London Classical Players
Encyclopedia
The London Classical Players (LCP) was a British orchestra
that specialized in music following historically informed performance
(HIP) practices and orchestral performances on period musical instruments. Sir Roger Norrington
founded the LCP in 1978. From 1978 to 1992, the concertmaster
of the London Classical Players was baroque violinist John Holloway
. The LCP made a variety of recordings for EMI Classics. Many of the players in the LCP overlapped with four other major HIP orchestral ensembles, the Academy of Ancient Music
, the English Concert, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
, and the English Baroque Soloists
.
Among their famous concert series was "The Beethoven Experience" in 1987, and "The Berlioz Experience" in 1988. In 1996, the LCP was invited to open the Prague Spring Festival in the traditional opening festival concert of Bedrich Smetana's Ma Vlast, a controversial decision at the time.
In 1997, the LCP formally dissolved as an organization, and its work was absorbed into the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment .
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
that specialized in music following historically informed performance
Historically informed performance
Historically informed performance is an approach in the performance of music and theater. Within this approach, the performance adheres to state-of-the-art knowledge of the aesthetic criteria of the period in which the music or theatre work was conceived...
(HIP) practices and orchestral performances on period musical instruments. Sir Roger Norrington
Roger Norrington
Sir Roger Arthur Carver Norrington, CBE is a British conductor. He is the son of Sir Arthur Norrington and his brother is Humphrey Thomas Norrington....
founded the LCP in 1978. From 1978 to 1992, the concertmaster
Concertmaster
The concertmaster/mistress is the spalla or leader, of the first violin section of an orchestra. In the UK, the term commonly used is leader...
of the London Classical Players was baroque violinist John Holloway
John Holloway (musician)
John Holloway is a British baroque violinist and conductor, currently based in Dresden, Germany. John Holloway is a pioneer of the early music movement....
. The LCP made a variety of recordings for EMI Classics. Many of the players in the LCP overlapped with four other major HIP orchestral ensembles, the Academy of Ancient Music
Academy of Ancient Music
The Academy of Ancient Music is a period-instrument orchestra based in Cambridge, England. Founded by harpsichordist Christopher Hogwood in 1973, it was named after a previous organisation of the same name of the 18th century. The musicians play on either original instruments or modern copies of...
, the English Concert, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment is a British period instrument orchestra. The OAE is a resident orchestra of the Southbank Centre, London, associate orchestra at Glyndebourne Festival Opera and has its headquarters at Kings Place...
, and the English Baroque Soloists
English Baroque Soloists
The English Baroque Soloists is a chamber orchestra playing on period instruments, formed in 1978 by English conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Its repertoire comprises music from the early Baroque period to the Classical period...
.
Among their famous concert series was "The Beethoven Experience" in 1987, and "The Berlioz Experience" in 1988. In 1996, the LCP was invited to open the Prague Spring Festival in the traditional opening festival concert of Bedrich Smetana's Ma Vlast, a controversial decision at the time.
In 1997, the LCP formally dissolved as an organization, and its work was absorbed into the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment .
Selected discography
- Ludwig van BeethovenLudwig van BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
: The Nine Symphonies, Virgin Classics 5619432 (reissue) - Ludwig van BeethovenLudwig van BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
: The Five Piano Concertos, Virgin Classics 5622422 (reissue) - Hector BerliozHector BerliozHector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
: Symphonie fantastique, Overture Les Francs-Juges, Virgin Classics 3632862 (reissue) - Johannes BrahmsJohannes BrahmsJohannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
: Ein deutsches Requiem, Virgin Veritas 5616052 (reissue) - Anton BrucknerAnton BrucknerAnton Bruckner was an Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, complex polyphony, and considerable length...
: Symphony No. 3, Virgin Veritas 4820912 (reissue) - Georg Friedrich Handel: Water Music, Music for the Royal Fireworks, Virgin Veritas (reissue)
- Joseph HaydnJoseph HaydnFranz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
: Symphonies Nos. 99 and 100 (EMI Classics), 101 and 102 (EMI Classics), 103 and 104 (EMI Classics) - Felix MendelssohnFelix MendelssohnJakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
: Symphonies Nos. 3 and 4, Virgin Veritas 3499832 (reissue) - Wolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
:- Symphonies Nos. 38- 41, Virgin Veritas 5620102 (reissue)
- Die Zauberflöte, Virgin Veritas 4820732
- Don Giovanni, Virgin Veritas 5622672 (reissue with Die Zauberflöte)
- Piano Concertos Nos. 20, 23-25, Virgin Veritas 5623432 (reissue)
- Requiem/Masonic Funeral Music/"Ave verum corpus", Virgin Veritas 5615202
- Henry PurcellHenry PurcellHenry Purcell – 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music...
: The Fairy Queen, Virgin Veritas 5619552 - Gioacchino RossiniGioacchino RossiniGioachino Antonio Rossini was an Italian composer who wrote 39 operas as well as sacred music, chamber music, songs, and some instrumental and piano pieces...
: Overtures, EMI Classics - Franz SchubertFranz SchubertFranz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
: Symphonies Nos. 4-6 and 8, Virgin Veritas 5622272 (reissue) - Robert SchumannRobert SchumannRobert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
: Symphonies Nos. 3 and 4, Virgin Veritas 3499832 (reissue) - Bedřich SmetanaBedrich SmetanaBedřich Smetana was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style which became closely identified with his country's aspirations to independent statehood. He is thus widely regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music...
: Ma Vlast, Virgin Veritas 5453012 - Richard WagnerRichard WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
: Preludes to Rienzi, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Parsifal, Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, Act III Prelude to Lohengrin, Siegfried Idyll, Virgin Veritas 4820912 (reissue) - Carl Maria von WeberCarl Maria von WeberCarl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber was a German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic, one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school....
: Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2, KonzertstückKonzertstück for Piano and Orchestra in F minor (Weber)The Konzertstück in F minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 79, J. 282, was written by Carl Maria von Weber. He started work on it in 1815, and completed it on the morning of the premiere of his opera Der Freischütz, 18 June 1821...
, EMI Classics