Columbia Symphony Orchestra
The Columbia Symphony Orchestra was a name linked to numerous ensembles recording at different times for Columbia Records. The name itself was an artifact from a time in which record labels and radio networks assembled and named their own orchestras, or used the name as a "cover" for the use of an orchestra that was contracted elsewhere.
For purposes that concern us here, the "Columbia Symphony Orchestra" name was used by Columbia Masterworks in the 1950s on New York recording sessions with an orchestra comprised of members of the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and the NBC Symphony. The label could hire members of those orchestras as freelance players, assemble an orchestra every bit as good as (and perhaps better than) the New York Philharmonic, and pay them for their work without having to pay royalties against sales to the Philharmonic or any of the players other than the conductor or soloist. This orchestra -- as it appeared on monaural recordings made by Bruno Walter in New York between 1954 and early 1956, and with other New York-based conductors into the early '60s -- was a good ensemble, a match for the Philharmonic in the studio. Indeed, one of the most highly acclaimed and best-selling recordings by Leonard Bernstein on the Columbia label -- of George Gershwin's An American in Paris -- was a Columbia Symphony Orchestra recording, not a Philharmonic record.
However, the Columbia Orchestra which appeared on Bruno Walter's stereo recordings from 1957 onward was something different and very special. Walter (1876-1962) had retired at age 80 after a very successful career on Columbia with the New York Philharmonic, where he served as Musical Advisor from 1947 to 1949, and as a frequent guest conductor over the following seven years. In 1957, while living in California, he was approached by Columbia's executives with a new proposal. Told of the advent of stereo recording and the threat that it constituted to the future sales of monaural records, Walter was asked to undertake a new series of recordings in stereo to preserve his interpretations in the most modern sound possible and to allow them to reach new generations of listeners.
The result was a new Columbia Symphony Orchestra, chosen specifically by and for Walter. This group was an ensemble of 50 to 70 members, assembled from the best freelance musicians on the West Coast, many of whom typically never took on orchestral work but made the exception to work with Walter. It was one of the best recording orchestras ever assembled in the United States, incorporating many of the best characteristics of the Vienna Philharmonic and the Leipzig Gewandhaus -- which Walter had conducted in Austria and Germany during the '20s and '30s -- as well as the New York Philharmonic. This orchestra recorded much of the core classical and Romantic repertory under Walter's baton, including the late Mozart symphonies, Mahler's symphonies Nos. 1 and 9, the four Brahms symphonies, Dvorak's symphonies Nos. 8 and 9, Schubert's Ninth, the Wagner orchestral music, and the complete Beethoven symphonies.
© Bruce Eder
Beethoven: Symphonies 1-9 Sony Classical [8] (Walter cond.)
Symphony No. 5 sketches Sony Classical [7] (Bernstein cond.)
Brahms Symphonies 1-4 Sony Classical [7] (Walter cond.)
Bruckner Symphony No. 9 Sony Classical [9] (Walter cond.)
Symphony No. 4 Sony Classical [7] (Walter cond.)
Dvorak Symphony No. 9 Sony Classical [8] (Walter cond.)
Gershwin An American In Paris Sony Classical [8] (Bernstein cond.)
Mahler Symphony No. 1 Sony Classical [8] (Walter cond.)
Symphony No. 9 Sony Classical [8] (Walter cond.)
Mozart Symphonies 25, 35, 38-41 Sony Classical [8] (Walter cond.)
Schubert Symphony No. 9 Sony Classical [8] (Walter cond.)
Stravinsky Rite Of Spring Sony Classical [6] (Stravinsky cond.)
Firebird Suite Sony Classical [6] (Stravinsky cond.) /TiVo
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Hommage à la mémoire de Bruno Walter, vol. 1 (Mono Version)
Bruno Walter, Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Verschiedenes - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1960
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Hommage à la mémoire de Bruno Walter, vol. 10 (Stereo Version)
Bruno Walter, Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Verschiedenes - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Hommage à la mémoire de Bruno Walter, vol. 6 (Stereo Version)
Bruno Walter, Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Verschiedenes - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1960
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Hommage à la mémoire de Bruno Walter, vol. 1 (Mono Version)
Bruno Walter, Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Verschiedenes - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Opera Without Words
André Kostelanetz And His Orchestra, Columbia Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic
Klassik - Erschienen bei Sony Classical am 22.01.1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Le sacre du printemps (Stereo Version)
Igor Stravinsky, Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Klassik - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov: Symphony No. 1 - Igor Stravinsky: Symphony, Op. 1
Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, Boris Khaikin, Columbia Symphony Orchestra, CBC Symphony Orchestra, Igor Stravinsky
Symphonien - Erschienen bei Praga Digitals am 01.07.2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Music of Edgar Varèse
Arthur Gleghorn, Robert Craft, Edgar Varèse, Studio Philips, Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Klassik - Erschienen bei Vinyle Numérique am 04.07.2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Concerto pour clavier n°1 - Partitas n°5 & n°6
Glenn Gould, Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein
Klassik - Erschienen bei Naxos am 29.03.2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rudolf Serkin: The Legendary Concerto Recordings 1950-1956
Alexander Schneider, Eugene Ormandy, George Szell, Rudolf Serkin, Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra
Klassik - Erschienen bei Sony Classical am 26.07.1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gershwin: Un américain à Paris & Rhapsody in Blue (Stereo Version)
New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Verschiedenes - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven & Bach: Concertos pour piano et orchestre (Mono Version)
Glenn Gould, Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Golschmann
Verschiedenes - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 23 & 27
Robert Casadesus, Columbia Symphony Orchestra, George Szell
Klassik - Erschienen bei Artemisia am 02.07.2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor
Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein, Glenn Gould
Klassik - Erschienen bei Revolver Records am 08.09.2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Alban Berg: Five Songs, Op. 4, Anton Webern: Five Mvts. for String Orchestra, Op. 5, Arnold Schoenberg: Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 16
Klassik - Erschienen bei Soundmark Records am 22.06.2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Best Violin Concerts
Cologne New Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra San Marco, Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Klassik - Erschienen bei Profil Medien GmbH Edition Günter Hänssler am 18.01.2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Symphony N°7 in a Major
Bruno Walter, Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Klassik - Erschienen bei Vinyle Numérique am 27.09.2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Symphonies from Tartini, Cherubini, Respighi & Verdi
Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra del Teatro della Scala di Milano, Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra E Coro Del Teatro Alla Scala
Klassik - Erschienen bei Ermitage Rc am 19.05.2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rossini: Guillaume Tell, ouverture (Mono Version)
Artur Rodzinski, Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Verschiedenes - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Glenn Gould Plays Bach
Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Glenn Gould
Klassik - Erschienen bei La Bambolina s.a.s. am 11.12.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Concerto n.3 in Sol maggiore per violino e orchestra KV 216
Zino Francescatti, Bruno Walter, Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Klassik - Erschienen bei La Bambolina sas am 23.03.2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo