The orchestras of Covent Garden, the Philharmonic Society and the Queen's Hall were ad hoc ensembles, with players engaged individually for each concert or for a season.
[1] Vacancies occurred in the LSO's ranks only rarely, and the clarinettist Charles Draper and the flautist Eli Hudson conceived of a new cooperative, self-governing ensemble of medium size, drawing on the pool of talent available.
When the orchestra made its central London début at the Queen's Hall in June 1906, Draper invited the rising young conductor Thomas Beecham to a rehearsal.
[3] Beecham quickly concluded that to compete with London's existing symphony orchestras his forces must be expanded to full symphonic strength and play in larger halls.
[4] He and the enlarged New Symphony Orchestra gave concerts at the Queen's Hall, with considerable success, but after 1908 they parted company, disagreeing about artistic control and, in particular, the deputy system.
An HMV catalogue for 1926 lists their recordings of concertos by Beethoven, Grieg, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Mozart and Schumann, with soloists including Isolde Menges, Arthur de Greef, Benno Moiseiwitsch, Fritz Kreisler and Alfred Cortot.
[19] Conductors included Sargent,[20] Sir Adrian Boult,[21] Colin Davis,[22] Josef Krips,[23] Charles Mackerras,[24] Leopold Stokowski[25] and George Szell.