# The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra



## michael walsh (Sep 6, 2009)

To my mind one of the world's greatest ... and longest established orchestras. It ticks a lot of boxes. This leads me to the impossible answer to the ubiquitous question. 

We each have our favourite orchestra. But could we, hand on heart, identify an orchestra from listening to it alone? I couldn't. So what is the draw? What makes our preferred orchestra the best, the most promising, if not the sound quality. 

Are there other factors? Parochialism perhaps? Can't be that. I love the RLPO but my second favourite is the far away Berlin and Vienna philharmonicas; oh, and the St Petersberg.


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

Some orchestras just get so good that it would be very hard to tell them apart, which is why I don't always worry too much about the orchestra who is performing the work, especially if the orchestra is the London Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, Vienna Philharmonic, etc. I mean these orchestras are so damn good that it would be almost impossible to really tell them apart. Many orchestras do have their own sound though like the Chicago Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra for example. Chicago are known for their brass and Philadelphia are known for their lush string playing, but even this, really isn't that much of a distinction. 

Like I said, they get so good that it's hard to go wrong with any of them. What I try and look for is who the conductor is, because this, for me, is where the distinction becomes much clearer.

By the way, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic are a great orchestra. I own many recordings with them.


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## david.allsopp (Jan 18, 2010)

I have been trying really hard to identify what it is precisely that differentiates orchestras.

I can hear that the Vienna sound different. Horns are 'purer' sound and strings a bit brighter. brass is quite fat sounding. But they use different instruments to other orchestras. 

Russian orchestras have a distinctive string sound, quite dark and there is often vibrato in the brass and horns, sometimes the playing is quite wild!

American orchestras usually have a big sound, especially strings (Philadelphia for example) often play just behind the beat where UK orchestras seem more 'on it'

BUT I doubt I could successfully distinguish many apart from recordings? The conductor has a big influence, he may even say 'play brighter'. If it's a recording then the venue and the quality of recording are massive factors as well.

Sometimes you hear folk saying about distinctions but it's vague. One guy said Oh the San Francisco sound West Coast - what does that mean!?

PS - love the RLPO, they have a long history and I believe quite a distinctive sound. Fat and precise brass/ horns; shiny strings and woodwind have tight ensemble feel to them as opposed to bunch of soloists

What do you think?

D


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