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
-
Conductor's Gallery, Vol. 19: Erich Kleiber, Jean Martinon
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Erich Kleiber, Jean Martinon
Classical - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 25/08/2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Conductor's Gallery, Vol. 18: Erich Kleiber
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Erich Kleiber
Classical - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 25/08/2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Conductor's Gallery, Vol. 9: Grzegorz Fitelberg, Wilhelm Furtwängler
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Grzegorz Fitelberg, Wilhelm Furtwängler
Classical - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 25/08/2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Great Operatic Arias, Vol. 20
David Parry, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Christine Brewer, Judith Howarth, Timothy Robinson
Opera - Released by Chandos on 1/03/2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Ouverture Solennelle '1812', Hamlet – Fantasy Overture (Adrian Boult – The Decca Legacy III, Vol. 8)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult
Classical - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 1/01/1952
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Conductor's Gallery, Vol. 6: Victor de Sabata
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Victor De Sabata
Classical - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 25/08/2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Parry: Invocation To Music
Matthias Bamert, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Anne Dawson, Arthur Davies, Brian Rayner Cook, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra
Cantatas (secular) - Released by Chandos on 1/02/1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Classical Masters Series Grieg
Classical - Released by Silverline on 9/10/2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sir Adrian Boult: A Musical Legacy, Vol. 4
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult
Classical - Released by London Philharmonic Orchestra on 20/11/2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Violin Works
Fritz Kreisler, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Serge Rachmaninoff, Sir John Barbirolli
Classical - Released by Biddulph Recordings on 21/07/1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Parry: The Soul's Ransom & The Lotos-Eaters
Matthias Bamert, London Philharmonic Orchestra, David Wilson-Johnson, Della Jones, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra
Sacred Oratorios - Released by Chandos on 1/09/1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Clemens Krauss Conducts Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss, London Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Dutton on 1/02/2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
MOZART / BEETHOVEN / LISZT: Piano Concertos (Gieseking, Rosbaud, Wood) (1932, 1936, 1937)
Walter Gieseking, Staatskapelle Berlin, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Hans Rosbaud, Henry Wood
Classical - Released by Naxos on 18/04/2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 9
Sir Adrian Boult, London Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Naxos Classical Archives on 1/01/2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bruch & Nielsen: Violin Concertos
Lawrence Foster, Nikolaj Znaider, London Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 9/10/2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
BEETHOVEN / MENDELSSOHN: Violin Concertos (Kreisler) (1935-1936)
Fritz Kreisler, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir John Barbirolli, Landon Ronald
Classical - Released by Naxos on 1/03/2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Concerto pour violon - Sonate pour violon & orchestre
Lydia Mordkovitch, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Jan Latham-Koenig
Violin Concertos - Released by Chandos on 1/06/1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
ROMANTIC PIANO CONCERTOS
Israela Margalit, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bryden Thomson
Keyboard Concertos - Released by Chandos on 1/07/1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Great Operatic Arias (Sung in English), Vol. 21 - Cheryl Baker
Cheryl Barker, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Gillian Keith, William Dazeley, David Parry
Opera Extracts - Released by Chandos on 1/09/2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No.4; Symphony No.6
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1/01/2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Music of England, Vol. 6
Classical - Released by Editions Audiovisuel Beulah on 18/10/2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo