Marin Alsop - London Symphony Orchestra

Marin Alsop © Grant Leighton
London Symphony Orchestra
Living Music
Resident at the Barbican
Tomo Keller leader
Sunday 5 December 2010 7.30pm
Barbican Hall
Beethoven orch Mahler Overture: Leonore No 3
Mahler (Alma) arr Colin & David Matthews Seven Lieder
INTERVAL
Beethoven orch Mahler Symphony No 7
Marin Alsop conductor
Sarah Connolly mezzo-soprano
Concert ends approx 9.15pm
Supported by LSO Friends
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Welcome News
Welcome to the LSO’s first concert of December where we welcome
conductor Marin Alsop and mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly.
Tonight’s programme – Mahler’s orchestrations of Beethoven works,
alongside songs by Mahler’s wife Alma – was conceived by Marin
Alsop, and is typically thought-provoking. Turn to page 10 to read her
article on Mahler’s ‘retuschens’ (retouchings), which explains how, as
listeners we might gain fresh insight into Beethoven’s works by seeing
them through Mahler’s eyes.
Sarah Connolly will be singing Alma Mahler’s Seven Lieder arranged
by longstanding friends of the LSO, Colin and David Matthews.
Although Alma composed many songs, her husband was unhappy
with the idea of his wife working in such a way, and initially insisted
that she stop. Only later did he recognise the quality of her songs and
sought to have them published.
Tonight’s concert is supported by LSO Friends. On behalf of everyone
at the LSO, I would like to take this opportunity to thank them; their
support and loyalty is invaluable. If you are interested in becoming an
LSO Friend, contact Friends Co-ordinator Sophie Barnes on 020 7382
2506, or visit the LSO Friends Desk on Level -1 during the interval.
Kathryn McDowell
LSO Managing Director
Two weeks in Japan with Valery Gergiev
The last two weeks have seen the Orchestra touch down in Japan,
performing in Osaka, Tokyo, Omiya, Niigata and Chiba, to name but a
few places. Our resident wordsmith and Principal Flute Gareth Davies
has been blogging about all the goings-on; why not have a read via
the address below? You can also view a great selection of tour photos
on our Facebook page – check it out to see what the players have
been getting up to, on and off duty (sampling local cuisine seems to
be a recurring theme!)
lsoontour.wordpress.com
facebook.com/londonsymphonyorchestra
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2 Welcome & News
Kathryn McDowell © Camilla Panufnik

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) orch Gustav Mahler (1860–1911)
Overture: Leonore No 3 (1814)
Beethoven’s only opera Fidelio took ten years to reach its final state.
In its first two versions, which were staged in 1805 and 1806, it was
called Leonore; the overture known as Leonore No 2 was played
at the 1805 production in Vienna, and an expanded and enhanced
revision, Leonore No 3, in 1806 (confusingly, the overture Leonore No 1
was written later, probably for a production in Prague that never took
place). Beethoven was not satisfied with either of these versions and
in 1814 made an extensive revision, which was performed with a new
title, Fidelio, and with a new overture, which is the one played with the
opera today.
The second and third Leonore overtures share the same musical
material and, like many operatic overtures, offer a resumé of the plot.
Leonore No 3 begins in the darkness of the dungeon in which the
hero Florestan has been unjustly imprisoned; the main allegro reflects
his aspirations for political justice and his love for his wife, Leonore.
An offstage trumpet, sounding twice, presages his release, and the
overture ends in rejoicing. Beethoven, deciding that he had given too
much away, first wrote Leonore No 1, which has a looser connection
with the opera, and finally in Fidelio, a completely independent piece
which, however, leads smoothly into the first scene.
Because Leonore No 3 contains such magnificent music, some
conductors, including Mahler, have played it between the two scenes
of Act 2, but this reduces the effect of the final scene and is hardly
ever done nowadays. Mahler also made revisions to the score of
Leonore No 3, his common practice with Beethoven and with other
composers he conducted, doubling the size of the woodwind from
eight to sixteen to balance the strings, making many changes to the
dynamics and some adjustments to the scoring.
All programme notes © David Matthews
David Matthews is a composer and writer. Among his many
orchestral and chamber works are seven symphonies and twelve
string quartets. His Seventh Symphony was premiered earlier
this year by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also written
studies of Benjamin Britten and Michael Tippett, and numerous
articles on contemporary music.
London Symphony Orchestra
‘He can unleash greater musical
power with an elegant flick of
the baton than most conductors
muster with flailing arms’ The Times
Sir Colin Davis’s Beethoven in 2011
13 Mar Symphony No 7 & Piano Concerto No 3
20 Mar Symphony No 6 (‘Pastoral’)
with Mitsuko Uchida
26 May Piano Concerto No 2
2 Jun Piano Concerto No 1
2 & 4 Oct Piano Concerto No 3
4 & 6 Dec Piano Concerto No 4
11 & 13 Dec Piano Concerto No 5
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Programme Notes
3

Alma Mahler (1879–1964) orch Colin & David Matthews
Seven Lieder (1901–11)
1 Die stille Stadt (The silent city)
2 Laue Sommernacht (Balmy summer night)
3 Licht in der Nacht (Light in the night)
4 Waldseligkeit (Bliss in the woods)
5 In meines Vaters Garten (In my father’s garden)
6 Bei dir ist es traut (I am at ease with you)
7 Erntelied (Harvest song)
Sarah Connolly mezzo-soprano
Alma Schindler, daughter of a notable landscape painter and brought
up in a bohemian milieu, studied the piano from an early age and at
14 began lessons in composition with the blind composer and organist
Josef Labor. When she was 20 she met Alexander von Zemlinsky, who
had taught Schoenberg and was now a successful young composer.
He took her as a composition pupil, and they fell in love: the affair was
about to be consummated when Alma met Gustav Mahler and was
caught up in his immediate wish to make her his wife. In a notorious
letter soon after they were engaged he insisted that she would have
to give up any ambition of being a composer: ‘From now on, would
you be able to regard my music as if it were your own? … A husband
and wife who are both composers: how do you envisage that? Such
a strange relationship between rivals: do you have any idea how
ridiculous it would appear … if we are to be happy together, you will
have to be ‘as I need you’ – not my colleague, but my wife!’
Alma reluctantly complied. But in 1910, when Mahler discovered that
his wife had begun an affair with the architect Walter Gropius, he was
suddenly full of remorse that he had forbidden her to compose. He
insisted that she revise her songs, helped her with the revisions, and
had five songs published by Universal Edition, his own publisher. It
was too late for Alma, who had lost the will to be a composer: in the
remaining 54 years of her life she wrote only a few more songs.
All of Alma Mahler’s music, in fact, consists of songs with piano:
17 survive, but she implies that there were many more; it is not
clear what happened to the others, though we know that some of
her manuscripts were lost in the war. All her songs are settings of
4 Programme Notes
contemporary poets, in a turn-of-the-century style that recalls her
teacher Zemlinsky; all have strong melodic lines and affecting late-
Romantic harmony. They reflect the spirited, ardent young woman that
we encounter in her diaries. In 1995, my brother Colin and I arranged
seven of her songs for orchestra, four from the 1910 volume and
three from a second volume published in 1915. Colin orchestrated the
two longest songs, In meines Vaters Garten and Erntelied, and I the
remaining five. We tried to find an orchestral style that we believed
Alma would have used had she been able to orchestrate them herself,
one quite different from her husband’s, whose music when she first
heard it she thought rather old-fashioned.
INTERVAL: 20 minutes
Enjoyed Sarah’s singing?
Book now to hear her perform in Elgar’s thrilling oratorio The Kingdom
under the baton of guest conductor and Elgar champion, Sir Mark Elder.
Sun 30 Jan 7.30pm
Elgar The Kingdom
Sir Mark Elder conductor
Cheryl Barker soprano
Sarah Connolly mezzo-soprano
Stuart Skelton tenor
Iain Paterson bass
London Symphony Chorus
‘I love the idea of taking
[people] to places they’ve
never been to before,
musically’
Sir Mark Elder
Tickets start from just £8 – call the
Box Office on 020 7638 8891
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Alma Mahler
Seven Lieder – Song Texts
1 Die stille Stadt
Liegt eine Stadt im Tale,
Ein blasser Tag vergeht.
Es wird nicht lange dauern mehr,
Bis weder Mond noch Sterne
Nur Nacht am Himmel steht.
Von allen Bergen drücken
Nebel auf die Stadt,
Es dringt kein Dach, nicht Hof noch Haus,
Kein Laut aus ihrem Rauch heraus,
Kaum Türme noch und Brücken.
Doch als dem Wandrer graute,
Da ging ein Lichtlein auf im Grund
Und durch den Rauch und Nebel
Begann ein leiser Lobgesang
Aus Kindermund.
2 Laue Sommernacht
Laue Sommernacht: am Himmel
Stand kein Stern, im weiten Walde
Suchten wir uns tief im Dunkel,
Und wir fanden uns.
Fanden uns im weiten Walde
In der Nacht, der sternenlosen,
Hielten staunend uns im Arme
In der dunklen Nacht.
War nicht unser ganzes Leben
So ein Tappen, so ein Suchen?
Da: In seine Finsternisse
Liebe, fiel Dein Licht.
3 Licht in der Nacht
Ringsum dunkle Nacht, hüllt in Schwarz mich ein,
zage flimmert gelb fern her ein Stern!
Ist mir wie ein Trost, eine Stimme still,
die dein Herz aufruft, das verzagen will.
1 The silent city
A town lies in the valley;
A pale day fades.
It will not be long
Before neither moon nor stars
But only night shall rule the heavens.
From all the mountaintops
Mists descend upon the town;
No roof nor yard nor house
Nor sound can pierce the smoke,
Not even a tower or a bridge.
But as the traveller felt fear
A tiny light shone below,
And through smoke and mist
A soft song of praise began
From the mouth of a child.
2 Balmy summer night
Balmy summer night, in Heaven
there are no stars, in the wide forests
we searched ourselves deep in darkness,
And we found ourselves.
Found ourselves in the wide forests
in the night, saviours of the stars,
Held ourselves in wonder in each other’s arms
In the dark night.
Was not our whole life
Just a groping, just a seeking,
There in its darkness
Love, fell your light.
3 Light in the night
Dark night all around, enveloping me in black,
Timidly a star flickers yellow from afar!
It’s to me like a comfort, a quiet voice,
Which calls on your heart that wants to give up.
Song Texts
5

Kleines gelbes Licht, bist mir wie der Stern
überm Hause einst Jesu Christ, des Herrn
und da löscht es aus. Und die Nacht wird schwer!
Schlafe Herz. Schlafe Herz. Du hörst keine Stimme mehr.
4 Waldseligkeit
Der Wald beginnt zu rauschen,
Den Bäumen naht die Nacht,
Als ob sie selig lauschen,
Berühren sie sich sacht.
Und unter ihren Zweigen,
Da bin ich ganz allein,
Da bin ich ganz dein eigen :
Ganz nur Dein!
5 In meines Vaters Garten
In meines Vaters Garten
– blühe mein Herz, blüh auf –
in meines Vaters Garten
stand ein schattiger Apfelbaum
– Süsser Traum –
stand ein schattiger Apfelbaum.
Drei blonde Königstöchter
– blühe mein Herz, blüh auf –
drei wundersame Mädchen
schliefen unter dem Apfelbaum
– Süsser Traum –
schliefen unter dem Apfelbaum.
Die allerjüngste Feine
– blühe mein Herz, blüh auf –
die allerjüngste Feine
blinzelte und erwachte kaum
– Süsser Traum –
blinzelte und erwachte kaum.
Die zweite fuhr sich übers Haar
– blühe mein Herz, blüh auf –
sah den roten Morgensaum
– Süsser Traum –
Sie sprach: Hört ihr die Trommel nicht
6 Song Texts
Little yellow light, you are like a star to me
Above the house of Jesus Christ the Lord, once,
And there it goes out! And the night turns heavy!
Sleep, my heart! You hear no voice any more!
4 Bliss in the woods
The woods begin to rustle
and night approaches the trees,
as if it were listening happily
for the right moment to caress them
And under their branches
I am entirely alone;
I am entirely yours,
entirely yours!
5 In my father’s garden
In my father’s garden
– blossom, my heart, blossom forth! –
In my father’s garden
Stands a shady apple tree
– Sweet dream, sweet dream! –
Stands a shady apple tree.
Three blonde King’s daughters
– blossom, my heart, blossom forth –
three beautiful maidens
slept under the apple tree…
– Sweet dream, sweet dream! –
Slept under the apple tree.
The youngest of the three
– blossom, my heart, blossom forth! –
the youngest of the three
blinked and hardly woke.
– Sweet dream, sweet dream! –
Blinked and hardly woke.
The second cleared her hair from her eyes
– blossom, my heart, blossom forth! –
and saw the red morning’s hem
– Sweet dream, sweet dream! –
She spoke: ‘did you not hear the drum?’

– blühe mein Herz, blüh auf –
Süsser Traum
hell durch den dämmernden Raum?
Mein Liebster zieht zum Kampf hinaus
– blühe mein Herz, blüh auf –
mein Liebster zieht zum Kampf hinaus,
küsst mir als Sieger des Kleides Saum
– Süsser Traum –
küsst mir als Sieger des Kleides Saum!
Die dritte sprach und sprach so leis
– blühe mein Herz, blüh auf –
die dritte sprach und sprach so leis:
Ich küsse dem Liebsten des Kleides Saum
– Süsser Traum –
ich küsse dem Liebsten des Kleides Saum.
In meines Vaters Garten
– blühe mein Herz, blüh auf –
in meines Vaters Garten
steht ein sonniger Apfelbaum
– Süsser Traum –
steht ein sonniger Apfelbaum!
6 Bei dir ist es traut
Bei dir ist es traut,
zage Uhren schlagen wie aus alten Tagen,
komm mir ein Liebes sagen,
aber nur nicht laut!
Ein Tor geht irgendwo
draußen im Blütentreiben,
der Abend horcht an den Scheiben,
laß uns leise bleiben,
keiner weiß uns so!
– blossom, my heart, blossom forth! –
Sweet dream, sweet dream
clearly through the twilight air!
My beloved joins in the strife
– blossom, my heart, blossom forth –
My beloved joins in the strife out there,
‘Kiss for me as victor his garment’s hem.’
– Sweet dream, sweet dream. –
‘Kiss for me as victor his garment’s hem.’
The third spoke and spoke so soft,
– blossom, my heart, blossom forth! –
The third spoke and spoke so soft:
‘I kiss the beloved’s garment’s hem.’
– Sweet dream, sweet dream! –
‘I kiss the beloved’s garment’s hem.’
In my father’s garden
– blossom, my heart, blossom forth! –
In my father’s garden
stands a sunny apple tree
– Sweet dream, sweet dream! –
Stands a sunny apple tree.
6 I am at ease with you
I am at ease with you,
faint clocks strike as from olden days,
Come, tell your love to me,
But not too loud!
Somewhere a gate moves
Outside in the drifting blossoms,
Evening listens in at the window panes,
Let us stay quiet,
So no one knows of us!
Song Texts
7

8
7 Erntelied
Der ganze Himmel glüht
In hellen Morgenrosen;
Mit einem letzten, losen Traum noch im Gemüt,
Trinken meine Augen diesen Schein.
Wach und wacher, wie Genesungswein,
Und nun kommt von jenen Rosenhügeln
Glanz des Tags und Wehn von seinen Flügeln,
Kommt er selbst. Und alter Liebe voll,
Daß ich ganz an ihm genesen soll,
Gram der Nacht und was sich sacht verlor,
Ruft er mich an seine Brust empor.
Und die Wälder und die Felder klingen,
Und die Gärten heben an zu singen.
Fern und dumpf rauscht das erwachte Meer.
Segel seh’ ich in die Sonnenweiten,
Weiße Segel, frischen Windes, gleiten,
Stille, goldne Wolken obenher.
Und im Blauen, sind es Wanderflüge?
Schweig o Seele! Hast du kein Genüge?
Sieh, ein Königreich hat dir der Tag verliehn.
Auf! und preise ihn!
Song Texts
7 Harvest song
The whole sky glows
In bright morning roses;
With one last loose dream still in my soul
My eyes drink in this light,
More and more awake, like the wine of health.
And now comes the glow of the day
From that hill of roses, and the stir of its wings,
Comes day itself, and filled with old love,
That through it I shall overcome
Grief of night and what else got lost,
Day calls me up to its bosom!
And as the woods and the fields ring
And the gardens begin to sing.
Far and dull the sea roars, awoken.
I see sails gliding into the sunny distance,
White sails of the fresh wind,
Quiet, golden clouds aloft, clouds above
And in the blueness are these migrant birds?
Be quiet, o soul, are you not satiated?
Look, a kingdom the day granted you.
Go! Let your deeds praise it!

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) orch Gustav Mahler (1860–1911)
Symphony No 7 (1811–1812)
1 Poco sostenuto – Vivace
2 Allegretto
3 Presto – Assai meno presto (trio)
4 Allegro con brio
The Seventh Symphony was composed in 1811–12, towards the
end of an extraordinarily creative period for Beethoven. It was
immediately followed by the Eighth, but then there were several
lean years before the culminating works of his last period. The
Seventh was premiered, with Beethoven conducting, at a concert
in December 1813 which also included the first performance
of Wellington’s Victory, the so-called ‘Battle Symphony’, hugely
acclaimed at the time but now forgotten.
Wagner famously called Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony ‘the
apotheosis of the dance’ (and apparently once substantiated his
remark by dancing to the Symphony to Liszt’s piano accompaniment).
The other often quoted saying about the Seventh, attributed to
Weber by Beethoven’s biographer Anton Schindler, that Beethoven
was now ‘quite ripe for the madhouse’, may be spurious, though it
probably represented Weber’s views. In any case, the impression
given by these two remarks of an early 19th-century Rite of Spring
is not entirely misleading. It could be claimed that Beethoven and
Stravinsky are the two composers whose music most powerfully
expresses the sensation of physical energy. In each of the four
movements of the Seventh Symphony, Beethoven seizes on a small
rhythmic phrase and repeats it over and over again: this sounds
rather like minimalism, but minimalist energy is always static –
running on the spot; whereas Beethoven’s harmony constantly
changes and the music is always moving forward: it is dynamic
in the fullest sense.
With this emphasis on constant dynamism, there is no real slow
movement, though the first movement begins with the largest
and most impressive of all Beethoven’s slow introductions, with a
wonderfully prolonged transition to the Vivace. A slow movement
would normally be in a different key from the first, but the Seventh’s
Allegretto continues in A – minor in place of major – and is a kind
of stately dance, very serious, but instantly popular with audiences
(at the premiere it was even encored). The change of key comes
with the scherzo, which is in F and light-footed, in contrast to the
resplendently sonorous trio in D, which comes twice. In the finale
the energy reaches new Dionysian heights.
Mahler made extensive retouchings to the score of the Seventh,
as he did with other Beethoven symphonies he conducted. He
told his friend and biographer Natalie Bauer-Lechner: ‘Beethoven’s
symphonies present a problem that is simply insoluble for the
ordinary conductor … Unquestionably, they need re-interpretation
and re-working. The very constitution and size of the orchestra
necessitates it: in Beethoven’s time, the whole orchestra was not as
large as the string section alone today. If, consequently, the other
instruments are not brought into a balanced relationship with the
strings, the effect is bound to be wrong’. His many changes are
mostly concerned with dynamics: some pages contain more than
50 modifications (Mahler is very fond of ppp and occasionally even
pppp); but he also rewrites instrumental parts, especially the horns
and trumpets, and at one point in the scherzo removes nine bars
of woodwind and horns altogether. He also doubles the woodwind
and horns, and has the timpani retune in several places in the finale
(something Beethoven never did within a movement).
Mahler did not know that, at the premiere of the Seventh, Beethoven
had a string section more or less the same size as his own in Vienna,
and probably also a doubled wind section. Some contemporary
critics censured Mahler for changing Beethoven’s scores (though he
was by no means the only conductor of his generation to make such
revisions), but it seems that he was ‘authentic’ before his time. And
Mahler had an understanding of orchestration second to none, so
that anything that he did is at least interesting and at best, revelatory.
Programme Notes
9

10
Where does creation end?
Marin Alsop discusses
Gustav Mahler’s desire
to make his mark on his
idol’s work
Improving upon creation is a complicated business. So it goes with
the question of Mahler’s retuschens (retouchings) of Beethoven’s
symphonies. For all of us, the Beethoven symphonies are a
breakthrough moment, an arrival point in the history of Western
civilization; serving as both fundamental building blocks as well as
a measuring stick for all that came before and all that would follow.
They embody the essence of the human spirit conveyed through
the abstract beauty of our shared universal language, musical
poetry and sung architecture. The thought of ‘bettering’ these
symphonies is part sacrilege, part egomaniacal suicide, at best.
But that is exactly what Gustav Mahler felt compelled to do.
By the turn of the twentieth century, the Beethoven symphonies had
risen to archetypal stature. It is a testament to Mahler’s unwavering
musical opinion and single minded determination that he could not
resist the compulsion to tweak Beethoven’s work and to adapt it to, in
his opinion, better suit the contemporary orchestra, concert halls and
listening public. Mahler felt Beethoven’s hand on his shoulder and was
convinced that Beethoven would have not only approved of his edits,
but most likely would have made them himself had he experienced
the new developments in performance techniques.
Article
Spending time with Mahler’s ‘retuschens’, a term never actually
used by Mahler, has been a revelation for me, albeit an unexpected
one. For the ‘recreators’, such as myself, interpreting the Beethoven
symphonies is a daunting prospect in itself. Interpreting Beethoven’s
works through the lens of yet another highly opinionated, strong
willed artist adds a whole new dimension to the challenge. Seeing
where Mahler reinforces the instrumentation, graduates, shades and
tiers the dynamics, and discovering his approach to taking liberties
with the tempi, all give me enormous insight into Mahler’s personal
view of Beethoven’s works. My goal, as recreator, is to gather as
many clues as possible in my quest to unearth the compelling story
behind the piece. I search for that magic key that unlocks the door
to the creator’s psyche, giving me insight into his motivation for
that particular creation. Working on Mahler’s retouchings had me
constantly questioning whose story I was uncovering: Beethoven’s,
or Mahler’s version of Beethoven’s story? Does it matter?
Growing up as an artist under the wing of Leonard Bernstein,
it matters hugely. Black notes on the white page without humanity
are empty, like words without inflection or point of view. Just as I
was always moved by Bernstein’s unwavering sense of righteousness,
Marin Alsop © Grant Leighton

I was deeply impressed by Mahler’s sheer nerve. He would have
known that every member of the Vienna Philharmonic felt a proprietary
ownership of Beethoven’s music; it would not be a stretch to say that
the Beethoven symphonies were already classical music’s biblical books.
Mahler also revered Beethoven, but Mahler was the consummate
creator and recreator, a conductor who transformed symphonic
and operatic performance, setting the bar for artistic excellence
miles above where it been before. His personal experience with the
20th-century orchestra sent him down a messianic path to improve
upon Beethoven’s work. But where then does Beethoven end and
Mahler begin? Where does one draw the line and say ‘this is too much’?
It is not unusual for musicians to comment
that Beethoven, because of his deafness,
may have been imagining something that was
beyond the grasp of conventional instruments.
In light of the extensive period of instrument revolution, the question
of authenticity versus personal interpretation is a vivid and real
one that we recreators constantly grapple with. Mahler’s edits
give that question new weight and daunting significance. Though
many musicians, critics and orchestra patrons were sceptical and
sometimes even hostile towards Mahler’s ‘redaktions’ (editings), as
he preferred to call them, his intention was to convey the spirit of
the work, albeit at the expense of being sometimes faithless to the
composer’s indicated orchestrations or dynamic indications. One
would think this could be the result of a very arrogant conductor, yet
we know from reminisces of his contemporaries that Mahler was
humble to the art. Pianist, conductor and composer Ossip Gabrilovitch
wrote, ‘No man ever had a more loving or truly sympathetic heart
than Mahler, but with those who placed their art beneath their ego,
he had not patience’. And just as Mahler was known to revise his own
works, these editings of other composer’s works were constantly
revised according to a variety of circumstances; hall acoustics and the
particular abilities of the orchestra he was conducting were factors he
considered when making adjustments.
It is not unusual for musicians to comment that Beethoven, because
of his deafness, may have been imagining something that was beyond
the grasp of conventional instruments, or perhaps in an aural sense
had one foot in this world and the other in the next. Mahler’s editing
was intended to help Beethoven realise his soundworld had he had
the resources of the modern orchestra: to Mahler, his editings were
born out of respect to the Master.
The extent of Mahler’s edits vary greatly, depending on the piece.
With Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No 3, an overture Mahler
performed frequently in concert and also incorporated between
scenes of the last act of Fidelio, there is a minimum of alteration;
Mahler actually capitalised on an orchestration technique that
Beethoven himself already used in the overture – the thinning out
of players to aid balance or enhance clarity. Beethoven applies this
technique in the final section of the overture that begins with a flurry
of scale passages in the first violins. Beethoven instructs that two or
three violins begin the passage, then as the passage advances, more
players are added. Mahler uses this same device at the beginning of
the Allegro that follows the introduction of the overture.
And though it is not a matter of editing, Mahler had definite ideas
about how particular passages were to be played. As related by
Mahler’s Leader of the New York Philharmonic, Mahler wanted the
trumpet calls to be played non espressivo, because as Mahler stated,
‘In the barracks one makes no nuances’.
In Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, Mahler’s alterations and edits are
far more extensive, including repeatedly thinning out the scoring for
clarity, and doubling certain passages for better projection. The main
thing Mahler wanted to convey was what he felt was the intention
of the symphony – that the audience leaves the hall with a feeling of
Dionysian intoxication.
If we can agree that Mahler’s primary goal was to emphasise and
reinforce Beethoven’s intentions, I think we can experience new
insight into Beethoven through Mahler’s eyes.
© Marin Alsop
Article
11

Marin Alsop
Conductor
‘Under the careful baton of
Marin Alsop, the feel-good factor
was stratospheric.’
The Guardian, Jul 10
Marin Alsop is recognised across the world
for her innovative approach to programming,
her deep commitment to education and to
the development of audiences of all ages.
Her conducting career was launched in
1989, when she was a prizewinner at the
Leopold Stokowski International Conducting
Competition in New York; in the same year
she was the first woman to be awarded the
Koussevitzky Conducting Prize from the
Tanglewood Music Cente, where she was a
pupil of Leonard Bernstein, among others.
Marin Alsop’s success as Music Director
of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra was
recognised in 2009, when her tenure was
extended to 2015. She retains strong links
with all of her previous orchestras – the
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, where
she was Principal Conductor from 2002 to
2008 and now holds the post of Conductor
Emeritus, and the Colorado Symphony
Orchestra, where she was Music Director
from 1993 to 2005 and is now Music Director
Laureate. Since 1992, Marin Alsop has been
Music Director of California’s Cabrillo Festival
of Contemporary Music, where she has built
a devoted audience for new music.
Marin Alsop is a regular guest conductor
with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia
Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic, the
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Tonhalle
Zürich, Orchestre de Paris, Bavarian Radio
Symphony and La Scala Milan. She has a
close relationship with both the London
Symphony and the London Philharmonic
and appears with them regularly. She also
returns frequently to orchestras such as the
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Frankfurt
RSO, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Danish
Radio Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic and
the Czech Philharmonic. She collaborates
closely with the Southbank Centre, and
in the 2009/10 season was appointed
Artistic Director of the year-long Bernstein
Project which culminated in a large-scale
performance of his Mass.
Since taking up her position in Baltimore
in September 2007, Marin Alsop has
spearheaded educational initiatives which
reach more than 60,000 school and preschool
students. In 2008, she launched
OrchKids, an after-school programme
designed to provide music education,
instruments and mentorship to the city’s
neediest young people. Another of her major
initiatives as Music Director in Baltimore is
the BSO Academy, a community venture that
Marin Alsop first led in June 2010, whereby
local non-professional musicians work
in depth over the period of a week with
members of the Baltimore Symphony.
Marin Alsop’s extensive discography, which
already includes a notable set of Brahms
symphonies with the London Philharmonic
Orchestra, is further distinguished by a new
Dvorák series, which has been praised in
Gramophone magazine (Editor’s Choice,
December 2010), International Record Review
and Neue Musik-Zeitung. For her recent
recordings of John Adams’s Nixon in China
and Leonard Bernstein’s Mass, The Financial
Times gave Nixon in China five stars, calling
it an ‘incandescent performance’, whilst
Gramophone chose the Mass as Editor’s
Choice in its 2010 Awards.
In 2008 Marin Alsop became a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and
in the following year was chosen as Musical
America’s Conductor of the Year 2009. She is
the recipient of numerous awards in the US
and Europe, including a European Women of
Achievement Award for 2007, and is the only
conductor to receive a MacArthur Fellowship.
12 The Artists
Marin Alsop © Grant Leighton

Sarah Connolly
Mezzo-soprano
‘All her customary musicality was
radiantly in evidence: she is an
artist incapable of singing a
broken or ugly phrase, and her
ornamentation was exquisite.
She looked wonderful, too.’
The Telegraph, Jun 10
Born in County Durham, mezzo-soprano
Sarah Connolly studied piano and singing at
the Royal College of Music, of which she is
now a Fellow. She was made CBE in the 2010
New Year’s Honours List.
In opera, recent appearances include
Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at the Royal Opera
House, Covent Garden; at La Scala, Milan and
at La Monnaie, Brussels; Komponist (Ariadne
auf Naxos) and Annio (La clemenza di Tito) at
the Metropolitan Opera, New York; the title
role in Giulio Cesare and Brangäne (Tristan
und Isolde) at the Glyndebourne Festival;
Gluck’s Orfeo and the title role in The Rape
of Lucretia at the Bayerische Staatsoper,
Sarah Connolly © Gautier Deblonde
Munich; Sesto (Giulio Cesare) at the Paris
Opera and Nerone (L’Incoronazione di
Poppea) at the Gran Teatro del Liceu
in Barcelona, and at the Maggio Musicale
in Florence.
She has also sung the title role in Maria
Stuarda and Romeo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi)
for Opera North; Komponist for the
Welsh National Opera and Octavian (Der
Rosenkavalier) for Scottish Opera. A favourite
at English National Opera, her roles there
have included Octavian; Handel’s Agrippina,
Xerxes, Ariodante and Ruggiero (Alcina);
the title role in The Rape of Lucretia; Ottavia
(L’incoronazione di Poppea); Dido (Dido and
Aeneas/The Trojans); Romeo, Susie (The
Silver Tassie) and Sesto (La clemenza di
Tito) – for which she was nominated for an
Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement
in Opera.
She has appeared in recital in London
and New York and her many concert
engagements include appearances at
the Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Salzburg and
Tanglewood Festivals and at the BBC Proms
where, in 2009, she was a memorable
guest soloist at The Last Night. Other recent
engagements have included The Dream
of Gerontius with the Boston Symphony
Orchestra and Sir Colin Davis; Das Lied von
der Erde with the Royal Concertgebouw
Orchestra and Daniel Harding; Des Knaben
Wunderhorn with L’Orchestre des Champs-
Elysées and Phillippe Herreweghe; Tristan
und Isolde with the Orchestra of the Age of
Enlightenment and Sir Simon Rattle; La mort
de Cléopâtre with the Hallé and Sir Mark
Elder and Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder with
the LPO and Vladimir Jurowski.
Committed to promoting new music, her
world premiere performances include Mark-
Anthony Turnage’s Twice through the heart
with the Schoenberg Ensemble conducted
by Oliver Knussen; Jonathan Harvey’s Songs
of Li Po at the Aldeburgh Festival and, most
recently, Sir John Tavener’s Tribute to Cavafy
at Symphony Hall, Birmingham.
A prolific recording artist, her many discs
include Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas with the
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment,
Elgar’s Sea Pictures with the Bournemouth
Symphony Orchestra (nominated for a
Grammy Award) and Mozart’s Mass in
C Minor and Haydn’s Scena di Bernice with
the Gabrieli Consort and Paul McCreesh. Her
recording of Handel arias with The Sixteen
and Harry Christophers was described as ‘the
definition of captivating’ and two recital discs
The Exquisite Hour and Songs of Love and
Loss have both won universal critical acclaim.
Future engagements include Sesto at the
Festival d’Aix-en-Provence; Clairon (Capriccio)
at the Metropolitan Opera, New York and
returns to the Paris Opera, Gran Teatro del
Liceu in Barcelona, Glyndebourne Festival,
English National Opera, and to the Royal Opera
House, Covent Garden.
Sarah Connolly studies with Gerald Martin
Moore.
The Artists
13

On stage
First Violins
Tomo Keller Leader
Lennox Mackenzie
Nicholas Wright
Nigel Broadbent
Laurent Quenelle
Harriet Rayfield
Colin Renwick
Ian Rhodes
Sylvain Vasseur
Rhys Watkins
Gabrielle Painter
David Worswick
Violaine Delmas
Eleanor Fagg
Helen Paterson
Alina Petrenko
Second Violins
Evgeny Grach
Thomas Norris
Sarah Quinn
David Ballesteros
Richard Blayden
Belinda McFarlane
Iwona Muszynska
Philip Nolte
Paul Robson
Louise Shackelton
Dunja Lavrova
Oriana Kriszten
Samantha Wickramasinghe
Victoria Hands
14 The Orchestra
Violas
Edward Vanderspar
Malcolm Johnston
Regina Beukes
Richard Holttum
Robert Turner
Jonathan Welch
Arnaud Ghillebaert
Nancy Johnson
Fiona Opie
Caroline O’Neill
Elizabeth Butler
Philip Hall
Cellos
Timothy Hugh
Alastair Blayden
Jennifer Brown
Noel Bradshaw
Daniel Gardner
Keith Glossop
Hilary Jones
Minat Lyons
Judith Herbert
Susan Dorey
Double Basses
Rinat Ibragimov
Colin Paris
Patrick Laurence
Matthew Gibson
Thomas Goodman
Jani Pensola
Benjamin Griffiths
Simo Vaisanen
Flutes
Adam Walker
Siobhan Grealy
Eilidh Gillespie
Piccolo
Sharon Williams
Oboes
Jerome Guichard
John Lawley
Nicola Holland
Cor Anglais
Christine Pendrill
Clarinets
Andrew Marriner
Chi-Yu Mo
Lorenzo Iosco
James Burke
Bassoons
Bernardo Verde
Dominic Morgan
Christopher Gunia
Susan Frankel
Horns
David Pyatt
Angela Barnes
Jonathan Lipton
Jeffrey Bryant
Trumpets
Roderick Franks
Gerald Ruddock
Offstage Trumpet
Nigel Gomm
Trombones
Dudley Bright
James Maynard
Bass Trombone
Paul Milner
Timpani
Antoine Bedewi
Percussion
Neil Percy
Harp
Karen Vaughan
LSO String
Experience Scheme
Established in 1992, the
LSO String Experience
Scheme enables young string
players at the start of their
professional careers to gain
work experience by playing in
rehearsals and concerts with
the LSO. The scheme auditions
students from the London
music conservatoires, and 20
students per year are selected
to participate. The musicians
are treated as professional
’extra’ players (additional to
LSO members) and receive
fees for their work in line with
LSO section players. Students
of wind, brass or percussion
instruments who are in their
final year or on a postgraduate
course at one of the London
conservatoires can also
benefit from training with LSO
musicians in a similar scheme.
Mark Lee (first violin), Ilona
Bondar (viola) and Yuki Ito
(cello) took part in rehearsals
for tonight’s concert as part
of the LSO String Experience
Scheme. Mark Lee also performs
on stage this evening.
The LSO String Experience
Scheme is generously
supported by the Musicians
Benevolent Fund and Charles
and Pascale Clark.
List correct at time of
going to press
See page xv for London
Symphony Orchestra members
Editor Edward Appleyard
edward.appleyard@lso.co.uk
Print
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Gordan Nikolitch and Nikolaj Znaider © Kevin Leighton

Inbox
Your thoughts and comments about recent performances
My friends and I have seen
Tim Garland many times and
in many different line-ups but
last Wednesday’s concert
[at LSO St Luke’s] was really
special. The addition of the
extra musicians to the Storms
Nocturnes Trio made for a
great overall sound and the
spin-off duos and trios added
a wonderful variety to the
proceedings. [Pianist] Geoffrey
Keezer said on the night that
LSO St Luke’s is a great venue
and I must agree – it’s our
favourite music venue in
London ... giving a more intimate
atmosphere than the large
concert halls. More please!
17 Nov 10, LSO St Luke’s
Tim Garland & Neil Percy /
UBS Eclectica: Momentum 2010
16 Inbox
‘Wonderful variety’
Roger Phillips
‘Transporting’
David
For me the Shchedrin concerto
was largely undistinguished –
a collective of small inauspicious
riffs, an underwhelming
orchestration, and a duration
double its content merited ...
the Mahler by comparison
was an exhilarating triumph,
sensationally played, visceral
and moving, the LSO tender and
violent, loving and scabrous by
turns. The audience whooped
their appreciation – and so did I.
A wonderful triumphant
transporting performance –
bravo!
19 Nov 10, Valery Gergiev & Olli
Mustonen / Rodion Shchedrin &
Mahler
‘Remarkable’
Robin Self
The performance of the Elgar
was sublime and in my living
memory only Menuhin has
played this concerto better than
Znaider. I heard Yehudi on several
occasions in the 1960s and
1970s with various conductors
including Boult and in my
opinion, of living conductors, only
Sir Colin [Davis] is his equal.
This was, in fact, more Sir Colin’s
performance than Znaider’s;
the sounds that he produced
from your orchestra (as he did
in the recent recording) were
remarkable. If I hear a greater
performance in the future, I shall
consider myself truly blessed.
Please thank all your musicians,
and especially Sir Colin, for a very
memorable evening.
10 Nov 10, Sir Colin Davis &
Nikolaj Znaider / Elgar &
Mendelssohn
Want to share your views?
Email us at comment@lso.co.uk
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on all aspects of the LSO’s work.
Please note that the LSO may edit your
comments and not all emails will be published.
From Facebook and Twitter...
Last Saturday I had the unbelievable
luck listening to the LSO at the
Luxemburgish Philharmony.
It was an experience that I will never
forget in my life. I wish I could listen
to you every day (not just on CD).
You guys made my life richer that
day. I THANK YOU SO MUCH.
Thomas [13 Nov 10, on tour]
I was in the concert in Paris. That
was completely amazing. I have
never seen a relation between a
soloist as strong as I saw it yesterday
during the Brahms. Thank you at the
LSO for this concert!
Lionel Speciale [14 Nov 10, on tour]
@AliceSaraOtt Fantastic performance
with @londonsymphony – well done
for stepping into some big shoes and
filling them brilliantly.
Mintergreen [7 Nov 10]