London Philharmonic Orchestra show

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Summary: The London Philharmonic Orchestra's monthly classical music audio magazine with interviews with conductors and soloists and previews of new CDs. Find out what inspires the artists, and share their thoughts on the music they will be performing at Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall. Presented by music critic and journalist Edward Seckerson, this podcast gives a glimpse behind the scenes of this distinguished orchestra - a chance to hear the voices of internationally acclaimed musicians who are usually only seen on the concert platform.

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  • Artist: London Philharmonic Orchestra
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Podcasts:

 The Rest Is Noise: June 2013 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 25:48

We're listening to the 20th century. Throughout 2013, the London Philharmonic Orchestra appears as the major orchestral partner in Southbank Centre’s year-long, multi-art-form festival The Rest Is Noise. The festival looks at the key works of the 20th century through a wide lens, taking in the political happenings, social movements, cultural climates and personal stories that gave rise to these inspiring and sometimes controversial pieces of music. Michael Tippett wrote his secular oratorio A Child of Our Time between 1939 and 1941, in reaction to the events that triggered the horrors of Kristallnacht in Germany in 1938. In this pre-concert talk, writer and broadcaster (and member of the London Philharmonic Choir) Daniel Snowman explores the historical setting as well as the parallels with the great oratorios of Bach. It was recorded before the London Philharmonic Orchestra's performance of the work in May 2013, at Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall. We are delighted that our recent recording of Brahms Symphony No 2 under Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski was chosen as the recommended recording of the work on BBC Radio 3's Building a Library in June 2013. LPO-0043 (£10.99 incl P+P) Visit therestisnoise.lpo.org.uk for full information about the festival.

 The Rest Is Noise: May 2013 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 12:59

We're listening to the 20th century. Throughout 2013, the London Philharmonic Orchestra appears as the major orchestral partner in Southbank Centre’s year-long, multi-art-form festival The Rest Is Noise. The festival looks at the key works of the 20th century through a wide lens, taking in the political happenings, social movements, cultural climates and personal stories that gave rise to these inspiring and sometimes controversial pieces of music. On 17 May the LPO's Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski conducts a programme of 1930s works written in the Soviet Union by Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Stravinsky. In this podcast he introduces Shostakovich's Symphony No 6, which he describes as 'absurd music for an absurb time'. We also include Shostakovich's letter to the Soviet General Assembly in 1948 in which he apologises for failing to write 'sufficiently uplifting and nationalist music'. The new release on the LPO Label is of Mahler Symphony No 1, including the original fifth movement 'Blumine', recorded in concert in December 2010 with LPO Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski. Find out more are www.lpo.org.uk/shop LPO-0070 (£9.99 incl P+P) Visit therestisnoise.lpo.org.uk for full information about the festival.

 The Rest Is Noise: April 2013 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 10:38

We're listening to the 20th century. Throughout 2013, the London Philharmonic Orchestra appears as the major orchestral partner in Southbank Centre’s year-long, multi-art-form festival The Rest Is Noise. The festival ooks at the key works of the 20th century through a wide lens, taking in the political happenings, social movements, cultural climates and personal stories that gave rise to these inspiring and sometimes controversial pieces of music. Our concert on 27 April contains works by Webern and Berg, Bartók and Martinů, conducted by the LPO’s Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski. It’s a fascinating programming as all works were written in the pre-war 1930s, and yet present a huge range of musical styles and influences as the composers reacted in different ways to the fear and angst of those years. In this edition of the LPO's podcast Vladimir Jurowski introduces the music and explains why he selected it for the concert. The new release on the LPO Label is of Shostakovich Symphony No. 8 in a live concert recording from the BBC archive conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky. LPO-0071, £9.99 from www.lpo.org.uk Visit therestisnoise.lpo.org.uk for full information about the festival.

 The Rest Is Noise: March 2013 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 18:36

We're listening to the 20th century. Throughout 2013, the London Philharmonic Orchestra appears as the major orchestral partner in Southbank Centre’s year-long, multi-art-form festival The Rest Is Noise. The festival ooks at the key works of the 20th century through a wide lens, taking in the political happenings, social movements, cultural climates and personal stories that gave rise to these inspiring and sometimes controversial pieces of music. In the 1920s, American composers began to break away from the confines of the European classical music tradition and to find a national voice, often incorporating jazz inspiration. In a concert given in February, conducted by Marin Alsop, the LPO presented the new voices of America - Ives, Scott Joplin, Gershwin and Copland. Pianist Garrick Ohlsson performed Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and Copland's Piano Concerto in the concert, and this podcast gives you the chance to hear a pre-concert talk in which he explores the musical language of these two works. The interviewer was Christopher Cook. Visit therestisnoise.lpo.org.uk for full information about the festival.

 The Rest Is Noise: February 2013 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 14:58

We're listening to the 20th century. Throughout 2013, the London Philharmonic Orchestra appears as the major orchestral partner in Southbank Centre’s year-long, multi-art-form festival The Rest Is Noise. The festival ooks at the key works of the 20th century through a wide lens, taking in the political happenings, social movements, cultural climates and personal stories that gave rise to these inspiring and sometimes controversial pieces of music. The 1920s collaboration between Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht on The Threepenny Opera created one of the biggest musical hits of its time. The combination of 18th-century ballad texts, European swing and dance music and American jazz all conceived on an operatic scale successfully bridged the gap between mass entertainment and elitist high culture. The LPO's Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski introduces the work. LPO bassoonist Gareth Newman talks about the famous solo opening of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, and principal percussionist Andy Barclay explains the huge changes in the use composers made of percussion in the orchestra during the course of the 20th century. Visit therestisnoise.lpo.org.uk for full information about the festival.

 The Rest Is Noise: January 2013 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 12:52

In 2007 US music critic Alex Ross published his first book The Rest Is Noise. Subtitled Listening to the Twentieth Century, Ross’s book tells the story of 20th-century music within its historical context, exploring how the events and ideas of the 20th century shaped the art that was created, and vice versa. Why did musicians write what they did? Why did the world react the way it did? Why, in some cases, were they silenced? Throughout 2013, the London Philharmonic Orchestra appears as the major orchestral partner in Southbank Centre’s year-long, multi-art-form festival The Rest Is Noise. Inspired by Ross’s book, The Rest Is Noise festival looks at the key works of the 20th century through a wide lens, taking in the political happenings, social movements, cultural climates and personal stories that gave rise to these inspiring and sometimes controversial pieces of music. The LPO opens the festival on 19 January with a concert of Richard Strauss, and the Orchestra's Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski explains what makes Strauss's music the starting point for the yearlong musical journey. And two members of the Orchestra tell us why this concert is one of their highlights of The Rest Is Noise. Visit therestisnoise.lpo.org.uk for full information about the festival.

 Exploring works by Grisey and Mahler: December 2012 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 13:50

On 12 December, the London Philharmonic Orchestra performs French composer Gérard Grisey’s 'Four chants for crossing the threshold'. The work is a ‘musical meditation on death’ for soprano and 15 players, written between 1996 and 1998. The four sections – The Death of the Angel; The Death of Civilisation; The Death of the Voice and The Death of Humanity take texts from four different civilisations – Christian, Egyptian, Greek and Mesopotamian. Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski talks about the eclectic and unusual choice of texts chosen by the composer, and why he chose to pair it with Mahler’s Symphony No.5 for this concert. We've put together a range of unusual gifts for Christmas, including CD subscriptions, LPO Friends membership and virtual gifts - perfect for stocking fillers. Find out more at www.lpo.org.uk/gifts Our recent release of Tchaikovsky Symphonies 4 and 5 conducted by Jurowski has been selected as Album of the Month in December's Gramophone Magazine. You can listen to excerpts and buy the CD from lpo.org.uk/recordings

 Interviews with conductor Vladimir Jurowski and composer Carl Vine: November 2012 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 23:54

On 28 November, the LPO's Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski conducts an usual concert of Beethoven, Schoenberg and Nono. All three composers believed in the importance and strength of the human spirit, and Jurowski draws out the links of human and political freedom that link the works in this programme. One of the new works performed this season was the European premiere of Australian Carl Vine's Second Piano Concerto. In a pre-concert talk in October he was joined on stage by the soloist in the performance, Piers Lane, and interviewer Christopher Cook, for a discussion that covered why Vine has written more for piano than any other instrument, writing melody in the 21st century, and the different roles a solo instrument can be given in a concerto. This month's new release on the LPO Label is of Brahms' Symphonies 1 and 3 conducted by Klaus Tennstedt. Tennstedt was the LPO's Principal Conductor from 1983 until the early 1990s, and these recordings are from 1983 and 1992 - spanning his time with the Orchestra. You can listen to excerpts and buy the CD from lpo.org.uk/recordings

 A Florentine Tragedy - Zemlinsky: October 2012 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 22:31

War and Peace is a three concert collaboration between the Russian National Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, which culminates in the two orchestras appearing together on the Royal Festival Hall platform for a performance of Shostakovich' Leningrad Symphony on 5 October. Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski introduces the collaboration and the programmed repertoire. The 2012-13 season opened in late September with a performance of Alexander Zemlinsky's one act opera A Florentine Tragedy. David Trendell, Senior Lecturer in Music at King's College, London, explores the life and music of Zemlinsky in this pre-concert talk, and how the composer's affair with Alma Mahler influenced the choice of subject matter for his opera. The new release on the LPO Label is the third of our CDs of orchestral works by Mark-Anthony Turnage, bringing to a close his period as Composer in Residence (2005-10). The CD includes Christian Tetzlaff in the violin concerto Mambo, Blues and Tarantella, and Lawrence Power in the viola concerto On Opened Ground. You can listen to excerpts and buy the CD from lpo.org.uk/recordings

 Russian Bells and opera from Vienna: September 2012 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 23:13

Each year September heralds new beginnings for the Orchestra – with the start of our season of London concerts at the end of the month. Held at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, where we’re one of the Resident Symphony Orchestras, this series of concerts between September and May each year showcases the orchestra, and the wide repertoire that it plays. The first concerts in the year are conducted by our Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor Vladimir Jurowski, who is highly praised not only for his powerful interpretations of core symphonic repertoire but also for his innovative and unusual programming. The first concerts of the London Philharmonic Orchestra's new season offer the chance to listen to early 20th century opera in the concert hall (Strauss and Zemlinsky on 26 September), and to hear the influence of bells on Russian composers writing across the 20th century (Rachmaninov, Miaskovsky, Denisov and Shchedrin on 29 September). Vladimir Jurowski introduces both programmes, setting out the significance of bells to Russians through the ages, as well as the influence the newly translated poetry of Edgar Allan Poe had on Russian composers in the early part of the century. The new release on the LPO Label is Vladimir Jurowski's 2011 performances of Tchaikovsky Symphonies 4 and 5. You can listen to excerpts and buy the CD from lpo.org.uk/recordings

 Diamond Jubilee celebrations: June 2012 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 21:20

The London Philharmonic Orchestra is proud to be taking part in Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant on 3 June 2012 on board the Symphony, as one of ten music herald barges of the flotilla. As we move down the river, we will be performing a selection of popular works by great British and Commonwealth composers, related either to monarchy, royal events and ceremonial occasions or to familiar landmarks along the Thames. These include Chariots of Fire theme, James Bond theme, Jupiter from Holst's The Planets, Land of Hope and Glory (Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No 1), ‘Nimrod’ from Enigma Variations. The day culminates in a performance of the National Anthem to Her Majesty the Queen at Tower Bridge. We've recorded this repertoire and have released the official Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant CD to commemorate the celebrations. In this edition of our monthly podcast, music writer Andrew Stewart delves into the history of some of the works we'll be performing, bringing their links to London to the fore. He starts with a quick look at the history of pageants before exploring Elgar's Nimrod, Pomp and Circumstance March, Coates' Dambusters March and Arnold's Padstow Lifeboat, as well as music written for film.

 Introducing Tristan Murail: May 2012 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 21:35

The London Philharmonic Orchestra's Debut Sounds 2012 concert includes music by two established, but underperformed, European composers written in the late 20th century - Tristan Murail's Les Courants de l'espace, last heard over 25 years ago in the UK, and Per Nørgård's Voyage into the Golden Screen. In this podcast Julian Anderson, the LPO's Composer in Residence, introduces a concerto by Tristan Murail for ondes Martenot and ensemble. Murail's music has a rich and shimmering palette, exploring atmospheres and other-worldly sounds. The concert is also a chance to hear brand new music by the Orchestra's Leverhulme Young Composers - and we hear from the four composers who have been creating and refining their music through a series of workshops. Debut Sounds concert details 7.30pm, Tuesday 12 June, Queen Elizabeth Hall Tristan Murail Les Courants de l'espace Per Nørgård Voyage into the Golden Screen Mark David Boden Shadows of a Changing Land Laura Jayne Bowler 3811 Nautical Miles David Curington After Onement, I Hollie Harding As Echoes Subside Clement Power conductor Tristan Murail ondes Martenot Foyle Future Firsts Members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra

 Colin Cuurie interview: April 2012 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 14:58

Radiant joy and intense poetry characterise recent works from the pen of Finnish composer Kalevi Aho. His style might continue to adapt and evolve, but he never ceases to make listeners aware of the world in alluring and enlightening ways. Here percussionist Colin Currie unveils the new concerto written for him by Aho in a phone interview with Ben Eshmade. Currie has described the work as 'a very great masterpiece of the genre and an extremely serious contribution to the symphonic literature.' He goes onto say he believes it is 'destined to be a smash with audiences as the music brims with flare, groove and and colour.' Kalevi Aho’s Sieidi; Concerto for Solo Percussion and Orchestra is commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Luosto Classic Festival and Gothenburg Symphony. The April release on the LPO Label is Beethoven's fervent and masterful Missa Solemnis, recorded live at the Royal Festival Hall in 2008. The podcast ends with a preview of the new CD. Christoph Eschenbach conductor Anne Schwanewilms soprano Annette Jahns mezzo soprano Nikolai Schukoff tenor Dietrich Henschel bass Also heard on the podcast: Jennifer Higdon's Percussion Concerto, soloist Colin Currie, conductor Marin Alsop. LPO-0035

 Julian Anderson interview: March 2012 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 19:06

Julian Anderson is the London Philharmonic Orchestra's Composer in Residence, and his new, three movement orchestral work 'The Discovery of Heaven' is premiered on 24 March 2012. The title of the work comes from a 1992 novel by Dutch author Harry Mulisch, and in this interview Anderson explores how a piece of music can reflect a book without having a direct narrative connection. He reveals how his own musical language absorbs the eclectic influences of Japanese Gagaku music, Mongolian overtone chanting, Gregorian chant and the battle between percussion and melody heard at the end of the first movement of Nielsen's Symphony No. 5. The Discovery of Heaven was jointly commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and New York Philharmonic. The March release on the LPO Label is of Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe ballet, recorded in 1979 with Bernard Haitink and taken from the BBC archive. The podcast ends with a preview of the new CD.

 Marin Alsop in conversation: February 2012 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 22:48

American conductor Marin Alsop is a frequent guest with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Before one of her recent concerts in London which programmed music of central Europe, she gave a pre-concert talk in conversation with James Jolly. The topics explored include the soundworld of Martinů's Sixth Symphony, Dvořák's struggle to be accepted as a composer, and the orchestral writing in Liszt's Piano Concertos. The programme included Liszt's Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2, performed by Stephen Hough, and Alsop shared the ways in which conducting concertos is a different kind of music-making to the symphonic repertoire. The March release on the LPO Label is of Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe ballet, recorded in 1979 with Bernard Haitink and taken from the BBC archive. The podcast ends with a preview of the new CD.

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