Royal 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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Symphonie meines Lebens
Howard Carpendale, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Germany - Released by Electrola on Oct 25, 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Symphonic Queen - The Greatest Hits
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Matthew Freeman
Classical - Released by PANORAMA on Jun 10, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Franck / Debussy: Violin Sonatas / Chausson: Poème
Kyung Wha Chung, Radu Lupu, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Charles Dutoit
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Mar 10, 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1; Piano Concerto No. 2
Cristina Ortiz, Boris Belkin, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bizet: Carmen, Act I: Habanera. L'amour est un oiseau rebelle
Aigul Akhmetshina, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Daniele Rustioni
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 26, 2024
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
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Prokofiev: Cinderella/Glazunov: The Seasons
The Cleveland Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 5, 6 & 7
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Owain Arwel Hughes
Symphonies - Released by RUBICON on Sep 23, 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43, Symphony No. 4 in A Minor, Op. 63
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Owain Arwel Hughes
Symphonies - Released by RUBICON on Mar 25, 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Perform the Music of Simon & Garfunkel
Classical - Released by Red Cab Records on Oct 11, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos Nos. 1-5
Jean-Philippe Collard, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, André Previn
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Jan 1, 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Best of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by earMUSIC on Mar 28, 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 2 in G Major "London" & The Lark Ascending
André Previn, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Barry Griffiths
Classical - Released by Telarc on Mar 1, 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mignone & Albéniz: Piano Concertos
Clelia Iruzun, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Jac van Steen
Classical - Released by SOMM Recordings on Oct 27, 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture, Op. 49, TH 49
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Wiener Kammerorchester, Adrian Leaper, Philippe Entremont
Classical - Released by Unclassified on Jun 9, 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Le Messie (arrangement Mozart)
Huddersfield Choral Society, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Charles Mackerras
Classical - Released by Signum Records on Mar 6, 2006
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mstislav Rostropovich: A Romantic Portrait [Dvořak, Schumann, Tchaikovsky]
Mstislav Rostropovich, Sir Adrian Boult, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, USSR State Symphony Orchestra
Concertos - Released by Praga Digitals on Jun 1, 2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rubinstein: Piano Concerto No. 4 etc
Shura Cherkassky, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Feb 1, 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6, Pathétique; Serenade for Strings op. 48
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Daniele Gatti
Symphonic Music - Released by harmonia mundi on Dec 13, 2005
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Concertos pour violon 1 & 2
Yehudi Menuhin, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Alberto Erede
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Aug 10, 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Poème
Joshua Bell, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Litton
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Nov 1, 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo