Powerful stuff: Ukrainian composer Boris Lyatoshynsky's dramatic war-inspired symphony alongside marvellous music from Prokofiev's Ukraine-themed opera, Semyon Kotko

Prokofiev: Suite from Semyon Kotko - Vladimir Jurowski, London Philharmonic Orchestra - Royal Festival Hall (Photo: Marc Gascoigne)

Prokofiev, Mussorgsky/Denisov, Lyatoshynsky; Matthew Rose, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Jurowski; London Festival Hall
Reviewed 2 April 2025

Ukrainian composer Boris Lyatoshynsky's magnum opus, his war-inspired symphony at the centre of a powerful programme that also included Prokofiev's marvellous music from his neglected opera Semyon Kotko

As part of the London Philharmonic Orchestra's Moments Remembered series at the Royal Festival Hall, conductor emeritus Vladimir Jurowski conducted a programme centred on Ukrainian composer Boris Lyatoshynsky's Symphony No. 3, a work written in 1951 and coming directly out of the composer's experience of the Second World War. To begin the programme, the Ukrainian theme continued with Prokofiev's suite from his final opera, Semyon Kotko which depicts wartime struggle in a Ukrainian village. Not uncontroversially, between these two, Jurowski placed Mussorgsky's song cycle Songs and Dances of Death in the orchestration by Edison Denisov with bass Matthew Rose.

Mussorgsky/Denisov: Songs & Dances of Death - Vladimir Jurowski, Matthew Rose, London Philharmonic Orchestra - Royal Festival Hall (Photo: Marc Gascoigne)

Semyon Kotko was the first of Prokofiev's two operas written on a Soviet subject and adhering to the tenets of Soviet realism. It was intended to have a first production directed by Prokofiev's friend, Vsevolod Meyerhold, who was at that time the director of the Stanislavsky Opera Theatre. But the whole project seemed in danger when Meyerhold was arrested on 20 June 1939 and disappeared (he was shot in 1940). The production did happen and was respectably received, but the opera was set in a Ukrainian village in 1918 with fighting between the Red Army and the Germans. Semyon Kotko got mired in the Soviet Union's complex relationship with Nazi Germany in 1939 and 1940, and after 1941 the opera was not produced. It only reappeared in 1958 in Brno, entering Russian opera theatres in the 1970s. It is still a rarity, and any UK performances have relied on visiting Russian opera companies.

Prom 23: riveting symphonic theatre from Benjamin Grosvenor, Edward Gardner & London Philharmonic Orchestra in Busoni's Piano Concerto

Busoni: Piano Concerto - Benjamin Grosvenor, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner - BBC Proms (Photo: BBC/Andy Paradise)

Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances, Busoni: Piano Concerto; Benjamin Grosvenor, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner; BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall
Reviewed 5 August 2024

Problem, what problem. Busoni's mammoth Piano Concerto turned into riveting symphonic theatre in what was only the work's second Prom performance after a gap of 36 years!

Ferruccio Busoni's Piano Concerto is such a significant undertaking that the work is rarely part of the regular concert repertoire. What is a surprise, is to find that it has not been a regular part of the BBC Proms repertoire either. On Monday 5 August 2024, Benjamin Grosvenor was the soloist in a performance of Busoni's Piano Concerto at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall with Edward Gardner conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and this was only the second performance of the work at the Proms, a reflection perhaps of the status of Busoni's music in the later 20th century than the work's challenging nature. 

Busoni: Piano Concerto - Benjamin Grosvenor, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner - BBC Proms (Photo: BBC/Andy Paradise)

The programme began with a very different 20th century orchestral icon, Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances, his final major composition and the only work written in its entirety whilst he was living in the USA. But it is a work of intense nostalgia for the lost Russia, with the motifs taken from Russian church music alongside the famous Dies Irae. The work can sometimes come over as a lush romantic romp, but though it uses a large orchestra Gardner kept things on a tight rein here. There was a clarity to the textures allied to a discipline in the rhythm and focus, which mean that the extensive and lavish woodwind writing, often in counterpoint or countermelody to the strings, was always clear and contributed strongly. Gardner brought out the strong character of each movement, rather than the romantic nostalgia.

Forging links: Natalia Ponomarchuk, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Elgar in the Ukraine

Natalia Ponomarchuk (Photo: Yuriy Balan)

On 19 January 2024, Ukrainian conductor Natalia Ponomarchuk is at the helm of the London Philharmonic Orchestra for Family Ties – The Schumanns and The Mendelssohns, a programme at the Royal Festival Hall that includes Clara Schumann's Piano Concerto and Robert Schumann's Introduction and Concert Allegro, both with pianist Alexander Melnikov along with Felix Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony and Fanny Mendelssohn's Overture in C major.

Natalia Ponomarchuk has been chief conductor of the Kyiv Chamber Orchestra since 2018. She escaped Kyiv in March 2022 after the Russian invasion and is now living in London and forging links with the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO). The LPO Artistic Director Elena Dubinets made contact with her via Ukrainian composer Victoria Poleva; Dubinets wanted to help musicians affected by the war. Dubinets has helped her with her paperwork whilst LPO Principal Conductor Ed Gardner put her up in his house.

Ponomarchuk returns to the Ukraine every month for around 10 days to conduct her orchestra there, she has just returned from a longer trip where she had six concerts in Odessa and Kyiv. If the air raid siren goes off, the concert has to be paused and musicians and audience alike have to go into the shelter and wait for the alarm to stop. They cannot have full capacity audiences because not everyone would fit in the shelter. When the siren stops, they return to the stage and continue the concert. There is no difference between audience and performers, they are all having the same experience together during the performance; they all need music to get through the horrible circumstances.

During her next couple of trips she will be giving the Ukrainian premieres of Elgar’s two symphonies. The LPO performed them earlier this year and, at a rehearsal, just happened to speak to Andrew Neill about her dream to bring these Elgar symphonies to her home country. She did not know at the time that he was Chairman of the Elgar Society and could help make this dream a reality.

For Family Ties – The Schumanns and The Mendelssohns, see the LPO website, 

Birdsong, audience participation and a new Composer in Residence: the London Philharmonic Orchestra's new chamber music series at St John's Waterloo

St John's Waterloo

Following two sold-out performances of Gavin Bryars’s Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet earlier in the year at St John's Waterloo, the London Philharmonic Orchestra LPO is continuing its partnership with the venue with a short season of chamber music concerts showcasing members of the LPO. The repertoire will include contemporary works by living composers, as well as arrangements of the likes of Duke Ellington and Stevie Wonder for surprising instrument combinations. The partnership between the LPO and St John's Waterloo also includes joint Education and Community projects, including accessible participatory musical experiences with the local communities that both serve.

The series opens on 17 January 2024 with John Luther Adams' songbirdsongs, a work based on Adams' own observations and studies of bird songs, scoring them for various ensembles of piccolos and ocarinas, and rather than having a fixed score, each musician performs their part from the composer’s instructions.

On 7 February the programme focuses on Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and George Gershwin with songs by Duke Ellington arranged by David Schiff for clarinet and string quartet, Simon Bainbridge’s tribute to Miles Davis, For Miles, and Carl Davis' arrangements of Gershwin for clarinet and strings. There will also be two funk soul songs, by Chaka Khan and Stevie Wonder, arranged for four bassoons.

12 March sees the audience invited to participate, with Alex Ho's Breathe and Draw for sinfonietta, two conductors and audience participation, and Ryan Carter's Concerto Molto Grosso for audience and orchestra, and Ligeti's Poème symphonique for 100 metronomes. Alex Ho is an alumnus of the LPO Young Composers scheme, whilst the concert will be conducted by two LPO Fellow Conductors, Luis Castillo-Briceño and Charlotte Politi. The concert is part of the LPO's The Music in You festival, which celebrates the creativity in everyone, no matter their musical ability or background. 

The final concert in the season, on 22 May, is Streetwise Opera’s Re:Discover festival, celebrating the works of composers of African and Caribbean heritage, and features two works by the LPO’s new Composer-in-Residence, Tania León, plus further works yet to be announced.

Full details from the LPO website.

London Philharmonic Orchestra: Conducting Fellowship returns, & Under 30s scheme launched

The London Philharmonic Orchestra with principal conductor Edward Gardner (Photo Mark Allan)

The London Philharmonic Orchestra's Conducting Fellowship is open for applications for a new season, whilst the orchestra has launched its LPO Under 30s scheme offering seats for less for those under 30.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra has opened applications for its Conducting Fellowship 2024/25. Now in its second year, the fellowship has been specifically created to promote diversity and inclusivity in the classical music industry by developing two outstanding early-career conductors from backgrounds currently under-represented in the profession. 

The inaugural Fellow Conductors, Luis Castillo-Briceño and Charlotte Politi, were selected from around 200 applications from around the world, and are working with the Orchestra during its 2023/24 season. The two successful new applicants will be Fellow Conductors for the 2024/25 season and be guided by the LPO’s Principal Conductor, Edward Gardner. They will become fully immersed in the life of the LPO, working intensively with the Orchestra over a period of 6–8 non-consecutive weeks.

Further information from the LPO's website.

The orchestra also recently launched LPO Under 30s which offers anyone aged 30 and under the chance to experience the magic of live orchestral music from some of the best seats in the house for less. Offers will vary each month but participants will never pay more than £20 per ticket and there is no booking fee for LPO Under 30s. There will also be drinks offers at selected concerts, and behind the scenes peeks, plus a free LPO tote bag when you book your first ticket.

Further information from the LPO's website

London Philharmonic Orchestra's 2023/24 season celebrates 60 years of being resident in Eastbourne

Congress Theatre, Eastbourne

The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) has residencies at Brighton's Dome Theatre, Saffron Hall in Essex and at Eastbourne's Congress Theatre and the 2023/24 season celebrates the orchestra's 60 years as resident orchestra in Eastbourne. The theatre is the largest on the South Coast, the present theatre was built in 1963.

The first concert in Eastbourne was on 23 September 1934, just two years after the orchestra was established, and founder Sir Thomas Beecham conducted a programme of Rossini, Handel, Beethoven, Wagner and Borodin. Since then, the Orchestra has played over 350 concerts, including during the Second World War, performing much loved repertoire with many soloists and conductors soloists and conductors.

The LPO's 2023/24 season in Eastbourne will feature Alessandro Crudele conducting Mendelssohn’s Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto with Chloë Hanslip, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4. Other performers featuring in the season include one of the inaugural LPO Fellow Conductors, Charlotte Politi, conductors Bertie Baigent, Gabriella Teychenné, Kahchun Wong, and Gemma New, LPO’s Principal Clarinet Benjamin Mellefont is the soloist in Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, and other soloists include pianist Samson Tsoy, cellist Laura van der Heijden, violinists Francesca Dego and Randall Goosby.

The LPO is bringing its BrightSparks schools’ concerts to Eastbourne for the first time. These performances are an opportunity for Key Stage 2 children to experience the thrill of hearing a full orchestra, possibly for the first time. The orchestra is also launching LPO Music Makers with two Eastbourne schools, a new project for Key Stage 2 children and teachers inspired by the music and musicians of the LPO. Encouraging a lifelong love of music begins in the classroom and the aims of LPO Music Makers are to build teachers’ confidence teaching music in school, inspire school communities through close-up access to world-class musicians, enable children’s musical skills and knowledge, and support schools in embedding music into their wider culture. 

Full details of the Eastbourne season from the LPO website.

The LPO also has seasons and community activity at Brighton's Dome Theatre, and Saffron Hall.

Elegance and control: Miloš Karadaglić in Rodrigo and David Bruce with Karen Kamensek and London Philharmonic Orchestra

Picasso's designs for The Three-Cornered Hat

Copland: El salon Mexico, Bruce: The Peacock Pavane, Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez, Ortiz: Antrópolis, Falla: The Three-Cornered Hat; Miloš Karadaglić, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Karen Kamensek 
Reviewed 13 January 2023 (★★★★)

Moving between the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America, an engaging programme that went far beyond Rodrigo's classic concerto to a pair of intriguing contemporary pieces

American conductor Karen Kamensek has made something of a name for herself with contemporary music, and the works of Philip Glass in particular (she has conducted his opera Akhnaten at English National Opera and returns for the revival of Phelim McDermott's production at the London Coliseum in March 2023). On Friday 13 January 2023, she joined London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall for a programme that enabled her to show off a wider repertoire. 

Baldly, the programme might have been called 'two Mexican dance halls and two evocations of an Iberian past', as Copland's El Salon Mexico, inspired by a 1920s Mexican dance-hall, was paired with Gabriela Ortiz's Antrópolis, her 2019 tribute to more recent Mexico City dance-halls. Alongside these two, we had the two suites from Falla's The Three-Cornered Hat, his balletic tribute to 19th century Spanish life, and Rodrigo's evocation of an earlier age in the Concierto de Aranjuez with Miloš Karadaglić as the soloist. There was also another recent piece, the premiere of David Bruce's The Peacock Pavane also with Miloš Karadaglić as the soloist.

Edward Gardner & the LPO's Autumn season opened in spectacular fashion with Schoenberg's Gurrelieder; composer Florence Anna Maunders was there

Schoenberg: Gurrelieder - Edward Gardner, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Choir, London Symphony Chorus - Royal Festival Hall (Photo: London Philharmonic Orchestra)

Arnold Schoenberg: Gurrelieder; David Butt Philip, Lise Lindstrom, Karen Cargill, London Philharmonic Choir, London Symphony Chorus, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner; Royal Festival Hall
Reviewed by Florence Anna Maunders, 24 September 2022

A spectacular opening concert for the Autumn season as chief conductor Edward Gardner explored the rich treasures of Schoenberg's iconic late-romantic work

Arnold Schoenburg's colossal Gurrelieder formed the entirety of this spectacular opening concert of the London Philharmonic Orchestra's Autumn season at the Royal Festival Hall – a vastly ambitious cantata which, in addition to one of the largest orchestras required by any piece, calls for five soloists, a speaker, three male voice choirs and a mixed chorus. Here we had chief conductor Edward Gardner directing the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Choir, London Symphony Chorus, David Butt Philip, Lise Lindstrom, Karen Cargill, James Creswell, Robert Murray, and Alex Jennings. With such large forces marshalled, even the large stage of the Royal Festival Hall began to appear rather full – a capacity matched by the audience.

LPO opens applications for its new Conducting Fellowship

London Philharmonic Orchestra

The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) has opened applications for its new Conducting Fellowship, which will develop two early-career conductors from backgrounds currently under-represented in the profession. The scheme is specifically designed to promote diversity and inclusivity in the classical music industry.

The two successful applicants will be Fellows for the 2023/24 season and be guided by the LPO’s principal conductor, Edward Gardner. They will become fully immersed in the life of the LPO, working intensively with the Orchestra over a period of 6-8 non-consecutive weeks. The LPO Conducting Fellowship will include:

• Opportunities to conduct the orchestra in various settings including at LPO residencies, educational programmes, and ensembles of its rising talent programmes
• Assisting opportunities and mentorship sessions with Edward Gardner
• Full immersion into the life of the orchestra, with the aim of forming the basis of a longer-term professional relationship

There will also be the possibility of other assisting opportunities and 1-1 sessions with conductors, feed by from the orchestra's musicians, professional development opportunities and more.

Applications are open until 21 October 2022, full details from the LPO website.

Devastating intensity: Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius at Prom 59

Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius - Edward Gardner, Allan Clayton, London Philharmonic Orchestra - BBC Proms (Photo Chris Chris Christodoulou/BBC)

Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius; Allan Clayton, Jamie Barton, James Platt, London Philharmonic Choir, Hallé Choir, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner; BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall
Reviewed 31 August 2022 (★★★★★)

Perfectly paced with a remarkable intensity, a performance of Elgar's oratorio that blossomed in the space, and with the title role sung devastatingly by Allan Clayton

Elgar's oratorio The Dream of Gerontius seems to be a work made for the Royal Albert Hall. In smaller venues it can seem somewhat constrained and confined, the large-scale choruses unable to blossom. At the BBC Prom on Wednesday 31 August 2022 at the Royal Albert Hall, Edward Gardner conducted the combined forces of the London Philharmonic Choir and the Hallé Choir, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra plus soloists Jamie Barton (mezzo-soprano), Allan Clayton (tenor) and James Platt (bass) in Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius.

Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius - James Platt,Jamie Barton, Edward Gardner, Allan Clayton,
London Philharmonic Choir, Hallé Choir, London Philharmonic Orchestra - BBC Proms (Photo Chris Chris Christodoulou/BBC)

Gardner set out his approach from the very beginning, the prelude was all long controlled lines, perfectly paced and quietly intense. There was something gripping about the way the music flowed, the tenseness of the emotion kept under check but always there. At university I had a friend who swore that performances of the work could be boiled down to two approaches, that of Boult or Barbirolli, and he was convinced that whether the conductor took the text as simply an allegory or as a direct religious statement made a difference. Discuss!

Certainly, there are different ways of approaching The Dream of Gerontius, perhaps we might call them the classical and the romantic, the one shapes the work and allows the emotion to simmer underneath only bubbling up at key points, the other more explicitly and more directly emotional. Gardner veered towards the former, and the emotion in this performance told all the more for being in a finely controlled and shaped background.

Decadence and refinement: Karina Canellakis conducts Scriabin's Poem of Ecstasy with the London Philharmonic Orchestra

London Philharmonic Orchestra, Karina Canellakis at Royal Festival Hall (photo Benjamin Ealovega)

Boulanger, Wagner, Scriabin; London Philharmonic Orchestra, Karina Canellakis; Royal Festival Hall
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 22 January 2022 Star rating: 4.5 (★★★★½)
A short but intense programme that ended with a performance of Scriabin's outrageous outpouring that drew transparent textures and emotional strength from the orchestra

Under the title Poems of Ecstasy the London Philharmonic Orchestra and their principal guest conductor Karina Canellakis planned a programme at the Royal Festival Hall on Saturday 22 January 2022 that moved from Wagner's Prelude & Liebestod (from Tristan und Isolde) to three late Romantic works that took Wagner's ideas and ran with them, in somewhat different directions, Ravel's Concerto for the Left Hand, Lili Boulanger's D'un soir triste and Scriabin's Poem of Ecstasy (Symphony No. 4). In the event, pianist Cedric Tiberghian was ill and could not be replaced so the Ravel concerto was dropped from the programme. I know that we should not measure music-making by the yard, but this very much felt like a failure of imagination, leaving us with a programme of two short halves. In the event the performance of Scriabin's outrageous orchestral outpouring was so terrific that the evening was remarkably satisfying.

The revised concert programme began with Lili Boulanger. Her piece is late, written 1918 (the year of her death) and it exists in three different versions. In orchestral guise there was there was rich sonority and luscious harmony, but there was refinement too. There were intense moments and evocative moments, a real late romantic melange, yet throughout a refined sensibility with Canellakis drawing a fluid transparency form the large orchestra.

Grappling with the unknowable: James MacMillan's remarkable new Christmas Oratorio receives its UK premiere at the Southbank Centre

James MacMillan: Christmas Oratorio - Lucy Crowe, Roderick Williams, London Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir, Sir Mark Elder - Royal Festival Hall (Photo Mark Allan)

James MacMillan Christmas Oratorio; Lucy Crowe, Roderick Williams, London Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir; Sir Mark Elder; Royal Festival Hall
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 4 December 2021 Star rating: 4.0 (★★★★)
James MacMillan's thoughtful and intriguing response to the Christmas narrative finally gets its UK premiere in a superb performance from the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir

James MacMillan's Christmas Oratorio was premiered in Amsterdam in January 2021. A co-commission from the London Philharmonic Orchestra, NTR Zaterdagmatinee, The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the work received its UK premiere at the Southbank Centre on Saturday. Sir Mark Elder conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir in James MacMillan's Christmas Oratorio at the Royal Festival Hall on 4 December 2021 with soloists soprano Lucy Crowe and baritone Roderick Williams.

It is a substantial work, around two hours of music, and though MacMillan restricts his orchestral forces (double woodwind, brass, percussion, harp, celeste) there is a substantial role for the large chorus, as well as two arias a-piece for the soloists. MacMillan's aim was not pure narrative, this was not a work that began at the beginning the way a Passion narrative might, nor was it pure celebration (there wasn't a Christmas carol in sight), though the opening sinfonia was full of dancing rhythms. Instead it seemed an exploration of what the birth of Christ might mean, so there was joy and celebration (those dancing rhythms), mystery and wonder (choral settings of texts such as O Magnum Mysterium), anger and drama (including the Slaughter of the Innocents), narrative and mysticism. The phrase that I kept coming back to was the line from the Gospel according to St John, 'And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us'; MacMillan seemed to be constantly wondering what this might exactly mean, looking at the idea from multiple angles.

James MacMillan: Christmas Oratorio - Lucy Crowe, Roderick Williams, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Mark Elder - Royal Festival Hall (Photo Mark Allan)

Formally, the work has quite a tight structure, two halves, each in seven movements - sinfonia, chorus, aria, tableau, aria, chorus, sinfonia. The choruses are largely liturgical Latin texts, though the chorus also takes a significant role in the two tableaus, the first a narrative of the Nativity, the second covering text from St John's Gospel 'In the beginning was the Word', whilst the arias were moments of contemplation setting 16th and 17th century English texts.

Yet, within this there was a profound restlessness of structure and texture, a mosaic of smaller strong-coloured moments so that the work almost dazzled with its vividness and with MacMillan's willingness to juxtapose vastly different timbres and textures. But, if you are grappling with a subject so immense and unknowable as the Incarnation, such an approach is understandable.

From warm good humour to gripping drama: Haydn and Bartok from London Philharmonic Orchestra and Edward Gardner

Bartok: Bluebeard's Castle - Ildikó Komlósi, Edward Gardner, John Relyea, London Philharmonic Orchestra (Photo Mark Allan)

Haydn Symphony No. 90, Bartok Bluebeard's Castle; Ildikó Komlósi, John Relyea, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner; Royal Festival Hall
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 6 November 2021 Star rating: 4.0 (★★★★)
From the good humour of Haydn's symphony written for Paris to the dark intensity of Bartok's complex vision

The speaker in Béla Balázs's prologue to Béla Bartok's opera Bluebeard's Castle questions whether what we are seeing happens on stage before our eyes or behind our eyelids, in our imagination. There has been a tendency for recent small-scale productions of the opera in London to reinvent the piece dramatically, but there is a lot to be said for simply replying on Bartok, Balázs and our imagination, especially when presented with the full panoply of the London Philharmonic Orchestra filling the stage. Cast-wise, Bluebeard's Castle might seem the perfect pandemic opera, but Bartok's orchestration is anything but.

On Saturday 6 November 2021, Edward Gardner conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall in a programme which paired Haydn's Symphony No. 90 with Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle (A kékszakállú herceg vára), with Ildikó Komlósi and John Relyea. It was thus an evening of contrasts, from openness and blazing sunlight to darkness and secrets, from compact orchestral forces to large scale sonic opulence.

Late romanticism to the fore in Vladimir Jurowski, the London Philharmonic Orchestra & Steven Isserlis' exploration of Walton & Hindemith at the BBC Proms

Vladimir Jurowski (Photo Matthias Creutziger)

Stravinsky, Walton, Bach arr Goldmann, Hindemith; Steven Isserlis, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Jurowski; BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 12 August 2021 Star rating: 5.0 (★★★★★)
The London Philharmonic Orchestra's retiring principal conductor, Vladimir Jurowski, says farewell with a typically imaginative and exploratory programme

Last night's BBC Prom at the Royal Albert Hall (12 August 2021) featured the largest assemblage of orchestral musicians that we had seen in a long time. Some 70 or so musicians from the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) took advantage of the hall's space to gather to bid farewell to Vladimir Jurowski as principal conductor in a concert exploring alternate symphonic pathways through the 20th century repertoire which he has so consistenly championed. The programme was traditionally structured with a concerto and a symphony, but the concerto was William Walton's Cello Concerto with cellist Steven Isserlis, a work which has not made anything like as many Proms appearances as Walton's other concertos, whilst the evening ended with Paul Hindemith's gloriously affirmative Mathis der Mahler Symphony, another work which seems unjustly neglected. Completing the programme was Stravinsky's ballet Jeux de Cartes and Friedrich Goldmann's arrangement of Johann Sebastian Bach 14 Golberg Canons.

We began with Stravinsky's Jeu de Cartes, written in 1935 and 1936 for Georges Balanchine and American Ballet. The ballet is about a game of poker in three hands, the protagonists are the cards and the drama comes from the moves to defeat the evil Joker. A dramatic scheme which links to inspiration from the rise of Nazism and provides intriguing parallels to another ballet (very different) from the same period (both ballets debuted in 1937), Checkmate which Dame Ninette de Valois choreographed to music by Sir Arthur Bliss.

11 premieres, Tippett's The Midsummer Marriage, Lutoslawski's Cello Concerto, and much more: the London Philharmonic Orchestra's 2021-22 season

Edward Gardner is beginning his stint at principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra with what can only be described as a declaration of intent, Tippett's The Midsummer Marriage, a programme of Lili Boulanger, Lutoslawski's Cello Concerto and Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique, and Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle across three concerts at the Royal Festival Hall this Autumn. The start of an action packed 2021/22 season for the orchestra which also includes Karina Canellakis' first full season as principal guest conductor. Brett Dean continues as the orchestra's composer in residence with a number of UK premieres during a season which features 11 premieres in total with music by James MacMillan, Jimmy Lopez, Danny Elfman, Tan Dun, Missy Mazzoli, Rebecca Saunders, Mason Bates, George Walker and Helmut Lachenmann.

Gardner opens the season in September 2021 at the Royal Festival Hall with Tippett's The Midsummer Marriage with Robert Murray and Sophie Bevan as Mark and Jennifer, plus Ashley Riches, Jennifer France, Toby Spence, Susan Bickley and Clive Bayley, then Nicholas Altstaedt is the soloist in Lutoslawski's Cello Concerto, plus Lili Boulanger and Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique, and John Relyea and Ildiko Komlosi star in Bartok's  Bluebeard's Castle. 

He returns in March 2022, for a programme of Judith Weir and Daniel Kidane, plus Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 2 (with Sheku Kanneh-Mason) and Bartok, Bryn Terfel in Brahms' Four Serious Songs, the UK premieres of Missy Mazzoli's River Rouge Transfiguration, Rebecca Saunders to an utterance (with Nicolas Hodges), Mason Bates' Liquid Interface and George Walker's Sinfonia No. 5, Brahms' German Requiem with Christiane Karg and Roderick Williams, the UK premiere of Brett Dean's Cello Concerto (with Alban Gerhardt) plus Britten and RVW's Symphony No. 5, and a celebration of the music of Oliver Knussen. Gardner brings the season to a close in May 2022 with Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde (with Magdalena Kozena and Andrew Staples) and Harrison Birtwistle's Deep Time.

Karina Canellakis' programmes with the orchestra include John Adams, Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F (with Inon Barnatan), Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 (with Stephen Hough), Victoria Borisova-Ollas, Sibelius' Violin Concerto with Christian Tetzlaff, Lili Boulanger, Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand (with Cedric Tiberghian) and Scriabin's Poem of Ecstasy.

Other highlights of the season include Mark Elder conducting the delayed UK premiere of James MacMIllan's Christmas Oratorio with Lucy Crowe and Roderick Williams, Vladimir Jurowski conducts the world premiere of the revised version of Brett Dean's Nottuno Inquieto (Rivisitato) along with Shostakovich (with Leonidas Kavakos) and the UK premiere of Helmut Lachenmann's Marche fatale with Mitsuko Ushida in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4, Hannu Linttu conducts Brett Dean's Viola Concerto (always an interesting prospect as Dean is a viola player himself) with Lawrence Power, Tan Dun conducts the UK premiere of his Buddha Passion, Klaus Makela conducts the world premiere of Jimmy Lopez' Piano Concerto (with Javier Perianes) plus John Adams, Kaija Saariaho and Richard Strauss, and Colin Currie is the soloist in the world premiere of Danny Elfman's Percussion Concerto.

Full details from the London Philharmonic Orchestra's website.

London Philharmonic Orchestra returns to the Royal Festival Hall with a live-streamed Autumn season

The London Philharmonic Orchestra has announced a season of concerts at the Royal Festival Hall which will be filmed by Silent Studios and streamed live, each concert being free for the first seven days (and then available on Marquee TV). The 13-concert series begins on 30 September 2020 when Edward Gardner, principal conductor designate, conducts a programme of Jörg Widmann, Sibelius (orchestrated by Einojuhani Rautavaara) and Beethoven. Each concert will use an orchestra of 60 players, and the programming reflects the orchestra's original plans for its Autumn season.

Ten of the concerts continue the orchestra's Vision 2020 series, juxtaposing pivotal works of the 21st century with those composed a century and two centuries earlier. 

• John Storgårds conducts Julian Anderson's Van Gogh Blue with music by Nielsen and Beethoven, 
• Karina Canellakis's conducts Anna Clyne's Prince of Clouds with music by Richard Strauss and Beethoven
  
• Jukka-Pekka Saraste conducts the UK premiere of Magnus Lindberg's Cello Concerto (with soloist Anssi Karttunen) with music by Sibelius, Ravel and Schubert
  
• Thierry Fischer conducts Thomas Larcher's Ouroboros for cello and orchestra (with soloist Kristina Blaumane) with music by Reger, Schubert and Vivaldi
  
• Hannu Lintu conducts Lotta Wennakoski's Verdigris with music by Penderecki, Sibelius and Schubert
• Thomas Søndergård conduct's Anders Hillborg's Bach Materia with music by Prokofiev and Schubert, and Søndergård also conducts Jonathan Dove's Vadam et circuibo civitatem (for a cappella choir, with the London Philharmonic Choir), and music by Ravel, Prokofiev (with pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk) and Schubert
• Vladimir Jurowski conducts the European premiere of Elena Kats-Chernin's Piano Concerto No. 3 (with soloist Tamara-Anna Cislowska), and Jurowski conducts the UK premiere of Brett Dean's The Players (with soloist, accordionist James Crabb), plus music by Stravinsky and Bach, and Jurowski returns for the final concert of the season with James Macmillan's Sinfonietta alongside Arthur Bliss' Rout, and music by Honegger, Spohr and Vivaldi. 

Other concerts include the pairing of Messiaen's Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum with Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht, and a programme of Beethoven and the Chevalier de Saint-Georges.

 Full details from the orchestra's website.

 

The first woman to conduct the First Night of the Proms, Karina Canellakis, appointed principal guest conductor at the London Philharmonic Orchestra

Karina Canellakis (Photo Chris Christodoulou)

In 2019, the young American conductor Karina Canellakis made history by becoming the first woman to conduct the First Night of the Proms [she conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Janacek, Dvorak and Zosha di Castri, see my review], and now the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) has announced that Canellakis will be its principal guest conductor from September 2020.

Canellakis made her debut with the LPO in October 2018, in Sibelius, Dvorak and Bartok. She won the Sir George Solti Conducting Award in 2016, and is currently chief conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and principal guest conductor of the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin. In fact, she began her career as a violinist, training at the Curtis Institute, then playing n the Berlin Philharmonic as a member of its Orchester-Akademie, playing regularly with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and appearing as guest leader with orchestras like the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. She studied conducting at the Juilliard, and made her professional conducting debut in 2013 with the International Contemporary Ensemble in New York.

Canellakis will conduct four concerts during the London Philharmonic Orchestra's 2020/21 season at the Royal Festival Hall, with repertoire including Beethoven's Symphony No. 8, John Adams' concerto for string quartet, Absolute Jest, Komanov's Fall by Brett Dean (the LPO's composer in residence), Brahms and Beethoven. She will also conduct one of the orchestra's FUNharmonics family concerts.

Full details from the London Philharmonic Orchestra's website.

LPOnline – Connecting through music

Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter was due to perform Beethoven's Harp Quartet with members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra this week, but with the cancellation of performances the four performers, Mutter, Pieter Schoeman (violin), Richard Waters (viola) and Kristina Blaumane (cello), came together digitally to perform part of the work, each recording their own part at home. The result was streamed on the LPO's website last night (Thursday 26 March 2020) as part of a new digital initiative whilst concert halls are dark.

Further newly created live or 'as live' music making from LPO orchestra members, LPO’s Foyle Future Firsts Development Programme and the LPO Junior Artists will be available on-line as part of the new programme. And to mirror the orchestra's planned concert programme, playlists of the repertoire that was to be performed at that time at the Royal Festival Hall will be streamed on the orchestra's website with introductions from conductors and LPO musicians, giving their personal take on the music.

The first of these is Saturday 28 March 2020, when Edward Gardner introduces the first concert of the series. To listen, you will need a Spotify or an IDAGIO account but both of these offer free versions.

Full details from the LPO website.

Out with a bang in 2020/21: Vladimir Jurowski's last season as music director of the London Philharmonic Orchestra

London Philharmonic Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski (Photo Ben Ealovega)

2020/2021 is Vladimir Jurowski's final season as principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra (and that of Esa-Pekka Salonen at the Philarmonia Orchestra) and he is going out with a bang, with two complete Ring Cycles. Edward Gardner, his successor as principal conductor, will also be conducting Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique, John Adams' Harmonium and three premieres. Brett Dean has been announced as the new Composer in Residence.

Vladimir Jurowski and the LPO have been building up to the complete Ring Cycle with individual operas, and he will conduct two complete cycles of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen in January 2021 with Allan Clayton, Ruxandra Donose, Christian Elsner, Burkhard Fritz, Robert Hayward, Torsten Kerl, Lise Lindstrom, Kai Rüütel, James Rutherford, Brindley Sherratt and Derek Welton. Role debuts include Matthew Rose as Wotan in Die Walküre and Brindley Sherratt as Hagen in Götterdämmerung.

As new Composer in Residence, three of Brett Dean's works feature in the new season, The Players with accordionist James Crabb, who gave the world premiere last year, the UK premiere of the Cello Concerto conducted by Edward Gardner (with Sofia Gubaidulina's On Love and Hatred) and Komarov’s Fall, and Brett Dean will also conduct his own Pastoral Symphony in a chamber performance with the musicians from the LPO’s Foyle Future Firsts, a scheme for aspiring orchestral musicians. Dean will also mentor the LPO's Young Composer Programme.

Other new music in the season includes Thomas Larcher’s A Padmore Cycle, written for tenor Mark Padmore, which has only been performed in the UK a handful of times since its first performance in 2011, Krzysztof Penderecki’s Concertino for Trumpet and Orchestra receives only its second performance in the UK despite great international success. Other composers this season include David Bruce, Danny Elfman, Eric Tanguy, and the UK premiere of Alexey Retinsky's De Profundis, a symphonic work that Jurowski selected at an anonymous contest as part of Moscow’s Another Space festival, later conducting the world premiere in 2018

As part of the culmination of the orchestra's 2020 Vision series, Vladimir Jurowski and the orchestra will premiere James MacMillan's Christmas Oratorio, a large-scale choral work commissioned by the LPO, to be performed with soloists soprano Mary Bevan, bass-baritone Christopher Maltman and the London Philharmonic Choir. The series also includes the UK premiere of Magnus Lindberg’s Cello Concerto No. 2, with soloist Anssi Karttunen who gave the world premiere five years ago, the London premiere of Lotta Wennäkoski’s Verdigris, a work written for chamber orchestra in 2015, conducted by Hannu Lintu, Tamara-Anna Cislowska performs the European premiere of Elena Kats-Chernin’s Piano Concerto No. 3, a work she premiered in Brisbane in 2018.

2020 Vision also includes previous LPO commissions, Julian Anderson’s The Discovery of Heaven, which was premiered in 2013 and later recorded by the LPO, and Magnus Lindberg’s Two Episodes which the LPO premiered in 2016.

The orchestra remains resident at Glyndebourne where it has played at the Summer Festival for over 50 years, and has a new residency at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg with four concerts over the 2020/21 season. In addition to residencies in Brighton and Eastbourne, the orchestra is continuing its residency at Saffron Hall which began in the 2019/20 season. Guest conductors and soloists at Saffron Hall include Colin Currie, Alondra de la Parra, Hannu Lintu, Daniele Rustioni, Toby Spence, Bryn Terfel, Simon Trpceski and more. In addition to the concert programme, musicians from the Orchestra will give masterclasses to local students and work on local community projects such as the music and dementia programme ‘Together in Sound’.

LPO Junior Artists, the LPO’s free mentoring programme for talented teenage musicians from backgrounds under-represented in professional UK orchestras, will celebrate its fifth year. Many of its alumni, now in conservatoires, return to support the LPO Junior Artists: Overture scheme for younger students. The Open Sound Ensemble returns for its second year, offering free music-making opportunities for young people with special educational needs and disabilities and their parents/carers. The Orchestra’s two inclusive programmes for adults - OrchLab, for disabled participants, co-delivered with Drake Music, and its partnership with Crisis, the national charity for homeless people – expand next season with new opportunities to perform and showcase their creative work at Royal Festival Hall, and for participants from both projects to work together on combined activity.

Full details from the LPO website.

Puccini premiere: Opera Rara gives the original version of Le Willis a rare outing

Puccini: Le Willis - Brian Mulligan, Arsen Soghomonyan, Ermonela Jaho, Sir Mark Elder & London Philharmonic
(Photo Russell Duncan)

Puccini Le Willis; Ermonela Jaho, Brian Mulligan, Arsen Soghomonyan, Opera Rara Chorus, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Mark Elder; Opera Rara at the Royal Festival Hall Reviewed by Ruth Hansford on 21 November 2018 Star rating: 4.0 (★★★★)
The London premiere of the original version of Puccini's first opera

It is not often we get to hear a London première of a Puccini work. In fact, it even made it to the morning news bulletin (albeit on Radio 3). Puccini’s first opera, the one-act Le Willis of 1883 was, at the request of Ricordi’s publishers, expanded to a full-length opera and re-orchestrated to become Le Villi that has been performed since 1887. Sir Mark Elder conducted Le Willis with Ermonela Jaho, Brian Mulligan, Arsen Soghomonyan, the Opera Rara Chorus and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, in a programme which also included music by Bizet and Verdi, presented by Opera Rara at the Royal Festival Hall on 21 November 2018.

What we heard at the Festival Hall was the first outing of a new critical edition by Martin Deasy of the original version, with orchestration pared down to its earlier iteration, giving us a chance to hear how as an orchestrator and storyteller Puccini arrived on the scene fully formed at the age of 24. He was to improve his writing for the voice as his career developed – and when he found more voice-friendly librettists and allowed himself more time.