Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO)
Founded in 1904 and therefore the oldest of the city's symphony orchestras, the London Symphony Orchestra became world-renowned for recordings that date back to early gramophone records in 1912. Amid decades of diverse classical programming that followed, including performances for radio and TV, the orchestra also became known for its appearances in numerous film scores, including the Star Wars series. The LSO also tours and first visited North America in 1912 (narrowly avoiding passage on the Titanic).
The ensemble's direct antecedent was the Queen's Hall Orchestra, formed in 1895 for conductor Henry Wood's series of Promenade Concerts. The summer series was so successful that a series of weekly Sunday afternoon concerts was established the same year. The orchestra, however, had never become a permanent group; its members could and often did send other musicians to substitute for them at concerts. In 1904, Wood attempted to end this practice, prompting 46 members to leave and form their own orchestra.
The London Symphony Orchestra was organized as a self-governing corporation administered by a board selected by the players. They arranged for the great Hans Richter to conduct the inaugural concert, and continued to engage a variety of conductors, practically introducing the concept of the guest conductor to the London musical scene. Soon, though, the title and post of principal conductor was established for Richter. The LSO's connection with the BBC goes back to 1924 when Ralph Vaughan Williams conducted the orchestra in the premiere broadcast performance of his Pastoral Symphony. It was the unofficial orchestra in residence for the BBC until the formation of the BBC Symphony in 1930 and continued to broadcast concerts and provide background music for many BBC productions. Other conductors most associated with the orchestra's first few decades include Edward Elgar and Thomas Beecham. During World War II, Wood was welcomed for a series of concerts.
The War took its toll on orchestra membership as it had the general populace, and a concurrent drop in private funding led to increased reliance on the state arts council. This eventually led to structural reorganization in the 1950s, resulting in increased professional standards and the abandonment of profit-sharing; players became salaried employees. The revamped orchestra made only its second tour of the United States in 1963 (the first had been in 1912), and in 1964 embarked on its first world tour. In the mid-1960s the city of London broke ground for the Barbican Arts Centre, intended as the LSO's permanent home. The building was an architectural and acoustic success, and since 1982 has provided the orchestra the solid base it lacked during the first 70-plus years of its existence. The venue opened under principal conductor Claudio Abbado, who took over for André Previn in 1979.
In the meantime, the orchestra made its Star Wars debut, performing John Williams' score for the original 1977 film. While the organization had recorded its first film score in 1935 (H.G. Wells' Things to Come) and appeared in such classics as The Bridge on the River Kwai, Doctor Zhivago, and The Sound of Music, Star Wars won three Grammys, an Academy Award, and a BAFTA, among many other accolades, sold over a million copies in the U.S. and over 100,000 in the U.K., and endures as a touchstone in modern film music. The LSO went on to record music for the franchise's entire first two trilogies as well as films like 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1993's Schindler's List, 1997's Titanic, and select installments of the Harry Potter series.
During the tenure of Colin Davis, who was named principal conductor in 1995, the LSO established its own record label, LSO Live. Dvorák's Symphony No. 9, recorded at Barbican Centre in 1999 and released in 2000, bears catalog number 0001. Their 2000 recording of Berlioz's Les Troyens won two Grammys in 2002, and Verdi's Falstaff took home the Best Opera Grammy in 2006. In 2007, Davis took the position of orchestra president, its first since Leonard Bernstein's passing in 1990, and Valery Gergiev became principal conductor.
Also known for crossing over into rock, jazz, and Broadway, among other categories, they followed hit recordings such as Symphonic Rolling Stones and Gershwin Fantasy (with Joshua Bell) with albums like 2017's Someone to Watch Over Me, which had them accompanying archival recordings of Ella Fitzgerald.
© Marcy Donelson, Joseph Stevenson & Corie Stanton Root /TiVo
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The Pines Of Rome
Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Fritz Reiner
Pop - Released by Old Guys Records on 1 Nov 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Requiem In D Minor, K. 626
Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO)
Classical - Released by Past Classics on 24 Apr 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liebermann: Concerto for Jazz Band and Symphony Orchestra / Richard Strauss: Don Juan
Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), The Sauter-Finegan Orchestra
Jazz - Released by Music Manager on 4 Feb 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gioacchino Rossini: Overtures (Album of 1957)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Fritz Reiner
Pop - Released by Ginkgo Classical on 30 Nov 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss: Don Quixote, Op. 35
Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Fritz Reiner
Pop - Released by Old Guys Records on 1 Nov 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Piano Concerto No. 1 & The Nutcracker, Extracts
Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Fritz Reiner, Emil Gilels
Pop - Released by Apollo Spark on 1 Oct 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: La mer and Cello Sonata in D Minor
Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Paul Tortelier, Ernest Lush
Classical - Released by Past Classics on 12 May 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Má Vlast
Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Rafael Kubelik
Pop - Released by Apollo Spark on 1 Dec 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Weber: Invitation to the Dance / Richard Strauss: Waltzes from "Der Rosenkavalier"
Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO)
Classical - Released by Music Manager on 7 Feb 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40
Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Fritz Reiner, John Weichler
Pop - Released by Old Time Classics on 1 Nov 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Top Classical Music, Vol. 3
Hans Kann, Léopold Stokowski, Howard Hanson, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Eastman-Rochester Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Infinity on 26 Dec 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Regions of Sorrow: Composers with Depression
Moscow RTV Symphony Orchestra, Fine Arts Quartet, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO)
Classical - Released by Music Manager on 31 Jul 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Composers from the Classical Era
The Millenium Philarmonic Orchestra, Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO)
Classical - Released by Music Manager on 10 Nov 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Masculine Classical Music
Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO)
Classical - Released by Music Manager on 4 Nov 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
From Miserable to Joyful
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Moscow RTV Large Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Music Manager on 11 Dec 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
December Count Down for Christmas
Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Chamber Orchestra of the Moscow Conservatory, USSR State Academic Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Music Manager on 8 Dec 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Folk-Inspired Classical
Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Bratislava Chamber Orchestra
Classical - Released by Music Manager on 1 Dec 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tone Poetry
London Symphony Orchestra, Moscow RTV Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO)
Classical - Released by Music Manager on 2 Dec 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Sound of the Big Bang
Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Fritz Reiner, Moscow RTV Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Music Manager on 1 Dec 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Classical Fusion: Asian Influence in Western Music
Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Boston Symphony Orchestra, The Travnicek Quartet
Classical - Released by Music Manager on 30 Nov 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Music for Little Princesses
Dubravka Tomsic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Fritz Reiner
Classical - Released by Music Manager on 16 Nov 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo