Sir Malcolm Sargent is remembered as a great choral conductor. Many of the older generation can recall him conducting vast choruses singing Handel, Mendelssohn or Coleridge-Taylor in the Royal Albert Hall. His reputation as an orchestral conductor is marred by stories of his attitude towards the musicians in orchestras. His appointment by the BBC a Chief Conductor of the Proms in 1948 started a relationship with the BBC Symphony Orchestra that would continue until his death. When Sargent replaced Boult at the proms one critic wrote: "Sargent sometimes ruffled the orchestra in a way that Boult had never done. Indeed there were many people inside the BBC who profoundly regretted Boult's departure." That and other criticism of him did not stop the BBC appointing Sargent as the BBCSO's Chief conductor . A post he held from 1950-57. Although the orchestra players bridled at some of Sargent's initiatives, there was ample praise for Sargent's work with the orchestra.

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