LPO 21 September 2011 programme notes

Principal Conductor 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 Southbank Centre / Leader 3 Vladimir Jurowski 4 Sergei Leiferkus 5 Programme notes 9 Song texts 13 Supporters 14 About the Orchestra 15 List of players 16 LPO administration The timings shown are not precise and

are given only as a guide.

* supported by the Tsukanov Family † supported by Macquarie Group

CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

SOUThBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL hALLWednesday 21 September 2011 | 7.30pm

VLADIMIR JUROWSKIconductor

SERGEI LEIFERKUSbaritone

MUSSORGSKYNight on a Bare Mountain (original version) (12’)

MUSSORGSKY (orch. Zimmermann)In the Village (7’) On the Southern Shore of the Crimea (5’)

ZIMMERMANN Stille und Umkehr (orchestral sketches) (9’)

Interval

ALEXANDER RASKATOVA White Night’s Dream (world première) (16’) Commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Ferrara Musica and Ars Musica Brussels

MUSSORGSKY (orch. Raskatov)Songs and Dances of Death (UK première) (21’)

Listen again Tonight’s concert is being recorded and will be available from next week to listen again for free on our website for two weeks:lpo.org.uk/listenagain

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 and Feng Sushi, 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 Kenelm Robert, our Head of Customer Relations, at Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX or 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.

WELCOME

2 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

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Pieter Schoeman joined the London Philharmonic Orchestra as Co-Leader in 2002, and was appointed Leader in 2008.

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 performed frequently as Guest Leader with the symphony orchestras of Barcelona, Bordeaux, Lyon and Baltimore, as well as with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

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

pIETER SChOEMANLEADER

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 and Feng Sushi, 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 Kenelm Robert, our Head of Customer Relations, at Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX or 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.

WELCOME

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3

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VLADIMIR JUROWSKICONDUCTOR

Dresden and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. Highlights of the 2011/12 season and beyond include his debuts with the Vienna Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo and San Francisco Symphony, and return visits to the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Staatskapelle Dresden, Tonhalle Orchester Zurich, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and the Chicago Symphony, St Petersburg Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw and Philadelphia orchestras.

Jurowski’s operatic engagements have included Jenůfa, The Queen of Spades and Hänsel und Gretel at the Metropolitan Opera, Parsifal and Wozzeck at Welsh National Opera, War and Peace at the Opéra National de Paris, Eugene Onegin at La Scala Milan and Iolanta at the Dresden Semperoper, as well as The Magic Flute, La Cenerentola, Otello, Macbeth, Falstaff, Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Don Giovanni, The Rake’s Progress, and Peter Eötvös’s Love and Other Demons at Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Future engagements include new productions of Ariadne auf Naxos and The Cunning Little Vixen at Glyndebourne, Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Metropolitan Opera, Moses und Aron at the Komische Oper Berlin and Ruslan and Ludmila at the Bolshoi Theatre.

Jurowski’s discography includes the first ever recording of Giya Kancheli’s cantata Exil for ECM (1994), Meyerbeer’s L’étoile du nord for Naxos-Marco Polo (1996), and Werther for BMG (1999) as well as live recordings of works by Brahms, Mahler, Rachmaninov, Turnage, Tchaikovsky, Britten and Shostakovich on the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s own label, and Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery on Glyndebourne Opera’s own label. He has also recorded works by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky for PentaTone with the Russian National Orchestra. Glyndebourne have released DVD recordings of his performances of La Cenerentola, Gianni Schicchi, Die Fledermaus and Rachmaninov’s The Miserly Knight, and other recent DVD releases include Hänsel und Gretel from the Metropolitan Opera, his first concert as London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Principal Conductor featuring works by Wagner, Berg and Mahler, and DVDs with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, all released by Medici Arts.

Born in Moscow, the son of conductor Mikhail Jurowski, Vladimir Jurowski completed his initial musical studies at the Music College of the Moscow Conservatory. In 1990 he relocated with his family to Germany where he

continued his studies in Dresden and Berlin, studying conducting with Rolf Reuter and vocal coaching with Semion Skigin. In 1995 he made his international debut at the Wexford Festival, where he conducted Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night. The same year saw his brilliant debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in Nabucco. In 1996 he joined the ensemble of Komische Oper Berlin, becoming First Kapellmeister in 1997 and continuing to work at the Komische Oper on a permanent basis until 2001.

Since 1997 Vladimir Jurowski has been a guest at some of the world’s leading musical institutions including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Teatro La Fenice di Venezia, Opéra Bastille de Paris, Théâtre de la Monnaie Bruxelles, Maggio Musicale Festival Florence, Rossini Opera Festival Pesaro, Edinburgh International Festival, Dresden Semperoper and the Teatro Comunale di Bologna (where he served as Principal Guest Conductor between 2000 and 2003). In 1999 he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera New York with Rigoletto.

In January 2001 Vladimir Jurowski took up the position of Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera and in 2003 was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, becoming the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor in September 2007. He also holds the title of Principal Artist with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and from 2005 to 2009 served as Principal Guest Conductor of the Russian National Orchestra, with whom he will continue to work in the years ahead.

Vladimir Jurowski is a regular guest with many of the world’s leading orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Philadelphia orchestras, as well as the Staatskapelle


Russian baritone Sergei Leiferkus is one of the world’s most renowned artists. His ability to convey both nobility and evil has made him noted for roles such as Scarpia in Tosca, Iago in Otello, Rangoni in Boris Godunov,

Telramund in Lohengrin and Alberich in the Ring Cycle.

He has appeared at opera houses throughout the world including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; the Vienna State Opera; the Opéra Bastille, Paris; La Scala, Milan; Deutsche Oper Berlin; San Francisco Opera; the Metropolitan Opera, New York; Palau de les Arts, Valencia; The Netherlands Opera, Amsterdam; Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires; and at the Edinburgh, Bregenz, Glyndebourne and Salzburg festivals.

On the concert stage he has appeared with orchestras including the London, Boston and Montreal symphony orchestras, the New York Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra (Washington DC) and the Philadelphia Orchestra, under conductors including Claudio Abbado, Valery Gergiev, Lorin Maazel, James Levine, Bernard Haitink, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Kent Nagano, Leonard Slatkin, Kurt Masur and Sir Georg Solti.

Sergei’s repertoire includes almost 50 opera roles, among them Eugene Onegin, Mazeppa, Nabucco, Macbeth, Prince Igor, Ruprecht (The Fiery Angel),

Prince Andrei (War and Peace), Simon Boccanegra, Amonasro, Jago, Don Giovanni, Telramund, Alberich and Klingsor. Almost a third of his repertoire comprises Russian music of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Sergei Leiferkus has made almost 40 recordings. His first CD recording of songs by Mussorgsky received a Grammy nomination, while another recording of all of Mussorgsky’s songs (on four CDs) was awarded the Cannes Classical Award and the Diapason d’Or Prize in 1997. His video recordings include operas staged at the Mariinsky Theatre (Eugene Onegin and The Fiery Angel) and at Covent Garden (Prince Igor and Otello), three versions of The Queen of Spades (Mariinsky Theatre, Wiener Staatsoper and Glyndebourne) and Nabucco (Bregenz Festival). One of the most recent productions featuring Sergei Leiferkus has been acclaimed director Robert Wilson’s production of the Ring Cycle at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris.

Besides his frequent appearances in opera, concert and recital, Sergei Leiferkus also gives masterclasses and teaches in Berlin, Toronto, Moscow and Boston, as well as at the Royal Academy of Music and the renowned Britten-Pears School, Aldeburgh.

Sergei Leiferkus was born in Leningrad, Russia (now St Petersburg) and graduated from the Leningrad Conservatoire. After a first engagement at the Maly Theatre (now the Mikhailovsky Theatre), he joined the ensemble of the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg in 1979. His debut with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Kurt Masur in the early 1980s launched his international career.

SERGEI LEIFERKUSBARITONE

principal Friends

The London Philharmonic Orchestra acknowledges the generous support of its Principal Friends, whose valuablecontributions help us continue our world class concerts and diverse education and community programme.

Our grateful thanks to:

Ms Alison C ClarkeMr James A ReeceMr C D YatesMr Clifford BrownMr E WeighmanMr Geoffrey A CollensMr Ivan Powell

Mr Michael ChingMiss Tessa CowieMr & Mrs R & J A WallhouseMr David DennisMr Ralph AldwinckleMr James PickfordMr David MacFarlane

Mr Stephen OltonMr & Mrs Graham & Jean PughMrs Lesley SmurthwaiteMr Hugh HerringtonMr R A Ingham


pROGRAMME NOTES

A wayward and self-destructive genius, Mussorgsky was one of music’s great originals. He cared nothing for conventional beauty or polished technique, famously declaring, ‘Art is a means of communicating with people, not an end in itself.’ His rough-cast music, much of it left in an incomplete form, has often served as a mirror in which later composers can discover something of themselves through arrangements and orchestrations. Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s tormented search for communication in post-war Germany took many forms, arriving at a

point of hypnotic stillness in the subdued beauty of his last orchestral work, a meditation on a single note. For Alexander Raskatov, Mussorgsky is not only a vital figure in his own right, but an essential point of reference for contemporary Russian composers faced with the task of re-establishing the great Russian tradition in the post-Soviet period. Both A White Night’s Dream and his new orchestration of the Songs and Dances of Death pay tribute to Mussorgsky’s world through a prism of vividly imagined colours.

Speedread

NIGhT ON A BARE MOUNTAIN (original version)ModestMUSSORGSKY

1839–1881

Mussorgsky was a late starter and died far too young, so his list of works is not very extensive. His career is marked by any number of projects that were never properly started, soon abandoned or left incomplete. As a result, much of his music became known in versions posthumously edited and arranged by friends, including the piece known as Night on a Bare Mountain, which Rimsky-Korsakov produced in 1886. This evening, however, we hear Mussorgsky’s own voice in an earlier and much less familiar version of the music.

It had a complicated history. Among Mussorgsky’s earliest projects was an opera based on Nikolai Gogol’s story St John’s Eve, which was to include a scene portraying a witches’ Sabbath (the last movement of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique cast a long shadow, particularly in Russia). Nothing came of this, but nine years later, in 1867, he did compose an independent orchestral piece with the title St John’s Night [that is,

Midsummer night] on the Bare Mountain. It was never performed, and Mussorgsky made two later attempts to resurrect the music. The first was in 1872, when he recast it as part of an ill-fated opera-ballet called Mlada, on which four other composers were to collaborate; this in turn served for a further arrangement, which was pressed into service as a ‘dream interlude’ in the comic opera Sorochintsy Fair, another work left in a very fragmentary state when Mussorgsky died. The Rimsky-Korsakov Bare Mountain is an orchestration and re-casting of this Sorochintsy Fair music.

The 1867 score, which Rimsky-Korsakov seems not to have known, was completed and fully orchestrated by Mussorgsky. Rough and headstrong, its raw power comes from its very lack of orchestral subtlety, throwing ideas and masses of sound together in an almost reckless manner.


The piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition is Mussorgsky’s only important work for the instrument which he apparently played very well, and even this is more widely known in Ravel’s famous orchestral arrangement. But throughout his life Mussorgsky composed a number of slighter piano pieces. Like his songs, they generally aim to capture a particular impression or idea in a few bold strokes, with little elaboration or development. The two pieces heard this evening are among Mussorgsky’s last compositions, sketched during a three-month concert tour he made in 1879 to southern Russia and the Crimea as accompanist to his friend, the contralto Darya Leonova.

In the Village presents a folk tune slightly reminiscent of the ‘Promenade’ from Pictures at an Exhibition. At first unaccompanied, then re-harmonised and varied, it leads into a more lively dance section. On the Southern Shore of the Crimea, subtitled ‘From Travelling Notes’, is a misty, atmospheric evocation enclosing a rhythmic dance of oriental character.

Bernd Alois Zimmermann made these orchestrations in 1949–50, when he was forging his own musical language in the chaos of postwar Germany and at the same time making many arrangements for radio, theatre and film. Aiming for a full, rich palette of colours, he used a large orchestra that includes three saxophones to flavour the gypsy elements of In the Village.

pROGRAMME NOTES

ModestMUSSORGSKY 1839–1881

ORChESTRATED BY BERND ALOIS ZIMMERMANN (1918–1970)

IN ThE VILLAGE

ON ThE SOUThERN ShORE OF ThE CRIMEA

Bernd Alois Zimmermann was a complex figure living in difficult times, very conscious of Germany’s great musical tradition and the necessity for re-establishing its values after the interlude of Nazi barbarism. He produced music in a variety of styles, some harsh and challenging, yet his final orchestral piece has a great, meditative simplicity. It originated in a commission from the city of Nuremberg to compose an orchestral work for the 500th anniversary in 1971 of the birth of the great Nuremberg artist Albrecht Dürer.

Zimmermann seems at first to have aimed for something on a very large scale, requesting a number of instruments such as ‘a particularly good organ … a Hungarian cimbalom as well as contrabass trombone and bass trumpet ...’. In the event, though, he composed a work lasting around 10 minutes scored for an unusual orchestral combination with only eight strings, and unassumingly called it ‘Orchestral Sketches’. For its performance, he asked for ‘extreme calmness of execution’ from the players and ‘rigidity of tempo’ from

STILLE UND UMKEhR (SILENCE AND RETURN)

(ORChESTRAL SKETChES)Bernd AloisZIMMERMANN

1918–1970


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

the conductor. The entire piece is in effect a meditation around the still point of a single note D, sustained throughout in varying colours. The ‘stillness’ of the title may also refer to its subdued volume. There is one other constant in the music: a figure repeatedly tapped out quietly by the side drum, which the composer described as a blues rhythm, but which could just as well be a ghostly reference to a recurring rhythm in the slow movement of Schubert’s String Quintet.

Around this fixed note and repeated rhythm, there are subtly shifting colours, little circling figures and rhythmic flourishes which become increasingly dense and elaborate, but all contained within a twilight world which some have seen as a foreshadowing of the composer’s imminent suicide.

Hearevery note

Are you hard of hearing or do you use a hearing aid? Did you know Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room all have free-of-charge equipment available to help you get the most out of the music you may be missing?

Visit the relevant cloakroom up to one hour before the performance to collect the equipment and learn how to use it effectively.


pROGRAMME NOTES

Alexander Raskatov first became widely known in Britain with the performance by English National Opera last year of his second opera, A Dog’s Heart, a wild and blackly humorous setting of Mikhail Bulgakov’s 1925 satire on the creation of Soviet Man. It revealed a composer with a huge arsenal of musical techniques and a vivid sense of theatre. Born and trained in Moscow during the years when the state was anxious to keep its composers in a straitjacket of orthodoxy, Raskatov has fully exploited the freedom that came with the fall of the USSR. Since the 1990s he has lived in Germany and France, but remains firmly connected to Russia and its traditions. Like many contemporary Russian composers, he is concerned with connecting his country’s often tragic past with its confused present and uncertain future, both musically and through his choice of literary subjects.

The title of Raskatov’s orchestral homage to Mussorgsky is itself evocative. The white nights – when in the far north there is hardly any real darkness at midsummer – become an image of the contradictions of St Petersburg: the city planned so logically, but the source of so many dreams and nightmares, real and artistic. A key figure here is Mussorgsky’s older contemporary Dostoevsky. The two never met, as far as we know, though Mussorgsky eagerly read Dostoevsky’s works as soon as they appeared, and his frequent disappearances into the underworld of St Petersburg could feature in any Dostoevsky work.

Raskatov uses a large orchestra augmented by a huge range of tuned percussion. A White Night’s Dream begins with a slow chiming. Such bell sounds are one of the constants in Russian music, and everything in the piece seems to derive from them: their percussive attack, followed by strange harmonics and shimmering overtones.

As to its overall shape, the piece is built from paragraphs of sound passing in procession. As in a dream, there is logic, but not conventional daytime logic. It is an evocation of distance rather than detail, suggestion rather than clear focus, impressionism not precise statement. The contrasts between frenzy and brooding stillness are very much in the spirit of Raskatov’s idol: as the composer explains, ‘The rhythms and intonations of the soul, the tone of the soul that was typical of Mussorgsky alone, defined the future of Russian music in the 20th century.’

A WhITE NIGhT’S DREAM (world première)AlexanderRASKATOV

BORN 1953


SONGS AND DANCES OF DEATh (UK première)

SERGEI LEIFERKUS baritone

1 Lullaby2 Serenade3 Trepak4 The Field Marshal

ModestMUSSORGSKY 1839–1881

ORChESTRATED BY ALEXANDER RASKATOV (BORN 1953)

Alexander Raskatov describes the Songs and Dances of Death as ‘a sort of musical Bible, one of the key creations in the history of Russian music’. Mussorgsky composed the first three songs in 1875, adding the fourth in 1877. Each is a miniature dramatic scene that is at the same time simple and visionary. They are established by the use of conventional genres – lullaby, serenade, peasant dance and triumphal march – and there is heavy irony in the incongruity of these genres, which are usually associated very much with life, depicting oblivion and destruction. The cycle has a progressive shape, opening out from the intimate to the universal and from youth to age. The first takes place in the narrow confines of a peasant hut and concerns a child; the second is set in a street before a house with a young girl on a balcony; the third features an old peasant in a winter landscape of fields and forest. In these individual cases death appears as an insidious comforter. The fourth song shows a universal triumph. As Mussorgsky wrote to the poet, ‘Death, coldly and passionately in love with death, enjoys death.’

The Songs and Dances of Death were first published in 1882 in an edition by Rimsky-Korsakov, who went on to make an orchestration in collaboration with Alexander Glazunov. Among other orchestral versions are those by Shostakovich in 1962 (a prime stimulus for his own Fourteenth Symphony) and Edison Denisov in 1983. Raskatov’s orchestration was commissioned by the Dutch Radio Orchestra in 2007. He admits that it was a hard challenge to follow such predecessors, but that he wanted to bring to the task ‘something of myself’.

Two features set Raskatov’s orchestration apart from any other. First is the range of colour obtained from a chamber orchestra augmented by keyboards and tuned percussion in the manner of A White Night’s Dream. The other novel feature is the composition of three original interludes between the songs. The first evokes Russian church bells, the second liturgical chant, and the rhythms of the third refer to the Coronation scene from Mussorgsky’s operatic masterpiece Boris Godunov.

Programme notes by Andrew Huth © 2011

1. Kolïbelnaya (1875)

Stonet rebyonok. Svecha, nagoraya, Tusklo mertsaet krugom. Tseluyu noch kolïbelku kachaya, Mat ne zabïlasa snom.

Ranïm-ranokhonko v dver ostorozhno, Smert serdobolnaya stuk! Vzdrognula mat, oglyanulas trevozhno ... ‘Polno pugatsa, moy drug!

Lullaby

A moaning child. A room dimly lit by a flickering candle. A mother has kept awake all night, rocking the cradle.

At first light, merciful Death softly knocks at the door. The mother starts up, looking anxiously around. ‘Don’t be frightened, my friend.

Please turn the page quietly

SONGS AND DANCES OF DEATh


Blednoe utro uzh smotrit v okoshko. Placha, toskuya, lyublya, Tï utomilas. Vzdremni-ko nemnozhko, Ya posizhu za tebya.

Ugomonit tï ditya ne sumela. Slashche tebya ya spoyu.’ ‘Tishe! rebyonok moy mechyotsa, byotsa, Dushu terzaet moyu!’

‘Nu, da so mnoyu on skoro uymyotsa. Bayushki, bayu, bayu.’ ‘Shchyochki bledneyut, slabeyet dïkhane ... Da zamolchi-zhe, molyu!’

‘Dobroye znamene, stikhnet stradane. Bayushki, bayu, bayu.’ ‘Proch tï, proklyataya! Laskoy svoyeyu sgubish tï radost moyu!’

‘Net, mirnïy son ya mladentsu naveyu. Bayushki, bayu, bayu.’ ‘Szhalsa, pozhdi dopevat, khot mgnovene, Strashnuyu pesnyu tvoyu!’

‘Vidish, usnul on pod tikhoe pene. Bayushki, bayu, bayu.’

2. Serenada (1875)

Nega volshebnaya, noch golubaya, Trepetnïy sumrak vesnï. Vnemlet, poniknuv golovkoy, bolnaya Shopot nochnoy tishinï.

Son ne smïkaet blestyashchie ochi, Zhizn k naslazhdenyu zovyot, A pod okoshkom v molchani polnochi Smert serenadu poyot:

‘V mrake nevoli surovoy i tesnoy Molodost vyanet tvoya. Rïtsar nevedomïy, siloy chudesnoy Osvobozhu ya tebya.

Vstan, posmotri na sebya: krasotoyu Lik tvoy prozrachnïy blestit, Shchyoki rumyanï, volnistoy kosoyu Stan tvoy, kak tuchey obvit.

Pale dawn already glimmers at the window. Your tears of grief and love have exhausted you. Sleep for a while, I’ll watch for you.

You could not soothe your child, but my song is sweeter than yours.’ ‘Be quiet! My child is feverish and struggling, it’s breaking my heart.’

‘Ah, but I shall soon calm him. Lullaby, lullay …’ ‘His cheeks are pale, his breathing is weaker … Be quiet, I beg you!’

‘A good sign: his suffering will soon be over. Lullaby, lullay …’ ‘Go away, you monster! Your caress will destroy my darling.’

‘No, I’m lulling him peacefully to sleep. Lullaby, lullay …’ ‘Have mercy, wait a moment, don’t finish your terrifying song!’

‘Look: my gentle song has sent him to sleep. Lullaby, lullay …’

Serenade

An enchanting languour, an azure night, the shimmering twilight of spring … Her head bowed, a sick girl listens to the whisperings of the night.

No sleep has touched those sparkling eyes, life invites her to enjoy its pleasures. But beneath her window, in the still night, Death sings his serenade.

‘Your youth is fading away in cruel, gloomy captivity. I am your unknown knight, come to free you with my magic powers.

Stand up, look at yourself! Your delicate face glows with beauty, your cheeks are rosy, wavy tresses waft around your body like a cloud.


The piercing gaze of your blue eyes is brighter than the sky or than fire. You breathe the sultry heat of midday, you have conquered me.

You are captivated by my serenade, you call to your knight in a whisper. Your knight has come for his reward, the moment of ecstasy has arrived.

The trembling of your tender body thrills me, I shall smother you in my strong embrace. Listen to my whispered words of love … Be silent … You are mine!’ Trepak

A forest clearing, not a soul around. A blizzard howls and moans. It feels as though in the black night the Evil one is burying somebody.

And look, there he is! In the darkness Death is embracing and caressing a peasant. He’s dancing a trepak with the drunk and crooning a song into his ear:

‘Ah, you wretched old peasant, you got blind drunk and staggered off home. But, like an old witch, a blizzard arose and lured you from the fields into the forest.

You’re worn out with grief, misery and poverty. Lie down, curl up and sleep, my friend. I’ll warm you with a blanket of snow, I’ll create a beautiful scene around you.

Make up his bed, swan-white snow! Strike up your song, blizzard! Sing him a song that will last all night, so the old drunk will sleep soundly.

Come, forest, sky and clouds, darkness, wind and whirling snowflakes: weave a shroud of feather-light snow, I’ll wrap the old man up like a baby.

Sleep, my friend, you lucky old peasant. Summer is here and blooming. The sun smiles over the meadows, sickles flash, there’s singing in the air, doves fly past …’

Pristalnïkh glaz goluboe siyane, Yarche nebes i ognya. Znoyem poludennïm veyet dïkhane ... Tï obolstila menya.

Slukh tvoy plenilsa moey serenadoy, Rïtsarya shopot tvoy zval, Rïtsar prishyol za posledney nagradoy: Chas upoyenya nastal.

Nezhen tvoy stan, upoitelen trepet. O, zadushu ya tebya V krepkikh obyatyakh: lyubovnïy moy lepet Slushay ... molchi ... Tï moya!’ 3. Trepak (1875)

Les, da polyanï, bezlyude krugom. Vyuga i plachet i stonet; Chuetsa, budto vo mrake nochnom, Zlaya, kovo-to khoronit.

Glyad, tak i yest! V temnote muzhika Smert obnimaet, laskaet. S pyanenkim plyashet vdvoyom trepaka, Na ukho pesn napevayet:

‘Okh, muzhichok, starichok ubogoy, Pyan napilsa, poplyolsa dorogoy, A metel-to, vedma, podnyalas, vzïgrala, S polya v les dremuchiy nevznachay zagnala.

Gorem, toskoy da nuzhdoy tomnïy, Lyag, prikorni, da usni, rodimïy! Ya tebya, golubchik moy, snezhkom sogreyu, Vkrug tebya velikuyu igru zateyu.

Vzbey-ka postel, tï myatel-lebyodka! Gey, nachinay, zapevay pogodka! Skazku, da takuyu, shtob vsyu noch tyanulas, Shtob pyanchuge krepko pod neyo zasnulos.

Oy, vï lesa, nebesa, da tuchi, Tem, veterok, da snezhok letuchiy, Sveytes pelenoyu, snezhnoy, pukhovoyu; Yeyu, kak mladentsa, starichka prikroyu.

Spi, moy druzhok, muzhichok schastlivïy, Leto prishlo, rastsvelo! Nad nivoy Solnïshko smeyotsa, da serpï gulyayut, Pesenka nesyotsa, golubki letayut ...’

Please turn the page quietly


4. polkovodets (1877)

Grokhochet bitva, bleshut broni, Orudya zhadnïe revut, Begut polki, nesutsa koni I reki krasnïe tekut.

Pïlayet polden, lyudi byutsa; Sklonilos solntse, boy silney; Zakat bledneyet, no derutsa Vragi vse yarostney i zley.

I pala noch na pole brani. Druzhinï v mrake razoshlis ... Vsyo stikhlo, i v nochnom tumane Stenanya k nebu podnyalis.

Togda, ozarena lunoyu, Na boyevom svoyom kone, Kostey sverkaya beliznoyu, Yavilas smert. I v tishine,

Vnimaya vopli i molitvï, Dovolstva gordovo polna, Kak polkovodets mesto bitvï Krugom obekhala ona.

Na kholm podnyavshis, oglyanulas, Ostanovilas, ulïbnulas ... I nad ravninoy boyevoy azdalsa golos rokovoy:

‘Konchena bitva! ya vsekh pobedila! Vse predo mnoy vï smirilis, boytsï! Zhizn vas possorila, ya pomirila! Druzhno vstavayte na smotr, mertvetsï!

Marshem torzhestvennïm mimo proydite, Voysko moyo ya khochu soschitat. V zemlyu potom svoi kosti slozhite, Sladko ot zhizni v zemle otdïkhat!

Godï nezrimo proydut za godami, V lyudyakh ischeznet i pamyat o vas. Ya ne zabudu i gromko nad vami Pir budu pravit v polunochnïy chas!

Plyaskoy tyazhyoloyu zemlyu sïruyu Ya pritopchu, shtobï sen grobovuyu Kosti pokinut vo vek ne mogli, Shtob nikogda vam ne vstat iz zemli!’ Poems by Arseny Golenishchev-Kutuzov (1848–1913)

The Field Marshal

A battle is raging, armour flashes, bronze cannons roar, regiments charge, horses plunge, the rivers run red with blood.

At scorching midday, they’re fighting; at sunset the battle is fiercer; as the light dims, the enemies fight even more savagely.

Night falls over the battlefield, the troops disperse in the dark. Everything becomes still, and in the night air groans rise up to the heavens.

And then, illuminated by the moon, riding his war horse, his bones glistening white, Death appears. Amidst the stillness,

he listens to the cries and the prayers, and full of grim satisfaction he rides around the field of battle like a field marshal.

Mounting a hill, he looks around, he halts and smiles. And then across the battlefield his doom-laden voice thunders out:

‘The battle is over! I have conquered you all! You soldiers have all yielded to me. Life made you enemies, I reconcile you. Rise as comrades for inspection, you dead men.

Pass by me in solemn procession: I want to count my troops. Then lay your bones to rest in the ground, relish the peace of lying in the earth.

Year will follow year unnoticed, even your memory will fade in men’s hearts. But I shall not forget. Every midnight I shall hold a clamorous feast above you.

With my heavy dance I shall trample down the damp soil, so that for all eternity your bones never leave their tomb, so that you never rise again from the earth.’ English translations © Andrew Huth


Corporate MembersAppleyard & Trew llpAREVA UKBritish American BusinessCharles RussellDestination Québec – UKDiagonal ConsultingLazardLeventis OverseasMan Group plc

Corporate DonorLombard Street Research

In-kind SponsorsGoogle IncHeinekenThe Langham LondonLindt & Sprüngli LtdSela / Tilley’s SweetsVilla Maria

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

Trusts and FoundationsArts and BusinessAllianz Cultural FoundationThe Boltini TrustBritten-Pears FoundationThe Candide Charitable TrustThe Coutts Charitable TrustThe Delius TrustDunard FundThe Equitable Charitable TrustThe Eranda FoundationThe Fenton Arts TrustThe Foyle FoundationThe Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable TrustHattori Foundation for Music and the ArtsCapital Radio’s Help a London ChildThe Hobson CharityThe Kirby Laing FoundationThe Leverhulme TrustLord and Lady Lurgan TrustMaurice Marks Charitable TrustMarsh Christian Trust

The Mercers’ CompanyAdam Mickiewicz InstitutePaul Morgan Charitable TrustMaxwell Morrison Charitable TrustMusicians Benevolent FundThe Serge Prokofiev FoundationSerge Rachmaninoff FoundationThe Reed FoundationThe Seary Charitable TrustThe Samuel Sebba Charitable TrustThe David Solomons Charitable TrustThe Steel Charitable TrustThe Stansfield TrustThe Bernard Sunley Charitable FoundationThe Swan TrustJohn Thaw FoundationThe Thistle TrustThe Underwood TrustGarfield Weston FoundationYouth Music

and others who wish to remain anonymous

Thomas Beecham GroupThe Tsukanov Family

The Sharp FamilyJulian & Gill Simmonds

Garf & Gill CollinsAndrew DavenportDavid & Victoria Graham FullerRichard Karl GoeltzJohn & Angela KesslerMr & Mrs MakharinskyGeoff & Meg MannCaroline, Jamie and Zander SharpEric Tomsett

Mrs Sonja Drexler Guy & Utti Whittaker

principal BenefactorsMark & Elizabeth AdamsJane AttiasLady Jane BerrillDesmond & Ruth CecilMr John H CookMr Charles Dumas

David EllenCommander Vincent EvansMrs Barbara GreenMr & Mrs Jeffrey HerrmannPeter MacDonald EggersMr & Mrs David MalpasAndrew T MillsMr Maxwell MorrisonMr Michael PosenMr & Mrs Thierry SciardMr John Soderquist & Mr Costas MichaelidesMr & Mrs G SteinMr & Mrs John C TuckerMr & Mrs John & Susi UnderwoodHoward & Sheelagh WatsonMr Laurie WattMr Anthony Yolland

BenefactorsMrs A BeareDr & Mrs Alan Carrington CBE FRSMr & Mrs Stewart CohenMr Alistair CorbettMr David EdgecombeMr Richard Fernyhough

Ken FollettPauline & Peter HallidayMichael & Christine HenryMr Glenn HurstfieldMr R K JehaMr & Mrs Maurice LambertMr Gerald LevinSheila Ashley LewisWg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAFMr Frank LimPaul & Brigitta LockMr Brian MarshJohn MontgomeryEdmund PirouetMr Peter TausigMrs Kazue TurnerLady Marina VaizeyMr D Whitelock

hon. BenefactorElliott Bernerd

hon. Life MembersKenneth GoodeEdmund Pirouet Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE

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

LONDON phILhARMONIC ORChESTRA


The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of the world’s finest orchestras, balancing a long and distinguished history with a reputation as one of the UK’s most adventurous and forward-looking orchestras. As well as performing classical concerts, the Orchestra also records film and computer game soundtracks, has its own record label, and reaches thousands of Londoners every year through activities for schools and local communities.

The Orchestra was founded by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1932, and since then has been headed by many of the great names in the conducting world, including Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. The current Principal Conductor is Russian Vladimir Jurowski, appointed in 2007, with French-Canadian Yannick Nézet-Séguin as Principal Guest Conductor.

The Orchestra is based at Royal Festival Hall in London’s Southbank Centre, where it has performed since it opened in 1951 and been Resident Orchestra since 1992. It gives around 40 concerts there each season with many of the world’s top conductors and soloists. Concert highlights in 2011/12 include a three-week festival celebrating the music of Prokofiev, concerts with artists including Sir Mark Elder, Marin Alsop, Renée Fleming, Stephen Hough and Joshua Bell, and several premières of works by living composers including the Orchestra’s Composer in Residence, Julian Anderson. In addition to its London concerts, the Orchestra has flourishing residencies in Brighton and Eastbourne, and performs regularly around the UK. Every summer, the Orchestra leaves London for four months and takes up its annual residency accompanying the famous Glyndebourne Festival Opera in the Sussex countryside, where it has been Resident Symphony Orchestra since 1964.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra 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. Touring remains a big part of the Orchestra’s life: plans for the 2011/12 season include visits to Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, the US, Spain, China, Russia, Oman, Brazil and France.

You may well have heard the London Philharmonic Orchestra on film soundtrack recordings: it has recorded many blockbuster scores, from The Lord of the Rings trilogy to Lawrence of Arabia, The Mission, Philadelphia and East is East. The Orchestra also broadcasts regularly on television and radio, and in 2005 established its own record label. There are now over 50 releases on the label, which are available on CD and to download. Recent additions include Dvořák’s Symphonic Variations and Symphony No. 8 conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras; Holst’s The Planets conducted by Vladimir Jurowski; Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 under Klaus Tennstedt; and Shostakovich Piano Concertos with Martin Helmchen under Vladimir Jurowski. The Orchestra was also recently honoured with the commission to record all 205 of the world’s national anthems for the London 2012 Olympics Team Welcome Ceremonies and Medal Ceremonies.

To help maintain its high standards and diverse workload, the Orchestra is committed to the welfare of its musicians and in December 2007 received the Association of British Orchestras/Musicians Benevolent Fund Healthy Orchestra Bronze Charter Mark.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra maintains an energetic programme of activities for young people and local communities. Highlights include the ever-popular family and schools concerts, fusion ensemble The Band, the Leverhulme Young Composers project and the Foyle Future Firsts orchestral training scheme for outstanding young players. Over the last few years, developments in technology and social networks have 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, news blog, iPhone app and regular podcasts, the Orchestra has a thriving presence on Facebook and Twitter.

Find out more and get involved!

lpo.org.uk

facebook.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra

twitter.com/LpOrchestra

First ViolinsPieter Schoeman* LeaderVesselin Gellev

Chair supported by

John and Angela Kessler

Ji Hyun LeeKatalin VarnagyCatherine CraigTina GruenbergMartin Höhmann

Chair supported by

Richard Karl Goeltz

Geoffrey LynnRobert PoolYang ZhangAlain Petitclerc Galina TanneyJoanne ChenCaroline SharpRebecca ShorrockPeter Nall

Second ViolinsClare Duckworth Principal

Chair supported by

the Sharp Family

Jeongmin KimJoseph MaherKate Birchall

Chair supported by David

and Victoria Graham Fuller

Fiona HighamAshley StevensMarie-Anne MairesseNynke HijlkemaDean Williamson Sioni WilliamsStephen StewartMila MustakovaElizabeth BaldeyNaomi Anner

ViolasIakov Zats Guest PrincipalRobert DuncanGregory AronovichBenedetto PollaniLaura VallejoSusanne MartensEmmanuella Reiter-BootimanMichelle BruilDaniel CornfordIsabel PereiraNaomi HoltSarah Malcolm

CellosKristina Blaumane PrincipalSusanne Beer Co-PrincipalFrancis BucknallLaura DonoghueJonathan Ayling

Chair supported by Caroline,

Jamie and Zander Sharp

Gregory WalmsleySantiago Carvalho†Susanna RiddellTae-Mi SongWilliam Routledge

Double BassesKevin Rundell* PrincipalTim Gibbs Co-PrincipalLaurence LovelleGeorge PenistonRichard LewisJoe MelvinTom WalleyHelen Rowlands

FlutesSusan Thomas PrincipalJoanna ShawJoanna Marsh

piccoloStewart McIlwham* Principal

OboesIan Hardwick PrincipalAngela TennickAlison Alty

Cor AnglaisSue Bohling Principal

Chair supported by

Julian and Gill Simmonds

ClarinetsNicholas Carpenter PrincipalEmily MeredithTim Holmes

Bass ClarinetPaul Richards Principal

Contra-bass ClarinetMartin Robertson

SaxophonesMartin RobertsonShaun ThompsonTim Holmes

BassoonsGareth Newman* PrincipalLaurence O’DonnellSimon Estell

Contra-bassoonSimon Estell Principal

hornsJohn Ryan* PrincipalMartin HobbsMark Vines Co-PrincipalGareth MollisonMarcus Bates

TrumpetsPaul Beniston* PrincipalAnne McAneney*

Chair supported by

Geoff and Meg Mann

Cornets Nicholas BettsDaniel Newell

Bass TrumpetDavid Whitehouse

TrombonesMark Templeton* PrincipalDavid WhitehouseRobert Workman

Bass TromboneLyndon Meredith Principal

TubaLee Tsarmaklis Principal

TimpaniSimon Carrington* Principal

percussionAndrew Barclay* Principal

Chair supported by

Andrew Davenport

Keith MillarJeremy CornesOlly YatesSarah Cresswell

harpRachel Masters* Principal

pianoCatherine Edwards

CelesteJohn Alley

harpsichordBernard Robertson

Electric GuitarNigel Woodhouse

Bass GuitarTom Walley

AccordianEddie Hessian

Assistant ConductorNicholas Collon

Chair supported by an anonymous donor

* Holds a professorial appointment in London † Chevalier of the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco

LONDON phILhARMONIC ORChESTRA


ADMINISTRATION


Board of Directors

Martin Höhmann ChairStewart McIlwham Vice-ChairSue BohlingLord Currie*Jonathan Dawson*Gareth NewmanGeorge PenistonSir Bernard Rix*Kevin RundellSir Philip Thomas*Timothy Walker AM†*Non-Executive Directors

The London philharmonic Trust

Victoria Sharp ChairDesmond Cecil CMGJonathan Harris CBE FRICSDr Catherine C. HøgelMartin HöhmannAngela KesslerClive Marks OBE FCAJulian SimmondsTimothy Walker AM†Laurence Watt

American Friends of the London philharmonic Orchestra, Inc.

We are very grateful to the Board of the American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra for its support of the Orchestra’s activities in the USA.

professional Services

Charles RussellSolicitors

Crowe Clark Whitehill LLPAuditors

Dr Louise MillerHonorary Doctor

General Administration

Timothy Walker AM† Chief Executive and Artistic Director

Alison AtkinsonDigital Projects Manager

Finance

David BurkeGeneral Manager andFinance Director

David GreensladeFinance and IT Manager

Concert Management

Roanna GibsonConcerts Director

Ruth SansomArtistic Administrator

Graham WoodConcerts, Recordings andGlyndebourne Manager

Alison JonesConcerts Co-ordinator

Jenny ChadwickTours and Engagements Manager

Jo OrrPA to the Executive / Concerts Assistant

Matthew FreemanRecordings Consultant

Education & Community

Patrick BaileyEducation and Community Director

Anne FindlayEducation Manager

Caz ValeCommunity and Young Talent Manager

Richard MallettEducation and Community Producer

Orchestra personnel

Andrew CheneryOrchestra Personnel Manager

Sarah ThomasLibrarian

Michael PattisonStage Manager

Camilla BeggAssistant Orchestra Personnel Manager

Ken Graham TruckingInstrument Transportation(Tel: 01737 373305)

Development

Nick JackmanDevelopment Director

Harriet MesherCharitable Giving Manager

Alexandra RowlandsCorporate Relations Manager

Melissa Van EmdenEvents Manager

Laura LuckhurstCorporate Relations and Events Officer

Elisenda AyatsDevelopment and Finance Officer

Marketing

Kath TroutMarketing Director

Ellie DragonettiMarketing Manager

Rachel FryerPublications Manager

Helen BoddyMarketing Co-ordinator

Samantha KendallBox Office Manager(Tel: 020 7840 4242)

Julia BoonIntern

Valerie BarberPress Consultant(Tel: 020 7586 8560)

Archives

Philip StuartDiscographer

Gillian PoleRecordings Archive

London philharmonic Orchestra89 Albert Embankment London SE1 7TPTel: 020 7840 4200Fax: 020 7840 4201Box Office: 020 7840 4242lpo.org.uk

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

Photograph of Mussorgsky courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London. Photograph of Raskatov © Renate Schildheuer.Photograph of Zimmermann © Schott Promotion.

Front cover photograph Vladimir Jurowski © Chris Christodoulou.

Printed by Cantate. †Supported by Macquarie Group

Documents

LPO 21 September 2011 programme notes