Editing BBC Symphony Orchestra (section)

===Foundation===
By the time [[Adrian Boult]] succeeded Pitt as director of music for the BBC, the violinist [[Albert Sammons]] and the violist [[Lionel Tertis]] had scouted for new talent around the country on behalf of the corporation. Twenty-seven players had been offered positions in the new orchestra. Among those who joined were [[Aubrey Brain]], [[Arthur Catterall]], [[Eugene Cruft]], [[Sidonie Goossens]], [[Lauri Kennedy]] and [[Frederick Thurston]]. Although many of the principals were stars recruited from the LSO, [[the Hallé]] and other ensembles such as the [[British Symphony Orchestra]] which Boult had conducted from 1920 to 1923<ref>{{cite news |last=((A Special Correspondent)) |title=Adrian Boult's orchestral outreach in East London: 'a bit of genuine decentralisation' |newspaper=The Observer |date=25 September 1921 |others=Guardian Archive, 16 February 2016 |access-date=4 December 2024 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/from-the-archive-blog/2016/feb/16/from-the-classical-archive-adrian-boult-observer-interview-1921}}</ref> (with Sammons as leader and Cruft as principal bass), a high proportion of the rank and file members were fresh from music colleges.<ref>Morrison, p. 73</ref> Boult wrote, "a brilliant group of young and inexperienced players came to sit behind the well-known old stagers."<ref>Boult, p. 97</ref>

[[File:Boult-guests1.jpg|thumb|left|150px|alt=panel of eight small photographs of men's portraits dating from the decades around 1900|Guest conducting the BBC SO in the 1930s: from top left, clockwise, [[Thomas Beecham|Beecham]], [[Serge Koussevitzky|Koussevitzky]], [[Willem Mengelberg|Mengelberg]], [[Richard Strauss]], [[Arturo Toscanini|Toscanini]], [[Bruno Walter|Walter]], [[Anton Webern|Webern]], [[Felix Weingartner|Weingartner]]]]
A substantial number of the players performed at the 1930 Promenade Concerts under Wood,<ref>"The Promenade Concerts" ''The Observer'', 20 July 1930, p. 12</ref> and the full BBC Symphony Orchestra gave its first concert on 22 October 1930, conducted by Boult at the Queen's Hall. The programme consisted of music by [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]], [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]], Saint-Saëns and [[Maurice Ravel|Ravel]].<ref name=b99>Boult, p. 99</ref> Of the 21 programmes in the orchestra's first season, Boult conducted nine and Wood five.{{refn|The other concerts were divided between Ansermet, [[Hermann Scherchen]], [[Oskar Fried]], [[Landon Ronald]] and [[Albert Coates (musician)|Albert Coates]]<ref>{{cite journal|title = London Concerts|journal = The Musical Times|volume = 71|issue = 1052|date = 1 October 1930|page=935|jstor =916909 }}</ref>|group= n}}

The reviews of the new orchestra were enthusiastic. ''The Times'' wrote of its "virtuosity" and of Boult's "superb" conducting.<ref>{{cite journal|title = Music|journal = The Musical Times|date = 23 October 1930|page=12 }}</ref> ''The Musical Times'' commented, "The boast of the B.B.C. that it intended to get together a first-class orchestra was not an idle one", spoke of "exhilaration at the playing", and called another concert later in the season "an occasion for national pride".<ref>{{cite journal|title = London Concerts|journal = The Musical Times|volume = 71|issue = 1054|pages =1124–1127|date = 1 December 1930|jstor = 914348 }} {{subscription required}}</ref> ''[[The Observer]]'' called the playing "altogether magnificent".<ref>{{cite journal|title = Music|journal = The Observer|date = 26 October 1930|page=14 }} {{subscription required}}</ref> After the initial concerts Reith was told by his advisers that the orchestra had played better for Boult than anyone else. Reith asked him if he wished to take on the chief conductorship, and if so whether he would resign as director of music or occupy both posts simultaneously. Boult opted for the latter.<ref name=b99/>

During the 1930s, the orchestra became renowned for its high standard of playing and for performing new and unfamiliar music. The pioneering work of Boult and the BBC SO included an early performance of [[Arnold Schoenberg|Schoenberg]]'s ''Variations,'' Op. 31, British premieres, including [[Alban Berg|Berg]]'s ''[[Wozzeck]]'' and ''[[Lyric Suite (Berg)|Three Movements from the Lyric Suite]]'',<ref name=cummings>{{cite journal|last=Cummings|first=David|title = Boult's premières: Problems of Musical Lexicography|journal = The Musical Times|volume=130|issue=1755|date = May 1989|pages =272–275|jstor = 966315 |doi=10.2307/966315}} {{subscription required}}</ref> and world premieres, including Vaughan Williams's [[Symphony No. 4 (Vaughan Williams)|Symphony No. 4 in F minor]].<ref>Boult, pp. 186–87</ref> [[Anton Webern]] conducted eight BBC SO concerts between 1931 and 1936.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Foreman|first=Lewis|title = Webern, the BBC and the Berg Violin Concerto|journal = Tempo|issue=178|date = September 1991|pages =2–11|jstor = 944999 |doi=10.1017/S0040298200013954|s2cid=143061971 }} {{subscription required}}</ref>

During the 1930s the orchestra presented rarely heard large-scale works from the past, including [[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz]]'s ''[[Requiem (Berlioz)|Grande Messe des morts]]'' and ''[[Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale]]''.<ref>Elkin, p. 50</ref> [[Gustav Mahler|Mahler]]'s [[Symphony No. 8 (Mahler)|Eighth]] and [[Symphony No. 9 (Mahler)|Ninth]] Symphonies, and [[Henry Purcell|Purcell]]'s ''[[King Arthur (opera)|King Arthur]]''.<ref>Elkin, p. 51</ref>

The excellence of the orchestra attracted leading international conductors. In its second season guest conductors included Richard Strauss, [[Felix Weingartner]] and Bruno Walter,<ref>{{cite news|title = Music|newspaper= The Times|date = 27 August 1931|page=8 }}</ref> followed, in later seasons, by [[Serge Koussevitzky]],<ref>{{cite news|title = Music|newspaper= The Times|date = 10 September 1932|page=8}}</ref> Beecham and Mengelberg.<ref>{{cite news|title = Music|newspaper= The Times|date = 11 August 1936|page=10}}</ref> Arturo Toscanini, widely regarded at the time as the world's leading conductor, conducted the BBC SO in 1935 and later said that it was the finest he had ever directed.<ref>Morrison, p. 74</ref> He returned to conduct the orchestra in 1937, 1938 and 1939,<ref>Boult, p. 102</ref> and declared, "This is the orchestra I would like to take round the world."<ref>Glock, p. 104</ref>