The London Philharmonic Orchestra, shortened to LPO for London Philharmonic
Orchestra, was founded in 1932 by its first conductor, Thomas Beecham, together
with Malcolm Sargent. The third-largest orchestra in the English capital after
the London Symphony Orchestra (1904) and the BBC Symphony Orchestra (1930), the
young ensemble had to cease operations during the Second World War, and saw its
co-founder compete with him with the formation of the Royal Philharmonic
Orchestra in 1946. When the orchestra resumed after the war, it engaged Dutch
conductor Eduard van Beinum for a brief ...