National Philharmonic Orchestra
Like the RCA Victor and Columbia Symphony Orchestras stateside, the National Philharmonic Orchestra (sometimes "of London," sometimes not) was a nom du disque. The orchestra was popular for its recordings of film scores as well as standard repertoire, and it was led by many of the major conductors of its era.
The National Philharmonic Orchestra grew out of the eponymous RCA Orchestra in London that producer/arranger/conductor Charles Gerhardt (1928-1999) assembled after 1960. Following several years at RCA as an engineer and editor, Gerhardt had been sent to England by George Marek, then the director of Red Seal artists and repertoire, to produce recordings for the Readers Digest label, an RCA ally at the time. For these recordings, Gerhardt engaged Kenneth Wilkerson as his recording engineer and the late Sir Thomas Beecham's Royal Philharmonic. His conductors in the early 1960s included Fritz Reiner, René Leibowitz, Sir John Barbirolli, Jascha Horenstein, Massimo Freccia, and on occasion, Gerhardt himself (whom Toscanini had admired and encouraged in his last years). For projects of lighter music, however, Gerhardt assembled freelance musicians along with players from various London orchestras -- always a plenitude in the U.K. capital, where stringent U.S. union restrictions did not apply and salaries were cheaper, with fewer permanent jobs available nationwide. Early on, he called these recording orchestras the London Promenade or the RCASO. In addition to the concert, concerto, and bon-bon repertoire, Gerhardt arranged and conducted ten stereo LPs of film music for the Digest that were released in two volumes. Their quality so impressed Marek's successor, R. Peter Munves, that he commissioned Gerhardt to make an LP of The Classic Film Scores of Erich Wolfgang Korngold for the RCA Red Seal label.
Enter the ad hoc National Philharmonic, contracted for at least a decade by Sydney Sax. Under Gerhardt's direction, it played his arrangements of motion picture music by Max Steiner, Bernard Herrmann, Franz Waxman, Miklos Rozsa, Dmitri Tiomkin, John Williams (the first three Star Wars scores), Alfred Newman, Victor Young, John Barry, Leonard Rosenman, and of course Korngold. Subsequently, Chesky Records leased some of the earlier Readers Digest material for a superbly remastered and custom-pressed series of discs, on one of which the name National Philharmonic first appeared, dated 1967. The actual year of origin, however, seems to have been 1972, starting with the RCA Korngold collection. That trailblazing film series was completed by 1985, although Gerhardt himself recorded a Wagner collection with the NPO for Chesky as late as 1995.
The National Philharmonic, however, ceased to be RCA's or the producer's personal orchestra when Gerhardt replaced Sax as concertmaster, feeling that his playing had deteriorated beyond repair. Thus, Richard Bonynge conducted the NPO extensively for Decca/London recordings of opera and ballet, as well as Riccardo Chailly, Bernard Herrmann, Nicola Rescigno, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, and even Sir Georg Solti. James Levine led operas and recital discs for RCA and Sony. Leopold Stokowski also led the NPO on Sony in final-period recordings until the day before his death in 1977 at the age of 95. After his farewell Wagner recording, Gerhardt retired to California, and from the available evidence, his informal NPO disbanded after 25 years, when the classical market went soft worldwide in the later 1990s, and London players with permanent posts clung to them like becalmed sailors, waiting for a breeze to rescue them from irrelevance as a professional breed.
© Roger Dettmer /TiVo
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La Bohème: Best Of
James Levine, Alfredo Kraus, Renata Scotto, Carol Neblett, National Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group on 22 Jul 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgski - Ravel: Bilder einer Ausstellung
National Philharmonic Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin
Classical - Released by Bella Musica Edition on 4 Jun 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rossini-Respighi: La Boutique fantasque / Britten: Soirées musicales; Matinées musicales
Richard Bonynge, National Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 21 May 1982
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Weber: Invitation To The Dance / Lecocq: Mam'zelle Angot / Berlioz: Les Troyens Ballet Music
Richard Bonynge, National Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 3 Apr 1985
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Symphony No. 2 - Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4
National Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Cala Records on 26 Apr 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Aurora's Wedding - Stokowski Encores
National Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Cala Records on 1 Jan 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Out of Africa - Adagio
National Philharmonic Orchestra, Kelley Thomas
Pop - Released by haenssler CLASSIC on 20 Oct 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
David Oistrakh Plays Lalo: Symphonie Espagnole / Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto
David Oïstrakh, National Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Period Records on 23 Mar 1958
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Joan Sutherland sings Mozart
Dame Joan Sutherland, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Bonynge
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 14 Dec 1979
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Leoni: L'Oracolo (The Cat And The Cherub)
Richard Bonynge, National Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jul 1977
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Johann Strauss II: Graduation Ball; Le Beau Danube
Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Antal Doráti, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Bonynge
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1975
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Carnival of the Animals - Classics for Children
National Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley, The National Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Reader's Digest Music on 18 Jan 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hérold: La fille mal gardée; LeCocq: Mam'zelle Angot
Royal Opera House Orchestra, John Lanchbery, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Bonynge
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: The Sleeping Beauty
National Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Bonynge
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1979
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gershwin/Porter/Kern Overtures and Film Music
John McGlinn, New Princess Theater Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Alexander Faris
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 6 Jan 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Joan Sutherland sings Wagner
Dame Joan Sutherland, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Bonynge
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 19 Dec 1979
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Symphony No. 2 - Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4
National Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Signum-Cala on 26 Apr 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gone With The Wind (1939 Film Score)
Charles Gerhardt, National Philharmonic Orchestra
Soundtracks - Released by Classic Soundtracks on 19 Jul 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Meetings with Remarkable Men (Original Soundtrack Recording)
Laurence Rosenthal, Thomas de Hartmann, National Philharmonic Orchestra
Film Soundtracks - Released by MAFYBSX on 7 Apr 1979
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Great Shakespeare Films - Cinema Gala
Bernard Herrmann, Stanley Black, The London Festival Orchestra, National Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bernard Herrmann conducts Great British Film Music
National Philharmonic Orchestra, Bernard Herrmann
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 May 1976
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo