10 Feb10 LPO Programme Notes

SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALLWednesday 10 February 2010 | 7.30 pm

YANNICK NÉZET-SÉGUIN conductorMELVYN TAN pianoRONALD BRAUTIGAM piano

RAVELDaphnis et Chloé: Symphonic Fragments, Second Series (16’)

RAVELValses nobles et sentimentales (18’)

POULENCConcerto in D minor for two pianos and orchestra (19’)

INTERVAL

DEBUSSYPrélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (10’)

DEBUSSYLa Mer: Three Symphonic Sketches (23’)

PROGRAMME £3

CONTENTS2 List of Players3 Orchestra History4 Southbank Centre5 Yannick Nézet-Séguin6 Melvyn Tan7 Ronald Brautigam8 Programme Notes12 Recordings13 Supporters14 Philharmonic News15 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 KG

Chief Executive and Artistic Director TIMOTHY WALKER AM†

† supported by Macquarie Group

CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

48958 LPO 10 February 10_48958 LPO 10 February 10 03/02/2010 14:35 Page 1

2 | London Philharmonic Orchestra

LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

FIRST VIOLINSAbigail Young Guest LeaderKatalin VarnagyBenjamin RoskamsCatherine CraigThomas EisnerMartin HöhmannChair supported byRichard Karl Goeltz

Robert PoolFlorence SchoemanSarah StreatfeildYang ZhangAlain PetitclercPeter NallGalina TanneyJoanne ChenKay ChappellCaroline Frenkel

SECOND VIOLINSJeongmin Kim PrincipalJoseph MaherKate BirchallChair supported by David and Victoria Graham Fuller

Nancy ElanFiona HighamNynke HijlkemaMarie-Anne MairesseAshley StevensAndrew ThurgoodSioni WilliamsAlison StrangeStephen StewartMila MustakovaSheila Law

VIOLASJanis Lielbardis Guest PrincipalSusanne MartensBenedetto PollaniLaura VallejoDaniel CornfordAlistair Scahill

Isabel PereiraSarah MalcolmKarin NorlenRachel BenjaminFay SweetJames Hogg

CELLOSSusanne Beer PrincipalFrancis BucknallLaura DonoghueSantiago Sabino Carvalho+

Gregory WalmsleySue SutherleySusanna RiddellTom RoffPhilip TaylorTae-Mi Song

DOUBLE BASSESKevin Rundell* PrincipalLaurence LovelleGeorge PenistonAnita MazzantiniDavid JohnsonHelen RowlandsCatherine RickettsTom Walley

FLUTESKaren Jones Guest PrincipalEilidh GillespieStewart McIlwham*

PICCOLOStewart McIlwham* Principal

ALTO FLUTERoland Sutherland

OBOESDaniel Bates Guest PrincipalOwen Dennis

COR ANGLAISJane Marshall

CLARINETSRobert Hill* PrincipalEmily Sutcliffe

E FLAT CLARINETNicholas Carpenter Principal

BASS CLARINETPaul Richards Principal

BASSOONSJohn Price PrincipalGareth Newman*Emma Harding

CONTRA BASSOONSimon Estell Principal

HORNSJohn Ryan PrincipalAlec Frank Gemmill GuestPrincipalMartin HobbsStephen NichollsGareth Mollison

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

Daniel NewellChair supported byMrs Steven Ward

CORNETSNicholas Betts PrincipalDavid Hilton

TROMBONESDavid Whitehouse PrincipalRichard Watkin

BASS TROMBONELyndon Meredith Principal

TUBALee Tsarmaklis Principal

TIMPANISimon Carrington* Principal

PERCUSSIONRachel Gledhill PrincipalAndrew Barclay* Co-PrincipalKeith Millar Jeremy CornesSacha JohnsonIgnacio MolinsOliver YatesScott LumsdaineGillian McDonagh

HARPSRachel Masters* PrincipalHelen Sharp

KEYBOARDSBernard Robertson

* 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:

John and Angela KesslerCaroline, Jamie and Zander SharpRichard and Victoria SharpJulian and Gill SimmondsSimon Yates and Kevin Roon


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; aperformance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah conducted byKurt Masur and dedicated to the 20th Anniversary ofthe Fall of the Berlin Wall; and new works byRautavaara, Philip Glass, Ravi Shankar and theOrchestra’s Composer in Residence, Mark-Anthony

Turnage. Imaginative programming and a commitmentto new music are at the heart of the Orchestra’s activity,with regular commissions and world premièreperformances.

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

‘… the standard of execution by the LondonPhilharmonic Orchestra and Chamber Choirof the Moscow Conservatory, magnificentlycorralled by Jurowski, was exemplary.’ANDREW CLARK, FINANCIAL TIMES, 19 NOVEMBER 2009




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.

We hope you enjoy your visit. We have a DutyManager available at all times. If you have anyqueries please ask any member of staff forassistance.

Eating, drinking and shopping? Southbank Centreshops and restaurants include: MDC music andmovies, Foyles, EAT, Giraffe, Strada, wagamama, LePain Quotidien, Las Iguanas, ping pong, Canteen,Caffé Vergnano 1882, Skylon and Feng Sushi, as wellas cafes, restaurants and shops inside the RoyalFestival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and HaywardGallery.

If you wish to get in touch with us following yourvisit please contact our Head of Customer Relationsat Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE18XX, by phone on 020 7960 4250 or by email [email protected]

We look forward to seeing you again soon.

A few points to note for your comfort and enjoyment:

PHOTOGRAPHY is not allowed in the auditorium

LATECOMERS will only be admitted to the auditoriumif there is a suitable break in the performance

RECORDING is not permitted in the auditoriumwithout the prior consent of Southbank Centre.Southbank Centre reserves the right to confiscate videoor sound equipment and hold it in safekeeping until theperformance has ended

MOBILES, PAGERS AND WATCHES should beswitched off before the performance begins

WELCOMETO SOUTHBANK CENTRE



YANNICK NÉZET-SÉGUINCONDUCTOR

At the start of the 2008/09 season, Yannick Nézet-Séguin succeeded Valery Gergiev as Music Director ofthe Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and becamePrincipal Guest Conductor of the London PhilharmonicOrchestra. He remains Artistic Director and PrincipalConductor of the Orchestre Métropolitain du GrandMontréal, a position he took up in March 2000.

A native of Montreal, he studied at the Conservatoire deMusique du Québec in Montreal and has worked withall the major Canadian orchestras. Principal GuestConductor of the Victoria Symphony between 2003 and2006, he now regularly conducts the Toronto Symphonyand, at the end of the 2009/10 season, will conduct hisfirst Mahler Symphony (No. 8) in Montreal and Ottawa,using the combined forces of the OrchestreMétropolitain and National Arts Center Orchestra.

He made a series of successful European debuts in2004/05 and is now a regular guest conductor of manyleading orchestras, such as the Dresden Staatskapelle,Orchestre National de France, Royal StockholmPhilharmonic Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra ofEurope. During 2008, he made acclaimed debuts withthe Philadelphia, Vienna Symphony, National Symphony(Washington), Los Angeles Philharmonic and BostonSymphony Orchestras. Forthcoming debuts will takehim to the Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago SymphonyOrchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester (Zurich), ViennaPhilharmonic Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestraand Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig.

His most recent opera productions in Canada wereGounod’s Faust for Canadian Opera in 2007, andMadama Butterfly in Montreal in 2008. In August 2008he made an outstandingly successful Salzburg Festivaldebut conducting a new production of Gounod’s Roméoet Juliette with a cast led by Rolando Villazon and NinoMachaidze. He recently made an acclaimed debut forthe Netherlands Opera conducting The MakropoulosCase and made his Metropolitan Opera debut inDecember 2009 with a new production of Carmen.Productions are also planned for La Scala and the RoyalOpera House, Covent Garden.

He records for the dynamic Canadian company ATMAClassique, and his recordings with the OrchestreMétropolitain have received prizes and critical acclaim.His most recent recordings, La Mer (a collection ofworks by Debussy, Britten and Mercure) and Bruckner’sSymphony 9 have been widely praised and Bruckner’sSymphony 8 was released last autumn. He has madethree recordings with the Rotterdam PhilharmonicOrchestra of works by Beethoven, Richard Strauss,Korngold and Ravel.

Mar

co B

orgg

reve



MELVYN TANPIANO

Melvyn Tan has lived in London since leaving his nativeSingapore at an early age to study at the YehudiMenuhin School and the Royal College of Music. Histeachers have included Nadia Boulanger, Marcel Ciampiand Vlado Perlemuter.

He built a formidable international reputation during along exploration of the precursors of the modern piano.This culminated in a series of groundbreakingperformances and recordings on the fortepianoincluding the complete Beethoven Concertos andSonatas and Schubert Impromptus.

Melvyn has given complete cycles of the BeethovenConcertos and Sonatas, Mozart Sonatas, DebussyPréludes and Chopin Préludes in New York, Tokyo andLondon. He has performed at many leading concerthalls around the world, including London’s WigmoreHall and Royal Festival Hall, New York’s Lincoln Center,Théâtre du Châtelet and Cité de la Musique in Paris,Vienna’s Musikverein and Konzerthaus, Salzburg’sMozarteum, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw andCologne’s Philharmonie. Festival appearances havetaken him to Salzburg, Edinburgh, La Roque d’Anthéron,City of London, Spitalfields and Bath’s Mozartfest. Theorchestras he has worked with include the LondonPhilharmonic, Netherlands Symphony, Royal LiverpoolPhilharmonic, Stuttgart Radio, New World Symphonyand Melbourne Symphony Orchestras as well as the

Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Salzburg’sCamerata and Mozarteum Orchestras. He has alsotoured Australia regularly with the Australian ChamberOrchestra.

Chamber music and Lieder hold an important place inMelvyn’s repertoire. His partners include cellist StevenIsserlis, with whom he has recorded the completeMendelssohn works for cello, cellist Patrick Demenga,clarinettist Dimitri Ashkenazy, tenor Keith Lewis, theSkampa String Quartet and the Dutch pianist RonaldBrautigam. He is the founder of the New MozartEnsemble, a flexible chamber ensemble/orchestrawhich he has directed at many major festivals and music centres worldwide.

In addition to the Beethoven Sonatas and Concertosand Schubert Impromptus, Melvyn Tan’s recordings forEMI Classics include discs of Mozart Concertos andWeber’s Konzertstück with the London Classical Playersand Sir Roger Norrington. Further recordings of MozartConcertos are on Harmonia Mundi with PhilharmoniaBaroque and Nicholas McGegan, and Virgin Classics,this time with Tan’s own group, the New MozartEnsemble.



RONALD BRAUTIGAMPIANO

Ronald Brautigam, one of Holland’s leading musicians,is remarkable not only for his virtuosity and musicalitybut also for the eclectic nature of his musical interests.He studied in Amsterdam, London and the UnitedStates of America with Rudolf Serkin. In 1984 he wasawarded the Nederlandse Muziekprijs, the highestDutch musical award.��

Ronald Brautigam performs regularly with leadingEuropean orchestras under distinguished conductorssuch as Riccardo Chailly, Charles Dutoit, BernardHaitink, Frans Brüggen, Philippe Herreweghe,Christopher Hogwood, Andrew Parrott, Bruno Weil, IvanFischer and Edo de Waart. Besides his performances onmodern instruments he has developed a great passionfor the fortepiano, playing with leading orchestras suchas the 18th-Century Orchestra, Tafelmusik, theOrchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the HanoverBand, Freiburger Barockorchester, ConcertoCopenhagen and l’Orchestre des Champs-Elysées.��

He is also a devoted player of chamber music, regularlyworking with Isabelle van Keulen, Melvyn Tan andAlexei Lubimov.��

In 1995 Ronald Brautigam began what has proved to bea highly successful association with the Swedish labelBIS. Among more than 30 titles released so far areMendelssohn’s Piano Concertos (with NieuwSinfonietta Amsterdam), and the complete piano worksof Mozart and Haydn on the fortepiano. The year 2004

saw the release of the first of a 17-CD Beethoven cycle,also on the fortepiano. Five volumes in the series havenow been produced and it has become firmlyestablished as the reference recording as far asfortepiano cycles are concerned. Many reviewers havemade even greater claims for it, as in the US magazineFanfare: ‘This could be a Beethoven piano-sonata cyclethat challenges the very notion of playing this music onmodern instruments, a stylistic paradigm shift.’ And theSüddeutsche Zeitung wrote: ‘One feels almost as if onewere a contemporary of Beethoven’s, one of the first,immensely astonished – not to say agitated –individuals to hear this music.’

Besides his work for BIS, Ronald Brautigam has alsorecorded piano concertos by Shostakovich, Hindemithand Frank Martin with the Royal ConcertgebouwOrchestra and Riccardo Chailly, for Decca. His recordingshave earned him two Edison Awards, two Diapasonsd’Or and one Diapason d’Or de l’année, eight Choc duMois (le Monde de la Musique) and, in 2004, a ‘CannesClassical Award’ for that year’s best piano solorecording. ��This year he received a prestigious MIDEMClassical Award for his recording of Beethoven’s PianoConcertos Nos 2 and WoO4.�



Ravel’s ballet Daphnis and Chloe, which he described as‘a vast musical fresco’, was composed between 1909and 1912, and first produced by Sergei Diaghilev’sBallets Russes in Paris in June 1912. The originalchoreography, by Mikhail Fokine, has not stood the testof time. But the richness of the score, for a very largeorchestra with optional chorus, has ensured itsindependent existence in the concert hall, both at fulllength and, more frequently, in the shape of the secondsuite of so-called ‘symphonic fragments’ – in fact, thewhole of the third and last scene.

The scenario, based loosely on the pastoral romance bythe classical Greek writer Longus, is the story of thegoatherd Daphnis and his beloved Chloe, who is carriedoff by pirates but rescued through the intervention of

the god Pan. The final scene begins with Daphnis, notyet aware of the rescue, waking at daybreak: as the sunrises, dew runs off the rocks, birds begin to sing, andshepherds pass by, piping melodiously. At the climax ofthis section, Daphnis is joyously reunited with Chloe. Inhomage to her rescuer, the couple act out the story ofPan’s pursuit of the nymph Syrinx, who took refuge in areed-bed and was transformed into a reed-pipe onwhich Pan played: his piping is represented by a longflute solo. Daphnis and Chloe embrace once more, andhe solemnly declares his loyalty to her. They are joinedby their companions in a final dance of celebration,largely in a pounding quintuple time, until the finalstretches of 3/4 and 2/4 provide an ending ofirresistible exuberance.

PROGRAMME NOTES

SPEEDREAD

‘Mystérieux et clair tout à la fois’: ‘mysterious and clearat the same time’. That is the marking on the longest ofthe gamelan-inspired static episodes which punctuatethe varied and entertaining flow of Poulenc’s Concertofor two pianos of 1932. But the description could also beapplied to much French music of the previousgeneration, with its apparently instinctive treatment ofharmony and thematic development and its lucidity of

instrumental colour and texture. To the evocation ofdaybreak which is the beginning of the end in Ravel’ssumptuous 1912 ballet Daphnis and Chloe, for example,and to the nostalgic coda of his Valses nobles etsentimentales,written in 1911 for piano and orchestratedthe following year. Or to the whole of Debussy’s epoch-making Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune of 1894 – whichlike Daphnis is an evocation of classical antiquity – andhis great suite of three symphonic seascapes from adecade later, La Mer.

DAPHNIS ET CHLOÉ: SYMPHONIC FRAGMENTS,SECOND SERIES

Lever du jour – | Pantomime – | Danse générale

MauriceRAVEL

1875-1937



Ravel wrote this set of waltzes as a solo piano piece in1911, in the intervals of work on Daphnis and Chloe.When it was first performed in Paris in May 1911, it wasin a recital in which new pieces were presentedanonymously, and even some of Ravel’s friends failed toguess he was the author. This was presumably becauseof the work’s dance genre and its adventurous,sometimes harsh harmonies – though Ravel insistedthat there were no chords that could not be found inthe most conservative of textbooks. The following year,Ravel made a characteristically subtle and effectiveorchestration of the score. This was initially intended fora ballet which he had devised, called Adélaïde, or thelanguage of flowers; but it has survived in the repertoireas a concert piece, under the work’s original title.

That title is borrowed from two sets of piano waltzes bySchubert, respectively ‘noble’ and ‘sentimental’. Thework is in essence a chain of dances like Schubert’s, orlike Johann Strauss’s waltz sequences. There is, though,considerable variety in the treatment of waltz time. The

first waltz is full of rhythmic drive, but the second isslow, with a gentle modal flute melody, the third ismore of a minuet, with a hint of Chinoiserie, and thefifth is again slow. The fourth waltz has consistentcross-rhythms across the bar-line, and the sixth playswith the alternation of this syncopated rhythm and‘straight’ waltz time. After a spare introduction, theseventh waltz also makes use of syncopations inbuilding up towards a powerful climax, and following adelicately astringent middle section repeats the wholeprocess. The work is crowned by an Epilogue, whichincorporates ideas from most of the previous waltzes inhazy, drifting textures.

The effect of this ending is deeply nostalgic. And indeed,like Ravel’s later, very different, ‘choreographic poem’ LaValse, these Valses nobles et sentimentales seem to belooking back to the leisured golden age of the waltz.Significantly, the score is headed by a quotation fromthe poet Henri de Régnier: ‘The delightful and ever-newpleasure of a useless occupation’.

VALSES NOBLES ET SENTIMENTALES

Modéré – | Assez lent – | Modéré – | Assez animé – |Presque lent – | Assez vif | Moins vif – | Epilogue: Lent

Poulenc composed his Concerto for two pianos in 1931and ’32, in response to a commission from the PrincesseEdmond de Polignac, the American heiress WinnarettaSinger. It was designed to be playable with the

accompaniment of a third piano in the Princess’sParisian salon, and with an orchestra of modestproportions in the concert hall. Its première in the latterform took place at the annual festival of the

CONCERTO IN D MINOR FOR TWO PIANOS ANDORCHESTRA

MELVYN TAN pianoRONALD BRAUTIGAM piano

Allegro ma non troppo | Larghetto | Finale: Allegro molto

FrancisPOULENC

1899-1963

PROGRAMME NOTES

MauriceRAVEL

1875-1937



INTERVAL 20 minutes

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

PROGRAMME NOTES

International Society for Contemporary Music in Venicein September 1932, with the composer and his lifelongfriend Jacques Février taking the solo parts.

Poulenc later summed up the Concerto neatly as‘blithely bravura’. The bravura element is evident in thebrilliant writing for the two soloists, separately andtogether, with melodies frequently emerging from theinterplay of the hands. The blithe quality has to do withthe work’s apparently artless flow of melodic ideas,owing little to classical precedent but a great deal tothe composer’s instinctive feeling for continuity andcontrast. The first movement has a rough A–B–Aoutline, with a brisk first section presenting a profusionof contrasting ideas, a more lyrical interlude at half thespeed (with themes which Poulenc also used in hisSextet for piano and wind, begun around the same timeas the Concerto), and a return to the initial tempowhich brings as many new tunes as restatements ofprevious ones. The central slow movement begins witha poised melody paying homage to the composer’s idolMozart, though its tender continuation is pure Poulenc;

there is a faster middle section of swooning, soaringlyricism, and this time a more literal reprise of theopening. The finale sets out with an ebullient ideawhich seems set to be a rondo theme; but, although itsbrittle triplet patterns re-emerge from time to time, itnever returns in full, yielding to a succession of othermelodies as the mood becomes darker and then calmer.

The Concerto’s wide range of references, from Mozart tomusic-hall, is expanded by passages of regular patternsrestricted to a few notes in the high register of thepianos, suggested by a Balinese gamelan that Poulenchad heard at the 1931 Colonial Exhibition in Paris. Themost extended of these passages occurs as a coda tothe first movement; but there are also fleetingreferences in the introduction to that movement, at theend of the slow movement, and just before the end ofthe whole work. Brief though they are, the gamelanepisodes not only act as a unifying element, but alsoprovide moments of static calm amidst the Concerto’shectic progress, giving it an extra dimension and asurprising depth.

Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune is a key workin the development of Western music, in which thepurposeful harmonic movement of the Germantradition from Bach to Wagner is replaced by anapparently instinctive drifting from chord to chord insupport of the all-important melodic line. The piece was

suggested by the eclogue L’après-midi d’un faune by theFrench poet Stéphane Mallarmé, first published in 1876– a languorous and sensual evocation of the dreamsand meditations of a faun (a mythical creature, halfman and half beast) in drowsy afternoon heat. Debussyplanned in 1892 to write a set of three orchestral pieces

PRÉLUDE À L’APRÈS-MIDI D’UN FAUNEClaudeDEBUSSY

1862-1918



PROGRAMME NOTES

Debussy began La Mer (‘The Sea’) in the summer of1903, writing a substantial part of it while visiting hiswife’s parents far inland in Burgundy. He continued towork on it over the next couple of years, after hiselopement with Emma Bardac – sometimes in Paris, butalso during holidays with Emma on the Normandy coastand in the Channel Islands. It was completed in March1905, and received its first, unsuccessful, performancein Paris that October. The score was published that year,and reissued with some corrections and revisions in1909 – by which time the work was on its way toacceptance as a masterpiece of the orchestralrepertoire.

Debussy had a great love of the sea, and of paintings ofthe sea: he admired Turner’s seascapes, and hadHokusai’s print The hollow of the wave off Kanagawareproduced on the cover of the first edition of La Mer.The music has a strong pictorial element, with the playof wind and light on the surface of the sea representedin brilliantly detailed writing for a large orchestra,including three of most of the woodwind, two cornetsas well as two trumpets, and a pair of harps. However,the word ‘symphonic’ in the subtitle is also important,suggesting the work’s reliance on organic developmentof a number of short thematic motifs, and its adherenceto the French tradition of the cyclic symphony in theway some of the most important of these motifs areheard in both the first movement and the finale.

The ‘dawn’ introduction to the first movement presentstwo of these cyclic motifs, the first an incisiveshort–long figure, the second a double rising-and-fallingcurve. The main section introduces two distinct groupsof ideas, the first surely suggested by the sparkle ofsunlight on waves, the second – launched by the cellosin four-part harmony – by the perpetual heaving of thesea. But there is little recapitulation after this as themovement moves through the morning to a ‘very slow’coda with a solemn horn chorale – another cyclic motif– evoking the brightness of the midday sun. The centralmovement, ‘Play of waves’, is even freer in form, withlittle more than a vestigial scherzo-and-trio outlineoverlaid by continuous thematic development andevolution. The finale, ‘Dialogue of the wind and the sea’,is built around four presentations of a sustainedmelody, opening out from its initial interval of asemitone, which appears in different contextssuggesting different weather conditions. But theserondo-like statements are inset into more continuousdiscussion of shorter motifs, including the cyclic ideasfrom the first movement, and culminating in a finalblaze of oceanic glory.

Programme notes by Anthony Burton © 2010

LA MER: THREE SYMPHONIC SKETCHES

De l’aube à midi sur la mer (From dawn to midday on thesea) | Jeux de vagues (Play of waves) | Dialogue du vent etde la mer (Dialogue of the wind and the sea)

ClaudeDEBUSSY

1862-1918

based on the poem, a prelude, interlude and finalparaphrase. But work on his opera Pelléas et Mélisandeintervened, and he completed only the Prelude, whichwas first performed in 1894. Mallarmé himselfdescribed Debussy’s piece as an ‘illustration ... which

presents no dissonance with my text. Instead’, he wenton with a glowing procession of nouns which acts as aremarkable encapsulation of Debussy’s art, ‘it goesmuch further into the nostalgia and light with subtlety,malaise and richness.’



Highlights include

LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA 21 APRConducted by Marin Alsop, featuring Bernstein’s Symphony No.2 and Shostakovich’s Symphony No.5 in D Minor.

ALSOP ON BERNSTEIN & MAHLER 9 MAYBournemouth Symphony Orchestra and others perform Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony, conducted by Marin Alsop.

BERNSTEIN MASS 10 – 11 JULFeaturing the Mass Orchestra, a rock band, choirs, soloists, a marching band and dancers.

AND MANY MORE

BOOK NOWwww.southbankcentre.co.uk/bernstein0844 847 9910

The Bernstein ProjectUntil July 2010

Project Artistic DirectorMarin Alsop

Celebrating Leonard Bernstein, one of the great icons of 20th century music making.

Photo: Leonard B

ernstein © G

MacD

omnic / Lebrecht A

rts & M

usic

LATESTRECORDING

ON THE LONDON PHILHARMONICORCHESTRA’S OWN RECORD LABEL

Obtain an exclusive pre-release copy of

BRAHMS: A GERMAN REQUIEMconducted by

YANNICK NÉZET-SÉGUIN

Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s first CD on the LondonPhilharmonic Orchestra’s own label will bereleased in April. The CD is a live performance ofBrahms’s German Requiem with soloists ElizabethWatts and Stéphane Degout, and the LondonPhilharmonic Choir, taken from a concert given on4 April 2009 at the Royal Festival Hall.

You can order the CD now through the LondonPhilharmonic Orchestra: telephone 020 78404242 (Mon-Fri 10am-5pm) or visit the websitewww.lpo.org.uk. It will be available from all goodretailers from April.



Corporate MembersAppleyard & Trew llpBritish American BusinessCharles RussellDestination Québec – UKDiagonal ConsultingLazardLeventis OverseasMan Group plcQuébec Government Office in London

Corporate DonorsLombard Street ResearchRedpoint Energy Limited

In-kind SponsorsHeinekenLindt & Sprüngli LtdSela Sweets LtdVilla Maria

Education PartnersLambeth City Learning CentreLondon Borough of LambethSouthwark EiC

Trusts and FoundationsAdam Mickiewicz InstituteAllianz Cultural FoundationThe Andor Charitable TrustThe Bernard Sunley Charitable

FoundationBorletti-Buitoni TrustThe Candide Charitable TrustThe John S Cohen FoundationThe Coutts Charitable TrustThe D’Oyly Carte Charitable TrustDunard FundThe Emmanuel Kaye FoundationThe Equitable Charitable TrustThe Eranda FoundationThe Ernest Cook TrustThe Fenton Arts TrustThe Foyle FoundationGarfield Weston FoundationThe Henry Smith CharityThe Idlewild TrustJohn Lyon’s CharityJohn Thaw FoundationThe Jonathan & Jeniffer Harris TrustThe Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust

Lord Ashdown Charitable SettlementMarsh Christian TrustMaurice Marks Charitable TrustMaxwell Morrison Charitable TrustThe Michael Marks Charitable TrustMusicians Benevolent FundPaul Morgan Charitable TrustThe R K Charitable TrustRuth Berkowitz Charitable TrustThe Samuel Sebba Charitable TrustSerge Rachmaninoff FoundationStansfield TrustUK Friends of the Felix-

Mendelssohn-Bartholdy-Foundation

The Underwood Trust

and others who wish to remainanonymous.

Thomas Beecham GroupMr & Mrs Richard & Victoria SharpJulian & Gill SimmondsMrs Steven WardSimon Yates & Kevin Roon

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

Guy & Utti Whittaker

Principal BenefactorsMark & Elizabeth AdamsJane AttiasLady Jane BerrillDesmond & Ruth CecilMr John H CookAndrew DavenportMrs Sonja DrexlerMr Charles DumasDavid Ellen

Commander Vincent EvansMr Daniel GoldsteinMrs Barbara GreenMr Ray HarsantOliver HeatonPeter MacDonald EggersMr & Mrs David MalpasAndrew T MillsMr Maxwell MorrisonMr & Mrs Thierry SciardMr John Soderquist & Mr Costas

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

BenefactorsMrs A BeareDr & Mrs Alan Carrington

CBE FRSMr & Mrs Stewart CohenMr Alistair CorbettMr David EdgecombeMr Richard FernyhoughKen Follett

Michael & Christine HenryMr Glenn HurstfieldMr R K JehaMr & Mrs Maurice LambertMr Gerald LevinSheila Ashley LewisWg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard

OBE JP RAFMr Frank LimPaul & Brigitta LockMr Brian MarshMs Sarah NeedhamMr & Mrs Egil OldeideEdmund PirouetMr Michael PosenMr Peter TausigMrs Kazue TurnerLady Marina VaizeyMr D Whitelock

Hon. BenefactorElliott Bernerd

Hon. Life MembersKenneth GoodeMrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE

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

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



The Foyle Future Firsts presents…The London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Foyle Future Firstsprogramme is a dedicated apprenticeship scheme for16 talented young instrumentalists embarking onprofessional orchestral careers. This year we have thepleasure of being able to present two lunchtimeconcerts when the Foyle Future Firsts will performprogrammes of music specifically chosen bythemselves.

Friday 12 February | 1pm | RFH Level 2 BarSpirit of MendelssohnMembers of the Foyle Future Firsts present chambermusic inspired by Mendelssohn, his life, family andlegacy. The programme includes Mendelssohn's PianoTrio 2 in C minor and pieces by JS Bach, Louis Spohrand Paul Hindemith.

This Friday lunchtime concert is presented with supportfrom the UK Friends of the Felix-Mendelssohn-Bartholdy-Foundation.

Friday 12 March | 1pm | RFH Level 2 BarEntente MusicaleJoin members of the Foyle Future Firsts for a chambermusic journey through 20th century France with atransatlantic twist. The programme features two of themost important French composers: Debussy, startingwith his Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, beforeskipping forward 50 years or so to Poulenc and his Troismouvements perpétuels for nine instruments. We alsotake a distinctly American turn by hopping across thepond for Edgard Varèse’s Octandre which wascomposed in the USA, where he spent most of hiscomposing life. Finally, we round off the concert back in Europe with an authentic American in Paris!

The principal funder of the Foyle Future Firstsprogramme is The Foyle Foundation.

Further Education ProjectsThe Orchestra’s education department is engaged in awhole range of projects this week. As part of itscommitment to schools in the local community,animateur Hannah Conway and Orchestra memberswill be helping Year 6 pupils from Lambeth discoverBartók’s Concerto for Orchestra. Using the work asinspiration, they are devising their own composition

which will be performed at a pre-concert event at theRoyal Festival Hall on Wednesday 17 March at 6pm.

Workshops will also be held at Tuke School wheremusicians from the Orchestra will be helping specialneeds pupils find ways to express themselves throughmusic. This is part of a year long project with thechildren leading up to a sharing session when fellowpupils and parents will be invited to the school to heartheir progress.

At the other end of the spectrum, Fiona Higham andAnthony Byrne from the Orchestra’s string section willbe visiting two homes for the elderly in Brighton to playand talk to the residents.

PHILHARMONIC NEWS

Musicians in the Foyle Future Firsts scheme are offeredthe opportunity to take part in London PhilharmonicOrchestra rehearsals. Here Foyle Future First bassoonist,Joanna Stark, plays alongside members of the Orchestraat a rehearsal in October

Patr

ick

Har

riso

n



ADMINISTRATION

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Martin HöhmannChairmanStewart McIlwhamVice-ChairmanSue BohlingSimon CarringtonLord Currie*Jonathan Dawson*Anne McAneneyGeorge PenistonSir Bernard Rix*Kevin RundellSir Philip ThomasSir John Tooley*The Rt Hon. Lord Wakeham DL*Timothy Walker AM †*Non-Executive Directors

THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC TRUST

Pehr Gyllenhammar ChairmanDesmond Cecil CMGSir George Christie CHRichard Karl GoeltzJonathan Harris CBE FRICSDr Catherine C. HøgelMartin HöhmannAngela KesslerClive Marks OBE FCAVictoria SharpJulian SimmondsTimothy Walker AM †Laurence WattSimon Yates

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

Dr Louise MillerHonorary Doctor

GENERAL ADMINISTRATION

Timothy Walker AM †Chief Executive and Artistic Director

Alison AtkinsonDigital Projects Manager

Julius HendriksenAssistant to the Chief Executiveand Artistic Director

FINANCE

David BurkeGeneral Manager andFinance Director

David GreensladeFinance and IT Manager

Joshua FoongFinance Officer

CONCERT MANAGEMENT

Roanna ChandlerConcerts Director

Ruth SansomArtistic Administrator

Graham WoodConcerts, Recordings andGlyndebourne Manager

Alison JonesConcerts Co-ordinator

Hattie GarrardTours and EngagementsManager

Camilla BeggConcerts and Tours Assistant

Matthew FreemanRecordings Consultant

ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL

Andrew CheneryOrchestra Personnel Manager

Sarah ThomasLibrarian

Michael PattisonStage Manager

Hannah TuckerAssistant Orchestra PersonnelManager

Ken Graham TruckingInstrument Transportation(Tel: 01737 373305)

EDUCATION ANDCOMMUNITY PROGRAMME

Matthew ToddEducation and Community Director

Anne NewmanEducation Officer

Isobel TimmsCommunity Officer

Alec HaylorEducation and Community Assistant

Richard MallettEducation and Community Producer

DEVELOPMENT

Emma O’ConnellDevelopment Director

Nick JackmanCharitable Giving Manager

Phoebe RouseCorporate Relations Manager

Sarah TattersallCorporate Relations and Events Manager

Anna GoverCharitable Giving Officer

Melissa Van EmdenCorporate Relations and Events Officer

MARKETING

Kath TroutMarketing Director

Janine HowlettMarketing ManagerBrighton, Eastbourne,Community & Education

Frances CookPublications Manager

Samantha KendallBox Office Administrator(Tel: 020 7840 4242)

Heather BarstowMarketing Co-ordinator

Valerie BarberPress Consultant(Tel: 020 7586 8560)

ARCHIVES

Edmund PirouetConsultant

Philip StuartDiscographer

Gillian PoleRecordings Archive

INTERN

Jo LangstonMarketing


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 Ravel, Poulencand Debussy courtesy of theRoyal College of Music,London.

Photograph on the front cover by Benjamin Ealovega.

Programmes printed by Cantate.

†Supported by Macquarie Group



FUTURE CONCERTSAT SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL

Saturday 13 February 2010 | 7.30pm

Ravel Pavane pour une Infante défunteRavel Le Tombeau de CouperinDebussy NocturnesFauré PavanePoulenc Stabat Mater

Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductorLisa Milne sopranoLondon Philharmonic Choir

Wednesday 17 February 2010 | 7.30pm

Tchaikovsky Fantasy Overture, Romeo and JulietProkofiev Piano Concerto 1Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet (excerpts)

Vladimir Jurowski conductorAlexander Toradze piano

Saturday 20 February 2010 | 7.30pm

Janác̆ek Taras BulbaJanác̆ek Eternal GospelSuk Symphony 2 (Asrael)

Vladimir Jurowski conductorSofia Fomina sopranoMichael König tenorLondon Philharmonic Choir

Barlines | FREE Post-Concert EventClore Ballroom Floor, Royal Festival Hall FoyerAn informal discussion with Vladimir Jurowski followingthe evening’s performance.

Wednesday 24 February 2010 | 7.30pm

Shostakovich The GamblersShostakovich Suite from ‘The Nose’Shostakovich Symphony 1

Vladimir Jurowski conductorMikhail Urusov Ikharev, a gamblerVladimir Ognev Gavryushka, his servantSergei Leiferkus Uteshitelny, a gamblerSergei Aleksashkin Shvokhnev, a gamblerViacheslav Voynarovskiy Krugel, a gamblerMikhail Petrenko Alexey, his servant

FREE Pre-Concert Event6.15pm | Royal Festival HallMusicologist Stephen Johnson takes a closer look atShostakovich’s The Gamblers and The Nose.

JTI Friday Series | Friday 12 March 2010 | 7.30pm

Ravel Mother Goose SuiteSchumann Piano ConcertoBrahms Symphony 2

Gunther Herbig conductorHélène Grimaud piano

TO BOOKTickets £9-£38 / Premium seats £55

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. £2.50 telephone / £1.45 online bookingfees; no fee for Southbank Centre members

Lisa Milne andAlexander Toradze

Vladimir Jurowskiand Mikhail Urusov

Sofia Fomina andMichael König


Documents

10 Feb10 LPO Programme Notes