The LSO was founded in 1904 as an independent, self governing organization,… Read Full Bio ↴The LSO was founded in 1904 as an independent, self governing organization, the first such orchestra in the UK. It played its first concert on 9 June of that year, with Hans Richter conducting. He remained principal conductor until 1911, when Edward Elgar took over for a year, leading six concerts as principal conductor.

More recently, its principal conductors have included Pierre Monteux (1961–64), Istvan Kertesz (1965–68), André Previn (1968–79) and Claudio Abbado (1979–88). From 1988-1995, the American Michael Tilson-Thomas took over, and in 1995, became principal guest conductor. Sir Colin Davis served as the LSO's Principal Conductor from 1995-2006, and in 2007 took the post of President of the orchestra. On 1 January 2007, Valery Gergiev became the LSO's Principal Conductor. Previn holds the title of Conductor Laureate. In 2006, Daniel Harding became the co-principal guest conductor alongside Tilson Thomas. Richard Hickox is the Associate Guest Conductor of the LSO.
The LSO became the first British orchestra to play overseas when it went to Paris in 1906. The LSO was due to sail on the RMS Titanic for a concert in New York in April 1912 but fortunately had to change the booking at the last minute. It was also the first to play in the United States, in 1912, and in 1973 it was the first to be invited to take part in the Salzburg Festival. It continues to make tours around the world.

In 1966 the London Symphony Chorus (LSC) was formed to complement the work of the LSO. with more that two hundred amateur singers, the LSC maintains a close association with the LSO; however it has developed an independent life, which allows it to partner other leading orchestras.

The LSO has long been considered the most extraverted of the London orchestras. For most of its life it refused to allow women to become members, ostensibly on the grounds that women would affect the sound of the orchestra (there has been a similar controversy at the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra). There is an air of youthful high spirits to much of its music-making that is shown off in performances of such composers as Berlioz and Prokofiev. The LSO has often had internationally-known players as wind soloists, including such artists as James Galway (flute), Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), Roger Lord (oboe), Osian Ellis (harp), John Georgiadis (violin) and Barry Tuckwell (horn). Like most ensembles, the orchestra has a great ability to vary its sound, producing very different tone colours under such diverse conductors as Stokowski (with whom it made a series of memorable recordings), Adrian Boult, Jascha Horenstein, Georg Solti, André Previn, George Szell, Claudio Abbado, Leonard Bernstein, John Barbirolli, and Karl Böhm, who developed a close relationship with the orchestra late in his life. Böhm and Bernstein each held the title of LSO President in their later years.

Clive Gillinson, a former cellist with the orchestra, served as the LSO's Managing Director from 1984 to 2005, and is widely credited with bringing great stability to the LSO's organization after severe fiscal troubles.[1] Since 2005, Kathryn McDowell is the Managing Director of the LSO.[2]

All You Need Is Love
London Symphony Orchestra Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Love, love, love
Love, love, love
Love, love, love

There's nothing you can do that can't be done
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
It's easy

Nothing you can make that can't be made
No one you can save that can't be saved
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time
It's easy

All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

Nothing you can know that isn't known
Nothing you can see that isn't shown
Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be
It's easy

All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

All you need is love (All together, now!)
All you need is love (Everybody!)
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need (love is all you need)

Yee-hai!
Oh yeah!

She loves you, yeah yeah yeah
She loves you, yeah yeah yeah

Overall Meaning

The "All You Need Is Love" by London Symphony Orchestra is a song that urges people to adopt the idea that love is all we need to make the world a better place. The song's chorus repeats the mantra "All you need is love," suggesting that nothing else is required to solve the world's problems. Despite the song's simple nature, it is a profound message, and it's brilliantly delivered by the orchestra in this rendition.

In the first stanza, the lyrics suggest that despite the myriad of things we do, there is nothing that we cannot do or achieve; everything is possible. In the second stanza, the lyrics state that we can achieve anything and be whoever we want to be if we only learn how to be ourselves in time. The bridge talks about knowing things that are already known and seeing things that are already shown, so we should focus on being in the right place at the right time.

This song was broadcast live on the first global satellite television link on June 25, 1967. The Beatles wrote and produced it for Our World, a British television program that aired around the world. The song was part of a broadcast that was watched by more than 400 million people in 26 countries.

Line by Line Meaning

Love, love, love
Repeatedly emphasizing that the most important thing is love

There's nothing you can do that can't be done
There is nothing impossible that you can do

Nothing you can sing that can't be sung
Everything can be sung if you want to sing it

Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
There's no wrong thing you can say unless you learn how to handle the situation

It's easy
It's not as difficult as you might think

Nothing you can make that can't be made
Everything can be made if you have the resources

No one you can save that can't be saved
Everyone can be saved with love

Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time
You can't change who you are, but you can learn how to be more self-aware over time

All you need is love
The solution to everything is love

Love is all you need
Love is the only thing you truly need in life

Nothing you can know that isn't known
Everything that can be known is already known