I N S I D E O U T

lpo.org.uk/rachmaninoffConcert 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 Welcome LPO 2014/15 season3 On stage tonight 4 About the Orchestra5 Leader: Pieter Schoeman 6 Vassily Sinaisky7 Pavel Kolesnikov8 Programme notes11 Recommended recordings12 Next concerts14 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 hallWednesday 29 October 2014 | 7.30pm

Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor (45’)

Interval

Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2 in E minor (54’) Vassily Sinaisky conductor

Pavel Kolesnikov piano

In co-operation with the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation

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 customer@southbankcentre.co.uk

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 2014/15 season

Welcome to tonight’s London Philharmonic Orchestra concert at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, part of our season-long festival Rachmaninoff: Inside Out. Whether you’re a regular concert-goer, new to the Orchestra or just visiting London, we hope you enjoy your evening with us. Browse the full season online at lpo.org.uk/performances or call 020 7840 4242 to request a copy of our 2014/15 brochure.

Other highlights of the season include:

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

• Premieres of works by Magnus Lindberg, Harrison Birtwistle, Julian Anderson, a children’s work, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, by Colin Matthews, and a new piece for four horns by Titanic composer James Horner.

• Choral highlights with the London Philharmonic Choir include Stravinsky’s Requiem Canticles, Verdi’s Requiem, Rachmaninoff’s Spring and The Bells, Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé and Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3

On stage tonight

First ViolinsPieter Schoeman* Leader

Chair supported by Neil Westreich

Ji-Hyun LeeChair supported by Eric Tomsett

Martin HöhmannGeoffrey Lynn

Chair supported by Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp

Robert PoolYang ZhangGrace LeeRebecca ShorrockGalina TanneyRobin WilsonKate ColeNilufar AlimaksumovaCaroline FrenkelCaroline SharpIshani BhoolaFrancesca Smith

Second ViolinsAnna-Liisa Bezrodny

Guest PrincipalFiona HighamJoseph MaherMarie-Anne MairesseAshley StevensFloortje Gerritsen Stephen StewartJohn DickinsonElizabeth BaldeyNaomi AnnerNynke HijlkemaDean WilliamsonSioni WilliamsMila Mustakova

ViolasCyrille Mercier PrincipalGregory AronovichLaura VallejoMartin FennMiriam EiseleKarin NorlenEmma SheppardGeorgina PayneSusanne MartensIsabel PereiraSarah MalcolmLinda Kidwell

cellosKristina Blaumane

PrincipalSteffan MorrisFrancis BucknallLaura DonoghueSantiago Carvalho†David LaleElisabeth WiklanderGregory WalmsleySue Sutherley Susanna Riddell

Double bassesKevin Rundell* PrincipalLaurence LovelleGeorge PenistonTom WalleyHelen RowlandsLowri MorganLaura MurphyCatherine RickettsCharlotte KerbegianAntonia Bakewell

FlutesJoshua Batty

Guest PrincipalSue Thomas*

Chair supported by the Sharp Family

Stewart McIlwham*

PiccoloStewart McIlwham*

Principal

OboesIan Hardwick PrincipalAmy McKeanSue Böhling

cor AnglaisSue Böhling Principal

clarinetsRobert Hill* Principal Thomas Watmough

bass clarinetPaul Richards Principal

bassoonsGareth Newman PrincipalLaura Vincent

hornsDavid Pyatt* Principal

Chair supported by Simon Robey

John Ryan* PrincipalMartin HobbsDuncan FullerGareth Mollison

trumpetsNicholas Betts PrincipalAnne McAneney*

Chair supported by Geoff & Meg Mann

Tom Rainer

trombonesDavid Whitehouse PrincipalRoger Harvey

bass tromboneLyndon Meredith Principal

tubaLee Tsarmaklis* Principal

Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra

timpaniSimon Carrington* Principal

PercussionAndrew Barclay* Principal

Chair supported by Andrew Davenport

Olly Yates Keith MillarSarah Mason

* 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:

An anonymous donor William & Alex de Winton Sonja Drexler David & Victoria Graham Fuller

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

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 5

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.

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 Strauss’s Don Juan and Ein Heldenleben with Bernard Haitink; Shostakovich’s Symphonies Nos. 6 & 14, Brahms’s Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 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

6 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Vassily Sinaiskyconductor

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Vassily Sinaisky’s international career was launched in 1973 when he won the Gold Medal at the prestigious Karajan Competition in Berlin. His early work with Kirill Kondrashin at the Moscow Philharmonic and with Ilya Musin at the Leningrad Conservatoire provided him with an incomparable grounding. Soon after his success at the Karajan Competition, Sinaisky was appointed Chief Conductor of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, a post he held from 1976 to 1987. He then became Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Moscow Philharmonic, leading numerous high-profile projects with the Orchestra both in Russia and on tour.

Sinaisky enjoys regular collaborations with such orchestras as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland, London Philharmonic, Berlin Radio Symphony, Stuttgart Radio Symphony and Czech Philharmonic orchestras. Recent seasons have also seen him conduct the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, NDR Sinfonieorchester Hamburg, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and NHK Symphony, Tokyo.

Sinaisky holds the positions of Conductor Emeritus of the BBC Philharmonic and Honorary Conductor of the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Sweden. Memorable projects with the BBC Philharmonic have included the ‘Shostakovich and his Heroes’ festival, tours to Europe and China, and many appearances at the BBC Proms. With the Malmö Symphony, Sinaisky has toured to the UK and to Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and recorded an acclaimed four-disc series of the symphonies of Franz Schmidt. Sinaisky has also held the positions of Principal Guest Conductor of the Netherlands Philharmonic and Music Director of the Russian State Orchestra. From 2010–13, he held the position as Chief Conductor and Music

Director of the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow and conducted acclaimed productions including Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Golden Cockerel directed by Kirill Serebrennikov and Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier directed by Stephen Lawless (the first ever staging of this work in Moscow).

Sinaisky has a distinguished pedigree as an operatic conductor. He recently conducted Iolanta and Francesca da Rimini in new productions by Stephen Lawless at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien, and Boris Godunov at San Francisco Opera. Other productions have included Carmen and Der Rosenkavalier for English National Opera and an acclaimed Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk with Hans Neuenfels at the Komische Oper Berlin.

Vassily Sinaisky’s recordings include the aforementioned set of the symphonies of Franz Schmidt for Naxos with the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, and many recordings with the BBC Philharmonic including works by Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Shchedrin, Glinka, Liadov, Schreker and Szymanowski.

Vassily Sinaisky is a noted and influential teacher, and holds the position of Professor of Conducting at the St Petersburg Conservatoire.

Sinaisky grabbed the reins and presented the audience with a performance of great power and sheer sound ... Remarkable conducting.

ConcertoNet, February 2012

Vassily Sinaisky discusses his path to becoming a conductor in a YouTube video by the Seattle Symphony: http://y2u.be/z2L5vgeSdbs

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 7

Pavel KolesnikovHonens Prize Laureate | piano

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Following Russian pianist Pavel Kolesnikov’s Wigmore Hall debut in January 2014, The Telegraph gave his recital a rare five-star review and called it ‘one of the most memorable of such occasions London has witnessed in a while.’ Since becoming Prize Laureate of the Honens International Piano Competition in 2012, Kolesnikov has been winning hearts around the world. A live recording of his prize-winning performances was released on the Honens label in March 2013, praised by BBC Music Magazine for its ‘tremendous clarity, unfailing musicality and considerable beauty’. This June, his debut studio recording was released on the Hyperion label to critical acclaim. The Sunday Times described his playing on this all-Tchaikovsky disc as having ‘affection and élan’.

Significant recital and festival appearances resulting from the Honens Prize have included Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, Berlin’s Konzerthaus, the Louvre (Paris), Vancouver Recital Society, La Jolla Music Society, Spoleto Festival (USA), Canada’s Ottawa ChamberFest and Banff Summer Festival, and the Plush Festival in Dorset, UK. Tonight is Kolesnikov’s concert debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Other recent and upcoming orchestral appearances include the Philharmonia Orchestra, Russia’s National Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

London-based Pavel Kolesnikov was born in Siberia into a family of scientists. He studied both the piano and violin for ten years, before concentrating solely on the piano. He has studied at the Moscow State Conservatory with Sergey Dorensky, at London’s Royal College of Music with Norma Fisher and at Brussels’s Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel with Maria João Pires, thanks to the generous support of Mr Christopher

D Budden, the RCM Scholarship Foundation and Hattori Foundation. This autumn he was named one of BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artists for 2014–16, a scheme that provides opportunities to develop live and recorded performances, including broadcasts with the BBC orchestras.

On the work he performs tonight, Kolesnikov says: ‘I remember very vividly how, as a little boy, I listened to Rachmaninoff’s Third Concerto, and thought jealously that I would never be able to play it. And now, every time I go on stage to play it, it is somewhat hard to embrace the fact that I bear this incredible treasure in my hands! For it is not only a musical masterpiece, but also a piece of history, telling us of the fates and ways of the world with such an emotional power, in such a truthful, simple and yet prophetic manner that the work both melts and breaks our hearts at the same time. And, as a musician, I can say that there are very few things in life (if any) that quite compare to letting such an absolute masterpiece revive and speak through oneself.’

Tremendous clarity, unfailing musicality and considerable beauty.

BBC Music Magazine, March 2013

pavelkolesnikov.com

facebook.com/pavel.kolesnikov.982

vimeo.com/channels/pavelkolesnikov

In the LPO’s October 2014 podcast, Pavel discusses what it’s like to play Rachmaninoff’s music and performs the cadenza from the first movement of the Third Piano Concerto. lpo.org.uk/explore/podcasts

8 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Programme notes

Two of Rachmaninoff’s finest works sit side by side in tonight’s concert. Both were criticised in earlier times and only in the last 50 years or so have they escaped from a prevailing attitude that thought it necessary to make them more palatable by means of savage cuts. Yet today, one of them has acquired a status as the ultimate model of the Romantic

piano concerto – texturally rich, soaringly lyrical and toweringly difficult to play, as befits the work of one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century – while the other shows this great composer’s resource, seriousness and depth as a composer away from the keyboard. Rachmaninoff at his best!

Speedread

Although not as popular as its predecessor, and not as well-stocked with Romantically lingering tunes, Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto is in many other ways his most admired. This was not always the case; ‘dry, difficult and unappealing’ was how the young Prokofiev heard it (he preferred the ‘charming’ First and Second), and many of the earlier performances and recordings of the work (including the composer’s own, made in 1939) were afflicted by damaging cuts. Prokofiev was right about it being difficult, though. The Third is one of the most technically daunting of all the major piano concertos, its 45-minute span demanding of its executants heroic feats of virtuosity, stamina and power, while at the same time challenging them to show the more musicianly qualities of precision, clarity and line.

Rachmaninoff composed it at his family estate in Ivanovka in the autumn of 1909 specifically for his forthcoming first tour to the USA, and he was the soloist at its premiere with the New York Symphony Orchestra on 28 November with Walter Damrosch conducting. An even more memorable performance,

however, must have been the one Rachmaninoff gave with the New York Philharmonic the following January, when the conductor was Gustav Mahler. ‘Mahler touched my composer’s heart straight away’, Rachmaninoff wrote, ‘by devoting himself to my concerto until the accompaniment, which is rather complicated, had been practised to the point of perfection.’

The complexity that Rachmaninoff refers to is due not only to the orchestral accompaniment’s richness, but also to the important role it plays in the work’s construction. While he may not have been the composer to reproduce the taut motivic discourse of a Schoenberg or a Bartók, in this Concerto Rachmaninoff achieves a satisfying sense of unity through laid-back but persistent allusion to themes outlined in the first movement. Of these, none is more of a presence than the long, tender melody uncurled by the piano right at the start. Its restless Russian melancholy is unmistakable, but Rachmaninoff denied suggestions that it had origins in folksong or Orthodox chant: ‘It simply wrote itself’, he said. ‘I was thinking only of the

Piano concerto no. 3 in D minor, Op. 30

Simon trpčeski piano

1 Allegro ma non tanto2 Intermezzo: Adagio –3 Finale: Alla breve

SergeRachmaninoff

1873–1943

Piano concerto no. 3 in D minor, Op. 30

Pavel Kolesnikov piano

1 Allegro ma non tanto2 Intermezzo: Adagio –3 Finale: Alla breve

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 9

sound. I wanted to “sing” the melody on the piano, as a singer would sing it.’ Whether naturally arising or not, this theme and its lilting accompaniment inform many of the melodic outlines that follow, giving the whole work the flavour of ongoing, seamless development. Eventually a second theme appears, introduced with a new rhythmic impulse that seems almost like a fanfare in the circumstances, but soon settling down to more expansive lyricism under the pianist’s hands. The development section starts with a reprise of the opening, though naturally one which takes new turns. The music builds to a climax, then subsides, the texture thinning until the piano is left to embark on a long solo cadenza whose own powerful climax is in turn calmed by snippets of the first theme on solo winds. A recapitulation of this theme in its original form follows, but the movement is nearly done now, and the end arrives with a few quiet echoes of the second theme.

The title of the second movement, Intermezzo, suggests a desire to relax the atmosphere, as does the drop in key

to D flat major. In fact the free variations on the sombre melody introduced by the orchestra at the outset encompass both textural detail and much Romantic warmth, while a faster and lighter section turns out to be a waltz-like, major-key transformation of the first-movement theme in which brilliant piano figuration accompanies the woodwind. A brief and passionate return to the original theme is broken off, however, by a commanding interposition by the pianist, who whips things up and pitches us decisively into the Finale.

Here the dominant element is a vigorous, twitching line made from an inversion of the rocking accompaniment figure from the opening of the Concerto. The somewhat militaristic flavour it now gives off is contrasted with another soaringly Romantic second theme, but it returns, along with a melancholy lower-string reminiscence of the first movement’s main theme, in a skittish development section. The recapitulation begins after a moment of near stillness, but, after the soaring theme has returned in glory, the Concerto ends in an exhilarating dash to the finish.

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

SergeRachmaninoff

Symphony no. 2 in E minor, Op. 27

1 Largo – Allegro moderato2 Allegro molto 3 Adagio4 Allegro vivace

Thanks largely to the concertos, Rachmaninoff is usually thought of primarily as a composer for the piano, but before he left Russia for the last time in 1917 he was more widely recognised as a composer of vocal, chamber and orchestral music and a gifted conductor active both in the concert hall and the opera house. The Third Piano Concerto came well into a period of heartening success that had served to wipe away the creatively crippling depression caused by the disastrous premiere of the First Symphony ten years earlier:

1901 had seen him return to form with the Second Piano Concerto; in 1902 he had married, his wife giving birth to a daughter the following year; and 1904 had brought a conducting post at the Bolshoi Opera in Moscow, where, early in 1906, he presided over well-received premieres of his operas Francesca da Rimini and The Miserly Knight.

By this time, however, Rachmaninoff was beginning to feel the strain of celebrity, and made the decision to give

10 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Programme notes continued

himself more breathing space by removing himself and his family to Dresden. It was there that he composed his Second Symphony, in such secrecy that even his closest friends were unaware of the fact until they read about it in the press. ‘I have completed a symphony, it’s true!’, he wrote to one of them in February 1907. ‘It’s only ready in draft. I finished it a month ago and immediately put it aside. It was a severe worry to me and I am not going to think about it any more.’ The score was eventually completed early the following year and the premiere took place in St Petersburg on 8 February 1908, with Rachmaninoff himself conducting.

The Second Symphony is both one of Rachmaninoff’s most popular orchestral compositions and one of his finest, a work of relaxed expansiveness and easy melodic flow, yet also one of great expressive power and sweep. Rachmaninoff’s talent for memorable melody is as present as ever here, but it never descends into facility; like Tchaikovsky (whose influence is unmistakable), he was able to move the listener with a big tune, but also to mould his melodies into great architectural spans with a subtlety that makes them appear totally natural. This Symphony is in fact shot through with motivic connections and links, but so organic do they seem that the listener could be forgiven for hardly noticing.

Three important thematic cells are set out in the Symphony’s opening eight bars. The first, a weighty, undulating figure heard in the cellos and basses, is closely followed by a lightly syncopated stab from the woodwind and horns, and then by a downward-winding line in the violins. All are significant to the work as a whole, but for the moment they serve to initiate a sombre slow introduction which is lengthy enough to include a powerful climax before subsiding on to a cor anglais solo. The main Allegro section of the movement features two themes, the first a dreamy transformation of the opening cello-and-bass figure, and the second (heralded by a brief clarinet solo) a romantic dialogue between wind and strings with links to the syncopated second motif. Reminders of all three motifs then continue to appear as the music drives forward through a Tchaikovskian climax in the central development section (built largely on the first motif), warm restatements of the principal themes, and on to an impassioned finish.

The second movement starts out as a breezily confident scherzo. Simpler in design than its companions, it is in three sections, the third of which is essentially a reprise of the first. The outer sections oppose a striding main theme and a lovingly lyrical second for strings, while the central one introduces a contrasting texture of closely worked, chattering counterpoint. Towards the end of the reprise, the brass interrupt with an apparition of the first movement’s second motif, and the scherzo ends in unexpectedly ominous mood.

The Adagio that forms the third movement is one of Rachmaninoff’s most generous melodic creations, a worthy cousin to the slow movement of the Second Piano Concerto, to which it bears similarities. Strangely, its two main themes are presented almost on top of each other, the initial arpeggio-based string melody being immediately followed by a long and languid solo clarinet tune, but both are given ample space to breathe in the course of the ravishing movement that follows, as Rachmaninoff handles their leisurely juxtaposition with great skill and expressive control, decorating them here and there with glistening remembrances of the by-now familiar motifs.

The Finale announces its intentions in joyously whirling, carnivalesque music whose textural complexities carry numerous thematic references to what has gone before. Rachmaninoff does not intend to let the movement run away with him, however, and before long introduces a noble violin theme to calm things down. It is an uplifting new presence, and proves even more heart-swellingly so when – following a nostalgic reminiscence of the slow movement and a mountingly exciting section built on descending scales – it makes its majestic return as the Symphony’s crowning glory.

Programme notes © Lindsay Kemp

CDs by tonight’s pianist Pavel Kolesnikov will be on sale at the Foyles merchandise stand in the Royal Festival Hall foyer before and after tonight’s concert, and during the interval.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 11

Recommended recordings of tonight’s works

Rachmaninoff: Piano concerto no. 3Nikolai Lugansky piano Sakari Oramo conductor City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Warner Classics

Rachmaninoff: Symphony no. 2 Royal Philharmonic OrchestraYuri Temirkanov conductorRCA

Mini film guides to this season’s works

For the 2014/15 season we’ve produced a series of short films introducing the pieces we’re performing. We’ve picked highlights from throughout the season, creating bite-sized introductions to the music and its historical background.

Watch Patrick Bailey introduce Rachmaninoff’s piano music: lpo.org.uk/explore/videos.html

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

International Piano Series2014/15Alexandre TharaudTuesday 4 November 2014

Schubert, Mahler, Couperin and Ravel

Alexei VolodinWednesday 26 November 2014

Schubert, Chopin and Schumann

Dejan LazicThursday 11 December 2014

CPE Bach, Britten, D Scarlatti and Bartók

Denis MatsuevTuesday 20 January 2015

Tchaikovsky, Liszt and Rachmaninov

Louis LortieThursday 29 January 2015

Fauré and Scriabin

Lukáš VondráčekTuesday 10 February 2015

Graham Lack, Schumann, Liszt and Rachmaninov

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 2015Ravel, Debussy, Tristano and Stravinsky

BOOK NOWsouthbankcentre.co.uk/ips 0844 847 9929

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Alice Sara Ott & Francesco Tristano © Marie Staggat Photography

12 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Saturday 1 november 2014 | 7.30pm

Mahler Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection)

Jaap van Zweden conductor Elizabeth Watts soprano Alice coote mezzo soprano London Philharmonic choir

Please note there will be no interval during this performance.

Wednesday 5 november 2014 | 7.30pm

Sibelius The Bard Sibelius Violin Concerto Sibelius Lemminkäinen Suite (Four Legends of the Kalevala)

Osmo Vänskä conductor Alexandra Soumm violin Free pre-concert event 6.00–6.45pm | Royal Festival hall Musicians from the LPO join students from London Music Masters’ innovative music education programme, the Bridge Project, for a musical celebration.

Friday 7 november 2014 | 7.30pm

JtI Friday Series Rachmaninoff: Inside Out*

Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 4 (final version) tchaikovsky Symphony No. 1 (Winter Daydreams)

Osmo Vänskä conductor nikolai Lugansky piano

Wednesday 12 november 2014 | 7.30pm

Pierné Overture and Suite, Ramuntcho† Poulenc Concerto for two pianos and orchestra Ravel Rapsodie espagnole Debussy La mer

Juanjo Mena conductor Katia Labèque piano Marielle Labèque piano

† Supported by Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de musique romantique française.

Wednesday 19 november 2014 | 7.30pm

brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 Schubert Symphony No. 8 (Unfinished) R Strauss Don Juan

Yannick nézet-Séguin conductor Lars Vogt piano

Friday 28 november 2014 | 7.30pm JtI Friday Series Rachmaninoff: Inside Out*

Wagner Overture, Tannhäuser Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4

David Zinman conductor behzod Abduraimov piano

Free pre-concert event | 6.15–6.45pm Royal Festival hall Acclaimed film director Tony Palmer discusses the enduring popularity of Rachmaninoff’s music. * Rachmaninoff: Inside Out is presented in co-operation with the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation.

Next LPO concerts at Royal Festival Hall

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.ukTransaction fees: £1.75 online, £2.75 telephone. No transaction fee for bookings made in person

Radio 3 Live In ConcertListen to the best live performances from across the UK, every evening at 7.30pm.

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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:

the generosity of our Sponsors, corporate Members, supporters and donors is gratefully acknowledged:

corporate Members

Silver: AREVA UK Berenberg BankBritish American BusinessCarter-Ruck

bronze: Appleyard & Trew LLP Charles 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 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 Kirby Laing Foundation The Leche TrustMarsh Christian Trust

The Mayor of London’s Fund for YoungMusicians

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

Charitable TrustPalazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de musique

romantique françaisePolish Cultural Institute in London PRS for Music FoundationRivers Foundation The R K Charitable TrustSerge Rachmaninoff Foundation 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-FoundationGarfield Weston Foundation The Barbara Whatmore Charitable TrustYouth Music and others who wish to remain

anonymous

thomas beecham group

The Tsukanov Family Foundation

Neil Westreich

William and Alex de Winton Simon Robey The Sharp FamilyJulian & 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 Jane Attias 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 AdamsLady Jane BerrillDesmond & Ruth CecilMr John H CookDavid EllenCommander Vincent Evans Mr Daniel GoldsteinPeter 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 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 HurryMr Glenn Hurstfield

Per JonssonMr Gerald LevinSheila Ashley LewisWg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAFDr Frank LimPaul & Brigitta Lock Ms 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 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

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 15

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, as well as many who have chosen to remain anonymous, 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 Emmanuel & Barrie Roman The Sharp FamilyThe Underwood Trust

Welser-Möst circle

John Ireland Charitable Trust Neil Westreich

tennstedt circle

Simon Robey Simon & Vero Turner The late Mr K Twyman

Solti Patrons

Ageas Anonymous John & Manon Antoniazzi Georgy DjaparidzeMrs Mina Goodman and Miss

Suzanne GoodmanRobert MarkwickThe Rothschild Foundation

haitink Patrons

Mark & Elizabeth AdamsLady Jane Berrill David & Yi Yao Buckley Bruno de Kegel Goldman Sachs International Moya Greene Tony and Susie HayesLady Roslyn Marion LyonsDiana and Allan Morgenthau

Charitable TrustDr Karen Morton Ruth RattenburySir Bernard Rix Kasia Robinski

David Ross and Line Forestier (Canada) Tom and Phillis Sharpe Mr & Mrs G Stein TFS Loans LimitedThe Tsukanov Family Foundation Guy & Utti Whittaker

Pritchard Donors

AnonymousLinda BlackstoneMichael BlackstoneYan BonduelleRichard and Jo BrassBritten-Pears Foundation Business Events Sydney Desmond & Ruth CecilLady June Chichester John Childress & Christiane

WuillamieLindka Cierach Paul CollinsMr Alistair Corbett Dolly CostopoulosMark Damazer Olivier DemartheDavid DennisBill & Lisa DoddMr David EdgecombeDavid Ellen Commander Vincent Evans Mr Timothy Fancourt QC Christopher Fraser OBEKarima & David G Lyuba Galkina David GoldbergMr Daniel Goldstein Ffion HagueRebecca Halford HarrisonMichael & Christine HenryHoneymead Arts Trust

John HunterIvan Hurry Rehmet Kassim-LakhaTanya Kornilova Peter Leaver Mr Mark Leishman LVO and Mrs

Fiona LeishmanHoward & Marilyn LeveneMr Gerald Levin Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE

JP RAFDr Frank Lim Dr Eva Lotta & Mr Thierry Sciard Peter MaceGeoff & Meg MannUlrike ManselMarsh Christian TrustJohn MontgomeryRosemary Morgan Paris NatarJohn Owen The late Edmund PirouetMr Michael PosenSarah & John Priestland Victoria Provis William ShawcrossTim SlorickHoward Snell Lady Valerie SoltiStanley SteckerLady Marina VaizeyHelen Walker Timothy Walker AMLaurence WattDes & Maggie Whitelock Brian Whittle Christopher Williams Peter Wilson SmithVictoria YanakovaMr Anthony Yolland

16 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Administration

board of DirectorsVictoria Sharp 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 Sharp 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 Sharp 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

Noelia Moreno Charitable Giving Manager

Helen Etheridge Development Assistant

Rebecca FoggDevelopment Assistant

Kirstin PeltonenDevelopment Associate

Marketing

Kath TroutMarketing Director

Mia RobertsMarketing Manager

Rachel WilliamsPublications Manager

Samantha CleverleyBox Office Manager(Tel: 020 7840 4242)

Libby Northcote-GreenMarketing Co-ordinator

Lorna Salmon Intern

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: admin@lpo.org.uklpo.org.uk

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

Photograph of Rachmaninoff courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London. Cover design: Chaos Design.Printed by Cantate.