Reviews: 25 January 2012 – Vladimir Jurowski & Leon Fleisher

On Wednesday 25 January at Royal Festival Hall, the London Philharmonic Orchestra performed excerpts from Prokofiev’s ballets Chout and Cinderella, and the Fourth Piano Concerto under conductor Vladimir Jurowski with pianist Leon Fleisher. This was part of the LPO’s Prokofiev: Man of the People? festival, which runs until 1 February.

Reviewed by Alexandra Coghlan, The Arts Desk:
‘There can be little doubt of the supremacy of Jurowski and the LPO in this repertoire.’

Reviewed by Colin Anderson, Classicalsource.com:
‘This was an authoritative account of the Prokofiev [Fourth Piano Concerto] as one could hope to hear. The opening and closing movements were fierily dispatched with aplomb, but it was in the middle two that [Fleisher] was most effective, bringing finesse and refinement; the Andante was particularly eloquent. Throughout, the LPO and Jurowski were on-the-money partners.’

The next event in the festival is ‘The Unknown Prokofiev‘ study day on Saturday 28 January, 2.00–5.30pm at Royal Festival Hall. There are still tickets available, priced £10. Saturday also sees the next evening concert, when Vladimir Jurowski will conduct Prokofiev’s music for stage and screen, with the London Philharmonic Choir. More info and booking here.

lpo.org.uk
Follow us on Twitter: @LPOrchestra

Reviews: 21 January 2012 – Prokofiev at the Royal College of Music

On Saturday 21 January, the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Prokofiev: Man of the People? festival continued at the Royal College of Music. Students from the RCM performed orchestral and choral works by Prokofiev, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski with cello soloist Kristina Blaumane.

Reviewed by Geoff Brown, The Arts Desk:
Under his resolute beat, Jurowski’s student forces showed tremendous stamina and, when needed, finesse. Gargoyle or not, this was still a worthwhile revival.

Reviewed by Colin Anderson, Classicalsource.com:
[The Second Symphony] is still not an easy work. But you can’t fault this performance. Jurowski conducted with his typical incisive beat and expressive left hand. He got playing from the RCM Orchestra that the London Philharmonic may not have bettered, coping with the sheer force and loudness of the music and its complexity. It was a shattering performance.

The next concert in the festival is tomorrow evening, Wed 25 Jan, at Royal Festival Hall, where Vladimir Jurowski will conduct the LPO in a concert of Prokofiev’s ballet music and the Fourth Piano Concerto with soloist Leon Fleisher. There are still tickets available: more information and booking details here.

lpo.org.uk
Follow us on Twitter: @LPOrchestra

More reviews: 18 January 2012 – Vladimir Jurowski & Steven Osborne

The London Philharmonic Orchestra performed Prokofiev’s Symphonic Song, Piano Concerto No. 5 and Symphony No. 6 at Royal Festival Hall on Wednesday 18 January, under conductor Vladimir Jurowski with pianist Steven Osborne. This was part of the LPO’s Prokofiev: Man of the People? festival, which runs until 1 February.

The concert was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and is available to listen again free until Tuesday 24 January via BBC iPlayer.

Reviewed by Martin Kettle, The Guardian:
Jurowski’s account of the symphony was compelling, a vindication of the sixth’s ever-growing reputation. Crucially, he never allowed the gaudier moments to outweigh the opening movement’s eerie orchestral ruminations and the sinister facetiousness of the finale that gives the work such a dark, inner chill.

Reviewed by Douglas Cooksey, Classicalsource.com:
In a finely judged partnership with Jurowski and the LPO, [the Piano Concerto No. 5] came across as more concertante rather than concerto, the soloist very much a first among equals. With elegant clarinet solos from Nicholas Carpenter and an insouciant wit, the second movement’s jazz echoes were finely delineated.

Previous reviews of the concert here.

The next Royal Festival Hall event in the festival is The Prokofiev Diaries, on Sunday 22 January at 3.30pm. There are still tickets available: more information and booking details here.

lpo.org.uk
Follow us on Twitter: @LPOrchestra

Reviews: 18 January 2012 – Vladimir Jurowski & Steven Osborne

The London Philharmonic Orchestra performed Prokofiev’s Symphonic Song, Piano Concerto No. 5 and Symphony No. 6 at Royal Festival Hall on Wednesday 18 January, under conductor Vladimir Jurowski with pianist Steven Osborne. This was part of the LPO’s Prokofiev: Man of the People? festival, which runs until 1 February.

The concert was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and is available to listen again free until Tuesday 24 January via BBC iPlayer.

Reviewed by Edward Seckerson, The Independent:
[Prokofiev] wrote nothing more disturbing or more emotive and Jurowski and the LPO packed a massive punch in realising it. Long before the jolly peasant dance turns to ominous goose-stepping in the finale, comes a slow movement so mired in oppression that its lyricism can barely break free of the surface. Stunning.

Reviewed by Ivan Hewett, The Telegraph:
Pianist Steven Osborne seized these rare moments and made them eloquent, such as the strange passage where his delicate overlapping ribbons of scales at the top of the piano were pitted against sad bassoons. Later, when the flute unwound a tender melody, Osborne’s accompaniment inched in magically from silence.

Reviewed by Gavin Dixon, Orpheus Complex blog:
The orchestra were on top form, with the brass and percussion putting in particularly visceral performances. Jurowski articulated the shape and drama of the work with efficiency and passion.

The next Royal Festival Hall event in the festival is The Prokofiev Diaries, on Sunday 22 January at 3.30pm. There are still tickets available: more information and booking details here.

lpo.org.uk
Follow us on Twitter: @LPOrchestra

Prokofiev 18/01/12: broadcast available on iplayer

Prokofiev: Man of the People?
Royal Festival Hall, 18 January 2012

Last night’s concert was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, and is available on iplayer for one week:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01975yq 

Prokofiev Symphonic Song
Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 5
Prokofiev Symphony No. 6

Vladimir Jurowski conductor
Stephen Osborne piano
London Philharmonic Orchestra

Listen on BBC iplayer until Tuesday 24 January: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01975yq

Find out more about all events in the Prokofiev festival: lpo.org.uk/prokofiev

Reviews: 13 January 2012 – Alexander Vedernikov & Danjulo Ishizaka

The London Philharmonic Orchestra performed Prokofiev’s Lieutenant Kijé Suite, Cello Concerto in E minor and Symphony No. 7 at Royal Festival Hall on Friday 13 January, under conductor Alexander Vedernikov with cellist Danjulo Ishizaka. This was the opening concert of the ‘Prokofiev: Man of the People?’ festival, which runs until 1 February. Visit the festival microsite here.

Reviewed by Edward Seckerson, The Independent:
Vedernikov was very laid-back with Kijé, a more genial, throw-away approach than we sometimes hear with bass drum thwacks and discordant raspberries from the brass like cartoonish exclamations and the earthy colourations realised with an air of total “normality”.

Reviewed by Mark Berry on Boulezian blog:
Ishizaka’s technique was well-nigh impeccable – the cello part is ferociously difficult – but equally noteworthy was the impassioned nature of his performance.

Reviewed by Colin Anderson, Classicalsource.com:
The London Philharmonic Orchestra’s ‘Prokofiev Man of the People?’ series could not have got off to a better start … [Ishizaka] was fully on top of the huge technical demands and made music with those so-many notes and their maze-like twists and turns. The accompaniment was a work of art, too.

Reviewed by Nick Kimberley, The Evening Standard:
If music ‘of the people’ should be tuneful, evocative and colourful, this fitted the bill. Throw in genial and acerbic, and you get the measure of Vedernikov’s reading, full of pungent solos delivered with insouciant sparkle.

Reviewed by Tim Ashley, The Guardian:
Danjulo Ishizaka’s performance was an exceptional feat of virtuosity, stamina and memory.

The next concert in the festival is tomorrow, Wednesday 18 January, when Vladimir Jurowski conducts Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 6,  Symphonic Song, and Piano Concerto No. 5 with soloist Steven Osborne. More details and online booking.

lpo.org.uk
Follow us on Twitter: @LPOrchestra

Listen again: concert of Anderson, Mozart and Tchaikovsky online

Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Anderson now online

The next full concert in the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s ListenAgain season is now available online.
Recorded last December with conductor Vladimir Jurowski, we hope you enjoy listening to Janine Jansen perform Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5. The programme also contains Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony and Fantasias by our Composer in Residence Julian Anderson.
Listen again >

Concert review by Martin Kettle, The Guardian:
‘Janine Jansen and a slimmed-down LPO produced a performance of the Mozart concerto that was in every respect like a visitation from another musical world. From her very first entry, a magically reflective tiny adagio amid the surrounding opening movement allegro, the refinement of Jansen’s silvery tone drew the audience into a reading characterised by great intimacy, with Jurowski now reinvented as a most sensitive accompanist.’
Concert review by Richard Fairman, Financial Times:
‘A white-hot performance – not emotionally indulgent, as Rostropovich used to be in Tchaikovsky, but concentrated to a gripping level of intensity.’
Julian Anderson Fantasias
Mozart Violin Concerto No. 5
Tchaikovsky Manfred Symphony
Vladimir Jurowski conductor
Janine Jansen violin
London Philharmonic Orchestra
recorded 3 December 2011 at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall.  The concert is available online until 24 January.
We’ve also included the programme notes from the concert and an audio interview with Julian Anderson in which he introduces his work.

Listen again >

Prokofiev: from the diaries 2

From student days at St Petersburg until 1933, just before he finally returned from the West to live out the remainder of his life in the Soviet Union, Prokofiev kept a uniquely revealing diary to which he confided his innermost thoughts, the struggles and triumphs of his creative life; the events and encounters of his turbulent life at the centre of the most explosive period of 20th-century art.

Find out what Prokofiev was writing in his diaries in the weeks after Christmas between 1915 and 1922.

5 January

Today 1919: Rachm’off’s outward civility towards Americans = quality that’s prevented them seeing thru his mildly insulting arrogance

Today 1920: L’heure espagnole is typical Ravel: diffuse, liquescent, elegant, wonderful-sounding, often very witty

4 January

Today 1915: Scene 1 of Chout is inching forward, in between my learning the Second Concerto

Today 1920: Another day of quiet and calm. Am learning Scriabin.

3 January

Today 1919: finished the Act. Oh, what a marvellous final chord!

Today 1916: clearly my organ studies have strengthened my 4th and 5th fingers – the Etude No. 2 took off with unexpected velocity

2 January

Today 1920: going through libretto for Fiery Angel again line by line and filling in a few blanks

Today 1916: have learned to play some pieces by Chopin and Grieg… feeling pleased with myself

Today 1915: on the point of a break-through with my Concerto…

1 January

Today 1920: at ‘Pelléas and once again have fallen under its spell. The most astonishing work! The music catches you as if in a web

Today 1918: Saw in the New Year with Lina. Interesting company, fireworks, very jolly

31 December

Today 1918: & so farewell, my dear notebook, in which I’ve faithfully written every day. It’s time to begin another, American, book

Today 1918: The way New Year is welcomed in New York is silly and trivial…it has no poetry

Today 1921: more or less drunk,… feeling serenely happy

30 December

Today 1921: wine in America is something of a rarity, but after a successful performance we really do need a drink

Today 1919: 3 new operas by Puccini…music is pretty empty, sometimes pleasant, sometimes bad, but way he uses the stage is masterly

Today 1918: buying myself a top hat to replace the one knocked from my head during the peaceful demonstration

Today 1921: And so, the day of the Premiere

29 December

Today 1921: What’s the point of having 15 orchestral rehs if 5 of the musicians only turn up for concert & wreck the whole thing!

28 December

Today 1921: Spending the evening with Baranovskaya…her American ladies keep hanging around us. Dull.

Today 1920: taken a tram to the ocean…enjoyed a go on the roller-coaster. It was splendid – really high

Today 1917: to go to America! Of course! Here is wretchedness; there life brimming over…No time for hesitation

27 December

Today 1918: so tired I’ve gone to the cinema, something I very rarely do

Today 1920: at the ocean at sunset – shimmering with the most beautiful colours

26 December

Today 1921: Bridge at Baklanov’s with Smallens, both of them playing like old boots and losing. I’ve won $10

Today 1919: left my apartment at 340 west 57^th street to start my journey to Chicago

Prokofiev Diaries – 22 January 2012, 3.30pm, Royal Festival Hall

Anthony Phillips, who translated the diaries into English, has devised a programme in which readings from the diaries and other autobiographical writings and  musical extracts will throw light on what lies behind some of the music created by this most complex, elusive and original genius.  Simon Callow is Prokofiev, with Joan Rogers, soprano and Piers Lane piano, Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Find out more at www.lpo.org.uk/prokofiev

Prokofiev: Man of the People? runs from 13 January – 1 February 2012.

Prokofiev: from the diaries 1

From student days at St Petersburg until 1933, just before he finally returned from the West to live out the remainder of his life in the Soviet Union, Prokofiev kept a uniquely revealing diary to which he confided his innermost thoughts, the struggles and triumphs of his creative life; the events and encounters of his turbulent life at the centre of the most explosive period of 20th-century art.

Imagine how Prokofiev would have responded to Twitter, and read below what Prokofiev was writing in his diaries in the weeks leading up to Christmas between 1917 and 1922.

25 December

Today 1922: went sledging down the Ettal mountains

Today 1920: Christmas Day, sunny, green and warm

Today 1918: Christmas. Although I do not even know whether Christmas still exists in Russia

24 December

Today 1917: Christmas. Cold and clear

Today 1920: head has ached all day as a result of yesterday’s drunkenness

Today 1918: Rachmaninoff played well, but in aggressive, Rachmaninovian way that subjectively I don’t like although objectively I know is estimable

Today 1918: No, Rachmaninoff! He’s sold his soul to the devil for $$! Chopin Waltzes, Liszt Rhapsodies, his own Polka – dreadful!

Today 1918: …to Rachmaninoff’s concert

Today 1918: business matters to attend to this morning…

23 December

Today 1918: Spent the evening with Rachmaninoff, who was amiable and, if I may put it this way, passive.

22 December

Today 1920: my performance in San Diego was an uncommitted one…but the success was the greatest I had on tour, I played 6 encores.

21 December

Today 1921: playing a short session of Bridge, have won $3

Today 1921: changed my clothes, rubbed myself with eau de cologne and lying down to drink tea and smoke cigarettes

Today 1921: a very important rehearsal: the first time on stage with the orchestra…

20 December

Today 1921: all month I’ve been reading about 20 works of Russian fiction…mainly for relaxation between and after rehearsals

17 December

Today 1921: the applause was greater today, as to be expected since a higher proportion of the audience was men, who clap louder

Today 1919: going to the cinema, which in my present volatile mood affords me the best relaxation

Today 1919: pasting reviews in to my scrapbook and jotting down some themes I have in mind for ‘Fiery Angel’

Prokofiev Diaries – 22 January 2012, 3.30pm, Royal Festival Hall

Anthony Phillips, who translated the diaries into English, has devised a programme in which readings from the diaries and other autobiographical writings and  musical extracts will throw light on what lies behind some of the music created by this most complex, elusive and original genius.  Simon Callow is Prokofiev, with Joan Rogers, soprano and Piers Lane piano, Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Find out more at www.lpo.org.uk/prokofiev

Prokofiev: Man of the People? runs from 13 January – 1 February 2012.

Diary extracts 26 December – 5 January

Podcast: introduction to the Prokofiev festival

Prokofiev: Man of the People? is the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s January 2012 festival. Fourteen events over 20 days expore one of the most misunderstood men in 20th-century music.

Vladimir Jurowski is the festival’s Artistic Director. In this podcast he introduces Prokofiev, puts his music in the context of the early 20th century, explores his diaries and reveals the strange history of the new version of Ivan the Terrible to be performed on 28 January.

Listen to the podcast  (via the LPO website).   Also available from itunes.

‘In my view, the composer, just as the poet, the sculptor or the painter, is in duty bound to serve Man, the people. He must beutify human life and defend it. He must be a citizen first and foremost, so that his art might conscionsly extol human life and lead man to a radiant future. Such is the immutable code of art as I see it.’ Sergei Prokofiev

There’s lots more information about Prokofiev and the festival on the festival website: http://www.lpo.org.uk/prokofiev/home.html