London Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) has held a prominent place in British music-making for more than seven decades. With a wide reach across Britain, in addition to its regular concerts in London's Cadogan Hall, including concerts in places where access to orchestral music is limited, the RPO can lay claim to the title of Britain's national orchestra. The RPO incorporates the pops-oriented Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, the avant-garde Sharp Edge group, and RPO Resound, a community and educational outreach program.
The RPO's broad contemporary appeal, which has included appearances with popular music stars and on film, television, and video game soundtracks, would have been lauded by its founder and first conductor, Sir Thomas Beecham, who set up the RPO in 1946 and helped lead a vital revival in the U.K.'s orchestral life after World War II. The new orchestra prospered, beginning a long summer residency at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 1948 and touring the U.S. in 1950, becoming the first English orchestra to do so since 1912. Rudolf Kempe became principal conductor upon Beecham's death in 1961. The orchestra hit a rough patch in the early '60s under the leadership of Beecham's widow; Kempe departed (and then returned), and the orchestra temporarily lost the right to use the "royal" designation. That was restored by Queen Elizabeth II in 1966, and several strong conductors, Antal Doráti (1975-1978), André Previn (1985-1992), and Vladimir Ashkenazy (music director, 1987-1994), built the orchestra artistically. Later conductors have included Daniele Gatti, Yuri Temirkanov, Charles Dutoit, and Vasily Petrenko, who began his tenure as music director in 2021.
The RPO is especially notable for the depth and variety of its recording program, which in the first few years of its existence had already topped 100 items; by the early 2020s decade, the orchestra had issued many hundreds of recordings, stretching from pop (disco enthusiasts will remember it as the orchestra featured on the Hooked on Classics recordings of the 1980s) to new avant-garde music. Among these was a 125-album contract with the Tring label. The orchestra's RPO Records, formed in 1986, is thought to have been the first recording label owned by a symphony orchestra; such an arrangement is now commonplace. The following year, the RPO launched the light music (or pops in the U.S.) companion group, the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra.
In 1993, the RPO inaugurated an educational and community outreach program titled RPO Resound. This program provides musical experiences outside of traditional concert settings, such as schools, prisons, and hospitals. Among the key projects for this program is the stroke rehabilitation project STROKESTRA. The RPO is the resident music ensemble of Cadogan Hall in Chelsea, becoming the first London orchestra to have a permanent home, giving its first concert there in 2004. In 2019, the RPO released Animal Requiem by rocker Pete Townshend's collaborator and marital partner, Rachel Fuller. That year, the RPO was named the associate orchestra of the Royal Albert Hall. Among the orchestra's 2022 albums are a recording of two Sibelius Symphonies and Air, featuring the music of Oliver Davis. The next year, they teamed with Joe Hisaishi for A Symphonic Celebration, which reimagined songs from beloved Studio Ghibli animated films.
© James Manheim & Keith Finke /TiVo
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Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 29 - 32 (Mono Version)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf
Classical - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1960
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Piano Concerto No.1 / Franck: Variations Symphoniques / Litolff: Scherzo
Clifford Curzon, London Symphony Orchestra, George Szell, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1962
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Complete Symphonic Poems (4 CD)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bernard Haitink
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1972
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Puccini: Turandot (Highlights)
Dame Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Montserrat Caballé, Nicolaï Ghiaurov, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Zubin Mehta
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1973
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Piano Concertos Nos.1 & 2 etc
Claudio Arrau, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Eliahu Inbal
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Holst: Orchestral Works
London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult
Classical - Released by Lyrita on 1 Oct 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dvořák & Saint-Saëns: Cello Concertos
Mstislav Rostropovich, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Carlo Maria Giulini
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 20 Jan 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 36 "Linz" & 25 (Mono Version)
Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Karl Böhm, London Philharmonic Orchestra
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1952
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
LPO plays the Romantic Era Favourites Vol. 1
London Philharmonic Orchestra, David Parry
Classical - Released by X5 Music Group on 28 Dec 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bennett: Piano Concertos 1 & 3 and Caprice in E Major
Malcolm Binns, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Nicholas Braithwaite
Classical - Released by Lyrita on 1 Jan 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: The Complete Symphonies
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Jurowski
Classical - Released by London Philharmonic Orchestra on 1 Sep 2017
5 de Diapason24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rosner: Orchestral Music, Vol. 4
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Nick palmer
Classical - Released by Toccata Classics on 16 Feb 2024
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Boult conducts Ireland
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult
Classical - Released by Lyrita on 1 Jan 2007
9 de Classica-Répertoire16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Arnold: Orchestral Works
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Malcolm Arnold
Classical - Released by Lyrita on 6 May 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Opera Arias
Roberto Alagna, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Armstrong
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Genius of Film Music: Hollywood 1980s-2000s
Dirk Brossé, London Philharmonic Orchestra
Cinema Music - Released by London Philharmonic Orchestra on 1 Oct 2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bellini: La straniera
Patrizia Ciofi, Mark Stone, David Parry, London Philharmonic Orchestra
Opera - Released by Opera Rara on 1 Jan 2007
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Light Cavalry - Ouvertures from Vienna to Paris
Classical - Released by Jube Classic on 3 Mar 2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss: Alpine Symphony, Die Frau ohne Schatten & Dance of the Seven Veils
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Jurowski, Kristina Blaumane
Classical - Released by London Philharmonic Orchestra on 1 Jun 2018
5 de Diapason24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jurowski conducts Stravinsky, Vol. 1 (Live)
Vladimir Jurowski, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Angharad Lyddon
Classical - Released by London Philharmonic Orchestra on 15 Jul 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant
London Philharmonic Orchestra, David Parry
Classical - Released by London Philharmonic Orchestra on 1 Jun 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo