This discography is an incomplete, chronological list of recordings commercially released with the name British Symphony Orchestra on the label. The list also includes other known recordings which fall outside this strict definition: either because they have been included in published discographies of specific conductors (e.g. Walter, Weingartner) under this name; or have been re-released as such on CD; or were never publicly released for general sale; or for comparison purposes only.

There seem to have been up to seven different separate incarnations of an orchestra of this name dating back to c1905, although there seems to be no documentary evidence that they were connected in any way. Some of the ensembles appear to have given public concerts only, and some to have only made studio recordings. These various orchestras are discussed in the British Symphony Orchestra article.

The discography is arranged into three main sections: The acoustic recordings made in the 1920s with His Master's Voice in Hayes, W. London and at Edison Bell in Peckham, SE London. The electrical recordings made by Columbia in the early 1930s in the Methodist Central Hall, Westminster. Modern digital recordings.

Background Acoustic recordings

Raymond Rôze recorded four sides with the orchestra he founded, for Edison Bell's Velvet Face label in c. 1919-early 1920.

Adrian Boult made the His Master's Voice recordings at Room 1, His Master's Voice, Hayes, Middlesex in 1920–1922, and the Velvet Face ones at the Edison Bell studio in Peckham, SW London, in 1923. He became chief conductor of the Birmingham Choir in late 1923, of the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in 1924, music director of the BBC on 1 January 1930, and—from around October that year—concurrently the first chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Electrical recordings "Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'entrate."Dante, Inferno, Canto III

In the early 1930s the Columbia Graphophone Company made a number of recordings, released with "British Symphony Orchestra" on the label. They were made in 1930–1932, mostly in the Methodist Central Hall, Westminster, which was built in 1911 and first used for recording by Columbia in January 1927. Columbia had been making recordings since 1924 with the orchestra of the Royal Philharmonic Society whose shadowy, occasional existence seems to be partially intertwined with that of the "British Symphony Orchestra" of this period, and is discussed here first.

Orchestra of the Royal Philharmonic Society

Since at least the beginning of the 20th century, the orchestra of the Royal Philharmonic Society was a somewhat ad hoc gathering of musicians which was engaged about once a month for an RPS concert under various conductors; from 1924 it also made a few recordings a year, again under different conductors. For recording purposes it was billed as "The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra" on Columbia record labels. The orchestra of this period is sometimes thus—by extension—often referred to as "the RPO" or "the old RPO".

The members, described a "kind of test match team" were hand-picked from the orchestral musicians of London. The players booked for an RPS concert by the Hon. Sec. were expected to attend all rehearsals and the concert (or recording). The § deputy system was at first specifically disallowed, although this rule came to be severely flouted.

From 1916 Sir Thomas Beecham had effectively taken over the running of the Royal Philharmonic Society, which financially was on its last legs, and ran it autocratically until his resignation two years later in 1918. Balfour Gardiner stepped in with a guarantee of £1,200 to allow concerts to continue. The Society was incorporated in 1922 as a "company limited by guarantee and not having a share capital", which allowed it to enter into a recording contract with Columbia for five years in late 1923.

The Columbia Graphophone Company (Columbia UK) made over 40 recordings of the orchestra. Bruno Walter made numerous records with the orchestra from 1924: other conductors included Sir George Henschel, Paul von Klenau and Beecham, Oskar Fried (Tchaikovsky's 6th symphony in 1929) and Felix Weingartner. Venues included the Petty France studios; the Portman Rooms, Baker Street; the marble-lined Scala Theatre, Charlotte Street; and, from 1930, Central Hall, Westminster.

A number of players joined the newly-formed BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1930. The orchestra of the Royal Philharmonic Society was reformed in autumn 1932 as the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO), as a permanent ensemble under Beecham and Malcolm Sargent with backing from the Courtauld family. A number of players were also lured away from the LSO, through what the LSO Board regarded as "treachery by Beecham and disloyalty by Sargent." Beecham conducted the LPO's first concert at the Queen's Hall on 7 October 1932 (Carnaval Romain, Brigg Fair, the 'Prague' symphony and Ein Heldenleben) to tumultuous applause.

Deputy system

The standard of orchestral playing in London had been seriously affected for many years by the deputy system, by which orchestral players—if offered a better-paid engagement—could send a substitute to a rehearsal or a concert. When Wood banned the practice in the Queen's Hall orchestra in 1904, forty disgruntled players left en masse to found the LSO. The Honorary Secretary of the Royal Philharmonic Society, John Mewburn Levien, described it thus: "A, whom you want, signs to play at your concert. He sends B (whom you don't mind) to the first rehearsal. B, without your knowledge or consent, sends C to the second rehearsal. Not being able to play at the concert, C sends D, whom you would have paid five shillings to stay away."

By the 1930s the standard of orchestral playing at Society concerts had fallen so much that "it had become a commonplace that "not one in twenty concerts were properly prepared", and critics and audiences were accustomed to making allowances". The frequent changes of players meant that only "a few celebrated batons, except Beecham's, and possibly Wood's were a regular match for prevailing conditions in the orchestra." Artur Schnabel was so unhappy about a performance of Mozart's A Major concerto K488 which he had given at a Royal Philharmonic Society concert with Basil Cameron that he wrote to The Times on 18 Jan 1930 to explain that the concert had been inadequately rehearsed. Walter J. Turner, the music critic of the New Statesman (25 January 1930) commented that the orchestra were "tired and apathetic", and that Schnabel's gesture to pay for an extra 30 minutes' rehearsal had to be refused since the extensive use of deputies reduced it to a meaningless gesture.

"British Symphony Orchestra" "Quot homines, tot sententiae."Terence, Phormio 454.

From 1930 to 1932, Columbia released fifteen recordings mostly made in the Central Hall with the name "British Symphony Orchestra" on the label: one each conducted by Smyth and Fried; three each by Wood and Weingartner; and seven by Walter. In addition Weingartner recorded Beethoven's 5th symphony with an unnamed ensemble, released in the US only as performed by a "Symphony Orchestra". It has been re-released on CD as being by the "British Symphony Orchestra", but the basis for this is flimsy to non-existent.See main discography

The first recording with "British Symphony Orchestra" on the label was of Ethel Smyth conducting the overture to her opera The Wreckers. Her connection with a BSO may appear valid, since Raymond Rôze had promoted The Wreckers during his "Opera in English" season in 1909. when the very first BSO under William Sewell was giving concerts in London. In 1919 Rôze had formed the second British Symphony Orchestra, which existed as a semi-permanent ensemble until 1923.

The other conductor with perhaps a vague contemporary connection to the earlier BSO formations is Sir Henry Wood, who would have certainly have come across them in the 'old days': but he doesn't appear to have conducted the old orchestra when William Sewell, Harty, or Boult were giving concerts with the BSO. Hamilton Harty conducted concerts with the BSO in 1906 at the Queen's Hall, where Wood conducted his own New Queen's Hall Orchestra. His association with this later "British Symphony Orchestra" may have been somewhat tongue-in-cheek.

Identity Record producers, reviewers and discographers have puzzled over the identity of the named and unnamed ensembles. It seems fairly clear that it was not Adrian Boult's old orchestra, which hadn't given a concert since 1923. According to George Frow, "this must have been a general pseudonym, since the original name of British Symphony Orchestra was used in 1919 by Raymond Rôze, who founded an orchestra to give employment to soldiers returning from the Great War, but this worthy ambition petered out after a season or two, when it foundered through lack of support."

The London Symphony Orchestra had a contract with His Master's Voice, and the New Queen's Hall Orchestra was disbanded by Chappell & Co. in 1927, or by 1930. The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBCSO) was in the process of being formed, and gave its first concert at Queen's Hall under Boult on 22 October 1930."Wireless Notes and Programmes", The Manchester Guardian, 22 October 1930, p. 12. There were few other major London-based permanent symphonic ensembles, although the Hallé made frequent trips to the capital from Manchester, and made recordings there with Hamilton Harty for Columbia.

One other sizeable orchestra was that of the Royal Philharmonic Society, which was essentially an ad hoc or pickup orchestra engaged by the Hon. Secretary of the Philharmonic Society for about eight concerts a year at Queen's Hall.

A partial clue may lie in the Weingartner recordings of 1931 which haven't received much scrutiny because of their lesser musical content. Although they state "British Symphony Orchestra" on the label, Michael Gray's data shows that it was the Orchestra of the Royal Philharmonic Society under a cover name. Date: 1931-04-07 [7 April 1931] Venue: London, Central Hall, Westminster Label: Columbia Performer: Orchestra of the Royal Philharmonic Society Composer: MOZART, Leopold Title: Cassation in G major 'Toy Symphony' Issue_78_45: DX311 LX45 Num: WAX 6046 Conductor: Weingartner, Felix

More particularly, there seems to be little discographical basis for the "British Symphony Orchestra" which appears on CD reissues of the recording of Beethoven 5th Symphony with Weingartner in 1932. It was made by an unnamed orchestra at an undisclosed location. It wasn't even issued in Britain because of the faintness of the recording and the variable recording speeds throughout the work.

The very next day after Weingartner recorded Beethoven 5th, Columbia recorded the waltz from Naila by Delibes on an unissued matrix CAX 6358, with the Columbia Symphony named as the performer. CatNum: UNISSUED Date: 1932-03-18 Label: Columbia Performer: Columbia Symphony Composer: DÉLIBES Title: Naila - Waltz Num: CAX 6358 This is not at all the first example of the Columbia Symphony Orchestra.

The last recording released with "British Symphony Orchestra" on the label was made by Henry Wood on 16 October 1932, about one week after the LPO (the "old RPO") had given its first concert.

As George Frow commented in 1979: "At this distance it is becoming difficult to break through the defences of the pseudonyms without deep research, and there is a great deal that will one day be done by somebody, not only on early individual performers, singers and comedians in particular, but orchestras, as has been shown".

Summary