EMI record producer Walter Legge founded the Philharmonia Orchestra after World War II to serve as his own recording orchestra. In, when planning a recording of Beethoven's "Ninth Symphony" under the direction of Otto Klempere, Legge in 1957 founded The Philharmonia Chorus to sing in those sessions and in the public concert associated with it.
The 250-voice amateur chorus, chosen and rehearsed meticulously, immediately set a new high standard for large British choral groups, and continued in existence to provide choral singing for Legge projects.
In 1964 Legge "suspended" th...