Your two favourite British Orchestras

[Alison]

Will be interested to see if boarders have a favourite among the London orchestras or whether they are seen/heard as interchangeable.

No need to choose a London one at all of course!

[cloughie]

Will be interested to see if boarders have a favourite among the London orchestras or whether they are seen/heard as interchangeable.

No need to choose a London one at all of course!

Halle and CBSO

[Dave2002]

There was a time when I would unreservedly have said LSO, then probably the LPO or maybe the BBC SO. The BBC orchestra tends to have a more esoteric repertoire, though nowadays the LPO does have some interesting concerts with slightly more unusual pieces. I think that both the Philharmonia and the RPO do have good concerts on occasion - I just don't go to see them very often.

For smaller scale pieces the London Mozart Players are good.

Mostly it's the pieces, the conductor and any soloists which influence my decision about which concerts to go to. I'd probably rather hear the RLPO doing Shostakovich or Myaskovsky under Petrenko than the RPO doing yet another Schumann symphony. Most of the UK's orchestras are now very capable of playing most of the pieces which do get performed. The days when there was an expectation of some dodgy or scratchy instrumental playing seem, very largely, to have long gone.

[Alison]

There have been online murmurings that the LSO is not quite at its peak just now with maybe a general malaise as the Gergiev era slowly draws to a close. I did miss the presence of David Pyatt at a recent Bruckner performance and he will be a magnificent asset to the LPO.

[Bryn]

BBCSSO, as much for their repertoire choices as for their playing, and the Hallé.

[Alison]

Would have thought Halle repertoire a bit standard for you Nethers?

[Bryn]

Would have thought Halle repertoire a bit standard for you Nethers?

My reference to repertoire was specifically regarding the BBCSSO.

[Nick Armstrong]

David Pyatt ... will be a magnificent asset to the LPO.

He has been for a while!

I do think the LPO and Philharmonia are in a different league at the moment.

[Alison]

LPO sounding in very good shape tonight.

[makropulos]

Philharmonia (with the LPO very close behind), and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Halle & English Baroque Soloists

[Beef Oven!]

Philharmonia - I subscribed for a few years from 1990 and saw some great concerts with many of my favourite musicians, including Giuseppe Sinopoli the music director. Although Sinopoli was publicly criticised (even by Simon Rattle), it was a great period for the orchestra and it performed on some amazing CDs with Sinopli such as, Elgar 1&2, Schubert Unfinished and some wonderful Mahler symphonies.

BBC Symphony - So many enjoyable concerts down the years, including the £9 first come, sit where you like seasons in the 1990s.

[Richard Tarleton]

Two I get to hear regularly these days are the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, who have been at the top of their game for a while, and the Welsh National Opera Orchestra. I hear them either in St David's Hall Cardiff, or in the marvellous Brangwyn Hall in Swansea. Some great concerts from BBC NOW in recent years - Alpensinfonie, Oboe Conc/Don Quixote, Bruckner 7, Shostakovich 5 all stand out - and two great Bruckner performances, 7 and 8, from WNO Orch under Lothar Koenigs.

[Alison]

Two I get to hear regularly these days are the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, who have been at the top of their game for a while, and the Welsh National Opera Orchestra. I hear them either in St David's Hall Cardiff, or in the marvellous Brangwyn Hall in Swansea. Some great concerts from BBC NOW in recent years - Alpensinfonie, Oboe Conc/Don Quixote, Bruckner 7, Shostakovich 5 all stand out - and two great Bruckner performances, 7 and 8, from WNO Orch under Lothar Koenigs.

Is St David's Hall still in danger of not being used for concerts? A few messages on this some while ago.

[Richard Tarleton]

Not sure what the latest is - there's a programme for this season but I haven't heard any more. (I'm out in the sticks, it's the sort of thing our HG might know!)