London Symphony Orchestra

The London Symphony Orchestra was born out of a walkout. In 1904 a group of players quit Henry Wood's Queen's Hall Orchestra over a new rule demanding they work for nobody else, and set up an orchestra of their own, run as a co-operative in which every player took a share of the profits at the end of the season. It is the oldest of London's symphony orchestras, and it has been a self-governing outfit from the start, picking its own conductors.

It hasn't all been smooth. In the 1930s and again in the 1950s newer London orchestras poached its players and its bookings, and a bust-up over whether to chase film work sent a lot of senior players out the door. But by the 1960s the LSO had fought its way back to the top, adding its own LSO Chorus in 1966. Over the decades it has played under Sir Edward Elgar, Hans Richter and Sir Thomas Beecham, and later Pierre Monteux, Claudio Abbado, Sir Colin Davis and Sir Simon Rattle.

It has been cutting records since 1912, and its playing turns up on over 200 film soundtracks, the Star Wars scores best known among them. Beethoven's Fifth and the "Ode to Joy" from his Ninth are its calling cards on rock radio's countdowns, proof that a good riff never really dies.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.