London Symphony Orchestra

London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), founded in 1904, is the oldest of London's symphony orchestras. It was set up by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's Hall Orchestra because of a new rule requiring players to give the orchestra their exclusive services. The LSO itself later introduced a similar rule for its members. From the outset, the LSO was organised on co-operative lines, with all players sharing the profits at the end of each season. This practice continued for the orchestra's first four decades.

The LSO underwent periods of eclipse in the 1930s and 1950s when it was regarded as inferior in quality to new London orchestras, to which it lost players and bookings: the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic in the 1930s and the Philharmonia and Royal Philharmonic after the Second World War. The profit-sharing principle was abandoned in the post-war era as a condition of receiving public subsidy for the first time. In the 1950s the orchestra debated whether to concentrate on film work at the expense of symphony concerts; many senior players left when the majority of players rejected the idea. By the 1960s the LSO had recovered its leading position, which it has retained subsequently. In 1966, to perform alongside it in choral works, the orchestra established the LSO Chorus, originally a mix of professional and amateur singers, later a wholly amateur ensemble.

As a self-governing body, the orchestra selects the conductors with whom it works. At some stages in its history, it has dispensed with a principal conductor and worked only with guests. Among conductors with whom it is most associated are, in its early days, Hans Richter, Sir Edward Elgar, and Sir Thomas Beecham, and in more recent decades Pierre Monteux, André Previn, Claudio Abbado, Sir Colin Davis, and Valery Gergiev.

Since 1982, the LSO has been based in the Barbican Centre in the City of London. Among its programmes there have been large-scale festivals celebrating composers as diverse as Berlioz, Mahler and Bernstein. The LSO claims to be the world's most recorded orchestra; it has made gramophone recordings since 1912 and has played on more than 200 soundtrack recordings for the cinema, of which the best known include the Star Wars series.
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London Symphony Orchestra

London Symphony Orchestra

The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), founded in 1904, is the oldest of London's symphony orchestras. It was set up by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's Hall Orchestra because of a new rule requiring players to give the orchestra their exclusive services. The LSO itself later introduced a similar rule for its members. From the outset, the LSO was organised on co-operative lines, with all players sharing the profits at the end of ...
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68 albums
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BRITTEN War Requiem
BRITTEN Nocturne
BRITTEN Our Hunting Fathers

Live and studio recordings, 1959-62
Total duration: 2hr 20:20

Peter Pears, tenor
Heather Harper, soprano
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone
Coventry Festival Choir
Boys Of Holy Trinity, Leamington
Boys Of Holy Trinity, Stratford
Melos Ensemble
City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Aldeburg Festival Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra

conducted by Benjamin Britten
conducted by Meredith Davies 

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SAINT-SAËNS Introduction & Rondo Capriccioso
SAINT-SAËNS Havanaise

Recorded in 1953
Total duration 18:44

Alfredo Campoli, violin
London Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Anatole Fistoulari

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BACH (arr Elgar) - Fantasia and Fugue in C minor
BEETHOVEN - Gratulations-Menuett
BEETHOVEN The Creatures of Prometheus - Overture
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9 'Choral'
Recorded between 1925 & 1928
Total duration:  78:04 

Elsie Suddaby, soprano
Nellie Walker,
contralto
Walter Widdop,
tenor
Stuart Robinson,
bass
Philharmonic Choir
London Symphony Orchestra
Albert Coates,
conductor

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MOZART - Symphony No. 41, 'Jupiter'
MOZART - Der Schauspieldirektor - Overture
BEETHOVEN - Symphony No. 7
Acoustic HMV recordings 1921-1924
Total duration: 70:41

The Symphony Orchestra
Albert Coates,
conductor

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STRAVINSKY Petrushka Ballet
BORODIN
 Prince Igor - excerpts
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV
 Czar Sultan - Suite
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV
 May Night - Overture
MUSSORGSKY
 Khovanshchina: Persian Dances

Electric HMV recordings 1926-30
Total duration: 73:15

Albert Coates, conductor

London Symphony Orchestra

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RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Coq d'Or - suite
STRAVINSKY
 Firebird Suite
RAVEL Ma Mère l'Oye - Suite
Music by Glinka, Liadov, Debussy

Acoustic HMV recordings 1921-24
Total duration: 70:19

Albert Coates, conductor

London Symphony Orchestra