Decca Discography
DECCA DISCOGRAPHY >>3 GREAT BRITAIN: ffss, 1954-81 Work for American record companies (notably Mercury and Everest) helped the LSO to raise its standards and convince Decca, by around 1962, that the finest symphony orchestra available (with the arguable exception of the VPO) could be regularly heard at the Royal Festival Hall, a few minutes walk away from 9, Albert Embankment, where the company had opened Decca House as its new headquarters in 1958. Then in 1964 the New Philharmonia, disowned by Walter Legge, began to record for Decca, as did the Academy of St.Martin in the Fields, having moved from L’Oiseau-Lyre to Argo. With the English Chamber Orchestra and RPO also available, London had a short spell of orchestral pre- eminence before Decca started shifting sessions to North America. It had also added Joan Sutherland’s sessions to its traditional operatic repertoire of Sullivan and Britten and maintained its importance in chamber music and instrumental recordings, particularly with Ashkenazy from 1963 and the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble on Argo from 1968. In the early 1970s the advent of Anthony Rooley, the Consort of Musicke, Emma Kirkby, Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music brought a fresh look at repertoire from Dowland to Purcell, Handel, Mozart and eventually Beethoven. Solti recorded with the LPO from 1972 and the National Philharmonic was booked regularly from 1974-84. Also during the 1970s the London Sinfonietta’s surveys of Schönberg and Janá ček were recorded. Ashkenazy’s second career as a conductor centred initially on London, with the Philharmonia from 1977 and the RPO from 1987.
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