Editing London Symphony Orchestra (section)

==Recordings==
===Audio===
[[File:London Barbican Hall LSO Haitink.jpg|thumb|right|The LSO at the Barbican, 2011. Front, left to right, Roman Simović, Carmine Lauri (violins), Alastair Blayden, Tim Hugh (cellos), [[Bernard Haitink]] (conductor), Gillianne Haddow, Edward Vanderspar (violas), Tom Norris, Evgeny Grach (violins). Players to the rear include [[David Pyatt]] (horn), [[Andrew Marriner]] (clarinet), Rachel Gough (bassoon)]]
[[File:Jerry Goldsmith 1.jpg|thumb|right|LSO concert of film music at the Barbican, 2003. Left to right: [[Gordan Nikolitch]] and Lennox Mackenzie (violins), [[Jerry Goldsmith]] (conductor), [[Paul Silverthorne]] (viola), Moray Welsh (cello)]]
The LSO has made recordings since the early days of recording, beginning with acoustic versions under Nikisch of Beethoven's ''[[Egmont (Beethoven)|Egmont]]'' Overture, [[Carl Maria von Weber|Weber]]'s ''[[Oberon (Weber)|Oberon]]'' Overture, and [[Franz Liszt|Liszt]]'s [[Hungarian Rhapsodies|Hungarian Rhapsody]] in F minor, followed soon after by the overtures to ''[[Der Freischütz]]'' and ''[[The Marriage of Figaro]]''. [[His Master's Voice (British record label)|His Master's Voice]]'s [[Fred Gaisberg]], who supervised the sessions, wrote of "virtuoso playing which was unique at that time".<ref name=jolly>Jolly, James. "London Symphony Orchestra – A Profile"], ''Gramophone'', October 1988, p. 40</ref> Since then, according to the orchestra's website, the LSO has made more recordings than any other orchestra,<ref>[http://lso.co.uk/page/3152/Recordings "Recordings"], London Symphony Orchestra. Retrieved 7 July 2012</ref> a claim endorsed by ''Gramophone'' magazine.<ref name=jolly/> In 1920 the LSO signed a three-year contract with the [[Columbia Graphophone Company]] and what Jolly calls "a magnificent series of recordings" followed. Under [[Felix Weingartner]] the orchestra recorded Mozart ([[Symphony No. 39 (Mozart)|Symphony No 39]]), Beethoven (the [[Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)|Fifth]], [[Symphony No. 7 (Beethoven)|Seventh]] and [[Symphony No. 8 (Beethoven)|Eighth]] Symphonies) and Brahms's [[Symphony No. 1 (Brahms)|First]].<ref name=jolly/> Other recordings from this period included the premiere recording of [[Gustav Holst|Holst]]'s ''[[The Planets]]'', conducted by the composer, and [[Richard Strauss]]'s ''[[Don Juan (Strauss)|Don Juan]]'', ''[[Ein Heldenleben]]'' and ''[[Tod und Verklärung]]'', likewise conducted by their composer.<ref name=jolly/>

When Elgar recorded his major works for His Master's Voice in the late 1920s and early 1930s, the LSO was chosen for most of the recordings.{{#tag:ref|The LSO plays on the recordings of both Symphonies, the [[Violin Concerto (Elgar)|Violin Concerto]] (with Menuhin), the [[Cello Concerto (Elgar)|Cello Concerto]] (with [[Beatrice Harrison]]), ''[[Falstaff (Elgar)|Falstaff]]'', ''[[In the South (Alassio)|In the South]]'', and many of the lighter pieces including the ''[[Wand of Youth]]'' and ''[[Nursery Suite|Nursery]]'' suites.<ref>"The Elgar Edition: The Complete Electrical Recordings of Sir Edward Elgar", EMI Records, Catalogue number 5099909569423.</ref>|group= n}} The LSO's pre-war recordings for [[Decca Records|Decca]] include Hamilton Harty's version of Walton's First Symphony, of which ''Gramophone'' magazine said, "There are one or two moments where the LSO are audibly hanging on by the skin of their teeth, but these moments simply add to the ferocious impact of the music".<ref>''Gramophone'' December 1985, p. 76</ref>

In the 1950s and early 1960s, EMI generally made its British recordings with the [[Royal Philharmonic Orchestra|Royal Philharmonic]] and [[Philharmonia Orchestra|Philharmonia]] orchestras; the LSO's recordings were chiefly for Decca, including a [[Jean Sibelius|Sibelius]] symphony cycle with [[Anthony Collins (composer)|Anthony Collins]], French music under Monteux, early recordings by Solti, and a series of [[Benjamin Britten|Britten]]'s major works, conducted by the composer.<ref name=decca>Stuart, Philip. [http://www.charm.rhul.ac.uk/discography/decca.html ''Decca Classical, 1929–2009'']. Retrieved 7 July 2012</ref> Of the later 1960s Jolly writes, "Istvan Kertész's three-year Principal Conductorship has left a treasure trove of memorable and extraordinarily resilient recordings – the [[Antonín Dvořák|Dvořák symphonies]] are still competitive&nbsp;... and his classic disc of [[Béla Bartók|Bartók]]'s ''[[Duke Bluebeard's Castle]]'' admirably demonstrates what a superb ensemble the LSO were under his baton."<ref name=jolly/>

Since 2000, the LSO has published commercial CD recordings on its own label, LSO Live. Recordings are made live at the Barbican hall over several dates and are edited in post-production. Initially available on CD they have since been issued on [[Super Audio CD]] and also as downloads. LSO Live has published more than 70 recordings featuring conductors including Gergiev, Davis and [[Bernard Haitink]]. Gergiev's version of [[Serge Prokofiev|Prokofiev]]'s ''[[Romeo and Juliet (Prokofiev)|Romeo and Juliet]]'' was ''[[BBC Music Magazine]]''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Disc of the Year in 2011,<ref>[http://lso.co.uk/page/3495/Prokofiev-Romeo-and-Juliet-br-Disc-of-the-Year-2011 "Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet Disc of the Year 2011"], London Symphony Orchestra. Retrieved 7 July 2012</ref> and Davis's discs of [[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz]]'s ''[[Symphonie Fantastique]]'' and ''[[Les Troyens]]'' and [[Antonín Dvořák|Dvořák]]'s [[Symphony No. 8 (Dvořák)|Eighth Symphony]] were [[BBC Radio 3]]'s top recommendations in comparative reviews of all available versions.<ref>[http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/radio3/classical/cdreview/bal1011.pdf "Building a Library"], BBC Radio 3. Retrieved 7 July 2012</ref>

===Film===
{{Main article|London Symphony Orchestra filmography}}
Even in the era of silent films the LSO was associated with the cinema. During the 1920s the orchestra played scores arranged and conducted by [[Eugene Aynsley Goossens|Eugene Goossens]] to accompany screenings of ''The Three Musketeers'' (1922), ''The Nibelungs'' (1924), ''The Constant Nymph'' (1927) and ''The Life of Beethoven'' (1929).<ref name=m277/>

Since 1935 the LSO has recorded the musical scores of more than 200 films.<ref name=m277>Morrison, pp. 277–283</ref> The orchestra owed its engagement for its first soundtrack sessions to [[Muir Mathieson]], musical director of Korda Studios. On the LSO's website, the film specialist Robert Rider calls Mathieson "the most important single figure in the early history of British film music, who enlisted [[Arthur Bliss|Bliss]] to write a score for ''Things to Come'', and who was subsequently responsible for bringing the most eminent British 20th-century composers to work for cinema."<ref name=film/> Mathieson described the LSO as "the perfect film orchestra". Among the composers commissioned by Mathieson for LSO soundtracks were [[Ralph Vaughan Williams|Vaughan Williams]], [[William Walton|Walton]], [[Benjamin Britten|Britten]] and [[Malcolm Arnold]] and lighter composers including [[Eric Coates]] and [[Noël Coward]].<ref>Morrison, pp. 277–279</ref>

As a pinnacle of Mathieson's collaboration with the LSO, Rider cites the 1946 film ''Instruments of the Orchestra'', a film record of the LSO at work. Sargent conducted the orchestra in a performance of Britten's ''[[The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra]]'', composed for the film. Rider adds, "Mathieson's documentary, with its close-ups of the musicians and their instruments, beautifully captures the vibrancy and texture of the Orchestra amidst the optimism of the post-Second World War era."<ref name=film/>

Another milestone in the LSO's history in film music was in 1977 with the recording of [[John Williams]]'s score for the first of the ''[[Star Wars]]'' films. Rider comments that this film and its sequels "attracted a new group of admirers and consolidated the period of film music activity for the Orchestra, which continues unabated to this day".<ref name=film/> The LSO also recorded other Williams film scores, including ''[[Superman (1978 film)|Superman: The Movie]]'' (1978) and ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark]]'' (1981) and six of the eight films from the [[Harry Potter]] film series.<ref name=m280>Morrison, p. 280</ref>