as a conductor lambert had an instinctive appreciation of liszt, chabrier, émile waldteufel and romantic russian composers, most of whom were seldom heard in britain before he championed them; he made fine recordings of some of their works. however, it was only from the late 1940s that the development of the bbc third programme and the philharmonia orchestra gave him the directorial opportunities with first-rank players which he craved. before that he had long been relegated to the role of jobbing conductor, extracting vital performances from second-rate ensembles.