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Home , Christian Gerhaher, Daniel Barenboim, French classical music, Malcolm Sargent, Mark Elder, Orchestral song

Wednesday 13 December 2017 7.30–9.30pm Sunday 17 December 2017 7–9pm Barbican Hall

LSO SEASON SIR

Strauss Metamorphosen STRAUSS Interval Mahler Das von der Erde

Sir Simon Rattle conductor Simon O’Neill

13 December generously supported by LSO Friends

& MAHLER 13 December broadcast live on BBC Radio 3

Wednesday 13 December 5.45pm Barbican Music Library Pre-Concert Talk: Curating Rattle

6pm Barbican Hall LSO Platforms: Guildhall Artists Strauss with the Guildhall Wind Ensemble Welcome LSO News On Our Blog

Wednesday's concert is supported by LSO THE LSO’S A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S ALEX WOOLF SHARES HIS EXPERIENCES Friends, and we are delighted to have so DREAM WINS RECORDING OF THE YEAR OF THE PANUFNIK SCHEME many Friends in the audience this evening. Our thanks go to them for their continued LSO Live's recording of Mendelssohn’s As applications come to a close for the and invaluable support. I would also like to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, performed with 2018 LSO Panufnik Composers Scheme, take this opportunity to thank our media Sir , the Monteverdi Choir current participant Alex Woolf tells us partner BBC Radio 3, who are broadcasting and three artists from the Guildhall School, what it’s been like working with players Wednesday's concert live. has been awarded Symphonic Recording from the and how the scheme of the Year by two French has influenced his music. The concert on 13 December is preceded by monthly publications, Classica and Diapason. two events: a talk to accompany the Rattle BEHIND THE SCENES A warm welcome to this pair of LSO . Exhibition in the Barbican Music Library, STEP INSIDE THE ORCHESTRA WITH ALICE SARA OTT Tonight the LSO's Sir Simon and a performance of music by Strauss from WITH LSO PLAY Rattle begins a series of programmes, postgraduate students at the Guildhall On our YouTube channel, Alice Sara Ott plays stretching across the 2017/18 season, which School. These recitals, which are free to Our digital platform LSO Play has been a dazzling, explosive excerpt from Liszt’s focus on the late works of composers ranging ticket-holders for the LSO concert, take place re-designed by original developers Sennep Totentanz, and shows us her talent for from Rameau to , including on selected dates throughout the season and can now be viewed on smartphones and solving a Rubik’s Cube in less than a minute – three pieces by Mahler that were never and provide a platform for the musicians of tablets. Watch the Orchestra’s performances part of her warm-up routine before a concert. heard by the himself. We begin the future. Visit lso.co.uk for future dates. in exquisite detail, choose between multiple with the orchestral song-cycle Das Lied von camera angles, and learn more about the Read our blog, watch videos and more der Erde, for which we welcome baritone I hope you enjoy this performance and that Orchestra and the music at play.lso.co.uk. • youtube.com/lso Christian Gerhaher and tenor Simon O’Neill, you will join us again soon. On Thursday • lso.co.uk/blog who recently joined the Orchestra for 21 December, we perform the second of our LSO FRIENDS PRIORITY BOOKING Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder at the BBC Proms. new, short Half Six Fix concerts, for which FOR THE 2018/19 SEASON Sir Simon has assembled a dazzling cast to This evening’s concert opens with another perform , a musical by the LSO Friends will receive priority booking for late work, Strauss’ Metamorphosen, which LSO’s former President, . the 2018/19 Season when it goes on sale in was completed just three years before the the new year. Find out more about joining composer's death and which was performed the LSO Friends at lso.co.uk/support-us. by the Orchestra for the first time with Sir in April 1954. Kathryn McDowell CBE DL Read our news online Managing Director • lso.co.uk/news

2 Welcome 13 & 17 December 2017 Tonight’s Concert / introduction by Lindsay Kemp Sir Simon Rattle: Coming Up

eckoning mortality and the PROGRAMME NOTE WRITERS Thursday 11 January 2018 7.30pm Sunday 14 January 2018 7pm transforming effects of the years are the philosophical substance of Lindsay Kemp is a senior producer for Schubert No 8, ‘Unfinished’ Janáček Overture: From the House of the Dead tonight’s programme. Strauss’ Metamorphosen BBC Radio 3, including programming Mahler Rückert Lieder Carter Instances for 23 solo strings, created amid the ruins of lunchtime concerts at and Handel Three Arias Berg Violin Germany as World War II ground to its grim LSO St Luke’s; Artistic Director of the Rameau Les Boréades – Suite Bartók Concerto for Orchestra conclusion, was the 80-year-old composer’s Baroque at the Edge festival; and a regular intensely self-conscious elegy for what he contributor to Gramophone magazine. Sir Simon Rattle conductor Sir Simon Rattle conductor feared was a destroyed national culture, Magdalena Kožená mezzo-soprano Isabelle Faust violin complete with a brief but telling allusion Andrew Stewart is a freelance music journalist to Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ Symphony. But it is and writer. He is the author of The LSO Saturday 13 January 2018 7.30pm Thursday 19 & 26 April 2018 7.30pm more than a moving threnody for German at 90, and contributes to a wide variety music; it is also a searching meditation on of specialist classical music publications. MUSIC OF EXILE Helen Grime Woven Space * world premiere the passing of time. Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Milhaud et al Mahler Symphony No 9 Stephen Johnson is the author of Bruckner Genesis Suite Passing of a different kind is explored in Remembered (Faber) and Mahler: His Life Bartók Concerto for Orchestra Sir Simon Rattle conductor , the work with which and Music (Naxos). He also contributes Mahler hoped to ‘give God the slip’ (as his regularly to BBC Music Magazine and The Sir Simon Rattle conductor * Commissioned for Sir Simon Rattle and the wife put it) by giving it a name instead of Guardian, and broadcasts for BBC Radio 3, Helen McCrory, Simon Callow, London Symphony Orchestra by the Barbican calling it what it actually was – his ninth Radio 4 and the World Service. Rodney Earl Clarke, Sara Kestelman narrators symphony. But although he went on to write Gerard McBurney creative director Sunday 22 April 2018 7pm a ‘real’ Ninth and even start a Tenth, he died Mike Tutaj projection design before any of them could be performed. Tippett The Rose Lake * Das Lied’s subject of implacable death WELCOME TO TONIGHT'S GROUPS chorus director Mahler comp Cooke Symphony No 10 might seem almost unbearably poignant, London Symphony Orchestra therefore, were it not for the exquisite We are delighted to welcome the following Sir Simon Rattle conductor delicacy and variety of its music, and its groups: World Air-Sea Service, Gerrards Cross Produced by the LSO and the Barbican. Part of final radiant statement of belief in the Community Association (13 December) and the LSO’s 2017/18 Season and Barbican Presents. * Supported by PRS for Music Foundation eternally renewing beauty of nature. Viajes Mundo Amigo (17 December). Resonate Fund, in partnership with the Association of British and BBC Radio 3.

Tonight's Concert 3 Metamorphosen 1945 / note by Lindsay Kemp

n the spring of 1945, with World War The use of the word tells us two things. First taken form over a number of years. Seen II approaching its conclusion, the of all, this single-movement adagio, lasting in this light, and bearing in mind both its devastation of Germany’s cities was nearly 30 minutes, is one in which the genesis and the text originally associated almost complete. For the 80-year-old Strauss melodic material is subjected to constantly with it, Strauss’ work clearly embodies it was almost too much to bear. The bombing unfolding and intricate development. a much more personal message about of the Munich National Theatre in 1943, where There are four main themes, of which the self-knowledge and the passing of time. several of his had been premiered, had drooping, grief-stricken second, heard on a The result is one of his most searching hit him as ‘the greatest catastrophe which pair of violas immediately after the cellos and emotionally intense utterances. • has ever been brought into my life’, and since and basses have given out the chordal first, then the destruction of the houses in is the most naggingly obstinate. Its origins Weimar, Dresden and Vienna had reduced lay in a theme Strauss had noted down after him to even greater depths of depression the loss of the Munich Opera House, and just and despair. To him, it seemed as if German before the end of the piece we hear it in its • JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE civilisation itself was coming to an end. final metamorphosis, transformed by cellos and basses into the theme from the Funeral Poet, novelist and playwright Johann Not that this gloomy mood stopped him from March of Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ Symphony. Wolfgang von Goethe was an important composing. The previous summer he had Strauss maintained that the allusion had figure in early-Romantic German literature. begun work on a setting for male voice choir not been a planned one, but he nevertheless His first novel The Sorrows of Young Werther of a poem by Goethe •, ‘Niemand wird sich wrote the words ‘In Memoriam!’ underneath (1774) is thought to have ignited the Sturm selber kennen’: ‘No one can know himself … it in the score, and the implication seems und Drang period and his tragedy Faust, yet daily he must put to the test what he can clear – that Metamorphosen is a threnody based on the German folk legend, went see clearly and objectively … what he is and for German musical life. on to inspire a great many works of film, what he was, what he can do and what he may. music and literature. What goes on in the world, no one really But there is another resonance in the understands correctly, and until today no one work’s title, this time to do with the Goethe Although he is best-known for his literary gladly wishes to understand it’. A commission connection. Strauss had recently embarked endeavours, Goethe also harboured a keen Interval – 20 minutes from the Swiss conductor and patron Paul on a project to read Goethe’s complete interest in the natural sciences and produced There are bars on all levels of the Sacher, however, caused him to re-divert the works, and would have been fully aware that several works in the field of morphology, Concert Hall; ice cream can be bought material of this setting into a ‘study for 23 towards the end of his own life the great (the biological study of the structure of at the stands on Stalls and Circle level. solo strings’, which he completed on 12 April poet had used the word ‘metamorphosen’ organisms), colour theory and geology. Visit the Barbican Shop on Level -1 to see 1945. By this time it had a new title as well: to describe his own mental development, By his death in 1832, he had collected an our new range of Gifts and Accessories. Metamorphosen (Metamorphoses). especially when applied to works which had estimated 17,800 samples of rock.

4 Programme Notes 13 & 17 December 2017 Richard Strauss in profile 1864–1949 / profile by Andrew Stewart

ichard Strauss was born in Munich Strauss’ legacy is to be found in his operas STRAUSS ON LSO LIVE in 1864, the son of Franz Strauss, a and his magnificent symphonic poems. brilliant horn player in the Munich Scores such as Till Eulenspiegel, Also Sprach court orchestra; it is therefore perhaps not Zarathustra, Don Juan and surprising that some of the composer’s most demonstrate his supreme mastery of striking writing is for the French Horn. Strauss ; the thoroughly modern operas had his first lessons when he was four, Salome and Elektra, with their Freudian and attended rehearsals of his father’s themes and atonal scoring, are landmarks orchestra, producing his first composition at in the development of 20th­­-century music, the age of six. Surprisingly he did not attend and the neo-Classical Der Rosenkavalier­ has a music academy, his formal education become one of the most popular operas of ending instead at Munich University the century. where he studied philosophy and aesthetics, while continuing with his musical training Strauss spent his last years in self-imposed at the same time. exile in Switzerland, waiting to be officially cleared of complicity in the Nazi regime. He Following the first public performances of died at Garmisch Partenkirchen in 1949, shortly conductor his work, he received a commission from after his widely celebrated 85th birthday. • £6.99 Hans von Bülow in 1882 and two years later was appointed Bülow’s Assistant Musical ‘Mastery is the word ... it has immense grandeur.‘ Director at the Meiningen Court Orchestra, the beginning of a career in which Strauss was to conduct many of the world’s great Elektra orchestras, in addition to holding positions conductor at opera houses in Munich, Weimar, £14.99 and Vienna. While at Munich, he married the soprano Pauline de Ahna, for whom he wrote ‘A thrilling, often revelatory performance.’ many of his greatest songs. The couple had Time Out one son, Franz, in 1897. lsolive.lso.co.uk

Composer Profile 5 Das Lied von der Erde 1908–9 / note by Stephen Johnson

1 Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde It’s true that Mahler’s views – like his ‘I have in no sense a hypochondriac’s fear of heightened loneliness he’d felt since the (Drinking Song of the Earth’s Misery) emotions – could be subject to extreme death, as you suppose. I have always known onset of the crisis. And one can imagine 2 Der Einsame im Herbst fluctuations. But in this case something had that I must die … But as far as my work is what Mahler would have made of the (The Lonely One in Autumn) happened that was to change his attitude concerned, it is most depressing to have to references to the heart itself, in the closing 3 Von der Jugend (Youth) to life irrevocably. In 1907, Mahler was unlearn everything. I have never been able lines of the final song, and still more 4 Von der Schönheit (Beauty) diagnosed with a lesion of the heart – the to compose only at my desk – I need outside tellingly in the second song, ‘The Lonely 5 Der Trunkene im Frühling condition that was to kill him four years exercise for my inner exercises … After a One in Autumn’: ‘My heart is weary. My (The Drunkard in Spring) later at the age of 50. This wasn’t the only gentle little walk my pulse beats so fast and little lamp burns out with a sputter; it puts 6 Der Abschied (The Farewell) catastrophe of that year. A few months I feel so oppressed that I don’t even achieve me in mind of sleep’. There are also searing later Mahler’s daughter Maria died after a the desired effect of forgetting my body … expressions of bitterness, especially in the Simon O’Neill tenor failed operation for diphtheria. The death This is the greatest calamity I have ever known.’ first song, in which the poet desperately Christian Gerhaher baritone had a predictably calamitous effect on his precarious relationship with his wife Alma. — as Lied von der Erde is separated But as Mahler struggled to recover from the ‘A serenity literally supernatural … by a fault-line from Mahler's events of 1907, it was the state of his health previous major composition, the that seems to have worried him most. It is cruel, you know, that music should be so beautiful.’ choral-orchestral Eighth Symphony (1906). on Das Lied von der Erde’s ending While they are obviously the work of the The following summer, as he began to turn — same composer, you have only to compare again to thoughts of composing, Mahler their final moments to realise how much has wrote to the conductor : Yet out of this calamity came what for many seeks release from thoughts of death changed. The Eighth Symphony concludes is Mahler’s most perfect achievement, his in drink – not a weakness Mahler was in massive, radiant affirmation: not only are ‘I must alter my whole way of life. You cannot ‘Song-Symphony’ Das Lied von der Erde. disposed to, though he would have life and love eternal, but they will lead the imagine how painful this is for me. For years During that fateful year of 1907, Mahler understood the sentiment. striving soul ‘ever onwards’. Das Lied von I have grown used to taking strenuous exercise, was given a copy of The Chinese Flute, a der Erde also ends with a vision of eternity: to walking in forests and over mountains collection of poems by Hans Bethge based But if Das Lied von der Erde were all ‘Everywhere the dear earth blossoms in spring and boldly wresting my ideas from nature … on translations of Chinese texts •. Mahler bitterness, pain, horror and loneliness, it and grows green again’. But now the artist Now I must avoid all effort, watch myself found much in Bethge’s verse that spoke would not be the widely revered work that himself stands painfully apart from this constantly, walk as little as possible.’ directly to him. Again and again the poems tell it is. True, some have found its message eternal renewal: ‘I seek rest for my lonely of an almost painfully intense feeling for the bleak and pessimistic, but the composer heart! I journey homewards, to my resting- Walter tried to challenge Mahler by implying beauty of life on the earth and a poignant Benjamin Britten spoke for many when he place: I shall never again seek the far distance. that his problems were more psychological sense of how fleeting is man’s part in it. described the ending as having ‘a serenity My heart is still and awaits its hour!’. than physical. Mahler was unimpressed: In several of them he found reflected the literally supernatural’. In the poems there

6 Programme Notes 13 & 17 December 2017 are glimmers of hope: of the possibility of textures that surround the singer’s slowly • LI BAI an acceptance that brings peace. But Mahler fading ‘Ewig … ewig …’ at the end – perhaps intensified these, not only in his music, the most truly visionary music in all Mahler. • Four of the six songs in Das Lied von der but in the lines he altered or added. The Erde derive from texts by 8th-century Tang final words of the last song, ‘The Farewell’ Texts – Pages 9–12 Dynasty poet Li Bai. Li Bai was one of the (beginning with ‘Die liebe Erde überall’) are two most prominent poets of the High Tang Mahler’s own – critics who condemn Mahler era, sometimes referred to as Flourishing as ‘egoistic’ should consider that this is Tang or the ‘golden age’ of Chinese poetry. perhaps the least self-centred utterance This poetry is characterised by five and six in the entire work. As for the music – well, syllable lines which form rhyming couplets as Winston Churchill was fond of pointing of indefinite number. Li Bai’s work is known out, the Chinese ideogram for ‘crisis’ is for use of persona, vivid and fantastical made up of two characters which taken imagery, along with the (often frank) separately spell ‘danger’ and ‘opportunity’. celebration of alcoholic beverages. Mahler the man may have laughed grimly at that thought, but for Mahler the artist, During the catastrophic events of the heightened intensity of feeling – ‘I am An Lushan Rebellion (755–763) Li Bai found thirstier than ever for life’, he wrote – himself on the wrong side of a power struggle was a spur to new creative heights. between the princes of the royal family and was sentenced to death. His sentence was The orchestral writing in Das Lied von der later commuted to a protracted exile, during Erde has a beauty that at times borders on which he travelled widely, a journey which the hallucinogenic. More than in any of his is documented in some of the 1,000 of his other works, Mahler creates a unique world The Gustav Mahler Society UK has an active poems which survive to modern times. of sounds – not so much colours as vivid programme of events including evening musical images that fix themselves in the talks and weekend study days. It publishes a Li Bai died in 763 after being granted a memory: the weirdly fluttering flutes and journal, The Wayfarer, and offers discounts reprieve from his exile. Although he appears rasping low trombone chords in the first to its members on a range of concerts. to have succumbed to natural causes, song; the frail, spare lines of the second, Individual membership costs £16 per year. there is a legend in Chinese culture that he ‘The Lonely One in Autumn’; the hollow drowned after falling out of a boat while deep bell sounds that open ‘The Farewell’ Full details can be found on the website Li Bai in stroll, painted by Song Dynasty artist attempting to embrace the reflection of the and the floating, dissolving, almost timeless mahlersociety.org Liang Kai (c 1140–1210) moon in the Yangtze River.

Programme Notes 7 Gustav Mahler in Profile 1860–1911 / by Stephen Johnson

ustav Mahler’s sense of being a presence from early on: six of Mahler’s Schindler in 1902. Alma’s infidelity – which an outsider, coupled with a siblings died in infancy. This no doubt partly almost certainly accelerated the final decline penetrating, restless intelligence, explains the obsession with mortality in in Mahler’s health in 1910/11 – has earned made him an acutely self-conscious searcher Mahler’s music. Few of his major works her black marks from some biographers; but after truth. For Mahler the purpose of art do not feature a funeral march: in fact it is hard not to feel some sympathy for her was, in Shakespeare’s famous phrase, Mahler’s first composition (at age ten) position as a ‘work widow’. to ‘hold the mirror up to nature’ in all its was a Funeral March with Polka – bewildering richness. The symphony, he exactly the kind of extreme juxtaposition Nevertheless, many today have good cause told , ‘must be like the world. one finds in his mature works. to be grateful to Mahler for his single- It must embrace everything’. minded devotion to his art. TS Eliot – another artist caught between the search for — faith and the horror of meaninglessness – ‘I am three times homeless: a native of Bohemia in Austria, wrote that ‘humankind cannot bear very much reality’. But Mahler’s music suggests an Austrian among Germans, a Jew throughout the world.’ another possibility. With his ability to — confront the terrifying possibility of a purposeless universe and the empty finality Mahler’s can seem almost For most of his life Mahler supported himself of death, Mahler can help us confront and over-full with intense emotions and ideas: by , but this was no mere means endure stark reality. He can take us to the love and hate, joy in life and terror of death, to an end. Indeed his evident talent and edge of the abyss, then sing us the sweetest the beauty of nature, innocence and bitter energetic, disciplined commitment led to songs of consolation. If we allow ourselves experience. Similar themes can also be successive appointments at Prague, Leipzig, to make this journey with him, we may find found in his marvellous songs and song- Budapest, Hamburg and climactically, in that we too are the better for it. • cycles, though there the intensity is, 1897, the Vienna Court Opera. if anything, still more sharply focused. In the midst of this hugely demanding Gustav Mahler was born the second of schedule, Mahler composed whenever he 14 children. His parents were apparently could, usually during his summer holidays. ill-matched (Mahler remembered violent The rate at which he composed during these scenes), and young Gustav grew dreamy and brief periods is astonishing. The workload introspective, seeking comfort in nature in no way decreased after his marriage to rather than human company. Death was the charismatic and highly intelligent Alma

8 Composer Profile 13 & 17 December 2017 Gustav Mahler Das Lied von der Erde – Texts

1 DAS TRINKLIED VOM JAMMER DER ERDE DRINKING SONG OF EARTH’S MISERY Jetzt nehmt den Wein! Jetzt ist es Zeit, Now take the wine! The time has come. Genossen! Friends! Schon winkt der Wein im gold’nen Pokale, Wine sparkles in the golden goblet Leert eure gold’nen Becher zu Grund! Empty your golden goblets! Doch trinkt noch nicht, but don’t drink it yet, Dunkel ist das Leben, ist der Tod! Dark is life, dark is death! erst sing’ ich euch ein Lied! I’ll sing you a song first! Das Lied vom Kummer The song of grief Soll auflachend in die Seele euch klingen. will resound in bursts of laughter in your soul. 2 DER EINSAME IM HERBST THE LONELY ONE IN AUTUMN Wenn der Kummer naht, When grief approaches Liegen wüst die Gärten der Seele, the gardens of the soul lie desolate, Herbstnebel wallen bläulich überm See, Autumn mists drift their blue haze over the Welkt hin und stirbt die Freude, der Gesang. pleasure and song wilt and die. Vom Reif bezogen stehen alle Gräser; lake; the grass is covered with frost; Dunkel ist das Leben, ist der Tod. Dark is life, dark is death. Man meint, ein Künstler habe Staub von Jade it looks as if an artist had scattered jade dust Über die feinen Blüten ausgestreut. over the delicate blossom. Herr dieses Hauses! Lord of this house! Dein Keller birgt die Fülle des goldenen Weins! Your cellar is full of golden wine! Der süsse Duft der Blumen ist verflogen; The sweet scent of the flowers is gone; Hier, diese Laute nenn’ ich mein! I call this lute here my own! Ein kalter Wind beugt ihre Stengel nieder. a cold wind bends their stems. Die Laute schlagen und die Gläser leeren, Playing the lute and emptying the glasses Bald werden die verwelkten, gold’nen Blätter Soon the faded golden leaves of the Das sind die Dinge, die zusammen passen. are things that go together. Der Lotosblüten auf dem Wasser zieh’n. lotus flowers will be floating on the water. Ein voller Becher Weins zur rechten Zeit A full glass of wine at the right moment Ist mehr wert als alle Reiche dieser Erde! is worth more than all the realms of the earth! Mein Herz ist müde. Meine kleine Lampe My heart is heavy. My little flame Dunkel ist das Leben, ist der Tod! Dark is life, dark is death. Erlosch mit Knistern, has flickered out; es gemahnt mich an den Schlaf. it makes me want to sleep. Das Firmament blaut ewig, und die Erde The heavens are forever blue, and the earth Ich komm’ zu dir, traute Ruhestätte! I go to my favourite resting place! Wird lange fest steh’n und aufblüh’n im Lenz. will long stand fast and bloom in the spring. Ja, gib mir Ruh, ich hab’ Erquickung not! Give me peace, yes, I need refreshment! Du aber, Mensch, wie lang lebst denn du? But how long does Man live? Nicht hundert Jahre darfst du dich ergötzen, He cannot even enjoy a hundred years Ich weine viel in meinen Einsamkeiten. Long do I cry in my loneliness. An all dem morschen Tande dieser Erde! on the dross of this earth! Der Herbst in meinem Herzen währt zu lange. Autumn persists too long in my heart. Sonne der Liebe, willst du nie mehr scheinen, Sun of love, will you never shine again, Seht dort hinab! Im Mondschein See down there! In the moonlight Um meine bittern Tränen mild aufzutrocknen? to dry my bitter tears? auf den Gräbern on the graves Hockt eine wild-gespenstische Gestalt. squats a wild, ghostly figure. Ein Aff’ ist’s! Hört ihr, wie sein Heulen It’s an ape! Hear its howls Hinausgellt in den süssen Duft des Lebens! scream in the sweetness of life!

Texts 9 Gustav Mahler Das Lied von der Erde – Texts continued

3 VON DER JUGEND YOUTH 4 VON DER SCHÖNHEIT BEAUTY

Mitten in dem kleinen Teiche In the middle of the little pond Junge Mädchen pflücken Blumen, Young girls are plucking flowers, Steht ein Pavillon aus grünem stands a pavilion of green Pflücken Lotosblumen an dem Uferrande. plucking lotus flowers at the river’s edge. Und aus weissem Porzellan. and white porcelain. Zwischen Büschen und Blättern sitzen sie, They are sitting among the bushes and leaves, Sammeln Blüten in den Schoss und rufen gathering blossoms in their laps and calling Wie der Rücken eines Tigers Like a tiger’s back Sich einander Neckereien zu. teasingly to each other. Wölbt die Brücke sich aus Jade the jade bridge arches Zu dem Pavillon hinüber. over to the pavilion. Gold’ne Sonne webt um die Gestalten, The golden sunlight weaves around them Spiegelt sie im blanken Wasser wider. reflecting their shapes in the shining water. In dem Häuschen sitzen Freunde, Friends are sitting in the little house, Sonne spiegelt ihre schlanken Glieder, The sun reflects their slender limbs, Schön gekleidet, trinken, plaudern, beautifully dressed, drinking and talking, Ihre süssen Augen wider, and sweet eyes. Manche schreiben Verse nieder. some are composing verses. Und der Zephir hebt mit Schmeichelkosen And with flattering caresses the breeze Das Gewebe ihrer Ärmel auf, lifts up the fabric of their sleeves, Ihre seidnen Ärmel gleiten Their silken sleeves are falling Führt den Zauber wafting the magic Rückwärts, ihre seidnen Mützen backwards, their silken caps Ihrer Wohlgerüche durch die Luft. of their fragrance in the air. Hocken lustig tief im Nacken. Perch gaily on the backs of their heads. O sieh, was tummeln sich für schöne Knaben, O see, those handsome lads romping Auf des kleinen Teiches stiller On the little pond’s still surface Dort an dem Uferrand auf mut’gen Rossen, at the river’s edge on brave horses, Wasserfläche zeigt sich alles everything is reflected Weithin glänzend wie die Sonnenstrahlen; shining in the distance like the sun’s rays; Wunderlich im Spiegelbilde. magically, as if in a mirror. Schon zwischen dem Geäst der grünen already the young lads are galloping along Weiden Trabt das jungfrische Volk einher! among the boughs of the green willows. Alles auf dem Kopfe stehend Everything stands on its head In dem Pavillon aus grünem in the pavilion of green Das Ross des einen wiehert fröhlich auf, One of their horses brays merrily, Und aus weissem Porzellan. and white porcelain. Und scheut, und saust dahin, and shies and charges off, Über Blumen, Gräser wanken hin die Hufe, its hooves faltering over flowers and grass, Wie ein Halbmond scheint die Brücke, The bridge stands like a half moon, Sie zerstampfen jäh im Sturm die pounding suddenly over the Umgekehrt der Bogen. Freunde, its arch inverted. Friends, hingesunk’nen Blüten, fallen blossom, Schön gekleidet, trinken, plaudern. beautifully dressed, are drinking and talking. Hei! Wie flattern im Taumel seine Mähnen, ah! How its mane shakes in frenzy, Dampfen heiss die Nüstern! hot steam blowing from its nostrils!

10 Texts 13 & 17 December 2017 Gold’ne Sonne webt um die Gestalten, The golden sunlight weaves around them, 5 DER TRUNKENE IM FRÜHLING THE DRUNKARD IN SPRING Spiegelt sie im blanken Wasser wider. reflecting their shapes in the shining water. Und die schönste von den Jungfrau’n sendet And the loveliest of the young girls Wenn nur ein Traum das Leben ist, If life is but a dream, Lange Blicke ihm der Sehnsucht nach. glances longingly at him. Warum denn Müh’ und Plag’? why is there such sweat and tears? Ihre stolze Haltung ist nur Verstellung. Her proud posture is only pretence. Ich trinke, bis ich nicht mehr kann, I drink until I can’t drink any more, In dem Funkeln ihrer grossen Augen, In the twinkling of her big eyes, Den ganzen, lieben Tag! all day long! In dem Dunkel ihres heissen Blicks, in the darkness of her impassioned glances, Schwingt klagend noch die Erregung ihres her aroused heart still surges plaintively. Und wenn ich nicht mehr trinken kann, And when I can’t drink any more, Herzens nach. Weil Kehl’ und Seele voll, because body and soul are full, So tauml’ ich bis zu meiner Tür I stagger to my door Und schlafe wundervoll! and sleep wonderfully!

Was hör’ ich beim Erwachen? Horch! What do I hear when I wake up? Hark! Ein Vogel singt im Baum. A bird sings in the tree. Ich frag’ ihn, ob schon Frühling sei. I ask him if spring has arrived already. Mir ist als wie im Traum. It all seems to me like a dream.

Der Vogel zwitschert: Ja! Ja! The bird twitters ‘Yes! Yes! Der Lenz ist da, sei kommen über Nacht!’ Spring has arrived overnight!’ Aus tiefstem Schauen lauscht’ ich auf, I listen in deepest amazement, Der Vogel singt und lacht! the bird sings and laughs!

Ich fülle mir den Becher neu I fill my glass again Und leer’ ihn bis zum Grund and drain it to the bottom Und singe, bis der Mond erglänzt and sing, till the moon shines Am schwarzen Firmament! in the black heavens!

Und wenn ich nicht mehr singen kann, And when I can’t sing any more, So schlaf’ ich wieder ein. I go back to sleep again. Was geht mich denn der Frühling an? What does spring matter to me? Lasst mich betrunken sein! Let me be drunk!

Texts 11 Gustav Mahler Das Lied von der Erde – Texts continued

6 DER ABSCHIED THE FAREWELL Er stieg vom Pferd und reichte ihm den Trunk He dismounted from his horse and offered him des Abschieds dar. the farewell drink. Die Sonne scheidet hinter dem Gebirge. The sun is setting behind the mountains. Er fragte ihn, wohin er führe He asked him where he was going In alle Täler steigt der Abend nieder Cool evening shadows are lengthening Und auch warum es müsste sein. and also why it must be. Mit seinen Schatten, die voll Kühlung sind. in all the valleys. O sieh! Wie eine Silberbarke schwebt See, how the moon floats like a silver barque Er sprach, seine Stimme war umflort: He spoke, his voice was veiled: Der Mond am blauen Himmelssee herauf. suspended on the blue lake of the heavens. Du, mein Freund, ‘You, my friend, Ich spüre eines feinen Windes Weh’n I feel a gentle breeze blowing Mir war auf dieser Welt das Glück nicht hold! good fortune was not mine in this world! Hinter den dunklen Fichten! behind the dark pine trees. Der Bach singt voller Wohllaut durch The brook sings its rich melody loudly in Wohin ich geh’? Ich geh’, ich wandre in Where am I going? I shall go wandering in das Dunkel. the darkness. die Berge. the mountains. Die Blumen blassen im Dämmerschein. The flowers grow pale in the twilight. Ich suche Ruhe für mein einsam Herz! I seek peace for my lonely heart! Die Erde atmet voll von Ruh’ und Schlaf. The earth breathes deeply, in rest and sleep. Ich wandle nach der Heimat, I will wander back to my homeland, Alle Sehnsucht will nun träumen, All yearning has now turned to dreaming, meiner Stätte! to my resting place. Die müden Menschen geh’n heimwärts, weary mortals go homewards, Ich werde niemals in die Ferne schweifen. I shall never roam so far afield. Um im Schlaf vergess’nes Glück to rediscover, in sleep, Still ist mein Herz und harret seiner Stunde!’ My heart is calmly awaiting its hour!’ Und Jugend neu zu lernen! forgotten happiness and youth. Die Vögel hocken still in ihren Zweigen. The birds perch silently on their branches. Die liebe Erde allüberall Everywhere the dear earth Die Welt schläft ein! The world falls to sleep! Blüht auf im Lenz und grünt aufs neu! blossoms in Spring and the grass turns Es wehet kühl im Schatten meiner There is a cool breeze in the shadows of my green again! Fichten. pine trees. Allüberall und ewig, ewig blauen licht The horizon turns blue and bright Ich stehe hier und harre meines Freundes. I stand here and wait for my friend. die Fernen, everywhere, forever! Ich harre sein zum letzten Lebewohl. I am waiting to bid him the last farewell. Ewig … ewig … Forever ... forever ... Ich sehne mich, o Freund, an deiner Seite, My friend, I long to be by your side, Die Schönheit dieses Abends zu geniessen. to savour the beauty of this evening. Wo bleibst du? Du lässt mich lang allein! Where are you? You keep me waiting so long! Ich wandle auf und nieder mit meiner Laute I stroll up and down with my lute Auf Wegen, die von weichem Grase schwellen. on billowing grassy paths. From Die chinesische Flöte O Schönheit, o ewigen Liebens, Oh beauty! Oh world, forever drunk Compiled by Hans Bethge (1876–1946) Lebens trunk’ne Welt! with love and life! English translation by Mike George

12 Texts 13 & 17 December 2017 Sir Simon Rattle conductor

ir Simon Rattle was born in As well as fulfilling a taxing concert season at the Barbican with a programme and studied at the schedule in Berlin, Sir Simon and the Berlin of British music, Berlioz's The Damnation . Philharmonic regularly tour within Europe, of Faust, and the Stravinsky ballets. North America and Asia. The partnership has In November, he toured Asia with the Berlin From 1980 to 1998, Sir Simon was Principal also broken new ground with the education Philharmonic Orchestra, with soloists Yuja Conductor and Artistic Adviser of the City of programme Zukunft@Bphil, earning Wang and Song-Jin Cho. The rest of the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and was the Comenius Prize in 2004, the Schiller 2017/18 season will take Sir Simon on a appointed Music Director in 1990. In 2002 Special Prize from the city of Mannheim European tour with the LSO and to Munich he took up his current position of Artistic in May 2005, the Golden Camera and the with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Director and Chief Conductor of the Berlin Urania Medal in Spring 2007. He and the Orchestra. He will also return to Baden- Philharmonic where he will remain until were also appointed Baden for his inaugural appearance with the 2018. In September 2017, he became Music International UNICEF Ambassadors in the Berlin Phillharmonic in the Festspielhaus. Director of the London Symphony Orchestra. same year – the first time this honour has been conferred on an artistic ensemble. Sir Simon Rattle was knighted in 1994 Sir Simon has made over 70 recordings for and in the New Year’s Honours of 2014 EMI (now Warner Classics), and has received Sir Simon has strong long-standing he received the from numerous prestigious international awards relationships with the leading orchestras in Her Majesty the Queen. • for his recordings on various labels. Releases London, Europe and the US, initially working on EMI include Stravinsky’s Symphony of closely with the Psalms (which received the 2009 Grammy Orchestra and Boston Symphony Orchestra, Award for Best Choral Performance), Berlioz's and more recently with the Philadelphia Symphonie fantastique, Ravel’s L'enfant et Orchestra. He regularly conducts the Vienna les sortilèges, Tchaikovsky's Philharmonic, with which he has recorded Suite, Mahler's Symphony No 2, Stravinsky’s the complete Beethoven symphonies and and, on Warner Classics, piano (with ), and is Rachmaninov’s The Bells and Symphonic also a Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Dances, all recorded with the Berlin Age of Enlightenment and Founding Patron Philharmonic. Simon’s most recent recordings of Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. (Mark-Anthony Turnage's Remembering, and Ravel, Dutilleux and Delage on Blu-Ray In September 2017, Sir Simon took up and DVD) were released on the LSO's record his post as Music Director of the London label, LSO Live. Symphony Orchestra, opening the 2017/18

Artist Biographies 13 Simon O’Neill tenor

imon O’Neill is a Principal Artist Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. He has also Beethoven's Symphony No 9 with Daniel with the , the sung Tambourmajor in Berg's Wozzeck at Barenboim in Berlin and Mahler's Symphony , Teatro alla the Metropolitan Opera, Erik in Wagner's No 8 with and the Swedish Scala, and the Bayreuth and Der Fliegende Holländer at the Ravinia Radio Symphony Orchestra. He makes his Festivals. He is a Fulbright Scholar, an Festival, and Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca debut with the in Arts Laureate of New Zealand, and holds an in Tokyo, Berlin and Hamburg. Simon has Wagner's Die Walküre, a role he also sings honorary degree from Victoria performed in the complete Ring Cycle with with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and University of Wellington. Simon became an the at the BBC Proms Jaap van Zweden, and performs the title Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit with . His wide discography role of Wagner's Siegfried with the Hallé in the 2017 Queen’s Birthday Honours list. includes his debut solo award-winning Orchestra conducted by Sir . • album Father and Son, and Wagner's Scenes Notable debuts have included Jenik in and Arias with Inkinen on EMI. Smetana’s The Bartered Bride at House with ; Gran Recent highlights include Mahler's Symphony Sacerdote in Mozart’s Idomeneo at the No 8 in Tokyo, Schoenberg's Gurrelieder with Metropolitan Opera with ; Donald Runnicles at the Edinburgh Festival Siegmund in Wagner’s Die Walküre for the and at the BBC Proms with Sir Simon Rattle, Bayerische Staatsoper with Nagano; and Wagner's Die Walküre with the Berlin the title roles in Wagner’s Lohengrin with Staatsoper and Daniel Barenboim, Berlin and with Daniele Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle, and Gatti; and Chairman Mao in John Adams' Bayerische Staatsoper with . Nixon in China for the . He has also performed at the Royal Opera Opera engagements for the 2017/18 House with Sir , at the season and beyond include the part of Teatro alla Scala with and the Drum Major in Berg's Wozzeck for the Daniel Barenboim, the Metropolitan Opera Hamburgische Staatsoper, Kaiser in Strauss' with Donald Runnicles and Fabio Luisi, and Die Frau ohne Schatten with the Deutsche Deutsche Oper Berlin with Sir Simon Rattle. Staatsoper Berlin, Die Walküre and Parsifal for the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Other engagements have included the title Tannhäuser for the Deutsche Oper Berlin, role in Wagner's Lohengrin, Florestan in and a return to the Wiener Staatsoper in Beethoven's and Stolzing in Wagner's Wagner's Parsifal. In concert he will sing

14 Artist Biographies 13 & 17 December 2017 Christian Gerhaher baritone

uring his studies under Paul Kuen Christian Gerhaher is a regular guest at the title role in Henze’s Prinz von Homburg and Raimund Grumbach, German festivals including the Rheingau Music at the Theater an der Wien. Roles such baritone Christian Gerhaher Festival, the BBC Proms, the Edinburgh as Mozart’s in Frankfurt – attended the Opera School of the Academy and Lucerne Festivals and the Salzburg where he has already sung Orfeo, Wolfram, of Music in Munich and, together with his Festival. The 2016/17 season ended with Eisenstein and Pelléas – Posa in Verdi’s regular piano partner , studied four performances of Brahms’ Die schöne Don Carlo in Toulouse, or Olivier in concert Lied interpretation with Friedemann Berger. Magelone in Denmark, Heidelberg, London performances of Strauss’ Capriccio at the While completing his studies Christian and Munich, in which Ulrich Tukur took Royal Opera House testify to Gerhaher’s Gerhaher perfected his vocal training in the part of the narrator. A related CD was broad repertoire. masterclasses given by Dietrich Fischer- released in spring 2017 on which Martin Dieskau, and Inge Walser narrates texts based on Ludwig Christian Gerhaher has performed with Borkh. At present Christian Gerhaher himself Tieck, which he carefully adapted to create conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, teaches select master-classes and is an an ironic version especially for Christian Daniel Harding, , honorary professor at the University of Gerhaher and Gerold Huber. In the spring of Bernard Haitink, , Music and Performing Arts in Munich, 2018 Christian Gerhaher, Gerold Huber and , , and holds the Bavarian Maximilian Order Ulrich Tukur will give further performances of , Daniel Barenboim, Andris for Science and Art. Die schöne Magelone in Bamberg, Frankfurt Nelsons, and . and Vienna. This season, Gerold Huber and Major orchestras which regularly invite Christian Gerhaher’s Lied interpretations with Christian Gerhaher continue to focus on the Christian Gerhaher to perform include Gerold Huber have won a number of prizes, performance and recording of all Robert the LSO, the Concertgebouw Orchestra, including Gramophone’s Classical Music Schumann’s songs. the and the Berlin Award 2015 in the solo vocal category for Philharmonic, where in 2013/14 he was the their album Nachtviolen. The Lied duo can be Besides giving concerts and recitals, first ever singer to be Artist-in-Residence. heard on the stages of major international Christian Gerhaher is also a highly sought- recital centres, including the concert halls of after performer on the opera stage and has Christian Gerhaher and his wife live with New York, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, received several prizes such as the Laurence their three children in Munich. • and the Cologne and Berlin Philharmonie. Olivier Award and the theatre prize Der Gerhaher is a particularly frequent guest at the Faust. Under he sang the role Konzerthaus and Musikverein in Vienna, and of Papageno in a production of The Magic at Wigmore Hall in London – halls at which Flute at the in 2006 and in Christian has been Artist-in-Residence. 2009 Gerhaher gave guest performances in

Artist Biographies 15 London Symphony Orchestra on stage tonight

Leader Second Violins Cellos Flutes Horns Timpani LSO String Experience Scheme Roman Simovic David Alberman Rebecca Gilliver Gareth Davies Timothy Jones Nigel Thomas Since 1992, the LSO String Experience Thomas Norris Alastair Blayden Adam Walker Angela Barnes Scheme has enabled young string players First Violins David Ballesteros Jennifer Brown Alex Jakeman James Pillai Percussion from the London music conservatoires at Carmine Lauri Matthew Gardner Noel Bradshaw Jonathan Lipton Neil Percy the start of their professional careers to gain Lennox Mackenzie Julian Gil Rodriguez Eve-Marie Caravassilis Piccolo Samuel Jacobs David Jackson work experience by playing in rehearsals Clare Duckworth Naoko Keatley Daniel Gardner Sharon Williams Sam Walton and concerts with the LSO. The musicians Nigel Broadbent Belinda McFarlane Hilary Jones Trumpets Paul Stoneman are treated as professional ‘extra’ players Ginette Decuyper William Melvin Amanda Truelove Oboes David Elton (additional to LSO members) and receive Gerald Gregory Iwona Muszynska Victoria Harrild Olivier Stankiewicz Gerald Ruddock Harps fees for their work in line with LSO section Maxine Kwok-Adams Andrew Pollock Hester Snell Rosie Jenkins Niall Keatley Bryn Lewis players. The Scheme is supported by The Claire Parfitt Paul Robson Morris Polonsky Foundation, Lord and Lady Lurgan Laurent Quenelle Miya Väisänen Double Basses Cor Anglais Trombones Trust, Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust, Harriet Rayfield Aischa Guendisch Colin Paris Christine Pendrill Dudley Bright The Thistle Trust and Idlewild Trust. Colin Renwick Erzsebet Racz Patrick Laurence Peter Moore Elizabeth Burley Sylvain Vasseur Matthew Gibson Clarinets James Maynard Bruno Heinen Rhys Watkins Violas Joe Melvin Andrew Marriner Laura Dixon Edward Vanderspar Jani Pensola Chris Richards Trombone Mandolin Helena Smart Gillianne Haddow Simo Väisänen Samuel Gillespie Paul Milner James Ellis Malcolm Johnston Jeremy Watt Anna Bastow Nicholas Worters E-Flat Clarinet Tuba Regina Beukes Chi-Yu Mo Leslie Neish Editor Lander Echevarria Edward Appleyard | [email protected] Julia O'Riordan Bass Clarinet Fiona Dinsdale | [email protected] Robert Turner Christelle Pochet Editorial Photography Heather Wallington Ranald Mackechnie, Oliver Helbig, Jonathan Welch Bassoons Gregor Hohenberg, Carol Ella Daniel Jemison Print Cantate 020 3651 1690 Michelle Bruil Joost Bosdijk Advertising Cabbells Ltd 020 3603 7937

Contra Bassoon Details in this publication were correct Dominic Morgan at time of going to press.

16 The Orchestra 13 & 17 December 2017