lpo programme notes 20 april 2011

MAHLER ANNIVERSARY

SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALLWednesday 20 April 2011 | 7.30pm

VLADIMIR JUROWSKIconductor

JANINE JANSENviolin

BACHSuite from the Orchestral Works of JS Bach(arranged by Mahler) (18’)

SHOSTAKOVICHViolin Concerto No. 2 (30’)

INTERVAL

WEBERNFive Movements for string orchestra (11’)

BEETHOVENString Quartet in F minor, Op. 95 (arranged forstring orchestra by Mahler) (39’)

PROGRAMME £3

CONTENTS

2 List of Players3 Orchestra History4 Southbank Centre5 Vladimir Jurowski6 Janine Jansen7 Programme Notes13 Supporters14 Recordings15 Administration16 Future Concerts

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

Principal Conductor VLADIMIR JUROWSKIPrincipal Guest Conductor YANNICK NÉZET-SÉGUINLeader PIETER SCHOEMANComposer in Residence JULIAN ANDERSONPatron HRH THE DUKE OF KENT KGChief Executive and Artistic Director TIMOTHY WALKER AM†

† supported by Macquarie Group

CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Tonight’s concert is being recordedby BBC Radio 3 for broadcast on 25 April 2011.

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2 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

FIRST VIOLINSDennis Kim Guest LeaderVesselin Gellev Sub-LeaderChair supported byJohn and Angela Kessler

Shlomy DobrinskyCatherine CraigThomas EisnerTina GruenbergMartin HöhmannChair supported byRichard Karl Goeltz

Geoffrey LynnRobert PoolSarah StreatfeildYang ZhangRebecca ShorrockPeter NallGalina Tanney

SECOND VIOLINSEugene Tichindeleanu GuestPrincipalClare Duckworth Co-PrincipalChair supported by Richard and Victoria Sharp

Jeongmin KimJoseph MaherKate BirchallChair supported by David and Victoria Graham Fuller

Nancy ElanFiona HighamNynke HijlkemaMarie-Anne MairesseAndrew ThurgoodDean WilliamsonSioni WilliamsPeter GrahamStephen Stewart

VIOLASAlexander Zemtsov* PrincipalChair supported by The Tsukanov Family

Robert DuncanSusanne MartensBenedetto PollaniLaura VallejoDaniel CornfordIsabel PereiraNaomi HoltSarah MalcolmMartin FennAnthony ByrneClaudio Cavalletti

CELLOSKristina Blaumane PrincipalSusanne Beer Co-PrincipalLaura DonoghueJonathan AylingChair supported by Caroline,Jamie and Zander Sharp

Santiago Sabino Carvalho+

Gregory WalmsleySue SutherleySusanna RiddellLybov UlybeshevaTom Roff

DOUBLE BASSESTim Gibbs PrincipalLaurence LovelleGeorge PenistonRichard LewisKenneth KnussenTom WalleyLouis GarsonDamian Rubido Gonzalez

FLUTESJaime Martin* PrincipalSue Thomas*

PICCOLOStewart McIlwham* Principal

OBOESIan Hardwick PrincipalAngela Tennick

CLARINETSTom Watmough GuestPrincipalEmily Meredith

BASSOONSJohn Price PrincipalEmma Harding

CONTRA BASSOONSimon Estell Principal

HORNSJohn Ryan* PrincipalMartin HobbsJenny CoxGareth Mollison

TRUMPETSPaul Beniston* PrincipalDaniel NewellNicholas Betts Co-Principal

TIMPANISimon Carrington* Principal

PERCUSSIONRachel Gledhill Principal

PIANOJohn Alley

ORGANCatherine Edwards

ASSISTANT CONDUCTORThomas Blunt

* Holds a professorialappointment in London

+ Chevalier of the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco

Chair SupportersThe London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are notpresent at this concert:

Andrew DavenportGeoff and Meg MannJulian and Gill Simmonds

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London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3


Patrick Harrison

Seventy-eight years after Sir Thomas Beecham foundedthe London Philharmonic Orchestra, it is recognisedtoday as one of the finest orchestras on the internationalstage. Following Beecham’s influential founding tenurethe Orchestra’s Principal Conductorship has been passedfrom one illustrious musician to another, amongst themSir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, KlausTennstedt and Kurt Masur. This impressive traditioncontinued in September 2007 when Vladimir Jurowskibecame the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor and, in afurther exciting move, the Orchestra appointed YannickNézet-Séguin its new Principal Guest Conductor fromSeptember 2008.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra has been performingat Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall since it openedin 1951, becoming Resident Orchestra in 1992. It playsthere around 40 times each season with many of theworld’s most sought after conductors and soloists.Concert highlights in 2010/11 include an exploration ofMahler’s symphonies and complete song cycles duringthe composer’s anniversary season; the premières ofworks by Matteo D’Amico, Magnus Lindberg and BrettDean; a rare opportunity to hear Rossini’s opera Aurelianoin Palmira in collaboration with long term partner OperaRara; and works by the Orchestra’s new Composer inResidence, Julian Anderson.

In addition to its London season and a series of concertsat Wigmore Hall, the Orchestra has flourishing

residencies in Brighton and Eastbourne, and performsregularly around the UK. It is unique in combining theseconcert activities with esteemed opera performanceseach summer at Glyndebourne Festival Opera where ithas been the Resident Symphony Orchestra since 1964.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra performs toenthusiastic audiences all round the world. In 1956 itbecame the first British orchestra to appear in SovietRussia and in 1973 made the first ever visit to China by aWestern orchestra. Touring continues to form asignificant part of the Orchestra’s schedule and issupported by Aviva, the International Touring Partner ofthe London Philharmonic Orchestra. Tours in 2010/11include visits to Finland, Germany, South Korea, Spain,France, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Having long been embraced by the recording,broadcasting and film industries, the LondonPhilharmonic Orchestra broadcasts regularly on domesticand international television and radio. It also works withthe Hollywood and UK film industries, recordingsoundtracks for blockbuster motion pictures includingthe Oscar-winning score for The Lord of the Rings trilogyand scores for Lawrence of Arabia, The Mission,Philadelphia and East is East.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra made its firstrecordings on 10 October 1932, just three days after itsfirst public performance. It has recorded and broadcast

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regularly ever since, and in 2005 established its ownrecord label. The recordings on its own label are takenmainly from live concerts given with distinguishedconductors over the years including the Orchestra’sPrincipal Conductors from Beecham and Boult, throughHaitink, Solti and Tennstedt, to Masur and Jurowski.

Recent additions to the catalogue have includedacclaimed releases of Christmas choral music conductedby Vladimir Jurowski, Bruckner’s Symphony No. 6conducted by Christoph Eschenbach, Verdi’s Requiemconducted by Jesús López-Cobos, Holst’s The Planetsconducted by Vladimir Jurowski and Elgar’s SymphonyNo. 1 and Sea Pictureswith Vernon Handley and JanetBaker. The Orchestra’s own-label CDs are also widelyavailable to download. Visit www.lpo.org.uk/shop for thelatest releases.

The Orchestra reaches thousands of Londoners throughits rich programme of community and school-basedactivity in Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, whichincludes the offshoot ensembles Renga and The Band, itsFoyle Future Firsts apprenticeship scheme foroutstanding young instrumentalists, and regular familyand schools concerts.

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

There are many ways to experience and stay in touchwith the Orchestra’s activities: visit www.lpo.org.uk,subscribe to our podcast series, download our iPhoneapplication and join us on Facebook and Twitter.

‘ … a simply tremendous performance ofMahler’s 3rd Symphony … Jurowski and hisplayers plunged us into a winter ofdiscontent so profoundly expectant thateven the inveterate coughers were silenced.’EDWARD SECKERSON, THE INDEPENDENT, 23 SEPTEMBER 2010

WELCOME TO SOUTHBANK CENTRE

We hope you enjoy your visit. We have a Duty Manageravailable at all times. If you have any queries please askany member of staff for assistance.

Eating, drinking and shopping? Southbank Centre shopsand restaurants include: Foyles, EAT, Giraffe, Strada, YO!Sushi, wagamama, Le Pain Quotidien, Las Iguanas, pingpong, Canteen, Caffè Vergnano 1882, Skylon, Concreteand Feng Sushi, as well as cafes, restaurants and shopsinside Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall andHayward Gallery.

If you wish to get in touch with us following your visitplease contact Kenelm Roberts, our Head of CustomerRelations, at Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, LondonSE1 8XX or email [email protected] orphone 020 7960 4250.

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 ifthere is a suitable break in the performance

RECORDING is not permitted in the auditorium withoutthe prior consent of Southbank Centre. Southbank Centrereserves the right to confiscate video or sound equipmentand hold it in safekeeping until the performance hasended

MOBILES, PAGERS AND WATCHES should be switchedoff before the performance begins

SOUTHBANK CENTRE

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VLADIMIR JUROWSKICONDUCTOR

Born in Moscow, the son of conductor Mikhail Jurowski,Vladimir Jurowski completed the first part of hismusical studies at the Music College of the MoscowConservatory. In 1990 he relocated with his family toGermany where he continued his studies in Dresdenand Berlin, studying conducting with Rolf Reuter andvocal coaching with Semion Skigin. In 1995 he made hisinternational debut at the Wexford Festival, where heconducted Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night. The same yearsaw his brilliant debut at the Royal Opera House CoventGarden in Nabucco. In 1996 he joined the ensemble ofKomische Oper Berlin, becoming First Kapellmeister in1997 and continuing to work at the Komische Oper on apermanent basis until 2001.

Since 1997 Vladimir Jurowski has been a guest at someof the world’s leading musical institutions including theRoyal Opera House Covent Garden, Teatro La Fenice diVenezia, Opéra Bastille de Paris, Théâtre de la MonnaieBruxelles, Maggio Musicale Festival Florence, RossiniOpera Festival Pesaro, Edinburgh Festival, SemperoperDresden and the Teatro Comunale di Bologna (where heserved as Principal Guest Conductor between 2000 and2003). In 1999 he made his debut at the MetropolitanOpera New York with Rigoletto.

In January 2001 Vladimir Jurowski took up the positionof Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera and in2003 was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of theLondon Philharmonic Orchestra, becoming theOrchestra’s Principal Conductor in September 2007. Healso holds the title of Principal Artist of the Orchestra ofthe Age of Enlightenment, and from 2005 to 2009served as Principal Guest Conductor of the RussianNational Orchestra with whom he will continue to workin the years ahead.

Vladimir Jurowski is a regular guest with many of theworld’s leading orchestras including the BerlinPhilharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw,Bavarian Radio Symphony, Dresden Staatskapelle, LosAngeles Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestras aswell as the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. Highlights ofthe 2010/11 season and beyond include his debuts withthe Vienna Philharmonic, Cleveland, San FranciscoSymphony and Mahler Chamber Orchestras, and returnvisits to the Chicago Symphony, Chamber Orchestra ofEurope, Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, StPetersburg Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestras.

His operatic engagements have included Jenůfa, TheQueen of Spades and Hänsel und Gretel at theMetropolitan Opera, Parsifal and Wozzeck at WelshNational Opera, War and Peace at the Opéra National deParis, Eugene Onegin at La Scala Milan, as well as DieZauberflöte, La Cenerentola, Otello, Macbeth, Falstaff,Tristan und Isolde, Don Giovanni, The Rake’s Progress andPeter Eötvös’ Love and Other Demons at GlyndebourneOpera. Future engagements include new productions ofDie Meistersinger and The Cunning Little Vixen atGlyndebourne, Die Frau ohne Schatten at theMetropolitan Opera, Russlan and Ludmila at the BolshoiTheatre, and Iolanta at the Dresden Semperoper.

Jurowski’s discography includes the first ever recordingof Giya Kancheli’s cantata Exil for ECM (1994), L’Étoile duNord by Meyerbeer for Naxos-Marco Polo (1996), andWerther for BMG (1999) as well as live recordings ofworks by Rachmaninov, Turnage, Tchaikovsky, Britten,Brahms and Shostakovich on the London PhilharmonicOrchestra’s own label, and Prokofiev’s Betrothal in aMonastery on Glyndebourne Opera’s own label. He alsorecords for PentaTone with the Russian NationalOrchestra, with releases to date including Tchaikovsky’sSuite No. 3 and Stravinsky’s Divertimento from Le Baiserde la fée, Shostakovich’s Symphonies Nos 1 and 6,Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 and Tchaikovsky’s HamletIncidental Music. Glyndebourne have released DVDrecordings of his performances of La Cenerentola, GianniSchicchi, Die Fledermaus and Rachmaninov’s The MiserlyKnight, and other recent DVD releases include Hänselund Gretel from the Metropolitan Opera New York, andhis first concert as the London Philharmonic Orchestra’sPrincipal Conductor featuring works by Wagner, Bergand Mahler (released by Medici Arts).

Kare

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bins

on

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JANINE JANSENVIOLIN

Janine Jansen is internationally recognised as one of thegreat violinists and a truly exciting and versatile artist.Her London debut in November 2002, with thePhilharmonia Orchestra and Vladimir Ashkenazy, wasquickly followed by invitations from some of the world’smost prestigious orchestras, including the BerlinPhilharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, London Symphony,Mahler Chamber, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia,Cleveland and NHK Symphony Orchestras. She hasworked with such eminent conductors as Valery Gergiev,Mariss Jansons, Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Chailly, NeemeJärvi, Paavo Järvi, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Daniel Harding,Edo de Waart, Gustavo Dudamel and Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Janine Jansen has an exclusive recording contract withDecca (Universal Music). Her most recent release is aFrench recital disc entitled Beau Soir with pianist ItamarGolan. Each one of her previous five albums has beenawarded a Platinum Disc for sales in The Netherlands.She is renowned for her success on iTunes, herrecordings having reached number one in the digitalcharts on a number of occasions.

Highlights of her 2010/11 season include performanceswith the New York Philharmonic, London Philharmonic,Oslo Philharmonic and Danish National SymphonyOrchestras as well as the Orchestre de Paris. She will betouring this season with both the London SymphonyOrchestra and the Philharmonia Orchestra. With theDeutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, she touredJapan. In the 2009/10 season she curated her own‘Carte Blanche’ series at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw,and this year, as Artist-in-Residence for the hr-Sinfonieorchester, she will take part in a number ofprojects including a European tour.

In addition to her concerto performances, Janine is adevoted performer of chamber music and is giving anumber of recitals featuring the music from her latestalbum with Itamar Golan in Paris, London, Dortmund,Brussels and Frankfurt. She established and curates theannual International Chamber Music Festival in Utrecht,and since 1998 she has been a member of SpectrumConcerts Berlin, an important chamber music series inthe Berlin Philharmonie. Her chamber partners includeJean-Yves Thibaudet, Mischa Maisky, Julian Rachlin,Itamar Golan, Martin Fröst, Khatia Buniatishvili, Leif OveAndsnes and Torleif Thedéen.

A former BBC New Generation Artist, Janine studiedwith Coosje Wijzenbeek, Philipp Hirshhorn and BorisBelkin. In September 2003, she received the DutchMusic Prize from the Ministry of Culture – the highestdistinction an artist can receive in The Netherlands. Shehas received numerous other awards including threeEdison Klassiek Public Awards and three Echo Awards forher Vivaldi recording in 2006, her Mendelssohn/Bruchalbum in 2007 and her Beethoven and Britten ViolinConcertos disc in 2010. The latter was awarded top prizein the Concerto Recording of the Year category for 20thand 21st century music. In 2007 she received the NDRMusikpreis for outstanding artistic achievement and in2008 she was awarded the VSCD Klassieke Muziekprijsfor individual achievement. In May 2009 she receivedthe RPS Instrumentalist Award for performances in theUK and in February 2010 an Edison Award for herBeethoven/Britten CD, in the ‘Concerts’ category. In thesame month the recording also won a Preis derDeutschen Schallplattenkritik.

Janine Jansen plays the ‘Barrere’ violin by AntonioStradivari, on extended loan from the Elise MathildeFoundation.

Sara

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Gustav Mahler created his ‘Bach Suite’ in 1909, for hisdebut season as conductor of the New YorkPhilharmonic Orchestra. It was first performed inNovember that year, in the opening concert of a‘Historical Cycle’ running through the season; theprogramme also included a Bach violin concerto andmusic by Handel, Rameau, Grétry and Haydn. Thepremière was later recalled by a New York critic as ‘the

sensation of a musical season’, and was followed bynumerous repeat performances, in New York and ontour; Mahler also included the work in his programmeas a guest conductor in Rome in the spring of 1910. Itwas published that same year, the only one of Mahler’seditions and arrangements to appear in print in hislifetime.

PROGRAMME NOTES

SUITE FROM THE ORCHESTRAL WORKS OF JS BACH

Ouverture: Grave – [Allegro] – Lentement | Rondeau –Badinerie – Tempo del Rondeau | Air | Gavottes I and II

MAHLER’S ARRANGEMENTS, MAHLER’S INFLUENCE

Gustav Mahler, who died a hundred years ago nextmonth, is the central figure in this programme, eventhough it does not include any of his originalcompositions. His versions of music by other composers,ranging from ‘retouchings’ of orchestrations to acompletion of an unfinished Weber opera, wereoffshoots of his conducting career, which ran in parallelto his composing activities throughout his adult life. Hecompiled and arranged his Suite of movements fromBach’s orchestral Suites Nos 2 and 3 in 1909, for his firstseason as conductor of the New York PhilharmonicOrchestra; it includes freely inventive keyboard parts fororgan, in the first movement, and for ‘harpsichord’(actually a modified piano). Mahler’s arrangement forstring orchestra of Beethoven’s concisely dramatic Op. 95String Quartet dates from a decade earlier: he conductedthe first performance in Vienna in 1899. It is astraightforward reproduction of the original, with asparingly added double bass part, devised to allow thework to make its full effect in a large concert hall.

Mahler was one of the strongest influences on DmitriShostakovich: as the conductor Nikolai Malko wrote, ‘theangularity of Mahler, his sharpness, the peculiarity of his

humour, and his tendency towards grandiose forms …, aswell as his musical grimaces, found a vivid response inShostakovich … both as a person and as a musician’.Many of these qualities can be heard in the Second ViolinConcerto which Shostakovich wrote in 1967 for theSoviet virtuoso David Oistrakh, a three-movement workof generally sparse textures, with an expressive slowmovement and a sardonic finale.

Mahler was something of a father-figure to the Viennesegroup formed of Schoenberg and his pupils; and one ofthose pupils, Anton Webern, was an especially ferventadmirer of his music, and by all accounts an inspiredconductor of it. As for influence, at first sight there mightappear to be little in common between Mahler’s vastsymphonic structures and Webern’s immenselycompressed (and in his later works rigorously organised)assemblies of crystalline miniatures. But Webern’s musicdoes resemble Mahler’s in its elusive combination ofintense and volatile expressivity with objectivedetachment. This is evident in the Five Movements, Op. 5, which Webern wrote for string quartet in 1909,and arranged for string orchestra twenty years later –reinterpreting the original much more freely than Mahlerin his Bach and Beethoven arrangements.

Johann SebastianBACH (1685-1750)

arranged by

GustavMAHLER (1860-1911)

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PROGRAMME NOTES

The Suite combines movementsfrom two of Bach’s orchestral suitesin the French style – both of themprobably written for the LeipzigCollegium Musicum, the studentmusical society which Bach directed(with one short break) from 1729 toabout 1741. First comes theextended Overture from the SuiteNo. 2 in B minor for flute, stringsand continuo, consisting of a slowintroduction, a main quick sectionlargely in fugal texture but alsoincluding concerto-like episodesfeaturing the flute, and a slowconclusion. This is followed by twomore movements from the sameSuite, the graceful Rondeau inmoderate gavotte time and thelively concluding ‘Badinerie’ (‘jesting’ or ‘fooling’);Mahler repeats the first section of the Rondeau at theend to create an A–B–A structure. The remainingmovements are from the Suite No. 3 in D major for two oboes, three trumpets, timpani, stringsand continuo: the Air for strings, already well known by1909 in numerous arrangements; and the pair ofGavottes, the second acting as a trio to the first so thatthey already form another A–B–A shape.

Mahler did not re-orchestrate any of these movements:he took the musical text and the scoring directly fromthe scholarly Bach Gesellschaft Edition. (He evenretained Bach’s original high trumpet parts, whichsuggests that the New York players had the use of the‘Bach trumpets’ in D invented in the previous decade forperformances of Baroque music.) But he addednumerous markings of dynamics, articulation andphrasing, in some places shortening note-values at theends of phrases to indicate the effect that he wanted;he also added instructions for pizzicato in parts of theaccompaniment to the flute line in the ‘Badinerie’ and(half a century before Jacques Loussier!) much of thebass line of the Air. And, with a large string section inmind, he directed that the flute part should be doubledin forte by ‘additional flutes, reinforced by a clarinet ifneeded’.

However, Mahler’s only creative contribution to theSuite was a very free and intermittent ‘realisation’ of thecontinuo keyboard part, for organ in the Ouverture only,and in all the movements except the Air for‘harpsichord’ (in his performances actually a smallgrand piano modified by the addition of metal tacks tothe hammers). In the score, Mahler wrote that thesekeyboard parts were ‘to be regarded as a sketch whichshould bear, in general, the character of a freeimprovisation’. He regularly took the ‘harpsichord’ parthimself, directing the orchestra from the keyboard, andaccording to one critic exhibiting ‘great dexterity inlaying down and picking up the baton’. Many years later,his widow Alma recalled that he ‘altered his continuorealisation according to his fancy every time and cross-examined me afterwards about the effect of each’.

‘Basically it’s a compilation of music from the Second andThird Orchestral Suites. It’s like a modern remix, The BestOf...! … Some of it will sound rather amusing to peopleknowing what Bach can sound like these days, but weshouldn’t forget that in Mahler’s day there weren’t anyperiod performances. There were certainly performancesof Bach in churches, and people were already then tryingto perform Bach with smaller forces. But on the otherhand these Mahler arrangements gave a huge number ofpeople the possibility of hearing Bach’s music.’VLADIMIR JUROWSKI, IN AN INTERVIEW FOR THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA’S WEBSITE. TO HEAR THE COMPLETEINTERVIEW, GO TO THE CONCERT PAGE ON THE WEBSITE(www.lpo.org.uk) AND CLICK ‘MORE INFO’.

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PROGRAMME NOTES

Shostakovich composed the second of his two violinconcertos in April and May 1967. Like the first, writtensome two decades earlier, it was designed for the greatSoviet virtuoso David Oistrakh. Oistrakh claimed thatthe piece was intended as a sixtieth birthday present tohim, but delivered a year early; however, the composer’sbiographer Laurel E. Fay thinks that may have been theresult of a misunderstanding, as ‘this was not the kindof error the punctilious Shostakovich was prone to’. Thefirst performance took place in Moscow in September1967, with Kirill Kondrashin conducting. Shostakovichwas unable to be present, as he was in hospital afterbreaking his right leg earlier that month. But he heard abroadcast of the British première in November, and sentOistrakh a telegram of gratitude.

The Concerto was written in the wake of Shostakovich’sheart attack in May 1966, and in some respectsanticipates the spare, sombre ‘late style’ of his finalyears. It is in C sharp minor, with the finale in D flatmajor: this is an unusual and potentially awkwardchoice of key for a violin concerto, but Fay quotesOistrakh’s observation that after becoming acquaintedwith the work ‘he appreciated it as the ingenious strokeof a composer who genuinely understood theexpressive capabilities of the instrument.’ The orchestralscoring is for double woodwind, with an additionalcontrabassoon, four horns, timpani, tom-tom andstrings. The horns, as the only representatives of thebrass section, frequently come to the fore, with the firsthorn in particular sometimes taking on a concertanterole, as it does more consistently in the First CelloConcerto of 1959. But the centre of attentionnevertheless remains the soloist: Shostakovich wasquoted in a preview article in Pravda as saying that ‘inthe new concerto virtually everything is set out by thesolo violin, everything is concentrated in its part and theorchestra accompanies, as it were’.

The work has a traditional outline of three movements.The first, and longest, begins with an extendedparagraph growing out of the soloist’s expressive initialmelody and its insistent accompaniment in the cellosand basses. At a faster tempo, the woodwind introducea spiky second theme, with a rhythmic counter-melodyfor the soloist; and this spins off further ideas, notablyclose canons between solo violin and woodwind and afanfare for the horn. The development begins with aswitch from 4/4 time to 3/4, and soon reaches andsustains a new level of urgency and vehemence. Therecapitulation begins with a cadenza for the soloistpresenting the first theme in two-part counterpoint,later brings back the second theme in a new, smoothed-out violin version, and ends quietly and drily with arecurring rhythmic figure for the soloist, by now muted,and the tom-tom.

The second movement is an intense Adagio, in whichthe solo violin plays virtually without pause through afirst section presenting a sequence of melodies andcounter-melodies, a generally calmer second section, adeclamatory episode accompanied first by timpani rollsand then by fierce string tremolos, and a varied repriseof the first section; only in the coda does the first horntake over the lead. The finale follows without a break:after a short slow introduction, it is a rondo on a brittlemain theme. At the heart of the movement is anextended cadenza, beginning with an allusion to theintroduction and later harking back to theaccompaniment figure at the start of the whole work.After the last return of the rondo theme, the soloist’svirtuosity drives the movement to an emphaticconclusion.

VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 2, OP. 129

JANINE JANSEN violin

Moderato | Adagio – | Adagio – Allegro

DmitriSHOSTAKOVICH

1906-1975

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PROGRAMME NOTES

Anton Webern was a pupil of Arnold Schoenbergbetween the autumn of 1904 and the end of 1908.During that time he composed a string quartet andseveral shorter quartet pieces – projects which he musthave found especially congenial as he was himself acellist and an enthusiastic quartet player. His first workafter the end of his studies was also for string quartet:the set of Five Movements which he wrote at hisfamily’s country estate, the Preglhof, in the spring of1909. These were performed in Vienna in February ofthe following year, but not published until 1922.

The Five Movements are Webern’s first instrumentalessay in free atonality (writing without key-centres) – anarea which Schoenberg had recently begun exploring,notably in his Second String Quartet of 1907/08. Thepieces are all short, highly concentrated and intenselyexpressive, and draw on the full range of theinstruments’ colouristic resources: pizzicato, tremolo,harmonics; playing with the mute, with the wood of thebow, on the bridge and on the fingerboard. The firstpiece swings between extremes of urgency and calm,the second is slow and subdued throughout, the third isa tiny scherzo accelerating at the end, the fourth isanother whispered interlude, and the last fluctuates intempo and expression to reach a slow and quiet ending.On one level, the Five Movements constitute a series ofstudies in coherent (though not yet systematic)organisation of material within a new and strange

musical universe. On another level, they are a musicalresponse to the death of the composer’s mother inSeptember 1906, a traumatic event which Webernhimself described as affecting his whole output for thefollowing few years.

In 1928, at the request of his publisher, Webern made arelatively straightforward arrangement of the FiveMovements for string orchestra. But early the followingyear he withdrew this version and replaced it by a muchmore finely detailed transcription, conceived for a full-sized orchestral body of strings, with each sectionregularly divided into two parts and frequent use ofsoloists. This version was performed in Philadelphia inMarch 1930, and all the pieces except the first wereconducted by Webern for the BBC in London in May1931; but the score remained unpublished until longafter the composer’s death.

While he was in the middle of making the transcription,in February 1929, Webern wrote to Schoenberg that thework was giving him ‘much satisfaction. Only now is itbecoming a true orchestral setting. I am using theoriginal solely as a sketch for the full score. I lay bare themotivic structure (in doing so, I often come to fourteenstaves)…’ (Hans Moldenhauer’s translation). Andtowards the end of his life Webern declared: ‘It hasreally turned into something entirely new!’

FIVE MOVEMENTS FOR STRING ORCHESTRA, OP. 5

Heftig bewegt [With violent movement] alternatingwith Etwas ruhiger [Somewhat calmer] | Sehr langsam[Very slow] | Sehr lebhaft [Very lively] | Sehr langsam[Very slow] | In zarter Bewegung [Moving tenderly]

AntonWEBERN

1883-1945

INTERVAL 20 minutes

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

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STRING QUARTET IN F MINOR, OP. 95

Allegro con brio | Allegretto ma non troppo – | Allegro assai vivace ma serioso | Larghetto espressivo –Allegretto agitato – Allegro

Ludwig vanBEETHOVEN (1770-1827)

arranged by

GustavMAHLER (1860-1911)

Between Beethoven’s three middle-period quartet masterpieces, the‘Rasumovsky’ set Op. 59, and thegreat series of late quartets,starting with Op. 127, stand twoisolated works, the ‘Harp’ QuartetOp. 74 and the F minor Quartet Op. 95. The latter was completed inOctober 1810, shortly after themusic for Goethe’s play Egmont,which includes the famousOverture in the same key.Beethoven said that the Quartetwas ‘written for a small circle ofconnoisseurs and is never to beperformed in public’, and on hismanuscript gave it the titleQuartett serioso. This ‘seriousness’of purpose runs through the wholework, along with an extremecompression which makes it theshortest of all Beethoven’s quartets.

The first movement begins with aclenched fist, in the form of anexplosive short phrase in octaves.This phrase, and especially its initialsemiquaver figure, dominates themovement, abating briefly for the more lyrical secondsubject, but maintaining a threatening presence almostthroughout the short central development section andthe relatively extended coda. The Allegretto offers nopoint of repose: its D major outer sections are madeuneasy by touches of the minor, and most of its middlesection consists of a highly chromatic fugue – the most‘serious’ of styles and textures.

A held diminished-seventh chord acts as a pivotbetween this movement and the next, a scherzo – notso called: after all, the word means ‘joke’ – of violentabruptness. The main section alternates with a twice-stated trio section, but Beethoven wastes no time onliteral repetition, recomposing both scherzo and trio ateach reappearance (and marking an increase in speedfor the last return of the scherzo). A tiny but

PROGRAMME NOTES

‘A quartet for string orchestra! Thatsounds odd to you. I already know allthe objections which one will raise:the destruction of intimacy, ofindividuality. But one is mistaken.What I am proposing is but an idealperformance of the quartet. Chambermusic is fundamentally written for asmall room. It is really only enjoyedproperly by the performers. The four people who sit attheir music desks are also the public to whom this musicapplies. When chamber music is transferred to theconcert hall this intimacy is already lost. And still more islost: in the large room the four voices disperse, they donot speak to the listeners with the power which thecomposer wanted to give them. I give you this power,because I reinforce the voices. I release the expansionwhich lies dormant in the parts and give the notes wings.’ GUSTAV MAHLER, IN AN INTERVIEW WITH A VIENNESE MAGAZINE IN JANUARY 1899 (TRANSLATED IN DAVID PICKETT’S CHAPTER IN THECAMBRIDGE COMPANION TO MAHLER)

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concentrated Larghetto introduction begins the finale,another concise and urgent movement which is inminor keys virtually throughout – until its codasuddenly and unexpectedly takes wing at a quickertempo and in the major.

Mahler’s arrangement of the Op. 95 Quartet for stringorchestra was made for the 1898/99 season of theVienna Philharmonic Orchestra, his first as itsconductor; it was first performed in January 1899. Itpreserves Beethoven’s text with no additional detail,and very few changes of phrasing and dynamics –though the marking of the held chord at the end of thesecond movement is changed from pp to pppp. Even theadded double bass part, reinforcing the cellos at thelower octave, is very restrained: in the secondmovement, for example, it is restricted to pizzicatodoubling of the cello phrase at the beginning and the

half-way point. Essentially, Mahler’s main contributionwas the very idea of performing the quartet orchestrally– something which he explained to a magazineinterviewer as simply realising Beethoven’s ‘mightyidea’, with the sound of ‘twenty violins in a hall’ capableof equalling ‘the voice of one violin in a small room’, andalso of achieving ‘a pianissimo still much more tender,more delicate, indeed let’s say more intimate, than oneviolin’ (translation from David Pickett’s chapter in TheCambridge Companion to Mahler). In the event, thereaction of the audience and most critics to theperformance was unsympathetic, and Mahler neverrepeated the work. But his marked-up score and partsremained in the Vienna Philharmonic archives, andformed the basis for an edition by the composer DavidMatthews which was published in 1990.

Programme notes by Anthony Burton © 2011

PROGRAMME NOTES

NEW on the LPO LabelMahler’s Resurrection Symphony

May’s release on the LPO Label will be Vladimir Jurowski’sfirst recorded Mahler Symphony. Taken from a concert givenat the Royal Festival Hall in September 2009, this recording ofMahler’s almighty Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection) featuressoprano Adriana Kucerova, mezzo soprano Christianne Stotijnand the London Philharmonic Choir.

Get your exclusive iTunes pre-release

We are delighted to be able to offer you the chance to listento this recording now through a special pre-releasearrangement with iTunes. To take advantage of this offer,search for ‘Mahler Jurowski’ on iTunes and download theSymphony today.

‘When the chorus finally stood up and let rip in the closing moments, it set the seal on a masterfulperformance from a world-classorchestra-conductor team.’THE GUARDIAN

Barlines – FREE Post-Concert Event | Level 2 Foyer at Royal Festival HallThere will be an informal discussion with Vladimir Jurowski following this evening’s performance.

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Thomas Beecham GroupMr & Mrs Richard & Victoria SharpJulian & Gill SimmondsThe Tsukanov Family

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

Guy & Utti Whittaker

Principal BenefactorsMark & Elizabeth AdamsJane AttiasLady Jane BerrillDesmond & Ruth CecilMr John H CookMrs Sonja DrexlerMr Charles DumasDavid EllenCommander Vincent Evans

Mr Daniel GoldsteinMrs Barbara GreenOliver HeatonMr & Mrs Jeffrey HerrmannPeter MacDonald EggersMr & Mrs David MalpasAndrew T MillsMr Maxwell MorrisonMr Michael PosenMr & Mrs Thierry SciardMr John Soderquist & Mr CostasMichaelides

Mr & Mrs G SteinMr & Mrs John C TuckerHoward & Sheelagh WatsonMr Laurie WattMr Anthony Yolland

BenefactorsMrs A BeareDr & Mrs Alan CarringtonCBE FRS

Marika Cobbold & Michael Patchett-Joyce

Mr & Mrs Stewart CohenMr Alistair CorbettMr David Edgecombe

Mr Richard FernyhoughKen FollettMichael & Christine HenryMr Glenn HurstfieldMr R K JehaMr & Mrs Maurice LambertMr Gerald LevinSheila Ashley LewisWg. Cdr. & Mrs M T LiddiardOBE JP RAF

Mr Frank LimPaul & Brigitta LockMr Brian MarshJohn MontgomeryEdmund PirouetMr Peter TausigMrs Kazue TurnerLady Marina VaizeyMr D Whitelock

Hon. BenefactorElliott Bernerd

Hon. Life MembersKenneth GoodeMrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE

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

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

Corporate MembersAppleyard & Trew llpAREVA UKBritish American BusinessBrown Brothers HarrimanCharles RussellDestination Québec – UKDiagonal ConsultingLazardLeventis OverseasMan Group plcQuébec Government Office in London

Corporate DonorLombard Street Research

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

Trusts and FoundationsAllianz Cultural FoundationThe Andor Charitable TrustArts and Business

Ruth Berkowitz Charitable TrustThe Boltini TrustBorletti-Buitoni TrustBritten-Pears FoundationThe Candide Charitable TrustThe John S Cohen FoundationThe Coutts Charitable TrustThe Delius TrustThe Dorset FoundationThe D’Oyly Carte Charitable TrustDunard FundThe Equitable Charitable TrustThe Eranda FoundationThe Ernest Cook TrustThe Fenton Arts TrustThe Foyle FoundationThe Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris

Charitable TrustHattori Foundation for Music and

the ArtsCapital Radio’s Help a London ChildThe Idlewild TrustThe Emmanuel Kaye FoundationThe Leverhulme TrustLord and Lady Lurgan TrustMaurice Marks Charitable TrustThe Michael Marks Charitable TrustMarsh Christian Trust

UK Friends of the Felix-Mendelssohn-BartholdyFoundation

The Mercers’ CompanyAdam Mickiewicz InstitutePaul Morgan Charitable TrustMaxwell Morrison Charitable TrustMusicians Benevolent FundThe R K Charitable TrustSerge Rachmaninoff FoundationThe Reed FoundationThe Rubin FoundationThe Seary Charitable TrustThe Samuel Sebba Charitable TrustSound ConnectionsThe Stansfield TrustThe Steel Charitable TrustThe Bernard Sunley Charitable

FoundationThe Swan TrustJohn Thaw FoundationThe Underwood TrustGarfield Weston FoundationYouth Music

and others who wish to remainanonymous.

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RECORDINGS ON THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA’S OWN RECORD LABEL


LPO-0028 Vladimir Jurowski conducts Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14 withsoloists Tatiana Monogarova and Sergei Leiferkus as part of Volume 3 of theLondon Philharmonic Orchestra’s 75th Anniversary Box Sets

‘ ... a wonderfully “felt” performance in the way conductor and orchestraarticulate and sustain this intimate, death-ridden song cycle.’ ANDREW CLARK, FINANCIAL TIMES, 27 OCTOBER 2007

This volume features four CDs by the Orchestra’s most recent PrincipalConductors: Klaus Tennstedt (Beethoven Symphony No. 9), Franz Welser-Möst (Strauss, Mozart, Schubert and Bruckner), Kurt Masur (ShostakovichSymphonies Nos 1 and 5) and Vladimir Jurowski (Shostakovich SymphonyNo. 14 as above).

The recordings may be downloaded in high quality MP3 format from www.lpo.org.uk/shop. CDs may alsobe purchased from all good retail outlets or through the London Philharmonic Orchestra: telephone 0207840 4242 (Mon-Fri 10am-5pm) or visit the website www.lpo.org.uk

LPO-0033 Jaap van Zweden conducts Mahler’s Symphony No. 5

‘He unfolds the drama of the first movement with a sure grasp of the need forsubtle variations of tempo … the finale is a joyous, life-affirming rondo thatlifts the spirits.’ MICHAEL KENNEDY, THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, 10 AUGUST 2008

NEW RELEASE

LPO-0052 Klaus Tennstedt conducts Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with soloistsJulia Varady, Jane Eaglen, Susan Bullock, Trudeliese Schmidt, JadwigaRappé, Kenneth Riegel, Eike Wilm Schulte, Hans Sotin, LondonPhilharmonic Choir, Eton College Boys’ Choir and London Symphony Chorus

LPO-0053 Vladimir Jurowski conducts Shostakovich’s Piano Concertos Nos 1and 2 and Piano Quintet with Martin Helmchen

Supported by the Borletti-Buitoni Trust (bbtrust.com)

‘Shostakovich gives piano and orchestra well-balanced dialogue in two worksfor the medium, captured with nimble energy by fine young soloist MartinHelmchen and the LPO in this live recording.’

FIONA MADDOCKS, THE OBSERVER, 20 MARCH 2011

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ADMINISTRATION

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Martin HöhmannChairmanStewart McIlwhamVice-ChairmanSue BohlingLord Currie*Jonathan Dawson*Gareth NewmanGeorge PenistonSir Bernard Rix*Kevin RundellSir Philip Thomas*The Rt Hon. Lord Wakeham DL*Timothy Walker AM †*Non-Executive Directors

THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC TRUST

Pehr Gyllenhammar ChairmanDesmond Cecil CMGRichard Karl GoeltzJonathan Harris CBE FRICSDr Catherine C. HøgelMartin HöhmannAngela KesslerClive Marks OBE FCAVictoria SharpJulian SimmondsTimothy Walker AM †Laurence Watt

AMERICAN FRIENDS OF THELONDON PHILHARMONICORCHESTRA, INC.

We are very grateful to theBoard of the American Friendsof the London PhilharmonicOrchestra for its support ofthe Orchestra’s activities inthe 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 ChandlerConcerts Director

Ruth SansomArtistic Administrator

Graham WoodConcerts, Recordings andGlyndebourne Manager

Alison JonesConcerts Co-ordinator

Jenny ChadwickTours and EngagementsManager

Jo OrrPA to the Executive / Concerts Assistant

Matthew FreemanRecordings Consultant

EDUCATION ANDCOMMUNITY PROGRAMME

Patrick BaileyEducation and CommunityDirector

Anne FindlayEducation Manager

Caz ValeCommunity Officer

Richard MallettEducation and Community Producer

ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL

Andrew CheneryOrchestra Personnel Manager

Sarah ThomasLibrarian

Michael PattisonStage Manager

Camilla BeggAssistant Orchestra PersonnelManager

Ken Graham TruckingInstrument Transportation(Tel: 01737 373305)

DEVELOPMENT

Nick JackmanDevelopment Director

Harriet MesherCharitable Giving Manager

Phoebe RouseCorporate Relations Manager

Melissa Van EmdenEvents Manager

Laura LuckhurstCorporate Relations andEvents Officer

Elisenda AyatsDevelopment and FinanceOfficer

MARKETING

Kath TroutMarketing Director

Ellie DragonettiMarketing Manager

Helen BoddyMarketing Co-ordinator

Frances CookPublications Manager

Samantha KendallBox Office Manager(Tel: 020 7840 4242)

Ed WestonIntern

Valerie BarberPress Consultant(Tel: 020 7586 8560)

ARCHIVES

Edmund PirouetConsultant

Philip StuartDiscographer

Gillian PoleRecordings Archive


89 Albert Embankment London SE1 7TPTel: 020 7840 4200Fax: 020 7840 4201Box Office: 020 7840 4242

www.lpo.org.ukVisit the website for fulldetails of LondonPhilharmonic Orchestraactivities.

The London PhilharmonicOrchestra Limited is aregistered charity No. 238045.

Photographs of Bach,Shostakovich, Mahler andBeethoven courtesy of theRoyal College of Music,London. Photo of Webern © Universal Edition.

Photograph on the front cover by Karen Robinson.

Programmes printed by Cantate.

†Supported by Macquarie Group

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FUTURE CONCERTSAT SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL

Wednesday 4 May 2011 | 7.30pm

Wagner Overture, Die MeistersingerR Strauss Four Last SongsTchaikovsky Symphony No. 5

Vladimir Jurowski conductorChristine Brewer soprano

Supported by Pritchard Englefield

MAHLER ANNIVERSARYSaturday 28 May 2011 | 7.30pm

Haydn Symphony No. 88Mahler Songs from Des knaben WunderhornBrahms Symphony No. 4

Vladimir Jurowski conductorChristian Gerhaher baritone

6.15pm–6.45pm | FREE Pre-Concert EventRoyal Festival HallSurrey University music lecturer Jeremy Barhamexamines ‘Music of the people? Mahler’s folksongrevival in the Lieder and symphony’.

FUNHARMONICS FAMILY CONCERTSunday 15 May 2011 | 11.30am

Kodály The Viennese Musical Clock from Háry János SuiteProkofievWaltz from Cinderella: Suite No. 1Haydn Excerpt from Symphony No. 101 (The Clock)McNeff The Clockwork SuiteBeethoven Allegretto from Symphony No. 8J Strauss Perpetuum mobilePonchielli Dance of the Hours from La gioconda

Stuart Stratford conductorChris Jarvis presenter

Foyer Events from 10amYou can try your hand at playing an orchestralinstrument in one of our Have-a-Go sessions, get yourface painted or join our human orchestra – all in thefoyers before and after the performance.Generously supported by The Jeniffer and JonathanHarris Charitable Trust.

TO BOOKTickets 4 and 28 May: £9-£38 | Premium seats £55Tickets 15 May: Child £4-£8 | Adult £8-£16

London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office020 7840 4242 | www.lpo.org.ukMon-Fri 10am-5pm; no booking fee

Southbank Centre Ticket Office | 0844 847 9920www.southbankcentre.co.uk/lpoDaily, 9am-8pm. £2.75 telephone / £1.75 online bookingfees; no fee for Southbank Centre members

Christine Brewerand ChristianGerhaher

Live orchestral concerts specially recorded by BBC Radio 3 are a vital part of the

station’s output and I’m delighted that we will continue our long association with

the London Philharmonic Orchestra by bringing performances from this season to

the widest possible audience, including those listening at home, on air and online.

Roger Wright

Controller, BBC Radio 3

Tonight’s concert will be broadcast in Performance on 3 on 25 April 2011 at 7pm,

and is available online for 7 days after broadcast at bbc.co.uk/radio3

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lpo programme notes 20 april 2011

Documents

london chevalier

arranged forstring orchestra

gill simmonds57699 lpo

piccolostewart mcilwham

principalsue thomas

duke of kent kgchief

f minor

meg mannjulian