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Home , Ian Bostridge, Ian Bousfield, Quickening (MacMillan)

Sunday 4 November 2018 7–9.10pm Barbican Hall

LSO Season Concert ALL THE HILLS AND VALES ALONG

James MacMillan All the Hills and Vales Along (world premiere) * Interval Shostakovich Symphony No 4

Gianandrea Noseda conductor Ian Bostridge tenor Simon Halsey chorus director National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain

Generously supported by LSO Patrons MACMILLAN Recorded by BBC Radio 3 for broadcast on 8 Nov

* Commissioned by the LSO and 14–18 NOW: WW1 Centenary Art Commissions

Part of the Barbican’s For the Fallen: Marking the First World War Centenary Welcome Latest News On Our Blog

This concert forms part of the Barbican’s THE DONATELLA FLICK LSO The life of Charles Sorley, wider classical music series For the Fallen, CONDUCTING COmPETITION World War I POET and will be recorded by our media partner BBC Radio 3 for broadcast on 8 November. This month 20 emerging conductors from Visit the LSO Blog to read extracts It was preceded by a Discovery Day at the across Europe will take part in the 15th from poet Charles Sorley’s letters written Barbican and LSO St Luke’s, exploring Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition. between 1914 and 1915, revealing an insight artistic responses to World War I in Across two days of intense preliminary into life on the Western Front, and the loss discussion with Sir James MacMillan. rounds they’ll compete for the chance to and human cost of the conflict. A warm welcome to those who attended who impress our panel of esteemed judges in also join us in the audience this evening. the Grand Final here in the Barbican Hall • lso.co.uk/blog on Thursday 22 November. In the lead up Welcome to this evening’s LSO concert at the I would like to extend sincere thanks to to the Competition, we’ll also be sharing Barbican. Tonight we mark the centenary our Patrons, both for their support of the stories of the 20 shortlisted contestants The LSO in World War I of the Armistice of 1918 with the world tonight’s performance and for their ongoing on our blog. premiere of James MacMillan’s new oratorio, commitment to the work of the . ‘It was unanimously resolved that no All the Hills and Vales Along, setting texts by We are delighted to be joined by many of • lso.co.uk/conducting-competition symphony concerts should be given until Scottish war poet Charles Hamilton Sorley. our Patrons this evening. the termination of the War.’ Our thanks go to our co-commissioners Extraordinary General Meeting minutes, 14–18 NOW, a nationwide programme of I hope that you will be able to join us again LSO EAST LONDON ACADEMY 26 September 1917 artworks created to commemorate the this season for forthcoming LSO concerts centenary of World War I. at the Barbican. On Sunday 11 November, Developed in partnership with ten East We explore how the LSO and its players were we welcome back Principal Guest Conductor London boroughs, the LSO East London affected by the War. We are pleased to be joined by LSO Principal François-Xavier Roth for a performance of Academy is the first step on a path to Guest Conductor Gianandrea Noseda, Haydn’s Nelson Mass. making the Orchestra truly representative • lso.co.uk/blog who also conducted the premiere of Sally of its community in London. Opening at LSO Beamish’s Equal Voices, commissioned by St Luke’s in spring 2019, it aims to identify the LSO in 2014 to mark the centenary of and develop the potential of young East Welcome to Tonight’s Groups the start of the War, alongside tenor Ian Londoners who show exceptional musical Bostridge, the London Symphony Chorus and talent, irrespective of their background or We are delighted to welcome our Choral Director Simon Halsey. After the Kathryn McDowell CBE DL financial circumstance. Lance Anelay & Friends. interval Gianandrea Noseda continues his Managing Director Shostakovich cycle with the Fourth Symphony. • lso.co.uk/news

2 Welcome 4 November 2018 Tonight’s Concert Coming Up

onight’s concert opens with The opening movement combines Sunday 11 November 7–8.50pm Wednesday 14 November 7.30–9.35pm the world premiere of Sir James mechanised march rhythms with pounding Barbican Hall Barbican Hall MacMillan’s newly composed brass and grotesque harmonies – a oratorio All the Hills and Vales Along, thrilling stream of sound. In the shorter Ligeti Lontano Debussy Prélude à l’après-midi d’un Faune setting the words of war poet Charles second movement, Shostakovich invokes Bartók Cantata Profana Dvořák Cello Concerto Hamilton Sorley, who died in action in the a sad waltz-like theme that offers relief Haydn Nelson Mass Strauss Also sprach Zarathustra battle of Loos. Following a contemplative from the turmoil of the first movement. introduction, the songs explore such themes The third movement begins with a slow, François-Xavier Roth conductor François-Xavier Roth conductor as landscape, nature, battle and death, and Mahlerian introduction, before launching soprano Jean-Guihen Queyras cello the cycle ties into a literary and musical into the unsettled Allegro which closes the Adèle Charvet mezzo-soprano tradition made popular in works such as A E symphony, leaving behind an impression Julien Behr tenor Thursday 22 November 7pm Housman’s A Shropshire Lad poems of 1896 – of numbness and uncertainty. Matthew Rose bass Barbican Hall and subsequent musical settings by Arthur London Symphony Chorus Somervell and George Butterworth – which Simon Halsey chorus director DONATELLA FLICK LSO CONDUCTING took on new significance after World War I. Programme Contributors COMPETITION FINALS Through this work, James MacMillan continues Tuesday 13 November 6.30–7.30pm a significant relationship with the Orchestra, Andrew Huth is a musician, writer and Barbican Hall Wagner Prelude: following on from the co-commission of translator who writes extensively on French, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg his St John Passion which the Orchestra Russian and Eastern European music. HALF SIX FIX: ZARATHUSTRA Prokofiev Violin Concerto No 2 premiered under Sir in 2008. Kodály Dances of Galánta A one-hour, early-evening performance. Shostakovich had to wait over 25 years to Soak up the informal atmosphere, hear Vadim Repin violin hear the premiere of his Fourth Symphony, introductions from the conductor, sit back which was withdrawn from performance and enjoy the music. Tickets also allow entry to the earlier rounds during its rehearsal period due to the and final rehearsal from 20 to 22 November pressures of Soviet censorship. In contrast Debussy Prélude à l’après-midi d’un Faune to the more patriotic Second and Third Strauss Also sprach Zarathustra Symphonies, the Fourth is inventive, wild and eccentric, and showcases some of François-Xavier Roth conductor Shostakovich’s most brilliant musical ideas, deftly realised on an ambitious scale.

Tonight’s Concert 3 All the Hills and Vales Along / an introduction from 14–18 NOW

that opened both the BBC Proms and Next Sunday, 11 November, is the 100th the Edinburgh International Festival; anniversary of Armistice, which brought the Rachel Whiteread’s new sculpture Nissen war to a close. 14–18 NOW will be marking Hut, in Dalby Forest; and Peter Jackson’s the occasion with Pages of the Sea, extraordinary film They Shall Not Grow Old, a special UK-wide mass-participation event which premiered to great acclaim at the BFI created by Danny Boyle. For details of this London Film Festival and in cinemas around and all our other projects, please the UK before being broadcast on the BBC. visit 1418NOW.org.uk. •

Like all our projects, All the Hills and Vales Jenny Waldman Along is the result of generous collaboration. Director, 14–18 NOW Our thanks go to the London Symphony Peter Jackson’s They shall not grow old Orchestra, our co-commissioning partners; Gianandrea Noseda, Ian Bostridge and all harles Hamilton Sorley was just from us today, and with good reason – no tonight’s performers; the Cumnock Tryst; 20 years old when he died on the one who served in the conflict survives to Boosey & Hawkes, James’ publishers; and, Western Front in October 1915, tell us its tales. But in this work Sorley’s most of all, to James MacMillan for creating shot by a sniper during the final throes of timeless words and James’ eloquent music such a rich and resonant contribution to the the Battle of Loos. Like so many young men offer us a vivid and profound connection to First World War centenary. who served in but failed to survive the First the events of a century ago. World War, Sorley has left no physical trace. Without a known grave, he is among the All the Hills and Vales Along is part of 20,000 men remembered by name alone the final season of 14–18 NOW, the UK’s at the Loos Memorial, just outside the city arts programme for the First World War of Lens in northern France. He has, though, centenary. Over the last five years, we left a legacy of quietly devastating war have invited more than 300 national and poetry, some of which was discovered in international artists to create new works his kit bag after his death. that explore the legacy and contemporary relevance of this devastating conflict. James MacMillan has chosen to set five of In 2018 our projects have included Five Sorley’s poems to music in this powerful Telegrams, a collaboration between oratorio. The war can sometimes feel distant composer Anna Meredith and 59 Productions Rachel Whiteread’s sculpture Nissen Hut

4 14–18 NOW 4 November 2018 BE PART OF DANNY BOYLE’S UNIQUE EVENT MARKING 100 YEARS SINCE THE END OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR PAGESOFTHESEA.ORG.UK | #PAGESOFTHESEA

03240_Armistice_AD_LSO_Mono.indd 1 23/10/2018 15:11 James MacMillan All the Hills and Vales Along (world premiere) 2018 / note by Sir James MacMillan

1 Introduction A main theme, long notes accompanied by • The Cumnock Tryst 2 All the hills and vales along sad chords, is presented on quiet strings JAMES MACMILLAN ON LSO LIVE 3 Rooks before various marching themes strike up in Tryst is an old Scots word which refers to 4 When you see millions of the the band. The first text, ‘All the hills and vales a meeting place or ‘romantic rendezvous’, mouthless dead along’, is martial, defiant and sardonic with and Cumnock is the Ayrshire town where 5 A hundred thousand million mites we go matching music. This is followed by a short Sir James MacMillan grew up. 6 To Germany movement for singer and strings on their own, the nocturnal and reflective ‘Rooks’. In 2014, MacMillan established The Cumnock Gianandrea Noseda conductor Tryst as a festival and meeting-place for Ian Bostridge tenor ‘When you see millions of the mouthless music lovers, which brings world-class music London Symphony Chorus dead’ is a slow chorale-like movement for to small venues in East Ayrshire every year Simon Halsey chorus director and band, but a quartet of high solo in October. National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain strings interject with free, floating music at crucial punctuation points. ll the Hills and Vales Along is an oratorio based on poems A fast ‘aria’ for solo voice and strings Commissioned by the London Symphony by Charles Hamilton Sorley, who follows, ‘A hundred thousand million mites Orchestra and 14–18 NOW: WW1 Centenary MacMillan: St John Passion was killed at the Battle of Loos in 1915. we go’. It evokes the chaos and fury of battle, Art Commissions, with the world premieres He was born in Aberdeen in 1895 and his but in the background there is the forlorn taking place at The Cumnock Tryst festival Sir Colin Davis conductor body of work is small, although John Masefield ‘sounds of hymns of praise’ which clash (chamber version) on 6 October 2018 and Christopher Maltman baritone and Robert Graves thought of him as one with echoes of curses, snapping the air. LSO (orchestral version) on 4 November 2018. of the most significant war poets. James MacMillan’s interpretation of The last movement, ‘To Germany’, points • Texts on Pages 7 to 8 the 2,000-year old Passion narrative My work takes five of his poems and sets hopefully to a coming peace and resolution is one of his most significant works. them for tenor solo, chorus, strings and with an old enemy, in music which brings His account draws inspiration from brass band. There are two versions: one for the various vocal and instrumental forces previous musical settings of the a quintet of solo strings, the other involving together in a more integrated way. Threads Crucifixion story, dating as far back a full . The smaller version from earlier movements come together with as the fourth century. Interval – 25 minutes was premiered at The Cumnock Tryst • in a new hymn-like melody, and the work ends There are bars on all levels. October 2018. with the main theme, this time blared out in Visit the Barbican Shop on Level -1 to the band, with distant chords on humming lsolive.co.uk see our range of Gifts and Accessories. voices and strings. •

6 Programme Notes 4 November 2018 Sir James MacMillan in Profile b 1959

ames MacMillan read music at 1997, Southbank Centre’s 1997 Raising Works with choir include a festive setting Edinburgh University and took Sparks festival in London, the Queensland of the Gloria (to mark the 50th anniversary Doctoral studies in composition Biennial in 1999, the BBC Barbican Composer of the consecration of Coventry Cathedral), at Durham University with John Casken. Weekend in 2005 and the Grafenegg Festival St Luke Passion for chorus and chamber After working as a lecturer at Manchester in 2012. A documentary film portrait of orchestra, A European for soloists, University, he returned to Scotland and MacMillan by Robert Bee was screened on chorus and orchestra, and The Sun Danced settled in Glasgow. The successful premiere ITV’s South Bank Show in 2003. for soprano, choir and orchestra. His one- of Tryst at the 1990 St Magnus Festival in act chamber opera Clemency has been Orkney led to his appointment as Affiliate Works by MacMillan from the 1990s include performed in London, Edinburgh and Boston. Composer of the Scottish Chamber Seven Last Words from the Cross for chorus 2014 saw MacMillan launching a new annual Orchestra. Between 1992 and 2002 he and string orchestra, screened on BBC TV music festival in his home town of Cumnock was Artistic Director of the Philharmonia during Holy Week 1994, Inés de Castro, and in 2017 a city-wide celebration of his Orchestra’s Music of Today series of premiered by Scottish Opera in 1996, a music took place in Glasgow. contemporary music concerts. MacMillan triptych of orchestral works commissioned is internationally active as a conductor. He by the London Symphony Orchestra, and The Koch Schwann recording of The worked with the BBC Philharmonic between Quickening for The Hilliard Ensemble, chorus Confession of Isobel Gowdie and Tryst won 2000 and 2009, and was appointed Principal and orchestra, co-commissioned by the BBC a 1993 Gramophone Award, and the BMG Guest Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Proms and the Philadelphia Orchestra. recording of Veni, Veni, Emmanuel won the Chamber Philharmonic from 2010. He was 1993 Classic CD Award for Contemporary awarded a CBE in January 2004. His works composed this millennium include Music. MacMillan’s discs on the BIS label the Concerto No 2, first performed include the complete Triduum conducted In addition to The Confession of Isobel with Christopher Wheeldon’s choreography by Osmo Vänskä, the concerto Gowdie, which launched MacMillan’s by New York City Ballet, A Scotch Bestiary Ninian and the concerto Epiclesis. international career at the BBC Proms in commissioned to inaugurate the new organ A MacMillan series recorded on Chandos 1990, his orchestral output includes his first at Disney Hall with soloist Wayne Marshall includes his Symphony No 3, ‘Silence’, which percussion concerto Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and won a Classical Brit award in 2006. premiered by Evelyn Glennie in 1992, which premiered and toured by has since received over 500 performances Welsh National Opera in 2007. James MacMillan was awarded a Knighthood worldwide. MacMillan’s music has been in the 2015 Queen’s Birthday Honours. He is programmed extensively at international The past decade has brought a successful published exclusively by Boosey & Hawkes. • music festivals, including the Edinburgh sequence of concertos, and his Symphony Festival in 1993, the Bergen Festival in No 4 was premiered at the 2015 BBC Proms.

Composer Profile 7 James MacMillan All the Hills and Vales Along – Texts

— Rooks ‘Earth will echo still, when foot lies numb and voice mute.’ There, where the rusty iron lies, The rooks are cawing all the day. Charles Hamilton Sorley, ‘All the Hills and Vales Along’ Perhaps no man, until he dies, — Will understand them, what they say.

The evening makes the sky like clay. All the hills and vales along Earth that blossomed and was glad The slow wind waits for night to rise. All the hills and vales along ’Neath the cross that Christ had, The world is half content. But they Earth is bursting into song, Shall rejoice and blossom too And the singers are the chaps When the bullet reaches you. Still trouble all the trees with cries, Who are going to die perhaps, Wherefore, men marching That know, and cannot put away, O sing, marching men, On the road to death, sing! The yearning to the soul that flies Till the valleys ring again. Pour your gladness on earth’s head, From day to night, from night to day. Give your gladness to earth’s keeping, So be merry, so be dead. So be glad, when you are sleeping. When you see millions of the mouthless dead From the hills and valleys earth When you see millions of the mouthless dead Cast away regret and rue, Shouts back the sound of mirth, Across your dreams in pale battalions go, Think what you are marching to. Tramp of feet and lilt of song Say not soft things as other men have said, Little live, great pass. Ringing all the road along. That you’ll remember. For you need not so. Jesus Christ and Barabbas All the music of their going, Give them not praise. For, deaf, how should they know Were found the same day. Ringing swinging glad song-throwing, It is not curses heaped on each gashed head? This died, that went his way. Earth will echo still, when foot Nor tears. Their blind eyes see not your tears flow. So sing with joyful breath, Lies numb and voice mute. Nor honour. It is easy to be dead. For why, you are going to death. On, marching men, on Say only this, ‘They are dead.’ Then add thereto, Teeming earth will surely store To the gates of death with song. ‘Yet many a better one has died before.’ All the gladness that you pour. Sow your gladness for earth’s reaping, Then, scanning all the o’ercrowded mass, should you So you may be glad, though sleeping. Perceive one face that you loved heretofore, Earth that never doubts nor fears, Strew your gladness on earth’s bed, It is a spook. None wears the face you knew. Earth that knows of death, not tears, So be merry, so be dead Great death has made all his for evermore. Earth that bore with joyful ease Hemlock for Socrates,

8 Texts 4 November 2018 A hundred thousand million mites we go To Germany MORE ORCHESTRAL SONGS IN THE 2018/19 SEASON A hundred thousand million mites we go You are blind like us. Your hurt no man designed, Wheeling and tacking o’er the endless plain, And no man claimed the conquest of your land. Some black with death — and some are white with woe. But gropers both through fields of thought confined Who sent us forth? Who takes us home again? We stumble and we do not understand. And there is sound of hymns of praise – to whom? You only saw your future bigly planned, And curses – on whom curses? – snap the air. And we, the tapering paths of our own mind, And in each other’s dearest ways we stand, And there is hope goes hand in hand with gloom, And hiss and hate. And the blind fight the blind. And blood and indignation and despair. When it is peace, then we may view again And there is murmuring of the multitude With new-won eyes each other’s truer form And blindness and great blindness, until some And wonder. Grown more loving-kind and warm Step forth and challenge blind Vicissitude We’ll grasp firm hands and laugh at the old pain, Who tramples on them: so that fewer come. When it is peace. But until peace, the storm Barbara Hannigan The darkness and the thunder and the rain. And nations, ankle-deep in love or hate, Thursday 10 January 2019 Throw darts or kisses all the unwitting hour Charles Hamilton Sorley (1895–1915) Barbican Hall Beside the ominous unseen tide of fate; And there is emptiness and drink and power. Sibelius Symphony No 7 And some are mounted on swift steeds of thought Hans Abrahamsen Let me tell you And some drag sluggish feet of stable toil. Nielsen Symphony No 4, ‘Inextinguishable’

Yet all, as though they furiously sought, Sir conductor Twist turn and tussle, close and cling and coil. Barbara Hannigan soprano A hundred thousand million mites we sway Writhing and tossing on the eternal plain, In a programme featuring groundbreaking symphonies Some black with death – but most are bright with Day! by Sibelius and Nielsen, Barbara Hannigan joins Sir Simon Who sent us forth? Who brings us home again? Rattle for Hans Abrahamsen’s hauntingly beautiful Let me tell you, a cycle of songs exploring the perspective of Shakespeare’s Ophelia.

Texts 9 Dmitri Shostakovich Symphony No 4 in C minor Op 43 1935–36 / note by Andrew Huth

1 Allegretto poco moderato for the masses. The doctrine of Socialist The Fourth Symphony was finally brought From the start we are roughly thrown into 2 Moderato con moto Realism demanded optimism (and above to life again during the fragile thaw of the a world out of joint, with mechanised march 3 Largo – Allegro all an optimistic conclusion), with easily Khrushchev period, when Kyril Kondrashin rhythms, pounding brass chords, twisted understood ideas: a recipe for banality which conducted it in Moscow on 30 December harmonies and the dry clattering of the he massive Fourth Symphony Shostakovich was to tackle head-on, with 1961. The performance created a sensation, xylophone: a white-hot stream of sound is a vital transitional work in enormous success, in his Fifth Symphony. revealing a side of Shostakovich that had which is certainly thrilling, but completely Shostakovich’s early career, the been unheard for many years, and that stood lacking in human warmth or sensitivity. outcome of an audibly painful struggle The Fourth, however, was clearly going to in utter contrast to such officially acceptable Another disconcerting feature is the apparent with a problem that by the mid-1930s had be unacceptable. It is a wild and inventive recent works as Symphony No 12 (‘The Year absence of anything like symphonic form become acute, and was both musical and outpouring of ideas, often violent and 1917’), premiered just three months earlier. or behaviour, as events seem to follow one political. He had followed his inventive and eccentric, that sums up all the brilliant A contemporary Soviet reviewer described another in an almost random manner. This exuberant First Symphony (1926) with two qualities of the 30-year-old composer and it as ‘an extremely abrupt and graphic is something of an illusion, for the sonata brash and noisy symphonic glorifications moulds them into a big symphonic structure juxtaposition of nobility and frighteningly principle is at work, but the usual signposts of the Revolution (‘To October’ in 1927, of great originality. It was also the very iconoclastic grotesquerie … the cruel that listeners expect are missing, or even and ‘The First of May’ in 1929), which he opposite of what a good Soviet composer struggle between the human and the blind pointing in the wrong direction. tended to disparage in later life, presumably was expected to produce, and Shostakovich and mechanically inhuman which stands because of their lack of true development knew perfectly well that to continue in this opposed to it’. This is as good an image Developing from a sad waltz-like theme on or sense of direction. vein was to court disaster. as any to sum up the Fourth Symphony. the strings, the short second movement offers some relief from the restless With the Fifth, first heard in 1937, he emerged He nevertheless completed the symphony in Shostakovich’s debt to Mahler is often turmoil of the first: it is a far more organic as a true symphonist with a simplified 1936, likely working under a state of dreadful obvious in the Fourth Symphony. There structure, with tempo and metre unchanged language which displayed a powerful doubt and pressure, and it was rehearsed is, first of all, its unusual shape, two vast throughout. Even so, there are many command of long-range structure and by the Leningrad Philharmonic under Fritz structures framing a much shorter, scherzo- unsettling elements and a strangely weird purpose. As to the Fourth, composed in 1936, Stiedry, a refugee from Nazi Germany. like movement; then there is a deliberate conclusion provided by the dry ticking of it lay unperformed and unknown for 25 years. There are conflicting accounts of exactly cultivation of excess, with an enormous castanets, wood block and side drum (an The date is all-important, for it was while what happened next, but in any event the orchestra, the largest Shostakovich ever effect that would re-appear 35 years later he was working on the Fourth Symphony performance did not go ahead – the official used, featuring 20 woodwind and 17 brass at the end of Symphony No 15). that Shostakovich read the condemnation in line is that Shostakovich withdrew his score instruments with plenty of percussion Pravda of his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. because he was dissatisfied with it, and strings in proportion; and above all, Formed in two main parts, the third It was a clear warning that from now on although this was certainly a face-saving perhaps, the use of popular-style songs, movement features a slow and very Mahlerian composers would be expected to follow the formula to cover up the fact that severe dances and marches that appear either funeral march leading to a shattering brass- party line and produce simple, uplifting music pressure from high quarters had been applied. straightforwardly or in ironic distortion. dominated climax (a mixture of march and

10 Programme Notes 4 November 2018 Dmitri Shostakovich in Profile 1906–75 chorale), and an allegro finale launched by a in an article headed ‘Muddle instead of freedom. Shostakovich answered his critics breathless two-note figure that had featured music,’ in which Shostakovich’s initially after Stalin’s death in 1953 with the powerful in the first two movements. This little figure successful opera Lady Macbeth of the Tenth Symphony, in which he portrays becomes quite obsessive in the course of Mtsensk District was condemned for its ‘human emotions and passions,’ rather than the movement. There is no comfortable modernism. ‘It is leftist bedlam instead of the collective dogma of Communism. A few resolution at the end of the symphony. After a human music,’ the article claimed. When the years before the completion of his bleak long section which at times veers towards the Fifth Symphony was premiered in Leningrad, final String Quartet No 15, Shostakovich frivolity of Rossini, the march-chorale returns the composer’s reputation and career were suffered his second heart attack and the accompanied by the battering of two sets of rescued – Russian audiences gave the work onset of severe arthritis. Many of his final timpani. The music then fades and freezes a 40-minute ovation at its premiere. works – in particular the penultimate on the tonic chord of C minor, with wisps of symphony (No 14) – are preoccupied with remembered themes on timpani and celeste. With the outbreak of war against Nazi the subject of death. • This was the first, but by no mean the last, Germany in June 1941, Shostakovich began of Shostakovich’s symphonies to end with an to compose and arrange pieces to boost Composer profile by Andrew Stewart impression of numbness and uncertainty. public morale. He lived through the first fter early piano lessons with his months of the German siege of Leningrad, The significance the composer himself mother, Shostakovich enrolled at serving as a member of the auxiliary fire attached to the symphony emerges from a the Petrograd Conservatory in 1919. service. In October, he completed the defiant reported conversation in 1970, five years He supplemented his family’s meagre income finales of his Seventh Symphony, after he before his death: working as a cinema pianist, but progressed was evacuated from the city. A micro-filmed to become a composer and concert pianist copy was despatched by way of Tehran and ‘How they managed to contort us, to warp following the critical success of his First an American warship to the US, where it out lives! … You ask if I would have been Symphony in 1926. Over the next decade he was broadcast by the NBC Symphony different without the Party Guidance? Yes, embraced the ideal of composing for Soviet Orchestra and Toscanini. almost certainly. No doubt the line what society, and his Second Symphony was I was pursuing when I wrote the Fourth dedicated to the October Revolution of 1917. In 1948 Shostakovich and other leading Symphony would have been strong and composers, Prokofiev among them, were sharper in my work. I would have displayed Shostakovich announced his Fifth Symphony forced by the Soviet cultural commissar to more brilliance, used more sarcasm, I could of 1937 as ‘a Soviet artist’s practical creative concede that their work represented ‘most have revealed my ideas openly instead of reply to just criticism.’ A year before its strikingly the formalistic perversions and having to resort to camouflage; I would have premiere he had drawn a stinging attack anti-democratic tendencies in music,’ a written more pure music.’ • from the official Soviet mouthpiece Pravda, crippling blow to Shostakovich’s artistic

Programme Notes 11 Gianandrea Noseda conductor

ianandrea Noseda is one of and Pan-Caucasian Youth Orchestra in the In recent years, he has conducted Gounod’s the world’s most sought-after village of Tsinandali, Georgia, which begins Romeo and Juliet, which received its conductors, equally recognised in autumn 2019. premiere at the New Year’s Eve Gala in 2016, for his artistry in the concert hall and opera and a new production of Bizet Les pêcheurs house. In January 2016 he was named as Noseda has conducted leading de perles, which premiered at the New Music Director of the National Symphony and appeared at prestigious opera houses Year’s Eve Gala in 2015. His widely praised Orchestra (US), beginning his four-year including the , Chicago interpretation of Borodin’s Prince Igor from term with the 2017/18 season. He leads Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, the 2013/14 season is available on DVD from twelve weeks of subscription concerts with La Scala, Munich Philharmonic, Met . the Orchestra this season, as well as their Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, NHK first appearance together at Carnegie Hall Symphony, Orchestra dell’Accademia Noseda’s intense recording activity runs to in New York in May. Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and the Orchestre more than 60 CDs, many of which have been de Paris. He has also appeared with the celebrated by critics and received awards. His Noseda also serves as Principal Guest Orchestre National de France, Philadelphia Musica Italiana project, which he initiated Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, House, more than ten years ago, has chronicled Orchestra and Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, and at the under-appreciated Italian repertoire of the Principal Conductor of the Orquestra de Salzburg Festival and Zürich Opera House. 20th century and brought to light many Cadaqués, and Artistic Director of the Stresa masterpieces. Summer 2018 saw the first Festival in Italy. In July 2018, the Zürich From 2007 until 2018, Noseda served as release of his anticipated Shostakovich Opera House appointed him as its General Music Director of Italy’s Teatro Regio Torino, symphony cycle on LSO Live (Symphony No 5), Music Director beginning in the 2021/22 where he ushered in a transformative era while the second release (Symphony No 8) season, where the centrepiece of his tenure for the company, marked by international came out at the beginning of October. will be a new production of Wagner’s Ring acclaim for its productions, tours, recordings, cycle directed by Andreas Homoki. and film projects. A native of Milan, Noseda is Commendatore al Merito della Repubblica Italiana, marking Nurturing the next generation of artists Gianandrea Noseda also has a cherished his contribution to the artistic life of Italy. is important to Noseda, as evidenced by relationship with the Metropolitan Opera, In 2015, he was honoured as Musical his ongoing work in master-classes and dating back to 2002. He returns this season America’s Conductor of the Year, and was tours with youth orchestras, including the to lead performances of a new production of named the 2016 International Opera Awards European Union Youth Orchestra, and with Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur featuring Anna Conductor of the Year. In December 2016 he his recent appointment as Music Director Netrebko, which receives its premiere at the was privileged to conduct the Nobel Prize of the newly created Tsinandali Festival New Year’s Eve Gala on 31 December 2018. Concert in Stockholm. •

12 Artist Biographies 4 November 2018 Ian Bostridge tenor

an Bostridge CBE has made regular Performances during the 2013 Britten Galante. Further ahead, Ian will return to the appearances at the Salzburg, anniversary celebrations included the operatic stage at the Deutsche Oper and give Edinburgh, Munich, Vienna, with the London Philharmonic the world premiere of a new work written for Schwarzenberg and Aldeburgh Festivals. Orchestra under Vladimir Jurowski; Les him by Olli Mustonen. He has had residencies at the Wiener Illuminations with the Royal Concertgebouw Konzerthaus, Carnegie Hall New York, Het Orchestra under Andris Nelsons; and Curlew Ian was a Fellow in history at Corpus Christi Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Philharmonie River in the Netia Jones staging for the College, Oxford (1992–5) and in 2001 was Luxembourg, London’s Barbican Centre Barbican Centre, which was also seen in elected an Honorary Fellow of the college. and . In 2018 Ian began an New York and on the west coast of America. In 2003 he was made an Honorary Doctor auspicious Artistic Residency with the In the autumn of 2014 he embarked on of Music by the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, the first a European recital tour of Schubert’s and in 2010 he was made an Honorary Fellow of its kind for the ensemble. with Thomas Adès to coincide of St John’s College Oxford. He was made a with the publication by Faber and Faber CBE in the 2004 New Year’s Honours, and In opera, he has performed the roles of in the UK and Knopf in the US of his book in 2014 he was Humanitas Professor of Lysander (Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Schubert’s Winter Journey: Anatomy of an Classical Music at the . • Dream) for Opera Australia and at the Obsession. In 2016 Ian was awarded the Edinburgh Festival; Jeptha at the Opéra The Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize for non- National de Paris; Tamino (Mozart’s The fiction writing for the book, which has been Magic Flute) and Jupiter (Handel’s ) translated into a total of twelve languages. for ; and Peter Quint (Britten’s The Turn of the Screw), Don Highlights of the 2018/19 season include a Ottavio (Mozart’s Don Giovanni) and Caliban European recital tour with jazz pianist Brad (Adès’ ) for the Royal Opera Mehldau which includes a new composition House. For the Bayerische Staatsoper he has by Mehldau, staged performances of the sung Nerone (Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione Zender Winterreise, directed by Netia Jones di Poppea) and Tom Rakewell (Stravinsky’s in Shanghai, recordings of Schubert’s three The Rake’s Progress). He has also sung major song cycles live at Wigmore Hall with the role of Aschenbach in Britten’s Death pianists and Thomas Adès, recital in Venice for English National Opera, La tours in Japan, Hong Kong and Korea, as Monnaie, Brussels and in Luxembourg. well as a European concert tour with Europa

Artist Biographies 13 London Symphony Chorus on stage

President he London Symphony Chorus was with Valery Gergiev. The Seasons by Haydn, The LSC is always interested in recruiting Sir Simon Rattle om cbe formed in 1966 to complement Belshazzar’s Feast by Walton, Otello by new members, welcoming applications the work of the London Symphony Verdi, and the world premiere of the St John from singers of all backgrounds. Interested President Emeritus Orchestra and in 2016 celebrated its 50th Passion by James MacMillan were all under singers are welcome to attend rehearsals André Previn kbe anniversary. The partnership between the the baton of the late Sir Colin Davis. before arranging an audition. For further LSC and LSO has continued to develop and was The recent recording of Götterdämmerung information, visit lsc.org.uk. • Vice President strengthened in 2012 with the appointment with the Hallé under Sir Mark Elder won a of Simon Halsey as joint Chorus Director Gramophone award and the recording of of the LSC and Choral Director for the LSO. the Grande Messe des morts by Berlioz with Patrons It now plays a major role in furthering the the LSO conducted by Sir Colin Davis won Simon Russell Beale cbe vision of the LSO Sing initiative. an International Music Award in the Choral Howard Goodall cbe Works category. In June 2015 the recording of The LSC has also partnered with many Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Tenth Symphony, Chorus Director other major orchestras and has performed commissioned by the LSO and recorded Simon Halsey cbe nationally and internationally with the by the LSO and the LSC with Sir Antonio Berlin and Orchestras, Pappano, won a prestigious South Bank Sky Associate Director and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Arts award in the Classical category. Matthew Hamilton Championing the musicians of tomorrow, it has also worked with both the National The 2017/18 season included performances Chorus Accompanist Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and of Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder at the BBC Benjamin Frost the European Union Youth Orchestra. Proms in 2017 with the LSO and Sir Simon The Chorus has toured extensively throughout Rattle; Bernstein’s Wonderful Town and Chairman Europe and has also visited North America, Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust, also Owen Hanmer Israel, Australia and South East Asia. with Sir Simon Rattle; Mahler’s Second Symphony with Semyon Bychkov; and Concert Manager Much of the LSC repertoire has been captured Liszt’s ‘Faust’ Symphony with Sir Antonio Robert Garbolinski in its large catalogue of recordings, which Pappano. Highlights of the forthcoming have won nine awards, including five season include Bernstein’s Candide with LSO Choral Projects Grammys. Recent releases include Britten’s Marin Alsop in December, and Puccini’s Andra East War Requiem with Gianandrea Noseda Messa di Gloria with Sir and Mahler’s Symphonies Nos 2, 3 and 8 in March.

14 London Symphony Chorus 4 November 2018 Sopranos Altos Tenors Basses Assistant Chorus Master Frankie Arnull Sarah Talbot Ayesha Akkari Linda Thomas Jorge Aguilar Chris Bourne Lucy Griffiths Kerry Baker Lizzie Webb Lauren Au Claire Trocmé Paul Allatt * Gavin Buchan Anna Byrne-Smith Rachel Wilson Rosalind Bagshaw Kathryn Wells Robin Anderson Andy Chan Vocal Coaches Carol Capper * Hetty Boardman- Hannah Wisher Erik Azzopardi Steve Chevis Norbert Meyn Shelagh Connolly Weston Joaquim Badia Damian Day Anita Morrison Lucy Feldman Elizabeth Boyden Philipp Boeing Thomas Fea Rebecca Outram Elisa Franzinetti Jo Buchan * Oliver Burrows Ian Fletcher Robert Rice Joanna Gueritz Maggie Donnelly Ethem Demir Robert Garbolinski * Isobel Hammond Lynn Eaton Colin Dunn Josué Garciá *Denotes LSC Hidemi Hatada Linda Evans Matthew Fernando John Graham council member Emily Hoffnung Amanda Freshwater Patrizio Giovannotti Owen Hanmer * Denise Hoilette Joanna Gill * Simon Goldman Rocky Hirst Kuan Hon Rachel Green John Marks Anthony Howick Claire Hussey * Yoko Harada Alastair Mathews Peter Kellett Jenny Ibbott Kate Harrison Matthew McCabe Alex Kidney Debbie Jones Jo Houston Peter Sedgwick Thomas Kohut Esther Kippax Elisabeth Iles Chris Straw Hugh McLeod Ruth Knowles-Clark Christine Jasper Richard Street * Alan Rochford Mimi Kroll Jill Jones Malcolm Taylor Rod Stevens Deborah Lee Vanessa Knapp James Warbis Richard Tannenbaum Marylyn Lewin Gilly Lawson Robert Ward * Gordon Thomson Meg Makower Belinda Liao * Brad Warburton Robin Thurston Meg McClure Liz McCaw Paul Williams-Burton Evan Troendle Jane Morley Aoife McInerney Anthony Wilder Emily Norton Jane Muir Maggie Owen Caroline Mustill Carole Radford Siu-wai Ng Alison Ryan Lucy Reay Anneke Schulz Lis Smith Deborah Staunton Erika Stasiuleviciute Giulia Steidl Margaret Stephen

London Symphony Chorus 15 Simon Halsey choral director

imon Halsey occupies a unique and elsewhere. He holds four honorary reputation internationally as one of the position in classical music. He doctorates from universities in the UK, finest professional choral ensembles. is the trusted advisor on choral and in 2011 Schott Music published his book Halsey also initiated innovative projects singing to the world’s greatest conductors, and DVD on choral conducting, Chorleitung: in unconventional venues and orchestras and choruses, and also an Vom Konzept zum Konzert. interdisciplinary formats. • inspirational teacher and ambassador for choral singing to amateurs of every age, Halsey has worked on nearly 80 recording ability and background. Making singing a projects, many of which have won major central part of the world-class institutions awards, including the Gramophone Award, with which he is associated, he has been Diapason d’Or, Echo Klassik, and three instrumental in changing the level of Grammy Awards with the Rundfunkchor symphonic singing across Europe. Berlin. He was made Commander of the British Empire in 2015, was awarded He holds positions across the UK and Europe The Queen’s Medal for Music in 2014, and as Choral Director of London Symphony received the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Orchestra and Chorus, Chorus Director of the Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in 2011 in recognition of his outstanding Chorus, Artistic Director of Orfeó Català contribution to choral music in Germany. and Artistic Adviser of Palau de la Música, Barcelona, Artistic Director of Berliner Born in London, Simon Halsey sang in the Philharmoniker Youth Choral Programme, choirs of New College, Oxford, and of King’s Director of BBC Proms Youth Choir, Artistic College, Cambridge, and studied conducting Advisor of Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival at the Royal College of Music in London. In Choir, Conductor Laureate of Rundfunkchor 1987, he founded the City of Birmingham Berlin, and Professor and Director of Choral Touring Opera with Graham Vick. He was Activities at University of Birmingham. Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Choir from 1997 to 2008 and Principal He is also a highly respected teacher Conductor of the Northern Sinfonia’s Choral and academic, nurturing the next Programme from 2004 to 2012. From 2001 generation of choral conductors on his to 2015 he led the Rundfunkchor Berlin post-graduate course in Birmingham and (of which he is now Conductor Laureate); through masterclasses at Princeton, Yale under his leadership the chorus gained a

16 Artist Biographies 4 November 2018 Homelands

Gianandrea Noseda’s 2018/19 concert series with the London Symphony Orchestra continues …

‘As artists, we can bring people together by showing how many influences our roots have on music.’

Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 3 Shostakovich Symphony No 1 28 March 2019

Strauss Triple Bill 31 March 2019

Shostakovich Concerto No 1 for Piano, Trumpet and Strings Berlioz Harold in Italy 16 June 2019

Half Six Fix: Read more and book online Strauss & Shostakovich 27 March 2019 lso.co.uk/homelands National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain on stage

Membership of the National Youth Brass Ellerby, Peter Graham, , Band of Great Britain is open to any player of Dominic Muldowney, Bramwell Tovey, a brass band instrument between the ages Errollyn Wallen and Philip Wilby. of twelve and eighteen. Entry is by audition, held at various centres throughout the UK The UK’s premier brass bands, such as during the year. Recent concert venues Black Dyke, Brighouse & Rastrick, Foden’s, include the Royal Albert Hall, the Barbican Grimethorpe Colliery and Fairey, have a Centre, the , significant membership of ex-NYBB players. Queen Elizabeth Hall, Ripon Cathedral The list reads like a ‘who’s who’ of the brass and the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. band world and is rapidly growing. Guest Conductors who have appeared with the band in recent years include Michael Virtually all brass sections in every major Tilson Thomas (when the band appeared symphony orchestra have former National at the Barbican with the London Symphony Youth Brass Band of Great Britain members, he National Youth Brass Band of band rehearsals daily. The music studied Orchestra’s brass players), Sir Charles including James Fountain, the LSO’s Great Britain was founded in 1952 is carefully chosen, and students are often Groves, Harry Mortimer CBE, Elgar Howarth, Principal Trumpet Philip Cobb, Ian Bousfield, by Dr Denis Wright, OBE. The band introduced to lesser-known works. In recent Derek Bourgeois, Edward Gregson, James Lindsay Shilling, Anthony Parsons, Martin exists to provide unique opportunities for years the band has commissioned new Watson and Bramwell Tovey. Winter and Martin Hurrill, just to mention a young people to play brass band music to compositions from leading composers, in few. The late Maurice Murphy was the first the highest standards and is aimed not only some cases with funding support from the There have been six Musical and Artistic Leader of the Band in 1952. • at helping their playing, but also improving Arts Council of England. Recently, the band Directors in the band’s history: Dr Denis their musicianship and widening their introduced a composer’s workshop where Wright OBE, Geoffrey Brand, Arthur The National Youth Brass Band of Great musical horizons. students can receive feedback on their own Butterworth MBE, Dr Roy Newsome and Britain is supported using public funding compositions with a leading composer. Elgar Howarth preceded Bramwell Tovey, by Arts Council England Residential courses, lasting for one week, The band regularly records for BBC Radio who began his tenure in January 2006. are held twice a year. These take place at 2 and Radio 3 and each course ends with a Easter and in August at various centres number of prestigious concerts. Over 4,000 The band has been at the forefront of throughout the country. Under the direction players have taken part in the 125 courses commissioning new major brass band works. of a team of instrumental tutors and the held since the band was founded, including Composers who have written especially for Artistic Director or Guest Conductor, the many who have since become world the band include David Bedford, Richard players have intensive sectional and full renowned performers and conductors. Rodney Bennett, Martin Butler, Martin

18 National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain 4 November 2018 FIND THE PERFECT GIFT Soprano Cornets Flugel Horns Euphoniums B-Flat Basses Alex Baker Reuben Anelay Julien Bayley Stanley Aitkin FROM OUR NEW RANGE Calum Claughton Eleanor Joy Joshua Brierley David Allcock Matthew Hall Naomi Selby-Grace Ivor Crooks Morro Barry Adam Hofland-Ward Sebastian Williman Jordan Dunk William Burton Tote Bags Felix Rockhill Daniel Lancaster Cornets Tenor Horns Cameron Scott George Mitchell Tea Towels Josephine Allen George Clist- Annie Wilkins Mugs Louie Anderson Woodward Percussion Charlotte Atkinson Megan Giles Tenor Toby Dytrych Luke Barker Thomas Goodman Christopher Chung Sam Iles Lewis Barton Grace Jeffers Joseph Heartfield Emily Quick Holly Clark Georgia Kirk Lewis Martin William Rowling Alicia Davis George Lawryshyn Barney Shaw Tom Walgate Keir Luc Evans-Brown Bethany Littlewood Adam Warburton William Everitt Jack Lythaby Artistic Director Ainslee Farrar Cathryn Nuta Bass Trombones Bramwell Tovey Catherine Flanders Georgia Poole Oliver Atherton Marcus Gatenby Jennie Worrall Rhodri Thomas Lucy Heeley Zoë Wright Rob Wiggins Ben Jarvis Samuel Johnson Baritones E-Flat Basses Jack Lloyd Alex Barron Thomas Barnet Victoria Lloyd Rhys Edwards Neve Lawrence Thomas Nielsen Samuel Ehret-Pickett Adam Penlington Charlotte Nuta Edwin Farrar William Sloane Abigail Patterson Rose Hancock Gregor Spence Thomas Smith Oliver Marshall Becky Strentz Aaron Thomas Available now on Level -1 William Thomas

National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain 1919 London Symphony Orchestra on stage tonight

Leader Second Violins Cellos Flutes LSO String Experience Scheme Roman Simovic Thomas Norris Rebecca Gilliver Gareth Davies Rachel Gough Peter Smith Since 1992, the LSO String Experience Sarah Quinn Alastair Blayden Camilla Marchant Dominic Tyler Lee Tsarmaklis Scheme has enabled young string players First Violins Miya Väisänen Jennifer Brown Sarah Bennett Lawrence O’Donnell from the London music conservatoires at Carmine Lauri Matthew Gardner Noel Bradshaw Luke O’Toole Timpani the start of their professional careers to gain Emily Nebel Naoko Keatley Daniel Gardner Contra Nigel Thomas work experience by playing in rehearsals Clare Duckworth Belinda McFarlane Hilary Jones Piccolos Dominic Morgan Mark McDonald and concerts with the LSO. The musicians Ginette Decuyper William Melvin Amanda Truelove Patricia Moynihan are treated as professional ‘extra’ players Gerald Gregory Iwona Muszynska Laure Le Dantec Sophie Johnson Horns Percussion (additional to LSO members) and receive fees Maxine Kwok-Adams Andrew Pollock Miwa Rosso Marc Gruber Neil Percy for their work in line with LSO Section Players. Claire Parfitt Paul Robson Deborah Tolksdorf Angela Barnes David Jackson The Scheme is supported by: Harriet Rayfield Siobhan Doyle Juliana Koch Stephen Craigen Tom Edwards The Polonsky Foundation Colin Renwick Hazel Mulligan Double Basses Rosie Jenkins Jonathan Lipton Paul Stoneman Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust Sylvain Vasseur Greta Mutlu Colin Paris Maxwell Spiers Anna Euen Benedict Hoffnung Derek Hill Foundation Julian Azkoul Csilla Pogany Patrick Laurence Michael Kidd Jacob Brown Angus Allnatt Charitable Foundation Morane Cohen- Matthew Gibson Meilyr Hughes Emanuel Joste Rod Stafford Lamberger Violas Thomas Goodman Christine Pendrill Rachel Silver Laura Dixon Hannah Strijbos Joe Melvin John Davy Harps Gabrielle Painter Gillianne Haddow Jani Pensola Bryn Lewis Benjamin Roskams Anna Bastow Paul Sherman Andrew Marriner Lucy Wakeford Lander Echevarria Jim Vanderspar Peter Sparks Philip Cobb Carol Ella Elizabeth Drew Catherine Knight Piano Robert Turner Felicity Vine Niall Keatley Philip Moore Editor Michelle Bruil Aaron Akugbo Fiona Dinsdale | [email protected] Stephanie Edmundson E-Flat Clarinet Editorial Photography Philip Hall Chi-Yu Mo Trombones Ranald Mackechnie, Philip Gatward, Rachel Robson Mark Templeton Dario Acosta Alistair Scahill James Maynard Print Cantate 020 3651 1690 David Vainsot Katy Ayling Advertising Cabbells Ltd 020 3603 7937 Bass Paul Milner Details in this publication were correct at time of going to press.

20 The Orchestra 4 November 2018