Richard Pennycuick ([log in to unmask]) wrote:

>Mimi Ezust wondered:
>
>>Hey, what was the "New Philharmonia Orchestra?" anyhow? They sound too
>>good to be an ordinary pick-up group.
>
>I don't recall the exact details but in the late 60s or thereabouts, there
>were some internal or contractual upheavals - or something like that - in
>the Philharmonia Orchestra.  This caused quite a lot of animosity which in
>an earlier age might have led to pistols at dawn.  One by-product of this
>was that the name of the orchestra, which contained largely the same
>personnel as before, was changed to the New Philharmonia, under which name
>it continued recording.  Later still, it reverted to its original name.

Walter Legge own the name "Philharmonia Orchestra" and in 1964 annoucned
that he was disbanding the group.  The players decided to continue,
but could not use the same name.  Their first concert as the NPO was
a Beethoven 9 at the Royal Albert Hall under Klemperer in October 1964,
which monumental interpretation is (or was) available on an EMI video.

Deryk Barker
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