Programme Notes · London Symphony Orchestra · 26 March 2026
Bihlmaier: Bernstein, Liebermann and Dvořák’s New World
v3 · updated 30 September 2026 · 13 sources
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v3 · 30 September 2026 · Further reading added
- Added three recommended books: Dvořák in America, Burton's Bernstein, New Worlds of Dvořák
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v2 · 30 September 2026 · Sources added; house-style edit
- Added 10 sources
- Removed em dashes
- Liebermann Flute Concerto No. 2: premiere corrected to the Chicago Symphony in 2023 (was March 2024); Höskuldsson described as dedicatee rather than commissioning soloist; unsourced movement markings and 'second and third movements run together' replaced with the LSO's movement descriptions
- Liebermann bio: removed the unsourced Carnegie Hall debut at sixteen and the Piccolo Concerto and two Flute Concertos as staples; added Miss Lonelyhearts
- Bihlmaier bio: early career placed in German houses (Chemnitz, Hannover, Kassel); Residentie Orkest tenure dated 2021 to 2025
- Gareth Davies bio: removed unsourced Guildhall graduation and Bournemouth appointment; added LSO-sourced Guildhall professorship and his book The Show Must Go On
- Bernstein: premiere conductor (Lukas Foss) and month added
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v1 · 22 June 2026 · First published
Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990)
Symphonic Dances from West Side Story22 min
About the Work
The Symphonic Dances from West Side Story are Leonard Bernstein’s own concert distillation of the music from his greatest theatrical triumph, the 1957 Broadway musical that retold Romeo and Juliet as a tale of rival gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, on the streets of New York’s Upper West Side. The show was a landmark, fusing Broadway, jazz, Latin-American dance and symphonic sophistication into something wholly new. In 1960 Bernstein (with the help of his colleagues Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal, who assisted with the orchestration) drew nine of its dance and dramatic numbers into a continuous twenty-odd-minute orchestral suite, which was premiered by the New York Philharmonic under Lukas Foss in February 1961.
Crucially, the Symphonic Dances do not follow the order of the show; Bernstein rearranged the numbers for purely musical reasons, to create a satisfying symphonic sequence with its own arc. The result is one of the most exhilarating and beloved of all American orchestral works, a brilliant showcase for a virtuoso orchestra that runs the gamut from the swaggering, syncopated energy of the streets to heart-on-sleeve lyricism and shattering tragedy. It bursts with Bernstein’s irresistible rhythmic drive (those famous off-beat accents and Latin grooves), his gift for melody, and his dazzling ear for orchestral colour, including a big role for jazz-inflected percussion. It makes a spectacular, high-energy opening to the concert.
What to Listen For
The suite moves through nine linked sections; listen for the journey from menace to ecstasy to grief. It opens with the Prologue, the snapping, finger-clicking tension of the two gangs sizing each other up. Then comes the soaring melody of ‘Somewhere’, the lovers’ dream of a place of peace and one of Bernstein’s most beautiful tunes. The skittering Scherzo leads to the famous Mambo: listen for the explosive Latin energy, the blazing brass and the players’ shouted cries of ‘Mambo!’, a guaranteed showstopper.
The flirtatious Cha-Cha brings the tune of ‘Maria’ in a delicate dance; the Meeting Scene captures the lovers’ first encounter; and the cool, sinister ‘Cool’ Fugue shows Bernstein’s contrapuntal mastery applied to jazz, all coiled, snapping tension. The violent Rumble depicts the deadly gang fight that kills both gang leaders, building to a horrifying climax. Then the Finale returns to ‘Somewhere,’ now an aching elegy, as the music fades on a quiet, unresolved chord of grief and hope. Listen throughout for the syncopated rhythms, the brilliant percussion and the way Bernstein blends Broadway, jazz and symphonic writing into a seamless, thrilling whole.
Lowell Liebermann (1961–)
Flute Concerto No. 2, Op. 142 (UK premiere)20 min
About the Work
This concert brings the UK premiere of Lowell Liebermann’s Second Flute Concerto, a recent addition to the repertoire of one of today’s most flute-friendly composers. Liebermann’s earlier flute works, the Sonata of 1987 and the First Flute Concerto, have become beloved cornerstones of the instrument’s modern repertoire, so a second concerto from him was eagerly awaited by flautists everywhere. The work was first performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2023 and is dedicated to the Icelandic flautist Stefán Ragnar Höskuldsson, whose admiration for the Sonata first brought him to the composer; this LSO performance, with the orchestra’s own principal flute Gareth Davies, gives it its first British outing.
The Second Concerto is cast in three movements. Liebermann writes in a richly lyrical, tonal idiom (warm, romantic and beautifully made) that gives the soloist both singing melody and brilliant virtuosity, set against a colourful, supportive orchestra. For an audience, a UK premiere of this kind offers the pleasure of discovery without the forbidding edge sometimes associated with new music: this is contemporary writing that wears its craft lightly and aims, unashamedly, to move and delight. It sits attractively between the Bernstein and the Dvořák as the programme’s point of fresh discovery, and a showcase for one of the LSO’s own principal players.
What to Listen For
Listen for the flute itself, in all its guises: Liebermann is a master of the instrument, and the concerto explores its full range, from long, expressive, singing melodies to quicksilver, dazzling passagework. Follow the soloist (Gareth Davies, the LSO’s own principal flute) as the solo line weaves above and through the orchestra.
The first movement opens with the flute low and ominous, in the darker part of its range, and gradually draws the orchestra into more energetic music; listen for the balance between lyrical poise and rhythmic energy. The second movement is slower and dreamier, an ‘aria’ for the flute with answering phrases from the orchestra that lets the soloist sing at its most expressive. The finale is energetic and playful, with flute and orchestra vying with each other in brilliant exchanges. Throughout, listen for Liebermann’s warm, romantic harmonic language and his idiomatic, grateful writing for the flute, and enjoy the rare treat of hearing a brand-new concerto by a living composer who genuinely loves and understands the instrument, brought to British audiences for the first time.
Antonin Dvorak (1841–1904)
Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 “From the New World”42 min
About the Work
Dvořák’s Ninth Symphony, ‘From the New World,’ is one of the most popular and beloved symphonies ever written, and a fascinating meeting of the Old World and the New. In 1892 Dvořák, already famous across Europe, was lured to New York to become director of the National Conservatory of Music of America, with a mission to help Americans find their own national musical voice. He believed that voice could be built on the music of Black Americans and Native Americans, and during his American years he immersed himself in spirituals (a Black student at the Conservatory, Harry T. Burleigh, sang them to him) and in the idea of Native American melody. The ‘New World’ Symphony, written in 1893, is the great fruit of that engagement: not a collection of borrowed tunes, but original music written in a spirit Dvořák absorbed from these American sources and fused with his own deeply Czech sensibility, so that homesickness for Bohemia and the wide horizons of America mingle throughout.
The symphony was an immediate sensation at its New York premiere in December 1893 and has never lost its hold on audiences. It is the perfect blend of memorable melody, rich orchestration, dramatic power and warm humanity, with at least one tune (the great cor anglais melody of the slow movement) that has become genuinely universal. It makes a glorious, life-affirming conclusion to the concert.
What to Listen For
The first movement opens with a brooding slow introduction before launching into a vigorous Allegro; listen for the striding main theme on the horns (built on a ‘gapped’ pentatonic scale that gives it a folk-like, ‘New World’ flavour) and the lyrical secondary themes, one of which strongly recalls the spiritual ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.’
The famous slow movement (Largo) opens with solemn brass chords, then gives the immortal main melody to the cor anglais (English horn), a tune of such nostalgic beauty that it was later adapted as the song ‘Goin’ Home’ and is often mistaken for a genuine spiritual. Listen for its profound stillness and homesickness. The Scherzo is a vigorous, dancing movement: listen for the pounding rhythms and the contrasting, gentler trio sections, with rustic Bohemian charm. The Finale bursts in with a blazing, march-like main theme on horns and trumpets; listen for the way Dvořák, with masterly skill, brings back themes from all three previous movements, weaving them together and building to a tremendous, triumphant climax, before the very last chord dies away with a surprising, magical softness. Listen throughout for Dvořák’s matchless melodic gift and the unmistakable mixture of American openness and Czech warmth.
Tonight's Artists
Gareth Daviesflute
The UK premiere of Liebermann’s Second Flute Concerto is given by the LSO’s own Principal Flute, Gareth Davies, a player stepping out from the section he has led since 2000 to take the solo spotlight. Liebermann’s richly lyrical, virtuosic writing for the flute is ideally suited to an artist of Davies’s experience and musicianship, and there is a special pleasure in hearing a beloved orchestral principal introduce a major new concerto to British audiences with his own colleagues.
Gareth Davies has been Principal Flute of the London Symphony Orchestra since 2000, one of the most prominent orchestral flautists in Britain. He has also served as Chair of the orchestra and is a professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Beyond his playing he is a noted broadcaster and writer: he has written and presented programmes for Classic FM and BBC Radio 3, and his book The Show Must Go On was named a book of the year by the Financial Times. He brings to Liebermann’s concerto the artistry and authority of one of the LSO’s longest-serving and best-loved principals, performing as soloist with his own orchestra.
Further reading
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Accessible Dvořák in America
Joseph Horowitz, Cricket Books 2003
A short, readable account of Dvořák’s American years, when he wrote the New World Symphony, and of the questions about American music it raised.
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Accessible Leonard Bernstein
Humphrey Burton, Faber & Faber 2018
Humphrey Burton, who filmed Bernstein for many years, tells the life of the composer of West Side Story, whose Symphonic Dances open the concert.
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Deeper New Worlds of Dvořák
Michael B. Beckerman, W. W. Norton 2003
A scholar’s investigation of Dvořák in America, with close readings of the New World Symphony and the sources and stories behind it.