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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Prokofiev: The Love Of Three Oranges
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Enrique Batiz
Classical - Released by imp on 1 Jan 1983
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Messiah (Complete Version, Original Instrumentation)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult
Classical - Released by Tam-Tam Media on 1 Jan 1955
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bax: Orchestral Works, Vol. 5
Bryden Thomson, London Philharmonic Orchestra
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on 1 Oct 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Die Walkure, Act 1
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Klaus Tennstedt
Opera - Released by London Philharmonic Orchestra on 1 Oct 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Messiah (Platinum Edition)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, John Alldis
Classical - Released by Sparrow (SPR) on 1 Jan 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Masur conducts Alexander Nevsky
Kurt Masur, Sarah Walker, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra
Cantatas (secular) - Released by London Philharmonic Orchestra on 9 Jul 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2; Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini / Dohnányi: Variations on a Nursery Song
Julius Katchen, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 17 Aug 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Donizetti: Il diluvio universale
Mirco Palazzi, Majella Cullagh, Colin Lee, Manuela Custer, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Giuliano Carella
Classical - Released by Opera Rara on 1 Jan 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bloch: Schelomo (Mono Version)
Zara Nelsova, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Ernest Bloch
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1952
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bax: Winter Legends & Symphonic Variations
Bryden Thomson, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Margaret Fingerhut
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on 1 Feb 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: Double Concerto, Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge & Les Illuminations
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Jurowski, Sally Matthews, Alexander Zemtsov, Pieter Schoeman
Classical - Released by London Philharmonic Orchestra on 1 Mar 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade
Louis Frémaux, London Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Collins Classics on 15 Feb 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
John Joubert: Symphony No. 1
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley
Classical - Released by Lyrita on 13 Nov 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rosner: Orchestral Music
Peter Vinograde, Peter Riegert, London Philharmonic Orchestra, David Amos
Classical - Released by Toccata Classics on 3 Jun 2016
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Prokofiev: The Love of Three Oranges Suite & Lieutenant Kijé Suite
London Philharmonic Orchestra, The Paris Conservatoire Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult
Classical - Released by Radio Tower Records on 26 Nov 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Benjamin: Overture to an Italian Comedy - Cotillon - North American Square Dance Suite - Symphony
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Myer Fredman, Nicholas Braithwaite, Barry Wordsworth
Classical - Released by Lyrita on 1 Feb 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Conductor's Gallery, Vol. 11: Piero Coppola, George Enescu
National Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Piero Coppola, George Enescu
Classical - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 25 Aug 2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini [1954]; Dohnányi: Variations on a Nursery Song [1954] (Adrian Boult – The Decca Legacy III, Vol. 11)
Julius Katchen, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult
Classical - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 1 Jan 1954
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Arnold: Symphony No. 6
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley
Classical - Released by London Philharmonic Orchestra on 1 Sep 2006
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Dukas: L'apprenti sorcier - Chabrier: Joyeuse marche - Saint-Saëns: Danse macabre & Bacchanale de Samson et Dalila (Mono Version)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Argeo Quadri
Classical - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1958
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Conductor's Gallery, Vol. 16: Eduard van Beinum
Eugenia Jareska, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Eduard van Beinum
Classical - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 25 Aug 2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo