Editing Philharmonia Orchestra (section)

===1964–1977: New Philharmonia===
In its early years as an independent body the New Philharmonia flourished, in the concert hall and the recording studio. As well as its existing regular conductors, the orchestra worked with [[Ernest Ansermet]], [[Pierre Boulez]], [[Benjamin Britten]] and [[James Levine]] and many others.<ref>Hunt and Pettitt, pp. 419, 404, 394, 444 and 445</ref> It reciprocated Klemperer's loyalty and appointed him its president and chief conductor, but this led to a decline in orchestral discipline and standards as Klemperer grew older, frailer and less in command. Giulini became disillusioned and began to distance himself; Barbirolli remained firmly loyal until his death in 1970. Klemperer's decline led to a diminution in recording sessions, and the orchestra's finances became difficult by the late 1960s and early 1970s. There were serious but inconclusive discussions about a merger with the LPO, which was also in some difficulties at the time.<ref>Pettitt, p. 163</ref> The NPO was rescued from financial disaster by two musical philanthropists, one anonymous and the other [[Ian Stoutzker]], a prominent banker, who offered either to buy the orchestra outright or, as occurred, to underwrite its finances.<ref>Hunt and Pettitt, p. 437</ref>

Leading players of the early 1970s included [[Raymond Cohen]], Desmond Bradley, Carlos Villa (violins), Herbert Downes (viola), [[Gareth Morris]] (flute), John McCaw (clarinet), Gwydion Brooke (bassoon) and Nicholas Busch (horn).<ref name=prog/> The Philharmonia was ahead of some of its London rivals in admitting female players.{{refn|The RPO did not admit women until after Beecham's death;<ref>[[Alan Blyth|Blyth, Alan]]. "Rudolf Kempe interview and profile", ''[[Gramophone (magazine)|The Gramophone]]'', February 1974, p. 1,547</ref> the LSO elected its first woman member in 1975.<ref>[[Edward Greenfield|Greenfield, Edward]]. "Orchestra strives", ''[[The Guardian]]'', 8 August 1975, p. 8</ref>|group= n}} By 1972, seventeen of the sixty-six string players were women, although the other three sections remained exclusively male, except for the veteran harpist, [[Sidonie Goossens]].<ref name=prog>New Philharmonia programme booklet, Royal Festival Hall, 17 February 1972</ref>

[[File:Riccardo Muti.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=man with dark, centre-parted collar-length hair|[[Riccardo Muti]] (2008 photograph), chief conductor from 1972 to 1982]]
In Klemperer's later years the orchestra appointed [[Lorin Maazel]], nominally as "associate principal conductor", from 1970, although in practice his role was more like a chief conductorship, with Klemperer as a figurehead, albeit one still capable of inspiring magnificent performances on occasion.<ref>Pettitt, pp. 161–162</ref> Maazel sought more control than the self-governing orchestra was willing to concede, and resigned from his post in early 1972, although he continued to accept invitations to conduct the orchestra.<ref>Pettitt, p. 169</ref> Shortly afterwards, Klemperer announced his retirement; he died, aged 88, the following year.<ref>"Klemperer stands down", ''[[The Times]]'', 21 January 1972, p. 8; and "Dr Otto Klemperer: A conductor of international renown", ''The Times'', 9 July 1973, p. 16</ref> The orchestra recognised that a strong chief conductor was needed to restore its standards and finances, but there was no immediately obvious candidate. Although Legge no longer had any stake in the orchestra he watched its progress benevolently, and having spotted the potential of [[Riccardo Muti]] he recommended him to the New Philharmonia's general manager, Terence McDonald.<ref>Pettitt, p. 171</ref> Other potential candidates were considered, but Muti was appointed as the orchestra's chief conductor from 1973.<ref name=p179>Pettitt, p. 179</ref>

Muti, although he disclaimed such a description, was a firm disciplinarian, and under his conductorship the orchestra restored its standards.<ref>Pettitt, p. 180</ref> [[Richard Morrison (music critic)|Richard Morrison]] later wrote in ''[[The Times]]'' that in his ten years in charge, Muti turned a struggling orchestra into "a great ensemble".<ref>Morrison, Richard. "Restrained lyricism", ''[[The Times]]'', 29 March 1988, p. 18</ref> Critics at the time commented on the orchestra's "superb performance", "immense virtuosity", its "astoundingly delicate" string playing and "woodwind phrasing even more magical than their Berlin colleagues".<ref>[[Alan Blyth|Blyth, Alan]]. "NPO/Muti", ''[[The Times]]'', 12 July 1976, p. 6; [[Philip Hope-Wallace|Hope-Wallace, Philip]]. "A Masked Ball at the Festival Hall", ''[[The Guardian]]'', 7 July 1975, p. 8; Walker, Thomas. "NPO/Muti", ''[[The Times]]'', 21 March 1977, p. 12; and "Record Review", ''[[The Strad]]'', 1980, p. 818</ref> Muti was under contract to EMI, which brought the orchestra much valuable studio work.<ref>Pettitt, p. 181</ref> With Muti the orchestra recorded opera (''[[Aida]]'', 1974; ''[[Un ballo in maschera]]'', 1975; ''[[Nabucco]]'', 1977; ''[[I puritani]]'', 1979; ''[[Cavalleria rusticana]]'', 1979; ''[[La traviata]]'', 1980; ''[[Orfeo ed Euridice]]'', 1981; and ''[[Don Pasquale]]'', 1982); a wide range of the symphonic repertoire including [[Robert Schumann|Schumann]] and [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky]] cycles; concertos with soloists including [[Sviatoslav Richter]], [[Andrei Gavrilov]], [[Anne-Sophie Mutter]] and [[Gidon Kremer]]; and choral music by [[Luigi Cherubini|Cherubini]] and [[Antonio Vivaldi|Vivaldi]].<ref>Hunt and Pettitt, pp. 446–496</ref> After Legge's departure the orchestra was no longer exclusively tied to EMI, and made more than seventy recordings for [[Decca Classics|Decca]], starting in December 1964. Later Decca sessions were conducted by Boult, Britten, Giulini, Maazel, [[Claudio Abbado]], [[Vladimir Ashkenazy]], [[Charles Munch (conductor)|Charles Munch]], [[Leopold Stokowski]], and in 1967 [[Christoph von Dohnányi]], who three decades later became the orchestra's chief conductor.<ref name=decca>Stuart, Philip. [http://www.charm.rhul.ac.uk/discography/decca.html ''Decca Classical, 1929–2009''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150604115151/http://www.charm.rhul.ac.uk/discography/decca.html |date=4 June 2015 }}, AHRC Research Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music, retrieved 2 July 2018</ref>{{refn|Dohnányi conducted a work by his grandfather, [[Ernst von Dohnányi]], the ''[[Variations on a Nursery Tune (Dohnányi)|Variations on a Nursery Song]]'', Op. 25, with [[Earl Wild]] as the piano soloist.<ref name=decca/>|group= n}}

During Muti's tenure, the orchestra recovered its original title, after prolonged and complex negotiations. From September 1977 the "New" was dropped, and the orchestra has been the Philharmonia since then.<ref>Hunt and Pettitt, p. 461; and Pettitt, pp. 200–201</ref> Walter Legge died in 1979, and the orchestra dedicated a Tchaikovsky symphony cycle at the Festival Hall to his memory;<ref>Hunt and Pettitt, p. 473</ref> reviewing one of the concerts in ''[[The Guardian]]'', [[Edward Greenfield]] commented that Muti had brought the orchestra's playing "within reach of that earlier peerless example".<ref>[[Edward Greenfield|Greenfield, Edward]]. "Philharmonia/Muti", ''[[The Guardian]]'', 21 June 1979, p. 12</ref>