant the striking but melancholia-tinged natural scenery of Norway. Unlike Kodály, Grieg would mostly write his own tunes, but cast them in the atmospheric

and harmonic mood of the folk music he had discovered – the mood of a small country ‘full of mystery and promise’ that showed little interest in rushing headlong into modernity.

Not that Grieg shunned the German tradition altogether. When he came to write his Piano Concerto while holidaying in the Danish countryside in 1868, Grieg clearly took his cue from the Piano Concerto by Robert Schumann. ‘Each tempo is indelibly imprinted on my soul’, Grieg said of Schumann’s piece, which famously captured the composer’s love for his wife just as Grieg felt the glow of married life to Nina Hagerup (and the arrival of their new daughter) as he started to write his own work. Formally, he found in Schumann’s Concerto the inspiration behind his own piece’s opening flourish and the marked contrast between the initial (perky) theme and the secondary (song-like) one in the first movement.


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

What you don’t hear in Schumann’s Concerto is that simply expressed Nordic tenderness that Grieg captures so convincingly. He communicates it mostly through direct harmonies and song-like themes with an almost naïve simplicity. The Concerto’s very first musical idea, enshrined in that opening piano flourish, is built on a descending third – an interval that pervades Norwegian folk song; its finale is Grieg’s personal homage to the halling, a swift Norwegian ‘fling’ dance. Perhaps in the aching beauty of the slow movement, though, Grieg gets closest to the purity of spirit – the Norwegian mountain air – he was trying to convey.

In the years after its first performance on 3 April 1869 in Copenhagen (Edmund Neupert, not Grieg, was the soloist), the Piano Concerto put Norway on the musical map and made its creator famous. In 1870

the composer had the chance to show the score to Franz Liszt, who played it through at sight and made no attempt to hide his delight at it. Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff would go on to imitate the grand, hymnal repeat of the secondary musical idea that closes the final movement, but what Liszt really loved, reportedly, was the touch of sadness Grieg brought to that passage: when the full orchestra plays the slowed-down ‘big tune’ for the second time, just after the pianist hammers it out on huge, ground-shaking chords, the third note is changed – suddenly dropped a semitone from a G sharp to a G natural. It gives the majestic tune a minor colouring, and a sort of dignified hesitance that speaks so much of Norway and its national psyche – as much today as it must have back then.

The Seventh might not be Dvořák’s most popular symphony, but it’s arguably his best. In the composer’s own mind, he simply had to deliver something special for the London Philharmonic Society, who had commissioned the piece in 1884. His career was at a crossroads: success had finally come, offers were being made, and contacts were putting themselves forward. Brahms and others were urging Dvořák to consider a move from his hometown of Prague to Vienna or Berlin. All Dvořák had to do – in his own mind – was prove that he could write first-class symphonic music already; music that didn’t rely overtly on indigenous Czech folk themes and that demonstrated a firm grasp of symphonic thought.

Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op. 70

1 Allegro maestoso2 Poco adagio3 Scherzo: vivace4 Finale: Allegro

AntonínDvořák

1841–1904

On that front, Dvořák more than succeeded with his Seventh Symphony. It was first performed on 22 April 1885 in St James’s Hall, London, and was immediately hailed as a masterpiece. As a symphony it’s near flawless, and certainly Dvořák’s most organic and well-argued. For that, the composer had Brahms to thank. Dvořák had recently heard Brahms’s Third Symphony, whose taut, concise and clear-cut structure is wholly evident here. There are also a good few points of direct comparison: both symphonies contain radiant horn solos (you’ll hear Dvořák’s in his second movement) and both are stalked by a sense of underlying darkness.

That darkness – perhaps ‘severity’ is a better word – had been uncommon in Dvořák’s music up to this point. The


Programme notes continued

Seventh was the composer’s first symphony written in a minor key and it only rarely finds the major. Even so, the joy and bustle associated with Dvořák’s music is somehow ever-present – either fighting to be heard or peering through the composer’s minor-key colourings. Perhaps it’s the composer’s profusion of rich melodies that keeps the Symphony so consistently radiant even when resolutely rooted in the minor (as in the demonic dance of the Scherzo, for example).

So organic and rich in cross-referencing is the Seventh’s music that an analysis of its themes and their origins is best left for academics. What’s worth listening out for in the first movement, however, is the restlessness of Dvořák’s lower strings, which helps create a feeling of impending stormy weather; throughout, instruments enter in a fragmentary fashion, each seeming to stride into the conversation with a conflicting view.

Dvořák’s second movement is a continuous, river-like flow of inspired melodies opening with what sounds like an ancient chorale in a serene F major, the key that also closes the movement. The aforementioned horn solo that comes later represents one of the Symphony’s only moments of warmth; a sudden appearance of the sun between clouds. Though the third movement features an idyllic Trio section, it’s surrounded by a demonic dance built from an insistent, syncopated figure that combines duple and triple time in reference to the furiant, a Czech folk dance.

Dvořák didn’t want to over-egg his use of devices and themes from Czech folk music in the Symphony, and uses them similarly fleetingly and subtly in his finale. This movement is a fierce tussle, relieved only by its bright secondary idea cast in a major key and first heard on cellos, supported by lightly ornamenting violins. Dvořák seems to triumph over the movement’s nervous energy as he introduces a theme of distinctly Czech character on the flutes. In a dramatic coda, the Symphony’s final paragraph, the music finally finds victory as it discovers the warmth of D major.

Programme notes by Andrew Mellor © 2013

London philharmonic Orchestra 2014/15 season

Our 2014/15 season is now available to browse online at lpo.org.uk. Booking (online and telephone) opens on Thursday 6 February.

Highlights of the new season include:

• A year-long festival, Rachmaninoff: Inside Out, exploring the composer’s major orchestral masterpieces including all the symphonies and piano concertos, alongside some of his lesser-known works.

• Appearances by some of today’s most sought-after artists including Maria João Pires, Christoph Eschenbach, Lars Vogt, Barbara Hannigan, Vasily Petrenko, Marin Alsop, Katia and Marielle Labèque and Robin Ticciati.

• Yannick Nézet-Séguin presents masterpieces by three great composers from the Austro-German tradition: Brahms, Schubert and Richard Strauss.

• The UK premiere of Harrison Birtwistle’s Piano Concerto, performed by Pierre-Laurent Aimard.

• Soprano Barbara Hannigan joins Vladimir Jurowski and the Orchestra for a world premiere from our new Composer in Residence Magnus Lindberg.

• Premieres too by outgoing Composer in Residence Julian Anderson, Colin Matthews and James Horner (a double-Oscar winner for his thrilling score to the film Titanic).

• Legendary pianist Menahem Pressler – a founding member of the Beaux Arts Trio – joins Robin Ticciati to perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4.

To take advantage of priority booking (open now), join one of our membership schemes for as little as £50 a year. For more information please call Sarah Fletcher on 020 7840 4225 or visit lpo.org.uk/support/memberships


Friday 14 February 2014 | 7.30pmJTI Friday Series

Valentine’s Day Concert

Dvořák Carnival Overture Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 Wagner Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet (Fantasy Overture)

Stuart Stratford conductorSa Chen piano

Wednesday 19 February 2014 | 7.30pm

Balakirev Islamey (Oriental Fantasy)Khachaturian Piano ConcertoKalinnikov Symphony No. 1

Osmo Vänskä conductorMarc-André hamelin piano

Free pre-concert discussion6.15–6.45pm | Royal Festival hallDavid Nice discusses the evening’s programme.

Friday 21 February 2014 | 7.30pmJTI Friday Series

Berlioz Overture, Le CorsaireRachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of PaganiniElgar Symphony No. 2

Vasily petrenko conductorKirill Gerstein piano

Wednesday 26 February 2014 | 7.30pm

Brahms Double Concerto for violin and celloBruckner Symphony No. 2

Vladimir Jurowski conductorJulia Fischer violinDaniel Müller-Schott cello

Saturday 1 March 2014 | 7.30pm

Julian Anderson AlleluiaBeethoven Symphony No. 9 (Choral)

Vladimir Jurowski conductorEmma Bell sopranoAnna Stéphany mezzo sopranoJohn Daszak tenorGerald Finley baritoneLondon philharmonic Choir

Friday 7 March 2014 | 7.30pmJTI Friday Series

Dvořák Scherzo capricciosoTchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1Mahler BlumineShostakovich Symphony No. 1

Ilyich Rivas conductorSimon Trpčeski piano

Booking details Tickets £9–£39 (premium seats £65) London philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office 020 7840 4242 Monday–Friday 10.00am–5.00pm lpo.org.ukTransaction fees: £1.75 online, £2.75 telephone

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

Next LPO concerts at Royal Festival Hall


London Philharmonic Orchestra Annual Appeal 2013/14

Tickets please!

Do you remember the first time you saw a symphony orchestra live on stage?

Every year the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s schools’ concerts allow over 16,000 young people to see and hear the Orchestra live. The LPO is the only orchestra in the UK to offer specific and tailored orchestral concerts for all ages – from primary school children aged five, through to 18-year-old A-level students. Six out of ten children attending the concerts will be experiencing an orchestra for the very first time.

Tickets for the concerts cost £9. We want to offer free tickets to 2,500 children from the most disadvantaged schools and we need your help to make this happen.

For a donation of just £9 you could buy a ticket for a child to attend one of our schools’ concerts. If you would like to donate more, you could buy tickets for three children (£27), a row of seats in the stalls (£108), or a whole class to attend (£270). Every donation of any size from our supportive audience will help us to fill our concert hall with new young audience members.

Please visit lpo.org.uk/ticketsplease, where you can select the seats you wish to buy, or call Katherine Hattersley on 020 7840 4212 to donate over the phone.

Thank you for supporting Tickets please!


Spring tours

Earlier this month the Orchestra travelled to Madrid with conductor Vladimir Jurowski to give two concerts at the city’s Auditorio Nacional de Música. Yulianna Avdeeva performed Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1, and the Orchestra gave the Spanish premiere of James MacMillan’s Viola Concerto with soloist Lawrence Power, following the world premiere here at Royal Festival Hall on 15 January.

Next month, the Orchestra, along with Glyndebourne Festival Opera soloists and chorus under Sir Mark Elder, will take Britten’s Billy Budd to New York for four performances at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The cast includes Jacques Imbrailo as Billy Budd, Brindley Sherratt as Claggart and Mark Padmore as Captain Vere.

Other tours this spring include visits to Paris to perform Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 under Vladimir Jurowski; Dortmund with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and pianist Nicholas Angelich; and Moscow with Jurowski for a performance of Britten’s War Requiem and a concert with soloist Lisa Batiashvili performing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto.

Orchestra news

Update: Tickets please!

Each year the London Philharmonic Orchestra performs to over 16,000 children through our dedicated schools’ concerts. For many of these children it is their first experience of a live symphony orchestra. We have been asking our audience members to help us provide free access to these concerts for children from the most disadvantaged areas of South London through supporting our latest appeal, Tickets Please!

We have had a fantastic and very generous response and want to say a big thank you to everyone who has donated so far. The appeal has now raised over £6,500, which will allow over 700 children to attend our schools’ concerts for free.

There is still time to donate and help us fill our concert hall. Please see the page opposite for further details and visit lpo.org.uk/ticketsplease

Animate Orchestra

Do you know an instrumentalist in school years 5–8 who lives or goes to school in the London boroughs of Greenwich, Lambeth, Lewisham or Southwark?

Animate Orchestra offers young musicians the opportunity to play together and create their own music in a ‘Young Person’s Orchestra for the 21st Century’. It’s for young people who play an instrument, from any musical background and with any level of experience. Animate Orchestra is a partnership between the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance, and participating music hubs.

The next Animate Orchestra courses will take place during February half term (17–21 February). To find out more, visit animateorchestra.org.uk

Animate Orchestra is generously funded by The Mayor of London’s Fund for Young Musicians, Youth Music, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Lewisham Council.

New CD release: Jurowski conducts Brahms

Just released on the LPO Label is a CD of Brahms’s Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.

This CD completes Jurowski’s survey of Brahms’s four symphonies – his previous Brahms disc,

of Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2 (Feb 2010), received great critical acclaim including BBC Music Magazine’s ‘Disc of the Month’ and the recommended version of Symphony No. 2 by BBC Radio 3’s ‘Building a Library’.

Priced £9.99, the new CD is also available from lpo.org.uk/shop, 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.


Catalyst: Double Your Donation

The London Philharmonic Orchestra is building its first ever endowment fund, which will support the most exciting artistic collaborations with its partner venues here in London and around the country.

Thanks to a generous grant pledge from Arts Council England’s Catalyst programme, the Orchestra is able to double the value of all gifts from new donors up to a maximum value of £1 million. Any additional gifts from existing generous donors will also be matched.

By the end of the campaign we aim to have created an endowment with a value of £2 million which will help us work with partners to provide a funding injection for activities across the many areas of the Orchestra’s work, including:

• Morevisionaryartisticprojectslike The Rest Is Noise at Southbank Centre• EducationalandoutreachactivitiesforyoungLondonerslikethisyear’sNoye’s Fludde performance project• IncreasedtouringtovenuesaroundtheUKthatmightnototherwisehaveaccesstogreatorchestralmusic

To give, call Development Director Nick Jackman on 020 7840 4211, email [email protected] or visit www.lpo.org.uk/support/double-your-donation.html

Masur CircleArts Council England Emmanuel & Barrie Roman The Sharp FamilyThe Underwood Trust

Welser-Möst CircleJohn Ireland Charitable Trust

Tennstedt CircleSimon Robey The late Mr K Twyman

Solti patronsAnonymousSuzanne GoodmanThe Rothschild Foundation Manon Williams & John Antoniazzi

haitink patronsLady Jane Berrill Moya Greene Tony and Susie HayesLady Roslyn Marion LyonsDiana and Allan Morgenthau

Charitable Trust

Catalyst Endowment Donors

Ruth RattenburySir Bernard Rix TFS Loans LimitedThe Tsukanov Family Foundation Guy & Utti Whittaker

pritchard DonorsAnonymousLinda BlackstoneMichael BlackstoneJan BonduelleRichard and Jo BrassBritten-Pears FoundationLady June ChichesterLindka CierachMr Alistair CorbettMark DamazerDavid DennisBill & Lisa DoddMr David EdgecombeDavid Ellen Commander Vincent EvansMr Daniel GoldsteinFfion HagueRebecca Halford HarrisonMichael & Christine Henry

Honeymead Arts TrustJohn HunterIvan HurryTanya KornilovaHoward & Marilyn LeveneMr Gerald LevinDr Frank LimGeoff & Meg MannUlrike ManselMarsh Christian TrustJohn MontgomeryRosemary MorganJohn Owen Edmund PirouetMr Michael PosenJohn PriestlandTim SlorickHoward SnellStanley SteckerLady Marina VaizeyHelen WalkerLaurence WattDes & Maggie Whitelock Christopher WilliamsVictoria YanakovaMr Anthony Yolland


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

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

Corporate Members

Silver: AREVA UKBritish American BusinessCarter Ruck Thomas Eggar LLP

Bronze: Lisa Bolgar Smith and Felix Appelbe of

Ambrose AppelbeAppleyard & Trew LLP Berenberg BankBerkeley LawCharles RussellLeventis 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 TrustBorletti-Buitoni TrustBritten-Pears Foundation The Candide Trust The Ernest Cook TrustThe Coutts Charitable TrustThe D’Oyly Carte Charitable TrustDunard FundEmbassy of Spain, Office for Cultural

and Scientific AffairsThe Equitable Charitable Trust Fidelio Charitable TrustThe Foyle FoundationJ Paul Getty Junior Charitable Trust Lucille Graham TrustThe Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris

Charitable TrustHelp Musicians UK The Hobson Charity The Idlewild Trust Kirby Laing FoundationThe Leverhulme TrustMarsh Christian Trust

The Mayor of London’s Fund for YoungMusicians

Adam Mickiewicz Institute The Peter Minet TrustMaxwell Morrison Charitable TrustThe Ann and Frederick O’Brien

Charitable TrustPalazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de musique

romantique françaisePolish Cultural Institute in London PRS for Music Foundation The R K Charitable TrustSerge Rachmaninoff Foundation The Samuel Sebba Charitable Trust Schroder Charity Trust Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation The David Solomons Charitable Trust The Steel Charitable TrustThe John Thaw FoundationThe Tillett TrustSir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary

SettlementGarfield Weston Foundation The Barbara Whatmore Charitable TrustYouth Music

and others who wish to remainanonymous

Thomas Beecham GroupThe Tsukanov Family Foundation Anonymous

William and Alex de Winton Simon Robey The Sharp FamilyJulian & Gill Simmonds

Garf & Gill CollinsAndrew Davenport Mrs Sonja DrexlerDavid & Victoria Graham FullerJohn & Angela KesslerMr & Mrs MakharinskyGeoff & Meg MannCaroline, Jamie & Zander SharpEric Tomsett

Jane Attias Guy & Utti Whittaker Manon Williams & John Antoniazzi

principal BenefactorsMark & Elizabeth AdamsLady Jane BerrillDesmond & Ruth CecilMr John H CookDavid Ellen

Commander Vincent Evans Mr Daniel GoldsteinDon Kelly & Ann WoodPeter MacDonald Eggers Mr & Mrs David MalpasMr Maxwell MorrisonMr Michael PosenMr & Mrs Thierry SciardMr & Mrs G SteinMr & Mrs John C TuckerMr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood Lady Marina Vaizey Mr Anthony Yolland

BenefactorsMrs A BeareMrs Alan CarringtonMr & Mrs Stewart CohenMr Alistair Corbett Mr David EdgecombeMr Richard FernyhoughKen FollettMichael & Christine HenryMalcolm HerringIvan HurryMr Glenn HurstfieldMr R K Jeha Per JonssonMr Gerald Levin

Sheila Ashley LewisWg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAFDr Frank LimPaul & Brigitta LockMr Brian Marsh Andrew T MillsJohn Montgomery Mr & Mrs Andrew NeillMartin and Cheryl Southgate Professor John StuddMr Peter TausigMrs Kazue Turner Howard & Sheelagh Watson Mr Laurie WattDes & 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


Administration

Board of Directors

Victoria Sharp Chairman Stewart McIlwham* President Gareth Newman*

Vice-PresidentRichard Brass Desmond Cecil CMG Vesselin Gellev* Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS Dr Catherine C. HøgelMartin Höhmann* George Peniston* Sir Bernard RixKevin Rundell* Julian SimmondsMark Templeton*Natasha TsukanovaTimothy Walker AM Laurence Watt Dr Manon Williams

* Player-Director

Advisory Council

Victoria Sharp Chairman Christopher Aldren Richard Brass Sir Alan Collins KCVO CMG Andrew Davenport Jonathan Dawson Christopher Fraser OBE Lord Hall of Birkenhead CBE Clive Marks OBE FCA Stewart McIlwham Baroness ShackletonLord Sharman of Redlynch OBE Martin SouthgateSir Philip ThomasChris 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 Sharp Hon. DirectorRichard Gee, Esq Of Counsel Jenifer L. Keiser, CPA,

EisnerAmper LLP

Chief Executive

Timothy Walker AM Chief Executive and Artistic Director

Finance

David BurkeGeneral Manager andFinance Director

David GreensladeFinance and IT Manager

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 CotterPA to the Chief Executive / Tours Co-ordinator

Digital projects

Alison Atkinson Digital Projects Manager

Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant

Education and Community

Alexandra ClarkeEducation and Community Project Manager

Lucy DuffyEducation and Community Project Manager

Richard MallettEducation and Community Producer

Orchestra personnel

Andrew CheneryOrchestra Personnel Manager

Sarah Holmes Sarah ThomasLibrarians ( job-share)

Christopher AldertonStage Manager

Julia BoonAssistant Orchestra Personnel Manager

Development

Nick JackmanDevelopment Director

Katherine HattersleyCharitable Giving Manager

Helen Searl Corporate Relations Manager

Molly Stewart Development and Events Manager

Sarah Fletcher Development and Finance Officer

Rebecca FoggDevelopment Assistant

Marketing

Kath TroutMarketing Director

Mia RobertsMarketing Manager

Rachel WilliamsPublications Manager

Samantha KendallBox Office Manager(Tel: 020 7840 4242)

Libby Northcote-GreenMarketing Co-ordinator

Ivan RaykovIntern

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 4200Fax: 020 7840 4201Box Office: 020 7840 4242Email: [email protected]

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

Photograph of Kodály © Boosey & Hawkes. Photographs of Grieg and Dvořák courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London.

Front cover photograph © Patrick Harrison.

Printed by Cantate.

Documents

London Philharmonic Orchestra concert programme 29 Jan 2014