1 May 2010 programme notes

SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALLSaturday 1 May 2010 | 7.30 pm

VLADIMIR JUROWSKI conductor

ANNA LARSSON contraltoPETER AUTY tenorLONDON PHILHARMONIC CHOIR

WAGNERA Faust Overture (11’)

BRAHMSRhapsody for alto, male chorus and orchestra (13’)

INTERVAL

LISZTA Faust Symphony (59’)

PROGRAMME £3

CONTENTS2 List of Players3 Orchestra History4 Leader5 Vladimir Jurowski6 Anna Larsson /

Peter Auty7 London Philharmonic

Choir8 Programme Notes12 Recordings13 Supporters14 Southbank Centre15 Administration16 Future Concerts

The timings shown are notprecise and are given only asa guide.

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

† supported by Macquarie Group

CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

51719 LPO 1 May 10_51719 LPO 1 May 10 26/04/2010 13:03 Page 1

2 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

FIRST VIOLINSPieter Schoeman* LeaderVesselin Gellev Sub-LeaderJulia RumleyChair supported byMrs Steven Ward

Katalin VarnagyCatherine CraigThomas EisnerTina GruenbergMartin HöhmannChair supported byRichard Karl Goeltz

Geoffrey LynnRobert PoolSarah StreatfeildYang ZhangRebecca ShorrockJoanne ChenGalina TanneyKay Chappell

SECOND VIOLINSClare Duckworth PrincipalChair supported by Richard and Victoria Sharp

Joseph MaherKate BirchallChair supported by David and Victoria Graham Fuller

Nancy ElanFiona HighamNynke HijlkemaMarie-Anne MairesseAshley StevensAndrew ThurgoodSioni WilliamsMila MustakovaPeter GrahamSheila LawElizabeth Baldey

VIOLASFiona Winning Guest PrincipalRobert DuncanJulia McCarthyKatharine LeekSusanne MartensEmmanuella ReiterLaura VallejoDaniel CornfordAlistair ScahillIsabel PereiraMiranda DavisKarin Norlen

CELLOSKristina Blaumane PrincipalChair supported bySimon Yates and Kevin Roon

Francis BucknallLaura DonoghueJonathan AylingChair supported by Caroline,Jamie and Zander Sharp

Aleksei KiseliovPavlos CarvalhoWilliam RoutledgeStephen AnsteeAlexandra MackenzieTae-Mi Song

DOUBLE BASSESKevin Rundell* PrincipalGeorge PenistonRichard LewisAnita MazzantiniDavid JohnsonHelen RowlandsDamian Rubido GonzalezRebecca Welsh

FLUTESJaime Martin* PrincipalJoanna MarshStewart McIlwham*

PICCOLOStewart McIlwham* Principal

OBOESIan Hardwick PrincipalOwen Dennis

CLARINETSRobert Hill* PrincipalKatie Lockhart

BASSOONSGareth Newman* PrincipalChristopher CooperEmma Harding

HORNSJohn Ryan PrincipalStephen Stirling GuestPrincipalMartin HobbsNicolas WolmarkGareth Mollison

TRUMPETSPaul Beniston* PrincipalAnne McAneney*Chair supported byGeoff and Meg Mann

Nicholas Betts Co-Principal

TROMBONESMark Templeton* PrincipalDavid Whitehouse

BASS TROMBONELyndon Meredith Principal

TUBALee Tsarmaklis Principal

TIMPANISimon Carrington* Principal

PERCUSSIONAndrew Barclay* PrincipalKeith Millar

HARPRachel Masters* Principal

ORGANCatherine Edwards

ASSISTANT CONDUCTORRalf Sochaczewsky

* Holds a professorialappointment in London

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

John and Angela KesslerJulian and Gill Simmonds


London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3


Seventy-seven 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 2009/10 include Between TwoWorlds – an exploration of the music and times ofAlfred Schnittke; a Sibelius symphony cycle withOsmo Vänskä in January/February 2010; a perform-ance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah conducted by KurtMasur and dedicated to the 20th Anniversary of theFall of the Berlin Wall; and new works by Rautavaara,Philip Glass, Ravi Shankar and the Orchestra’sComposer in Residence, Mark-Anthony Turnage.

Imaginative programming and a commitment to newmusic are at the heart of the Orchestra’s activity, withregular commissions and world première performances.

In addition to its London season, the Orchestra hasflourishing residencies in Brighton and Eastbourne, andperforms regularly around the UK. It is unique incombining these concert activities with esteemed operaperformances each summer at Glyndebourne FestivalOpera where it has been the Resident SymphonyOrchestra 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 it made the first ever visit to China bya Western orchestra. Touring continues to form asignificant part of the Orchestra’s schedule and issupported by Aviva, the International Touring Partner of

© Richard Cannon

‘This pulsating concert was the best possibleadvertisement for the rest of Osmo Vänskä’sSibelius cycle ... If any musical event thisseason has a better Finnish than this, I’m aNorseman.’RICHARD MORRISON, THE TIMES, 29 JANUARY 2010




the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Tours in 2009/10include visits to Germany, Australia, France, China, theCanaries and the USA.

Having long been embraced by the recording,broadcasting and film industries, the LondonPhilharmonic Orchestra broadcasts regularly on domesticand international television and radio. It also worksextensively with the Hollywood and UK film industries,recording soundtracks for blockbuster motion picturesincluding the Oscar-winning score for The Lord of theRings trilogy and scores for Lawrence of Arabia, TheMission, Philadelphia and East is East.

The Orchestra also enjoys strong relationships with themajor record labels and in 2005 began reaching out tonew global audiences through the release of live, studioand archive recordings on its own CD label. Recentadditions to the catalogue have included acclaimedreleases of early Britten works conducted by VladimirJurowski; Mahler’s Symphony 6 under the baton of KlausTennstedt; Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies 1 and 6 conductedby Vladimir Jurowski; Sir Thomas Beecham recordings ofMozart, Delius and Rimsky-Korsakov from the 1930s; aCD of John Ireland’s works taken from his 70th BirthdayConcert in 1949; and Dvor̆ák’s Requiem conducted byNeeme Järvi. The Orchestra’s own-label releases areavailable to download by work or individual track from itswebsite: www.lpo.org.uk/shop.

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 and join us on Facebook.

In 2002, PieterSchoeman joined theLondon PhilharmonicOrchestra as Co-Leader. In 2008 he was appointed Leader.

Born in South Africa, he made his solo debut with theCape Town Symphony Orchestra at the age of ten. Hestudied with Jack de Wet in South Africa, winningnumerous competitions, including the 1984 World YouthConcerto Competition in America. In 1987 he was offeredthe Heifetz Chair of Music scholarship to study withEdouard Schmieder in Los Angeles and in 1991 his talentwas spotted by Pinchas Zukerman who recommendedthat he move to New York to study with SylviaRosenberg. In 1994 he became her teaching assistant atIndiana University, Bloomington.

Pieter Schoeman has performed as a soloist and recitalistthroughout the world in such famous halls as theConcertgebouw in Amsterdam, Moscow’s RachmaninovHall, Capella Hall in St Petersburg, Staatsbibliothek inBerlin, Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and QueenElizabeth Hall in London. As a chamber musician heregularly performs at London’s prestigious Wigmore Hall.As a soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, hehas performed Arvo Pärt’s Double Concerto andBenjamin Britten’s Double Concerto, which was recordedfor the Orchestra’s own record label. Most recently healso played concertos with the Wiener Concertverein andOrchestre Philharmonique de Nice.

In 1995 Pieter Schoeman became Co-Leader of theOrchestre Philharmonique de Nice. During his tenurethere he performed frequently as Guest Leader with thesymphony orchestras of Barcelona, Bordeaux, Lyon,Baltimore and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. A frequent guest of the BBC Symphony Orchestra inLondon, Pieter Schoeman returned in October 2006 tolead that orchestra on a three week tour of Seoul, Beijing,Shanghai, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

Pieter Schoeman has recorded numerous violin soloswith the London Philharmonic Orchestra for Chandos,Opera Rara, Naxos, the BBC and for American film andtelevision. He led the Orchestra in its soundtrackrecordings for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. He teaches atTrinity College of Music.

PIETERSCHOEMANLEADER



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 at HighSchools of Music in Dresden and in Berlin, studyingconducting with Rolf Reuter and vocal coaching withSemion Skigin. In 1995 he made his international debutat the Wexford Festival, where he conducted Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night. The same year saw his brilliantdebut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden inNabucco. In 1996 Jurowski joined the ensemble ofKomische Oper Berlin, becoming First Kapellmeister in1997 and continuing to work at the Komische Oper ona permanent 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 FeniceVenice, Opéra Bastille Paris, Théâtre Royal de laMonnaie Brussels, Maggio Musicale Festival Florence,Rossini Opera Festival Pesaro, Edinburgh Festival,Semperoper Dresden and Teatro Comunale di Bologna(where he served as Principal Guest Conductor between2000 and 2003). In 1999 he made his debut at theMetropolitan Opera New York with Rigoletto.

In January 2001 Vladimir Jurowski took up the positionof Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera andin 2003 was appointed Principal Guest Conductor ofthe London 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 has made highly successful debutswith a number of the world’s leading orchestrasincluding the Berlin Philharmonic, RotterdamPhilharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, GewandhausLeipzig, Chamber Orchestra of Europe and DresdenStaatskapelle, and in the USA with the Los AngelesPhilharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony and PhiladelphiaOrchestras. Highlights of the 2009/10 season andbeyond include his debuts with the Bavarian RadioSymphony, Chicago Symphony and ClevelandOrchestras, and return visits to the Berlin PhilharmonicOrchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, TonhalleOrchester Zurich, Accademia di Santa Cecilia, DresdenStaatskapelle and Philadelphia Orchestra.

His operatic work has included performances of Jenůfa,The Queen of Spades and Hänsel und Gretel at theMetropolitan Opera, Parsifal and Wozzeck at the WelshNational Opera, War and Peace at the Opéra Nationalde Paris, Eugene Onegin at La Scala Milan, and DieZauberflöte, La Cenerentola, Otello, Macbeth, Falstaff,Tristan und Isolde and Peter Eötvös’ Love and OtherDemons at Glyndebourne Opera. Future engagementsinclude new productions of Don Giovanni and DieMeistersinger and a revival of The Rake’s Progress atGlyndebourne, and Iolanta at the Dresden Semperoper.

Jurowski’s discography includes the first ever recordingof Giya Kancheli’s Exile for ECM (1994), Meyerbeer’sL’Etoile du nord for Naxos-Marco Polo (1996),Wertherfor BMG (1999), and live recordings of works byRachmaninoff, Turnage, Tchaikovsky, Britten andShostakovich on the London Philharmonic Orchestra’sown label, as well as Prokofiev’s Betrothal in aMonastery on Glyndebourne Opera’s own label. He alsorecords for PentaTone with the Russian NationalOrchestra, releases to date having included Stravinsky’sDivertimento from Le Baiser de la fée, Tchaikovsky’sSuite No. 3 and Shostakovich’s Symphonies Nos 1 and6, Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5, and Tchaikovsky’sIncidental Music from Hamlet. Glyndebourne havereleased DVD recordings of his performances of LaCenerentola, Gianni Schicchi, Die Fledermaus andRachmaninoff’s The Miserly Knight, and other recentDVD releases include Hänsel und Gretel from theMetropolitan Opera New York, and his first concert asthe London Philharmonic Orchestra’s PrincipalConductor featuring works by Wagner, Berg and Mahler(released by Medici Arts).

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ANNA LARSSONCONTRALTO

Anna Larsson graduated from the University College ofOpera in Stockholm in 1996. She made her internationaldebut in Mahler’s Symphony 2 with the BerlinPhilharmonic and Abbado in 1997 and her opera debutas Erda in Wagner’s Das Rheingold at the Berlin StateOpera conducted by Barenboim. She has since achievedinternational recognition as the world’s foremostexponent of Erda, which she has sung at opera housesin Berlin, Vienna, Munich, Salzburg, Aix-en-Provence andStockholm. Among her other roles are Waltraute,Orphée, Fricka and Dalilah.

In concert, Anna is regarded as the most consummateinterpreter of Mahler’s works. She regularly sings withall the great orchestras and with the most illustriousconductors. Her extensive repertoire ranges fromHandel’s Messiah through to Elgar’s Sea Pictures,Mahler’s song cycles, Verdi’s Requiem andcontemporary music. She also has a vast repertoire ofGerman, English and Scandinavian songs which she hassung at recitals in Wigmore Hall London, Brahms Saal atthe Musikverein in Vienna, and at the most importantfestivals and concert halls in Sweden. In 2005 herrecording of Strauss’s Daphne conducted by SemyonBychkov was nominated for a Grammy Award.

Last autumn Anna Larsson sang Mahler’s Rückert Liederon tour with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra andGustavo Dudamel, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis withAntonio Pappano in Rome, and Erda in Der Ring desNibelungen at the Vienna State Opera. Recentengagements have included Das Lied von der Erde inRome, Utrecht and Eindhoven, and Orphée in Gluck’sOrphée at the Stockholm Royal Opera. This year shesings Erda in Das Rheingold and Mahler’s Symphony 2with Claudio Abbado, both at Teatro alla Scala.

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PETER AUTYTENOR

Peter Auty is established as one of Britain’s leadingtenors, having made his professional debut at OperaNorth in 1998/9 and returning in 2001/2 as Rodolfo intheir much acclaimed production of La bohème. From1999 to 2002, he was a company principal of the RoyalOpera, Covent Garden, where he covered several majorroles and had the opportunity of working with many ofthe world’s leading singers and conductors. Elsewherein the UK, he has worked with Glyndebourne FestivalOpera, Glyndebourne on Tour, English National Opera,Opera North and Scottish Opera. In Europe he has sungwith Opera Zuid, Opéra de Massy, Opéra de Rouen,Frankfurt Opera and the Nationale Reisopera.

On the concert platform Peter Auty has worked withmany of the UK’s leading orchestras, including theLondon Symphony Orchestra with Sir Colin Davis andthe Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment with MarkElder. He has also given performances of Messiah at theRoyal Albert Hall and a concert performance ofStravinsky’s Oedipus Rex with the London PhilharmonicOrchestra and Lothar Zagrosek. Appearances abroadhave included performances of The Dream of Gerontiusand Britten’s War Requiem with the Iceland SymphonyOrchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy and aconcert of operatic excerpts with the Sydney SymphonyOrchestra. Last season he sang both Beethoven’sSymphony 9 and Dvořák’s Requiem with the LondonPhilharmonic Orchestra and Neeme Järvi at the RoyalFestival Hall. He recently made his recital debut inLondon as part of the Rosenblatt Recital Series.

Highlights of the 2009/10 season include appearanceswith Reisopera, Grange Park Opera, and Opera HollandPark. He will also be appearing in Carmen for OperaNorth at the beginning of the 2010/11 season.

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LONDON PHILHARMONIC CHOIRPATRON: HRH Princess Alexandra ACCOMPANIST: Iain FarringtonPRESIDENT: Sir Roger Norrington CHAIRMAN: Mary MooreARTISTIC DIRECTOR: Neville Creed CHOIR MANAGER: Kevin Darnell

Tenors David Aldred, Geir Andreassen, Robert Beale,Chris Beynon, Jonathan Bird, John Boyne, Tony Brewer,Keith Chaundy, Geoff Clare, Brian Coulstock, KevinDarnell, Michael Delany, Jack Dixon, Dwayne Engh,Philip Evans, Aloysius Fekete, Iain Handyside, Rob Home,Patrick Hughes, Douglas Johnson, Andrew Mackie,Andrew Martin, Andrew McCall, John Mcleod, JonMeredith, Philip Padfield, David Phillips, Luke Phillips,Stephen Pritchard, Kevin Rainey, David Regan, PaulThirer, Alex Thomas, Owen Toller

Basses Ken Atkinson, John Bandy, Stephen Benson,Stephen Bonney, Derek Bryanton, Gordon Buky-Webster,Adam Bunzl, Geoffrey Chang, Raymond Choi, Dieter

Claassen, David Clark, Rob Collis, Bill Cumber, PhillipDangerfield, Marcus Daniels, Michael Day, Mike Drake,Richard Ford, Paul Gittens, John Graham, Nigel Grieve,Jonathan Harbourne, Richard Harding, ChristopherHarvey, Mark Hillier, David Hodgson, Oliver Hogg, RylanHoley, Hugh Hudson, Martin Hudson, Aidan Jones,David Kent, Alex Kidney, Steve Kirby, Richard Lane,Thorsten Laux, Alejandro Lopez Montoya, AnthonyMcDonald, Paul Medlicott, John Morris, AshleyMorrison, William Parsons, Johan Pieters, MichaelProbert, David Regan, David Rippon, Stephen Rosser, NicSeager, Christopher Short, Daniel Snowman, DominicStewart, Edwin Tomlins, James Torniainen, AnthonyWills, James Wilson, John Wood

Founded in 1947, the London Philharmonic Choir iswidely regarded as one of Britain’s finest choirs andconsistently meets with great critical acclaim. It hasbeen involved in over 80 recordings and has performedunder leading international conductors throughout itshistory.

The Choir enjoys a close relationship with the LondonPhilharmonic Orchestra, joining it regularly forperformances in the UK and abroad. It also works withmany other leading orchestras and has enjoyed sharingthe stage with Daleks, dinosaurs and various othercreatures in 2008’s Doctor Who and last year’sEvolution! Proms.

The Choir often travels overseas and, in the last fewyears, its visits to Europe have included concerts inRome, Lucerne and Cologne. It has travelled as far afieldas Kuala Lumpur and Perth, Australia, and, in February2008, visited Hong Kong, where it gave two concerts atthe Hong Kong Arts Festival: a performance ofStravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms and Rachmaninov’sThe Bells with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestraunder Edo de Waart, and a programme of British choralmusic conducted by the Choir’s Artistic Director, NevilleCreed. Over the 2009 New Year, the Choir travelled toBudapest with the London Philharmonic Orchestra toperform Haydn’s Die Schöpfung at the Béla BartókNational Concert Hall.

Last season’s highlights included performances ofBeethoven’s Missa solemnis and Symphony 9, Dvořák’sRequiem, Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem, Holst’s ThePlanets, and Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder. This season theChoir has enjoyed performances of Mahler’s Symphony2, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Haydn’s Seven Last Words and aprogramme of Christmas music including Honegger’sUne Cantate de Noël. Most recently, the Choirperformed Poulenc’s Stabat Mater with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Janáček’s The Eternal Gospel andMyaskovsky’s Symphony 6 with Vladimir Jurowski.

In 2007, the Choir celebrated its 60th anniversary andpublished a book – Hallelujah: An Informal History ofthe London Philharmonic Choir. The book is availablefrom retail outlets here at the South Bank Centre andcan be ordered through the Choir’s website.

The Choir prides itself on achieving first-classperformances from its members, who are volunteersfrom all walks of life. For more information about theChoir, including details about how to join, please visitwww.lpc.org.uk.

At tonight’s concert we extend a warm welcome toguests from other choirs and we are particularlydelighted to be joined by members of the PhilharmoniaChorus.



Goethe’s huge poetic drama Faust, based on an oldlegend about a scholar who makes a pact with theDevil, occupied him at intervals throughout his career: afragmentary version was published in 1790, when hewas in his early forties, the definitive Part 1 in 1808, andPart II only after his death in 1832. The play caused asensation, and its strong central characters andsituations, and its striking variety of tone, soon attractedmusical treatments – among them an opera by Spohr,produced as early as 1816, choral works by Berlioz andSchumann, and in the 1850s not only Liszt’s FaustSymphony but also Gounod’s once ubiquitous opera.

Wagner’s only treatment of this archetypal story was hisFaust Overture. He composed it in Paris in late 1839 andearly 1840, while he was completing Rienzi and shortlybefore he embarked on The Flying Dutchman. In hisautobiography, Wagner said that he was inspired towrite the work by hearing the conductor Habeneckrehearsing the Paris Conservatoire orchestra inBeethoven’s Ninth Symphony. But commentators havesuggested that he was covering his tracks, and that amore potent model was Berlioz’s then brand newRomeo and Juliet Symphony, with its absorption of aliterary source into abstract musical forms. Wagner alsowrote that he had originally intended his piece as the

first movement of a symphony, and that he had hadideas in his head for a second movement portrayingFaust’s beloved Gretchen. But he abandoned thisconcept – which was to be taken up by his friend Liszt –and left the work as a single-movement Overture, whichhe performed in Dresden in 1844 and published in arevised version in 1855.

In a letter to Liszt in 1852, Wagner wrote that heintended the Overture to depict the ‘“solitary Faust”,longing, despairing, cursing’, while ‘the “feminine”floats around him as an object of his longing’. The piece,in the key of D minor, has the traditional shape of aslow introduction leading to a main sonata-form quicksection. The brooding, questioning introduction beginswith a descending idea which is transformed by stagesinto the rising-and-falling principal theme of the mainsection. This is complemented by a rising major-keymelody, first played by the flute, which presumablyrepresents Faust’s feminine ideal; at Liszt’s suggestion,Wagner extended this passage when he revised thework. The development is based chiefly on a solemnidea from the introduction, stretched out into longnotes. The recapitulation begins stormily, but dies downto a coda which returns to the atmosphere of theintroduction, and ends quietly in the major.

PROGRAMME NOTES

SPEEDREAD

The great German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethewas the literary source of all three works in tonight’sprogramme. His mighty poetic drama Faust inspired bothWagner’s A Faust Overture (1839/40, revised 1855), aportrait of the solitary, ever-questioning scholar himself,and Liszt’s A Faust Symphony (1854, revised 1857), anastonishingly original trilogy of character-studies of

Faust, his innocent beloved Gretchen and his devilishaccomplice and adversary Mephistopheles, crowned by asetting for tenor and male voice chorus of the ChorusMysticus which accompanies his final redemption. Andlines from Goethe’s Winter Journey in the Harz Mountainswere set by Brahms in his Alto Rhapsody (1869), for soloalto and male chorus, a deeply personal expression ofdejection and hope.

A FAUST OVERTURERichardWAGNER

1813-1883



Brahms’s music habitually conceals his deeper feelingsbehind a façade of classical objectivity; but the AltoRhapsody is one of the handful of his works in whichthey are painfully exposed. He wrote it in the autumn of1869, apparently in reaction to the news that JulieSchumann, the young daughter of his late mentorRobert, was to marry an Italian count. Brahms, it seems,had transferred his long-concealed adoration of Robert’swidow Clara to Julie, or half-believed that he had, andwas devastated by this turn of events. Clara recorded inher diary that he had called the piece ‘his bridal song’,and added that it seemed to her ‘neither more nor lessthan an expression of his own heart’s anguish’. As his

text, Brahms selected three stanzas from Goethe’s poemHarzreise im Winter (‘Winter Journey in the HarzMountains’), depicting the desolation of a lonelytraveller, cut off from the rest of mankind, and endingwith a prayer to the ‘father of love’ to come to his aid.He set the first two stanzas as a recitative and aria(shaped into a rough A–B–A form) for solo alto, full ofbroken phrases, wide leaps and anguished chroma-ticism, and sparsely orchestrated. But for the closingprayer he added a four-part male-voice chorus, turnedfrom C minor to C major, and adopted more regularpatterns of phrasing and accompaniment patterns, toend the Rhapsody in a mood of consolation and hope.

PROGRAMME NOTES

RHAPSODY FOR ALTO, MALE CHORUS ANDORCHESTRA, OP. 53

ANNA LARSSON contraltoLONDON PHILHARMONIC CHOIR

JohannesBRAHMS

1833-1897

Aber abseits, wer ist’s?Ins Gebüsch verliert sich sein Pfad,hinter ihm schlagen die Sträuche zusammen,das Gras steht wieder auf,die Öde verschlingt ihn.

Ach, wer heilet die Schmerzendess dem Balsam zu Gift ward?Der sich Menschenhassaus der Fülle der Liebe trank?Erst verachtet, nun ein Verächter,zehrt er heimlich auf seinen eignen Wertin ungnügender Selbstsucht.

Ist auf deinem Psalter,Vater der Liebe, ein Tonseinem Ohre vernehmlich,so erquicke sein Herz!Öffne den umwölkten Blicküber die tausend Quellenneben dem Durstenden in der Wüste.

Who is that in the distance?His path disappears in the brush,behind him the bushes close together,the grass springs up again,the wasteland swallows him up.

Ah, who can heal the sorrowsof one for whom balm turned to poison?One who drank hatred of mankindfrom the fullness of love?At first despised, now a despiser,he secretly wastes his own worthin useless self-seeking.

If there is on thy psalterFather of love, a noteaudible to his ear,revive his heart!Open his clouded gazeto the thousand springsclose by the thirsting soul in the desert.

English translation © Eric Mason



PROGRAMME NOTES

Liszt made sketches for a symphony based on Goethe’sFaust during the 1840s, but he brought the project tofulfilment only after settling as Kapellmeister inWeimar, Goethe’s home for the last five and a halfdecades of his life. Other musical treatments of thesubject may have prompted this renewed interest:among them Wagner’s Faust Overture (and hisabandoned plan for a symphony), and Berlioz’s TheDamnation of Faust, which its composer conducted atWeimar in 1852. But Liszt’s biographer Alan Walker hassuggested that the immediate stimulus may have beenthe visit of the English writer George Henry Lewes toWeimar in 1854 (accompanied by his mistress, thenovelist George Eliot) to research his biography ofGoethe. Certainly it was between August and Octoberthat year, during the period of Lewes’s stay, that theSymphony was composed. In its original form, it was awork for small orchestra. But in 1857, Liszt expandedthe orchestration, and added the closing chorus, formale voices with a solo tenor.

The Symphony is subtitled ‘three character sketches’: itdoes not attempt to tell the story of Goethe’s Faust, butconcentrates in turn on Faust, the central figure of thedrama, Gretchen, the object of his love in Part I, and thedevil, Mephistopheles. This essentially static approachallows the work to take on a traditional symphonicoutline, with the outer movements in versions of sonataform. But at the same time these movements move

freely between widely varying tempos in the manner ofLiszt’s narrative symphonic poems; and the work as awhole makes crucial use of the technique oftransformation of themes which he had developed inthe single-movement genre. These are only two of thefeatures of the Symphony which placed it firmly in themodernist camp of the time. It also includes passages inwhich the time-signature changes rapidly, sometimesfrom bar to bar, and some stretches of virtually keylesschromatic harmony – in both respects anticipatingWagner’s Tristan and Isolde at the end of the 1850s. Iteven looks further into the future, since one of itsprincipal themes consists of an upbeat followed by fouraugmented triads, each a semitone lower than the onebefore, which together make up what Humphrey Searle,Liszt specialist and serial composer, called ‘the firstconscious twelve-note theme ever written’.

The first movement is a portrait of Faust himself, therestless, dissatisfied scholar, so avid in his search for allkinds of knowledge and experience that he is preparedto enlist the assistance of Mephistopheles, in exchangefor a promise that if he ever declares himself happy hewill lose his life and his soul. The slow introductionbegins with two important motifs: the ‘twelve-note’theme, representing Faust as experimental magician;and a yearning idea, growing out of a falling seventh,representing him as doubting philosopher. After arestless transition, ending with unaccompanied

A FAUST SYMPHONY

PETER AUTY tenorLONDON PHILHARMONIC CHOIR

Faust | Gretchen | Mephistopheles – Closing Chorus

FranzLISZT

1811-1886

INTERVAL 20 minutes

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



PROGRAMME NOTES

bassoons, the main Allegro in C minor begins with asurging melody standing for Faust’s passionate nature;this is followed by a theme beginning with adescending scale which suggests his longing for thefeminine. The principal ‘second subject’, at a slowertempo, is a swooning expansion of the second of theideas of the introduction (in alternating bars of 3/4 and4/4 time), portraying Faust as lover; and there is afurther important theme, a processional melodyportraying him as proud man of action. This sequence ofideas is so rich in transitions and development thatthere is no need for more than a short ‘official’development section: it concentrates on the passionatefirst subject. But, unconventionally, there is a reprise ofthe slow introduction, including a sorrowful newcombination of its two main motifs, before the muchvaried recapitulation of the three main themes of theAllegro. This immense movement, some 25 minuteslong, ends with a coda which starts in the same way asthe development, in the white heat of passion, andfinally dies away with the motif of doubt.

The central slow movement, a delicately scored Andantesoave in A flat major, is a portrait of the young, innocentGretchen – though it contains hints of narrativedepiction of her seduction by Faust, with the aid ofMephistopheles, if not of the tragic consequences of theaffair. An introduction for flutes and clarinets leads tothe first main ‘Gretchen’ theme, presented on oboeaccompanied by violas and then in a variety of othercolours. A descending-scale melody on the oboesuggests the presence of Faust, and there is a momentof instrumental recitative as Gretchen picks the petalsfrom a flower and counts off ‘He loves me, he loves menot’. A little later, the strings introduce Gretchen’ssecond main theme, marked dolce amoroso or ‘sweetand loving’. There is a more animated middle section,beginning with an urgent rhythm in the strings and thetheme of Faust as lover from the first movement,blossoming into long, expressive descending lines

accompanied by three undulating flutes, returning tothe theme of Faust as lover in a full but very subduedscoring, and arriving at the first-movement theme ofFaust’s passionate nature in a murmuringtransformation. After this love scene, Gretchen’s firsttheme returns, initially on four solo violins, Faust’sthemes intervene quietly once more, and Gretchen’ssecond theme returns to lead to a quiet, intimate close.

The first part of the finale is a portrait ofMephistopheles; but, as he is ‘the spirit that always saysno’, an agent of destruction rather than creation, he hasno themes of his own, only transformations of Faust’sfrom the first movement. In a maelstrom of activity,perhaps suggested by Goethe’s Walpurgis Night scenesand permeated by references to the ‘twelve-note’ motif,the theme of Faust’s passionate nature is turned into amocking dance, the theme of Faust as lover becomes agrunting cello idea and later the subject of a desperatefugue, and the theme of Faust as proud man of action ismade into a preening parody. In a brief slow interlude,Gretchen’s first theme from the second movementreturns unaltered. But then the parodied themes arerecapitulated, with the theme of Faust as lover nowheld back till last and transformed again, into aninsistently swaggering march. From here, a longtransition eventually releases the tension, moving, byway of another reminiscence of the Gretchen theme,into the closing chorus. This is a solemn C major settingof the Chorus Mysticus at the end of Part II of Faust:Faust’s life has finally been claimed by Mephistopheles,but his soul is redeemed by his constant striving – andalso by the enduring love of Gretchen. The latterexplains why the recurring melodic phrases in the solotenor part are based on Gretchen’s two themes fromthe slow movement, stretched out (in Alan Walker’swords) ‘as if in heavenly transfiguration’.

Programme notes by Anthony Burton © 2010

Alles Vergängliche ist nur ein Gleichnis,Das Unzulängliche hier wird’s Ereignis,Das Unbeschreibliche hier wird es getan.Das Ewig-Weibliche zieht uns hinan.

Everything transitory is but a parable,The insufficient here is made whole,The indescribable here is achieved.Eternal womanhood leads us on high.

© English translation by Eric Mason



RECORDINGSON THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA’S OWN RECORD LABEL

The recordings may be downloaded in high quality MP3 format from www.lpo.org.uk/shop. They 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-0043 Vladimir Jurowski conducts Brahms’s Symphonies 1 and 2

‘This pair of budget-priced CDs on the LPO’s own label demonstrate how, inthe right hands, the first two symphonies can thrill and delight … exquisitewind playing …genuinely exciting …’GRAHAM RICKSON, THE ARTS DESK, 22 FEBRUARY 2010

LPO-0003 Klaus Tennstedt conducts orchestral excerpts from Wagneroperas

‘Every bar of these performances is filled with the extra adrenalin that oneexpects at a really memorable concert.’BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE

LPO-0045 Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Brahms’s A German Requiemwith Elizabeth Watts, Stéphane Degout and the London PhilharmonicChoir

NEW RELEASE



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SOUTHBANK CENTRE

Industrial soundscapes,phasing textures and sonic shifts

created by LPO young composers and performedby Foyle Future Firsts and members of the

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall7.30pm | Friday 14 May 2010

Lutoslawski Mini OvertureAaron Parker Moiré

Isa Khan 06Ravel Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé

Varèse OctandreSasha Siem Queen Anne’s Lace

Strauss Serenade for thirteen windsTristan Brookes SERRA: PessoaStravinsky Dumbarton Oaks

Clement Power conductorRachael Lloyd mezzo soprano

The composers have been working on theirpieces throughout the academic year in a seriesof workshops, mentored by Composer inResidence Mark-Anthony Turnage, composerJonathan Cole and conductor Clement Power.The Foyle Future Firsts programme is adedicated apprenticeship scheme for 16 giftedinstrumentalists embarking on professionalorchestral careers.

Come and hear new sound worlds and discoveryoung talent at the highest level.

Visit www.lpo.org.uk/debutsounds to learnabout the LPO young composers and previewthe new works.

Tickets £9 | Students £4For booking details see page 16.

The Foyle Future Firsts Programme is generouslyfunded by the Foyle Foundation with additionalsupport from The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust, TheFenton Arts Trust, Musicians Benevolent Fund and TheUK Friends of the Felix-Mendelssohn-Bartholdy-Foundation. The Orchestra’s Young Composers Schemeis supported by Eranda Foundation, The IdlewildTrust and the Paul Morgan Charitable Trust.



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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 WattSimon Yates

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Photographs of Wagner,Brahms and Liszt courtesy ofthe Royal College of Music,London.

Photograph on the front cover by Roman Gontcharov.

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FUTURE CONCERTSAT SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL

JTI Friday Series | Friday 7 May 2010 | 7.30pm

Tchaikovsky Francesca da RiminiLiszt Piano Concerto 2Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas TallisDvořák Symphonic Variations

Benjamin Northey conductorArnaldo Cohen piano

Saturday 22 May 2010 | 7.30pm

Debussy IbériaLalo Symphonie espagnoleStrauss Don JuanRavel Boléro

Christoph Eschenbach conductorChristian Tetzlaff violin

JTI Friday Series | Friday 28 May 2010 | 7.30pm

Rachmaninoff (arr. Dumbraveanu) Variations on aTheme of CorelliRachmaninoff Piano Concerto 4 (revised version)Rachmaninoff Symphony 1

Neeme Järvi conductorAlexei Lubimov piano

Supported by the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation.

FREE Pre-Concert Event6.15pm | Royal Festival HallGeoffrey Norris introduces the music of Rachmaninoff.

Thursday 1 July 2010 | 7.30pm

Adams Shaker LoopsGlass Violin Concerto 1Shankar Symphony (world première)

David Murphy conductorRobert McDuffie violinAnoushka Shankar sitar

FREE Pre-Concert Event6.15pm | Royal Festival HallAn introduction to the music of Ravi Shankar.

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Benjamin Northeyand Arnaldo Cohen

Neeme Järvi andAlexei Lubimov

ChristophEschenbach andChristian Tetzlaff

David Murphy andRobert McDuffie


1 May 2010 programme notes

Documents

gill simmonds51719 lpo

piccolostewart mcilwham

intervalliszta faust

following chair supporters

bysimon yates

duke of kent kgchief

principalanne mcaneney

male chorus