{{short description|American orchestra}} {{about|the CBS Symphony Orchestra, which performed classical music|the CBS Orchestra, a band led by Paul Shaffer|Paul Shaffer and the World's Most Dangerous Band}} {{Distinguish|National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia}} The '''Columbia Symphony Orchestra''' was an orchestra formed by Columbia Records for the purpose of making recordings. In the 1950s, it provided a vehicle for some of Columbia's better known conductors and recording artists to record using only company resources.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/columbia-symphony-orchestra-mn0000112525/biography|title=Columbia Symphony Orchestra |last=Bruce |first=Eder |website=AllMusic |accessdate= 1 August 2019}}</ref> The musicians in the orchestra were contracted as needed for individual sessions and consisted of free-lance artists and often members of either the New York Philharmonic or the Los Angeles Philharmonic, depending on whether the recording was being made in Columbia's East Coast or West Coast studios.
==Early history== Some of the first recordings featuring the Columbia Symphony Orchestra were made in New York in February 1913.{{efn|The recording information in this section derives from Michael Gray's database available on CHARM.<ref name=CHARM >{{cite web |website=Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music |url=http://www.charm.rhul.ac.uk/discography/search/disco_intro.html#d11889e8203 |title=Discography Introduction: Gray data |accessdate=1 June 2019}}</ref> For more information, ''see British Symphony Orchestra discography''}} Felix Weingartner made five acoustic sides in New York with the soprano Lucille Marcel.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lucille Marcel (Soprano) (New York 1877 - Vienna 1921) |date=8 September 2014 |website=Forgotten Opera Singers |last=Arakelyan |first=Ashot |url=http://forgottenoperasingers.blogspot.com/2014/09/lucille-marcel-soprano-new-york-1877.html |accessdate=15 June 2018}}</ref> Only one take was subsequently issued, "Ave Maria" from Verdi's ''Otello'' on Columbia US A-5482, matrix number 36622. The other unissued takes included two of Weingartner's own songs, "Vergangenheit" and "Welke Rose", Schumann's "Die Lotosblume", op. 25, no. 7 and Olga von Radecki's "Frisches Grun".<ref>{{cite web |title=In Springtime (Radecki, Olga von) |website=IMSLP |url=https://imslp.org/wiki/In_Springtime_(Radecki%2C_Olga_von) |accessdate=16 January 2020}}</ref><ref>Advanced search on CHARM (all lower case only) for <code>Performer</code>: weingartner, and <code>Pperformer</code>: columbia symphony orchestra.</ref>
Frank Bridge made a single (unissued) take of Grieg's ''Shepherd Boy'', op. 54 with the orchestra for Columbia UK on matrix AX 268, in London on 14 December 1923.<ref>Advanced search on CHARM (all lower case only) for <code>Performer</code>: bridge, and <code>Performer</code>: columbia symphony orchestra.</ref>{{efn| The US operation of Columbia had been taken over by its UK subsidiary, the Columbia Graphophone Company in December 1922.<ref name=Brooks_Early_20s >{{citation |title=Columbia Corporate History: The Early 1920s |series=Columbia Master Book Discography, Volume 1 |editor-last=Brooks |editor-first=Tim |edition=Online |publisher=Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) |url=https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/resources/detail/113}} ''See also'' [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/resources/detail/131 Notes section].</ref> }}
The composer and conductor Robert Hood Bowers made around 15 double-sided 78 rpm recordings with the orchestra in September 1927.<ref>Advanced search on CHARM (all lower case only) for <code>Performer</code>: bowers, and <code>Performer</code>: columbia symphony orchestra.</ref>
During a recording session in March 1932 with Weingartner and the British Symphony Orchestra in London's Westminster Central Hall, a single unissued take was made of the Waltz from Leo Delibes' ballet ''Naïla'', although the conductor is unnamed.{{refn|Columbia's contemporary matrix logs state "Columbia Symphony Orchestra", possibly to circumvent a recording contract.<ref>Advanced search on CHARM (all lower case only) for <code>Composer</code>: délibes [NB with accent, although this is technically wrong], and <code>Performer</code>: columbia symphony orchestra.</ref> }}
Howard D. Barlow (May 1, 1892 – January 31, 1972)<ref name=Barlow >{{cite web |website=AllMusic |title=Howard Barlow |last=Eriksson |first=Erik |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/howard-barlow-mn0001364556 |accessdate=16 January 2020}}</ref> made a recording of Deems Taylor's suite ''Through the Looking Glass''<ref>{{cite web |last=France |first=John |website=British Classical Music: The Land of Lost Content |date=25 October 2012 |title=Deems Taylor: Suite, Through the Looking Glass |accessdate=16 January 2020 |url=http://landofllostcontent.blogspot.com/2012/10/deems-taylor-suite-through-looking-glass.html}}</ref> with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra in New York in November 1938. Released on Columbia Masterworks set M-350.<ref>Advanced search on CHARM (all lower case only) for <code>Performer</code>: howard barlow, <code>Sort Results by</code>: Date. [NB This search also returns Barlow's recordings with the CBS Symphony Orchestra mentioned below.]</ref>
==Conductors== Over the decades, several noted conductors and soloists collaborated with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra including:<ref>[https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/mastertalent/detail/102926/Columbia_Symphony_Orchestra University of California: Santa Barbara - Discography of American Historical Recordings - Columbia Symphony Orchestra on ucsb.edu]</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/search.php?query=Columbia+Symphony+Orchestra&sin= Columbia Symphony Orchestra on archive.org]</ref>
===Alfredo Antonini=== {{ external media|width=150px|audio1=You may hear the Columbia Concert Orchestra with Alfredo Antonini and Richard Tucker in: <br> Ernesto De Curtis's ''Torna A Sorriento'' (Come Back to Sorrento) in 1950 [https://archive.org/details/lp_songs-from-sunny-italy_richard-tucker-alfredo-antonini-columbi/disc1/01.01.+Torna+A+Surriento+(%22Come+Back+To+Sorrento%22).mp3 <br> '''Here on archive.org'''] }}
From 1941 until 1971, Alfredo Antonini also served as a principal conductor of the CBS Symphony Orchestra while collaborating with noted soloists including Richard Tucker. In 1972 he was cited with an Emmy Award for conducting the orchestra in the television premier of Ezra Laderman's opera ''And David Wept.'' <ref name="ReferenceJ">[https://www.nytimes.com/1983/11/05/obituaries/no-headline-019832.html ''The New York Times'' - Obiturary - Alfredo Antonini - Conductor of the CBS Symphony for 30 years on nytimes.com]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=4AMPNyaD-CkC&dq=alfredo+antonini+cbs+symphony&pg=PA119 ''Fritz Reiner: A Biography ''. Hart, Philip. 1997, p. 119 Alfredo Antonini conductor of the CBS Symphony on Google Books]</ref>
===Howard Barlow=== in the later part of the 1930s, Howard Barlow joined forces with the orchestra which was known at the time as the CBS Symphony Orchestra within the Columbia Broadcasting System.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1972/02/02/archives/howard-barlow-of-thevoice-of-firestone-is-dead.html Obituary Howard Barlow Feb. 2, 1972 on NYTIMES archive]</ref><ref>[https://archives.library.wcsu.edu/relatedObjects/MS001/barlow/barlow_html.html The Howard Dunham Barlow Collection - Biography of Howard Barlow archived at Western Connecticut State University]</ref> Together, they recorded Deems Taylor's "Through the Looking Glass Suite", Op. 12.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/mm-350-taylor-looking-glass-iv/MM350+Taylor+Looking+Glass+(i).flac Audio recording by Howard Barlow & CBS Symphony Orchestra & Deems Taylor in 1938 on archive.org]</ref> By 1940, they joined forces once again in a recording of Bach's Air on the G String from the Suite No. 3 for Orchestra and the Bouree from Bach's Suite No. 3 for Unaccompanied Cello.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/78_1-air-2-boure_columbia-broadcasting-symphony-bach-howard-barlow_gbia0253529b/1.+AIR+2.+BOUR%C3%89E+-+COLUMBIA+BROADCASTING+SYMPHONY.flac Audio recording Howard Barlow & Columbia Broadcasting Symphony performing Bach's Air 2. Bouree on archive.org]</ref> Additional recordings with the orchestra included: Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 2 in B flat major, D. 125 and selections from Engelbert Humperdinck's ''Hansel und Gretel Suite''.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/lp_symphony-no2-in-b-flat-major-hnsel-und-gre_franz-schubert-engelbert-humperdinck-howar/disc1/01.01.+Symphony+No.2+In+B-Flat+Major%3A+First+Movement%3A+Largo%3B+Allegro+Vivece.mp3 Audio recording by Howard Barlow & the Columbia Broadcasting Symphony on archive.org]</ref>
===Thomas Beecham=== In 1949, Sir Thomas Beecham made a series of recordings in Columbia Records' 30th Street Studios in New York City with a completely different pickup group, which was also called the Columbia Symphony Orchestra. Later reissued by Sony on CD, the recordings include ''Dance of the Hours'' from the opera ''La Gioconda'' by Amilcare Ponchielli, the overture to ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' by Otto Nicolai, ''Carmen Suite'' by Georges Bizet, and ''Capriccio Italien'' by Peter Tchaikovsky.<ref name="amazon.com"/>
===Leonard Bernstein=== {{ external media|width=150px|audio1=You may hear the Columbia Symphony Orchestra and Glenn Gould in: <br> Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.2 in B Flat Major, Op. 19 in 1957<br> [https://archive.org/details/GlennGouldPlaysBeethovensPianoConcertoNO2 '''Here on archive.org'''] }}
Leonard Bernstein conducted the orchestra and also played the piano solos, in Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto in G and George Gershwin's ''Rhapsody in Blue''. These were released by Columbia in stereo on LP and later reissued by Sony on CD. In addition, Bernstein also joined forces with the orchestra in collaboration with Glenn Gould in a performance of Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2 in B Flat Major, Op. 19 and Johann Sebastian Bach's Keyboard Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, BWV 1052 for Columbia Masterworks in 1957<ref>[https://archive.org/details/beethoven-concerto-no.-2-in-b-flat-major-for-piano-and-orchestra-op-19-bach-conc Leonard Bernstein & Glenn Gould with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra audio recording on Columbia Masterworks (1957) on Archive.org]</ref>
===Fausto Cleva=== During his tenure at the Metropolitan Opera in 1959, Fausto Cleva led the Columbia Symphony Orchestra and the noted tenor Richard Tucker in a recording of several popular arias by Giacomo Puccini.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/RichardTuckerSingsPuccini/01_+Che+gelida+manina+-+La+Boheme.mp3 Audio recording: Fausto Cleva Richard Tucker and the Columbia Symphony Orchestra on archive.org]</ref>
===Aaron Copland=== In the early 1960s, the composer Aaron Copland joined forces with the swing clarinetist Benny Goodman and the concert bass-baritone William Warfield to record his Clarinet Concerto along with his arrangement of "Old American Songs" in collaboration with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/lp_clarinet-concerto-old-american-songs_aaron-copland-benny-goodman-william-warfie_0/disc1/01.01.+Clarinet+Concerto.mp3 Audio Recording: Aaron Copeland conducts the Columbia Symphony Orchestra with Benny Goodmand and William Warfield in 1963 on archive.org]</ref>
===Robert Craft=== From 1955 onwards, he made many recordings with the CSO, in CBS-projects that were intended to record the Second Viennese School for the first time integrally. In this period, Robert Craft also produced most of the Varèse works with the Columbia Ensemble.
===Vladimir Golschmann=== {{ external media|width=150px|audio1=You may hear the Columbia Symphony Orchestra with Vladimir Golschmann and Glenn Gould in: <br> Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.1 in C major, Op. 15 <br> Johann Sebastian Bach's Keyboard Concerto No. 5 in F minor, BWV 1056 <br> in 1958 [https://archive.org/details/lp_concerto-no-1-in-c-major-for-piano-and_glenn-gould-vladimir-golschmann-columbi/disc1/01.01.+Concerto+No.1+In+C+Major+For+Piano+And+Orchestra%2C+Op.+15%3A+I+Allegro+Con+Brio.mp3 <br> '''Here on archive.org'''] }}
Vladimir Golschmann also collaborated with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra in several historic recordings with the young pianist Glenn Gould. Included among their collaborations were recordings of Johann Sebastian Bach's Keyboard Concerti: No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5 & No. 7, as well as the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1 during the 1950s.<ref>[https://archive.org/search.php?query=Columbia%20Symphony%20Orchestra%20Vladimir%20Golschmann%20Glenn%20Gould Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Golschmann, Glenn Gould on archive.org]</ref>
===Alexander Schneider=== {{ external media|width=150px|audio1=You may hear the Columbia Symphony Orchestra with Alexander Schneider and Rudolf Serkin in: <br> Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's: <br> Piano Concerto No.21 in C major, k. 467 <br> Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat major, K. 595 <br> in 1957 [https://archive.org/details/concertono21incm00moza/01_Side_1.mp3 <br> '''Here on archive.org'''] }}
Alexander Schneider paired with Rudolf Serkin and the Columbia Symphony Orchestra during the 1950s in a recording of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's: Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467 and Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat major, K. 595.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/concertono21incm00moza/01_Side_1.mp3 Columbia Symphony Orchestra & Alexander Schneider & Rudolf Serkin in 1957 on archive.org]</ref>
===Igor Stravinsky=== Igor Stravinsky made many recordings of his own compositions with an incarnation of this orchestra, mainly musicians from the Los Angeles Festival Orchestra founded by Franz Waxman.<ref>{{cite web |title=Los Angeles Festival Orchestra |website=Naxos |url=https://www.naxos.com/person/Los_Angeles_Festival_Orchestra/128931.htm |accessdate=16 January 2020}}</ref> Among the works in which Stravinsky conducted the orchestra are ''Apollon musagète''; ''Le baiser de la fée''; ''The Firebird'' – suite and complete ballet; Mass; ''Mavra''; ''Les noces''; ''Orpheus''; ''Perséphone''; ''Petrushka'' – suite and complete ballet; ''Pulcinella'' – suite and complete ballet; ''The Rake's Progress''; ''The Rite of Spring''; the Symphony in E flat; the Symphony in Three Movements and the Violin Concerto; as well as several shorter pieces.<ref>Notes to Sony Classical CD set 074646413623 (2000) {{oclc|73722695}}</ref>
In 1977, a recording of the Columbia Symphony Orchestra playing the "Sacrificial Dance" from ''The Rite of Spring'', conducted by Stravinsky, was selected by NASA to be included on the Voyager Golden Record, a gold-plated copper record that was sent into space on the Voyager space craft. The record contained sounds and images which had been selected as examples of the diversity of life and culture on Earth.<ref>{{cite web |title=Voyager - Music on the Golden Record |url=https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/golden-record/whats-on-the-record/music/ |website=voyager.jpl.nasa.gov |access-date=4 May 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Late Junction: The songs they sent to space |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/Zy10WWyStk9W7kXQs3CFpV/the-songs-they-sent-to-space |website=www.bbc.co.uk |publisher=BBC Radio 3 |access-date=4 May 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Sagan |first1=Carl |title=Murmurs of Earth |date=2 April 2013 |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-307-80202-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EtN3CQDLQCsC |language=en}}</ref>
===George Szell=== In the 1960s, George Szell also joined forces with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra and Robert Casadesus for a recording of several piano concertos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart including: Concerto No. 22 in E flat major, K. 482 and Concerto No. 23 in A major, K. 488 for Columbia Masterworks (ML5594, 1960).<ref>[https://archive.org/details/lp_mozart-concertos-no-22-in-e-flat-k-482_wolfgang-amadeus-mozart-robert-casadesus-g/disc1/01.01.+Concerto+No.+22+In+E-Flat+Major%2C+K.+482%3A+I+-+Allegro.mp3 Columbia Symphony Orchestra, George Szell and Mozart on archive.org]</ref>
===Bruno Walter=== Among the best-known recordings the orchestra made were with the conductor Bruno Walter, who recorded interpretations of Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler and Mozart symphonies. With this orchestra, Walter made his only stereo recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 9, which he had conducted at its world premiere.<ref name="amazon.com">{{Cite web |url=https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00000DS8I |website=Amazon |title=Ludwig van Beethoven, Bruno Walter, Columbia Symphony Orchestra - Bruno Walter & the Columbia Symphony Orchestra Perform Beethoven: Symphony No. 3, 'Eroica, ' & the 'Coriolan' Overture (Stereo CD) - Amazon.com Music |access-date=2017-08-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160217111855/http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00000DS8I |archive-date=2016-02-17 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Other recordings== The term Columbia Symphony Orchestra was also used when, for contractual reasons, another orchestra could not appear under its own name. Many Los Angeles Philharmonic musicians also played under the Columbia Symphony name, and some reports mention that the entire Philharmonic frequently played as the Columbia Symphony when recorded on the west coast.
==CBS Symphony Orchestra== There was also the Columbia Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra, sometimes called the '''CBS Symphony Orchestra'''. This group was formed to perform on CBS Radio broadcasts and also made 78-rpm recordings for Columbia Records during the 1940s. It was frequently conducted by Howard Barlow, who later became the music director of "The Voice of Firestone" radio and television programs.<ref name=Barlow /> One of the Columbia Records releases by the CBS Symphony with Barlow conducting was the "Indian Suites" by Edward MacDowell, recorded on May 15, 1939; this recording can be heard on YouTube.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxJwLcfhK-c |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/vxJwLcfhK-c| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|title=MacDowell: "Indian" Suite (Howard Barlow, 1939)|date=16 May 2015|accessdate=11 February 2019|publisher=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The composer Bernard Herrmann conducted the orchestra for some broadcasts, especially ''The Mercury Theatre on the Air'' and ''The Campbell Playhouse'' programs presented by Orson Welles.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.amazon.com/s?keywords=howard%20barlow%20columbia&index=blended |title=Amazon.com: Howard barlow columbia |website=www.amazon.com |access-date=17 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160217111907/http://www.amazon.com/s?keywords=howard%20barlow%20columbia&index=blended |archive-date=17 February 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Columbia Concert Orchestra== In addition, CBS' '''Columbia Concert Orchestra''' recorded both classical and popular music for Columbia Masterworks in the 1920s-1950s.<ref>[https://archive.org/search?query=creator%3A%22Columbia+Concert+Orchestra%22 Audio recordings by the Columbia Concert Orchestra on Archive.org]</ref> Live concerts by the orchestra were also broadcast throughout the United States and to South America via shortwave radio over the International Radio Station WCBX in New York City and the International Radio Station WCAB in Philadelphia from 1939-1940 during World War II.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=sjBZAAAAMAAJ&dq=Columbia+Concert+Orchestra&pg=PA61 "Report of the Committee of the Conference on Inter-American Relations in the Field of Music" William Berrien, Chairman. September 3, 1940, Washington D.C. p. 54-61 Columbia Concert Orchestra on Google Books.com]</ref> Included among the noted collaborators were such operatic luminaries as: Eileen Farrell, Lily Pons, Paul Robeson and Richard Tucker under the direction of several conductors including: Alfredo Antonini, Emanuel Balaban, Howard Barlow, Bernard Herrmann, Andre Kostelanetz, Charles Lichter and Alexander Semmler.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=sjBZAAAAMAAJ&dq=Columbia+Concert+Orchestra&pg=PA61 "Report of the Committee of the Conference on Inter-American Relations in the Field of Music" William Berrien, Chairman. September 3, 1940, Washington D.C. p. 54-61 Columbia Concert Orchestra on Google Books.com]</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/search?query=creator%3A%22Columbia+Concert+Orchestra%22 Audio recordings by the Columbia Concert Orchestra on Archive.org]</ref>
==References== {{commons category}}
;Notes {{Notelist}} ;Citations {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/mastertalent/detail/102926/Columbia_Symphony_Orchestra Discography of American Historical Recordings: University of California Santa Barbara - Audio recordings online of the Columbia Symphony Orchestra archived at the University of California Santa Barbara] * [https://archive.org/search.php?query=Columbia+Symphony+Orchestra&sin= Audio recordings by the Columbia Symphony Orchestra on archive.org] * [https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22COLUMBIA+BROADCASTING+SYMPHONY%22 Audio recordings by the Columbia Broadcasting Symphony on archive.org] * [https://archives.nypl.org/search/rha/20484?q=CBS+Symphony+Alfredo+Antonini Audio recordings by the CBS Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alfredo Antonini archived at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts on nypl.org].
{{Voyager Golden Record}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Disbanded American orchestras Category:CBS Radio Category:Columbia Records Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Igor Stravinsky Category:New York Philharmonic Category:Classical music recordings