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London Symphony Orchestra

The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's symphony orchestras. The LSO was created 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 Orchestra 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 Leonard 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. The LSO is consistently ranked as one of the world's leading orchestras.

Birth and Death Data: Born Founded 1904

Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1919 - 1937

Roles Represented in DAHR: Musical group

= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.

Recordings (Results 1-25 of 152 records)

Company Matrix No. Size First Recording Date Title Primary Performer Description Role Audio
Columbia 74060 12-in. 4/25/1920 Poème d'extase, part 1 Eric Coates ; London Symphony Orchestra Orchestra Musical group  
Columbia 74061 12-in. 4/25/1920 Poème d'extase, part 2 Eric Coates ; London Symphony Orchestra Orchestra Musical group  
Columbia 74062 12-in. 4/25/1920 Poème d'extase, part 5 Eric Coates ; London Symphony Orchestra Orchestra Musical group  
Columbia 74081 12-in. 5/5/1920 Poème d'extase, part 3 Eric Coates ; London Symphony Orchestra Orchestra Musical group  
Columbia 74082 12-in. 5/5/1920 Poème d'extase, part 4 Eric Coates ; London Symphony Orchestra Orchestra Musical group  
Columbia 74186 12-in. 4/29/1921 Scheherezade : 2nd movement, part 1 Eric Coates ; London Symphony Orchestra Orchestra Musical group  
Columbia 74187 12-in. 4/29/1921 Scheherezade : 2nd movement, part 2 Eric Coates ; London Symphony Orchestra Orchestra Musical group  
Columbia 74268 12-in. 3/11/1921 Siegfried idyll, part 1 Eric Coates ; London Symphony Orchestra Orchestra Musical group  
Columbia 74269 12-in. 3/11/1921 Siegfried idyll, part 2 Eric Coates ; London Symphony Orchestra Orchestra Musical group  
Columbia 74270 12-in. 3/11/1921 Siegfried idyll, part 3 Eric Coates ; London Symphony Orchestra Orchestra Musical group  
Columbia 74271 12-in. 3/11/1921 Siegfried idyll, part 4 Eric Coates ; London Symphony Orchestra Orchestra Musical group  
Columbia 75034 12-in. 1/18/1922 Don Juan, part 1 London Symphony Orchestra ; Richard Strauss Orchestra Musical group  
Columbia 75035 12-in. 1/18/1922 Don Juan, part 2 London Symphony Orchestra ; Richard Strauss Orchestra Musical group  
Columbia 75036 12-in. 1/18/1922 Don Juan, part 3 London Symphony Orchestra ; Richard Strauss Orchestra Musical group  
Columbia 75037 12-in. 1/18/1922 Don Juan, part 4 London Symphony Orchestra ; Richard Strauss Orchestra Musical group  
Columbia 75038 12-in. 1/19/1922 Waltz, part 1 London Symphony Orchestra ; Richard Strauss Orchestra Musical group  
Columbia 75039 12-in. 1/19/1922 Waltz, part 2 London Symphony Orchestra ; Richard Strauss Orchestra Musical group  
Columbia 75040 12-in. 1/19/1922 Dance of the seven veils, part 1 London Symphony Orchestra ; Richard Strauss Orchestra Musical group  
Columbia 75041 12-in. 1/19/1922 Dance of the seven veils, part 2 London Symphony Orchestra ; Richard Strauss Orchestra Musical group  
Columbia 75135 12-in. 7/5/1922 Caliph of Bagdad : Overture Eugene Goossens ; London Symphony Orchestra Orchestra Musical group  
Columbia 75136 12-in. 7/5/1922 Jewels of the Madonna : Introduction, act 3 Eugene Goossens ; London Symphony Orchestra Orchestra Musical group  
Columbia 75137 12-in. 7/5/1922 Le roi l'a dit : Overture, part 1 Eugene Goossens ; London Symphony Orchestra Orchestra Musical group  
Columbia 75138 12-in. 7/5/1922 Le roi l'a dit : Overture, part 2 Eugene Goossens ; London Symphony Orchestra Orchestra Musical group  
Columbia 75139 12-in. 7/5/1922 Il segreto di Susanna : Overture Eugene Goossens ; London Symphony Orchestra Orchestra Musical group  
Columbia 75140 12-in. 7/5/1922 Jewels of the Madonna : Introduction, act 1 Eugene Goossens ; London Symphony Orchestra Orchestra Musical group  
(Results 1-25 of 152 records)

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "London Symphony Orchestra," accessed March 29, 2024, https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/103031.

London Symphony Orchestra. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved March 29, 2024, from https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/103031.

"London Symphony Orchestra." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 29 March 2024.

DAHR Persistent Identifier

URI: https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/103031

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