Dresden 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
Discography
15 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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RAVEL, M.: Rapsodie espagnole / ALBENIZ, I.: Iberia (arr. E.F. Arbos) / FALLA, M. de: The 3-Cornered Hat (Dresden Philharmonic, Weigle) (Maurice Ravel - Isaac Albeniz - Enrique Fernandez Arbos)
Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Berlin Classics on Jan 1, 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
STRAUSS, R.: Alpine Symphony (An) / Rosenkavalier Suite (Dresden Philharmonic, Fruhbeck de Burgos) (Richard Strauss)
Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra
Symphonic Poems - Released by Genuin on Jan 1, 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Maueresberger, R.: Christvesper Der Kruzianer
Dresdner Kreuzchor, Gothart Stier, Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Berlin Classics on Oct 1, 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Orchestral Music (Encores) - MOZART, W.A. / DVORAK, A. / BRAHMS, J. / STRAUSS II, J. / WEINBERGER, J. / BIZET, G. (Dresden Philharmonic, Burgos) (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Antonin Dvorak - Johannes Brahms)
Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Genuin on Nov 12, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jacques Offenbach: Orpheus in der Unterwelt (QS)
Rundfunkchor Leipzig, Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, Horst Neumann, Robert Hanell
Classical - Released by Philips on Jan 1, 1970
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
SCRIABIN, A.: Poeme de l'extase / ALBENIZ, I.: Iberia, Book 1 (Dresden Philharmonic, Weigle, Winkler)
Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Berlin Classics on Jan 1, 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
BRAHMS, J.: Symphonies Nos. 1 and 3 (Dresden Philharmonic / Burgos) (Johannes Brahms)
Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Genuin on Jan 1, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
WAGNER, R.: Meistersinger von Nurnberg (Die) / Tristan und Isolde / Gotterdammerung (excerpts) (Dresden Philharmonic, Burgos) (Richard Wagner)
Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Genuin on Jan 1, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
BRUCKNER, A.: Symphony No. 3 (Dresden Philharmonic, Fruhbeck de Burgos) (Anton Bruckner)
Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Genuin on Jan 1, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
DVORAK, A.: Symphony No. 7 / BRAHMS, J.: Serenade No. 2 (Dresden Philharmonic, Bongartz) (Antonin Dvorak - Johannes Brahms)
Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Corona Classics Collection on Jan 1, 1964
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
BRAHMS, J.: Serenade No. 1 / SIBELIUS, J.: Valse triste / Finlandia (Dresden Philharmonic, Bongartz) (Johannes Brahms - Jean Sibelius)
Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Corona Classics Collection on Jan 1, 1962
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn, F.J.: Symphonies Nos. 93 and 94 (Dresden Philharmonic, Herbig) (Franz Joseph Haydn)
Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Corona Classics Collection on Jan 1, 1976
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bruckner: Symphony in D Minor, WAB 100 "Nullte"
Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, Heinz Bongartz, Concertgebouworkest, Eduard van Beinum
Classical - Released by Archipel on Apr 1, 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Symphony NO. 2, OP. 36 - Symphony NO. 5, OP. 67 - The Creatures of Prometheus, OP. 43, Overture - Ballet NO. 8
Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra
Symphonic Music - Released by Altair on Sep 17, 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grieg & Sibelius
Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Classical - Released by Altair on Jun 16, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo