The BBC Concert Orchestra
Of the five orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Company, the BBC Concert Orchestra is the most oriented toward light music, popular music, and jazz. The orchestra's name is somewhat inaccurate: although it does often perform live concerts, the group's most important tasks are connected to radio broadcasting.
The BBC Concert Orchestra grew out of the BBC Theatre Orchestra, which was formed in 1931 and was later renamed the BBC Opera Orchestra. In 1952, that group was reorganized as the BBC Concert Orchestra. The following year, it became the house orchestra for the BBC program Friday Night is Music Night, which as of the late 2010s, remained on the air as the world's longest-running radio program. The orchestra performed a variety of other light music on BBC programs, accompanied popular singers, sometimes teamed with the BBC Big Band, and at times performed operatic and symphonic works. For two decades, the group gave live concerts at London's Camden Theatre, moving to the Hippodrome in North London in 1972. The orchestra's first conductor was Gilbert Vinter. Subsequent conductors have included Charles Mackerras (1954-1956), Vilem Tausky (1956-1966), Marcus Dods (1966-1970), Ashley Lawrence (1970-1989), Barry Wordsworth (1989-2006), Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart (2010-2017, remaining as the principal guest conductor), and Bramwell Tovey (2018-). Composers associated with the BBC Concert Orchestra have sometimes been associated with popular music spheres; they include Radiohead guitarist and keyboardist Jonny Greenwood, who became the orchestra's composer-in-association in 2004. The orchestra's other responsibilities have included recording jingles for BBC News programs.
The BBC Concert Orchestra has a large catalog of recordings, many of them covering British light music, film music, and symphonic music that has not been recorded elsewhere. Many of their recordings have appeared on the Bainbridge, Excalibur, Dutton Laboratories (which has issued a lengthy series of light music/easy listening recordings), Chandos, and Somm labels. In 2019, the orchestra issued an album on Regent of music by its new composer-in-residence, Dobrinka Tabakova.
© James Manheim /TiVo
-
Now Comes Beauty
The BBC Concert Orchestra, Rupert Marshall-Luck, Roderick Williams, David Owen Norris, Gavin Sutherland
Clásica - Editado por EM Records el 27/05/2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Best Of British Light Music
Royal Ballet Sinfonia, The BBC Concert Orchestra, Gavin Sutherland, Barry Wordsworth
Clásica - Editado por Decca (UMO) el 1/01/2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Way of Light
Clásica - Editado por Orchid Classics el 5/02/2021
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Film Music of Lord Berners & Constant Lambert
Rumon Gamba, The BBC Concert Orchestra, Mary Carewe, Joyful Company of Singers, Peter Broadbent
Bandas sonoras - Editado por Chandos el 1/01/2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Loeffler: Divertissement Espagnol & La Villanelle Du Diable
Clásica - Editado por Dutton Epoch el 2/02/2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Broadway
Renée Fleming, The BBC Concert Orchestra, Rob Fisher
Clásica - Editado por Decca Music Group Ltd. el 7/09/2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
BBC Concert Orchestra Plays Songs from The Disney Movies
Pop - Editado por Music Manager el 30/07/2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Raptures
The BBC Concert Orchestra, Jack Liebeck, Levon Parikian
Clásica - Editado por Orchid Classics el 15/11/2019
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Fire That Breaks from Thee
The BBC Concert Orchestra, Rupert Marshall-Luck, Owain Arwel Hughes
Clásica - Editado por EM Records el 15/05/2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Edgar Bainton: Symphony No. 3 & Rutland Boughton: Symphony No. 1 "Oliver Cromwell"
Clásica - Editado por Dutton Epoch el 19/02/2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
John Foulds: Vol. 2
Clásica - Editado por Dutton Epoch el 1/11/2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Humoresque
Rebecca Miller, The BBC Concert Orchestra
Clásica - Editado por Signum Records el 21/02/2024
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
British Light Music Premieres, Vol. 5
Royal Ballet Sinfonia, The BBC Concert Orchestra
Clásica - Editado por Dutton Epoch el 21/07/2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Damase: Symphonie, Piano & Flute Concertos
Clásica - Editado por Dutton Epoch el 21/07/2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gardner: The Ballad of the White Horse, Op. 40
City of London Choir, Ashley Riches, The BBC Concert Orchestra, Paulina Voices, Hilary Davan Wetton
Música coral (para coro) - Editado por EM RECORDS el 31/01/2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sullivan: Irish Symphony, Imperial March, Victoria and Merrie England & In Memoriam
The BBC Concert Orchestra, Linden Harris, Owain Arwel Hughes
Clásica - Editado por CPO el 29/11/1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Classiques pour orchestres
The BBC Concert Orchestra, Crispian Steele-Perkins, William Stephenson, Rumon Gamba
Música sinfónica - Editado por Chandos el 1/09/2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Frederick Converse: American Sketches
Clásica - Editado por Dutton Epoch el 6/10/2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
British Light Music Premieres, Vol. 6
The BBC Concert Orchestra, Royal Ballet Sinfonia
Clásica - Editado por Dutton Epoch el 5/03/2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Of Such Ecstatic Sound
Rupert Marshall-Luck, The BBC Concert Orchestra, Joseph Spooner, John Andrews
Clásica - Editado por EM Records el 9/03/2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Song of the Birds
Raphael Wallfisch, Vernon Handley, The BBC Concert Orchestra
Clásica - Editado por Decca (UMO) el 1/01/2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo