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Wednesday 23 June 1pm to 2.15pm
BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert:
Laura van der Heijden and Jâms Coleman

Zoltán Kodály Sonatina
Antonín Dvořák Songs My Mother Taught Me
Leoš Janáček Pohádka
Ludwig van Beethoven Cello Sonata No 1 in F major Op 5 No 1

Laura van der Heijden cello
Jâms Coleman piano


Recorded for broadcast by BBC Radio 3.

BBC Radio 3 logo

LSO St Luke's Jerwood Hall

© Matthew Weinreb

LSO St Luke's Jerwood Hall

© Matthew Weinreb

Support the LSO and LSO St Luke's

The importance of music and the arts has never been more apparent than in recent months, as we’ve been inspired, comforted and entertained throughout this unprecedented period.

As we emerge from the most challenging period of a generation, please consider supporting our Always Playing Appeal to sustain the Orchestra and our venue LSO St Luke's, assist our recovery from the pandemic and allow us to continue sharing music with the broadest range of people possible.

Every donation will help to support our future.


You can also donate now via text.

Text LSOAPPEAL 5, LSOAPPEAL 10 or LSOAPPEAL 20 to 70085 to donate £5, £10 or £20.

Texts cost £5, £10 or £20 plus one standard rate message and you’ll be opting in to hear more about our work and fundraising via telephone and SMS. If you’d like to give but do not wish to receive marketing communications, text LSOAPPEALNOINFO 5, 10 or 20 to 70085. UK numbers only.

Zoltán Kodály

Sonatina

✒️ 1910 | ⏰ 9 minutes

In 1922, Zoltán Kodály composed an extra movement for his 1910 Sonata for Cello and Piano, which had previously been performed as a diptych. However, he decided that his musical idiom had changed too much for him to combine the two works. He thus – it is believed – transformed the new movement into the Sonatina, which was eventually published in 1969.

The piece’s title refers to its structure: a compressed sonata form without a formal development section. The shimmering piano textures and rich harmonies show the influence of Claude Debussy – not least his 1915 Cello Sonata – while the pentatonic melodies pay tribute to Kodály’s beloved Hungarian folk music. Striking features include the impressionistic opening piano solo, and the inventive transformation of themes in the recapitulation. The music is lyrically intense – only in the closing bars does it achieve serenity.

Note by Kate Hopkins


Zoltán Kodály
1882 to 1967 (Hungary)

Zoltán Kodály

Sir Arthur Bliss once noted that the ‘voice of Kodály in music is the voice of Hungary’. Zoltán Kodály was born in the small Hungarian town of Keckskemét, and received his elementary education in Galánta where his father became station master. In 1900 he moved to Budapest where he studied Hungarian and German at the Pázmány University and enrolled at the city’s developing Academy of Music. Church works dominate his early compositional output. At this time his fascination for Hungarian folk music took hold and he collaborated with Béla Bartók on a project to collect, notate and edit national folk songs and dances.

Following lessons in Paris with Charles-Marie Widor, Kodály returned to Budapest in 1907 to lecture at the Academy of Music. He also contributed music reviews to various publications, and continued his folk-song studies with Bartók. Political upheavals in 1919 robbed Kodály of his post as deputy director of the Academy of Music; however, his career received a significant boost with the premiere in 1923 of the Psalmus Hungaricus, a grand oratorio composed to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the union of Buda and Pest. The work was soon recognised abroad, its success followed by that of Kodály’s opera Háry János (1926) and its related orchestral suite.

During the 1930s he completed two suites of folk dances, the Dances of Marosszék and the Dances of Galánta, which swiftly entered the orchestral repertoire. During the Second World War Kodály remained in Budapest where he managed to help many Jews and others persecuted by the Nazis.

In addition to his work as a composer, Kodály continued his folk-music researches –publishing five volumes of Hungarian folk music – and also developed an influential method of music instruction for young children.

Composer profile by Andrew Stewart

Antonín Dvořák

Songs My Mother Taught Me

✒️ 1880 | ⏰ 2 minutes

'Songs My Mother Taught Me' is the fourth of Dvořák’s Gypsy Songs, composed in 1880. The text describes the singer’s nostalgia for the melodies her mother taught her, which she now teaches to her own children. The song is notable for the different time signatures in voice and piano, which create a dreamy, rhapsodic atmosphere. Its long, flowing melody has made it very popular in instrumental arrangements, including one for violin and piano by Fritz Kreisler, and the version heard today for cello and piano.

Note by Kate Hopkins


Antonín Dvořák
1841 to 1904 (Bohemia, now Czech Republic)

Antonín Dvořák

Born into a peasant family, Antonín Dvořák developed a love of folk tunes at an early age. His father inherited the lease on a butcher’s shop in the small village of Nelahozeves, north of Prague. When he was twelve, the boy left school and was apprenticed to become a butcher, at first working in his father’s shop and later in the town of Zlonice. Here Dvořák learned German and also refined his musical talents to such a level that his father agreed he should pursue a career as a musician.

In 1857 he enrolled at the Prague Organ School, during which time he became inspired by the music dramas of Wagner: opera was to become a constant feature of Dvořák’s creative life. His first job was as a viola player, supplementing his income by teaching. In the mid-1860s he began to compose a series of large-scale works, including his Symphony No 1 ‘The Bells of Zlonice’, and the Cello Concerto. Two operas, a second symphony, many songs and chamber works followed before he decided to concentrate on composition.

In 1873 he married one of his pupils, and in 1874 received a much-needed cash grant from the Austrian government. Johannes Brahms lobbied the publisher Simrock to accept Dvořák’s work, leading to the publication of his Moravian Duets and a commission for a set of Slavonic Dances.

The nationalist themes expressed in Dvořák’s music attracted considerable interest beyond Prague. In 1883 he was invited to London to conduct a concert of his works, and he returned to England often in the 1880s to oversee the premieres of several important commissions, including his Seventh Symphony, and Requiem Mass. Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B minor received its world premiere in London in March 1896. His Ninth Symphony ‘From the New World’, a product of Dvořák’s American years (1892–95), confirmed his place among the finest of late 19th-century composers.

Composer profile by Andrew Stewart

Leoš Janáček

Pohádka

✒️ 1910, rev 1924 | ⏰ 13 minutes

1 Con moto
2 Con moto
3 Allegro

Leoš Janáček’s fascination with Russian culture informed some of his greatest compositions, including the operas Kát’a Kabanová and From the House of the Dead, and this work for cello and piano. Pohádka’s inspiration is Vasily Zhukovsky’s epic poem The Tale of Tsar Berendyey. The title is sometimes translated as ‘fairytale’ but simply means ‘a tale’. The piece exists in three versions – from 1910, 1912 and 1923 – but is now heard only in the final one, published in 1924.

Cellist Steven Isserlis has outlined the story behind the work. The first movement opens by an enchanted lake, illustrated through rippling piano figuration. A pizzicato (plucked) cello motif introduces Tsarevich Ivan. His ensuing romantic encounter with Tsarevna Maria inspires increasingly passionate music. Rapid syncopations in both cello and piano portray the couple’s horseback escape from Maria’s tyrannical father Kaschei.

The mercurial second movement depicts Ivan’s bewitchment by a cunning Tsar, Maria’s transformation into a blue flower, and their subsequent rescue by a wise magician. The cello writing – including pizzicato passages and a soaring melody that indicates Ivan’s restoration to sanity – is particularly arresting. A cheerful, rustic melody, introduced by the cello, dominates the tranquil third movement. This portrays the couple’s triumphant return to Ivan’s home and subsequent mutual happiness.

Pohádka featured on the soundtrack to the 1988 film The Unbearable Lightness of Being, based on the novel by Milan Kundera.

Note by Kate Hopkins


Leoš Janáček
1854 to 1928 (Moravia, now Czech Republic)

Leoš Janáček

Leoš Janáček left his family home at Hukvaldy in 1865 to become a chorister in Brno, and in 1869 he received a state scholarship to support studies at the Czech Teachers’ Training Institute. He moved to Prague in 1874 and studied at the celebrated Organ School, returning to Brno the following year. Composition studies in Leipzig and Vienna (1879–80) added to Janáèek’s blossoming skills as a composer.

In 1881 he married the 16-year-old Zdenka Schulzová but the marriage soon failed. However during this period he helped to found the Brno Organ School, which later became the Brno Conservatory.

In 1887 he began work on his first opera, Šarka, but Moravian folk music and popular culture increasingly fascinated Janáček, influencing a gradual rejection of the High Romantic musical language of Šarka for a style that reflected his passion for Slavic languages and the musicality of his native tongue. He worked from 1894 to 1903 on his opera Jenùfa, which was successfully premiered in Brno in January 1904 and for the next 20 years he concentrated on works for the stage. A creative upsurge in his sixties coincided with his impassionate though platonic affair with Kamilla Stösslová, wife of an antiques dealer and 37 years the composer’s junior.

International recognition was underpinned by the Berlin and New York premieres of Jenùfa (1924) and the overwhelming dramatic impact of his operas Katya Kabanova, The Cunning Little Vixen and The Makropulos Case. The Glagolitic Mass
(1927), his last opera From the House of the Dead (1927–28) and the Second String Quartet (1928) crowned Janáček's creative Indian summer, brought to a conclusion when he caught a chill which quickly developed into fatal pneumonia.

Composer profile by Andrew Stewart

Ludwig van Beethoven

Cello Sonata No 1 in F major Op 5 No 1

✒️ c 1796 | ⏰ 25 minutes

1 Adagio sostenuto – Allegro
2 Allegro vivace

Ludwig van Beethoven wrote his two Op 5 sonatas for cello and piano in 1796 during a visit to Berlin. He dedicated them to King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia. The premiere took place at court, with Beethoven accompanying the King’s lead cellist Jean-Pierre Duport. The King – himself a keen cellist for whom Mozart had written his 'Prussian' Quartets – was delighted with the performance, and presented Beethoven with a gold snuff box filled with money. The Op 5 set of sonatas were published the following year.

These works are the first for cello and piano that give the instruments equal prominence. The F major sonata is, unusually, in two movements only. The pensive Adagio sostenuto introduction to the first movement is characterised by fragmentary melodies and occasional outbursts of passion. It leads directly into the sonata-form Allegro, which features a buoyant first subject passed from piano to cello, and a more volatile second one in which the mood fluctuates between the placid and the heroic. The movement’s extended coda includes a tender, brief Adagio section, and a Presto cadenza-like passage for the piano.

The second movement is a witty Rondo. The sunny main theme features imitation between piano and cello and some playful rhythmic instability. Striking episodic material includes a gypsy-like minor melody in the piano accompanied by cello pizzicato, and passages in which the cello plays a rustic ‘drone bass’ under a rising piano figuration. Beethoven keeps a surprise up his sleeve for the coda, where a slow, dreamy cello and piano dialogue gives a misleading sense of calm, before a cascade of piano arpeggios sweep the sonata to its exhilarating conclusion.

Note by Kate Hopkins


Ludwig van Beethoven
1770 (Germany) to 1827 (Austria)

Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven showed early musical promise, yet reacted against his father's attempts to train him as a child prodigy. The boy pianist attracted the support of the Prince-Archbishop, who supported his studies with leading musicians at the Bonn court. By the early 1780s Beethoven had completed his first compositions, all of which were for keyboard. With the decline of his alcoholic father, Ludwig became the family breadwinner as a musician at court.

Encouraged by his employer, the Prince-Archbishop Maximilian Franz, Beethoven travelled to Vienna to study with Joseph Haydn. The younger composer fell out with his renowned mentor when the latter discovered he was secretly taking lessons from several other teachers. Although Maximilian Franz withdrew payments for Beethoven's Viennese education, the talented musician had already attracted support from some of the city's wealthiest arts patrons.

His public performances in 1795 were well received, and he shrewdly negotiated a contract with Artaria & Co, the largest music publisher in Vienna. He was soon able to devote his time to composition or the performance of his own works. In 1800 Beethoven began to complain bitterly of deafness, but despite suffering the distress and pain of tinnitus, chronic stomach ailments, liver problems and an embittered legal case for the guardianship of his nephew, Beethoven created a series of remarkable new works, including the Missa solemnis and his late symphonies and piano sonatas.

It is thought that around 10,000 people followed his funeral procession on 29 March 1827. Certainly, his posthumous reputation developed to influence successive generations of composers and other artists inspired by the heroic aspects of Beethoven's character and the profound humanity of his music.

Composer profile by Andrew Stewart

Artist Biographies

Laura van der Heijden
cello

Laura van der Heijden

© Chris Gloag

© Chris Gloag

Hailed by the Guardian as a 'thoughtful artist with much to say', Laura van der Heijden has emerged as one of the leading cellists of her generation, captivating audiences and critics alike with the sensitivity of her sound and interpretations. She can already look back on a number of exceptional achievements, among them being the winner of the BBC Young Musician competition, and performing with such distinguished musicians as Sir Andrew Davis, Karl-Heinz Steffens, Kirill Karabits, Huw Watkins, Krzysztof Chorzelski and the Brodsky Quartet. In 2016 Laura was chosen by the Orpheum Stiftung in Switzerland, a foundation encouraging and assisting exceptionally talented young instrumental soloists. Under this umbrella she appeared in recital with Fazil Say at Zürich Tonhalle.

Laura’s 2018 debut album 1948, featuring Russian music for cello and piano with pianist Petr Limonov, won the 2018 Edison Klassiek Award (broadcast live on Dutch TV), and the 2019 BBC Music Magazine Newcomer Award. The CD has been hailed as a 'dazzling, imaginative and impressive' debut recording.

The 2019/20 season saw her perform with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in Aldeburgh, Tchaikovsky Symphony in Moscow, Prague Symphony, London Philharmonic and BBC Philharmonic Orchestras.

In the past few years, Laura has performed with leading orchestras such as the Philharmonia, Hallé Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Royal Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, as well as the European Union Chamber and English Chamber Orchestras. She has also given debuts in Holland, Germany, New Zealand, and in Australia with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in the opening concert of the inaugural BBC Proms Australia. Recent highlights also include recitals at Tonhalle Zürich, Wigmore Hall and Musashino Cultural Foundation in Japan, as well as her participation at the music festivals of West Cork, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Krzyzowa Music.

Chamber music is immensely important to Laura. She has collaborated with Tom Poster, Huw Watkins, Petr Limonov, Katya Apekisheva, Matthew MacDonald and Krzysztof Chorzelski, and regularly participates in international chamber music courses and festivals. She is also a regular player with the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, an Associate Ensemble at the Wigmore Hall.

Laura plays a late 17th-century cello by Francesco Ruggieri of Cremona, on generous loan from a private collection.

Jâms Coleman
piano

Jâms Coleman

© Sim Canetty-Clarke

© Sim Canetty-Clarke

From Anglesey, North Wales, Jâms Coleman is a pianist who enjoys a rich and varied musical life, performing as a soloist, chamber musician and vocal accompanist.

Recital highlights this season have included performing with Sir Bryn Terfel in a live BBC Radio 3 broadcast from St David’s Hall, Cardiff in December and performing with bass-baritone Michael Mofidian in a live-streamed recital at the Oxford Lieder Festival in October.

Forthcoming recordings include a disc of Loewe songs with baritone Nicholas Mogg for Champs Hill Records, and a recital of Czech and Hungarian music with Laura van der Heijden for Chandos Records.

As a vocal accompanist, he enjoys collaborating with many singers, and his engagements have included recitals with Ailish Tynan, James Gilchrist, Sir John Tomlinson, Robert Murray, Nicholas Mulroy, Nicky Spence, Robert Murray, Andrew Kennedy, James Newby, Lauren Fagan, Michael Mofidian and Nicholas Mogg.

Chamber music engagements include performances in the UK and across Europe with instrumentalists Laura van der Heijden, Jamal Aliyev, Steffan Morris, Timothy Ridout, Peter Moore, Luke Hsu, Clio Gould and Maggie Faultless. He has performed live on BBC Radio 3, BBC World Service, BBC 2’s Proms Extra, BBC Radio Cymru and S4C.

Jâms enjoys performing solo recitals and as a concerto soloist. Concerto performances include Beethoven’s Third, Fourth and Fifth Piano Concertos and concertos by Chopin, Brahms and Mozart.

Jâms read Music at Girton College, Cambridge, where he was also a choral scholar. In 2016 he graduated with a Masters from the Royal Academy of Music where he then stayed on as a Fellow. In 2018 he was the Artistic Director of a concert series based in St Clement Danes Church in Central London, which featured 24 lunchtime concerts and five evening concerts.

LSO St Luke's exterior

© Neil Wilkinson

© Neil Wilkinson

Thank You for Joining Us

As we emerge from the most challenging period of a generation, please consider supporting our Always Playing Appeal to sustain our work at LSO St Luke's and allow us to continue sharing our music with the broadest range of people possible.

Every donation will help to support our future.


You can also donate now via text.

Text LSOAPPEAL 5, LSOAPPEAL 10 or LSOAPPEAL 20 to 70085 to donate £5, £10 or £20.

Texts cost £5, £10 or £20 plus one standard rate message and you’ll be opting in to hear more about our work and fundraising via telephone and SMS. If you’d like to give but do not wish to receive marketing communications, text LSOAPPEALNOINFO 5, 10 or 20 to 70085. UK numbers only.

Next BBC Radio 3 Concert

Wednesday 23 June 6.30pm, LSO St Luke's
Artist Spotlight:
Benjamin Grosvenor

Internationally recognised for his electrifying performances, distinctive sound and insightful interpretations, British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor dazzles in this early evening concert.

Schumann Kreisleriana
Ginastera Danzas Argentinas
Ravel Gaspard de la nuit

Benjamin Grosvenor piano

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Programme Contributors

Kate Hopkins writes on classical music and on literature. Her work has featured in publications including The Wagner Journal, NB Magazine and programme books for The Royal Opera, ENO and WNO.

Andrew Stewart is a freelance music journalist and writer. He is the author of The LSO at 90, and contributes to a wide variety of specialist classical music publications.