Editing London Philharmonic Orchestra (section)

===1950s===
Van Beinum's poor health obliged him to resign in 1950. Sir Adrian Boult accepted an invitation from the LPO's managing director, Thomas Russell, to take up the principal conductorship.<ref>Kennedy, p.&nbsp;230.</ref> With Boult the LPO began a series of commercial recordings, beginning with Elgar's ''[[Falstaff (Elgar)|Falstaff]]'', Mahler's ''[[Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen]]'' with the [[mezzo-soprano]] [[Blanche Thebom]], and Beethoven's [[Symphony No. 1 (Beethoven)|First Symphony]].<ref name="Kennedy 231">Kennedy, p.&nbsp;231.</ref> The work of the new team was greeted with approval by reviewers. Of the Elgar, the reviewer in ''[[Gramophone (magazine)|The Gramophone]]'' wrote, "I have heard no other conductor approach [Boult's] performance.&nbsp;... His newly adopted orchestra responds admirably".<ref>''The Gramophone'', May 1951, p.&nbsp;17.</ref>

In January 1951, Boult and the LPO made a tour of Germany, described by Boult's biographer [[Michael Kennedy (music critic)|Michael Kennedy]] as "gruelling", with twelve concerts in as many days.<ref name="kb">Kennedy, p.&nbsp;232; and Boult, p.&nbsp;202.</ref>{{refn|Kennedy states that there were 11 concerts, but Boult lists 12 dates and venues.<ref name="kb" />|group=n}} The symphonies they played were Beethoven's [[Symphony No. 7 (Beethoven)|Seventh]], Haydn's [[Symphony No. 104 (Haydn)|''London'', No 104]], Brahms's [[Symphony No. 1 (Brahms)|First]], Schumann's [[Symphony No. 4 (Schumann)|Fourth]] and Schubert's [[Symphony No. 9 (Schubert)|''Great C major'']]. The other works were Elgar's [[Introduction and Allegro (Elgar)|Introduction and Allegro]], Holst's ''[[The Perfect Fool]]'' ballet music, [[Richard Strauss]]'s ''[[Don Juan (Strauss)|Don Juan]]'', and Stravinsky's ''[[The Firebird|Firebird]]''.<ref>Boult, p.&nbsp;202; and Kennedy, p.&nbsp;232.</ref> Conductors of the 1951–52 season other than Boult included [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]], [[Benjamin Britten]] and [[William Walton]].<ref>Pirouet, p.&nbsp;102.</ref>

[[File:Royal Festival Hall and Shot Tower c1959.jpg|thumb|left|The Royal Festival Hall in the 1950s: the LPO was among the orchestras striving for residency]]

In 1952, the LPO negotiated a five-year contract with [[Decca Records]] that was unusually rewarding for the orchestra, giving it a 10 percent commission on most sales. On top of this, Boult always contributed his share of the recording fees to the orchestra's funds.<ref>Kennedy, p.&nbsp;234.</ref> In the same year, the LPO survived a crisis when Russell was dismissed as its managing director. He was an avowed member of the [[Communist Party of Great Britain|Communist party]];<ref name="Kennedy 231" /> when the [[Cold War]] began, some influential members of the LPO felt that Russell's private political affiliations compromised the orchestra, and pressed for his dismissal. Boult, as the orchestra's chief conductor, initially stood up for Russell, but when matters came to a head Boult ceased to protect him. Deprived of that crucial support, Russell was forced out. Kennedy speculates that Boult's change of mind was due to a growing conviction that the orchestra would be "seriously jeopardized financially" if Russell remained in post.<ref>Kennedy, pp.&nbsp;215–222.</ref> A later writer, [[Richard Witts]], suggests that Boult sacrificed Russell because he believed doing so would enhance the LPO's chance of being appointed resident orchestra at the [[Royal Festival Hall]].{{refn|Witts concludes that it was not Russell but Boult – regarded by some as past his peak – who cost the LPO the Festival Hall residency.<ref>Witts, Richard. [http://www.richardwitts.com/pdf/Boult__Russell.pdf Boult, Russell & The London Philharmonic Orchestra 1952] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425163342/http://www.richardwitts.com/pdf/Boult__Russell.pdf |date=25 April 2012 }}. Music in Society Seminar, Institute of British History, 2002</ref>|group=n}}

The following year, the orchestra celebrated its 21st birthday, giving a series of concerts at the Festival Hall and the Albert Hall in which Boult was joined by guest conductors including [[Paul Kletzki]], [[Jean Martinon]], [[Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt]], [[Georg Solti]], [[Walter Susskind]] and Vaughan Williams.<ref>Mitchell, Donald. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/933482 "Promenade Concerts"], ''The Musical Times'', October 1953, p.&nbsp;472. {{subscription required}}</ref> In 1956 the LPO toured the [[Soviet Union]], the first British orchestra to do so; the conductors were Boult, [[Anatole Fistoulari]] and [[George Hurst (conductor)|George Hurst]], and the soloists were [[Alfredo Campoli]] and [[Moura Lympany]].<ref>Pepper, Maurice. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/936914 "The London Philharmonic Orchestra in Russia"], ''The Musical Times'', February 1957, pp.&nbsp;67–69. {{subscription required}}</ref> After the tour Boult retired as principal conductor, but remained closely associated with the orchestra, and was made its President in 1965. Most of his stereophonic recordings for [[EMI Classics|EMI]] were made with the LPO.<ref>Simeone and Mundy, pp.&nbsp;81–96; and Pirouet, p.&nbsp;116.</ref>

Through the middle and late 1950s, the LPO worked with new conductors including [[Constantin Silvestri]] and [[Josef Krips]]. This was a bad period financially for the orchestra, and it was forced to abandon fixed contracts for its players with holiday and sick pay and pensions, and revert to payment by engagement.<ref name=moore>Moore (unnumbered page)</ref> Financial disaster was averted thanks to an anonymous benefactor, generally believed to be Boult.<ref>Pirouet, p.&nbsp;119.</ref> A historian of the orchestra, Edmund Pirouet, writes that having been on an upward curve in the 1940s, by the mid-1950s the orchestra "was at best marking time".<ref>Pirouet, p.&nbsp;116.</ref>

In 1958, the LPO appointed [[William Steinberg]], also music director of the [[Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra]], as chief conductor. He was a noted orchestral trainer, and did much to restore playing standards to their former levels.<ref name="moore" /> Steinberg resigned the LPO post after two seasons, advised by his doctor to restrict his activities.<ref>"Dr Steinberg leaving London Philharmonic", ''The Guardian'', 1 August 1960.</ref>