Our history

Behind every great orchestra there lies a big idea and a big personality, or several. Behind the creation of the Philharmonia Orchestra in 1945 there also lay developments political and technological: the end of World War II, and the unstoppable expansion of the recording industry, which had been developing a long-playing gramophone record before the war and now resumed its efforts.  

It was a visionary producer who spotted the potential in creating a top-quality orchestra with a view to plentiful recordings. Walter Legge, who had worked for the Gramophone Company (EMI) since 1927, was the most knowledgeable of producers and impresarios, though also the most ferocious. After his death in 1979 Lord Donaldson, Claus Moser and Sir Isaiah Berlin wrote to the Financial Times that Legge “trod on a great many toes,” adding that “in part this was due to his unswerving pursuit of the first-rate, and undisguised contempt for anything that fell below it”.  

The orchestra grew out of a string quartet of the same name that Legge had initiated in 1941, which then expanded. As head of the Entertainment National Service Association (ENSA) during the war, he had noted how many first-rate musicians there were in Britain and became determined to bring them together. He disliked the idea of a permanent conductor who would impose his own concept on their sound: “The Philharmonia Orchestra must have style, not a style,” he decreed.  

The Philharmonia gave its first concert at London’s Kingsway Hall on 27 October 1945 with another outsize personality on the podium: Sir Thomas Beecham. He and Legge were old friends and colleagues, but when the maestro made a supposedly generous offer to become the Philharmonia’s music director, Legge turned him down. Beecham stormed off. “The name ‘Philharmonia’ is ridiculous anyway,” he growled. “No one will ever remember it.”

Next, Legge sought out conductors at the top of the artform in Germany. Richard Strauss came for one concert in 1947; Wilhelm Furtwängler conducted the world premiere of the same composer’s Four Last Songs with the soprano Kirsten Flagstad at the Proms in 1948; and Herbert von Karajan became a regular visitor until appointed chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic. 

Legge had to achieve a fine balance. On one hand, public performances needed full halls, which meant popular programmes; on the other hand, he wished to explore more adventurous repertoire. These leanings did not always work. When he tried to persuade Furtwängler to perform a rare Hugo Wolf orchestral work, Penthesilea, the conductor demurred – though was keener to work with Dame Myra Hess in Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto. 

Concerts were frequently tied to recordings, with the benefit that this increased rehearsal times, often with superlative results in performance. The orchestra’s high standards quickly attracted the great and good: in 1952 Arturo Toscanini conducted two concerts, and Legge recruited the brilliant young Italian Guido Cantelli, especially once Karajan became less often available. Legge also forged links with the veteran Otto Klemperer. When Cantelli was tragically killed in a plane crash, aged only 36, Klemperer was Legge’s first port of call; in 1959 Legge appointed him ‘Conductor for Life’. 

The challenges facing the orchestra increased as the 1960s progressed. With the introduction of Arts Council grants, the recently built Royal Festival Hall and the long-awaited end of postwar austerity, London’s artistic life was booming and competition was rife. Sensing there was not enough work to go round, in 1964 Legge decreed the suspension of the Philharmonia “for an indefinite period”.  

The players were having none it. Led by their Principal Clarinet, Bernard Walton, they formed a self-governing company and renamed themselves the ‘New Philharmonia Orchestra’. Klemperer maintained his loyalty; Carlo Maria Giulini, John Barbirolli and Sir Adrian Boult lent vociferous support. The next 13 years proved a roller-coaster in which star performances and international acclaim sometimes masked fearsome financial ups and downs.  

Riccardo Muti was appointed principal conductor in 1973. During Muti’s decade-long tenure, The Times suggested, he fashioned the orchestra into “a great ensemble”, also bringing it a renewed presence in the studio for EMI. In 1977 the Orchestra dropped ‘New’ from its name. Three years later, the Prince of Wales agreed to be its royal patron. 

What was new, however, was the shifting political attitude towards culture in the 1980s-90s. The governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major made hefty cuts to public expenditure, putting the future of London’s orchestras in serious jeopardy. In 1993 Lord Hoffman headed a report into which sole orchestra should survive and hold the Southbank Centre residency. The incident ended in a welcome fiasco: no orchestra was closed and the Philharmonia was appointed jointly with the London Philharmonic.  

The Philharmonia has been resident at the Southbank Centre ever since. It built strong relationships with conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Kurt Sanderling, while successive principal conductors have held long and rewarding tenures, among them Giuseppe Sinopoli, Christoph von Dohnányi, Esa-Pekka Salonen and currently the young Finnish maestro Santtu-Matias Rouvali. Its tours regularly take it across the globe, while its UK residencies include Bedford, Leicester, Canterbury and Basingstoke, along with the Three Choirs Festival and Garsington Opera. 

The players’ remit has expanded well beyond performing and recording. Their work encompasses learning and engagement programmes range from schools’ concerts to work with people living with dementia and children in foster care, and mentoring young artists from higher education level up to young professionals.  

The first UK orchestra to employ a dedicated digital department, the Philharmonia has increasingly pushed the envelope of technological innovation. Their first foray into Virtual Reality was in 2014 – Walter Legge would no doubt have been thrilled by the idea of people all over the world being able to put on a headset and experience in 360° sound and vision what it’s like to sit at the heart of the orchestra. Immersive installations such as RE-RITE (based on Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring), Universe of Sound (based on Holst’s The Planets) and The Virtual Orchestra have won industry plaudits, toured around the UK and to international festivals such as SXSW, and introduced hundreds of thousands of people to the world of orchestral music. The Covid pandemic may have scuppered the orchestra’s entire 75th anniversary season of live concerts, but the Philharmonia’s digital expertise stood them in good stead, and as soon as government guidelines allowed the creation of streamed performances, the orchestra gained an appreciative new online audience spread from Finland to Fiji, and from the equator to above the Arctic Circle.  

A constant process of renewal, rethinking and ready response to fluctuations in the national climate has served the Philharmonia well: 80 years after its founding, it remains among the UK’s most significant musical forces. As the 21st century presents its own new challenges, those qualities will no doubt become ever more necessary. The power of its great music-making is as inspiring as ever. What will it look – and sound – like by its 100th birthday? Let’s find out. 

© Jessica Duchen