Not one but two new CDs just released on the London Philharmonic Orchestra CD Label:

Vladimir Jurowski conducts Tchaikovsky Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5
£10.99 (2 CDs)
Recorded live at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall on 19 March and 4 May 2011
LPO-0064
More details, listen to soundclips and buy now

Paavo Berglund conducts Sibelius Symphonies Nos. 5 & 6 and The Swan of Tuonela
£9.99 (1 CD)
Recorded live at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall on 31 May 2011 (Symphony 5), 6 December 2003 (Symphony 6), and at  Queen Elizabeth Hall on 22 September 2006 (The Swan of Tuonela)
LPO-0065
More details, listen to soundclips and buy now

All LPO Label recordings available from www.lpo.org.uk/shop, the London Philharmonic Orchestra Box Office (020 7840 4242, Monday–Friday 10am–5pm), all good CD outlets, and the Royal Festival Hall shop.

Downloads available from iTunes, Amazon, eMusic and classicsonline.com.
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The London Philharmonic Orchestra appeared at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday 18 August as part of the BBC Proms. Under conductor Vladimir Jurowski, the Orchestra performed Weber’s overture to Der Freischütz, Mahler’s song-cycle Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with mezzo-soprano Alice Coote, and Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony. Here are the first reviews of the concert:

‘Jurowski’s interpretation [of Manfred] reminded us that its psychological complexity and force are as much rooted in detail as in cumulative sweep. The opening woodwind phrases were carefully moulded, yet also indicative of a soul in crisis. The phantasmagoric scherzo, depicting Manfred’s encounter with the witch of the Alps, was played with quicksilver virtuosity, while the orgiastic opening to the finale was brilliant as well as wild.’
Tim Ashley, The Guardian

‘Manfred, though, is one of Tchaikovsky’s greatest virtuoso scores, and the LPO was clearly revelling in it, with some brilliantly liberated woodwind-playing, a lithe string sound that fed us just enough opulence and a stunningly fine scherzo, all driven by Jurowski’s unflappable, spacious appraisal.’
Peter Reed, Classicalsource.com

‘The text is short and wistful, but Coote gave it the most wonderful resonance, with a sound of sustained richness and a coloration subtly graded along the gamut of pitch and emotion. Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic were her sensitive companions.’
Michael Church, The Independent

‘Jurowski really is the man you need for this sort of thing [Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony] — he drives it all on, tortured Romantic hero, innocent victim and dramatically evocative backdrop of nature and all. The doom-filled close of the first movement, the delicate second and above all the minutely judged scherzo in the third all found the orchestra in cracking form.’
Melanie Eskenazi, MusicOMH.com

‘Jurowski brings an astonishing breadth and depth to [Manfred], seeping it in the queasy twists and turns of the protagonist’s mind, and the LPO responds to that challenge with vehemence.’ (5 stars)
Neil Fisher, The Times (not online)

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We are delighted to introduce the four composers who have been selected for the Leverhulme Young Composers Programme for 12/13. Please welcome…

Hannah Kendall
Daniel Kidane
Peter Yarde Martin
Stephen Willey

These four composers will work throughout the year with our Composer in Residence, Julian Anderson. The programme will culminate in the LPO’s Debut Sounds concert on 10 June, 2013 for which each will write an 8-minute piece for a chamber orchestra of LPO players and performers taking part in the Foyle Future Firsts programme.

Hannah Kendall studied at the University of Exeter and the Royal College of Music. Her music has been performed by the BBC Singers and Onyx Brass amongst others. Her submitted piece, Shard, was premiered at the Cheltenham Festival by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra earlier this year.

Daniel Kidane has studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and the St Petersburg Conservatoire. He has written music with the Manchester Camarata and RLPO’s 10/10 ensemble and has had his music performed in festivals in Oxford and Bath, at the Purcell Room as part of the Park Lane Group and at the Adelaide International Cello Festival.

Peter Yarde Martin is a graduate of Pembroke College, Cambridge and is currently studying with Malcolm Singer at the Guildhall. He has written music for dance, for members of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and has been workshopped by the Britten Sinfonia.

Stephen Willey is currently studying at the Birmingham Conservatoire. He is co-founder and director of the ensemble Thumb and his music has also been performed by the BCMG. In addition, he has written music for theatre productions at the Birmingham Rep and Nuffield Theatre, Southampton.

We are very much looking forward to working with Hannah, Daniel, Peter and Stephen and cannot wait to hear their upcoming work.

This programme is supported by an Arts Portfolio Grant from The Leverhulme Trust. The London Philharmonic Orchestra is extremely grateful for the long-term support of The Leverhulme Trust for this scheme.

For more information on this and other education programmes, visit www.lpo.org.uk/education

The 2012 Glyndebourne Festival continues with a double-bill of Ravel’s operas L’Enfant et les sortilèges and L’heure espagnole, featuring the London Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Kazushi Ono. Here are the latest reviews (you can read earlier reviews here).

‘Top-notch performances such as Stephanie d’Oustrac’s flamboyantly voracious Concepcion, Alek Shrader’s hippy poet Gonzalve, Paul Gay’s prosperous Don Inigo and Elliot Madore’s credibly dumb but muscularly gifted Ramiro make this an unalloyed treat.’
George Hall, The Stage

‘The London Philharmonic Orchestra plays elegantly under Ono, the flimsy Spanish sex farce and surreal fantasy becoming something wise and kind.’
Anna Picard, The Independent on Sunday (not published online)

‘The London Philharmonic Orchestra under conductor Kazushi Ono brings out the richness of Ravel’s blend of 20th-century ragtime and bitonality with 19th-century romanticism, which tantalises and delights the ear.’
Clare Colvin, Sunday Express (not published online)

The Ravel double-bill continues until 25 August. More information, including booking details and full creative team and cast details, here.

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After around 500 applications and nearly 200 auditions involving London Philharmonic Orchestra principals and senior players, we are delighted to announce our Foyle Future First Members for 2012-13.

The 16 musicians will spend a year with the LPO sitting in and playing in rehearsals, having lessons with LPO Principals, gaining experience in mock auditions, performing as a chamber group, performing alongside LPO musicians at Debut Sounds (June 2013) and getting involved in the wider Education & Community programme.

The 16 young instrumentalists are:

Stephanie Tepper – Flute            
Lucinda Dalton – Oboe
Adam Slater – Clarinet
Sophie Robertshaw – Bassoon
Anna Ovsyanikova – Violin
Elizabeth Lamberton – Violin
Steve Doman – Viola
Anne Chauveau – Cello
Katy Furmanski – Double Bass
Mark Bennett – French Horn
Hannah Bishop – Trumpet
Barry Clements – Bass Trombone
Raymond Hearne – Tuba
SoYeong Kim – Piano
Toby Kearney – Percussion and Timpani
Rebecca Royce – Harp

Their performances this season include:

• Wednesday 20 February, 6pm - a performance of Les Maries de la Tour Eiffel by Les Six (orch. Constant) prior to the LPO’s performance at 7.30pm featuring Dvorák’s Symphony No. 9 (From the New World) and Milhaud’s La Création du monde, conducted by Marin Alsop.
  
• Saturday 2 March, 6pm and 9.45pm - a performance of Weill’s Mahagonny Songspiel before and after the LPO’s performance of The Threepenny Opera, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.

The Foyle Future Firsts Programme is generously funded by The Foyle Foundation with additional support from the Angus Allnatt Charitable Foundation, the Idlewild Trust, the Lord and Lady Lurgan Trust, the Seary Charitable Trust and the Musicians Benevolent Fund.

The 2012 Glyndebourne Festival continued with the opening last Saturday of a double-bill of Ravel’s operas L’Enfant et les sortilèges
and L’heure espagnole, featuring the London Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Kazushi Ono. Here are the first press reviews:

‘The performance is a model of idiomatic sparkle, conducted with sublime precision by Kazushi Ono, and tossed off without a tremor by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.’
Stephen Walsh, Theartsdesk.com

‘Kazushi Ono conducts [L’Enfant et les sortilèges] lovingly and the London Philharmonic Orchestra revels in the gorgeously coloured and glowing instrumentation with barbed, feline sweetness.’
Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph

‘You can’t fault the singing, while Kazushi Ono conducts both works with impeccable style.’
Tim Ashley, The Guardian

‘Kazushi Ono’s rarefied conducting and the LPO’s ravishing playing caught the moment to perfection.’
Barry Millington, Evening Standard

‘[In L’Enfant et les sortilèges] the ear is gratified by the London Philharmonic’s pristine and shimmering playing and Kazushi Ono’s well-paced conducting that avoids stasis … [In L’Heure espagnole] once again the LPO played with sensitivity (not least the pair of plaintive oboes that lead things off), beauty of sound, exactitude and dedication that left in no doubt Ravel’s wondrous invention and sheer brilliance of painstaking notation … The music’s jazziness, pastiche, suggestion and compassion are treated as one by Ono and handsomely delivered by a meticulous LPO.’
Colin Anderson, Classicalsource.com

‘This opera [L’Enfant et les sortilèges] lasts just 45 minutes, but I could have wished it three times as long’
Michael Church, The Independent

The Ravel double-bill continues until 25 August. More information, including booking details and full creative team and cast details, here.

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To celebrate all things British and in support of Team GB, we’ve uploaded a concert recorded by the London Philharmonic Orchestra in March 2012. This featured Elgar’s First Symphony and Delius’ Sea Drift alongside the world premiere of The Discovery of Heaven, a newly commissioned work from the Orchestra’s Composer in Residence, Julian Anderson.

Julian Anderson The Discovery of Heaven (world première)*

Delius Sea Drift**

Elgar Symphony No. 1
Sir Mark Elder conductor
Ryan Wigglesworth conductor*
Roderick Williams baritone
London Philharmonic Choir
recorded 24 March 2012 at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall

Listen online until 13 August 2012 >

*Julian Anderson’s The Discovery of Heaven is commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra with kind support from The Boltini Trust and the Britten-Pears Foundation, and the New York Philharmonic (Alan Gilbert, Music Director).  Conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth.
**Performance generously supported by The Delius Trust

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At 8.12am on Friday 27 July, a team of London Philharmonic Orchestra staff took part in the project ‘All The Bells’ – created by  Turner Prizewinner Martin Creed to celebrate the opening day of the 2012 Olympics.

We positioned ourselves on the roof garden terrace of Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, with a selection of tubular bells, and did our best to wake up the commuters passing on Waterloo Bridge.

We were delighted to find this video on YouTube.  We’re still trying to work out where it was taken from – our best guess is from the Boat Hotel on the roof of the Hayward Gallery.

Two of the LPO’s ensembles for local young people are performing as part of the Lewisham Live festival at Blackheath Common this Saturday. In addition to a big screen showing all the Olympic action, the Live Site will feature a beautifully decorative and rare Spiegeltent which will play host to a range of events for all ages including tea dances, cinema, storytelling and live music.

At 12.30pm, Animate Orchestra (Lewisham) will perform under the guidance of Jason Rowlands and with LPO musicians, followed at 1.30pm by The Band led by the unique Tim Steiner.

Animate Orchestra is probably the only orchestra in the world to have a fully-fledged laptop section alongside the more traditional woodwind, brass, string and percussion sections. The Band have been building an enviable reputation for the quality of their music-making this past year after two successful gigs at Royal Festival Hall. Their music is typically a blend of influences brought to the group by the younger members and the LPO musicians, and is taking on an increasingly rich and complex character.

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The London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Education department recently teamed up with our partners at Glyndebourne for a joint composition project for A-level students, inspired by Janácek’s opera The Cunning Little Vixen. Led by Luke Styles – Glyndebourne Young Composer in Residence – 12 students from the East Sussex Academy of Music in Lewes and Bishop Thomas Grant School in Lambeth, London, created work for their Music A-Level exams, using Janácek’s opera as inspiration. The resulting compositions, including a new work by Luke Styles, were performed at Glyndebourne on 27 May, with Glyndebourne singers and players from the LPO.

This short film goes behind the scenes of the project and charts the success of the students involved, with footage of their final performance at Glyndebourne.

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