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
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Classiques pour orchestres
The BBC Concert Orchestra, Crispian Steele-Perkins, William Stephenson, Rumon Gamba
Symphonic Music - Released by Chandos on 1 Sep 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Frederick Converse: American Sketches
Classical - Released by Dutton Epoch on 6 Oct 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
British Light Music Premieres, Vol. 6
The BBC Concert Orchestra, Royal Ballet Sinfonia
Classical - Released by Dutton Epoch on 5 Mar 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Of Such Ecstatic Sound
Rupert Marshall-Luck, The BBC Concert Orchestra, Joseph Spooner, John Andrews
Classical - Released by EM Records on 9 Mar 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Song of the Birds
Raphael Wallfisch, Vernon Handley, The BBC Concert Orchestra
Classical - Released by Decca (UMO) on 1 Jan 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
British Light Music
The BBC Concert Orchestra, Philip Martin, Roderick Elms, Kenneth Alwyn
Classical - Released by Marco-Polo on 25 Jun 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dialogue for Piano and Orchestra: II. Allegro moderato
The BBC Concert Orchestra, John Andrews, Martin Jones
Concertos - Released by Resonus Classics on 24 Feb 2023
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
John Foulds, Vol. 4
Ronald Corp, The BBC Concert Orchestra
Classical - Released by Dutton Epoch on 21 Jul 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
John Williams Performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra
Film Soundtracks - Released by MD Chapel Music on 5 Feb 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Seth Lakeman Live with the Bbc Concert Orchestra (Live)
Seth Lakeman, The BBC Concert Orchestra
Folk - Released by Proper Records on 29 Dec 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Robert & Clara Schumann: Piano Concertos
Lucy Parham, The BBC Concert Orchestra, Barry Wordsworth
Classical - Released by Decca (UMO) on 1 Jan 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Age Of The Silver Screen 2 - The Love Story
Film Soundtracks - Released by Plaza Mayor Company Ltd on 1 Mar 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wild Arabia (Original Television Soundtrack)
Barnaby Taylor, The BBC Concert Orchestra, William Goodchild
Film Soundtracks - Released by Silva Screen Records Ltd on 29 Apr 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Showtime - 25 years of the BBC Concert Orchestra
Classical - Released by Dutton Epoch on 1 Nov 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Toivo Kuula - Songs and Orchestral Music
Classical - Released by Dutton on 20 Jun 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Shadow Left by the Invisible Man (Arr. by Davide Mantovani)
Seckou Keita, The BBC Concert Orchestra, Mark Heron
Classical - Released by Claves Records on 12 May 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Simply Beautiful Miro (Arr. by Davide Mantovani)
Seckou Keita, The BBC Concert Orchestra, Mark Heron
Classical - Released by Claves Records on 21 Apr 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
F. d'Erlanger: Concertos & Orchestral Music
Classical - Released by Dutton Epoch on 1 Apr 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cecil Armstrong Gibbs: Odysseus & George Dyson Four Songs for Sailors
Classical - Released by Dutton Epoch on 25 Mar 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brian: Symphony No. 1 "The Gothic Symphony"
BBC National Orchestra Of Wales, The BBC Concert Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 25 Nov 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo