The London Symphony Orchestra has the largest and most comprehensive recording catalogue of any modern orchestra and recording has been an important part of its business since its first sessions in 1913. This changed with the maturing of the CD market and the advent of illegal file-sharing which wrecked the business models of the "Major Labels" - the primary source of the LSO's recording activity.

The downturn in commercial recording coincided with a growing awareness amongst the orchestra's management and players of just how many exceptional performances there were every season which survived only as treasured memories of the fortunate few who were able to attend.

The solution was obvious. The LSO had to make recordings of its own concerts, not to preserve performances for "posterity" but to reach and inspire audiences who would seldom or never have the opportunity to hear the LSO in the concert hall. The rest is history. The first LSO Live release was in 2000. Ten years later the label has a catalogue of over 70 titles and an extraordinary international reputation.

Classical recordings were originally made in the studio because the nature of the recording process made it very difficult to do anything else. Modern technology has made live recording viable and LSO Live has developed a unique expertise.

LSO Live recordings are based on at least two performances with a rehearsal or patch session between them. The first recorded performance is subject to careful analysis by conductor, players and producer and the patch session is used to focus on things that may not have gone as well as they could in that performance.

For the players this provides a real sense of release in the second performance, because they know that technical problems have been covered in the patch. The result is that most of the final master usually comes from the second performance.