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National Philharmonic Orchestra

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

The National Philharmonic Orchestra was a British orchestra that existed solely for recordings. Charles Gerhardt, producer and conductor at RCA Records, founded it with the orchestra leader and contractor Sidney Sax. The occasion was, among other things, a large recording project for Reader's Digest. The orchestra began in 1964 under varying names, such as RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra and London Promenade, which consisted almost entirely of members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1971 it was registered as the National Philharmonic Orchestra.

Music and breakthrough

Gerhardt and Sax drew musicians from the large London pool. The violins regularly included leaders of all the major London orchestras. At first the orchestra recorded only for RCA, from 1974 also for Decca, and from 1975 for Columbia. Many conductors worked with the orchestra, among them Leopold Stokowski, Riccardo Chailly, Richard Bonynge, Michael Kamen and Loris Tjeknavorian. Bonynge recorded all three of Tchaikovsky's ballets for Decca, and Kamen recorded the orchestral parts for Eric Clapton's concerts 24 Nights at the Royal Albert Hall.

Influence

Best known is the series Classic Film Scores, which Gerhardt made with the producer George Korngold for RCA, with titles such as Casablanca: Classic Film Scores for Humphrey Bogart, The Fantasy Film World of Bernard Herrmann and Psycho. For many listeners these are the first introduction to film music on record, with a rich orchestral sound in stereo. In this way the orchestra brought classic film music to a large audience, outside the cinema.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Psycho in the orchestra's recording and notice how the strings build tension with short, sharp strokes.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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