London Philharmonic Orchestra 1 May 2015

Concert programmelpo.org.uk

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 Giancarlo Guerrero7 Narek Hakhnazaryan9 Programme notes13 LPO's Summer News14 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

JtI Friday SeriesSouthbank centre’s Royal Festival hallFriday 1 May 2015 | 7.30pm

Dvořák Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104 (40’)

Interval

berlioz Symphonie fantastique (49’)

giancarlo guerrero conductor

narek hakhnazaryan cello

This concert is being broadcast live by the BBC on Radio 3 Live In concert – live concerts every day of the week. Listen online in HD Sound for 30 days at bbc.co.uk/radio3

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 Orchestra2014/15 season

Welcome to the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall for the final concert of our 2014/15 London series. Giancarlo Guerrero conducts the riot of sound of the wild imaginings of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, preceded by the lyrical but just as romantic Dvořák Cello Concerto performed by Narek Haknazaryan. We hope you have enjoyed this season and will join us again in September for 2015/16!lpo.org.uk/whats-on/season15-16

Andrés Orozco-Estrada nominated for awardThe LPO congratulates its new Principal Guest Conductor, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, for his nomination in the Young Artists category for the RPS Awards. The Awards are the highest recognition for live classical music-making in the UK. Andrés conducts the Orchestra in the new season, on Wednesday 25 November 2015 and Friday 26 February 2016, in programmes that include Mahler’s First Symphony and Stravinsky's Firebird Suite.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3

On stage tonight

First ViolinsPieter Schoeman* Leader

Chair supported by Neil Westreich

Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader

Ilyoung ChaeChair supported by an anonymous donor

Ji-Hyun LeeChair supported by Eric Tomsett

Catherine CraigThomas EisnerMartin Höhmann

Chair supported by The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust

Geoffrey LynnChair supported by Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp

Robert PoolSarah StreatfeildYang ZhangGrace LeeRebecca ShorrockGalina TanneyCaroline SharpNilufar Alimaksumova

Second ViolinsNicole Wilson

Guest PrincipalKate Birchall

Chair supported by David & Victoria Graham Fuller

Nancy ElanLorenzo Gentili-TedeschiFiona HighamNynke HijlkemaJoseph MaherAshley StevensAlison StrangeFloortje GerritsenDean WilliamsonHelena NichollsSioni WilliamsSheila Law

ViolasPrzemyslaw Pujanek

Guest PrincipalCyrille Mercier

Co-PrincipalKatharine LeekSusanne MartensBenedetto PollaniEmmanuella ReiterLaura VallejoNaomi HoltIsabel PereiraDaniel CornfordAlistair ScahillMartin Wray

cellosKristina Blaumane

PrincipalChair supported by Bianca and Stuart Roden

Pei-Jee Ng Francis BucknallLaura DonoghueSantiago Carvalho†Elisabeth Wiklander

Chair supported by The Viney Family

Susanna RiddellTom RoffHelen RathboneTae-Mi Song

Double bassesKevin Rundell* PrincipalLaurence LovelleGeorge PenistonWilliam ColeLowri MorganHelen RowlandsJeremy WattCharlotte Kerbegian

FlutesSue Thomas* Principal

Chair supported by Victoria Robey OBE

Stewart McIlwham*

PiccoloStewart McIlwham*

Principal

OboesIan Hardwick* PrincipalAlice MundayJennifer BrittlebankSue Böhling*

cor AnglaisSue Böhling* Principal

Off-stage OboeAlice Munday

clarinetsRobert Hill* PrincipalThomas Watmough

E-flat clarinetThomas Watmough

Principal

bassoonsJaroslaw Augustyniak

Guest PrincipalGareth NewmanSimon EstellEmma Harding

hornsMark Vines Principal Martin HobbsDuncan FullerGareth MollisonJames Pillai

trumpetsPaul Beniston* PrincipalAnne McAneney*

Chair supported by Geoff & Meg Mann

cornetsDavid HiltonRuth Shaddock

trombonesMark Templeton* Principal

Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton

David Whitehouse

bass tromboneLyndon Meredith Principal

tubasLee Tsarmaklis* Principal

Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra

George Ellis

timpaniSimon Carrington* PrincipalBarnaby Archer

PercussionAndrew Barclay* Principal

Chair supported by Andrew Davenport

Keith MillarJeremy CornesSarah Mason

harpsRachel Masters* Principal Lucy HaslarManon MorrisEmma Ramsdale

* Holds a professorial appointment in London

† Chevalier of the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco

Meet our members: lpo.org.uk/players

chair Supporters

The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert: Sonja Drexler; Simon Robey


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.

Another evening of ambition and high quality with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.Richard Fairman, Financial Times, March 2015


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.


Giancarlo has performed and recorded the works of several of America’s most respected composers, including John Adams, John Corigliano, Osvaldo Golijov, Jennifer Higdon, Michael Daugherty, Roberto Sierra, and Richard Danielpour. Together with the Nashville Symphony, he has made recordings of music by Richard Danielpour and Roberto Sierra for Naxos, and Bela Fleck’s Banjo Concerto, again with the Nashville Symphony, for Deutsche Gramophon.

An advocate for young musicians and music education, Giancarlo returns annually to Venezuela to conduct the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar and to work with young musicians in the country’s lauded El Sistema music programme. He is also a frequent guest conductor with the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra.

Early in his career, Guerrero worked regularly with the Costa Rican Lyric Opera and in recent seasons has conducted new productions of Carmen, La bohème and Rigoletto. Future plans include productions at the Houston Grand Opera and Marseille Opera. In February 2008, he gave the Australian premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s one-act opera Ainadamar at the Adelaide Festival.

Giancarlo Guerreroconductor

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Giancarlo Guerrero is the Music Director of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra and concurrently holds the position of Principal Guest Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra’s prestigious Miami Residency. An instinctive musician, Giancarlo Guerrero is a warm and generous personality on stage. An advocate of new music and contemporary composers, Guerrero has collaborated with and championed the works of several of America’s most respected composers, and has led the Nashville Symphony to several Grammy wins in consecutive years.

Highlights of the 2014/15 season have included a return to the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra, and his debuts with the Residentie Orkest, Orchestre National de France, the Netherlands Philharmonic and Tonkünstler Orchester.

In Europe, Giancarlo has also worked with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

In recent seasons Giancarlo has appeared with many of the major North American orchestras, including those of Baltimore, Boston, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Houston, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and National Symphony in Washington, DC. He has also appeared at several major US summer festivals including the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl and the Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom Music Festival.

Giancarlo Guerrero who brings to the podium not only vitality and insight but also an appealing physical dynamism ... With Guerrero ... the performances also boasted such Classical virtues as restraint, cohesion and clarity.”

The Plain Dealer, March 2014


a pianist. His early studies were at the Sayat-Nova School of Music in Yerevan with Zareh Sarkisyan and subsequently at the Moscow Conservatory with Alexey Seleznyov, and he also had the honour of being mentored by the late Mstislav Rostropovich. He has received scholarships from the Rostropovich Foundation and the Russian Performing Arts Fund, and he won First Prize in the 2006 Aram Khachaturian International Competition in Armenia and First Place in the 2006 Johansen International Competition for Young String Players. As First Prize winner in the 2008 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Narek made his debut at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall and in Washington, DC. In 2011 he received an Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory of Music where he studied with Lawrence Lesser.

This evening's concert marks Narek's debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Narek Hakhnazaryancello

Narek Hakhnazaryan was propelled onto the international scene in 2011 when, aged 22, he won the Cello First Prize and Gold Medal at the XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition. In September 2014 he was invited to join the prestigious BBC New Generation Artists scheme.

Narek has played with some of the world’s finest orchestras including the London Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony and Mariinsky orchestras, Filarmonica della Scala Milan and Orchestre National de Toulouse, and with conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Ton Koopman, Neeme Järvi, Mikhail Pletnev and Jiří Bělohlávek. In chamber and duo recitals he has performed in major concert halls such as the Salle Pleyel Paris, Wigmore Hall, Berlin Konzerthaus, Vienna Konzerthaus and Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and at the Tivoli, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Ravinia, Mikkeli, City of London and Verbier Festivals.

Highlights this season include Narek's debuts with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony and New Zealand Symphony orchestras, and recitals at the Lucerne Festival and at the Dvořák Festival Prague with the Czech Philharmonic. He has also made a return visit to the Seoul Philharmonic, a tour of Japan for recitals and concerts with the Mariinsky Orchestra, a piano trio tour with Sergey and Lusine Khachatryan and a recital with Igor Levit at the Philharmonie Essen.

Narek was born in Yerevan, Armenia, into a family of musicians: his father is a violinist and his mother

The Sonata for Cello Solo No. 1 by Adam Khudoyan, a powerful piece with tempestuous mood swings, was beautifully and passionately performed by Narek Hakhnazaryan.

Richard S Ginell, Los Angeles Times, April 2015

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Programme notes

The sorrow and hurt of unrequited love lie at the heart of both works in this concert. In his late masterpiece, the Cello Concerto, Dvořák tenderly recalls a song which had been the favourite of the woman he loved as a young man, though it seems Josefina Kaunitzova was never able to feel the same about the song’s composer. Instead, he married her sister, but the cello’s reaction to a memory of the song in the Concerto’s final pages suggests that her rejection still haunted Dvořák decades later.

Hector Berlioz poured all his thwarted passion for the actress Harriet Smithson into his spectacular Symphonie fantastique: desperate yearning, intense loneliness, then murderous bitterness and hatred. In doing so he created a gallery of new orchestral effects that have dazzled composers and audiences ever since. Unbelievably, Harriet married Berlioz after hearing a performance, but the marriage was a disaster. Listening to this volcanic, brilliant, sometimes painfully beautiful music, you can probably guess why.

Speedread

Few people are surprised today when a composer chooses to write a cello concerto. As the great examples by Dvořák, Elgar, Schumann, Walton and Shostakovich show, this noble, rich-toned, soulfully expressive and remarkably agile instrument makes a splendid concerto soloist. But when the Czech composer Antonín Dvořák wrote his Cello Concerto in 1894–5, even connoisseurs were surprised. When Johannes Brahms – composer of one of the greatest violin concertos in the repertoire – first saw Dvořák’s score, he exclaimed, ‘Why on earth didn’t I know that one could write a cello concerto like this? If I had only known, I would have written one long ago!’ Actually there’s no reason why Brahms should have known: in his and Dvořák’s day the cello was rarely played well as a solo instrument. In fact the situation

seems to have lasted for some time after Dvořák’s death. As late as 1939, the famous Manchester Guardian critic Neville Cardus complained of ‘the wasp-in-the-window effect which most times we have to put up with whenever a cellist gets to work.’ But there is also the issue of balance. The cello may seem to have a powerful voice, but its lower notes in particular can easily be overwhelmed if the orchestral accompaniment is too rich and strong. But Dvořák copes superbly with this potential problem. Though he uses a relatively large orchestra, the cello soloist rarely has to contend with anything like its full force. There are loud, impressive orchestral tuttis, but in these passages the cellist is mostly silent. The result is that, given a reasonably strong player, every note of the cello part should be audible. That must have been one of the Concerto’s features that so impressed Brahms.

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cello concerto in b minor, Op. 104

narek hakhnazaryan cello

1 Allegro2 Adagio ma non troppo3 Allegro moderato

AntonínDvořák

1841–1904


Beyond that, Brahms can hardly fail to have been impressed by Dvořák’s melodic writing. The Cello Concerto brims over with wonderful long tunes and characterful short motifs. Not all of these are initially identified with the cello. Like most concertos of the ‘classical’ era of Mozart and Beethoven, Dvořák begins the first movement with a long passage for orchestra alone. There is a darkly memorable theme for low woodwind at the start then, after the first big climax, a glorious long tune for solo horn. So when the cello enters for the first time, it not only has to cope with Dvořák’s technical assault course, it also has to establish a claim to these themes for itself.

In the slow movement, it is the cellist’s powers as an instrumental singer that are tested to the full. The first theme is relaxed and reflective, with strong suggestions of folksong. But this is interrupted by a darker minor-key central section. Here there is a definite

autobiographical element. While Dvořák was working on the Concerto, he heard that his sister-in-law, Josefina Kaunitzova, was seriously ill – in his youth Dvořák had been in love with her. Josefina was particularly fond of Dvořák’s song ‘Leave me alone’ (Op. 82, No. 1), and in this slow movement he has the cello quote its melody just after the first stern entry of the trombones and tuba. This same melody re-appears near the end of the finale – this time in response to the news of Josefina’s death. The finale’s opening march theme does return in triumph to end the concerto, but that poignant reminiscence of lost love lingers in the memory – is this where the concerto’s heart truly lies?

Programme notes continued

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

Why on earth didn’t I know that one could write a cello concerto like Dvořák's? If I had only known, I would have written one long ago!’ Johannes brahms

Stanisław Skrowaczewski conductor London Philharmonic Orchestra

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Available from lpo.org.uk/recordings, the LPO Ticket Office (020 7840 4242) and all good CD outlets

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“It sounds throughout as though the LPO is completely in sympathy for their conductor’s carefully controlled approach … it feels right to the end.” Andrew McGregor, BBC Radio 3 CD Review, March 2015

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If there is one composer above all who deserves that ultimate romantic tribute, ‘Byronic’, then it has to be Hector Berlioz. Here was a composer who from early childhood was prone to tempestuous mood-swings; a bold, some would say reckless innovator; a gloriously unabashed self-dramatiser whose life and work mirror each other in so many ways that it’s often hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. Many composers have fallen passionately, hopelessly in love. Some have attempted to work through those intense feelings in music. But how many would invite the object of their desire to a performance of a symphony in which the nature of that love is publicly, even graphically displayed in all its ecstasies and agonies?

That is exactly what the 26-year-old Berlioz did in his wild and brilliant Symphonie fantastique (1830). Three years earlier, in 1827, he had seen the young Irish actress Harriet Smithson playing in Shakespeare at the Odéon Theatre, Paris. Instantly, violently, he fell in love, both with Shakespeare as poet and dramatist, and with Harriet, the playwright’s beautiful advocate. He tried to meet her, but she fended off his advances. So instead Berlioz threw his frustrated passion for Harriet into one of the most vivid pieces of musical story-telling ever penned. Described in Berlioz’s written programme note as the representation of an ‘opium dream’, the Symphonie fantastique tells how the rejected lover’s longings and despair, his subsequent feelings of loneliness and rejection, finally turn nasty. He dreams that he has killed his beloved, and that he is being executed for her murder. She then returns, horrifically, in a grotesque ‘Witches Sabbath’, where she gloats over the apparently still conscious body of her former admirer. Hardly a guaranteed way to a girl’s heart, you might think, but it worked. Ten months after

the Symphonie’s 1832 premiere Berlioz and Harriet were married. It would be lovely to say that they lived happily ever after, but alas the marriage was a disaster. For Berlioz, Harriet was an idea, not a real woman: mutual disillusionment was virtually inevitable.

For all its truly ‘fantastic’ extremes, the Symphonie fantastique isn’t all nerve-jangling gothic excess. When the German poet Heinrich Heine called Berlioz ‘an immense nightingale, a lark as great as an eagle’, he was paying tribute to the poet in Berlioz as much as to the theatrical sound-wizard. The first movement’s long slow (or mostly slow) introduction is a touchingly tender portrayal of the pain of rejected love. The volatile rise and fall of passionate unrequited yearning is represented in a kind of realistic psychological ebb-and-flow then rarely experienced outside the opera house – and not often even there. As the tempo changes to a surging Allegro agitato e appassionato assai (‘Lively, agitated and very impassioned’) we hear a lovely, elegantly arching violin melody which, Berlioz’s programme note tells us, represents the beloved herself – or rather the composer’s obsession with her: his ‘Idée fixe’. Throughout the movement the music seems to reach out ardently towards this theme, only to fall back repeatedly in despair.

The liquid tinkling of the two harps in the waltz-like ‘Ball’ movement (the first use of this instrument in a symphony) creates a dreamlike haze, perfect for this half-hallucinogenic ballroom scene in which the lover searches for his beloved. A change of key, tremulous strings, and we see her again, delicately evoked by flute and clarinet. But she remains tantalisingly elusive, and towards the end a frantic note enters the dance music. Still more poignant is the ‘Scene in the Country’, the

Hectorberlioz

1803–69

Symphonie fantastique

1 Rêveries – Passions [Reveries – Passions]2 Un Bal [A Ball]3 Scène aux Champs [Scene in the Country]4 Marche au Supplice [March to the Scaffold]5 Songe d’une Nuit du Sabbat [Dream of a Witches Sabbath]


Symphonie’s emotional heart and dramatic turning point. At first the cor anglais calls to an offstage oboe, like male and female shepherds piping to each other across alpine distances, while muted violas nervously shimmer in the background. One can imagine the artist-hero shouting and crying his feelings into huge empty spaces in the music that follows. But the ending is still more remarkable. The cor anglais calls again, but instead of the answering oboe, we hear distant rumbles of thunder on four timpani, a sound heavy with portentous dread.

The thunder then morphs into the sound of military drums for the ‘March to the Scaffold’, and we can imagine the roars of the crowd as the hero is dragged to his death. Just before the end we hear the Idée fixe theme again on high clarinet. But it is suddenly cut off – like the hero’s head – by a sharp guillotine-like

orchestral chord, followed by quick descending string pizzicatos (the head falls into the basket?) and roars of righteous approval from the onlookers (full orchestra) sounding through massed drums. Still more audacious however is the Idée fixe’s final transformation, after the finale’s eerie slow introduction, on shrill high clarinet and piccolo, with crude gurgling laughter from four bassoons. The theme, once beautiful, has become an object of obscene parody. Tubas bellow out the old Requiem chant Dies Irae (‘Day of Wrath’) through chiming bells, then the witches dance furiously, at one point massed violins and violas tap out crazed rhythms on their strings with the wood of their bows. At the end all is brazen uproar – a tad self-indulgent perhaps, but thrilling in its sheer exultant shamelessness.

Programme notes © Stephen Johnson

Recommended recordings of tonight’s works

Dvořák: cello concertoMstislav Rostropovich | London Philharmonic Orchestra | Carlo Maria Giulini [EMI]

berlioz: Symphonie fantastiqueLondon Philharmonic Orchestra | Zubin Mehta[Teldec]

ORTF National Orchestra | Sir Thomas Beecham [EMI]

Berlioz was not alone in finding inspiration from Shakespeare. From Purcell to Thomas Adès, composers through the ages have been writing operas, songs and orchestral works based on the Bard's sonnets and plays. Next season the London Philharmonic Orchestra joins other cultural institutions to celebrate the 400th anniversary of his death. You can hear Berlioz's Roméo et Juliette on Saturday 23 April 2016 at Royal Festival Hall as part of a special Anniversary Gala, directed by Simon Callow.

For full details of the series visitlpo.org.uk/whats-on/season15-16

The LPO and Shakespeare

Programme notes continued

http://lpo.org.uk/whats-on/season15-16


LPO's Summer News

LPO at the bbc Proms

This summer the Orchestra will be taking part in 'the world's greatest classical music festival' on Friday 4 September. Vladimir Jurowski conducts Beethoven's Fidelio Overture and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8. The latter was composed in 1943 at a particularly bleak moment for Russia in the war, but even so is tinged with hope: ‘All that is dark and oppressive will disappear; all that is beautiful will triumph,' wrote the composer. Mitsuko Uchida joins the Orchestra for Schoenberg’s rarely heard Piano Concerto.

Seated tickets start at £9.50 or you can queue on the day for 'promming' tickets (standing in the arena) for just £5.

bbc.co.uk/proms

Summer tours

On Thursday 4 June the Orchestra will be at Salisbury Cathedral when Jaime Martín conducts Tchaikovsky's Fantasy Overture 'Romeo and Juliet' and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. This evening's soloist, Narek Hakhnazaryan, joins the Orchestra to perform Dvořák's Cello Concerto once again.

Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti is the soloist on Saturday 13 June at the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham, performing the Brahms Violin Concerto. Donizetti's Overture to Don Pasquale and Ravel's orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition complete the programme.

In the middle of the Glyndebourne season (see left) the Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski nip over to the Rheingau Festival on 18 July, followed by performances at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in Lübek and Schloss on 19 and 20 July. Taking centre stage in all three concerts is Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto with Daniil Trifonov.

Back on home ground, the Orchestra is welcomed to another Proms, this time the Aldeburgh Proms at Snape Maltings, performing Schumann's Manfred Overture and Symphony No. 4, and Strauss's Four Last Songs, with Dorothea Röschmann, and Till Eulenspiegel. And following the BBC Proms concert (see left) it's off to Verona's Teatro Filarmonico and La Scala, Milan on 6 and 7 September, with another performance of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8, back just in time for tea and the start of the 2015/16 London season!

Tickets for all tour events can be booked via the LPO website.

lpo.org.uk/whats-on

LPO at glyndebourne

The LPO has been Resident Symphony Orchestra at the Glyndebourne Opera Season for over 50 years. This summer the Orchestra performs in Bizet’s Carmen with Jakub Hrůša at the helm; Enrique Mazzola conducts the premiere production at Glyndebourne of Donizetti’s Poliuto; and Robin Ticciati conducts a double bill of Ravel’s L’Heure Espagnole and L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. Chamber orchestra resources are required for Fiona Shaw’s award-winning production of Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia. Live performances of the Ravel and Britten operas will also be screened in cinemas across the UK.

General booking is now open.

glyndebourne.com

If you suffer from LPO withdrawal symptoms there are opportunities to get your fix before the 2015/16 season

Follow the LPO's summer adventures and find all the latest news on Facebook and twitter

facebook.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra

@LPOrchestra

http://bbc.co.uk/proms

http://lpo.org.uk/whats-on

http://www.glyndebounre.com


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 OBE Bianca & Stuart Roden Julian & Gill Simmonds*

Anonymous Garf & Gill Collins*Andrew Davenport Mrs Sonja DrexlerDavid & Victoria Graham FullerThe Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris

Charitable TrustMrs Philip Kan*Mr & Mrs MakharinskyGeoff & Meg MannCaroline, Jamie & Zander SharpEric TomsettThe Viney Family

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 FernyhoughGavin GrahamTony & Susan Hayes Michael & Christine HenryMalcolm Herring

J. Douglas HomeIvan HurryMr 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 MillsDr Karen Morton Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill Tom & Phillis SharpeMartin and Cheryl Southgate Mr Peter TausigSimon 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: Accenture 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 TrustThe Bernarr Rainbow Trust

The Boltini TrustBorletti-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 TrustRVW TrustSerge Rachmaninoff Foundation Romanian Cultural Institute Schroder Charity Trust Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation The David Solomons Charitable Trust Souter 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


Sound FutureS donorSBy May 2015 we aim to have raised £1 million which will be matched pound for pound by Arts Council England through a Catalyst Endowment grant. This will create a £2 million endowment fund supporting our Education and Community Programme, our creative programming and major artistic projects at Southbank Centre.

We are grateful to the following donors for their generous contributions to our Sound Futures campaign. For a full list of those who have given to this campaign please visit lpo.org.uk/soundfutures.

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

Welser-Möst circleWilliam & Alex de WintonJohn Ireland Charitable Trust The Tsukanov Family FoundationNeil Westreich

tennstedt circleRichard Buxton Kirby Laing Foundation Simon Robey Bianca & Stuart Roden Simon & Vero Turner The late Mr K Twyman

Solti PatronsAgeas John & Manon Antoniazzi Georgy DjaparidzeMrs Mina Goodman and

Miss Suzanne GoodmanThe Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris

Charitable TrustMr James R D KornerMr Paris NatarThe Maurice Marks Charitable Trust Robert Markwick & Kasia RobinskiThe Rothschild FoundationTom and Phillis SharpeThe Viney Family

haitink PatronsDr Christopher AldrenMark & Elizabeth AdamsMrs Pauline BaumgartnerLady Jane BerrillMr Frederick Brittenden

David & Yi Yao BuckleyMr Clive ButlerGill & Garf CollinsMr John H CookBruno de KegelChristopher Fraser OBE & Lisa FraserMr Gavin GrahamMoya GreeneMrs Dorothy HambletonTony and Susie HayesCatherine Høgel & Ben MardleMrs Philip Kan Rose and Dudley LeighLady Roslyn Marion LyonsMiss Jeanette MartinDuncan Matthews QCDiana and Allan Morgenthau

Charitable TrustDr Karen MortonMr Roger Phillimore Ruth RattenburyThe Reed Foundation Sir Bernard RixDavid Ross and Line Forestier (Canada)Carolina & Martin SchwabDr Brian SmithMr & Mrs G SteinDr Peter Stephenson Miss Anne StoddartTFS Loans LimitedLady Marina VaizeyJenny WatsonGuy & Utti Whittaker

Pritchard DonorsRalph and Elizabeth AldwinckleMr Bernhard BeineMrs Julia Beine Michael and Linda BlackstoneConrad Blakey OBEDr Anthony BucklandBusiness Events SydneyLady June Chichester

John Childress & Christiane WuillamiePaul CollinsMr Alistair CorbettMr David EdgecombeDavid EllenMr Richard EnglandMr Timothy Fancourt QCThe Lady FoleyKarima & David GMr Daniel GoldsteinMr Derek B GrayMr Roger GreenwoodDarren & Jennifer Holmes Mr J Douglas HomeHoneymead Arts TrustMrs Dawn HooperRehmet Kassim-LakhaMr Geoffrey KirkhamPeter LeaverDrs Frank & Gek LimPeter MaceMr David MacfarlaneDr David McGibneyMichael & Patricia McLaren-TurnerRosemary MorganParis NatarMr & Mrs Andrew NeillMr Roger H C PattisonMr Michael PosenMr Christopher QuereeTim SlorickLady Valerie SoltiTimothy Walker AMLaurence WattDes & Maggie WhitelockChristopher WilliamsPeter Wilson SmithVictoria YanakovaMr Anthony Yolland

And all other donors who wish to remain anonymous


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 William de Winton 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

Dayse GuilhermeFinance 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.

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

Printed by Cantate.

Documents

London Philharmonic Orchestra 1 May 2015