Tuesday 18 September 2018 LSO SEASON CONCERT A WARM WELCOME TO SPRING SYMPHONY TONIGHT’S GROUPS Dvořák Selections from Slavonic Dances Op 72 Gerrards Cross Community Association Janáček Sinfonietta Hertford U3A Interval University of Notre Dame Britten Spring Symphony Ken Chaproniere & Friends Brigham Young University – London Centre Sir Simon Rattle conductor Elizabeth Watts soprano Alice Coote mezzo-soprano Allan Clayton tenor SPRING London Symphony Chorus Simon Halsey chorus director Tiffin Boys’ Choir Tiffin Children’s Chorus The Tiffin Girls’ School Choir SYMPHONY James Day Tiffin choirs director Generously supported by the Reignwood Culture Foundation Concert ends approx 10pm From 6.45pm Free Performance, Foyers LSO Discovery Choirs 44 REIGNWOOD GROUP IS PROUD TO BE PRINCIPAL PARTNER OF THE LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA As a global investment company, Reignwood Group is committed to responsible investing. We believe investors worldwide must respect the environment, culture and communities they operate in, preserving heritage and fostering a spirit of international co-operation and understanding. LEARN MORE AT REIGNWOOD.COM Antonín Dvořák Selections from Slavonic Dances Op 72 1886–7 / note by Jan Smaczny 1 Odzemek: Molto vivace – Meno mosso Dances from his head. The ever-vigilant Although Dvořák often generates the same the greater seriousness of the second set, (Allegro moderato) – Molto vivace Simrock, however, secured a non-specific high energy levels as in the earlier set, it does not seem markedly out of place. The 2 Dumka: Allegretto grazioso agreement from the composer for a second his new dances were tempered by greater opening melody may well be influenced by 3 Skočná: Allegro – Un pochettino set during negotiations concerning the subtlety and less use of the percussion a folksong, but Dvořák soon leaves the folk più lento – Tempo 1 – Vivace publication of the Seventh Symphony in section. There is also a broader range of accent behind with almost Impressionist 4 Dumka: Allegretto grazioso 1885. When Simrock pressed Dvořák on the Slavonic dance types in addition to the three harmonic support for a counter melody. 7 Kolo: Allegro vivace subject at the end of the year, the composer, clearly Czech numbers, among them No 3 The contrasting central section begins whose thoughts were very much on the (Skočná); these include two Dumkas (Nos disarmingly, but with magical harmonic hile it was extremely rare for business of composing St Ludmila, gave the 2 and 4), a Slovak Odzemek (No 1) and a shifts conjures up a world of remarkable Dvořák to quote Czech folksong, tart reply that he was not at all inclined to Serbian Kolo (No 7). poetry. The seventh dance, based on the the rhythms of national dance think of ‘such merry music’. But the idea was renowned Serbian circle dance, the Kolo, surge strongly through many of his works, firmly implanted; he made some preliminary The uproarious Odzemek which opens the matches the high spirits of the first dance from opera to chamber music to symphony. sketches for the dances while working on set is also its most melodically generous and although it develops a more genuinely The publication of his first set of Slavonic St Ludmila and he began serious work on provides evidence that, for all his inventive symphonic character anticipating the Dances (Op 46, B78) in 1878 was a crucial 9 June 1886, finishing the version for piano facility, Dvořák was not one to waste good, finale of Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony. • stage in his career. Not only did the Dances duet exactly a month later . if unpublished, material. In the Meno mosso turn him, in a matter of months, into a section, both the opening theme and major player on the European musical So pleased was Simrock with the dances ear-catching central episode come from stage, they became a lucrative earner for his that he attempted to cajole Dvořák into an Eclogue for solo piano of 1880 (B103; new-found Berlin publisher, Fritz Simrock. orchestrating them as soon as possible. not published until 1921). The uninhibited Unsurprisingly, a constant refrain in the In fact, the composer did not get round to ebullience of the first dance is nicely offset negotiations between the two men – who the task until the middle of November 1886, by the languor of the second, a waltz-like had a fruitful, if occasionally fractious, completing them early the following year. Dumka. Although the more upbeat central WATCH ONLINE relationship – was when Simrock could It seems that he felt his original version of section does not make use of a contrasting expect another set of Slavonic Dances. the dances was rather more idiomatic for tempo, it benefits enormously in the Watch Sir Simon Rattle conduct the piano duet than the first set had been and orchestral version from subtle shading in the LSO in three movements from Dvořák’s As Dvořák’s musical fortunes developed that this suitability for the keyboard might horn section. The third dance is an amiable Slavonic Dances, as part of BMW Classics strongly through the 1880s, important create difficulties when it came to scoring Skočná which shares a similar generosity in Trafalgar Square, recorded in July 2018. commissions, notably from England, them for full orchestra. By the time he had of melodic material with the first. In the including the Seventh Symphony, the finished, however, he was so pleased with fourth dance Dvořák plumbs depths that Watch for free at cantata The Spectre’s Bride and the oratorio the results that he wrote to Simrock with might seem inappropriate among a group of youtube.com/lso St Ludmila, drove thoughts of more Slavonic evident glee that ‘… they go like the devil’. primarily upbeat movements, and yet, with 46 Programme Notes 18 September 2018 Antonín Dvořák in profile 1841–1904 CZECH ROOTS His first job was as a viola player, although LSO AT THE BARBICAN BBC RADIO 3 LUNCHTIME CONCERTS he supplemented his income by teaching. AT LSO ST LUKE’S In the mid-1860s he began to compose a series of large-scale works, including his Friday 10 May 2019 1pm Symphony No 1, ‘The Bells of Zlonice’, and the Cello Concerto. Two operas, a second Martinů, Voříšek, Janáček & Smetana symphony, many songs and chamber works with Christian Ihle Hadland piano followed before Dvořák decided to concentrate on composition. In 1873 he mar ried one of his Friday 31 May 2019 1pm pupils, and in 1874 received a much-needed cash grant from the Austrian government. Janáček, Suk & Schulhoff Johannes Brahms lobbied the publisher Thursday 27 June 2019 7.30pm with Chloë Hanslip violin Simrock to accept Dvořák’s work, leading to Saturday 29 June 2019 7.30pm Danny Driver piano the publication of his Moravian Duets and a orn into a peasant family, Dvořák commission for a set of Slavonic Dances. Janáček The Cunning Little Vixen Friday 7 June 2019 1pm developed a love of folk tunes at (semi-staged performance, sung in Czech) an early age. His father inherited The nationalist themes expressed in Janáček & Dvořák the lease on a butcher’s shop in the small Dvořák’s music attracted considerable Sir Simon Rattle conductor with LSO Wind Ensemble village of Nelahozeves, north of Prague. interest beyond Prague. In 1883 he was Peter Sellars director When he was twelve, the boy left school invited to London to conduct a concert of Lucy Crowe Vixen (pictured above) Friday 14 June 2019 1pm and was apprenticed to become a butcher, his works, and he returned to England often Gerald Finley Forester at first working in his father’s shop and later in the 1880s to oversee the premieres of Sophia Burgos Fox, Chocholka Janáček & Smetana in the town of Zlonice. Here Dvořák learned several important commissions, including Peter Hoare Schoolmaster, Cock, Mosquito with Meccore Quartet German and also refined his musical talents his Seventh Symphony, and Requiem Mass. London Symphony Chorus to such a level that his father agreed he Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B minor received Simon Halsey chorus director should pursue a career as a musician. its world premiere in London in March 1896. Ben Zamora lighting designer In 1857 he enrolled at the Prague Organ His Ninth Symphony, ‘From the New World’, Nick Hillel video designer School during which time he became a product of Dvořák’s American years Hans Georg Lenhardt assistant director inspired by the music dramas of Wagner: (1892–95), confirmed his place among the opera was to become a constant feature finest of late 19th-century composers. • Produced by the LSO and the Barbican. Part of the of Dvořák’s creative life. LSO 2018/19 Season and Barbican Presents. Composer Profile by Andrew Stewart lso.co.uk/201819season Composer Profile 47 Leoš Janáček Sinfonietta 1926 / note by Jan Smaczny 1 Fanfares: Allegretto fortunes changed completely, engendering his spiritual beauty and joy, his courage, on a telegraphic trumpet figure leads to 2 The Castle, Brno: Andante one of the most extraordinary personal strength and determination to fight for the finale. Starting quietly, as a memory of 3 The Queen’s Monastery, Brno: renaissances in the history of music. victory’. Janáček gave a further hint of the the Town Hall in Brno, this final movement Moderato Self-doubt and depression all but vanished pictorial content of the Sinfonietta with swells toward a triumphant return to the 4 The Street Leading to the Castle: and Janáček produced a succession of titles for each movement, written on his opening fanfares which in turn create the Allegretto masterpieces for the stage and concert hall. programme at the premiere, referring to Sinfonietta’s blazing conclusion. • 5 The Town Hall, Brno: Allegro landmarks in Brno: Fanfares; The Castle; Coincidental with personal artistic success The Queen’s Monastery; The Street; The • KAMILA STÖSSLOVÁ ew composers communicated an was his new-found love for a much younger Town Hall.