Orchestre National de France
The Orchestre National de France has been associated with French national radio broadcasting for much of its career. It also lives up to its name, giving concerts around France in addition to those at its home venues in Paris.
The Orchestre National de France, or ONF, was founded in 1934 by Radio France as the Orchestre National, giving its first concert at the Paris Conservatory. Its first conductor was Désiré-Emile Inghelbrecht. In 1939, many of the orchestra's musicians were conscripted into the French army. The rest of the group moved to the city of Rennes but disbanded when that city was bombed. The orchestra was reconstituted in Marseilles by the collaborationist Vichy government in 1941; Jewish musicians were banned. The orchestra returned to Paris in 1943 and the following year, gave its first concert at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, where it continues to perform today. It also appears at the Salle Olivier Messiaen at the Maison de Radio France. All of the group's roughly 70 annual concerts are broadcast on the French national radio network ORTF. The orchestra has changed its name several times. When independent French radio was reestablished in 1945, it became the Orchestre national de la Radiodiffusion française, and in 1949 the Orchestre national de la Radio-télévision française or Orchestre national de la RTF. In 1964, the group took on the cumbersome name of Orchestre national de l'Office de radiodiffusion-télévision française or Orchestre national de l'ORTF, shortened in 1975 to the present name. Manuel Rosenthal replaced Inghelbrecht in 1944, and after the war, he restored French and contemporary programming that had been banned under German rule. Major conductors have included Jean Martinon (1968-1973), Lorin Maazel (1988-1990), Charles Dutoit (1991-2001), Kurt Masur (2002-2007), Daniele Gatti (2008-2016), Emmanuel Krivine (2017-2020), and, as of 2020, Cristian Măcelaru. The group has spent considerable periods without a chief conductor, and during those times has attracted an A-list of international guest conductors that included Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, and Georg Solti. Guest soloists have been similarly prestigious, with Martha Argerich, Vladimir Ashkenazy, and Yo-Yo Ma numbered among them.
The ONF has recorded prolifically for Erato, EMI, Naïve, and other labels. The group has often premiered and recorded contemporary French works but also issues recordings of the standard repertory, not all of it French. In the late 2010s, the orchestra moved to Erato partner Warner Classics, issuing a recording of Alexandre Desplat's Airlines in 2020.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Ravel: Concertos - Falla: Noches en los jardines de España
Alexandre Tharaud, Orchestre National de France, Louis Langrée
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Oct 13, 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Dutilleux: Tout un monde lointain - Dusapin: Outscape
Victor Julien-Laferrière, Orchestre National de France, Kristiina Poska
Classical - Released by Alpha Classics on May 19, 2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Saint-Saëns: Complete Symphonies
Cristian Măcelaru, Orchestre National de France
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Nov 5, 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Violin Concerto Op. 77 by David Oistrakh
David Oïstrakh, Otto Klemperer, Orchestre National de France
Classical - Released by Alexandre Bak - Classical Music Reference Recording on Jan 30, 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Violin Concerto Op. 61 by David Oistrakh
David Oïstrakh, André Cluytens, Orchestre National de France
Classical - Released by Alexandre Bak - Classical Music Reference Recording on Oct 31, 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Erik Satie: Oeuvres pour piano, Parade
Christoph Deluze, Orchestre National de France, Manuel Rosenthal
Classical - Released by Praga Digitals on Jun 1, 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Maurice Ravel : L'Enfant et les sortilèges - L'Heure espagnole - Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov : Capriccio espagnol - Igor Stravinsky : The Song of the Nightingale (2 CDs)
Orchestre National de France, Berliner Philharmoniker, Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Lorin Maazel
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg on Jan 1, 1997
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jean-Baptiste Robin: Time Circles, Orchestral & Chamber Music
Classical - Released by Brilliant Classics on Dec 1, 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 30 & Prelude, Op. 3 No. 2
Alexis Weissenberg, Orchestre National de France, Leonard Bernstein
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Mar 24, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Shostakovich: Piano Concertos, Three Fantastic Dances, Preludes & Fugues.
Dimitri Chostakovitch, André Cluytens, Orchestre National de France, Ludovic Vaillant
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Aug 15, 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dubugnon: Arcanes symphoniques, Triptyque...
Orchestre National de France, Thomas Dolié, Nora Gubisch, Laurent Petitgirard, Debora Waldman, Fabien Gabel
Classical - Released by Naxos on Jan 13, 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Henri Tomasi, Le triomphe de Jeanne, Concert du 01/07/1957, Orchestre national de la RTF, Rita Gorr (s), J. Doucet (s), Henri Tomasi (dir)
Orchestre national de la RTF and Henri Tomasi featuring Rita Gorr and Jacques Doucet
Classical - Released by Ina, musique(s) on May 1, 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sacred Voices
Accentus, Accentus - Laurence Equilbey, Orchestre National de France
Classical - Released by naïve classique on Nov 24, 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy : La Mer, Nocturnes, Ibéria & Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (Diapason n°569)
Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française / Désiré-Emile Inghelbrecht
Symphonic Music - Released by Les Indispensables de Diapason on Oct 25, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Poèmes - Ravel, Messiaen, Dutilleux
Renée Fleming, Orchestre National de France, Alan Gilbert, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Seiji Ozawa
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Léna et l'orchestre enchanté
Gallimard Jeunesse, Mathieu Lamboley, Orchestre National de France
Children - Released by Gallimard Jeunesse on Sep 21, 2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Boieldieu / Saint-Saëns / Tailleferre / Ravel: Harp Concertos
Nicanor Zabaleta, Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Ernst Märzendorfer, Orchestre National de France, Jean Martinon
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Jul 1, 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Offenbach : Maître Péronilla
Orchestre National de France, Choeur de Radio France, Markus Poschner, Véronique Gens
Classical - Released by Bru Zane on Feb 14, 2020
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: Orchestral Works, Vol. 1. La Mer, Nocturnes, Images, Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune & Jeux
Orchestre National de France, Jean Martinon
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on May 1, 1998
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Great Transcriptions
Leopold Stokowski Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Symphony of the Air, Léopold Stokowski
Classical - Released by Urania Records on Jul 3, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Honegger : Jeanne d'Arc au Bûcher
Orchestre National de France, Marie-Claude Vallin
Sacred Oratorios - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Jan 1, 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo