2023/24 concert season at the Southbank Centre
Free concert programme
Principal Conductor Edward Gardner supported by Aud Jebsen Principal Guest Conductor Karina Canellakis Conductor Emeritus Vladimir Jurowski Patron HRH The Duke of Kent KG Artistic Director Elena Dubinets Chief Executive David Burke Leader Pieter Schoeman supported by Neil Westreich
Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall Wednesday 29 November 2023 | 7.30pm
Beethoven’s Fifth Beethoven Leonore Overture No. 3 (13’) Price Violin Concerto No. 2* (14’) Interval (20’) Beethoven Symphony No. 5 (36’) Kristiina Poska conductor Pieter Schoeman violin† * A grant from the ABO Trust’s Sirens programme (supporting the promotion of music by historical women composers) has made this performance possible.
† LPO chair supported by Neil Westreich.
The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide. Concert presented by the London Philharmonic Orchestra
Contents 2
Welcome LPO news 3 On stage tonight 4 London Philharmonic Orchestra 5 Next concerts 6 Kristiina Poska 7 Pieter Schoeman Beethoven on the LPO Label 8 Programme notes 12 Recommended recordings 13 Sound Futures donors 14 Thank you 16 LPO administration
London Philharmonic Orchestra • 29 November 2023 • Beethoven’s Fifth
Welcome
LPO news
Welcome to the Southbank Centre
Christmas at the Southbank Centre Next month we’re getting into the festive spirit with three concerts as part of the Southbank Centre’s Christmas season. On Thursday 14 December, Christmas in Tinseltown features favourite seasonal film themes – from Miracle on 34th Street to The Holiday and The Grinch – presented by Mark Kermode and featuring singer Tommy Blaize alongside the LPO.
We’re the largest arts centre in the UK and one of the nation’s top visitor attractions, showcasing the world’s most exciting artists at our venues in the heart of London. We’re here to present great cultural experiences that bring people together, and open up the arts to everyone. The Southbank Centre is made up of the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, Hayward Gallery, National Poetry Library and Arts Council Collection. We’re one of London’s favourite meeting spots, with lots of free events and places to relax, eat and shop next to the Thames.
On Saturday 16 December at 3pm & 7.30pm we join the London Philharmonic Choir & London Youth Choirs, West End star Marisha Wallace (Guys and Dolls, Hairspray, Dreamgirls, Waitress), and host YolanDa Brown for Christmas Classics. Sing along to some of the ultimate Christmas tunes, from Hark! The Herald Angels Sing to Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree. You’ll be feeling festive in no time! Tickets available via the Southbank Centre only (online, by phone or in person): southbankcentre.co.uk
We hope you enjoy your visit. If you need any information or help, please ask a member of staff. You can also write to us at Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX, or email hello@southbankcentre.co.uk
Carols at Waterloo – Tuesday 5 December
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Next Tuesday, 5 December, we’re bringing back one of our favourite LPO traditions – Christmas carols at Waterloo railway station. Members of our brass section and friends, plus singers from the London Philharmonic Choir, will be spreading some festive cheer on the main concourse from 5pm onwards, raising money for Save the Children. If you’re passing, please do join us for a carol or two, and please give generously!
Drinks You are welcome to bring drinks from the venue’s bars and cafés into the Royal Festival Hall to enjoy during tonight’s concert. Please be considerate to fellow audience members by keeping noise during the concert to a minimum, and please take your glasses with you for recycling afterwards. Thank you.
Christmas gifts from the LPO Looking for a Christmas present for the music-lover in your life? LPO gift vouchers are the perfect option – vouchers can be purchased for any amount, are presented in a smart gift card, and can be redeemed against any concert in the LPO season at the Southbank Centre within a year of purchase. Or how about a gift membership to our LPO Friends scheme? Get up close to the Orchestra with opportunities to see behind the scenes at members’ rehearsals and special events throughout the season. It’s the perfect gift for music connoisseurs and newcomers alike. Gift membership starts at just £60 (£6 per month equivalent). Visit lpo.org.uk/gifts to find out more or buy online.
Enjoyed tonight’s concert? Help us to share the wonder of the LPO by making a donation today. Use the QR code to donate via the LPO website, or visit lpo.org.uk/donate. Thank you.
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London Philharmonic Orchestra • 29 November 2023 • Beethoven’s Fifth
On stage tonight First Violins
Pieter Schoeman* Leader
Chair supported by Neil Westreich
Alice Ivy-Pemberton Co-Leader Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader Kate Oswin Chair supported by Eric Tomsett
Lasma Taimina
Chair supported by Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik V. G. Cave
Minn Majoe Thomas Eisner Martin Höhmann Katalin Varnagy
Chair supported by Sonja Drexler
Yang Zhang Cassandra Hamilton Nilufar Alimaksumova
Second Violins
Tania Mazzetti Principal Emma Oldfield Co-Principal Ray Liu Kate Birchall Nancy Elan Fiona Higham
Double Basses
Kevin Rundell* Principal Sebastian Pennar Co-Principal Hugh Kluger Laura Murphy Simon Oliver
Juliette Bausor Principal Marie Sato
Piccolo
Stewart McIlwham* Principal
Ian Hardwick* Principal Alice Munday
Sue Böhling* Principal
Chair supported by Dr Barry Grimaldi
Chair supported by Roger Greenwood
Benjamin Mellefont* Principal Thomas Watmough
Ashley Stevens
Cellos
Kristina Blaumane Principal
Chair supported by Bianca & Stuart Roden
Silvestrs Kalniņš Francis Bucknall David Lale Tom Roff Helen Thomas
David Whitehouse
Bass Trombone Tuba
Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal
Timpani
Simon Carrington* Principal
Percussion
Andrew Barclay* Principal
Chair supported by Gill & Garf Collins
Cor Anglais
Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra
Nick Bootiman Guest Principal Martin Wray Katharine Leek Benedetto Pollani Laura Vallejo Lucia Ortiz Sauco Toby Warr James Heron
Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton
Chair supported by Victoria Robey OBE
Oboes
Clarinets
Violas
Mark Templeton* Principal
Lyndon Meredith Principal
Flutes
Chair supported by David & Yi Buckley
Nynke Hijlkema Claudia Tarrant-Matthews
Trombones
Karen Hutt
Chair supported by Mr B C Fairhall
Feargus Brennan Ignacio Molins
Harp
Rachel Masters Principal
Celeste
Bassoons
Jonathan Davies* Principal
Chair supported by Sir Simon Robey
Dominic Tyler
Contrabassoon
Simon Estell* Principal
Horns
John Ryan* Principal Martin Hobbs Mark Vines Co-Principal Gareth Mollison
Trumpets
Paul Beniston* Principal Tom Nielsen Co-Principal Anne McAneney*
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Clíodna Shanahan *Professor at a London conservatoire
The LPO also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose player is not present at this concert: Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp
London Philharmonic Orchestra • 29 November 2023 • Beethoven’s Fifth
© Mark Allan
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Our conductors
Uniquely groundbreaking and exhilarating to watch and hear, the London Philharmonic Orchestra has been celebrated as one of the world’s great orchestras since Sir Thomas Beecham founded it in 1932. With every performance we aim to bring wonder to the modern world and cement our position as a leading orchestra for the 21st century.
Our Principal Conductors have included some of the greatest historic names like Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. In 2021 Edward Gardner became our 13th Principal Conductor, taking the Orchestra into its tenth decade. Vladimir Jurowski became Conductor Emeritus in recognition of his impact as Principal Conductor from 2007–21. Karina Canellakis is our current Principal Guest Conductor and Tania León our Composer-in-Residence.
Our home is here at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, where we’re at the beating heart of London’s cultural life. You’ll also find us at our resident venues in Brighton, Eastbourne and Saffron Walden, and on tour throughout the UK and internationally, performing to sell-out audiences worldwide. Each summer we’re resident at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, combining the magic of opera with Glyndebourne’s glorious setting in the Sussex countryside.
Soundtrack to key moments Everyone will have heard the London Philharmonic Orchestra, whether it’s playing the world’s National Anthems at every medal ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, our iconic recording with Pavarotti that made Nessun Dorma a global football anthem, or closing the flotilla at The Queen’s Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant. And you’ll almost certainly have heard us on the soundtracks for major films including The Lord of the Rings.
Sharing the wonder You’ll find us online, on streaming platforms, on social media and through our broadcast partnership with Marquee TV. During the pandemic period we launched ‘LPOnline’: over 100 videos of performances, insights and introductions to playlists, which led to us being named runner-up in the Digital Classical Music Awards 2020. During 2023/24 we’re once again be working with Marquee TV to broadcast selected live concerts, so you can share or relive the wonder from your own living room.
We also release live, studio and archive recordings on our own label, and are the world’s most-streamed orchestra, with over 15 million plays of our content each month.
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London Philharmonic Orchestra • 29 November 2023 • Beethoven’s Fifth
Next LPO concerts at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall
Next generations There’s nothing we love more than seeing the joy of children and families enjoying their first musical moments, and we’re passionate about equipping schools and teachers through schools’ concerts, resources and training. Reflecting our values of collaboration and inclusivity, our OrchLab and Open Sound Ensemble projects offer music-making opportunities for adults and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.
ANGELA GHEORGHIU OPERATIC GALA Saturday 2 December | 7.30pm
Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 1 (Winter Daydreams) Prokofiev Troika from Lieutenant Kijé Borodin Polovtsian Dances Plus operatic excerpts by Tchaikovsky, Giordani, Refice, Giordano & Puccini
Our LPO Junior Artists programme is leading the way in creating pathways into the profession for young artists from under-represented communities, and our LPO Young Composers and Foyle Future Firsts schemes support the next generation of professional musicians, bridging the transition from education to professional careers. We also recently launched the LPO Conducting Fellowship, supporting the development of outstanding early-career conductors from backgrounds currently under-represented in the profession.
Gergely Madaras conductor Angela Gheorghiu soprano* *Please note change of artist from previously advertised.
Looking forward The centrepiece of our 2023/24 season is our spring 2024 festival The Music in You. Reflecting our adventurous spirit, the festival embraces all kinds of expression – dance, music theatre, and audience participation. We’ll collaborate with artists from across the creative spectrum, and give premieres by composers including Tania León, Julian Joseph, Daniel Kidane, Victoria Vita Polevá, Luís Tinoco and John Williams.
SCHEHERAZADE
Wednesday 6 December | 7.30pm Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 (Emperor) Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade
Rising stars making their debuts with us in 2023/24 include conductors Tianyi Lu, Oksana Lyniv, Jonathon Heyward and Natalia Ponomarchuk, accordionist João Barradas and organist Anna Lapwood. We also present the long-awaited conclusion of Conductor Emeritus Vladimir Jurowski’s Wagner Ring Cycle, Götterdämmerung, and, as well as our titled conductors Edward Gardner and Karina Canellakis, we welcome back classical stars including Anne-Sophie Mutter, Robin Ticciati, Christian Tetzlaff and Danielle de Niese.
Tianyi Lu conductor Tom Borrow piano
lpo.org.uk
lpo.org.uk
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London Philharmonic Orchestra • 29 November 2023 • Beethoven’s Fifth
Kristiina Poska
© Kaupo Kikkas
conductor
The award-winning conductor Kristiina Poska is in high demand on the international music scene. She has been Chief Conductor of the Flanders Symphony Orchestra since the 2019/20 season, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra since 2021/22. She studied choral conducting at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in Tallinn, and orchestral conducting at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler, Berlin. Kristiina was a finalist at the renowned Donatella Flick LSO Competition in 2010 and at the Malko Competition in 2012, where she also won the Audience Prize. She then went on to win the prestigious German Conductors’ Prize in 2013.
worked with orchestras such as the Frankfurt Radio and Vienna Radio symphony orchestras; the Gothenburg, Tokyo and Estonian National symphony orchestras; and the Munich Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Tonkünstler Orchester Niederösterreich, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Camerata Salzburg, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Stuttgart Philharmonic, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, to name a few. Equally prolific in the operatic repertoire , this season Kristiina returns to the Berlin State Opera to conduct Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Recent opera productions include Così fan tutte at the Royal Danish Theatre, La bohème directed by Robert Carsen at the Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Carmen with the Stuttgart State Opera, and Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Semperoper Dresden. She has also appeared at the Komische Oper Berlin, Royal Swedish Opera, Norwegian Opera, English National Opera, Finnish National Opera, Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Stuttgart State Opera and Volksoper Vienna, among others.
Tonight’s concert is Kristiina’s debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and she will return to tour with the Orchestra to the Canary Islands Music Festival in January 2024. Other debuts this season include with the Oregon Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Spanish National Orchestra, Frankfurt Museumsorchester and NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo. This season Kristiina returns to the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Orchestre National de France, Hallé Orchestra and Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. She also tours with the Flanders Symphony Orchestra several times during the season, performing in the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands and France.
Kristiina Poska’s previous roles have included Principal Conductor of Cappella Academica from 2006–11, Kapellmeister at the Komische Oper Berlin from 2012–16, and Music Director at Theater Basel for the 2019/20 season. Her latest recording, of Beethoven’s Symphonies Nos. 1 and 7, released on Fuga Libera/Outhere, is the fruit of her successful collaboration with the Flanders Symphony Orchestra.
Past highlights include debuts with the BBC Philharmonic and BBC Scottish Symphony orchestras, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lille and Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, and returns to the Oslo Philharmonic, Netherlands Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and MDR Symphony orchestras. Additionally, she has
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London Philharmonic Orchestra • 29 November 2023 • Beethoven’s Fifth
Pieter Schoeman violin
© Benjamin Ealovega
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 on the LPO Label
Beethoven Coriolan Overture Symphony No. 5
Pieter Schoeman was appointed Leader of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008, having previously been Co-Leader since 2002. He is also a Professor of Violin at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance.
Klaus Tennstedt conductor LPO-0087 Recorded live at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall on 30 August 1990 & 23 February 1992.
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 the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall. As a chamber musician he regularly appears at London’s prestigious Wigmore Hall. His chamber music partners have included Anne-Sophie Mutter, Veronika Eberle, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Boris Garlitsky, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Martin Helmchen and Julia Fischer. Pieter has performed numerous times as a soloist with the LPO. Highlights have included an appearance as both conductor and soloist in Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at the Royal Festival Hall, the Brahms Double Concerto with Kristina Blaumane, and the Britten Double Concerto with Alexander Zemtsov, which was recorded and released on the LPO Label to great critical acclaim. He will reprise tonight’s performance of Florence Price’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with the LPO on tour at the Canary Islands Music Festival in January 2024, and again at the Bruges Concertgebouw in March 2024.
Beethoven Symphony No. 3 (Eroica) Symphony No. 5 Kurt Masur conductor LPO-0112 Recorded live at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall on 24 & 27 November 2004.
All LPO Label recordings are available on CD from all good outlets, and to download or stream via Apple Music Classical, Spotify, Idagio and others.
Pieter has appeared as Guest Leader with the BBC, Barcelona, Bordeaux, Lyon and Baltimore symphony orchestras; the Rotterdam and BBC Philharmonic orchestras; and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.
lpo.org.uk/recordings
Pieter’s chair in the LPO is generously supported by Neil Westreich.
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London Philharmonic Orchestra • 29 November 2023 • Beethoven’s Fifth
Programme notes Ludwig van Beethoven 1770–1827
Leonore Overture No. 3, Op. 72b 1806
As Beethoven himself was willing to concede, composing for the voice was never his strongest suit. ‘I do not like composing songs’, he once admitted. The eminent musicologist Carl Dahlhaus would go so far as to declare that Beethoven composed ‘against the voice’. It is little surprise then, that in an output that stretches from symphonies to string quartets, concertos to sonatas, there is just one opera attached to Beethoven’s name. And even this lone opera endured a long and protracted process of conception.
Photo courtesy of the Royal College of Music, London
Fidelio, as the opera would eventually become known, began life as Leonore in 1803. But this three-act opera (originally named after the heroine, Leonore), was subsequently revised and reduced into the two-act Fidelio (‘the faithful one’), and was premiered in the ‘final’ version as we know it today some 11 years later. The Overture, meanwhile, appeared in no fewer than four separate versions, of which the second incarnation – confusingly now known as the ‘Leonore Overture No. 3’ – seems to have earned its place as the concert-hall favourite. While Beethoven’s final Overture would take themes from the opera and use them to create a chronological précis of the opera’s main dramatic action, the Overture No. 3 is a dramatic curtain-raiser in its own right. Indeed, its tone is so dramatic that it is often at risk of overshadowing the opera itself, hence its more fitting place in the concert hall. The Overture begins morosely and in darkness in Florestan’s prison cell, his thoughts gradually drifting towards happier, earlier times. As minor transforms to major and Florestan’s fighting spirit returns, the Overture unfurls into a buoyant work of irrepressible energy, a triumph of liberty in the face of adversity, the epitome of Beethoven’s ‘heroic’ style. Programme note © Jo Kirkbride
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London Philharmonic Orchestra • 29 November 2023 • Beethoven’s Fifth
Programme notes Florence Price 1887–1953
Violin Concerto No. 2 1952
Pieter Schoeman violin LPO chair generously supported by Neil Westreich
At the New England Conservatory she studied composition with composers Frederick Converse and George Whitefield Chadwick, who himself embraced Black musical influences. She returned to Arkansas after her studies, but in the aftermath of the lynching of a Black man in Little Rock in 1927, Price moved to Chicago, where she soon enrolled in composition studies at the Chicago Musical College. She studied orchestration and harmony with Carl Busch, Wesley LaViolette and Arthur Olaf Anderson, as well as with Chicago composer Leo Sowerby, who became one of her champions. Price created some 300 musical works, ranging from songs to symphonies, yet her compositional achievements are still being recovered and rediscovered. As a Black woman and single mother, she faced the dual challenges of racism and sexism that limited her opportunities to perform and to publish. Furthermore, following her death in 1953 at the age of 66, many of her works were considered lost. In 2009, however, a trove of her handwritten manuscripts, including two violin concertos, were found in St Anne, Illinois, in a dilapidated house. The structure had once been the composer’s summer retreat. Happily, its new owners recognised the value of their musical discovery.
Composer, pianist and organist Florence Beatrice Price was born in 1887 in Little Rock, Arkansas, into a middleclass family of European, African and Native American descent. Her father was among the nation’s few Black dentists. Her mother, a music teacher, nurtured the future composer’s early training. Florence was a precocious child who graduated from high school aged 14 and enrolled in Boston’s New England Conservatory the next year. Many music conservatoires of the era treated Black students unfairly, so Price – despite the racial pride her mature compositions demonstrate – at first identified herself as being of Mexican heritage to reduce the burdens of racial discrimination that might interfere with her education.
Price completed her Violin Concerto No. 2 in 1952, only a year before her untimely death. A note on the original score indicates that it was written ‘For Minnie Cedargreen Jernberg’. The dedicatee was a skilled, white female violinist who graduated from the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago and later studied in Berlin. Originally from Iowa, she returned to Chicago and raised a family while remaining active as a performer. Continued overleaf
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London Philharmonic Orchestra • 29 November 2023 • Beethoven’s Fifth
Programme notes While Jernberg may have commissioned the work, information on any personal relationship between composer and dedicatee remains to be discovered. Jernberg did play the Concerto at least once – more than a decade after the composer’s death and without the full orchestral accompaniment – at the 1964 dedication of the Florence B. Price Elementary School in South Chicago. The work was not premiered in its intended form until 2018.
Next, the violin intones a lyrical second theme – a hymnlike tune that presents a soulful emotional contrast to the bright, animated first theme. Its flowing serenity seems to reflect Price’s heritage, both with reference to the African-American spiritual and the music of the Christian church more generally. A march-like interlude ushers in virtuoso passagework for the soloist, fulfilling the expectation that the concerto form will highlight the performer’s technical prowess. The dance-like gestures return, leading to a repeat of the hymn-tune melody. The orchestra then recapitulates the movement’s opening declarations, inspiring more virtuoso passagework from the soloist until the first dancing theme returns in the orchestra, now juxtaposed with the violin’s lyricism. Here Price seems to explore a variety of collaborative relationships between orchestra and soloist. The violin’s virtuoso passagework is next accompanied by the hymn-like theme in the ensemble. Violin and orchestra then alternate, sometimes with just a single note bouncing rapidly back and forth. The hymn tune returns one last time, at first seeming to bring the work to a peaceful close. Instead, Price interjects a cadential surprise: a return of the opening orchestral tutti. Its triumphant declarations propel a final virtuoso flourish from the soloist and set up a powerful set of reiterated, closing chords, no doubt intended to bring the audience to its collective feet in appreciation. The whole is thus a virtuoso showcase of thematic economy, compositional craft and expressive drama.
Price’s Concerto No. 2 is cast in the composer’s mature, modernist musical style. Even though it is conceived in contrasting sections, it comprises just a single, thematically interconnected movement. Price weaves together two primary musical themes within a skilfully contrapuntal and expressively chromatic idiom. The Concerto opens with a declamatory orchestral tutti, featuring an emphatic two-note gesture. Shortly afterwards, the solo violin enters in the operatic style of an accompanied recitative, as a kind of free opening cadenza. A gentle trill leads to the first theme, a lilting, dance-like melody characterised by skipping rhythms in snapped short-long pairs. This rhythmic motto is soon echoed by the bassoon and reappears throughout the Concerto. The violin then repeats the main theme an octave higher as the melody gradually spins out into a chromatic, serpentine line. The skipping gesture passes from instrument to instrument throughout the orchestra. Finally, the flute extends the violin’s closing ornament, bringing the first thematic section to a close.
Programme note © Mark Clague
Interval – 20 minutes An announcement will be made five minutes before the end of the interval.
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London Philharmonic Orchestra • 29 November 2023 • Beethoven’s Fifth
Programme notes Ludwig van Beethoven 1770–1827
Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 1808
1 Allegro con brio 2 Andante con moto 3 Scherzo: Allegro – 4 Allegro that it sounds in any way like Haydn. The music here is astonishingly terse, pared down to the melodic minimum, and the second theme, a relaxed horn-call expansion of the main motif answered by a reassuring embrace from the violins and woodwind, is quickly upon us. Yet it is this consolatory theme which, after a combative development section, reappears in swirling, nightmarish transformation in the movement’s long and turbulent coda.
Whatever the Fifth Symphony was to its earliest audiences, it was not comfortable. Those who took their seats in Vienna’s Theater an der Wien on 22 December 1808 for the concert at which the work was first performed would doubtless have had some idea what to expect. Anyone who had already heard the ‘Eroica’, or indeed the ‘Pastoral’ Symphony, which was also premiered earlier in the same concert, would have known that Beethoven had greatly expanded the timescale of the symphonic form, raised its level of seriousness and expressive weight, and brought to it an increasingly theatrical, even narrative strain. But few can have been prepared for the brusque, almost visceral assault this unique work was to make on their senses.
There is more than a hint of Haydn’s influence, too, in the slow second movement, which has the overall shape of one of his favourite forms, the ‘double variation set’ in which two themes are varied in alternation. The second of Beethoven’s themes provides occasional brief foretastes of the exultant mood of the finale, but at the end of this particular movement it is the more graceful first theme that wins the day.
Where did it come from? Well, Beethoven was a revolutionary of course, but he was one who worked within an established tradition, and who was subject to his fair share of influences. Several of these come together in the Fifth Symphony. One was Mozart, with whom he shared a special feeling for the expressive power of the key of C minor; another was the largescale, open-heartedly bombastic music composed for the public celebrations of Revolutionary France; and a third was Haydn, his teacher, who time and time again had shown in his string quartets and symphonies how to construct whole movements from small but highly pregnant thematic cells.
As in the Fourth Symphony, Beethoven did not call the third movement a scherzo, though in form and function it is one. If there is humour here, however, it is of a grim cast and beset by uncertainty. When a sturdier theme emerges, it is brief and troubled, dominated by a balefully intoned horn-call transformation of the fournote motif from the first movement. The mood lightens in the scurryingly fugal major-key ‘trio’ section (heard twice), but at its second reappearance the first theme, played pizzicato and pianissimo, takes on a stealthy, nocturnal character, before leading us to the most celebrated passage in the whole Symphony. Here, over held string notes and sinister tappings from the timpani,
This last influence is undoubtedly at its most potent in the highly dramatic first movement, totally dominated as it is by its famous four-note opening motif. Not
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London Philharmonic Orchestra • 29 November 2023 • Beethoven’s Fifth
Programme notes wisps of the first theme are heard, leading us for the moment we know not where. Gradually the excitement rises, until with a last sudden rush we find ourselves propelled into the blazingly triumphant C major of the finale. It is one of the most upliftingly theatrical moments in all music, and the unequivocal joyfulness of the ensuing movement (almost unremittingly loud, by the way, and reinforced for the purpose by Beethoven with trombones, piccolo and double bassoon) is not even diverted by the brief, perhaps mocking reapparance about halfway through of the third movement’s main theme, now gloriously overcome.
Recommended recordings of tonight’s works by Laurie Watt Beethoven: Leonore Overture No. 3 London Philharmonic Orchestra | Klaus Tennstedt (Warner Classics) Price: Violin Concerto No. 2 Randall Goosby | Yannick Nézet-Séguin Philadelphia Orchestra (Decca)
Whether one feels the Fifth Symphony as a journey from darkness to light, a depiction of adversity overcome, or as an emergence from some sort of underworld, there is no doubt that it has an effect on the listener that goes beyond the appreciation of its musical and formal niceties. Beethoven himself has left little clue as to what the Symphony is ‘about’, save for a possibly apocryphal remark to a friend about the first movement: ‘thus Fate knocks at the door’. Yet we know that he thought of many of his instrumental works in programmatic terms; whether or not we as listeners can guess them correctly, the fact that in his greatest symphonies we can sense them so strongly is proof of his success.
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 London Philharmonic Orchestra | Klaus Tennstedt (LPO Label LPO-0087: see page 7) or London Philharmonic Orchestra | Kurt Masur (LPO Label LPO-0112: see page 7)
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Programme note © Lindsay Kemp
We hope you enjoyed tonight’s concert. Could you spare a few moments to complete a short survey about your experience this evening? Your feedback is invaluable to us and will help to shape our future plans. To say thank you, at the end of the survey you will have the chance to opt in to a prize draw to win a £75 Amazon voucher. Just scan the QR code to begin the survey. Thank you!
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London Philharmonic Orchestra • 29 November 2023 • Beethoven’s Fifth
Sound Futures donors We are grateful to the following donors for their generous contributions to our Sound Futures campaign. Thanks to their support, we successfully raised £1 million by 30 April 2015 which has now been matched pound for pound by Arts Council England through a Catalyst Endowment grant. This has enabled us to create a £2 million endowment fund supporting special artistic projects, creative programming and education work with key venue partners including our Southbank Centre home. Supporters listed below donated £500 or over. For a full list of those who have given to this campaign please visit lpo.org.uk/soundfutures.
Masur Circle Arts Council England Dunard Fund Victoria Robey OBE Emmanuel & Barrie Roman The Underwood Trust
Welser-Möst Circle William & Alex de Winton John Ireland Charitable Trust The Tsukanov Family Foundation Neil Westreich
Tennstedt Circle Valentina & Dmitry Aksenov Richard Buxton The Candide Trust Michael & Elena Kroupeev Kirby Laing Foundation Mr & Mrs Makharinsky Alexey & Anastasia Reznikovich Sir Simon Robey Bianca & Stuart Roden Simon & Vero Turner The late Mr K Twyman
Solti Patrons Ageas John & Manon Antoniazzi Gabor Beyer, through BTO Management Consulting AG Jon Claydon Mrs Mina Goodman & Miss Suzanne Goodman Roddy & April Gow The Jeniffer & Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust Mr James R.D. Korner Christoph Ladanyi & Dr Sophia Ladanyi-Czernin Robert Markwick & Kasia Robinski The Maurice Marks Charitable Trust
Mr Paris Natar The Rothschild Foundation Tom & Phillis Sharpe The Viney Family
Haitink Patrons Mark & Elizabeth Adams Dr Christopher Aldren Mrs Pauline Baumgartner Lady Jane Berrill Mr Frederick Brittenden David & Yi Yao Buckley Mr Clive Butler Gill & Garf Collins Mr John H Cook Mr Alistair Corbett Bruno De Kegel Georgy Djaparidze David Ellen Christopher Fraser OBE David & Victoria Graham Fuller Goldman Sachs International Mr Gavin Graham Moya Greene Mrs Dorothy Hambleton Tony & Susie Hayes Malcolm Herring Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle Mrs Philip Kan Rehmet Kassim-Lakha de Morixe Rose & Dudley Leigh Lady Roslyn Marion Lyons Miss Jeanette Martin Duncan Matthews KC Diana & Allan Morgenthau Charitable Trust Dr Karen Morton Mr Roger Phillimore Ruth Rattenbury The Reed Foundation The Rind Foundation Sir Bernard Rix David Ross & Line Forestier (Canada)
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Carolina & Martin Schwab Dr Brian Smith Lady Valerie Solti Mr & Mrs G Stein Dr Peter Stephenson Miss Anne Stoddart TFS Loans Limited Marina Vaizey Jenny Watson Guy & Utti Whittaker
Pritchard Donors Ralph & Elizabeth Aldwinckle Mrs Arlene Beare Mr Patrick & Mrs Joan Benner Mr Conrad Blakey Dr Anthony Buckland Paul Collins Alastair Crawford Mr Derek B. Gray Mr Roger Greenwood The HA.SH Foundation Darren & Jennifer Holmes Honeymead Arts Trust Mr Geoffrey Kirkham Drs Frank & Gek Lim Peter Mace Mr & Mrs David Malpas Dr David McGibney Michael & Patricia McLaren-Turner Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill Mr Christopher Querée The Rosalyn & Nicholas Springer Charitable Trust Timothy Walker CBE AM Christopher Williams Peter Wilson Smith Mr Anthony Yolland and all other donors who wish to remain anonymous
London Philharmonic Orchestra • 29 November 2023 • Beethoven’s Fifth
Thank you We are extremely grateful to all donors who have given generously to the LPO over the past year. Your generosity helps maintain the breadth and depth of the LPO’s activities, as well as supporting the Orchestra both on and off the concert platform.
Artistic Director’s Circle
The American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra Anonymous donors Mrs Aline Foriel-Destezet Aud Jebsen In memory of Mrs Rita Reay Sir Simon & Lady Robey OBE
Orchestra Circle
William & Alex de Winton Edward Gardner & Sara Övinge Patricia Haitink Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle Mr & Mrs Philip Kan Neil Westreich
Principal Associates
Richard Buxton Gill & Garf Collins In memory of Brenda Lyndoe Casbon In memory of Ann Marguerite Collins Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik V. G. Cave George Ramishvili The Tsukanov Family Mr Florian Wunderlich
Associates
Mrs Irina Andreeva In memory of Len & Edna Beech Steven M. Berzin The Candide Trust John & Sam Dawson HSH Dr Donatus, Prince of Hohenzollern Stuart & Bianca Roden In memory of Hazel Amy Smith
Gold Patrons
Mrs Dorothy Hambleton Iain & Alicia Hasnip Eugene & Allison Hayes J Douglas Home Molly Jackson Mrs Farrah Jamal Mr & Mrs Jan Mr & Mrs Ralph Kanza Mr Peter King Jamie & Julia Korner Rose & Dudley Leigh Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Drs Frank & Gek Lim Mr & Mrs Makharinsky Mr Gordon McNair Andrew T Mills Denis & Yulia Nagy Andrew Neill Jamie Njoku-Goodwin Peter & Lucy Noble Oliver & Josie Ogg Mr Stephen Olton Simon & Lucy Owen-Johnstone Mr Roger Phillimore Mr Michael Posen Saskia Roberts John Romeo Priscylla Shaw Mr & Mrs John C Tucker Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood Karina Varivoda Grenville & Krysia Williams Joanna Williams
An anonymous donor David & Yi Buckley In memory of Allner Mavis Channing Sonja Drexler Peter & Fiona Espenhahn Mr B C Fairhall Hamish & Sophie Forsyth Virginia Gabbertas MBE Mr Roger Greenwood Malcolm Herring Julian & Gill Simmonds Eric Tomsett The Viney Family Guy & Utti Whittaker
Silver Patrons
Dame Colette Bowe David Burke & Valerie Graham Cameron & Kathryn Doley Ulrike & Benno Engelmann Dmitry & Ekaterina Gursky The Jeniffer & Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust John & Angela Kessler Mrs Elena & Mr Oleg Kolobov Mrs Elizabeth Meshkvicheva Mikhail Noskov & Vasilina Bindley Tom & Phillis Sharpe Mr Joe Topley & Ms Tracey Countryman Andrew & Rosemary Tusa Jenny Watson CBE Laurence Watt
Principal Supporters
Anonymous donors Ralph & Elizabeth Aldwinckle Mr John D Barnard Roger & Clare Barron Dr Anthony Buckland Dr Simona Cicero & Mr Mario Altieri Mr Alistair Corbett Guy Davies David Devons Igor & Lyuba Galkin Prof. Erol & Mrs Deniz Gelenbe In memory of Enid Gofton Alexander Greaves Prof. Emeritus John Gruzelier Michael & Christine Henry Mrs Maureen Hooft-Graafland Per Jonsson Mr Ian Kapur Ms Elena Lojevsky Pippa Mistry-Norman
Bronze Patrons
Anonymous donors Chris Aldren Michael Allen Mrs A Beare Mr Anthony Blaiklock Lorna & Christopher Bown Mr Bernard Bradbury Simon Burke & Rupert King Desmond & Ruth Cecil Mr John H Cook Deborah Dolce Ms Elena Dubinets David Ellen Christopher Fraser OBE Mr Daniel Goldstein David & Jane Gosman Mr Gavin Graham Lord & Lady Hall
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Mrs Terry Neale John Nickson & Simon Rew Mr James Pickford Filippo Poli Mr Robert Ross Martin & Cheryl Southgate Mr & Mrs G Stein Christopher Williams
Supporters
Anonymous donors Mr Francesco Andronio Julian & Annette Armstrong Mr Philip Bathard-Smith Emily Benn Mr Julien Chilcott-Monk Alison Clarke & Leo Pilkington Mr Peter Coe Mr Joshua Coger Miss Tessa Cowie Caroline Cox-Johnson Mr Simon Edelsten Will Gold Mr Stephen Goldring Mr & Mrs Graham & Jean Pugh Mr Geordie Greig Mr Peter Imhof The Jackman Family Mr David MacFarlane Paul & Suzanne McKeown Nick Merrifield Dame Jane Newell DBE Mr David Peters Nicky Small Mr Brian Smith Mr Michael Timinis Mr & Mrs Anthony Trahar Tony & Hilary Vines Mr John Weekes Mr Roger Woodhouse Mr C D Yates
Hon. Benefactor Elliott Bernerd
Hon. Life Members Alfonso Aijón Kenneth Goode Carol Colburn Grigor CBE Pehr G Gyllenhammar Robert Hill Keith Millar Victoria Robey OBE Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE Timothy Walker CBE AM Laurence Watt
London Philharmonic Orchestra • 29 November 2023 • Beethoven’s Fifth
Thank you
Thomas Beecham Group Members
David & Yi Buckley Gill & Garf Collins William & Alex de Winton Sonja Drexler Mr B C Fairhall The Friends of the LPO Roger Greenwood Dr Barry Grimaldi Mr & Mrs Philip Kan John & Angela Kessler Sir Simon Robey Victoria Robey OBE Bianca & Stuart Roden Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp Julian & Gill Simmonds Eric Tomsett Neil Westreich Guy & Utti Whittaker
Corporate Donor Barclays
LPO Corporate Circle Principal
Bloomberg Carter-Ruck Solicitors French Chamber of Commerce
Tutti
German-British Chamber of Industry & Commerce Lazard Natixis Corporate Investment Banking Sciteb Ltd Walpole
Preferred Partners
Trusts and Foundations
Board of the American Friends of the LPO
ABO Trust The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust BlueSpark Foundation The Boltini Trust Borrows Charitable Trust Cockayne – Grants for the Arts The London Community Foundation Dunard Fund Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation Foyle Foundation Garrick Charitable Trust Idlewild Trust Institute Adam Mickiewicz John Coates Charitable Trust John Horniman’s Children’s Trust John Thaw Foundation Kirby Laing Foundation The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music The Lennox Hannay Charitable Trust Lord and Lady Lurgan Trust Lucille Graham Trust The Marchus Trust PRS Foundation The R K Charitable Trust The Radcliffe Trust Rivers Foundation Rothschild Foundation Scops Arts Trust TIOC Foundation The Thriplow Charitable Trust Vaughan Williams Foundation The Victoria Wood Foundation The Viney Family
We are grateful to the Board of the American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, who assist with fundraising for our activities in the United States of America: Simon Freakley Chairman Kara Boyle Jon Carter Jay Goffman Alexandra Jupin Natalie Pray Damien Vanderwilt Marc Wassermann Elizabeth Winter Catherine Høgel Hon. Director Jenifer L. Keiser, CPA, EisnerAmper LLP
LPO International Board of Governors Natasha Tsukanova Co-Chair Martin Höhmann Co-Chair Mrs Irina Andreeva Steven M. Berzin Shashank Bhagat HSH Dr Donatus, Prince of Hohenzollern Aline Foriel-Destezet Irina Gofman Olivia Ma George Ramishvili Sophie Schÿler-Thierry Florian Wunderlich
and all others who wish to remain anonymous.
Jeroboams Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd Neal’s Yard OneWelbeck Sipsmith Steinway
In-kind Sponsor Google Inc
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London Philharmonic Orchestra • 29 November 2023 • Beethoven’s Fifth
London Philharmonic Orchestra Administration Board of Directors
General Administration
Dr Catherine C. Høgel Chair Martin Höhmann* President Mark Vines* Vice-President Emily Benn Kate Birchall* David Burke Deborah Dolce Elena Dubinets Tanya Joseph Hugh Kluger* Katherine Leek* Minn Majoe* Tania Mazzetti* Jamie Njoku-Goodwin Andrew Tusa Neil Westreich Simon Freakley (Ex officio – Chairman of the American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra) *Player-Director
Elena Dubinets Artistic Director
Advisory Council Roger Barron Chairman Christopher Aldren Richard Brass Helen Brocklebank YolanDa Brown OBE David Buckley Simon Burke Simon Callow CBE Desmond Cecil CMG Sir Alan Collins KCVO CMG Andrew Davenport Guillaume Descottes Cameron Doley Christopher Fraser OBE Jenny Goldie-Scot Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS Marianna Hay MBE Nicholas Hely-Hutchinson DL Amanda Hill Dr Catherine C. Høgel Martin Höhmann Rehmet Kassim-Lakha Jamie Korner Geoff Mann Andrew Neill Nadya Powell Sir Bernard Rix Victoria Robey OBE Baroness Shackleton Thomas Sharpe KC Julian Simmonds Barry Smith Martin Southgate Chris Viney Laurence Watt Elizabeth Winter
Education and Community Talia Lash Education and Community Director
David Burke Chief Executive Chantelle Vircavs PA to the Executive and Employee Relations Manager
Lowri Davies Hannah Foakes Education and Community Project Managers
Concert Management
Hannah Smith Education and Community Co-ordinator
Roanna Gibson Concerts and Planning Director
Claudia Clarkson Regional Partnerships Manager
Graham Wood Concerts and Recordings Manager Maddy Clarke Tours Manager
Development Laura Willis Development Director
Madeleine Ridout Glyndebourne and Projects Manager
Rosie Morden Individual Giving Manager
Alison Jones Concerts and Recordings Co-ordinator
Siân Jenkins Corporate Relations Manager Anna Quillin Trusts and Foundations Manager
Robert Winup Concerts and Tours Assistant Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant
Katurah Morrish Development Events Manager
Andrew Chenery Orchestra Personnel Manager
Eleanor Conroy Al Levin Development Co-ordinators
Sarah Thomas Martin Sargeson Librarians Laura Kitson Stage and Operations Manager
Nick Jackman Campaigns and Projects Director
Stephen O’Flaherty Deputy Operations Manager
Kirstin Peltonen Development Associate
Benjamin Wakley Assistant Stage Manager
Marketing
Felix Lo Orchestra and Auditions Manager
Kath Trout Marketing and Communications Director
Finance
Sophie Harvey Marketing Manager
Frances Slack Finance Director
Rachel Williams Publications Manager
Dayse Guilherme Finance Manager
Gavin Miller Sales and Ticketing Manager
Jean-Paul Ramotar Finance and IT Officer
Ruth Haines Press and PR Manager Hayley Kim Residencies and Projects Marketing Manager
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Greg Felton Digital Creative Alicia Hartley Digital and Marketing Co-ordinator Isobel Jones Marketing Assistant
Archives Philip Stuart Discographer Gillian Pole Recordings Archive
Professional Services Charles Russell Speechlys Solicitors Crowe Clark Whitehill LLP Auditors Dr Barry Grimaldi Honorary Doctor Mr Chris Aldren Honorary ENT Surgeon Mr Simon Owen-Johnstone Hon. Orthopaedic Surgeon London Philharmonic Orchestra 89 Albert Embankment London SE1 7TP Tel: 020 7840 4200 Box Office: 020 7840 4242 Email: admin@lpo.org.uk lpo.org.uk Cover illustration Selman Hoşgör 2023/24 season identity JMG Studio Printer John Good Ltd