2014/15 GREAT PERFORMERS
The Program
Sponsored by BNY Mellon
Wednesday Evening, March 18, 2015, at 8:00
Pre-concert lecture by Michael Beckerman at 6:45 in the
Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse
Symphonic Masters
London Symphony Orchestra
Michael Tilson Thomas, Conductor
Yuja Wang, Piano
BRITTEN Four Sea Interludes, from Peter Grimes (1945)
Dawn: Lento e tranquillo
Sunday Morning: Allegro spiritoso
Moonlight: Andante comodo e rubato
Storm: Presto con fuoco
GERSHWIN Concerto in F (1925)
Allegro
Adagio—Andante con moto
Allegro agitato
Intermission
SIBELIUS Symphony No. 2 in D major (1901–02)
Allegretto
Tempo Andante, ma rubato
Vivacissimo—
Finale: Allegro moderato
Please make certain all your electronic devices are switched off.
BNY Mellon is a Proud Supporter of Great Performers.
These programs are supported by the Leon Levy Fund for Symphonic Masters.
Symphonic Masters is made possible in part by endowment support from UBS.
This performance by the London Symphony Orchestra is supported by City National Bank.
This performance is made possible in part by the Josie Robertson Fund for Lincoln Center.
Steinway Piano
Avery Fisher Hall
Great Performers
BNY Mellon is a Proud Supporter of Great Performers.
Support is provided by Rita E. and Gustave M. Hauser, The Florence Gould Foundation,
Audrey Love Charitable Foundation, Great Performers Circle, Chairman’s Council, and
Friends of Lincoln Center.
Public support is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts.
Endowment support for Symphonic Masters is provided by the Leon Levy Fund.
Endowment support is also provided by UBS.
MetLife is the National Sponsor of Lincoln Center.
Movado is a Supporter of Lincoln Center.
United Airlines is a Supporter of Lincoln Center.
WABC-TV is a Supporter of Lincoln Center.
William Hill Estate Winery is a Supporter of Lincoln Center.
The London Symphony Orchestra’s 2015 U.S. tour is generously supported by City National
Bank, Mr. Neil and Dr. Kira Flanzraich, Bruce and Suzie Kovner, Sir Michael Moritz KBE and
Harriet Heyman, Michael Tilson Thomas and Joshua Robison, and those who wish to
remain anonymous.
The orchestra would also like to extend thanks to those who support the wider work of the
LSO through the American LSO Foundation: Jane Attias, Mercedes T. Bass, Francesca &
Christopher Beale, David Chavolla, Barbara G. Fleischman, The Reidler Foundation, Elena
Sardarova, Daniel Schwartz, and Mrs. Ernest H. Seelhorst.
UPCOMING GREAT PERFORMERS EVENT:
For information about the 2015–16 Symphonic Masters series, please visit
LCGreatPerformers.org.
Thursday Evening, April 23, 2015 at 7:30, in Alice Tully Hall
Les Arts Florissants
Le Jardin des Voix
William Christie, Conductor
Works by HANDEL, HAYDN, VIVALDI, STRADELLA, CIMAROSA, and others
For tickets, call (212) 721-6500 or visit LCGreatPerformers.org. Call the Lincoln Center Info
Request Line at (212) 875-5766 to learn about program cancellations or to request a Great
Performers brochure.
Visit LCGreatPerformers.org for more information relating to this season’s programs.
Join the conversation: #LCGreatPerfs
We would like to remind you that the sound of coughing and rustling paper might
distract the performers and your fellow audience members.
In consideration of the performing artists and members of the audience, those who must
leave before the end of the performance are asked to do so between pieces. The taking
of photographs and the use of recording equipment are not allowed in the building.
Snapshot
Great Performers
By Don Anderson
Timeframe
The 40-plus years that separated the earliest
and most recent pieces on this program witnessed tumultuous changes in music and the
world at large. A revolution in Russia and two
world wars scarred landscapes, personal and
political alike, more profoundly than ever
before. Music witnessed the often immense
(though not always enduring) impact of
numerous competing schools: the traditionoriented style of Sibelius, Britten, and
Vaughan Williams; the cheeky anti-establishment approach of France’s Les Six (Poulenc,
Milhaud); the tart, lean neo-classicism of
Stravinsky and Co.; the jazz or folk-flavored
creations of Americans such as Gershwin
and Copland; the dramatic “iron and steel”
works of Soviet composers like Shostakovich
and Prokofiev; and what were, for many listeners, the emotionally austere works created using the atonal and serial methods that
Schoenberg originated and his many followers practiced. It is an outstandingly rich and
remarkably diverse repertoire to draw upon,
and the dynamic, first-class selections that
will be performed this evening represent
some of its finest bounty.
ARTS
1902
Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2
Joseph Conrad’s Heart of
Darkness is published.
1925
Gershwin’s Concerto in F
The Paris Exposition
introduces Art Deco.
1945
Britten’s Four Sea Interludes
Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead
Revisited is published.
SCIENCE
1902
The hormone secretin is
discovered.
1925
The element rhenium is
discovered.
1945
Ralph Teetor patents cruise
control.
—Copyright © 2015 by Lincoln Center for the
Performing Arts, Inc.
IN NEW YORK
1902
First electric trains run over
Second Avenue.
1925
U.S. physicist Albert
Abraham Michelson
measures the speed of light.
1945
The United Nations is
established.
Notes on the Program
Great Performers I Notes on the Program
By Don Anderson
Four Sea Interludes, from Peter Grimes, Op. 33a (1945)
BENJAMIN BRITTEN
Born November 22, 1913, in Lowestoft, England
Died December 4, 1976, in Aldeburgh, England
Approximate length: 17 minutes
In 1941 a magazine article about English poet George Crabbe caught
Britten’s attention. He sought out The Borough, Crabbe’s collection of
poems about life in the fishing villages of Suffolk county on England’s east
coast. It inspired Britten, a native of that region, to use the section about
the doomed Peter Grimes as the basis for his first grand opera. The premiere in London on June 7, 1945, was a sensational success, one that
launched a revival in English opera.
Grimes is a gruff fisherman whom the Borough’s townspeople distrust for
his individuality and reclusiveness. They also suspect him of murdering his
young apprentices. He dreams of a better life with Ellen, the widowed
schoolmistress, but a tightening web of circumstances drives him to lose
his mind and commit suicide.
The orchestra plays a pivotal role in the opera, nowhere more crucially than
in the interludes—brief impressionist tone poems portraying the moods of
the sea—that introduce and bridge the scenes. Britten edited and resequenced four of them into this concert work. He conducted the London
Philharmonic Orchestra in the first performance, just six days after the full
opera’s debut.
Dawn, the first interlude, separates the Prologue from Act One. Through
simple but effective themes and gestures, it shows the sea basically at
peace with itself, yet still harboring the promise of disturbing events to
come. Sunday Morning is the prelude to Act Two. Here the mood is boisterous, with horns boldly imitating the sound of church bells as the sun’s
rays sparkle upon the rippling waves. The gentle interlude Moonlight introduces Act Three. It shows the town and harbor lying tranquil during a
warm summer night. Storm separates the two scenes of Act One. Grimes
has just decided to turn his back on his true element, the sea, in exchange
for Ellen’s love. The sea reacts in brutal, graphically scored protest.
Great Performers I Notes on the Program
Concerto in F (1925)
GEORGE GERSHWIN
Born September 26, 1898, in Brooklyn, New York
Died July 11, 1937, in Hollywood, California
Approximate length: 25 minutes
In 1924 Walter Damrosch, conductor of the New York Symphony Orchestra,
attended the concert at which Gershwin’s jazz-flavored Rhapsody in Blue for
piano and orchestra premiered. Impressed by its unprecedented amalgamation of popular and classical styles, he commissioned Gershwin to compose a
full-scale piano concerto. “Many persons had thought that my rhapsody was
only a happy accident,” Gershwin wrote. “Well I went out, for one thing, to
show them that there was plenty more where that came from. I made up my
mind to do a piece of ‘absolute’ music. The rhapsody, as its title implied, was
a blues impression. The concerto would be unrelated to any program.” Due to
Gershwin’s inexperience at writing for orchestra, Ferde Grofé had orchestrated Rhapsody in Blue. Gershwin orchestrated the concerto himself—and
with great skill.
The first performance took place in Carnegie Hall on December 3, 1925. The
audience applauded the concerto and its composer/performer, but the critics
were more reserved in their judgment. They found the concerto less convincing than the rhapsody on several
Did you know?
fronts, including novelty and length.
Listeners have never stopped caring
Gershwin settled in Los Angeles
for it, however, making it the most freafter he shifted his focus from
quently played concerto by any
Broadway shows to Hollywood
American composer.
film musicals. There he forged
For the premiere, Gershwin wrote the
following description:
a bond with Arnold Schoenberg
after the two met at the home
of Schoenberg’s neighbor,
Shirley Temple.
The first movement employs the
Charleston rhythm. It is quick and
pulsating, representing the young, enthusiastic spirit of American life. It
begins with a rhythmic motive given out by the kettledrums, supported by
the other percussion instruments, and with a Charleston motive introduced
by bassoons, horns, clarinets, and violas. The principal theme is announced
by the bassoon. Later, a second theme is introduced by the piano. The
second movement has a poetic, nocturnal atmosphere which has come to
be referred to as the American blues, but in a purer form than that in which
they are usually treated. The final movement reverts to the style of the
first. It is an orgy of rhythms, starting violently and keeping the same
pace throughout.
Great Performers I Notes on the Program
Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43 (1901–02)
JEAN SIBELIUS
Born December 8, 1865, in Hämeenlinna, Finland
Died September 20, 1957, in Järvenpää, Finland
Approximate length: 45 minutes
With his Second Symphony, Sibelius began to speak his own, personal symphonic language. The music retains the richness of thought and spirit displayed in Symphony No. 1 (1899), yet it is significantly tauter in form, more
focused in expression, and less reminiscent of Tchaikovsky and Bruckner.
He began to sketch it during a stay in Italy during the early months of 1901.
The sunshine and easygoing lifestyle helped revitalize his blocked creative
muse. Initially he felt that the ideas that came to him might be suitable for a
set of tone poems or a four-movement symphonic fantasy, inspired by either
the Don Juan legend or Dante’s Divine Comedy. Sibelius eventually decided
that a full, non-programmatic symphony would suit them best. He completed
the work in essence after his return to Finland that autumn, although he continued to revise it right up to the premiere. He conducted the first performance himself, in Helsinki on March 8, 1902.
Finnish audiences embraced it rapturously, but some time passed before it
found acceptance in other lands. Many commentators saw in it a fiercely patriotic composer’s defiant gesture toward his country’s repressive Russian occupiers. Sibelius firmly denied all concrete outside inspirations. He regarded the
symphony as too universal in content to be saddled with specific associations.
The majestic themes and heroic spirit have made it the most popular of his
seven symphonies.
Sibelius ingeniously cast the first movement in the form of an arch, the virtually identical pastoral opening and closing sections book-ending a dramatic,
highly eventful central panel. A restless slow movement follows, its few
moments of genuine calm repeatedly interrupted by forceful outbursts.
Sibelius here displayed his mastery of effective writing for brass and timpani.
The third movement, a scherzo, opens with scurrying energy, then relaxes for
the solo oboe to sing one of Sibelius’s most fetching lyrical melodies. Scherzo
and trio are both repeated, the latter gradually forming a bridge to the bold,
uplifting Finale. The second subject of this concluding section is a prayerful
lament that rises to heights of tragic eloquence. It was subsequently revealed
that Sibelius took inspiration for it from the death by suicide of his sister-in-law.
The music reestablishes its sense of optimism, leading to a triumphant coda.
Don Anderson is an internationally recognized advocate of classical music. He has
more than 35 years’ experience celebrating it through print, radio, and teaching.
—Copyright © 2015 by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc.
CHRIS WAHLBERG
Meet the Artists
Great Performers I Meet the Artists
Michael Tilson Thomas
Michael Tilson Thomas is music director of the San Francisco Symphony,
founder and artistic director of the New World Symphony, and principal
guest conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. Born in Los Angeles,
he is the third generation of his family to follow an artistic career.
At the age of 19 Mr. Tilson Thomas was named music director of the
Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra, where he worked with
Stravinsky, Boulez, Stockhausen, and Copland on premieres of their compositions. During this same period he was the pianist and conductor for
Gregor Piatigorsky and Jascha Heifetz. In 1969, after winning the
Koussevitzky Prize at Tanglewood, he was appointed assistant conductor
of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He was later appointed principal
guest conductor of the BSO, where he remained until 1974.
During the 2014–15 season Mr. Tilson Thomas marks his 70th birthday
with a European tour with the San Francisco Symphony, a West Coast tour
of the U.S. with the London Symphony Orchestra, appearances at
Carnegie Hall and in Washington, D.C., with the New World Symphony,
and concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic.
Mr. Tilson Thomas is a Chevalier dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres of
France, was Musical America’s Musician of the Year and Conductor of
the Year, was Gramophone magazine’s Artist of the Year, and has been
profiled on 60 Minutes and Nightline. He has won 11 Grammy Awards
for his recordings. In 2008 he received the Peabody Award for his radio
series The MTT Files. In 2010, President Obama awarded Mr. Tilson
Thomas the National Medal of Arts, the highest award given to artists by
the United States.
Great Performers I Meet the Artists
WANG XIAOJING
Yuja Wang
Yuja Wang is widely recognized as
one of the most important artists of
her generation. She has performed
with many of the world’s prestigious
orchestras, including those of
Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los
Angeles, New York, Philadelphia,
San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.
Abroad she has appeared with the
Berlin State Opera Orchestra,
Orchestre de Paris, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the China and
Israel Philharmonic Orchestras, and
the London, Simón Bolívar, and NHK symphony orchestras, among others.
Conductors with whom she has collaborated include Claudio Abbado, Daniel
Barenboim, Gustavo Dudamel, Charles Dutoit, Valery Gergiev, Lorin Maazel,
Zubin Mehta, Kurt Masur, Antonio Pappano, and Michael Tilson Thomas. Ms.
Wang regularly gives recitals throughout Asia, Europe, and North America, and
appears at summer chamber music festivals.
This season Ms. Wang is artist-in-residence with the Zurich Tonhalle
Orchestra, appearing with Lionel Bringuier for two weeks and with Dudamel
for one. She will also be featured in a two-week residency with the Hong Kong
Philharmonic Orchestra. Ms. Wang performs Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 2 with
both the Berlin and Munich Philharmonics, and returns to the Concertgebouw
to work with Mariss Jansons.
An exclusive recording artist for Deutsche Grammophon, Ms. Wang’s catalogue includes three sonata recordings, a concerto recording with Abbado and
the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and a disc of Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff
with Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra. Most recently
Ms. Wang recorded the Brahms violin sonatas with Leonidas Kavakos for
Decca Records.
A Steinway Artist, Ms. Wang studied at the Central Conservatory of Music in
Beijing with Ling Yuan and Zhou Guangren, the Conservatory at Mount Royal
University in Calgary, and the Curtis Institute of Music with Gary Graffman. In
2010 she received the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is widely regarded as one of the world’s
leading orchestras. It has an enviable family of artists, including principal
Great Performers I Meet the Artists
conductor Valery Gergiev and principal guest conductors Michael Tilson Thomas
and Daniel Harding, and long-standing relationships with leading musicians such
as Yuja Wang, Leonidas Kavakos, Anne-Sophie Mutter, and Mitsuko Uchida.
The LSO is proud to be the resident orchestra at the Barbican, where it performs around 70 concerts a year. The orchestra also enjoys successful residencies in New York, Paris, and Tokyo. Regular tour destinations include the
Far East, North America, and all the major European cities. Late last year the
orchestra toured to Australia for the first time in more than 30 years, and this
evening’s performance forms part of an extensive tour of the U.S. with Tilson
Thomas, who is celebrating his 70th birthday this year.
The LSO is distinguished by the depth of its commitment to music education, reaching over 60,000 people each year. LSO Discovery enables the
orchestra to offer people of all ages opportunities to get involved in musicmaking. LSO On Track, a project involving young musicians from across
London, has given a platform to talented teenagers to appear in London’s
Olympic Stadium, at outdoor concerts in Trafalgar Square, and also on Abbey
Road recordings side-by-side with LSO musicians.
The orchestra is a world leader in recording music for CD, film, and events.
Its LSO Live label celebrated its 100th release last year. The LSO has also
recorded music for hundreds of films, including Philomena, The Monuments
Men, four of the Harry Potter films, and all six Star Wars movies.
Lincoln Center’s Great Performers
Initiated in 1965, Lincoln Center’s Great Performers series offers classical
and contemporary music performances from the world’s outstanding symphony orchestras, vocalists, chamber ensembles, and recitalists. One of the
most significant music presentation series in the world, Great Performers
runs from October through June with offerings in Lincoln Center’s Avery
Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Walter Reade Theater, and other performance
spaces around New York City. From symphonic masterworks, lieder recitals,
and Sunday morning coffee concerts to films and groundbreaking productions specially commissioned by Lincoln Center, Great Performers offers a
rich spectrum of programming throughout the season.
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc.
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) serves three primary roles:
presenter of artistic programming, national leader in arts and education and
community relations, and manager of the Lincoln Center campus. A presenter of more than 3,000 free and ticketed events, performances, tours, and
Great Performers
educational activities annually, LCPA offers 15 programs, series, and festivals
including American Songbook, Great Performers, Lincoln Center Festival,
Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Midsummer Night Swing, the Mostly Mozart
Festival, and the White Light Festival, as well as the Emmy Award–winning
Live From Lincoln Center, which airs nationally on PBS. As manager of the
Lincoln Center campus, LCPA provides support and services for the Lincoln
Center complex and the 11 resident organizations. In addition, LCPA led a $1.2
billion campus renovation, completed in October 2012.
Lincoln Center Programming Department
Jane Moss, Ehrenkranz Artistic Director
Hanako Yamaguchi, Director, Music Programming
Jon Nakagawa, Director, Contemporary Programming
Jill Sternheimer, Acting Director, Public Programming
Lisa Takemoto, Production Manager
Charles Cermele, Producer, Contemporary Programming
Kate Monaghan, Associate Director, Programming
Claudia Norman, Producer, Public Programming
Mauricio Lomelin, Associate Producer, Contemporary Programming
Julia Lin, Associate Producer
Nicole Cotton, Production Coordinator
Regina Grande, Assistant to the Artistic Director
Luna Shyr, Programming Publications Editor
Olivia Fortunato, House Seat Coordinator
Ms. Wang’s representation:
Fidelio Arts
www.fidelioarts.com
ALBERTO VENZAGO
Great Performers I Meet the Artists
London Symphony Orchestra
Valery Gergiev, Principal Conductor
Daniel Harding, Michael Tilson Thomas, Principal Guest Conductors
André Previn, KBE, Conductor Laureate
Simon Halsey, Choral Director
Violin I
Roman Simovic,
Leader
Carmine Lauri
Lennox Mackenzie
Clare Duckworth
Nigel Broadbent
Ginette Decuyper
Gerald Gregory
Jörg Hammann
Maxine Kwok-Adams
Claire Parfitt
Laurent Quenelle
Colin Renwick
Ian Rhodes
Sylvain Vasseur
Rhys Watkins
David Worswick
Violin II
David Alberman
Thomas Norris
Miya Vaisanen
David Ballesteros
Richard Blayden
Matthew Gardner
Julian Gil Rodriguez
Naoko Keatley
Belinda McFarlane
William Melvin
Iwona Muszynska
Philip Nolte
Harriet Rayfield
Louise Shackelton
Viola
Paul Silverthorne
Malcolm Johnston
German Clavijo
Anna Green
Julia O’Riordan
Robert Turner
Edward Vandespar
Heather Wallington
Philip Hall
Cian O’Duill
Caroline O’Neill
Alistair Scahill
Cello
Rebecca Gilliver
Minat Lyons
Alastair Blayden
Jennifer Brown
Noel Bradshaw
Eve-Marie
Caravassilis
Daniel Gardner
Hilary Jones
Amanda Truelove
Mary Bergin
Bass
Joel Quarrington
Colin Paris
Nicholas Worters
Patrick Laurence
Matthew Gibson
Thomas Goodman
Joe Melvin
Jani Pensola
Flute
Gareth Davies
Adam Walker
Alex Jakeman
Sharon Williams,
Piccolo
Oboe
John Roberts
Michael O’Donnell
Leila Ward,
English Horn
Clarinet
Andrew Marriner
Chris Richards
Chi-Yu Mo
Lorenzo Iosco,
Bass Clarinet
Chi-Yu Mo,
E-flat Clarinet
Bassoon
Rachel Gough
Daniel Jemison
Joost Bosdijk
Dominic Morgan,
Contrabassoon
Horn
Timothy Jones
Stephen Stirling
Angela Barnes
Benjamin Jacks
Jonathan Lipton
London Symphony Orchestra Administration
Kathryn McDowell, Managing Director
Sue Mallet, Director of Planning
Frankie Hutchinson, Tours and Projects Manager
Jemma Bogan, Orchestra Personnel Manager
Iryna Goode, Senior Librarian
Alan Goode, Stage and Transport Manager
Dan Gobey, Stage Manager
Trumpet
Philip Cobb
Alan Thomas
Gerald Ruddock
Daniel Newell
Trombone
Dudley Bright
Peter Moore
James Maynard
Paul Milner,
Bass Trombone
Tuba
Patrick Harrild
Timpani
Nigel Thomas
Antoine Bedewi
Percussion
Neil Percy
David Jackson
Sam Walton
Antoine Bedewi
Jeremy Cornes
Harp
Bryn Lewis
Piano/Celesta
John Alley