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Home , Concerto for Orchestra, Concert residency, Leonidas Kavakos, Le Tombeau de Couperin, Maurice Delage, Menahem Pressler

London Symphony Living

Wednesday 13 January 2016 7.30pm Barbican Hall

SIR

Ravel Le tombeau de Couperin Dutilleux L’arbre des songes INTERVAL Delage Four Hindu Poems Dutilleux Métaboles Ravel Daphnis and Chloe – Suite No 2

Sir Simon Rattle conductor Leonidas Kavakos violin London’s Symphony Orchestra Julia Bullock soprano finishes approx 9.55pm

Broadcast live on BBC Radio 3

Filmed and broadcast live by Mezzo 2 Welcome 13 January 2016

Welcome Living Music Kathryn McDowell In Brief

Welcome to tonight’s concert, in which the LSO LIVE WINS GRAMOFON AWARD LSO’s Music Director Designate Sir Simon Rattle complements last weekend’s performances of LSO Live, the Orchestra’s , is delighted to Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande with the works announce that its release of Mendelssohn’s Symphony of fellow French of the 20th century: No 3 with Sir and Schumann’s Ravel, Dutilleux and Delage. Piano with Maria João Pires was named Foreign Classical of the Year by the The year 2016 marks 100 years since the birth of renowned Hungarian quarterly Gramofon. Order , and we mark this anniversary with your copy through the LSO Live website. performances of two of his works: the orchestral Métaboles and the L’arbre des lsolive.lso.co.uk songes. For the latter we are delighted to be joined by violinist Leonidas Kavakos, a long-standing friend of both the LSO and Sir Simon. THE LSO JANUARY SALE

It is also a great pleasure to welcome soprano Nothing beats the January like a good concert! Julia Bullock, in her London concert debut, to The LSO January Sale is now on, giving you the perform Delage’s Four Hindu Poems at the centre chance to save 20% on selected LSO in of this evening’s programme. the new year. For full details of the events included in the sale, visit the LSO website. Thank you to our media partners BBC Radio 3 and Mezzo, who record and film tonight’s concert for lso.co.uk/january-sale broadcast across Europe.

We hope you can join us again on 17 January, when A WARM WELCOME TO TONIGHT’S GROUPS conductor Pablo Heras-Casado returns to conduct Tchaikovsky and Dvorˇák, and cellist Alisa Weilerstein The LSO offers great benefits for groups of 10+, performs Elgar’s . including a 20% discount on standard tickets. At tonight’s concert we are delighted to welcome:

Adi Tours The University of Wisconsin Nicole Hu and Friends Kathryn McDowell CBE DL Luther College Managing Director Ruth Fairbanks and Friends Huw Jones and Friends

lso.co.uk/groups lso.co.uk Programme Notes 3

Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) Le tombeau de Couperin (1917, arr 1919)

1 PRÉLUDE In 1919 Ravel decided to orchestrate four of the 2 FORLANE movements (omitting the and ) 3 MENUET for a mostly Classical orchestra (though with a 4 RIGAUDON not-so-Classical harp). After a graciously sparkling Prélude – whose intricate pianistic textures were PROGRAMME NOTES WRITER For Ravel, as for many of his compatriots, the First perhaps the biggest challenge when it came to JEREMY THURLOW is a ; World War was about the defence of his national making the , and require miracles from his music ranges from string quartets culture against the threat of barbaric invasion and the and other woodwinds – there follows a to video-opera and won the George destruction. Although he was keen to join up and lilting Forlane, a charming Menuet and a lively and Butterworth Award 2007. Author of fight alongside his brother, he was too small and exuberant Rigaudon. a book on Dutilleux, he broadcasts delicate to pass the medical exam. However, he on BBC Radio 3 and is a Fellow of managed to get a job as a nurse’s assistant, and Crushingly painful though his war experiences Robinson College, Cambridge. later as a truck driver. must have been, Ravel kept unswervingly to his original intention: his art should aspire to rise above bitterness and despair, celebrating those COMPOSER PROFILE ‘The homage is directed less in fact qualities of elegance, beauty, clarity and proportion Page 6 to Couperin himself than to French which he so admired and loved in the music of the French Baroque. music of the 18th century.’ Ravel, referring to the style and inspiration of his Le tombeau de Couperin

FRANÇOIS COUPERIN (1668–1733) In Ravel’s very first month of war work he wrote was born into a prominent musical to his friend Roland-Manuel of a new idea to family in France, but his own success write a French Suite – ‘No, not what you think: no led to his designation as ‘Couperin Marseillaise, but it will have a forlane and a gigue; the Great’. He was a composer, an no tango, however.’ But his work was exhausting organist and a harpsichordist, and and dangerous and left him little time or energy to it was for the harpsichord that he compose. It was only when he was discharged from wrote a treatise on playing style the army in 1917, weak and depressed following that would become one of the main the death of his mother, that he began his suite for resources in the early music revival solo piano, now titled Le tombeau de Couperin. His of modern times. He also wrote four tribute to a golden age of French culture – the age volumes of harpsichord music – over of composer and harpsichordist François Couperin – 230 pieces – that would become now also served as a Tombeau or memorial for important influences on composers six friends recently killed at the front, to whom he as diverse as J S Bach, Richard dedicated its six movements in the forms of an Strauss and Ravel. 18th-century suite. 4 Programme Notes 13 January 2016

Henri Dutilleux (1916–2013) L’arbre des songes (1979–85)

1 LIBREMENT (FREELY) – INTERLUDE before releasing it, but on this occasion finding a way 2 VIF (SHARP) – INTERLUDE through the dense forest he had begun to conjure 3 LENT (SLOWLY) – INTERLUDE up proved particularly difficult, and he told how on 4 LARGE ET ANIMÉ (BROAD AND ANIMATED) reaching the end of the rapturous third movement in 1983 he ‘hit a brick wall’. LEONIDAS KAVAKOS VIOLIN When eventually a way forward was found it was not in the forest but outside the frame, in the rich ‘All in all, the piece grows somewhat like a tree, for the hubbub of an orchestra tuning up, a sound which constant multiplication and renewal of its branches is Dutilleux deftly recreates, draws into the soundworld of the concerto and then tightens into a catapult the lyrical essence of the tree. This symbolic image, as to launch the final movement. The work was finally well as the notion of a seasonal cycle, inspired my choice premiered in November 1985 and was an immediate success: three decades later it is one of very few of L’arbre des songes as the title of the piece.’ modern to have been taken up by soloists Henri Dutilleux around the world and to have held a buoyant place in the repertoire. COMPOSER PROFILE The working title for this work was ‘Brocéliande’ – Page 6 the magical Breton forest and setting of many an movements of the concerto hint at two Arthurian legend. Dutilleux only decided on L’arbre basic tempos and moods: dreamy reminiscence in des songes (The Tree of Dreams) after the piece the first and third, giving way to a more energetic DUTILLEUX’S PERFECTIONISM was finished, perhaps to discourage attempts to tie impulse in the second and fourth. While traces of Dutilleux was a renowned the music down to a specific narrative, something this basic scheme remain audible, it is obscured perfectionist who spent many years he was always keen to avoid. But the importance in various ways. Firstly, Dutilleux joined the four on each piece, meticulously revising of trees is clear in both titles – both as a model of movements together into a continuous flow, writing and reworking until it met his almost powerful and luxuriant organic growth, and as a in the score of his wish to do away with the gaps impossibly high standards. In an source of poetry, legend, and as a kingdom of the between movements ‘so as to sustain the power interview with The Guardian he said, imagination. In contrast to the rather everyday ‘rêves’, of enchantment’. Connecting the movements are ‘I always doubt my work. I wrote ‘songes’ is a more poetic and evocative word for three interludes, which mingle echoes of what has of The Shadows of Time that it was ‘dreams’. (These connotations unfortunately went been heard and intimations of what is yet to be ‘stained with pessimism’, and that for nothing when a British newspaper carelessly heard in an improvisatory manner, confusing the is how I feel. I always have regrets. announced the premiere of L’arbre des singes – sense of chronology and blurring the boundaries That’s why I revise my work so much ‘the tree of monkeys’…) of the movements themselves. (The ‘tuning up’ and, at the same time, I regret not episode is the third of these interludes.) And even being more prolific. But the reason Commissioned for virtuoso violinist , this within the four movements themselves there is a I am not more prolific is because I violin concerto in all but name was begun in 1979, persistent tendency for the musical narrative to slip doubt my work and spend a lot of though the original plan of a premiere celebrating into a delicious daydreaming, so that the initially time changing it. It’s paradoxical, Stern’s 60th birthday in 1980 had to be rethought. lively second and fourth movements dissolve into isn’t it?’ Dutilleux always took time to perfect a new piece introspection almost as much as the first and third. lso.co.uk Programme Notes 5

STRING SUPERSTARS

Much of the orchestral writing seems to radiate out from of the soloist, who is very much the ‘I’ of the work. But rather than speech, it is an inner voice we are hearing, a flow of thought and sensation that dips continuously into a shadowy hinterland of memory and feeling, and sometimes plunges in giddily. A blow-by-blow account of the piece would be unhelpful and distracting; suffice it to say that the third movement draws us into a particularly seductive and apparently bottomless pool, and that the fierceness of the finale gives way suddenly to a coda of breathtaking beauty, a moment which, as Roger Nichols (music author and editor) has observed, acts as a climax to the whole work – a climax of the most poignant delicacy.

Sun 17 Jan 7pm Wed 9 Mar 7.30pm Elgar Cello Concerto Brahms Violin Concerto with Alisa Weilerstein with Anne-Sophie Mutter Supported by the Atkin Foundation Sun 24 Jan 7pm Berg Violin Concerto Wed 16 Mar 7.30pm with Renaud Capuçon Sibelius Violin Concerto with Christian Tetzlaff Sun 28 Feb 7pm Shostakovich Sun 3 Apr 7pm Violin Concerto No 2 Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with Janine Jansen with Joshua Bell

PLUS Thu 4–25 Feb 1pm, LSO St Luke’s The award-winning Pavel Haas Quartet performs Schubert, Shostakovich, INTERVAL – 20 minutes Smetana, Bartók and Prokofiev alongside special guests in their BBC Radio 3 There are bars on all levels of the Concert Hall; ice cream Lunchtime Concert residency in February. can be bought at the stands on Stalls and Circle level. 020 7638 8891 Why not tweet us your thoughts on the first half of the performance @londonsymphony, or come and talk to lso.co.uk LSO staff at the information point on the Circle level? 6 Composer Profiles 13 January 2016

Maurice Ravel Henri Dutilleux Composer Profile Composer Profile

Although born in the rural Born in 1916, he studied at the Basque village of Ciboure, Ravel Conservatoire from the was raised in Paris. First-rate age of 17 and went on to win piano lessons and instruction the fabled Prix de Rome in 1938. in harmony and counterpoint This brought acclaim and should ensured that the boy was have earned him four years in the accepted as a preparatory piano Villa Medici, free to develop his student at the Paris Conservatoire art. In fact, war broke out after in 1889. As a full-time student, only a few months, and Dutilleux Ravel explored a wide variety of got through the miseries of the new music and forged a close Occupation finding what work friendship with the Spanish pianist he could. Ricardo Viñes. Both men were introduced in 1893 to Chabrier, After the war Dutilleux, who who Ravel regarded as ‘the most was steeped in the music of his profoundly personal, the most elders, notably Ravel, moved French of our composers’. tentatively towards innovation. It was a gradual, organic kind of renewal, which did not find favour with some of his avant-garde contemporaries. In the decade following his graduation in 1895, Ravel scored a notable Over the following years Dutilleux slowly, but with remarkable courage hit with the Pavane pour une infante défunte for piano (later orchestrated). and consistency, trod a lonely road, typically producing a couple of Even so, his works were rejected several times by the backward-looking major works per decade. For a long time the new music establishment judges of the Prix de Rome for not satisfying the demands of academic took little interest, but that didn’t stop a host of eminent conductors counterpoint. In the early years of the 20th century he completed and soloists from recognising music of great beauty and depth, hence many outstanding works, including the evocative for piano and a string of prominent commissions and premieres. his first opera, L’heure espagnole. In 1909 Ravel was invited to write a large-scale work for Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, completing the In fact, Dutilleux’s creative journey was continually innovative, in its score to Daphnis and Chloe three years later. At this time he also met own way. An extraordinarily refined sense of harmony and orchestral Stravinsky and first heard the works of Arnold Schoenberg. timbre underlies all his work. In the 60s his music began to give a rather ‘painterly’ prominence to the play of texture and sonority, sometimes From 1932 until his death, he suffered from the progressive effects of displacing the dialogue of melodic motives altogether. Later in his Pick’s Disease and was unable to compose. His emotional expression career an inter-cutting of contrasted ‘shots’ suggested the language of is most powerful in his imaginative interpretations of the unaffected cinema. Over the last 30 years Dutilleux’s creative entanglement with worlds of childhood and animals, and in exotic tales such as the Greek his musical past has come to be heard as a source of richness, part of lovers Daphnis and Chloe. Spain also influenced the composer’s what makes his music so many-layered, haunting and seductive. He creative personality, his mother’s Basque inheritance strongly reflected was composing until his death in 2013, at the age of 97. in a wide variety of works, together with his liking for the formal elegance of 18th-century French art and music. Composer Profile © Jeremy Thurlow

Composer Profile © Andrew Stewart lso.co.uk Composer Profiles 7

Maurice Delage Composer Profile London Symphony Orchestra

Maurice Delage was a fishmonger, a maritime clerk SPIRIT OF TODAY and a soldier discharged for poor eyesight before he became a composer. But despite his professional and visual shortcomings, this son of a wealthy Parisian family possessed excellent musical instincts. He taught himself to play both the piano and cello, and his skill was such that he could play entire operas from memory without ever having seen the score. And this was how he impressed his first teacher, Ravel. The two remained lifelong friends.

Delage wrote his first composition at the age of 26, a for solo piano. But it was not until he was in his 30s that his own musical voice began to develop. THOMAS ADÈS In 1912 he had gone to with his parents to visit One of Britain’s most innovative composers their shoe polish factory, collected recordings of Wed 9 & 16 Mar 2016, Barbican traditional music, and returned with a desire ‘to find Adès’ Polaris, Brahms, Tevot and Asyla, those Hindu sounds that send chills up my spine.’ plus music by Brahms, Sibelius and Franck He looked for them in the instruments of his native Thomas Adès conductor Europe and found novel solutions to satisfy his Anne-Sophie Mutter violin ear. In Ragamalika, written shortly after his return, Christian Tetzlaff violin the pianist is famously asked to place a sheet of cardboard under the hammer of a low B-flat. Delage 9 Mar supported by the Atkin Foundation wanted to approximate the sound of the tabla drum, but unknown to him he had just invented the LSO FUTURES prepared piano. And so with the Four Hindu Poems, The LSO’s festival of contemporary music his most famous work, Delage conjured up the Asian subcontinent with a small chamber ensemble and an 9–13 Mar 2016, Barbican & LSO St Luke’s arsenal of extended techniques. Featuring Adès, Berio, Ligeti and Schoenberg, plus new works from LSO Soundhub & Panufnik He was a pioneer, who like Varèse and Webern Scheme composers Darren Bloom and secured his reputation with a relatively small output. Elizabeth Ogonek Stravinsky dubbed him ‘an artist of the first order’ The London Symphony Orchestra gratefully acknowledges and yet his music is rarely performed today. He support from the PRS for Music Foundation, Britten-Pears Foundation, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and The Helen wrote his final work in 1957, became Chevalier dans Hamlyn Trust. l’Ordre des arts et des lettres in 1958, and died in 1961. 020 7638 8891 Composer Profile by Mark Parker lso.co.uk 8 Programme Notes 13 January 2016

Maurice Delage (1879–1961) Four Hindu Poems (1912–13)

1 MADRAS – ‘UNE BELLE …’ (A BEAUTY) The Four Hindu Poems, premiered in Paris in 1914, 2 LAHORE – ‘UN SAPIN ISOLÉ …’ (A SINGLE FIR TREE) show Delage at his most imaginative, concentrated 3 BÉNARÈS – NAISSANCE DE BOUDDHA (THE BIRTH OF BUDDHA) and refined. They are also remarkably innovative, 4 JEYPUR – ‘SI VOUS PENSEZ À ELLE …’ (IF YOU THINK OF HER) rethinking the European and vocal palette to evoke ‘those Hindu sounds which send JULIA BULLOCK SOPRANO shivers up my spine’, as he said to Stravinsky. Delage reveals a fastidious ear for the subtle, It was when he first heard Debussy’s opera Pelléas fleeting inflections of Indian melody and timbral et Mélisande in 1902 that Maurice Delage decided nuance, while conjuring afresh the irresistible allure to dedicate himself to music and began to learn that this music held for him. The songs are tiny, the piano by ear. Before long his playing of the detailed and precisely honed, yet in a fascinating interludes from Debussy’s opera (still by ear: it was paradox they offer a glimpse into the vastly different not yet published) caught the attention of Ravel, who sense of time which animates Indian raga – open- offered to teach him composition. With Ravel, Delage ended, spacious, infinite. LES APACHES were a group of became a key member of the Apaches, a band of artists that formed in Paris in 1900 young musical tearaways who met weekly to play with a membership comprising and discuss their latest discoveries, and it was in Ravel, Stravinsky, de Falla and Delage, their company that he became good friends with among others. They would meet Stravinsky, who later called him ‘an artist of the every Saturday to discuss their ideas, first order’. first in the centre of Paris and then on the outskirts, in a villa bought ‘You will see that I have been specially for them by Delage’s family. working and I will make you listen The name – Apaches – came from a Parisian street gang active in the to the Hindu records, a kind of 19th century, but really it was a music of which you have no idea.’ joke: the group once bumped into a newspaper stand, causing the owner Delage writing to Stravinsky in 1912, following to call them a bunch of ‘Apaches’ and his visit to India that year the name stuck. When Delage accompanied his parents on a trip to India and in 1912–13, he found the unfamiliar timbres, scales and melismas of the music he encountered there thrillingly exotic, and seized every chance not only to hear musicians perform but also to buy recordings during his travels. These experiences made a lifelong impression, and both Japanese and Indian orientalism is prominent throughout his oeuvre. lso.co.uk Texts 9

Maurice Delage Four Hindu Poems: Texts

Madras – Une belle Madras – A beauty

Une belle à la taille svelte A slender beauty Se promène sous les arbres de la forêt, Walks beneath the trees of the forest, En se reposant de temps en temps. Pausing to rest from time to time. Ayant relevé de la main Lifting with her hand Les trois voiles d’or The three golden veils Qui lui couvre les seins, That cover her bosom, Elle renvoie à la lune She reflects the rays that bathed her Les rayons dont elle était baignée. Back to the moon. Text: Bhartrihari

Lahore – Un sapin isolé Lahore – A single fir tree

Un sapin isolse dresse sur une montagne A single fir tree stands Aride du Nord. Il sommeille. On a barren northern mountain. He sleeps. La glace et la neige l’environne The ice and the snow envelop him D’un manteau blanc. In a white blanket. Il rêve d’un palmier qui là-bas He dreams of a palm tree Dans l’Orient lointain se désole, In the distant eastern lands, Solitaire et taciturne, Alone and taciturn, Sur la pente de son rocher brûlant. Who weeps on his burning rock. Text: Heinrich Heine

Bénarès – Naissance de Bouddha Bénarès – The birth of Buddha

En ce temps-là fut annoncé At that time the coming of Buddha La venue de Bouddha sur la terre. Was proclaimed on the earth. Il se fit dans le ciel un grand bruit de nuages. He made the clouds rumble in the sky. Les Dieux, agitant leurs éventails et leurs vêtements, The Gods, waving their fans and their garments, Répandirent d’innombrables fleurs merveilleuses. Spread endless marvellous flowers. Des parfums mystérieux et doux se croisèrent Mysterious, sweet perfumes mingled Comme des lianes dans le souffle tiède de cette nuit de printemps. Like vines in the warm breeze of this spring night. La perle divine de la pleine lune The divine pearl of the full moon S’arrêta sur le palais de marbre, Settled upon the marble palace, Gardé par vingt mille éléphants, Guarded by 20,000 elephants, Pareils à des collines grises de la couleur de nuages. Like grey hills the colour of clouds. Text: Unattributed

Jeypur – Si vous pensez à elle Jeypur – If you think of her

Si vous pensez à elle. If you think of her Vous éprouvez un douloureux tourment. You suffer a painful torment. Si vous la voyez If you see her Votre esprit se trouble. Your mind becomes clouded. Si vous la touchez, If you touch her, Vous perdez la raison. You lose your senses. Comment peut-on l’appeler bien-aimée? How can you call her your beloved? Text: Bhartrihari Translations: Rebecca Sharp 10 Programme Notes 13 January 2016

Henri Dutilleux (1916–2013) Métaboles (1959–64)

1 INCANTATOIRE Dutilleux’s title is a Greek word meaning gradual, 2 LINÉAIRE incremental change, a process which is at first 3 OBSESSIONEL unnoticeable, but in due course produces a total 4 TORPIDE transformation. Thus the five movements cover 5 FLAMBOYANT an audaciously wide range of moods and ideas, but run together into one continuous sequence, The mid-20th century saw the birth of a new with each movement starting from an idea already genre: the concerto for orchestra. To composers introduced in the previous one. The character of as diverse as Hindemith, Bartók, Lutosławski and each movement is drawn with brilliance and clarity, Tippett it offered an opportunity to write something from the bright, harsh ritual of ‘Incantatoire’ through substantial without having to take on the increasingly ‘Linéaire’, where the strings’ shimmering lines uncomfortable obligations of the symphony, and combine to form swirling sound-masses. an invitation to revel in the unparalleled colouristic possibilities of the modern symphony orchestra. The nervy, agile ‘Obsessionel’ cocks a snook at Having braved the disapproval of avant-garde modernist obsessions of the time by transforming colleagues to write two magnificent symphonies its twelve-tone theme into a kind of scherzo, before himself, Dutilleux had reached a point in the early lapsing into the mesmerising lethargy of ‘Torpide’, 1960s where his cautious but far-reaching response whose deadpan chorale seems almost to yawn. to the new ideas and sounds of such works as Just as the movement sinks into complete immobility Schoenberg’s Five Orchestral Pieces and the music we hear the first flickers of the finale, ‘Flamboyant’, of Berg (which were still new territory for many which soon becomes a whirlwind of heat and light. musicians at this time) meant that he too needed to Ever more exhilarating, the music ends in a blaze find a new genre to work in. Effectively, Métaboles of sound which is quite unforgettable. was his own concerto for orchestra, and its exuberant array of thrilling orchestral soundscapes has made it one of his most popular and acclaimed works.

Composed between 1959 and 1964, the piece was commissioned by conductor George Szell for his dazzling Cleveland Orchestra, and when Dutilleux mentioned that he particularly admired the orchestra’s woodwind players, Szell encouraged him to use four of each – large forces that Dutilleux put to good use. The first four movements are designed to throw the limelight on each section of the orchestra in turn (woodwind, strings, brass, percussion) while the fifth brings them all together in a glorious display of orchestral virtuosity. lso.co.uk Programme Notes 11

Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) Daphnis and Chloe – Suite No 2 (1909–12)

1 LEVER DU JOUR (DAYBREAK) The scenario is taken from an erotic pastoral by 2 PANTOMIME the 2nd-century Greek writer Longus. Daphnis and 3 DANSE GÉNÉRALE Chloe are childhood sweethearts in the idyllic hills of Lesbos; Chloe is abducted by pirates, then rescued Dance holds a treasured and central place in by Pan and restored to safety. The second suite Ravel’s music, from and to the many follows the course of the ballet’s final tableau, and pavanes, minuets, waltzes, foxtrots and tangos falls into three broad sequences. In the first, dawn which pervade his instrumental and operatic music. steals over the cave where Daphnis wakes, and he is The hour-long ballet Daphnis and Chloe makes a reunited with Chloe; this glorious sequence is one of strong claim to be his greatest work; Ravel called it a Ravel’s most sumptuous inspirations, both exquisite ‘choreographic symphony’, indicating his pride at the and powerful as it evokes the babbling stream, the way its kaleidoscopic moods, colours and dance- rising sun and the lovers’ rapturous emotions. rhythms are integrated into a compelling musical and dramatic arc. In the second tableau – the term ‘Pantomime’ has no slapstick connotations here – they show their SERGEI DIAGHILEV (1872–1929) The great impresario Diaghilev commissioned the gratitude to the gods by enacting Pan’s seduction was a Russian art critic, patron, new piece for his Ballets Russes in 1909, bringing of Syrinx, to a long and infinitely seductive impresario and founder of the Ballets together an impressive creative team: Nijinsky and solo which is another highpoint of the work. Finally, Russes, widely regarded as the most Karsavina dancing the title roles; Mikhail Fokine as forgetting their roles, the lovers fall into each other’s influential ballet company of the 20th choreographer; Léon Bakst as designer; and Pierre arms; everyone joins them in the final dance, a century. Diaghilev commissioned Monteux to conduct Ravel’s new score. Things did wild and wine-fuelled affair of sheer pagan joy and works from many of the leading not go smoothly, however, particularly between Ravel exhilaration. Ultimately Daphnis and Chloe is, more composers, artists and designers of and Fokine. Each spoke almost nothing of the other’s than a tale of two lovers, the celebration of an idyllic his day including Stravinsky, Debussy, language, and their artistic visions differed too. As fantasy-world; his Classical Neverland inspired Ravel Picasso, Matisse and Chanel. he said, Ravel aimed ‘to compose a vast musical to the richest and fullest expression of his art. fresco in which I was less concerned with archaism than with reproducing faithfully the of my dreams, very like that imagined by French artists at the turn of the 18th century.’ It did not prove easy to reconcile this with Fokine’s vision of the ‘archaic dancing painted in red and black on Attic vases,’ and when arguments also broke out between Fokine and Nijinsky, Diaghilev came close to calling the whole thing off. The last straw was Ravel’s long-drawn out difficulty completing the riotous ‘danse générale’, which in the end took him almost a year. Initially scheduled for the 1910 season, Daphnis was twice postponed and finally presented in May 1912. 12 Artist Biographies 13 January 2016

Sir Simon Rattle ‘Rattle conducts with missionary zeal, Conductor as if he believes in every note.’ The Times

Sir Simon Rattle was born in Liverpool and studied at Fidelio, Così fan tutte, Peter Grimes, Pelléas the . From 1980 to 1998, he et Mélisande, Salome and Carmen, a concert was Principal Conductor and Artistic Adviser of the performance of Idomeneo and many contrasting City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and was concert programmes. He also conducted Wagner’s appointed Music Director in 1990. In 2002 he took up complete Ring Cycle with the for his current position of Artistic Director and Chief the Aix-en-Provence and Salzburg Easter Conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, where he will Festivals and most recently at the Deutsche Oper, remain until 2018. From September 2017 he will become Berlin and the Wiener Staatsoper. Music Director of the London Symphony Orchestra. Simon Rattle has strong long-standing relationships Rattle has made over 70 recordings for EMI (now with the leading in London, Europe Warner Classics), and has received numerous and the US, initially working closely with the prestigious international awards for his recordings Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and Boston on various labels. Releases on EMI include Symphony Orchestra, and more recently with Stravinsky’s , Berlioz’s the . He regularly conducts Symphonie fantastique, Ravel’s L’Enfant et les the , with which he has recorded Music Director Designate Sortilèges, Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, Mahler’s the complete Beethoven symphonies and piano London Symphony Orchestra Second Symphony and Bizet’s Carmen. concertos (with ) and is also a Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Chief Conductor As well as fulfilling a taxing concert schedule in Berlin, Enlightenment and Founding Patron of Birmingham and Artistic Director Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic regularly tour within Contemporary Music Group. Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Europe, North America and Asia. The partnership has also broken new ground with the education His 2015/16 season includes the Beethoven Cycle Principal Artist programme Zukunft@Bphil, earning the Comenius with the Berlin Philharmonic, with concerts in Europe Orchestra of the Age of Prize in 2004, the Schiller Special Prize from the city and Carnegie Hall, New York and a production Enlightenment of Mannheim in May 2005, the Golden Camera and of Tristan and Isolde at Baden Baden. Future the Urania Medal in Spring 2007. He and the Berlin engagements will see him return to the Bayerischer Founding Patron Philharmonic were also appointed International UNICEF Rundfunk, the Metropolitan Opera and the Orchestra Birmingham Contemporary Ambassadors in the same year – the first time this of the Age of Enlightenment. Music Group honour has been conferred on an artistic ensemble. Simon Rattle was knighted in 1994 and in the In 2013 Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic took New Year’s Honours of 2014 he received the up a residency at the Baden Baden Easter Festival Order of Merit from Her Majesty the Queen. performing The Magic Flute and a series of concerts. He will be a Carnegie Hall Perspectives Artist Past seasons have included Puccini’s Manon Lescaut throughout the 2015/16 and 2016/17 seasons. and Peter Sellars’ ritualisation of Bach’s St John Passion, Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier and Berlioz’s La damnation de Faust. For the Salzburg Easter Festival Rattle conducted staged productions of lso.co.uk Artist Biographies 13

Leonidas Kavakos ‘He looks just as he sounds: an intriguing mixture Violin of fierce energy and fierce self-restraint.’ Financial Times

Leonidas Kavakos is recognised across the world His first release on Decca Classics, the complete as a violinist and artist of rare quality, known at the Beethoven Violin Sonatas with Enrico Pace highest level for his virtuosity, superb musicianship (January 2013), resulted in the ECHO Klassik award and the integrity of his playing. He works with the ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’, followed by the Brahms world’s greatest orchestras and is an exclusive artist Violin Concerto with the Gewandhausorchester with Decca Classics. Leipzig and Riccardo Chailly (October 2013), and Brahms Violin Sonatas with (March 2014). The three important mentors in his life are Stelios He was awarded Gramophone Artist of the Year Kafantaris, and Ferenc Rados. By the 2014. His earlier discography includes recordings age of 21, Leonidas Kavakos had already won three for BIS, ECM and subsequently, for Sony Classical, major competitions, the Sibelius Competition in Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto (ECHO Klassik ‘Best 1985, and the Paganini and Naumburg Competitions Concerto Recording’) and Mozart’s Violin Concertos, in 1988. This success led to his recording the original and playing with Camerata Salzburg. Sibelius Violin Concerto (1903/4), the first recording of this work in history. It won the Gramophone Born and brought up in a musical family in , Concerto of the Year Award in 1991. he curated a chamber music cycle for 15 years at the Megaron Athens Concert Hall, featuring Mstislav The orchestras with whom Kavakos has developed Rostropovich, Heinrich Schiff, Menahem Pressler, close relationships include the Vienna Philharmonic Emanuel Ax, Nikolai Lugansky, Yuja Wang and Gautier Orchestra (Eschenbach/Chailly), Berlin Philharmonic Capuçon, among others. Kavakos now curates an (Rattle), Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Jansons/ annual violin and chamber music masterclass in Gatti), London Symphony Orchestra (Gergiev/Rattle) Athens, attracting violinists and ensembles from all and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig (Chailly). Kavakos over the world and reflecting his deep commitment also works closely with the Dresden Staatskapelle to the handing on of musical knowledge and traditions. and Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Academia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Orchestra Kavakos considers the art of violin- and bow-making Filarmonica della Scala and, in the US, with the a great mystery and, to our day, an undisclosed Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, secret. He plays the ‘Abergavenny’ Stradivarius Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony and Los violin of 1724 and owns modern violins made by Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras. This season, he F Leonhard, S P Greiner, E Haahti and D Bagué. tours with the London Philharmonic Orchestra to Spain, with the Bayerischer Rundfunk to the US and plays at the Verbier, White Nights, Edinburgh International, Tanglewood and Annecy Classic festivals, as well as a cycle of Beethoven Sonatas at the Dresdner Musikfestspiele. 14 Artist Biographies 13 January 2016

Julia Bullock ‘An impressive, fast-rising soprano ... Soprano poised for a significant career.’ The New York Times

Equally at home with opera and concert repertoire, Julia Bullock’s accolades include a 2015 Leonore soprano Julia Bullock has captivated audiences Annenberg Arts Fellowship, a 2015 Sphinx with her versatile artistry and commanding stage Foundation Medal of Excellence, the 2015 Richard presence. This season she appears with the New F Gold Grant from the Shoshana Foundation, World Symphony and the Orchestra of St Luke’s Lincoln Center’s 2015 Martin E Segal Award, First at New York’s Alice Tully Hall in the Young Concert Prize at the 2014 Naumburg International Vocal Artists Gala Concert, and with the Mobile Symphony Competition, and First Prize at the 2012 Young and Sinfonia Gulf Coast, as well as in recitals at the Concert Artists International Auditions. She holds Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the the Lindemann Vocal Chair of Young Concert Artists. Kennedy Center in Washington DC. In November, Her management is also supported by the Barbara she sang the lead role in the Berlin Philharmonic’s Forester Austin Fund for Art Song. Orchestra Academy performance of ’s La passion de Simone, directed by Peter Sellars, She enjoys the collaborative process with both which she will reprise at the Ojai Festival in June 2016. established and up-and-coming composers. In 2011, she attended SongFest in California as a Last summer, Julia Bullock made her debut with Stern Fellow, where she worked with pianist Roger the New York Philharmonic, performing Bernstein’s Vignoles and composers John Musto and Libby West Side Story Suite with Alan Gilbert in New York Larsen. Julia Bullock has sung in masterclasses with City parks, at Bravo! Vail and in Santa Barbara. She bass-baritone Eric Owens at Juilliard, soprano Jessye made her San Francisco Symphony debut in ‘West Norman at Zankel Hall, and José van Dam at Opera Side Story in Concert’, conducted by Michael Tilson Bastille in Paris. She also performed in the Dawn Thomas; an of the concert was released on Upshaw/Donnacha Dennehy Workshop at Carnegie the Orchestra’s label in June 2014. She has appeared Hall, premiering pieces written for her by young numerous times with the New York Festival of Song, Chinese composer Shen Yiwen. recently in their Harlem Renaissance programme. From 2003 to 2005, Julia Bullock participated in She has performed the title role in Henry Purcell’s the Artists-in-Training programme with the Opera The Indian Queen at the Perm Opera House, Teatro Theater of St Louis. She earned her Bachelor’s Real and English National Opera, as well as the title degree from the Eastman School of Music and her roles in the Juilliard Opera productions of Massenet’s master’s degree at Bard College’s Graduate Vocal Cendrillon and Janácˇek’s The Cunning Little Vixen. Arts Programme. She received her Artist Diploma Bullock has toured South America as Pamina in from the Juilliard School. Peter Brook’s award-winning version of Mozart’s A Magic Flute, and toured China singing with the Bard Originally from St Louis, Missouri, Julia Bullock Orchestra. Other opera roles include integrates her musical life with community Susanna in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, Monica activism. She has organised benefit concerts for in Menotti’s The Medium, and the title role in Ravel’s the Shropshire Music Foundation and International L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. Playground, two non-profits that serve war-affected children and adolescents through . lso.co.uk The Orchestra 15

London Symphony Orchestra Your views On stage Inbox

FIRST VIOLINS VIOLAS HORNS HARPS 6 DEC: MARIA JOÃO PIRES AND DANIEL HARDING – Gordan Nikolitch Edward Vanderspar Adam Walker Timothy Jones Bryn Lewis BRUCKNER AND MOZART Leader Gillianne Haddow Alex Jakeman Angela Barnes Nuala Herbert Carmine Lauri German Clavijo Gareth Davies Alexander Edmundson Lennox Mackenzie Lander Echevarria Jonathan Lipton PIANO/CELESTE Christina Lamb Amazing PICCOLO Elizabeth Burley Clare Duckworth Anna Bastow Jocelyn Lightfoot @londonsymphony playing Bruckner’s Nigel Broadbent Julia O’Riordan Sharon Williams CIMBALOM Ginette Decuyper Robert Turner 4th conducted like a dream by @djharding ALTO FLUTE Gregory Knowles Gerald Gregory Heather Wallington Huw Morgan Gareth Davies Jörg Hammann Jonathan Welch Gerald Ruddock Daniel Newell 16 DEC: DANIEL HARDING – BRUCKNER SYMPHONY NO 9 Maxine Kwok-Adams Fiona Dalgliesh OBOES Simon Cox Claire Parfitt Caroline O’Neill Olivier Stankiewicz Elizabeth Pigram Alistair Scahill Rosie Jenkins TROMBONES Oliver Lewis Incredibly energetic Laurent Quenelle Maxwell Spiers Peter Moore Harriet Rayfield CELLOS Bruckner 9th by @djharding and James Maynard Colin Renwick Tim Hugh / @londonsymphony with the ghost- Alastair Blayden Ian Rhodes D’AMORE BASS TROMBONE Jennifer Brown written final movement. Fab last Sylvain Vasseur Christine Pendrill Paul Milner Noel Bradshaw concert of this year SECOND VIOLINS Eve-Marie Caravassilis TUBA David Alberman Daniel Gardner Andrew Marriner Patrick Harrild Sarah Quinn Hilary Jones Chi-Yu Mo Michael Thrift I’ve been to many Miya Väisänen Amanda Truelove Thomas Lessels TIMPANI concerts but feel genuinely privileged David Ballesteros Victoria Harrild Nigel Thomas BASS Richard Blayden Hester Snell to have experienced @londonsymphony Laurent Ben Slimane PERCUSSION Matthew Gardner tonight – astonishing music-making Neil Percy Julian Gil Rodriguez DOUBLE BASSES E-FLAT CLARINET David Jackson Naoko Keatley Rick Stotijn Chi-Yu Mo Sam Walton Belinda McFarlane Colin Paris Tom Edwards William Melvin Patrick Laurence Alexander Neal Iwona Muszynska Matthew Gibson Daniel Jemison Benedict Hoffnung Philip Nolte Thomas Goodman Joost Bosdijk Tom Lee Andrew Pollock Joe Melvin Christopher Gunia Paul Stoneman Paul Robson Axel Bouchaux Sebastian Pennar CONTRA Oliver Yates Dominic Morgan

LSO STRING EXPERIENCE SCHEME

Established in 1992, the LSO String Experience The Scheme is supported by London Symphony Orchestra Editor Scheme enables young string players at the Help Musicians UK Barbican Edward Appleyard start of their professional careers to gain The Lefever Award Silk Street [email protected] work experience by playing in rehearsals The Polonsky Foundation London and concerts with the LSO. The scheme The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust EC2Y 8DS Photography auditions students from the London music The Idlewild Trust Igor Emmerich, Ranald Mackechnie, conservatoires, and 15 students per year Registered charity in England No 232391 Kevin Leighton, Bill Robinson, Alberto Venzago are selected to participate. The musicians Taking part in the rehearsals for this Details in this publication were correct Print Cantate 020 3651 1690 are treated as professional ’extra’ players concert were First Violin Anna Lee and Cello Zoe Saubat. at time of going to press. (additional to LSO members) and receive fees Advertising Cabbell Ltd 020 3603 7937 for their work in line with LSO section players. London Symphony Orchestra Season 2015/16

2016 Highlights

AFTER ROMANTICISM SHAKESPEARE 400: CHORAL MASTERPIECES LSO ARTIST PORTRAIT: AN ICON OF LITERATURE LEIF OVE ANDSNES

Thu 21 Jan Tue 16 Feb Sun 20 Mar Sun 8 May Wagner Prelude to Act I Mendelssohn Schumann Mozart No 20 from ‘Parsifal’ A Midsummer Night’s Dream Scenes from Goethe’s ‘Faust’ Berg Seven Early Songs Sir John Eliot Gardiner Daniel Harding conductor Thu 12 May Mahler Symphony No 5 conductor Schumann Piano Concerto † Sun 17 Apr Sun 24 Jan Thu 25 Feb Haydn The Seasons Fri 10 Jun Webern Im Sommerwind Strauss Macbeth (sung in German) A solo recital with works by Berg Violin Concerto Gianandrea Noseda conductor Sir Simon Rattle conductor Sibelius, Beethoven, Debussy Strauss Ein Heldenleben and Chopin

Sun 28 Feb Sun 24 Apr † Concert supported by Baker & McKenzie LLP François-Xavier Roth conductor Berlioz Romeo and Juliet – Suite Elgar The Dream of Gerontius Gianandrea Noseda conductor Sir Mark Elder conductor

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