Record orchestra
Record orchestras (also known as studio orchestras ) are mostly not constantly playing ( ad hoc ) orchestras for the purpose of recordings. The orchestra musicians are hired either permanently or even only on a project basis; they play full-time in other orchestras or work as freelance musicians or even soloists. However, orchestras were rarely created for the long term, such as the Philharmonia Orchestra from 1945 to 1964.
Until the 1920s, orchestras without naming their names were common for sound recordings, as the acoustic recording process that was common up to around 1925 anyway severely mutilated the orchestral sound. It was then named after the label ( Odeon orchestra ), the conductor ( Leopold Stokowski and his orchestra ) or it was completely unnamed ( ... and / with orchestra ). Later, mostly only the name of the label was used ( Columbia Symphony Orchestra , RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra ), but rarely a neutral name ( Philharmonia Orchestra ). The marriage for such formations lasted until around 1965.
Reasons that spoke against the obligation of a regular orchestra were:
- Circumvention of union regulations (known case: the recording ban ),
- contractual binding of the possible orchestras to other labels,
- Cost savings through individual contracts that did not provide for any royalties for the musicians from the later record sales,
- Creation of an orchestra especially for a conductor, for example the Columbia Symphony Orchestra for Bruno Walter , and ultimately the NBC Symphony Orchestra for Arturo Toscanini .
A distinction must be made between specially composed record orchestras in cases in which complete symphony orchestras, mostly due to other contractual obligations, only made recordings under a different name. Examples:
- New York Philharmonic Orchestra as Stadium Symphony Orchestra of New York (translated: "New York Stadium Orchestra " ),
- Philadelphia Orchestra as Robin Hood Dell Symphony Orchestra (Robin Hood Dell is an amphitheater in Philadelphia that hosts summer concerts),
- Academy of St. Martin in the Fields as London Strings , London String Players , Argo Chamber Orchestra
- Best-known case: the former Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra marketed its recording activities for decades as the Berlin Philharmonic for its own account; It was not until 2002 that the two organizational forms of the orchestra were reorganized as the Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation .
Individual evidence
- ^ Philharmonia Orchestra: History , accessed July 9, 2015
- ^ Peter Uehling: Karajan. A biography . 2nd Edition. Rowohlt, Reinbek 2008, ISBN 3-499-62287-4 .
- ^ Emanuel Eckardt: Patrons and sponsors . In: Die Zeit , 2003, No. 1.