Walter Legge

Beecham conducted its first concert (for the fee of one cigar) but was unwilling to be the employee of his former assistant and soon founded the Royal Philharmonic in competition with the Philharmonia. At Beecham's instigation he took on the musical side of ENSA arranging concerts for British troops all over the world and securing the services of musicians such as Solomon Sir Adrian Boult and John Barbirolli. Nevertheless Legge's legacy is "a vast number of outstanding recordings that set standards unlikely ever to be surpassed".

Harry Walter Legge (1 June 1906 – 22 March 1979) was an influential English classical record producer most notably for EMI. His recordings include many sets later regarded as classics and reissued by EMI as "Great Recordings of the Century". He attempted to disband the Philharmonia in 1964 but it continued as an independent body without him.