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Concert programme lpo.org.uk

Winner of the 2013 RPS Music Award for Ensemble Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor VLADIMIR JUROWSKI* Leader pieter schoeman† Composer in Residence magnus lindberg Patron HRH THE DUKE OF KENT KG Chief Executive and Artistic Director TIMOTHY WALKER AM

JTI Friday Series Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall Friday 3 October 2014 | 7.30pm

Rachmaninoff The Isle of the Dead (19’) Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 1 in F sharp minor (original version) (26’) Interval Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances (35’)

Vladimir Jurowski conductor Alexander Ghindin piano In co-operation with the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation

* supported by the Tsukanov Family Foundation and one anonymous donor † supported by Neil Westreich CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Contents 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 11 12 13 14 15 16

Welcome LPO 2014/15 season On stage tonight About the Orchestra Leader: Pieter Schoeman Vladimir Jurowski Alexander Ghindin Programme notes Recommended recordings Next concerts/Orchestra news Rachmaninoff: Inside Out Supporters Sound Futures donors LPO administration

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

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

London Philharmonic Orchestra 2014/15 season Welcome to tonight’s London Philharmonic Orchestra’s concert at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, the first in 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 0207 840 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.

We look forward to seeing you again soon. A few points to note for your comfort and enjoyment: PHOTOGRAPHY is not allowed in the auditorium. LATECOMERS will only be admitted to the auditorium if there is a suitable break in the performance. RECORDING is not permitted in the auditorium without the prior consent of Southbank Centre. Southbank Centre reserves the right to confiscate video or sound equipment and hold it in safekeeping until the performance has ended. MOBILES, PAGERS AND WATCHES should be switched off before the performance begins.

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On stage tonight

First Violins Pieter Schoeman* Leader Chair supported by Neil Westreich

Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader Ilyoung Chae Chair supported by an anonymous donor

Ji-Hyun Lee Chair supported by Eric Tomsett

Catherine Craig Thomas Eisner Martin Höhmann Geoffrey Lynn Chair supported by Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp

Robert Pool Yang Zhang Grace Lee Rebecca Shorrock Alina Petrenko Galina Tanney Caroline Frenkel Caroline Sharp Second Violins Victoria Sayles Guest Principal Jeongmin Kim Joseph Maher Kate Birchall Chair supported by David & Victoria Graham Fuller

Nancy Elan Lorenzo Gentili-Tedeschi Fiona Higham Marie-Anne Mairesse Ashley Stevens Harry Kerr Stephen Stewart Elizabeth Baldey Sheila Law John Dickinson

Violas Cyrille Mercier Principal Robert Duncan Gregory Aronovich Katharine Leek Susanne Martens Benedetto Pollani Laura Vallejo Michelle Bruil Isabel Pereira Daniel Cornford Martin Fenn Sarah Malcolm Cellos Kristina Blaumane Principal Pei-Jee Ng Francis Bucknall Laura Donoghue Santiago Carvalho† David Lale Gregory Walmsley Elisabeth Wiklander Susanna Riddell Tom Roff Double Basses Kevin Rundell* Principal Tim Gibbs Co-Principal Laurence Lovelle George Peniston Richard Lewis Tom Walley Sebastian Pennar Laura Murphy Flutes Juliette Bausor Guest Principal Sue Thomas* Chair supported by the Sharp Family

Stewart McIlwham*

Trumpets Nicholas Betts Principal Anne McAneney*

Piccolo Stewart McIlwham* Principal

Chair supported by Geoff & Meg Mann

Oboes Ian Hardwick Principal Lucie Sprague

Robin Totterdell Trombones Mark Templeton* Principal

Cor Anglais Sue Böhling Principal

Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton

Chair supported by Julian & Gill Simmonds

Matthew Knight Bass Trombone Lyndon Meredith Principal

Clarinets James Burke Guest Principal Emily Meredith Paul Richards

Tuba Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra

Bass Clarinet Paul Richards Principal

Timpani Simon Carrington* Principal

Saxophone Martin Robertson Bassoons Gareth Newman Principal Laura Vincent Contrabassoon Claire Webster Horns David Pyatt* Principal Chair supported by Simon Robey

John Ryan* Principal Martin Hobbs Mark Vines Co-Principal Gareth Mollison Duncan Fuller Jason Koczur

Percussion Andrew Barclay* Principal Chair supported by Andrew Davenport

Tom Edwards Keith Millar Jeremy Cornes Sarah Mason James Bower Harp Rachel Masters* Principal Piano Catherine Edwards * Holds a professorial appointment in London † Chevalier of the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco

Chair Supporters The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporter whose player is not present at this concert: Sonja Drexler

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London Philharmonic Orchestra

Full marks to the London Philharmonic for continuing to offer the most adventurous concerts in London. The Financial Times, 14 April 2014 The London Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the world’s finest orchestras, balancing a long and distinguished history with its present-day position as one of the most dynamic and forward-looking orchestras in the UK. As well as its performances in the concert hall, the Orchestra also records film and video game soundtracks, 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

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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 seasonlong 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 soughtafter 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.

Pieter Schoeman leader

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

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 Poulenc and Saint-Saëns organ works with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and organist James O’Donnell; Strauss’s Don Juan and Ein Heldenleben with Bernard Haitink; 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

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.

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. London Philharmonic Orchestra | 5

Vladimir Jurowski Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor

Quite apart from the immaculate preparation and the most elegant conducting style in the business, Jurowski programmes with an imagination matched by none of London’s other principal conductors.

The Arts Desk, December 2012

One of today’s most sought-after conductors, acclaimed worldwide for his incisive musicianship and adventurous artistic commitment, Vladimir Jurowski was born in Moscow and studied at the Music Academies of Dresden and Berlin. In 1995 he made his international debut at the Wexford Festival conducting Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night, and the same year saw his debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, with Nabucco. Vladimir Jurowski was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2003, becoming Principal Conductor in 2007. He also holds the titles of Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Artistic Director of the Russian State Academic Symphony Orchestra. He has previously held the positions of First Kapellmeister of the Komische Oper Berlin (1997–2001), Principal Guest Conductor of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna (2000–03), Principal Guest Conductor of the Russian National Orchestra (2005–09), and Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera (2001–13). He is a regular guest with many leading orchestras in both Europe and North America, including the Berlin, New York and St Petersburg Philharmonic orchestras; the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; The Philadelphia Orchestra; The Cleveland Orchestra; the Boston, San Francisco and Chicago symphony orchestras; and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden and Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

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His opera engagements have included Rigoletto, Jenůfa, The Queen of Spades, Hansel and Gretel and Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Metropolitan Opera, New York; Parsifal and Wozzeck at Welsh National Opera; War and Peace at the Opéra national de Paris; Eugene Onegin at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan; Ruslan and Ludmila at the Bolshoi Theatre; and numerous operas at Glyndebourne including Otello, Macbeth, Falstaff, Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Don Giovanni, The Cunning Little Vixen, Peter Eötvös’s Love and Other Demons, and Ariadne auf Naxos. lpo.org.uk/about/jurowski

Watch a video of Vladimir Jurowski introducing the LPO 2014/15 season: vimeo.com/105645566

Alexander Ghindin piano

Ghindin is a dynamic artist who wraps his heart around lyrical phrases. Put another way, he has the power and speed of a virtuoso, plus the perception and poise needed to explore the inner workings of a score. The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, USA)

Alexander Ghindin has been unanimously acclaimed by critics and music lovers as one of the most talented and original pianists of the present day. He was born in 1977 in Moscow. Before entering the Moscow Conservatoire in 1994, at the age of 17 he became the youngest ever laureate of the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Later he won Second Prize at the International Queen Elisabeth Piano Competition in Brussels in 1999. In 2007 he won the International Piano Competition in Cleveland, USA, and was subsequently engaged for over 50 concerts in the USA. According to critics, he ‘made a staggering impression on the audience, demonstrating such a high level of mastery that makes every one of his performances special and unforgettable.’ (Art and Life). In July 2010 he won First Prize at the International Piano Competition of Santa Catarina (Florianópolis, Brazil). Alexander Ghindin is a frequent jury member for such competitions as the Nutcracker Young Performers’ International TV Competition, the First Russian Music Competition, the International Piano Competition in Cleveland, and others. Since 2006 Alexander Ghindin has been Artistic Director of his own concert series at one of Russia’s most distinguished concert venues, the Svetlanov Hall at the Moscow International Performing Arts Center, where he has presented unique programmes such as a recital for four pianos, duo programme for piano and organ, American music for two pianos, and music for prepared instruments. He is also an International Artistic Co-Director of the Swedish Royal Festival and an Artistic Director of the ‘Tribut to Knushevitsky’ festival in Saratov, Russia.

Alexander Ghindin tours successfully throughout Russia and abroad. He has performed with such major Russian and international orchestras as the Grand Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, the Russian National Orchestra, the Svetlanov State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia, the Moscow Virtuosi ensemble, the St Petersburg Camerata Orchestra of the State Hermitage, the Orchestre de Paris, the Orchestre National de Belgique, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Salzburg Camerata, the Rotterdam Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonic orchestras of London, Helsinki, Luxemburg, Liège, Freiburg, Monte Carlo and Munich, Japan’s Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the New Japanese Philharmonic Orchestra and the Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2001 Ondine Records released the world premiere recording of the original version of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 4, performed by Alexander Ghindin with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy.

alexanderghindin.com facebook.com/pages/ Alexander-Ghindin/128760257159738

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Programme notes

Speedread Beginnings and endings kick off the LPO’s Rachmaninoff: Inside Out series exploring the orchestral legacy of the last of the great Russian Romantic composers. The First Piano Concerto was his first significant work, produced while he was still a teenage student; though he later revised it substantially, the original version – heard tonight in a rare concert performance – shows signs aplenty

Serge Rachmaninoff

of the original and distinctive creative personality to come. Though composed almost 20 years later, The Isle of the Dead was his first major tone-poem, a brilliantly controlled composition whose sombre tone was inspired by a popular painting of the day. And the Symphonic Dances are Rachmaninoff’s last completed work, a bold confrontation with mortality which maintains its exuberance and colour throughout.

The Isle of the Dead, Op. 29

1873–1943

‘I have aged terribly. I am very tired and terribly afraid that I will soon go to the Devil.’ Whether or not Rachmaninoff’s feelings on New Year’s Day 1909, conveyed in a letter to a friend, were anything more than seasonal blues, it was not long before he rallied: by the middle of April he had completed his most convincing and successful orchestral tone-poem, Ostrov myortvykh (‘The Isle of the Dead’), and on 1 May he conducted the premiere in Moscow. Yet maybe something of those gloomy thoughts remains in the new work. The idea for it came from a painting of the same name from the 1880s by the Swiss symbolist Arnold Böcklin, which shows a steep-sided, rocky island dotted with sepulchral openings and (like many a southern European cemetery) cypress trees. The painting was a popular one at the time, and had already inspired two tone-poems by lesser composers, as well as finding its way into Strindberg’s play The Ghost Sonata. A small boat is shown apparently approaching or returning from the island, bearing a standing figure dressed in white and rowed by a dark-clad oarsman. Böcklin offered no explanation of these figures, but to associate them respectively with a recently departed soul and Charon, the boatman of Greek mythology

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who conducted the dead to Hades, seems obvious. Interestingly, Rachmaninoff’s first view of the painting would have been even more stygian than the painter intended; a friend had shown him a reproduction of it, and when the composer later saw the real thing he said not only that he preferred it in black and white, but that had he seen the original first he might not have thought of writing the piece at all. The piece begins with a quiet and sinister ostinato in 5/8, suggestive of the slow rhythm of the boatman’s oars, to which melodic fragments are gradually added in a build to a climax. Many of these phrases are related to the plainchant melody associated with the Dies irae section of the Latin Requiem that would feature again in Rachmaninoff’s music (as we shall see later in tonight’s concert). There is a contrasting middle section in a more settled 3/4 metre: the composer himself declared that it ‘did not refer to the painting’, and that it should be played ‘with more excitement and passion ... First death, then life’. Nevertheless, it is the initial mood that, following the most explicit reference to the Dies irae yet (low on clarinet and tremolo violins) and a short consolatory melody passed down through the woodwind, returns to end the work.

Jurowski conducts Rachmaninoff on the LPO Label The Isle of the Dead Symphonic Dances Vladimir Jurowski conductor London Philharmonic Orchestra LPO-0004 | £9.99

‘The chill mists of The Isle of the Dead are masterfully evoked, the lugubrious colours beautifully shaded ... Jurowski’s slow-burning Rachmaninoff is irresistible.’ The Independent on Sunday

Available from lpo.org.uk/recordings, the LPO Ticket Office (020 7840 4242) and all good CD outlets Available to download or stream online via iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and others.

Serge Rachmaninoff

Piano Concerto No. 1 in F sharp minor, Op. 1 (original version) Alexander Ghindin piano 1 Vivace 2 Andante cantabile 3 Allegro scherzando

Rachmaninoff first attempted and abandoned a piano concerto when he was sixteen. The following spring he began another, and although work on it was soon interrupted – he was, after all, still a student at the Moscow Conservatoire – in the summer of 1891 he was able to write to a friend: ‘On 18 July I fully completed composing and scoring my piano concerto ... the last two movements in two-and-a-half days ... I am pleased with the concerto.’ In March 1892 he gave the first performance of the first movement with a student orchestra conducted by the Conservatoire’s director, Vasily Safonov.

The Concerto was Rachmaninoff’s first major composition of any kind, and within a year it had been published, but soon he was beginning to have doubts about a work formed so early in his development, declining invitations to play it and eventually even forbidding his publisher to lend out the orchestral parts. By 1908 he was writing to another friend: ‘I plan to take my First Piano Concerto in hand tomorrow, look it over and then decide how much time and work will be required for its new version, and whether it is worth doing anyway ... I should like to work at it and, if possible, get it into decent shape.’ In fact he did not

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Programme notes continued

get round to the job until 1917, in the last few months before the Revolution compelled him to leave Russia, eventually to settle in the USA. The revisions Rachmaninoff made to his First Concerto are more wide-ranging than in any of his other compositions, making its inclusion in this Rachmaninoff: Inside Out series a compelling one. Unsurprisingly, the original shows its influences, most predictably of Tchaikovsky and, in the finale, Chopin, and Rachmaninoff appears to have been concerned to mute them in the 1917 version, as well as to improve both the piano and orchestral writing. The best of the melodic material, however, was in from the start, particularly in the first two movements, both of which feature broad themes that could only have come from Rachmaninoff’s pen. Here the revisions were mainly concerned with finding new and tauter ways of getting from one to another, so that the first movement acquired a more active central development section and a mostly new solo cadenza, while the short second movement took a slightly different course in its second half. The finale is the movement Rachmaninoff changed the most. Its two best themes – the lightfooted, rhythmically agile

dance-around heard shortly after the opening and the smoother, slower central melody that comes later – were kept, but whereas in the revision that slower theme appears only once, the original reveals that the composer’s first thoughts were to bring it back towards the end as a grand peroration. That Rachmaninoff took the decision to revise this Concerto rather than simply suppress it is evidence enough that he saw much in it that was worth preserving. And while the first version is far from being a perfect work, an encounter with it today enables us to glimpse the excitement it generated in those such as Alexander Osovsky, a fellow student who heard that first performance in 1892: ‘Before us stood an artist of immense originality ... the work’s monumental nature, the sweep, the dramatic tension, the impassioned pathos, the captivating, melodious lyricism, the commanding force of the rhythm, the shape of the melodic and harmonic ideas all pointed to the untrodden paths down which he was already travelling.’ True enough, but come back on 25 March 2015 to hear how an older and wiser Rachmaninoff sharpened the whole act up.

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

Serge Rachmaninoff

Symphonic Dances, Op. 45

At first glance, the title Symphonic Dances might seem to indicate a lighter approach from a composer known for writing four piano concertos and three symphonies. Perhaps Rachmaninoff himself was aware of that possibility when he came up with it as an alternative to his even more vague-sounding original choice: Fantastic Dances. Yet this half-hour, three-movement work, the last he wrote, is not only one of his finest

and most substantial creations, but one heavy with meaning. Composed in America in 1940 and offered to Eugene Ormandy and The Philadelphia Orchestra (who had recently given a major retrospective of his music), it seems the work of a man who is aware that it may be his last, and has chosen to use it both to look back over his creative life and express something of his relationship with death. The messages are clearly there,

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1 Non allegro 2 Andante con moto (Tempo di valse) 3 Lento assai – Allegro vivace

in the self-quotations and the referencing once more of the Dies irae theme already used in The Isle of the Dead (and more recently in the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini). That what they are telling us is difficult to interpret only makes the work more fascinating; the one direct clue we have to Rachmaninoff’s inspiration comes from a conversation with the choreographer Mikhail Fokine, in which he revealed that the three movements represented Midday, Twilight and Midnight respectively. Midday, then, is a three-part structure, in which a bold, stomping opening theme led by the strings gives way to a more serene and richly melodic middle section lent distinction by the only appearance in any Rachmaninoff composition of a saxophone. The material of the first section then returns, but towards the end of the movement the air clears and a brief but broad, lush new theme appears in the strings. No-one in the audience at the premiere would have known it, but this was a reference to the motto theme from Rachmaninoff’s First Symphony, the work that had received a critical mauling at its premiere in 1897 and not been heard in public since. We can only guess at Rachmaninoff’s reasons for resurrecting it here – was it a recollection of the traumatic event or of the youthful inspiration that lay behind the Symphony itself?

Recommended recordings of tonight’s works Rachmaninoff: The Isle of the Dead London Philharmonic Orchestra/Vladimir Jurowski LPO Label LPO-0004 (see page 9) Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 1 Nikolai Lugansky/City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Sakari Oramo Warner Classics

Twilight is a waltz, the aggressive opening brass figure notwithstanding. Berlioz, Tchaikovsky and Mahler had all composed symphonic waltzes in the past, and Rachmaninoff’s late example inhabits much the same world as theirs. Indeed, it is hard to escape the feeling that this is some kind of Totentanz, haunted by shades and ending in a spectral rush to silence. The element of macabre is enlarged upon in the final, Midnight movement, which makes prominent thematic use of the Dies irae; the fact that it is related to the First Symphony theme may or not be a coincidence, but it is certainly hard to ignore. Again the structure is tripartite, with dynamic outer sections enclosing a warmly romantic central panel. As the movement moves towards its conclusion, the Dies irae increasingly does battle with another chant theme, this time derived from the Russian Orthodox liturgy. At the end it is this newer chant, which Rachmaninoff had used in 1915 in his setting of the All-Night Vigil and which was associated with the words ‘Blessed be the Lord’, that wins the day. Rachmaninoff wrote the word ‘Alliluya’ into the score at the vital moment; was he anticipating his own victory over Death? Programme notes © Lindsay Kemp

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 orchestral works: lpo.org.uk/explore/videos.html

Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances London Philharmonic Orchestra/ Vladimir Jurowski LPO Label LPO-0004 (see page 9)

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Next LPO concerts at Royal Festival Hall

Friday 24 October 2014 | 7.30pm

Wednesday 29 October 2014 | 7.30pm

JTI Friday Series

Rachmaninoff: Inside Out

Wagner Prelude to Act 1, Lohengrin Beethoven Triple Concerto Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5

Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2

Jukka-Pekka Saraste conductor Maria João Pires piano Augustin Dumay violin Antonio Meneses cello

Sunday 26 October 2014 | 12 noon–1.00pm FUNharmonics Family Concert: The Toad and the Snail With new music by Benjamin Wallfisch to accompany Roald Dahl’s hilarious masterpiece. Benjamin Wallfisch conductor Chris Jarvis presenter

Vassily Sinaisky conductor Pavel Kolesnikov piano Rachmaninoff: Inside Out is presented in co-operation with the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation.

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.

Tickets £10–£18 adults, £5–£9 children

Unless otherwise stated, tickets £9–£39 (premium seats £65) London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office 020 7840 4242 Monday–Friday 10.00am–5.00pm | lpo.org.uk | Transaction fees: £1.75 online, £2.75 telephone Southbank Centre Ticket Office 0844 847 9920 Daily 9.00am–8.00pm | southbankcentre.co.uk Transaction fees: £1.75 online, £2.75 telephone. No transaction fee for bookings made in person

Autumn tours

New CD: Poulenc & Saint-Saëns organ works

Next Thursday (9 October), the Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski jet off to California – the Orchestra’s first visit to the USA’s West Coast in eight years. Pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet joins the Orchestra for concerts in Santa Barbara, Costa Mesa, Northridge (California State University) and San Francisco. They then fly to the East Coast for a concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall, followed by appearances in Toronto (Roy Thomson Hall) and Chicago (Symphony Center).

Just released on the LPO Label is a disc of Poulenc’s Organ Concerto and Saint-Saëns’s ‘Organ’ Symphony, recorded live at Royal Festival Hall (LPO-0081). This sell-out concert in March 2014, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin with organist James O’Donnell, launched the refurbished Royal Festival Hall organ, complete for the first time since 2005.

Don’t forget you can follow all our tour adventures on Twitter: @lporchestra

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The CD is priced £9.99, including free postage and packaging. Buy from lpo.org.uk/recordings, the London Philharmonic Orchestra Box Office (020 7840 4242), all good CD outlets, and the Royal Festival Hall shop. Also available to download or stream online via iTunes, Spotify and others.

I N S I D E

O U T

A year-long exploration of the composer’s life and music, at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall throughout 2014/15 Friday 3 October 2014 | 7.30pm JTI Friday Series

Rachmaninoff The Isle of the Dead | Symphonic Dances | Piano Concerto No. 1 (original version)

Saturday 7 February 2015 | 7.30pm Rachmaninoff Three Russian Songs | Spring Enescu Symphony No. 3

Vladimir Jurowski conductor | Alexander Ghindin piano

Vladimir Jurowski conductor | Andrei Bondarenko baritone London Philharmonic Choir

Wednesday 29 October 2014 | 7.30pm

Wednesday 11 February 2015 | 7.30pm

Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 | Symphony No. 2

Stravinsky Symphony in Three Movements Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 | The Bells

Vassily Sinaisky conductor | Pavel Kolesnikov piano

Friday 7 November 2014 | 7.30pm JTI Friday Series

Vasily Petrenko conductor | Jorge Luis Prats piano Anna Samuil soprano | Daniil Shtoda tenor Alexander Vinogradov bass | London Philharmonic Choir

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

Friday 13 February 2015 | 7.30pm

Osmo Vänskä conductor | Nikolai Lugansky piano

Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 4 (original version) Shostakovich Symphony No. 4

Friday 28 November 2014 | 7.30pm

Vasily Petrenko conductor | Alexander Ghindin piano

JTI Friday Series

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

JTI Friday Series

Wednesday 25 March 2015 | 7.30pm Mozart Symphony No. 36 (Linz) | Dvořák Symphony No. 8 Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 1 (final version)

David Zinman conductor | Behzod Abduraimov piano

Ilyich Rivas conductor | Dmitry Mayboroda piano

Wednesday 3 December 2014 | 7.30pm

Wednesday 29 April 2015 | 7.30pm

Szymanowski Concert Overture Scriabin Piano Concerto | Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 1

Rachmaninoff Four Pieces | Ten Songs | Symphony No. 3 Vladimir Jurowski conductor | Vsevolod Grivnov tenor

Vladimir Jurowski conductor | Igor Levit piano

Wednesday 21 January 2015 | 7.30pm Wagner Das Rheingold (excerpts) Rachmaninoff The Miserly Knight (semi-staged) Vladimir Jurowski conductor | Vsevolod Grivnov Albert Maxim Mikhailov Servant | Viacheslav Voynarovskiy Moneylender | Albert Shagidullin The Duke Sergei Leiferkus The Baron | Annabel Arden director

Tickets: £9–£39 (Premium seats £65) See booking details on opposite page Rachmaninoff: Inside Out is presented in co-operation with the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 13

We would like to acknowledge the generous support of the following Thomas Beecham Group Patrons, Principal Benefactors and Benefactors: Thomas Beecham Group The Tsukanov Family Foundation Neil Westreich William and Alex de Winton Simon Robey The Sharp Family Julian & Gill Simmonds* Anonymous Garf & Gill Collins* Andrew Davenport Mrs Sonja Drexler David & Victoria Graham Fuller Mrs Philip Kan* Mr & Mrs Makharinsky Geoff & Meg Mann Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp Eric 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 Benefactors Mark & Elizabeth Adams Lady Jane Berrill Desmond & Ruth Cecil Mr John H Cook David Ellen Commander Vincent Evans Mr Daniel Goldstein Peter MacDonald Eggers Dr Eva Lotta & Mr Thierry Sciard Mr & Mrs David Malpas Mr Michael Posen Mr & Mrs G Stein Mr & Mrs John C Tucker Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood Lady Marina Vaizey Grenville & Krysia Williams Mr Anthony Yolland Benefactors Mrs A Beare David & Patricia Buck Mrs Alan Carrington Mr & Mrs Stewart Cohen Mr Alistair Corbett Georgy Djaparidze Mr David Edgecombe Mr Richard Fernyhough Tony & Susan Hayes Michael & Christine Henry Malcolm Herring Douglas Home Ivan Hurry Mr Glenn Hurstfield

Per Jonsson Mr Gerald Levin Sheila Ashley Lewis Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Dr Frank Lim Paul & Brigitta Lock Robert Markwick Mr Brian Marsh Andrew T Mills John Montgomery Dr Karen Morton Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill Tom & Phillis Sharpe Martin and Cheryl Southgate Professor John Studd Mr Peter Tausig Mrs Kazue Turner Simon Turner Howard & Sheelagh Watson Mr Laurie Watt Des & Maggie Whitelock Christopher Williams Bill Yoe and others who wish to remain anonymous Hon. Benefactor Elliott Bernerd Hon. Life Members Kenneth Goode Carol Colburn Grigor CBE Pehr G Gyllenhammar Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE

The generosity of our Sponsors, Corporate Members, supporters and donors is gratefully acknowledged: Corporate Members Silver: AREVA UK Berenberg Bank British American Business Carter-Ruck Bronze: Appleyard & Trew LLP Charles Russell Leventis Overseas Preferred Partners Corinthia Hotel London Heineken Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd Sipsmith Steinway Villa Maria In-kind Sponsors Google Inc Sela / Tilley’s Sweets

14 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

Trusts and Foundations Angus Allnatt Charitable Foundation Ambache Charitable Trust Ruth Berkowitz Charitable Trust The Boltini Trust Borletti-Buitoni Trust Britten-Pears Foundation The Candide Trust The Peter Carr Charitable Trust, in memory of Peter Carr The Ernest Cook Trust The Coutts Charitable Trust The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Dunard Fund The Equitable Charitable Trust Fidelio Charitable Trust The Foyle Foundation Lucille Graham Trust The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust Help Musicians UK The Hinrichsen Foundation The Hobson Charity Kirby Laing Foundation The Leche Trust Marsh Christian Trust

The Mayor of London’s Fund for Young Musicians Adam Mickiewicz Institute The Peter Minet Trust The Ann and Frederick O’Brien Charitable Trust Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de musique romantique française Polish Cultural Institute in London PRS for Music Foundation Rivers Foundation The R K Charitable Trust Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation Schroder Charity Trust Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation The David Solomons Charitable Trust The Steel Charitable Trust The John Thaw Foundation The Tillett Trust UK Friends of the Felix-MendelssohnBartholdy-Foundation Garfield Weston Foundation The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust Youth Music and others who wish to remain anonymous

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 England Dunard Fund Emmanuel & Barrie Roman The Sharp Family The 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 Djaparidze Mrs Mina Goodman and Miss Suzanne Goodman Robert Markwick The Rothschild Foundation Haitink Patrons Mark & Elizabeth Adams Lady Jane Berrill David & Yi Yao Buckley Bruno de Kegel Goldman Sachs International Moya Greene Tony and Susie Hayes Lady Roslyn Marion Lyons Diana and Allan Morgenthau Charitable Trust Dr Karen Morton Ruth Rattenbury Sir Bernard Rix

Kasia Robinski David Ross and Line Forestier (Canada) Tom and Phillis Sharpe Mr & Mrs G Stein TFS Loans Limited The Tsukanov Family Foundation Guy & Utti Whittaker Pritchard Donors Anonymous Linda Blackstone Michael Blackstone Yan Bonduelle Richard and Jo Brass Britten-Pears Foundation Business Events Sydney Desmond & Ruth Cecil Lady June Chichester John Childress & Christiane Wuillamie Lindka Cierach Paul Collins Mr Alistair Corbett Dolly Costopoulos Mark Damazer Olivier Demarthe David Dennis Bill & Lisa Dodd Mr David Edgecombe David Ellen Commander Vincent Evans Karima & David G Lyuba Galkina David Goldberg Mr Daniel Goldstein Ffion Hague Rebecca Halford Harrison Michael & Christine Henry Honeymead Arts Trust John Hunter

Ivan Hurry Rehmet Kassim-Lakha Tanya Kornilova Peter Leaver Mr Mark Leishman LVO and Mrs Fiona Leishman Howard & Marilyn Levene Mr Gerald Levin Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Dr Frank Lim Dr Eva Lotta & Mr Thierry Sciard Peter Mace Geoff & Meg Mann Ulrike Mansel Marsh Christian Trust John Montgomery Rosemary Morgan Paris Natar John Owen Edmund Pirouet Mr Michael Posen Sarah & John Priestland Victoria Provis William Shawcross Tim Slorick Howard Snell Lady Valerie Solti Stanley Stecker Lady Marina Vaizey Helen Walker Timothy Walker AM Laurence Watt Des & Maggie Whitelock Brian Whittle Christopher Williams Peter Wilson Smith Victoria Yanakova Mr Anthony Yolland

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 15

Administration

Board of Directors Victoria Sharp OBE Chairman Stewart McIlwham* President Gareth Newman* Vice-President Dr Manon Antoniazzi Richard Brass Desmond Cecil CMG Vesselin Gellev* Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS Dr Catherine C. Høgel Martin Höhmann* George Peniston* Kevin Rundell* Julian Simmonds Mark Templeton* Natasha Tsukanova Timothy Walker AM Laurence Watt Neil Westreich * Player-Director Advisory Council Victoria 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 Shackleton Lord Sharman of Redlynch OBE Thomas Sharpe QC Martin Southgate Sir Philip Thomas Sir John Tooley Chris Viney Timothy Walker AM Elizabeth Winter American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Inc. Jenny Ireland Co-Chairman William A. Kerr Co-Chairman Kyung-Wha Chung Alexandra Jupin Dr. Felisa B. Kaplan Jill Fine Mainelli Kristina McPhee Dr. Joseph Mulvehill Harvey M. Spear, Esq. Danny Lopez Hon. Chairman Noel Kilkenny Hon. Director Victoria Sharp OBE Hon. Director Richard Gee, Esq Of Counsel Jenifer L. Keiser, CPA, EisnerAmper LLP

Chief Executive

Education and Community

Digital Projects

Timothy Walker AM Chief Executive and Artistic Director

Isabella Kernot Education Director

Alison Atkinson Digital Projects Director

Alexandra Clarke Education and Community Project Manager

Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant

Amy Sugarman PA to the Chief Executive / Administrative Assistant Finance David Burke General Manager and Finance Director

Lucy Duffy Education and Community Project Manager

Public Relations Albion Media (Tel: 020 3077 4930)

Richard Mallett Education and Community Producer