London Symphony Orchestra is a pair of albums by Frank Zappa, featuring his original symphonic compositions conducted by Kent Nagano. They were recorded at the same sessions in January 1983, and originally released as London Symphony Orchestra, Vol. I in 1983, London Symphony Orchestra, Vol. II, in 1987, and later combined and reissued on a Rykodisc CD as London Symphony Orchestra Vol. I & II in 1995.
Volume I features the London Symphony Orchestra performing four instrumental compositions — "Sad Jane", "Pedro's Dowry", "Envelopes", and "Mo 'n Herb's Vacation" — from sessions recorded in January 1983. The album was Zappa's second to employ a full-scale symphony orchestra, following 200 Motels (1971) with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. However, Zappa had previously formed a number of ad hac orchestras to record his classical music (e.g. Lumpy Gravy 1967, Studio Tan 1978, Orchestral Favorites 1979) and big band music (e.g. The Grand Wazoo 1972).
The album was recorded using a digital24-trackSony PCM-3324 tape recorder. It was one of the earliest digital multitrack recordings of an orchestra. By recording the orchestra with many microphones very close to the instruments the album sounds more detailed than possible with previous stereo recording techniques. Extensive use of editing was employed to fix musical mistakes.
The original vinyl LP recordings were tweaked in the studio to hide out-of-tune and wrong notes as well as to add in a sheen of reverb to further obscure parts. These audio "enhancements" were removed when the recordings were remixed for the compact disc re-issue in 1995. This version of the album was combined with London Symphony Orchestra, Vol. II (1987), and re-released on a Rykodisc CD as London Symphony Orchestra Vol. I & II.
