London Philharmonic Orchestra

Transcription

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor VLADIMIR JUROWSKI*
Principal Guest Conductor YANNICK NÉZET-SÉGUIN
Leader pieter schoeman
Composer in Residence JULIAN ANDERSON
Patron HRH THE DUKE OF KENT KG
Chief Executive and Artistic Director TIMOTHY WALKER AM
SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL
Saturday 19 January 2013 | 7.30pm
VLADIMIR JUROWSKI
conductor
karita mattila
soprano
thomas Hampson
baritone
r strauss
Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 (32’)
Four Early Songs, Op. 33 (24’)
Interval
Notturno, Op. 44 No. 1 (13’)
‘Dance of the Seven Veils’ and Final Scene from
Salome, Op. 54 (26’)
Concert generously supported by the Sharp Family
Free pre-concert discussion
6.15–6.45pm | Royal Festival Hall
An introductory look at the LPO’s focus on The Rest Is Noise with
Timothy Walker, Jude Kelly and Edward Seckerson.
* supported by the Tsukanov Family and one anonymous donor
CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
PROGRAMME £3
CONTENTS
2 Welcome
3 Tonight’s works in context
4 About the Orchestra
5Leader
6 On stage tonight
7 Vladimir Jurowski
8 Karita Mattila /
Thomas Hampson
9 Programme notes and texts
20 Birthday Appeal 2012/13
21 Orchestra news
22 Next concerts
23 Supporters
24 LPO administration
The timings shown are not precise and
are given only as a guide.
Welcome
WELCOME TO SOUTHBANK CENTRE
We hope you enjoy your visit. We have a Duty
Manager available at all times. If you have any
queries please ask any member of staff for
assistance.
Eating, drinking and shopping? Southbank Centre
shops and restaurants include Foyles, EAT, Giraffe,
Strada, YO! Sushi, wagamama, Le Pain Quotidien,
Las Iguanas, ping pong, Canteen, Caffè Vergnano
1882, Skylon, Concrete and Feng Sushi, as well as
cafes, restaurants and shops inside Royal Festival
Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Hayward Gallery.
If you wish to get in touch with us following your
visit please contact the Visitor Experience Team at
Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX,
phone 020 7960 4250, or email
customer@southbankcentre.co.uk
We look forward to seeing you again soon.
A few points to note for your comfort and enjoyment:
PHOTOGRAPHY is not allowed in the auditorium.
LATECOMERS will only be admitted to the auditorium
if there is a suitable break in the performance.
RECORDING is not permitted in the auditorium
without the prior consent of Southbank Centre.
Southbank Centre reserves the right to confiscate
video or sound equipment and hold it in safekeeping
until the performance has ended.
MOBILES, PAGERS AND WATCHES should be switched
off before the performance begins.
Southbank Centre’s The Rest Is Noise,
inspired by Alex Ross’s book The Rest Is Noise
Presented by Southbank Centre
in partnership with the
London Philharmonic Orchestra.
southbankcentre.co.uk/therestisnoise
The Rest Is Noise is a year-long festival that digs deep into
20th-century history to reveal the influences on art in
general and classical music in particular. Inspired by Alex
Ross’s book The Rest Is Noise, we use film, debate, talks
and a vast range of concerts to reveal the fascinating
stories behind the century’s wonderful and often
controversial music.
We have brought together the world’s finest orchestras
and soloists to perform many of the most significant
works of the 20th century. We reveal why these pieces
were written and how they transformed the musical
language of the modern world.
Over the year, The Rest Is Noise focuses on 12 different
parts. The music is set in context with talks from a
fascinating team of historians, scientists, philosophers,
political theorists and musical experts as well as films,
online content and other special programmes.
If you’re new to 20th-century music, then this is your
time to start exploring with us as your tour guide. There
has never been a festival like this.
Jude Kelly
Artistic Director, Southbank Centre
2 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
Tonight’s works in context
1860
1864 Richard Strauss born in Munich
1870
1869 Tolstoy’s War and Peace published
1874 Arnold Schoenberg born in Vienna
1876 Prototype telephone invented by Alexander Graham Bell
1880
1880 Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov published
1882 Strauss entered Munich University. Premiere of Wagner’s opera Parsifal
1886 First sales of Coca-Cola in the USA, originally marketed as a patent medicinal remedy
1890
1891 Sergei Prokofiev born in Sontsovka, Russia (now Ukraine)
1894 Strauss married soprano Pauline de Ahna
1896 Premiere of Also sprach Zarathustra
1897 Four Early Songs completed
1900
1899 Premiere of Notturno
1901 Death of Queen Victoria
1905 Premiere of Salome
1910
1908 First commercial radio transmission
1911 Death of Gustav Mahler
1912 Sinking of the RMS Titanic. Premiere of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire in Berlin.
1914 Outbreak of World War I
1920
1918 Women’s suffrage movement leads to the vote for women aged 30 and over in the UK
End of World War I
1922 Creation of the Soviet Union (USSR)
1925 Premiere of Berg’s opera Wozzeck in Berlin
1930
1929 Wall Street Crash
1932 London Philharmonic Orchestra founded by Sir Thomas Beecham
1937 J R R Tolkien’s The Hobbit published
1940
1939 Outbreak of World War II
1942 Copland composed Fanfare for the Common Man
1945 End of World War II
1948 Strauss composed his Four Last Songs
1949 Death of Richard Strauss in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
Georg Solti, who had arranged Strauss’s 85th birthday celebration, also directed an
orchestra during Strauss’s funeral
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3
Jurowski and the LPO were on exceptional
form, and the performance had a real
edge-of-your-seat excitement. The Guardian
(29 September 2012, Royal Festival Hall: Rachmaninoff, Shchedrin, Denisov & Miaskovsky)
The London Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the world’s
finest orchestras, balancing a long and distinguished
history with a reputation as one of the UK’s most
adventurous and forward-looking orchestras. As well as
giving classical concerts, the Orchestra also records film
and video game soundtracks, has its own record label,
and reaches thousands of Londoners every year through
activities for schools and local communities.
The Orchestra was founded by Sir Thomas Beecham
in 1932, and since then its Principal Conductors have
included Sir Adrian Boult, Sir John Pritchard, Bernard
Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur.
The current Principal Conductor is Vladimir Jurowski,
appointed in 2007, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin is
Principal Guest Conductor.
The Orchestra is Resident Orchestra at Southbank
Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London, where it has
performed since it opened in 1951, giving around 40
concerts there each season. 2012/13 highlights include
three concerts with Vladimir Jurowski based around
4 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
the theme of War and Peace in collaboration with the
Russian National Orchestra; Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny
Opera, also conducted by Jurowski; 20th-century
American works with Marin Alsop; Haydn and Strauss
with Yannick Nézet-Séguin; and the UK premiere of Carl
Vine’s Second Piano Concerto with pianist Piers Lane
under Vassily Sinaisky. Throughout 2013 the Orchestra
is collaborating with Southbank Centre on The Rest Is
Noise festival, based on Alex Ross’s book of the same
name and charting the 20th century’s key musical
works and historical events.
The Orchestra has flourishing residencies in Brighton
and Eastbourne, and performs regularly around
the UK. Every summer, the Orchestra leaves London
for four months and takes up its annual residency
accompanying the famous Glyndebourne Festival
Opera, where it has been Resident Symphony Orchestra
since 1964. The Orchestra also tours internationally,
performing concerts to sell-out audiences worldwide.
Tours in the 2012/13 season include visits to Spain,
Germany, France, Switzerland, the USA and Austria.
© Patrick Harrison
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Pieter Schoeman
leader
In summer 2012 the London Philharmonic Orchestra
performed as part of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee
Pageant on the River Thames, and was also chosen to
record all the world’s national anthems for the London
2012 Olympics.
The London Philharmonic Orchestra maintains an
energetic programme of activities for young people
and local communities. Highlights include the
Deutsche Bank BrightSparks Series; the Leverhulme
Young Composers project; and the Foyle Future Firsts
orchestral training programme for outstanding young
players. Over recent years, developments in technology
and social networks have enabled the Orchestra to
reach even more people worldwide: all its recordings
are available to download from iTunes and, as well
as a YouTube channel, news blog, iPhone app and
regular podcasts, the Orchestra has a lively presence on
Facebook and Twitter.
Find out more and get involved!
lpo.org.uk
facebook.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra
Pieter Schoeman was
appointed Leader
of the LPO in 2008,
having previously been
Co-Leader since 2002.
© Patrick Harrison
The London Philharmonic Orchestra has recorded many
blockbuster scores, from The Lord of the Rings trilogy to
Lawrence of Arabia, The Mission, East is East, Hugo, and
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. It also broadcasts
regularly on television and radio, and in 2005
established its own record label. There are now nearly
70 releases available on CD and to download. Recent
additions include Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5
with Vladimir Jurowski; Brahms’s Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3
with Klaus Tennstedt; a disc of orchestral works by
Mark-Anthony Turnage; and the world premiere of the
late Ravi Shankar’s First Symphony conducted by David
Murphy.
Born in South Africa,
he made his solo
debut aged 10 with
the Cape Town
Symphony Orchestra.
He studied with Jack de Wet in South Africa, winning
numerous competitions including the 1984 World
Youth Concerto Competition in the US. In 1987 he
was offered the Heifetz Chair of Music scholarship
to study with Eduard Schmieder in Los Angeles and
in 1991 his talent was spotted by Pinchas Zukerman,
who recommended that he move to New York to study
with Sylvia Rosenberg. In 1994 he became her teaching
assistant at Indiana University, Bloomington. Pieter has performed worldwide as a soloist and
recitalist in such famous halls as the Concertgebouw in
Amsterdam, Moscow’s Rachmaninov Hall, Capella Hall in
St Petersburg, Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, Hollywood Bowl
in Los Angeles and Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth
Hall in London. As a chamber musician he regularly
performs at London’s prestigious Wigmore Hall.
As a soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra,
Pieter has performed Arvo Pärt’s Double Concerto with
Boris Garlitsky, Brahms’s Double Concerto with Kristina
Blaumane, and Britten’s Double Concerto with Alexander
Zemtsov, which was recorded and released on the
Orchestra’s own record label to great critical acclaim.
He has recorded numerous violin solos with the London
Philharmonic Orchestra for Chandos, Opera Rara, Naxos,
X5, the BBC and for American film and television, and led
the Orchestra in its soundtrack recordings for The Lord of
the Rings trilogy. twitter.com/LPOrchestra
In 1995 Pieter became Co-Leader of the Orchestre
Philharmonique de Nice. Since then he has appeared
frequently as Guest Leader with the Barcelona, Bordeaux,
Lyon, Baltimore and BBC symphony orchestras, and the
Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.
Pieter is a Professor of Violin at Trinity Laban
Conservatoire of Music and Dance.
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 5
On stage tonight
First Violins
Pieter Schoeman* Leader
Vesselin Gellev
Sub-Leader
Chair supported by John &
Angela Kessler
Ilyoung Chae
Chair supported by Moya Greene
Ji-Hyun Lee
Katalin Varnagy
Chair supported by Sonja Drexler
Catherine Craig
Thomas Eisner
Martin Höhmann
Geoffrey Lynn
Robert Pool
Sarah Streatfeild
Yang Zhang
Ben Roskams
Rebecca Shorrock
Galina Tanney
Peter Nall
Second Violins
Annabelle Meare
Guest Principal
Jeongmin Kim
Joseph Maher
Fiona Higham
Ashley Stevens
Marie-Anne Mairesse
Nancy Elan
Floortje Gerritsen
Eugene Lee
Gavin Davies
Imogen Williamson
Alison Strange
Peter Graham
Stephen Stewart
Mila Mustakova
Sheila Law
Violas
Amélie Roussel
Guest Principal
Robert Duncan
Gregory Aronovich
Katharine Leek
Benedetto Pollani
Laura Vallejo
Susanne Martens
Michelle Bruil
Isabel Pereira
Daniel Cornford
Naomi Holt
Alistair Scahill
Cellos
Kristina Blaumane Principal
Francis Bucknall
Laura Donoghue
Jonathan Ayling
Chair supported by Caroline,
Jamie & Zander Sharp
Gregory Walmsley
Santiago Carvalho†
Sue Sutherley
Elisabeth Wiklander
Tom Roff
Tae-Mi Song
Emma Black
Sibylle Hentschel
Double Basses
Kevin Rundell* Principal
Tim Gibbs Co-Principal
Laurence Lovelle
George Peniston
Kenneth Knussen
Helen Rowlands
Tom Walley
Catherine Ricketts
Flutes
Clara Andrada
Guest Principal
Sue Thomas
Chair supported by the Sharp
Family
Stewart McIlwham*
Julia Crowell
Piccolos
Stewart McIlwham*
Principal
Julia Crowell
Oboes
Ian Hardwick Principal
Holly Randall
Fraser MacAulay
Cor Anglais
Sue Bohling Principal
Chair supported by Julian & Gill
Simmonds
Heckelphone
John Orford
Clarinets
Robert Hill* Principal
Nicholas Carpenter*
Emily Meredith
Thomas Watmough
Bass Clarinet
Paul Richards Principal
E-flat Clarinet
Katie Lockhart
Bassoons
Bernardo Verde
Guest Principal
Gareth Newman*
Emma Harding
Simon Estell
Contrabassoon
Simon Estell Principal
Horns
John Ryan* Principal
David Pyatt Principal
Martin Hobbs
Mark Vines Co-Principal
Gareth Mollison
Duncan Fuller
Anthony Chidell
Trumpets
Paul Beniston* Principal
Anne McAneney*
Chair supported by Geoff & Meg
Mann
Nicholas Betts Co-Principal
David Hilton
William O’Sullivan
Trombones
Mark Templeton* Principal
David Whitehouse
Bass Trombones
Lyndon Meredith Principal
Barry Clements
Tubas
Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal
Raymond Hearne
Timpani
Simon Carrington* Principal
Barnaby Archer
Percussion
Andrew Barclay* Principal
Chair supported by Andrew
Davenport
Keith Millar
Jeremy Cornes
Olly Yates
Stephen Quigley
Eddy Hackett
Harps
Rachel Masters* Principal
Lucy Haslar
Celeste
Catherine Edwards
Organ
Catherine Edwards
Roderick Elms
Assistant Conductor
Ilyich Rivas
* Holds a professorial
appointment in London
† Chevalier of the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco
The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose player is not present at
this concert:
David & Victoria Graham Fuller
6 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
Vladimir Jurowski
© Chris Christodoulou
Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor
One of today’s most
sought-after and
dynamic conductors,
acclaimed worldwide
for his incisive
musicianship and
adventurous artistic
commitment, Vladimir
Jurowski was born
in Moscow, and
completed the first
part of his musical studies at the Music College of the
Moscow Conservatory. In 1990 he relocated with his
family to Germany, continuing his studies at the High
Schools of Music in Dresden and Berlin. In 1995 he
made his international debut at the Wexford Festival
conducting Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night, and the same
year saw his debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent
Garden, with Nabucco.
Vladimir Jurowski has been Music Director of
Glyndebourne Festival Opera since 2001, and in 2003
was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the London
Philharmonic Orchestra, becoming the Orchestra’s
Principal Conductor in September 2007. He also holds
the titles of Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of
Enlightenment and Artistic Director of the Russian State
Academic Symphony Orchestra. He has also held the
positions of First Kapellmeister of the Komische Oper,
Berlin (1997–2001); Principal Guest Conductor of the
Teatro Comunale di Bologna (2000–03); and Principal
Guest Conductor of the Russian National Orchestra
(2005–09).
Vladimir Jurowski is a regular guest with many leading
orchestras in both Europe and North America, including
the Berlin and Oslo Philharmonic orchestras; the Dresden
Staatskapelle; the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester; the
Tonhalle Orchester Zurich; and the Royal Concertgebouw,
Philadelphia, Chicago Symphony, Bavarian Radio
Symphony and Mahler Chamber orchestras. Highlights
of the 2012/13 season and beyond include his debuts
with the Vienna Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, New
York Philharmonic, NHK Symphony and San Francisco
Symphony orchestras, and return visits to the Chamber
Orchestra of Europe; the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich;
the Accademia di Santa Cecilia; and the Philadelphia,
St Petersburg Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw and
Chicago Symphony orchestras.
Jurowski made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera,
New York, in 1999 with Rigoletto, and has since returned
for Jenůfa, The Queen of Spades and Hansel and Gretel.
He has conducted Parsifal and Wozzeck at Welsh
National Opera; War and Peace at the Opera National
de Paris; Eugene Onegin at Teatro alla Scala, Milan;
Ruslan and Ludmila at the Bolshoi Theatre; and Iolanta
and Die Teufel von Loudon at the Dresden Semperoper,
as well as The Magic Flute, La Cenerentola, Otello,
Macbeth, Falstaff, Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger
von Nürnberg, Don Giovanni, The Rake’s Progress,
The Cunning Little Vixen and Peter Eötvös’s Love and
Other Demons at Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Future
engagements include new productions of Ariadne auf
Naxos at Glyndebourne; Die Frau ohne Schatten at the
Metropolitan Opera; Moses und Aron at the Komische
Oper, Berlin; and The Fiery Angel at the Bayerische
Staatsoper in Munich.
Jurowski’s discography includes the first ever recording
of the cantata Exil by Giya Kancheli for ECM; Meyerbeer’s
L’etoile du Nord for Marco Polo; Massenet’s Werther for
BMG; and a series of records for PentaTone with the
Russian National Orchestra. The London Philharmonic
Orchestra has released a wide selection of his live
recordings on its LPO Live label, including Brahms’s
Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2; Mahler’s Symphony No.
2; Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances; Tchaikovsky’s
Symphonies 1, 4, 5, 6 and Manfred; and works by
Turnage, Holst, Britten, Shostakovich, Honegger and
Haydn. His tenure as Music Director at Glyndebourne
has been documented in a CD release of Prokofiev’s
Betrothal in a Monastery, and DVD releases of his
performances of La Cenerentola, Gianni Schicchi,
Die Fledermaus, Don Giovanni, and Rachmaninoff’s
The Miserly Knight. Other DVD releases include Hansel
and Gretel from the Metropolitan Opera New York; his
first concert as the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s
Principal Conductor featuring works by Wagner, Berg
and Mahler; and DVDs with the Orchestra of the Age
of Enlightenment (Beethoven’s Symphonies Nos. 4 and
7) and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (Strauss and
Ravel), all released by Medici Arts.
Vladimir Jurowski’s position as Principal Conductor and
Artistic Advisor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra is
generously supported by the Tsukanov Family and one
anonymous donor.
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 7
Thomas Hampson
soprano
baritone
© Lauri Eriksson
Finnish soprano
Karita Mattila is
one of today’s
most exciting lyric
dramatic sopranos.
She is recognised as
much for the beauty
and versatility of
her voice as for her
extraordinary stage
ability.
She sings at all the world’s major opera houses and
festivals and has performed with conductors including
James Levine, Claudio Abbado, Sir Colin Davis, Christoph
von Dohnányi, Bernard Haitink, Antonio Pappano,
Sir Simon Rattle, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Wolfgang
Sawallisch. Her operatic repertoire encompasses works
by Beethoven, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Puccini,
Wagner and Janáček. Recent highlights include Leonore
in Fidelio for Houston Grand Opera, the title role in
Janáček’s Katya Kabanova at the Lyric Opera of Chicago,
Lisa in The Queen of Spades at the Metropolitan Opera
and The Makropulos Case at San Francisco Opera.
Throughout her distinguished career, Mattila has won
numerous awards, including Musical America’s Musician
of the Year and the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres –
one of France’s highest cultural honours. She has many
recordings to her credit on the Philips, EMI, Sony, DG
and Ondine labels, including Strauss’s Four Last Songs
with Claudio Abbado on the DG label; complete
recordings of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg on Decca
with Sir Georg Solti, which won a Grammy Award in
1998; Jenůfa on Erato/Warner with Bernard Haitink,
which won a Grammy Award in 2004; and Schoenberg’s
Gurrelieder and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14 with
Sir Simon Rattle on EMI.
Highlights of the 2012/13 season include Emilia Marty
in The Makropulos Case at Finnish National Opera; the
title role in Jenůfa at the Bayerische Staatsoper; Strauss’s
Four Last Songs with the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon;
and recitals in London, Amsterdam, Bordeaux, Zurich,
Paris, Minneapolis and Boston. Future seasons will see
returns to the Royal Opera House and the Metropolitan
Opera with roles including Marie in Wozzeck, Kostelnička
in Jenůfa and the title role in Ariadne auf Naxos.
8 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
© Dario Acosta
Karita Mattila
American baritone
Thomas Hampson
enjoys an international
career as an opera
singer, recording artist,
and ‘ambassador
of song’. He has
performed in
the world’s most
important concert
halls and opera houses
with many renowned singers, pianists, conductors and
orchestras. Recently honoured as a Metropolitan Opera
Guild ‘Met Mastersinger’, he has been praised by the
New York Times for his ‘ceaseless curiosity’, and is one of
the most respected, innovative and sought-after soloists
performing today.
Last season he created the role of Rick Rescorla in
the San Francisco Opera’s world premiere production
of Christopher Theofanidis’s Heart of a Soldier,
commemorating the tenth anniversary of the 9/11
attacks. Other important firsts for Hampson in the
2011/12 season included his role debuts as Iago in
Otello and the title role in Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler,
both at Zurich Opera, as well as his house role debut as
Verdi’s Macbeth at the Metropolitan Opera.
Upcoming international concert and recital
engagements include performances in New York,
Munich, Vienna and San Francisco. In April he joins Lang
Lang, Janine Jansen and Mariss Jansons in Amsterdam
to celebrate the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra’s 125th
anniversary.
Comprising more than 150 albums, Hampson’s
discography includes winners of a Grammy Award,
five Edison Awards, and the Grand Prix du Disque. He
received the 2009 Distinguished Artistic Leadership
Award from the Atlantic Council in Washington DC, and
was appointed the New York Philharmonic’s first Artist
in Residence. Hampson also holds honorary doctorates
from the Manhattan School of Music, Whitworth
College and the San Francisco Conservatory, and is an
honorary member of London’s Royal Academy of Music.
He carries the titles of Kammersänger of the Vienna
State Opera and Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Arts et
des Lettres of the Republic of France, and was awarded
the Austrian Medal of Honour in Arts and Sciences.
Programme notes
Speedread
Richard Strauss was given a thoroughly traditional
musical education by his horn-playing father, but
he was soon exploring much more radical ideas.
Developing his own idiom, Strauss generated
innovative musical structures and dared to
adapt the most controversial texts of his day. His
experiments with songs, tone poems and operas
came to fruition in 1905 with the premiere of
Salome. This queasy biblical shocker, based on Oscar
Wilde’s controversial play, appalled the political
establishment: Strauss’s musical contemporaries
were gripped.
Richard Strauss (1864–1949)
Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30
1 Einleitung, oder Sonnenaufgang (Introduction, or Sunrise)
2 Von den Hinterweltlern (Of those in Backwaters)
3 Von der großen Sehnsucht (Of the Great Longing)
4 Von den Freuden und Leidenschaften (Of Joys and Passions)
5 Das Grablied (The Song of the Grave)
6 Von der Wissenschaft (Of Science and Learning)
7 Der Genesende (The Convalescent)
8 Das Tanzlied (The Dance Song)
9 Nachtwandlerlied (Song of the Night Wanderer)
Few composers mark the transition from the 19th
century to the multifarious thrill of modernism better
than Richard Strauss. Born in Munich, the son of a horn
player, he was raised on a strict diet of Haydn, Mozart,
Beethoven and Schubert. But when Strauss moved
away from home, his taste broadened considerably as
he espoused new progressive philosophers and poets
and the operas of Richard Wagner.
His father played in the premiere of Parsifal in 1882,
but Wagner had always been the subject of censure at
home. Strauss became increasingly fascinated with the
composer, which he communicated through a series of
intense symphonic poems. However, the inclusion of
Also sprach Zarathustra, Friedrich Nietzsche’s polemic
about humanity and the world, demonstrates that
Strauss was looking even further afield than Bayreuth –
Nietzsche had famously turned against Wagner. Strauss
was clearly undaunted by what his music could or
should express.
The famous sunrise with which Also sprach Zarathustra
begins is founded on an elemental low C. It can be
interpreted as the first music of a newly self-sufficient
Strauss or as an innately classical gesture (recalling
Beethoven’s great narratives in C minor and C major).
As T. S. Eliot would later suggest, ‘Time present and
time past / Are both perhaps present in time future.’
After such a bold beginning, ‘Von den Hinterweltlern’
is contrastingly murky. Hints of the plainsong creed
lead to a quasi-erotic hymn but, having established a
balmy A-flat major, Strauss lurches towards B minor
in ‘Von der großen Sehnsucht’. This is the other tonal
centre of the work, an innately humane key that fights
against ‘universal’ C major. The struggle between these
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 9
two tonalities – indicative of the struggle between
man and his world in Nietzsche’s narrative – prompts
harmonic instability. The ensuing ‘Von den Freuden und
Leidenschaften’ (beginning in C minor) is manifestly
insecure.
‘Das Grablied’ slowly ekes its way towards C major, but
‘Von der Wissenschaft’ offers a particularly complex
response, employing all 12 notes of the chromatic scale.
Even ‘Der Genesende’, which ends with another blast
of C major, flips back into B minor. This tonal struggle
continues right up to the final cadence, where B major
clearly sounds in the upper strings, while the cellos and
double basses play a jarring C major. Nietzsche’s man
and universe may be described by adjacent keys in the
chromatic scale but they are clearly not yet reconciled in
the final bars.
Richard Strauss
Four Early Songs, Op. 33
Karita Mattila soprano*
Thomas Hampson baritone†
1Verführung (Seduction)*
2 Gesang der Apollopriesterin (Song of Apollo’s priestess)*
3Hymnus (Hymn)†
4Pilgers Morgenlied (Pilgrim’s morning song)†
The song texts begin on the opposite page.
Strauss dedicated considerable time to Lieder during
the first part of his career. As with his orchestral works,
he constructed each song according to the demands
of an individual text rather than simply employing
strophic repetition. The poet John Henry Mackay was
a fixture within Lieder at that time, with Strauss,
Schoenberg and Eugen d’Albert all responding to his
highly sensual poems. ‘Verführung’, the first of Strauss’s
1897 orchestral songs, is a prime example. Its Tristanesque ebb and flow, emphasised by surging harp
arpeggios, has obvious sexual connotations within the
context of the poem. ‘Gesang der Apollopriesterin’ –
a setting of a poem by Emanuel von Bodman – begins
more reverently, though the climactic passage after
‘Die großen Freudenblüten dieser Welt’ is as suggestive
as its predecessor. The breathy exclamations of
10 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
‘Hymnus’, attributed to Schiller, elicit a more measured
response from the singer. The repetitive motif at the
beginning of ‘Pilgers Morgenlied’ apes classical reserve,
though the exclamation ‘Allgegenwärt’ge Liebe!’
provokes more fervent tones. Inspired by the sensual
poetry of his peers, Strauss was equally able to tap the
more suppressed emotions of texts from previous eras.
Strauss: Four Early Songs
1Verführung
(John Henry Mackay)
1Seduction
Der Tag, der schwüle,
verblaßt, und
in dieser Kühle
Begehrt nun zu ruh’n, was sich ergeben
dem Fest der Lust
Nun schmiegt
mit Beben sich
Brust an Brust ...
The day, the sultry day
grows pale, and now
in this coolness
all that has surrendered
to the feast of joy
desires to rest –
Breast now nestles
Against quivering breast ...
Es hebt der Nachtwind
die Schwingen weit:
,,Wer liebt, der wacht auch
zu dieser Zeit! ... ”
Er küßt die Welle,
und sie ergibt
Sich ihm zur Stelle,
weil sie ihn liebt.
The nocturnal breeze
spreads wide its wings:
‘He who loves also keeps watch
at this time ...’
The breeze kisses the wave,
and she surrenders
to him at once,
because she loves him ...
O großes Feiern!
O schönste Nacht!
Nun wird sich entschleiern
alle Pracht,
Die Tags verborgen
in Zweifeln lag,
In Angst und Sorgen.
Nun wird es Tag!
O vast celebration!
O most beautiful of nights!
All the splendour
will now be unveiled
that lay hidden during the day
in doubts,
in fears and worries –
Day now dawns!
Still stößt vom Strande
ein schwankes Boot.
Verläßt die Lande
der Mörder Tod?
Er ward vergebens
hierher bestellt:
Der Gott des Lebens
beherrscht die Welt! ...
A swaying boat
sets silently out from the shore.
Does murderous Death
Leave the dry land?
In vain was Death
summoned there:
the god of life
rules the world! ...
Welch’ stürmisch’ Flüstern
den Weg entlang?
Was fleht so lüstern?
Was seufzt so bang?
Ein Niegehörtes hört
nun dein Ohr –
Wie Gift betört es:
was geht hier vor?
What are these stormy whisperings
along the way?
What is this lascivious pleading?
What are these timorous sighs?
Your ear now hears
The unheard-of –
It bewitches like poison:
What is happening here?!
Please turn the page quietly
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 11
Strauss: Four Early Songs continued
Der Sinn der Töne
ist mir bekannt,
Drum gib, o Schöne,
mir deine Hand:
Der ich zu rühren
dein Herz verstand,
Ich will dich führen
in’s Wunderland! ...
I recognize
what these sounds mean,
therefore, O beauty,
give me your hand:
I who knew how
to move your heart,
I shall lead you
into the wonderland ...
Mit süßem Schaudern
reißt du dich los.
Was hilft dein Zaudern?
Dir fiel dein Los!
Die Stimmen schweigen.
Es liebt, wer wacht!
Du wirst mein
eigen noch diese Nacht!
With a sweet shudder
you tear yourself away.
What does such delay avail?
This is your fate!
The voices fall silent.
He who keeps watch, loves!
You shall be mine
before this night is over!
2 Gesang der Apollopriesterin
(Emanuel von Bodman)
Song of Apollo’s priestess
Es ist der Tag, wo jedes Leid vergessen.
Ihr Schwestern, horcht: der Heilige ist nah,
Er meldet sich im Rauschen der Cypressen.
Und unsre Pflicht steht winkend vor uns da.
It is the day when all pain is forgotten.
You sisters, listen: the Saint draws near,
He announces his presence in the murmuring cypresses.
And our duty now beckons us.
Wir lassen ihm den dunklen Sang erschallen,
Daß seine schöne Sonne niedertaut.
Wir ziehn um seine weißen Säulenhallen,
Und jede ist geschmückt wie eine Braut.
We let his dark song resound,
That his beautiful sun might send down its melting rays.
We gather around his white columned halls,
And each of us is adorned like a bride.
Seht, unten, wo die kühlen Bäche fließen,
Dort wandeln heut’ in Nachtheit Mann und Frau;
Sie trinken selig Duft und Klang der Wiesen,
Und alle blicken sie zum hohen Blau.
Look, down there, where cool streams flow,
Men and women wander naked there today;
They blissfully drink in the meadows’ scent and sound,
And all gaze aloft to the vaulted blue sky.
Und alle jauchzen sie, und alle pflücken
Die großen Freudenblüten dieser Welt.
Wir aber wollen nach der Frucht uns bücken,
Die golden zwischen Traum und wachen fällt.
And all rejoice and all pluck
This world’s great blooms of joy.
But we shall stoop to gather the fruit
Which falls, golden, between dreaming and waking.
Wir bringen sie in einer Silberschale
Zum Tempel hin, dicht neben Speer und Schild.
Wir knieen nieder: Dufte, Frucht, und strahle
Dem Volk entgegen sein verklärtes Bild!
We bring the fruit in a silver salver
To the temple, and lay it next to spear and shield.
We kneel: shed your scent, O fruit, and beam
To his people his transfigured image!
12 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
3Hymnus
(Gustav Schiller)
Hymn
Daß du mein Auge wecktest zu diesem goldenen Lichte,
Daß mich dein Äther umfließt,
Daß ich zu deinem Äther hinauf einen Menschenblick
richte, der ihn edler genießt,
Daß du einen unsterbliches Geist, der dich, Göttliche,
denket
und in die schlagende Brust, Gütige,
mir des Schmerzes wohlhät’ge Warnung
Geschenket und die belohnende Lust,
Daß du des Geistes Gedanken,
des Herzens Gefühle zu tönen
Mir ein Saitenspiel gabst,
Kränze des Ruhms und das buhlende Glück deinen
stolzeren Söhnen,
Mir ein Saitenspiel gabst;
Daß dem trunkenen Sinn,
von hoher Begeistrung beflügelt,
Schöner das Leben sich malt,
Schöner in der Dichtung Krystall die Wahrheit sich
spiegelt, heller die dämmernde strahlt:
Große Göttin, dafür soll,
Bis die Parzen mich fodern,
Dieses Herzens Gefühl,
Zarter Kindlichkeit voll, In dankbarem Strahle dir lodern,
Soll aus dem goldenen Spiel
Unerschöpflich dein Preis,
Erhabne Bidnerin, fließen,
Soll dieser denkende Geist
An dein mütterlich Herz in reiner Umarmung sich
schließen,
Bis der Tod sie zerreißt!
That you have woken my eyes to this golden light,
so that your ether flows about me,
that I have lifted my human gaze aloft to your ether,
to enjoy it more nobly,
that you have vouchsafed me an immortal spirit, that
thinks of you, divine one,
and have given to my pounding breast, O kind one,
the beneficent warning of pain
and rewarding joy,
that you have given me musical strings
to sound forth the spirit’s thoughts, the heart’s feelings,
4Pilgers Morgenlied
(Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
Pilgrim’s morning song
Morgennebel, Lila,
Hüllen deinen Turm ein,
Soll ich ihn zum
Letztenmal nicht sehn!
Doch mir schweben
Tausend Bilder
Seliger Erinn’rung
Heilig warm um’s Herz.
Morning mists, Lila,
Shroud your tower,
Let this not be the last time
That I see it!
But a thousand images
Of blissful memory
Float around my heart
With blissful warmth.
have given wreaths of fame and wooing fortune to your
prouder sons,
have given me musical strings
that life might be mirrored more beautifully
to the intoxicated sense of noble zeal,
that truth might be mirrored more beautifully in
poetry’s crystal,
that the dawning and great goddess
might beam – for all this,
till the Fates challenge me,
shall my heart’s feeling
with its tender childlike nature glow and gleam for you
in gratitude,
shall I endlessly sing your praises, sublime sculptress,
from your golden play,
shall this my mind cling to your maternal heart with a
pure embrace,
till death sunders us.
Please turn the page quietly
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 13
Programme notes
Wie er da stand,
Zeuge meiner Wonne,
Als zum erstenmal
Du dem Freundling
Ängstlich liebevoll
Begegnetest,
Und mit einemmal
Ewge Flammen
In die Seel’ ihm warfst.
Zische, Nord,
Tausend-schlangen-züngig
Mir ums Haupt!
Beugen sollst du’s nicht!
Beugen magst du
Kind’scher Zweige Haupt,
Von der Sonne
Muttergegenwart geschieden.
How he stood there,
O witness of my rapture,
When for the first time
You encountered
The stranger,
Anxious and full of love,
And of a sudden
Assailed his heart
With eternal flames.
Hiss, O North Wind,
Thousand-tongued
Around my head!
You shall not bow my head!
You may bow
The heads of young branches
That have been sundered
From the sun’s maternal presence.
Allgegenwärt’ge Liebe!
Durchglühest mich,
Bötst dem Wetter die Stirn,
Gefahren die Brust,
Hast mir gegossen
Ins früh welkende Herz
Doppeltes Leben,
Freude, zu leben,
Und Mut!
Omnipresent love!
You glow through me,
You defy the weather,
You defy danger,
You have instilled
Into my young wilting heart
Double life,
Lust for life
And courage.
Translations © Richard Stokes
Interval – 20 minutes
An announcement will be made five minutes before the end of the interval.
Richard Strauss
Notturno, Op. 44 No. 1
Thomas Hampson baritone
The text begins on the opposite page.
‘Notturno’, the first of Strauss’s Zwei grössere Gesänge
of 1899, is a setting of a poem by Richard Dehmel.
His frank depictions of erotic love captivated a
generation of composers. Strauss responded to this
extended poem with a notable fusion of Lieder and the
tone-poem, which looks ahead to the great monologues
of his later operas. Night is described in strikingly
14 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
mysterious terms, with radiant moonlit woodwind
chords alternating with glowering responses in the
lower strings. A solo violin carves an eerie nocturne,
as these ideas conspire in an increasingly urgent and
nightmarish scenario. In Dehmel’s original text the
narrator wakes from his nightmare, but Strauss omits
the final line, leaving us in nocturnal limbo.
Strauss: Notturno
Hoch hing der Mond; das Schneegefild
lag bleich und öde um uns her,
wie meine Seele bleich und leer,
Denn neben mir, so stumm und wild,
so stumm und kalt wie meine Not,
Als wollt’ er weichen nimmermehr,
saß starr und wartete der Tod.
The moon shone high in the heavens; the snowfield
Lay pale and desolate around us,
Pale and empty like my soul.
For next to me, so mute and wild,
so mute and cold as my distress,
as though he would never ever leave,
sat Death, staring and waiting.
Da kam es her wie einst so mild,
so müd’ und sacht
aus ferner Nacht,
so kummerschwer
kam seiner Geige Hauch daher,
Und vor mir stand sein stilles Bild.
Then it came: as gently as once before,
so weary and soft,
out of distant night,
so sorrow-laden –
the wafting of his violin,
and his silent image stood before me.
Der mich umflochten wie ein Band,
daß meine Blüte nicht zerfiel,
und daß mein Herz die Sehnsucht fand,
die große Sehnsucht ohne Ziel:
da stand er nun im öden Land
Und stand so trüb und feierlich
und sah nicht auf noch grüßte mich,
Nur seine Töne ließ er irr’n
und weinen durch die kühle Flur,
und mir entgegen starrte nur
aus seiner Stirn,
als wär’s ein Auge hohl und fahl,
der tiefen Wunde dunkles Mal.
He who bound me like a ribbon
that my flowering might not fade
and that my heart might find the longing,
the great longing without a goal.
There he now stood in the desolate land
and stood so drear and solemn
and neither looked up nor greeted me,
he only let his violin’s sound
wander and weep through the cold meadow,
and the dark mark of his deep wound
stared at me
from his brow,
as though it were an eye, hollow and wan.
Und trüber quoll das trübe Lied
und quoll so heiß, und wuchs, und schwoll,
so heiß und voll
wie Leben, das nach Liebe glüht,
wie Liebe, die nach Leben schreit,
nach ungenossner Seligkeit,
so wehevoll,
so wühlend quoll
das strömende Lied und flutete;
und leise, leise blutete
und strömte mit
in’s bleiche Schneefeld rot und fahl
der tiefen Wunde dunkles Mal.
And the dreary song sounded more drear
and poured forth so ardently, and grew, and swelled,
so ardent and full
as life that glows for love,
as love that screams for life,
for unsavoured rapture,
the streaming song surged and flooded
so painfully,
so churningly,
and the dark mark of his deep wound
bled, gently, gently
and streamed, red and wan,
into the pale snowfield.
Und müder glitt die müde Hand,
und vor mir stand
ein bleicher Tag,
ein ferner, bleicher Jugendtag,
And the weary hand glided more wearily
and before me stood
a pale day,
a distant pale day of my youth,
Please turn the page quietly
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 15
Strauss: Notturno continued
Da starr im Sand
zerfallen seine Blüte lag,
da seine Sehnsucht sich vergaß,
in ihrer Schwermut Übermaß
und ihrer Traurigkeiten müd
zum Ziele schritt;
und laut aufschrie das weinende Lied,
Das wühlende, und flutete,
und seiner Saiten Klage schnitt,
und seine Stirne blutete
und weinte mit
in meine starre Seelennot,
als sollt’ ich hören ein Gebot,
als müßt ich jubeln, daß ich litt,
als möcht er fühlen, was ich litt
mitfühlen alles Leidens Schuld
und alles Lebens warme Huld –
und weinend, blutend wandt’ er sich
ins bleiche Dunkel und verblich.
and there, rigid in the sand
his beauty lay decayed,
since his longing forgot itself
in the surfeit of its melancholy
and, weary of sadness,
stepped out to its goal;
and the weeping song,
the churning song cried out and streamed,
and its strings’ lament cut
and its brow bled
and wept
into the numb distress of my soul,
as though I heard a commandment,
as though I had to rejoice that I suffered,
as if he were feeling what I suffered,
felt with me the guilt of all suffering
and the warm tribute of all life,
and weeping, bleeding he turned
into the pale dark, and faded away.
Und bebend hört’ ich mir entgehn,
entfliehn sein Lied. Und wie so zart
So zitternd ward,
der langen Töne fernes Flehn,
da fühlt’ ich kalt ein Rauschen wehn
Und grauenschwer
die Luft sich rühren um mich her,
und wollte bebend nun ihn sehn,
ihn lauschen sehn,
der wartend saß bei meiner Not,
und wandte mich – da lag es kahl,
das bleiche Feld, und fern und fahl
entwich ins Dunkel auch der Tod.
And quivering, I heard his song escape
and flee. And just as the long-held sounds
of the distant pleading
grew so tender and tremulous,
I felt a cold rustling
And, horror-laden,
the breeze stir about me,
and quivering I wished to see only him,
see him listening,
he who sat waiting by me in my need,
and I turned – there the pale field
lay cool, and distant and wan
death also escaped into the dark.
Hoch hing der Mond, und mild und müd
hin schwand es in die leere Nacht,
das flehende Lied,
und schwand und schied,
des toten Freundes flehendes Lied.
The moon shone high in the heavens, and gentle and weary
the pleading song
vanished into the empty night
and vanished and dissolved,
the pleading song of the dead friend.
Richard Dehmel
Translation © Richard Stokes
16 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
Programme notes
Richard Strauss
‘Dance of the Seven Veils’ and
Final Scene from Salome
Karita Mattila Salome
The text begins overleaf.
Strauss seemed destined to become an opera composer.
The conductor Hans von Bülow jokingly christened
him ‘Richard III’ (Wagner being the first and having
no direct successor). Even though Strauss’s father
brought him up on an exactingly traditional musical
diet, the family’s proximity to Wagner encouraged
Strauss all the more. Strauss’s friend Alexander Ritter
(the husband of Wagner’s niece) fostered that curiosity,
which eventually found voice in Guntram (1894) and
Feuersnot (1901). In both operas, the orchestra plays a
major role in underlining character psychology. Wagner
had employed the orchestra to similar ends, though in
Strauss’s age, dominated by psychological discourse and
the advent of Freud, it gained further clout. Although
neither of these operas was successful, they laid the
groundwork for Salome, which opened to equal shock
and adulation in Dresden in 1905.
Strauss was based in Berlin where, in 1903, he saw a
production of Hedwig Lachmann’s translation of Oscar
Wilde’s play. Directed by the young Max Reinhardt,
Salomé, like its author, was highly notorious. Courting
that considerable controversy, Strauss decided to
adapt Lachmann’s translation for the operatic stage.
Rather than Wagner’s lengthy musical tracts, Strauss
is decidedly concise, cutting the sub-clauses and florid
descriptions of Wilde’s empurpled text. A system of
leitmotifs, rich tonal signifiers and a vast orchestra
communicate Wilde’s biblical shocker in colours more
lurid than the playwright could ever have imagined.
Tonight, we will hear two of the most important
passages from the opera. Salome is determined to kiss
the prophet John the Baptist, whom her stepfather has
imprisoned in the palace cistern. The prophet rejects her
advances outright. When Herod asks his stepdaughter
to dance, promising her anything she desires, Salome
seizes the opportunity. The dance is a veritable thematic
logjam within the context of the opera. It begins with a
riot of orientalist sounds and percussive effects, before
settling into the first waltz, characterised by a solo viola
and winding oboe. Washes of harp, flute and celeste
accompany the next dance, which becomes ever more
parodic of Strauss’s ‘Waltz King’ namesake. Decorated
woodwind figures repeat over and over again as Salome
launches into her final waltz.
Herod is thrilled and promises to pay Salome well.
In response she asks for the Baptist’s head on a silver
charger. A wild argument ensues, in which Herod offers
anything but the head, promising even the veil of
the temple. But Salome is determined and, finally, an
executioner emerges from the well, thrusting up the
severed head, which Salome seizes immediately, singing
a gross but gripping love song. The melodies from the
‘Dance of the Seven Veils’ find their attainment in this
scene, in which Strauss once more employs the full
colourful potential of the orchestra.
Rather than the dark C minor that accompanied the
appearance of the head from the cistern, Salome’s
C-sharp major is established as the overriding tonic.
Yet the language of this final scene is anything but solid
and however determined Salome remains, her triumph
will not last. That horrified C minor returns and, even
when Salome kisses the head, a distinctly ominous
atonal rumble undermines her C-sharp tonality. Salome
glories once more in her conquest, but after a fiercely
iridescent cadence, Herod commands the soldiers to kill
his stepdaughter. The music snaps back into C minor key
and the Princess of Judea is crushed to death.
Programme notes © Gavin Plumley 2012
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 17
Strauss: Final scene from Salome
Salome
Es ist kein Laut zu vernehmen. Ich höre nichts. Warum
schreit er nicht, der Mann? Ah! Wenn einer mich
zu töten käme, ich würde schreien, ich würde mich
wehren, ich würde es nicht dulden! ... Schlag zu, schlag
zu, Naaman, schlag zu, sag ich dir ... Nein, ich höre nichts.
Es ist eine schreckliche Stille! Ach! Es ist etwas zu Boden
gefallen. Ich hörte etwas fallen. Es war das Schwert des
Henkers. Er hat Angst, dieser Sklave. Er hat das Schwert
fallen lassen! Er traut sich nicht, ihn zu töten. Er ist eine
Memme, dieser Sklave. Schickt Soldaten hin!
Salome
(She leans over the cistern and listens.)
There is no sound. I hear nothing. Why does he not cry
out, this man? Ah! if any man sought to kill me, I would
cry out, I would struggle, I would not suffer ... Strike,
Naaman, strike, I tell you ... No, I hear nothing.
(stretched out)
There is a silence, a terrible silence. Ah! something has
fallen upon the ground. I heard something fall. It is the
sword of the headsman. He is afraid, this slave. He has
let his sword fall. He dare not kill him. He is a coward,
this slave! Let soldiers be sent.
Wohlan, ich sage dir: Es sind noch nicht genug Tote.
Geh zu den Soldaten und befiehl ihnen, hinabzusteigen
und mir zu holen, was ich verlange, was der Tetrarch mir
versprochen hat, was mein ist!
Hierher, ihr Soldaten, geht ihr in die Zisterne hinunter
und holt mir den Kopf des Mannes!
(to a Page)
Come hither, thou wert the friend of him who is dead,
is it not so?
Well, I tell thee, there are not dead men enough.
Go to the soldiers and bid them go down and bring me
the thing I ask, the thing the Tetrarch has promised me,
the thing that is mine.
Hither, ye soldiers. Get ye down into this cistern and
bring me the head of this man.
Tetrarch, Tetrarch, befiehl deinen Soldaten, daß sie mir
den Kopf des Jochanaan holen!
(shouting)
Tetrarch, Tetrarch, command your soldiers that they
bring me the head of Jokanaan.
Komm hierher, du warst der Freund dieses Toten, nicht?
Ah! Du wolltest mich nicht deinen Mund küssen lassen,
Jochanaan! Wohl, ich werde ihn jetzt küssen. Ich will
mit meinen Zähnen hineinbeißen, wie man in eine reife
Frucht beißen mag. Ja, ich will ihn jetzt küssen, deinen
Mund, Jochanaan. Ich hab’ es gesagt. Hab’ ich’s nicht
gesagt?
Ja, ich hab’ es gesagt. Ah! Ah! Ich will ihn jetzt küssen
... Aber warum siehst du mich nicht an, Jochanaan?
Deine Augen, die so schrecklich waren, so voller Wut
und Verachtung, sind jetzt geschlossen. Warum sind sie
geschlossen? Öffne doch die Augen, so hebe deine Lider,
Jochanaan! Warum siehst du mich nicht an?
Ah! Thou wouldst not suffer me to kiss thy mouth,
Jokanaan. Well, I will kiss it now. I will bite it with my
teeth as one bites a ripe fruit. Yes, I will kiss thy mouth,
Jokanaan. I said it: did I not say it?
Hast du Angst vor mir, Jochanaan, daß du mich nicht
ansehen willst? Und deine Zunge, sie spricht kein Wort,
Jochanaan, diese Scharlachnatter, die ihren Geifer
gegen mich spie. Es ist seltsam, nicht? Wie kommt es,
daß diese rote Natter sich nicht mehr rührt?
Du sprachst böse Worte gegen mich, Salome, die
Tochter der Herodias, Prinzessin von Judäa.
Art thou afraid of me, Jokanaan, that thou wilt not
look at me? ... And thy tongue, it says nothing now,
Jokanaan, that scarlet viper that spat its venom upon
me. It is strange, is it not? How is it that the red viper
stirs no longer? Thou didst speak evil words against me,
me, Salome, daughter of Herodias, Princess of Judaea!
18 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
Yes, I said it. Ah! ah! I will kiss it now ... But wherefore
dost thou not look at me, Jokanaan? Thine eyes that
were so terrible, so full of rage and scorn, are shut now.
Wherefore are they shut? Open thine eyes! Lift up thine
eyelids, Jokanaan! Wherefore dost thou not look at me?
Nun wohl! Ich lebe noch, aber du bist tot, und dein Kopf,
dein Kopf gehört mir! Ich kann mit ihm tun, was ich will.
Ich kann ihn den Hunden vorwerfen und den Vögeln der
Luft. Was die Hunde übriglassen, sollen die Vögel der
Luft verzehren ...
Ah! Ah! Jochanaan, Jochanaan,
du warst schön. Dein Leib war eine Elfenbeinsäule auf
silbernen Füßen. Er war ein Garten voller Tauben in der
Silberlilien Glanz. Nichts in der Welt war so weiß wie
dein Leib. Nichts in der Welt war so schwarz wie dein
Haar. In der ganzen Welt war nichts so rot
wie dein Mund. Deine Stimme war ein Weihrauchgefäß
und wenn ich dich ansah, hörte ich geheimnisvolle
Musik ...
Ah! Warum hast du mich nicht angesehn, Jochanaan?
Du legtest über deine Augen die Binde eines, der seinen
Gott schauen wollte.
Well, Jokanaan, I still live, but thou, thou art dead, and
thy head belongs to me. I can do with it what I will. I
can throw it to the dogs and to the birds of the air. That
which the dogs leave, the birds of the air shall devour ...
Wohl! Du hast deinen Gott gesehn, Jochanaan, aber
mich, mich, mich hast du nie gesehn. Hättest du mich
gesehn, du hättest mich geliebt! Ich dürste nach deiner
Schönheit. Ich hungre nach deinem Leib. Nicht Wein
noch Äpfel können mein Verlangen stillen ... Was soll ich
jetzt tun, Jochanaan? Nicht die Fluten noch die großen
Wasser können dieses brünstige Begehren löschen ...
Oh! Warum sahst du mich nicht an? Hättest du mich
angesehn, du hättest mich geliebt. Ich weiß es wohl, du
hättest mich geliebt. Und das Geheimnis der Liebe ist
größer als das Geheimnis des Todes ...
Well, thou hast seen thy God, Jokanaan, but me, me,
me, thou didst never see. If thou hadst seen me thou
wouldst have loved me. I am athirst for thy beauty; I
am hungry for thy body. Neither wine nor fruits can
appease my desire ... What shall I do now, Jokanaan?
Neither the floods nor the great waters can quench my
passion ...
Oh! wherefore didst thou not look at me, Jokanaan?
If thou hadst looked at me thou wouldst have loved me.
Well I know that thou wouldst have loved me. And the
mystery of love is greater than the mystery of death ...
(She kisses the mouth of Jokanaan.)
Ah! Ich habe deinen Mund geküßt, Jochanaan.
Ah, ich habe ihn geküßt, deinen Mund.
Es war ein bitterer Geschmack auf deinen Lippen.
Hat es nach Blut geschmeckt? Nein!
Doch es schmeckte vielleicht nach Liebe ...
Sie sagen, daß die Liebe bitter schmecke ...
Allein, was tut’s? Was tut’s?
Ich habe deinen Mund geküßt, Jochanaan.
Ich habe ihn geküßt, deinen Mund.
Ah! I have kissed thy mouth, Jokanaan.
Ah! I have kissed thy mouth.
There was a bitter taste on thy lips.
Was it the taste of blood? No!
But perchance it is the taste of love ...
They say that love hath a bitter taste ...
But what of that? What of that?
I have kissed thy mouth, Jokanaan.
I have kissed thy mouth.
Deutsche Übersetzung des Dramas von Oscar Wilde: Hedwig
Lachmann. © Copyright 1905, 1906 by Hawkes & Son (London)
Ltd. for all countries of the world except Germany, Danzig, Italy,
Portugal and former countries of the U.S.S.R.
© Copyright 1905, 1906 by Adolph Fürstner for Germany, Danzig,
Italy, Portugal and former countries of the U.S.S.R.
Original text and translations reproduced with kind permission
of Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd, London, and Fürstner,
Mainz, for their respective territories.
Translation by Lord Alfred Douglas (first published in 1894)
from Oscar Wilde’s original French, abridged in accordance with
Strauss’s libretto.
Reprinted by courtesy of Decca Music Group Limited.
Ah! Jokanaan, Jokanaan, thou wert beautiful. Thy body
was a column of ivory set on a silver socket. It was
a garden full of doves and of silver lilies. There was
nothing in the world so white as thy body. There was
nothing in the world so black as thy hair. In the whole
world there was nothing so red as thy mouth. Thy
voice was a censer, and when I looked on thee I heard a
strange music ...
Ah! wherefore didst thou not look at me, Jokanaan?
Thou didst put upon thine eyes the covering of him who
would see his God.
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 19
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Birthday Appeal 2012/13
This season the London Philharmonic Orchestra has reached
80 years on the concert platform. We would like you to
consider helping us celebrate by making a donation to our
birthday wish list.
These presents are all items that the Orchestra desperately
needs this season. Alternatively you could make a donation
to be spent on whatever we need the most.
£800
£250
£1,500
Two double bass stools
Three tom-toms
Carmina Burana music hire
Our double bass stools are on their
last legs. Support our musicians by
giving them something new to sit on!
We often have to hire percussion.
Owning our own tom-toms would
make a great birthday present!
Donate towards the score and part
hire for the conductor, Orchestra and
London Philharmonic Choir for the
performance of Orff’s Carmina Burana
on 6 April 2013.
£3,000
£5,000
£5,000
FUNharmonics illustrations
Recording a concert for live stream
New terminal server
Donate to the bespoke illustrations
and animation designed for each
themed FUNharmonics family
concert, to help educate and increase
engagement with our young
audiences.
Help us to increase the Orchestra’s
reach around the world through
donating to the recording of a 2013
concert for live stream and potential
CD release.
The socks option – sounds boring but
we really need it! The terminal server
keeps our staff and backstage team in
touch by providing remote access to
emails and files when the Orchestra
is on tour.
Get involved and visit www.lpo.org.uk/birthday for more information.
Alternatively get in touch via katherine.hattersley@lpo.org.uk or call 020 7840 4212.
20 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
orchestra news
2013/14 season launch
Birthday Appeal update
Our 2013/14 season is now available to browse online at
www.lpo.org.uk/newseason. Booking opens on
Thursday 31 January. To take advantage of priority
booking (from Monday 21 January), become a Friend of
the London Philharmonic Orchestra for as little as £50 a
year. Call Sarah Fletcher on 020 7840 4225 or visit
www.lpo.org.uk/support_us/friends.html
This season marks 80 years since the London
Philharmonic Orchestra took to the stage with its
founder, Sir Thomas Beecham. We have been asking
audience members to help us celebrate this milestone
by donating towards our present wish list as part of our
Birthday Appeal.
Highlights of the new season include:
• A centenary celebration of the music of Benjamin Britten, including Peter Grimes and the War Requiem.
• The Orchestra celebrates The Genius of Film Music, exploring some of the scintillating film scores created between 1960–2000.
• Yannick Nézet-Séguin demonstrates his flair for the French repertoire with Poulenc and Dutilleux.
• Vladimir Jurowski conducts John Adams’s powerful and theatrical Nativity oratorio El Niño.
• Classical guitarist Miloš Karadaglič performs Rodrigo’s evocative Concierto de Aranjuez.
We have had a fantastic and very generous response
and want to say a big thank you to everyone who has
bought us a present so far.
The Birthday Appeal is running until the end of the
season so there’s still time to get involved – see the
opposite page for all the details. We have had lots of
contributions towards the double bass stools and
tom-toms, so if you haven’t had the chance to donate
yet, how about helping us fund a recording for live
streaming, or the animation artwork to bring our family
concerts to life? All gifts are gratefully received by the
Orchestra.
• The world premiere of James MacMillan’s Viola Concerto with soloist Lawrence Power.
www.lpo.org.uk/birthday
Foyle Future Firsts in India
Tour news
In early December a team of eight of our Foyle Future
Firsts travelled to Mumbai at the invitation of Trinity
College London to help celebrate 125 years of Trinity
Exams in India. The musicians worked with the Bombay
Chamber Orchestra, coaching sections and playing in the
Orchestra’s 50th anniversary gala. Other links were
forged by spending time with local instrumental
teachers and visiting schools across Mumbai, performing
for and running workshops with young musicians. They
also spent an illuminating and inspiring morning with
eminent tabla and sitar player, Pandit Nayan Ghosh.
After the Orchestra’s final 2012 Royal Festival Hall
concert on 14 December, we travelled to Madrid and
Germany before returning to London on 23 December
for a well-earned Christmas break. Then last week we
visited the Canary Islands, where we gave concerts
in Tenerife and Gran Canaria. Next on the schedule
is a return to Madrid on 14 February to perform
Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 and Symphony
No. 2 with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and pianist Simon
Trpčeski, ahead of our Royal Festival Hall concert
featuring the same programme the following evening,
Friday 15 February.
The LPO Foyle Future Firsts programme bridges the
transition between college and the professional
platform for up to 16 outstanding young musicians each
year. www.lpo.org.uk/education/futurefirsts.html
Foyle Future Firsts is generously supported by the Foyle Foundation with
additional contributions from The Fidelio Charitable Trust, Musicians
Benevolent Fund and The Tillett Trust.
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 21
Next LPO concerts at Royal Festival Hall
Wednesday 23 January 2013 | 7.30pm
Saturday 9 February 2013 | 7.30pm
Webern Im Sommerwind
Schoenberg Five Orchestral Pieces, Op. 16
Mahler Das Lied von der Erde
Respighi Fountains of Rome
Falla Nights in the Gardens of Spain
Respighi Il tramonto
Ravel Pavane pour une infante défunte
Ravel Rapsodie espagnole
Sir Mark Elder conductor
Lilli Paasikivi mezzo soprano
Paul Groves tenor
Generously supported by Barrie and Emmanuel Roman
6.00–6.45pm FREE pre-concert performance
Royal Festival Hall
The culmination of our New Horizons GCSE composition
project. Students from Greenwich, Lewisham,
Southwark and Lambeth will perform their own
compositions alongside LPO musicians, based on
Schoenberg’s Peripetie.
Enrique Mazzola conductor
Javier Perianes piano
Maria Luigia Borsi soprano
Enrique Mazzola, Javier Perianes & Maria Luigia Borsi
Supported by Sir William Boreman’s Foundation
Saturday 26 January 2013 | 7.30pm
Elgar The Dream of Gerontius
Sir Mark Elder conductor
Sarah Connolly mezzo soprano
Paul Groves tenor
Brindley Sherratt bass
London Philharmonic Choir
Choir of Clare College, Cambridge
Please note there will be no interval.
Friday 1 February 2013 | 7.30pm
JTI Friday Series
Debussy Ibéria (from Images pour orchestre)
Sibelius Violin Concerto
Sibelius Symphony No. 4
Jukka-Pekka Saraste conductor
Henning Kraggerud violin
6.00–6.45pm FREE pre-concert performance
Royal Festival Hall
Musicians from the London Philharmonic Orchestra join
students from London Music Masters’ innovative music
education programme, the Bridge Project, for a musical
celebration.
22 | London Philharmonic Orchestra
Friday 15 February 2013 | 7.30pm
JTI Friday Series
Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3
Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor
Simon Trpčeski piano
In co-operation with the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation
Saturday 16 February 2013 | 7.30pm
Ravel Mother Goose
Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1
Stravinsky The Rite of Spring
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor
Leila Josefowicz violin
The Thomas Beecham Group Concert
Booking details
London Philharmonic Orchestra Ticket Office
020 7840 4242 Monday to Friday 10.00am–5.00pm
lpo.org.uk (no transaction fee)
Southbank Centre Ticket Office (transaction fees
apply) 0844 847 9920 Daily 9.00am–8.00pm
southbankcentre.co.uk
We would like to acknowledge the generous support of the following Thomas Beecham Group Patrons, Principal
Benefactors and Benefactors:
Guy & Utti Whittaker
Manon Williams
David Ellen
Commander Vincent Evans
Mr Daniel Goldstein
Mr & Mrs Jeffrey Herrmann
Peter MacDonald Eggers
Mr & Mrs David Malpas
Andrew T Mills
Mr Maxwell Morrison
Mr Michael Posen
Mr & Mrs Thierry Sciard
Mr John Soderquist & Mr Costas Michaelides
Mr & Mrs G Stein
Mr & Mrs John C Tucker
Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood
Lady Marina Vaizey
Howard & Sheelagh Watson
Mr Laurie Watt
Mr Anthony Yolland
Ken Follett
Pauline & Peter Halliday
Michael & Christine Henry
Mr Ivan Hurry
Mr Glenn Hurstfield
Mr R K Jeha
Mr Gerald Levin
Sheila Ashley Lewis
Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF
Mr Frank Lim
Paul & Brigitta Lock
Mr Brian Marsh
John Montgomery
Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill
Edmund Pirouet
Mr Peter Tausig
Mrs Kazue Turner
Des & Maggie Whitelock
Bill Yoe
Principal Benefactors
Mark & Elizabeth Adams
Jane Attias
Lady Jane Berrill
Desmond & Ruth Cecil
Mr John H Cook
Mr Charles Dumas
Benefactors
Mrs A Beare
Dr & Mrs Alan Carrington CBE FRS
Mr & Mrs Stewart Cohen
Mr Alistair Corbett
Mr David Dennis
Mr David Edgecombe
Mr Richard Fernyhough
Hon. Benefactor
Elliott Bernerd
Thomas Beecham Group
The Tsukanov Family
Anonymous
The Sharp Family
Julian & Gill Simmonds
Garf & Gill Collins
Andrew Davenport
Mrs Sonja Drexler
David & Victoria Graham Fuller
Moya Greene
John & Angela Kessler
Mr & Mrs Makharinsky
Geoff & Meg Mann
Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp
Eric Tomsett
Hon. Life Members
Kenneth Goode
Pehr G Gyllenhammar
Edmund Pirouet
Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE
The generosity of our Sponsors, Corporate Members, supporters and donors is gratefully acknowledged:
Corporate Members
Silver:
AREVA UK
British American Business
Destination Québec – UK
Hermes Fund Managers
Pritchard Englefield
Bronze:
Lisa Bolgar Smith and Felix
Appelbe of Ambrose Appelbe
Appleyard & Trew LLP
Berkeley Law
Charles Russell
Lazard
Leventis Overseas
Corporate Donor
Lombard Street Research
Preferred Partners
Corinthia Hotel London
Heineken
Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd
Villa Maria
In-kind Sponsors
Google Inc
Sela / Tilley’s Sweets
Trusts and Foundations
Addleshaw Goddard Charitable Trust
BBC Performing Arts Fund
The Boltini Trust
Sir William Boreman’s Foundation
The Boshier-Hinton Foundation
Britten-Pears Foundation
The Candide Trust
The Coutts Charitable Trust
Diaphonique, Franco-British fund for
contemporary music
Dunard Fund
The Equitable Charitable Trust
Fidelio Charitable Trust
The Foyle Foundation
J Paul Getty Junior Charitable Trust
The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust
Capital Radio’s Help a London Child
The Hobson Charity
The Kirby Laing Foundation
The Idlewild Trust
The Leverhulme Trust
Marsh Christian Trust
Adam Mickiewicz Institute
The Peter Minet Trust
Paul Morgan Charitable Trust
The Diana and Allan Morgenthau
Charitable Trust
Maxwell Morrison Charitable Trust
Musicians Benevolent Fund
Newcomen Collett Foundation
The Austin & Hope Pilkington Trust
Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation
The Rothschild Foundation
The Samuel Sebba Charitable Trust
The Bernard Sunley Charitable
Foundation
John Thaw Foundation
The Tillett Trust
The Underwood Trust
Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary
Settlement
Kurt Weill Foundation for Music
Garfield Weston Foundation
and others who wish to remain
anonymous
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 23
Administration
Board of Directors
General Administration
Orchestra Personnel
Archives
Victoria Sharp Chairman
Stewart McIlwham* President
Gareth Newman*
Vice-President
Desmond Cecil CMG
Vesselin Gellev*
Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS
Dr Catherine C. Høgel
Martin Höhmann*
Angela Kessler
George Peniston*
Sir Bernard Rix
Kevin Rundell*
Julian Simmonds
Mark Templeton*
Sir Philip Thomas
Natasha Tsukanova
Timothy Walker AM
Laurence Watt
Dr Manon Williams
Timothy Walker AM
Chief Executive and Artistic
Director
Andrew Chenery
Orchestra Personnel Manager
Philip Stuart
Discographer
Sarah Thomas
Librarian (maternity leave)
Gillian Pole
Recordings Archive
Sarah Holmes
Librarian (maternity cover)
Professional Services
* Player-Director
Advisory Council
Victoria Sharp Chairman
Richard Brass
Sir Alan Collins
Jonathan Dawson
Christopher Fraser OBE
Clive Marks OBE FCA
Stewart McIlwham
Lord Sharman of Redlynch OBE
Timothy Walker AM
American Friends of the
London Philharmonic
Orchestra, Inc.
Margot Astrachan Chairman
David E. R. Dangoor
Vice Chair/Treasurer
Kyung-Wha Chung
Peter M. Felix CBE
Alexandra Jupin
Dr. Felisa B. Kaplan
William A. Kerr
Jill Fine Mainelli
Kristina McPhee
Dr. Joseph Mulvehill
Harvey M. Spear, Esq.
Danny Lopez
Honorary Chairman
Noel Kilkenny
Honorary Director
Victoria Sharp
Honorary Director
Richard Gee, Esq Of Counsel
Robert Kuchner, CPA
Alison Atkinson
Digital Projects Manager
Finance
David Burke
General Manager and
Finance Director
Michael Pattison
Stage Manager
Jo Orr
PA to the Chief Executive /
Concerts Assistant
Marketing
Matthew Freeman
Recordings Consultant
Mia Roberts
Marketing Manager
Education & Community
Rachel Williams
Publications Manager
Charles Russell
Solicitors
Crowe Clark Whitehill LLP
Julia Boon
Auditors
Assistant Orchestra Personnel
David Greenslade
Manager
FSC_57678
14 January 2011
15/09/2011 12:30 Page Dr
1 Louise Miller
Finance
and ITLPO
Manager
Honorary Doctor
Ken Graham Trucking
Concert Management
Instrument Transportation
London Philharmonic
Roanna Gibson
Development
Orchestra
Concerts Director
89 Albert Embankment
(maternity leave)
Nick Jackman
London SE1 7TP
Development
Director
Ruth Sansom
Tel: 020 7840 4200
Artistic Administrator / Acting
Fax: 020 7840 4201
Helen Searl
Head of Concerts Department
Box Office: 020 7840 4242
Corporate Relations Manager
lpo.org.uk
Graham Wood
Katherine Hattersley
Concerts and Recordings
Charitable Giving Manager
The London Philharmonic
Manager
Orchestra Limited is a
Melissa Van Emden
registered charity No. 238045.
Barbara Palczynski
Events Manager
Glyndebourne and Projects
Front cover photograph
Laura Luckhurst
Administrator
© Patrick Harrison.
Corporate Relations and
Jenny Chadwick
Events Officer
Tours and Engagements
Printed by Cantate.
Sarah Fletcher
Manager
Development and Finance
Alison Jones
Officer
Concerts Co-ordinator
Patrick Bailey
Education and Community
Director
Alexandra Clarke
Education Manager
Caz Vale
Community and Young Talent
Manager
Richard Mallett
Education and
Community Producer
Kath Trout
Marketing Director
Samantha Kendall
Box Office Manager
(Tel: 020 7840 4242)
Libby Northcote-Green
Marketing Co-ordinator
Isobel King
Intern
Albion Media
Public Relations
(Tel: 020 3077 4930)
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 24