Thursday 25 October 2018 7.30–9.40pm Barbican Hall

LSO SEASON CONCERT TCHAIKOVSKY’S FIFTH SYMPHONY

Mussorgsky Night on the Bare Mountain Szymanowski Violin Concerto No 2 TCHAI Interval Tchaikovsky Symphony No 5

Philippe Jordan conductor Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider violin KOVSKY Recommended by

6pm Barbican Hall LSO Platforms: Guildhall Artists A recital of Russian songs Welcome Latest News On Our Blog

furthermore connected to Tchaikovsky’s love APPLICATIONS OPEN FOR THE LSO NIKOLAJ SZEPS-ZNAIDER: of his homeland. PANUFNIK COMPOSERS SCHEME WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A CONDUCTOR

Prior to this concert, students from the Applications for the LSO Panufnik ‘The moment we stop being curious, the Guildhall School performed at short concert Composers Scheme are now open, and creative process stops’ – conductor and of Russian Songs here in the Barbican Hall. we’re recruiting budding composers from a virtuoso violinist Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider These recitals, which are free to attend wide range of musical backgrounds to write talks about what a conductor does and across the season, provide a platform for new music to be performed by the London what it takes to be a great one. the musicians of the future. Symphony Orchestra in 2019.

We look forward to more Russian LSO EAST LONDON ACADEMY VÍKINGUR ÓLAFSSON: ‘TO KEEP elcome to this evening’s concert masterpieces in November, as Giananadrea EXPERIMENTING IS THE DREAM’ at the Barbican. Tonight Philippe Noseda conducts Shostakovich’s Fourth Developed in partnership with ten East Jordan, Music Director at the Symphony, alongside premieres of works London boroughs, the LSO East London On Friday 21 September, Icelandic pianist Opéra de Paris, visits us to make his by British composer James MacMillan. Academy is the first step on a path to Víkingur Ólafsson paid a flying visit to LSO debut with the Orchestra in I hope you enjoy the concert and that making the Orchestra truly representative St Luke’s to perform a recital as part of the a programme inspired by the landscapes you will join us again soon. of its community in London. Opening at LSO Radio 3 Artist Spotlight series. We talked to and folk history of Eastern Europe. St Luke’s in Spring 2019, it aims to identify Víkingur about music in Iceland, recording and develop the potential of young East Bach, and how a fish factory in Iceland’s We begin with Mussorgsky’s Night on a Bare Londoners who show exceptional musical West Fjords became the setting for his Mountain in its original version from 1867, talent, irrespective of their background or latest music video. followed by Szymanowski’s Second Violin financial circumstance. Concerto, the Polish composer’s final large- Kathryn McDowell CBE DL • lso.co.uk/blog scale work. For this we are joined by violin Managing Director • lso.co.uk/news soloist Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, who appeared with the Orchestra earlier in the month to WELCOME TO TONIGHT’S GROUPS conduct Smetana’s Má vlast in the Barbican Hall and on tour in Madrid. We are delighted to welcome tonight’s groups: Linda Diggins & Friends To close the concert we have Tchaikovsky’s Sunnhordland Folkehogskole Fifth Symphony. This musical landmark Fredheim Gjermund & Friends famously explores the theme of fate, and is

2 Welcome 25 October 2018 Tonight’s Concert Coming Up: LSO Season Concerts

Tonight’s concert brings together three PROGRAMME CONTRIBUTORS Thursday 1 November 7.30–9.50pm Sunday 11 November 7–8.50pm works which reflect the fragility and Barbican Hall Barbican Hall resilience of humanity in nature, from Alison Bullock Alison Bullock is a freelance Mussorgsky’s bristling evocation of a witches’ writer and music consultant whose interests Kodály Dances of Galánta Ligeti Lontano Sabbath atop a mountain to Szymanowski’s range from Machaut to Messiaen and beyond. James MacMillan Trombone Concerto Bartók Cantata Profana last great concert work inspired by Poland’s Shostakovich Symphony No 4 Haydn Nelson Mass Tatra mountains, and Tchaikovsky’s Andrew Huth is a musician, writer and intensely personal Fifth Symphony. translator who writes extensively on French, Gianandrea Noseda conductor François-Xavier Roth conductor Russian and Eastern European music. Peter Moore trombone Camilla Tilling soprano Mussorgsky’s tone poem took several Adèle Chavrey mezzo-soprano forms in the composer’s life-time, variously Fabienne Morris is a specialist in classical Sunday 4 November 7–9.10pm Julien Behr tenor adapted for use in the theatre and music communications currently working at Barbican Hall Matthew Rose bass orchestrated by Rimsky-Korsakov in 1886. award-winning music agency Intermusica. London Symphony Chorus The 1867 version went unperformed until James MacMillan Simon Halsey chorus director the 20th century, and the ‘night’ referred Adrian Thomas is a composer and author All the Hills and Vales Along * to in the original title of the work refers to specialising in Polish music, and Emeritus Shostakovich Symphony No 4 Wednesday 14 November 6.30–7.30pm St John’s Eve, a midsummer feast when Professor of Music at Cardiff University Barbican Hall witches were said to gather on a mountain School of Music Gianandrea Noseda conductor side. Similarly, Szymanowski’s Second Violin Ian Bostridge tenor Debussy Prélude à l’après midi d’un Faune Concerto takes inspiration from the high London Symphony Chorus Dvořák Cello Concerto Tatra mountains in the South of Poland and Simon Halsey chorus director Strauss Also sprach Zarathustra is infused with the folk music of the region. National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain François-Xavier Roth conductor Tchaikovsky’s FIfth Symphony wavers *Commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra and Jean-Guihen Queyras cello 14-18 NOW: WW1 Centenary Art Commissions, with the between optimism and sorrow, exploring the world premieres taking place at The Cumnock Tryst festival theme of Fate which is a frequent feature (chamber version) on 6 October 2018 and LSO (orchestral version) on 4 November 2018. of the composer’s symphonic works. A recurring motto unifies the symphony’s four movements, which variously showcase the nostalgic melodies, sweeping dance Generously supported by LSO Patrons and part of the Barbican’s For the Fallen: Marking the forms and vivid orchestral colours for which First World War Centenary Tchaikovsky’s music is so well-loved.

Tonight’s Concert 3 Modest Mussorgsky Night on the Bare Mountain 1867 version / note by Andrew Huth

wayward and self-destructive further arrangement, which was pressed into genius, Mussorgsky was a late service as a dream interlude in the comic starter who died far too young. opera Sorochintsy Fair, another work left in NOSEA’S SHOSTAKOVIC His list of works is not very extensive and his a very fragmentary state when Mussorgsky career is marked by any number of projects died. The Rimsky-Korsakov Bare Mountain GIANANDREA NOSEDA CONDUCTS Wednesday 27 March 6.30pm that were never properly started, soon is an orchestration and re-casting of this THE LSO AT THE BARBICAN abandoned or left incomplete. As a result, Sorochintsy Fair music. Strauss Till Eulenspiegel much of his music became known in versions Shostakovich Symphony No 1 posthumously edited and arranged by The 1867 score, which Rimsky-Korsakov friends, including the piece known as Night seems not to have known, was completed Thursday 28 March 7.30pm on a Bare Mountain which Rimsky-Korsakov and fully orchestrated by Mussorgsky. produced in 1886. This evening, however, we Rough and headstrong, its raw power comes Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 3 hear Mussorgsky’s own voice in an earlier from its very lack of orchestral subtlety, Balakirev arr Casella Islamey and less familiar version of the music. throwing ideas and masses of sound Shostakovich Symphony No 1 together in an almost reckless manner It had a complicated history. Among typical of a composer who cared nothing Seong-Jin Cho piano Mussorgsky’s earliest projects was an opera for conventional beauty or polished Thursday 1 November 7.30pm based on Nikolay Gogol’s story St John’s Eve, technique. Famously, Mussorgsky said Thursday 28 March 7.30pm which was to include a scene portraying a ‘Art is a means of communicating with Kodály Dances of Galánta witches’ Sabbath – the last movement of people, not an end in itself.’ • James MacMillan Trombone Concerto Beethoven Overture: Egmont Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique • cast a Shostakovich Symphony No 4 Shostakovich Concerto No 1 for piano, long shadow, particularly in Russia. Nothing • BERLIOZ’S WITCHES trumpet and strings came of this, but nine years later, in 1867, Peter Moore trombone Berlioz Harold in Italy he did compose an independent orchestral The impact of Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie piece with the title St John’s Night (that is, fantastique (1830) resonated through the Sunday 4 November 7pm Daniil Trifonov piano Midsummer night) on the Bare Mountain. 1900s. Across its five movements, the piece Philip Cobb trumpet It was never performed, and Mussorgksy depicts the fantastic dreams of an artist James MacMillan All the Hills and Vales Antoine Tamestit viola made two later attempts to resurrect the tortured by unrequited love. The work ends Along music. The first was in 1872, when he recast with a raucous finale, combining a witches’ Shostakovich Symphony No 4 it as part of an ill-fated opera-ballet called dance with the ominous Dies irae – a latin Mlada, on which four other composers were hymn sung on All Soul’s Day. Ian Bostridge tenor to collaborate; this in its turn served for a London Symphony Chorus National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain lso.co.uk/201819season 4 Programme Notes 25 October 2018 Modest Mussorgsky in Profile 1839–1881 Karol Szymanowski in Profile 1882–1937

his development quite severely. By 1863, his life and served as Director of the Warsaw though, he was finding his true voice, and he Conservatoire from 1927 to 29. began to write an opera (never completed) based on Flaubert’s Salammbô. At this time Szymanowski’s output falls loosely into he was working as a civil servant and living three periods. Before World War I he in a commune with five other young men followed the style of Strauss and Wagner, passionate about art and philosophy, where with big, densely chromatic symphonies. he established his artistic ideals. In 1865 his By 1914 he was moving towards an exotic mother died; this probably caused his first aesthetic similar to that explored by bout of alcoholism. Debussy and Scriabin, which came of his growing fascination with Arabic cultures. His first major work, Night on the Bare When Poland gained its independence in Mountain, was composed in 1867, and soon 1918, this rekindled Szymanowski’s patriotic afterwards, fired by the ideas discussed in sentiments and suddenly his works were Balakirev’s circle (‘The Mighty Handful’) he infused with elements of traditional Polish Modest Mussorgsky was born in Karevo, the began writing his opera Boris Godunov; a Karol Szymanowski was born in Tymoszówka folklore – the Stabat Mater, Symphony youngest son of a wealthy landowner. His little later he also began work on another (modern-day Ukraine) in the former kingdom No 4 and Violin Concerto No 2 are prime mother gave him his first piano lessons and opera, Khovanshchina. Heavy drinking was of Poland. He was first taught music by his examples. The enduring characteristic of his musical talent was encouraged at the once again affecting his creativity, though father, who instilled in the young composer his works is undoubtedly their intense Cadet School of the Guards in St Petersburg, he did write the piano work Pictures at an an acute and ardent sense of patriotic duty expressionism, tempered by a deep-seated where he began to compose despite having Exhibition in a short time. By 1880 he was which would influence his entire life and spirituality. • no training. In 1857 he met Balakirev, whom obliged to leave government employment, career. he persuaded to teach him, and shortly and despite the support of his friends, Composer Profile by Fabienne Morris afterwards began composing in earnest. he lapsed still further, eventually being At 19 he began composition and piano hospitalised in February 1881 after a bout lessons in Warsaw but struggled to find The following year Mussorgsky suffered of alcoholic epilepsy. It was during a brief a suitable outlet in a city that was, by all an emotional crisis and resigned his army respite that Ilya Repin painted his famous accounts, far from a thriving cultural capital. commission, but returned soon afterwards portrait of the composer, but within two Until 1911 Szymanowski published his own to his studies. He was, however, plagued weeks of that work, Mussorgsky died. • works under the auspices of the Young by nervous tension, and this, combined Polish Composers’ Publishing Company, a with a crisis at the family home after the Composer Profile by Alison Bullock group founded by him and some friends in emancipation of the serfs in 1861, stalled 1905. He supported Polish music throughout

Composer Profiles 5 Karol Szymanowski Violin Concerto No 2 Op 61 1932–33 / note by Adrian Thomas

1 Moderato – Molto tranquillo and orchestra. The minor third which into two distinct halves. Like its predecessor, 2 Andantino sostenuto underpinned parts of the Symphony is the Second Concerto rethinks the structure TCHAIKOVSKY’S FIFTH – IN BRIEF • 3 Allegramente – elevated here to a melodic role, part of a of the genre, masking familiar symphonic Molto energico sostenuto folk-like theme unfurled by the soloist. procedures with elements of fantasia form. Composed in 1888, the Fifth was 4 Andantino – Molto tranquillo The mood is initially introverted, with the The concluding Molto energico follows without completed ten years after Tchaikovsky’s violin in conversation with muted horn and a break, recalling in its opening bars the Fourth Symphony, once he was well- Leonidas Kavakos violin muted trumpet. But as other sections of the start of Szymanowski’s Fourth Symphony. established in western Europe. orchestra join in, the solo violin picks up the The violin introduces a decorated version of Szymanowski’s close friends from childhood pace and becomes ever more impassioned. the Concerto’s first theme, confirming the A four-movement symphony, it features included the pianist Arthur Rubinstein and composer’s lifelong fascination with both all the elements of Tchaikovsky’s best- the violinist Paweł Kochański, and both The first climax is a mêlée of layered themes integration and variation. loved music: clear melodic ideas, vibrant men championed Szymanowski’s music that recalls Szymanowski’s musical persona colours and powerfully directness. abroad and were honoured in dedications from his early orchestral works. It becomes A further surprise lies in the introduction of of the composer’s works. The two violin apparent that in the 30 or so years of his a central section in the guise of a mazurka, A motto played low by the clarinet concertos were dedicated to Kochański, career, there are certain consistencies that a Polish dance form. Chopin had done and strings at the beginning of the who played a major role working on the transcend stylistic development, especially something similar in his Polonaise in F symphony introduces a theme that technicalities of the solo part. While he had his polyphonic textures, his ear for harmony sharp minor, and Szymanowski’s own piano recurs throughout. not been able to give the premiere of the and high lyricism, and his ability to create mazurkas meld highlander music (commonly First Concerto (1916), Kochański did give the both chamber-like and rich orchestral textures in 2/4 or 4/4) with dances from the Polish Moods of melancholy and nostalgia first performance of the Second (1932–33), whatever the size of the performing forces. plains (commonly in 3/8 or 3/4). Here the characterise the Symphony, which in the although it was his last appearance – he died synthesis has a somewhat reflective tone – composer’s own annotations explores three months later. Szymanowski himself Where the First Violin Concerto is quixotic an ‘etched lyricism’ as Teresa Chylińska the theme of Fate. was already ill, and he survived for only four and ethereal, the Second Violin Concerto is has called it. This mood permeates the more years. earthy and sinewy. This befits a work which ensuing recapitulation, where both versions The Finale’s exultant ending is seems to recreate in symphonic form the of the Concerto’s main theme crown dominated by the motto heard at the Like the Fourth Symphony, the Second musical world of Szymanowski’s beloved Szymanowski’s last orchestral work. • very start of the piece. Violin Concerto is deeply rooted in Polish highlanders, with its open fifth drones and folk music, especially that of the Tatra intertwined melodic lines. After a lyrical At its Hamburg premiere, the Interval – 20 minutes Mountains in the South, around Zakopane. episode and a second climax on the main orchestra’s players grew to like the There are bars on all levels. They both show a new leanness in theme, Szymanowski inserts a cadenza. piece so much, they gave Tchaikovsky a Visit the Barbican Shop on Level -1 to Szymanowski’s writing and a concertante This lies at the heart of the concerto, which is standing ovation at the last rehearsal. see our range of Gifts and Accessories. approach to the combination of soloist otherwise through-composed, separating it

6 Programme Notes 25 October 2018 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Symphony No 5 in E minor Op 64 1888 / note by Andrew Huth

1 Andante – Allegro con anima obscure and ancient Avé-Lallemant that he last rehearsal gave me an ovation. The love song, and highlights Tchaikovsky’s 2 Andantino cantabile, con alcuna licenza dedicated his next symphony. On his return concert was also a success. Best of all – I outstanding sense of orchestral colour. 3 Valse: Allegro moderato to Russia he sketched it in May and June of have stopped disliking the symphony. I love The appearances of the motto theme are 4 Finale: Andante maestroso – 1888, completing the score in October. it again.’ Unfortunately, we don’t know the ominous, perhaps an expression of the Allegro vivace dedicatee’s opinion: old Avé-Lallemant was composer’s own thwarted search for love. The Fifth Symphony has everything that too ill to come to the concert. en years separate Tchaikovsky’s listeners to his music value: clarity of THIRD MOVEMENT Fourth and Fifth Symphonies, so ideas, a sensuous feeling for colour, and a FIRST MOVEMENT it is hardly surprising that they powerful directness of effect. There is little The third movement is a waltz, subtly are very different in character. By the end of of the traditional German fondness for close The overall mood of each of Tchaikovsky’s referring back to a passage in the first the decade 1878–88, Tchaikovsky’s personal motivic relationships, but the melancholy symphonies is established immediately movement and reminding us that life had become far more stable and his and nostalgia that is so much a part of at the beginning. Here the low clarinet Tchaikovsky’s next major work would be public career had expanded into western Tchaikovsky’s character is set within a firm and strings present a motto theme that his ballet The Sleeping Beauty, with its Europe. He responded enthusiastically to classical structure that balances inward recurs throughout the symphony. Among inexhaustible wealth of dance movements. new impressions, at the same time thinking doubt against outward strength. Tchaikovsky’s sketches there is a scribbled deeply about his own approach to balancing note that gives some idea of what was in his FINALE Russian and western styles. Tchaikovsky conducted the first performance mind: ‘Introduction. Complete submission on 17 November 1888 in St Petersburg, then before Fate – or (what is the same thing) the The first three movements all open quietly; In 1887 he found himself in Hamburg, after giving further performances in Russia inscrutable design of Providence. Allegro: 1 the waltz is the first to end loudly, after a where he was approached by an elderly he introduced it to Germany in Hamburg. Murmurs, doubts, laments … 2 Shall I cast subdued appearance of the motto theme. musician called Theodor Avé-Lallemant. He found the next room in his hotel was myself into the embrace of faith?’ The music This theme, now firm and confident in the As Tchaikovsky recounted with a mixture occupied by Johannes Brahms, who had tells us that Tchaikovsky’s idea of Fate is not major mode, provides the long introduction of affection and amusement, the old prolonged his stay to hear the rehearsal the grim power that dominates the Fourth to the finale. The main body of the man frankly confessed that he didn’t like and who ‘was very kind. We had lunch Symphony but something less hostile, movement is a vigorous, at times hectic Tchaikovsky’s music, and ‘exhorted me together after the rehearsal, and quite a holding the possibility also of happiness. Russian dance full of rough high spirits. The almost tearfully to leave Russia and settle few drinks. He is very sympathetic and I like motto theme is eventually absorbed into permanently in Germany, where classical his honesty and open-mindedness. Neither SECOND MOVEMENT its course and dominates the coda, where it traditions … would free me from my he nor the players liked the Finale, which I becomes exultant – or rather, shows a desire shortcomings.’ Such a move would have been also think rather horrible’. A few days later, The central movements both relate to the to be exultant, which is not quite the same unthinkable. Tchaikovsky always felt himself though, Tchaikovsky wrote to his brother, varying moods of the first. The horn theme thing, for there is something fragile even in intensely Russian and was usually homesick ‘The players by degrees came to appreciate of the slow movement, after the sombre Tchaikovsky’s most positive statements. • when abroad; but it was, surprisingly, to the the symphony more and more, and at the introductory string chords, is obviously a

Programme Notes 7 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in Profile 1840–1893

TCHAIKOVSKY — ON LSO LIVE ‘I sit down to the piano regularly at nine-o’clock in the morning and Mesdames les Muses have learned to be on time for that rendezvous.’ —

Tchaikovsky’s First Symphony was warmly The mood of crushing despair heard in all received at its St Peters­­burg premiere in but the work’s third move­ment reflected 1868. Swan Lake, the first of his three the composer’s troubled state of mind. great ballet scores, was written in 1876 for He committed suicide nine days after its Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre. Between 1869 premiere on 6 November 1893. • and the year of his death, he composed over 100 songs, cast mainly in the impassioned Composer Profile by Andrew Huth Romance style and textually preoccu­­pied with the frustration and despair associated with love, con­ditions that characterised his Tchaikovsky: Symphonies Nos 1 to 3 personal relationships. chaikovsky was born in Kamsko- Valery Gergiev conductor Votkinsk in the Vyatka province of Tchaikovsky’s hasty decision to marry an Russia on 7 May 1840; his father almost unknown admirer in 1877 proved Former Principal Conductor Valery was a mining engineer, and his mother was a disaster, his homosexuality combining Gergiev recorded Tchaikovsky’s first of French extraction. In 1848 the family strongly with his sense of entrapment. three symphonies with the LSO in 2012. moved to the imperial capital, St Petersburg, By now he had completed his Fourth Featuring ‘Winter Dreams’, the ‘Little where Pyotr was enrolled at the School of Symphony, was about to finish his opera Russian’ and the ‘Polish’ symphonies, Juris­prudence. After his mother’s death in Eugene Onegin, and had attracted the his interpretations have been widely 1854, he overcame his grief by composing considerable financial and moral support of praised for their finesse and imagination. and performing, and music remained a Nadezhda von Meck, an affluent widow. diversion from his job – as a clerk at the She helped him through his personal crisis and Ministry of Justice – until he enrolled as in 1878 he returned to composition­ with the a full-time student at the St Petersburg Violin Concerto. Tchaikovsky claimed that his lsolive.co.uk Conservatory in 1863. Sixth Symphony represented his best work.

8 Composer Profile 25 October 2018 Philippe Jordan conductor

hilippe Jordan is counted among the As a symphonic conductor, Philippe has Schubert’s Seventh and Eighth Symphonies best-established and most sought- worked the Berlin, Munich and Vienna (August 2015). A recording of Beethoven’s after conductors of his generation, Philharmonic Orchestras, the Vienna complete Symphonies is planned to be and has been Music Director of the Opéra Symphony, Radio Symphony Orchestra of finished during the composer’s 250th de Paris since 2009 and Principal Conductor Vienna, Orchestra Philharmonique de Radio anniversary year in 2020. • of the since the 2014/15 France, London Philharmonic Orchestra, season. Most recently, Philippe has been Orchestra Dell’Accademia Nazionale di • Read our interview with appointed Music Director of the Vienna State Santa Cecilia in Rome, Orchestre de la Philippe Jordan on page 11 Opera, a role he will begin in 2020. Suisse Romande, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Jordan’s career on the podium began at Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg. Philippe’s Germany’s Theater Ulm in the 1994, and work with the Vienna Symphony includes from 1998 to 2001 Jordan served as Assistant complete cycles of Beethoven’s Symphonies Conductor and Kapellmeister under Daniel and Piano Concertos at Vienna’s Barenboim at the . Musikverein, followed by an additional Subsequently, Philippe became Principal Beethoven Symphony Cycle in the Vienna Conductor of Austria’s Graz Opera House Konzerthaus. and the Graz Philharmonic Orchestra. During that period, Jordan debuted at In summer 2017, Philippe Jordan conducted important international opera houses a new production of Die Meistersinger von and festivals, including the Metropolitan Nürnberg in Bayreuth, which returns to Opera and Houston Grand Opera, the Wagner’s theatre in summer 2019. Philippe festivals of Salzburg, Aix-en-Provence and has also been active as a recording artist Glyndebourne, as well as the Royal Opera working with opera companies around House in Covent Garden, Europe, at the Glyndebourne Festival, the and the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. From Royal Opera and the Opéra de Paris. His 2006 to 2010, Jordan served as Principal recording of Pelléas et Mélisande at the Guest Conductor of Berlin’s Staatsoper Unter Opéra de Paris was awarded the CHOC de den Linden, and in summer 2012 he made l’année prize for Classical Music DVDs. His his debut at the Bayreuth Festival leading a recording work with the Vienna Symphony production of Parsifal. includes discs of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 6, ‘Pathétique’ (September 2014) and

Artist Biographies 9 Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider violin

he 2017/18 season saw Nikolaj Concertos 4 and 5 was released on the Szeps-Znaider plays the ‘Kreisler’ Guarnerius Szeps-Znaider give acclaimed LSO Live label in March 2018 with The ‘del Gesu’ 1741 on extended loan to him performances at the helms of the Strad extolling Szeps-Znaider’s playing as by The Royal Danish Theater through the Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, ‘possibly among the most exquisite violin generosity of the VELUX Foundations, London Symphony, Detroit Symphony, sound ever captured on disc’. Concertos 1, 2 the Villum Fonden and the Knud Højgaard and Cleveland orchestras. This season and and 3 follow in November 2018. Foundation. • next, he returns to the Orchestre National de Lyon, Detroit Symphony, Montreal His extensive discography also includes the Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, Nielsen concerto with Alan Gilbert and the Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Elgar’s Concerto and Luxembourg Philharmonic, and expands in B minor with the late Sir Colin Davis and the list of opera houses he appears with the Staatskapelle Dresden, award-winning by making debuts with the recordings of the Brahms and Korngold SZEPS-ZNAIDER ON LSO LIVE Dresden and the Hamburg Opera. He also concertos with Valery Gergiev and the continues his Nielsen project with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Beethoven and Odense Symphony Orchestra conducting and Mendelssohn concertos with Zubin Mehta recording the complete symphonies. Also a and the Israel Philharmonic, Prokofiev’s virtuoso violinist of distinction, he features Concerto No 2 and Glazunov Concerto with as Artist in Residence with the Vienna Mariss Jansons and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, both performing with Symphony, and the Mendelssohn concerto and conducting the orchestra in a series of on DVD with Riccardo Chailly and the concerts across the 18/19 season, including Gewandhaus Orchestra. Szeps-Znaider has his conducting debut at the Musikverein and also recorded the complete works of Brahms a European tour with Philippe Jordan. for violin and piano with Yefim Bronfman.

Szeps-Znaider has a particularly strong Szeps-Znaider is passionate about relationship with the London Symphony supporting the next generation of musical Orchestra; an orchestra he conducts and talent and spent ten years as Founder and Hear Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider in Mozart’s Violin performs with as soloist every season, Artistic Director of the annual Nordic Music Concertos in his latest recording for LSO Live, and with whom he has recently recorded Academy summer school. He is now President available from Friday 2 November 2018 Mozart’s complete violin concertos, directed of the Nielsen Competition, which takes place from the violin. The first album comprising every three years in Odense, Denmark. • lsolive.co.uk

10 Artist Biographies 25 October 2018 Philippe Jordan in Conversation

intoxicating, in a good sense. You learn a it in their own way, with transparency. new approach to Wagner, because you’re The Mussorgsky we’re playing is its forced to think like him, through the original version and it’s much more radical acoustic, through the pit. You become a than Rimsky-Korsakov’s arrangement, different conductor after Bayreuth. which is more like a fairytale. Then there’s Szymanowski, a Polish composer who London … was influenced by all things: folk music of course – you can hear BartÓk-like Before I left for Paris I had an intense dances in the concerto’s themes – as well as relationship with the city, and with England. French Impressionism and Expressionism. I made my UK debut at Glyndebourne in It’s very complex. 2002 with Bizet’s Carmen, and I worked a lot in Covent Garden until 2008 and with the Working with Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider … Philharmonia Orchestra. I’ve missed it over the last few years, so I’m very happy to come When we both were babies in Berlin we did back and to meet a new orchestra. Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No 1, so we’re connected by that. He’s also artist in His musical upbringing … listening to Wagner after that. I could visit Tonight’s programme … residence with the Vienna Symphony and rehearsals and see the singers. Of course, we’ll be performing again just after this. I’m part of a music family. My father, Armin I didn’t understand much of it, but I knew There’s a theme for the LSO season: roots He’s a wonderful violinist and he thinks Jordan, was a conductor and my mother it was something you could feel, that you and folk music. Recently I did a complete from the perspective of the whole orchestra, was a ballet dancer, so I got into opera and could drown in. cycle of the Tchaikovsky symphonies in especially now that he conducts – he’s a theatre early. I was especially fascinated Paris, and in my work with the orchestra true musician and a great partner. by my dad’s job. It was clear I wanted to Conducting in Bayreuth … there I always think it’s important to do the same thing. question identity and how to cultivate the Music outside the concert-hall … It’s incredible. I adore Wagner but never identity of the orchestra through its sound. I saw so many things with my father but saw myself as a Wagnerian. I got to know how When we did the Tchaikovsky, I saw how When I have a lot of concerts on, I prefer really what was most extraordinary was incredible Bayreuth is as a place when I saw the Russian musical tradition connects to silence. I think silence is the greatest music when I was eleven years old and my father the dedication and love given to the music. France. There’s a long history of performing ever! All the best music and ideas come out did Die Walküre in Seattle. It opened a The musicians and audiences who spend Russian music in Paris – Tchaikovsky had a of silence. It’s also important in our work. world for me with the orchestral sound, the the summer there do it because they big influence and so did Stravinsky and the It’s not noise that provokes music, it’s theatricality, the mythology. I couldn’t stop love the music conditions. Bayreuth is Ballets Russes. The orchestras in France play silence that generates big sounds. •

Philippe Jordan in Conversation 11 London Symphony Orchestra on stage tonight

Co-Leaders Hazel Mulligan Double Basses Contra Bassoon Percussion LSO String Experience Scheme Carmine Lauri Greta Mutlu Ivan Zavgorodniy Dominic Morgan Neil Percy Since 1992, the LSO String Experience Emily Nebel Gabrielle Painter Colin Paris David Jackson Scheme has enabled young string players Csilla Pogany Patrick Laurence Horns Sam Walton from the London music conservatoires at First Violins Player TBC Matthew Gibson Guest Principal TBC Tom Edwards the start of their professional careers to gain Clare Duckworth Joe Melvin Angela Barnes Jacob Brown work experience by playing in rehearsals Gerald Gregory Violas Emre Ersahin Alexander Edmundson and concerts with the LSO. The musicians Maxine Kwok-Adams Rachel Roberts Jim Vanderspar Jonathan Lipton Piano are treated as professional ‘extra’ players Claire Parfitt Gillianne Haddow Player TBC Daniel Curzon Catherine Edwards (additional to LSO members) and receive fees Harriet Rayfield Malcolm Johnston for their work in line with LSO section players. Colin Renwick Anna Bastow Flutes Trumpets The Scheme is supported by: Sylvain Vasseur German Clavijo Anna Wolstenholme David Elton Julian Azkoul Lander Echevarria Luke O’Toole Richard Blake The Polonsky Foundation Morane Cohen- Stephen Doman Niall Keatley Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust Lamberger Robert Turner Piccolo Catherine Knight Derek Hill Foundation Laura Dixon Felicity Matthews Rebecca Larsen Angus Allnatt Charitable Foundation Takane Funatsu Alistair Scahill Trombones Lulu Fuller David Vainsot Oboes Dudley Bright William Melvin Anna Dorothea Vogel Olivier Stankiewicz Emma Bassett Helena Smart Rosie Jenkins Cellos Bass Trombone Second Violins Rebecca Gilliver Cor Anglais Paul Milner Thomas Norris Alastair Blayden Christine Pendrill Editor Miya Vaisanen Jennifer Brown Tuba Fiona Dinsdale | [email protected] David Ballesteros Noel Bradshaw Clarinets Peter Smith Editorial Photography Matthew Gardner Eve-Marie Caravassilis Principal TBC Ranald Mackechnie, Lars Gundersen, Philippe Belinda McFarlane Daniel Gardner Chi-Yu Mo Timpani Jordan photographer?? Iwona Muszynska Hilary Jones Nigel Thomas Print Cantate 020 3651 1690 Andrew Pollock Amanda Truelove Bassoons Advertising Cabbells Ltd 020 3603 7937 Paul Robson James Barralet Dan Jemison Cassandra Hamilton Laure Le Dantec Joost Bosdijk Details in this publication were correct at time of going to press.

12 The Orchestra 25 October 2018