Manuel Rosenthal
Manuel Rosenthal's life overlapped pretty near perfectly with the arrival and passing of the twentieth century. He was born in 1904, the illegitimate son of a Russian immigrant woman and a wealthy Frenchman whose name he never knew, and grew up in dire poverty in Paris. He loved music sufficiently to teach himself the violin, and when his stepfather passed away in 1918, the 14 year old proved good enough on the instrument to support his mother and sister, playing in cafés and accompanying silent films. He enrolled in the Paris Conservatory at 16 to formalize his musical knowledge, but he was so far along that he was already manifesting talent as a composer. A sonatina that he submitted in 1921 not only passed muster with a committee that included Stravinsky, Bartók, Ravel, and Prokofiev, but received a public performance two months later. In addition to the violin, he also took up the sursoprano, a stringed instrument 1/4 higher than the violin, for which he wrote music.
In 1926, he became only the third student ever taken on by Maurice Ravel. It was through Ravel's efforts in securing a concert performance for one of his works that Rosenthal made his debut as a conductor. Never having studied conducting, and not even knowing how a traditional orchestra was arranged, Rosenthal led the performance on instinct. He was impressive enough at that engagement to receive encouragement -- and, eventually, an assistant's post -- from Désiré-Emile Inghelbrecht, the conductor of the Orchestre National de France, in 1934.
Rosenthal was later selected to direct a radio orchestra, a post through which he became one of the nation's leading exponents of modern music. He continued to compose, primarily for the theater and occasionally for film. In 1938, he inherited a commission originally intended for Roger Desormiere, to orchestrate Offenbach's music into a full-length ballet for choreographer Léonide Massine. The latter initially rejected Rosenthal's work and the impasse was broken when Stravinsky was called in to mediate and praised the piece. The resulting ballet, the Gaîté Parisienne, went on not only to become one of the most popular ballets of the twentieth century, but also the vehicle by which millions of listeners were introduced to Offenbach's music.
Rosenthal's spent most of the Second World War as a prisoner of war. He resumed his work in 1946 and, for the next several decades was mostly known as a concert conductor. Rosenthal made very few recordings because he objected to the notion that technological limitations should alter a piece of music. Thus, his recorded legacy is limited to a few sides for EMI and Remington in the early '50s, several done for the Ades label at the end of that decade, and in the late '90s for Naxos. Rosenthal enjoyed decades as an elder statesman of French music, and on his death in 2003, just days before his 99th birthday, he was among the last links with the world of ballet and the concert hall of the 1920s and 1930s.
© TiVo
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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 -
Ravel: Complete Orchestral Works by Manuel Rosenthal
Manuel Rosenthal, Orchestre de l'Opera National de Paris, Choeurs de Radio France
Classical - Released by Alexandre Bak - Classical Music Reference Recording on Dec 31, 2021
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Isaac Albéniz: Iberia (for Solo piano & Orchestrated Version) & Other Piano Works
Alicia de Larrocha, Jean-Joël Barbier, Orchestre du Theatre National De L'Opera De Paris, Manuel Rosenthal
Classical - Released by Praga Digitals on Jun 1, 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Vieuxtemps: Violin Concertos Nos.4 & 5 etc
Arthur Grumiaux, Orchestre Lamoureux, Manuel Rosenthal
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on Jan 1, 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Orchestral Music Of Eric Satie
French National Radio And Television Orchestra, Manuel Rosenthal
Classical - Released by Everest Records on Mar 25, 1968
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Concert du 14 juin 1960
Manuel Rosenthal and Orchestre national de la RTF
Classical - Released by Ina, musique(s) on Mar 28, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
La Gaîté Parisienne
Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, Manuel Rosenthal
Classical - Released by Naxos on Jul 8, 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: La Mer, Images, Nocturnes & Orchestral Works
Manuel Rosenthal, Orchestre de l'Opera National de Paris, Choeurs de Radio France
Classical - Released by Alexandre Bak - Classical Music Reference Recording on Dec 29, 2021
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Claude Debussy: Prélude à l'Après-midi d'un faune, Images & La Boîte à joujoux
Orchestre du Theatre National De L'Opera De Paris, Manuel Rosenthal, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Symphonies - Released by Praga Digitals on Dec 1, 2012
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Claude Debussy: La Mer, Nocturnes, Jeux, Marche écossaise, Salut Printemps, Évocation
Nadine Sautereau, Michel Caron, Orchestre du Theatre National De L'Opera De Paris, Choeurs De La Radio Télévision Française, Manuel Rosenthal
Symphonies - Released by Praga Digitals on Oct 30, 2012
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Offenbach, Rosenthal: Gaîté parisienne
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Nov 9, 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Erik Satie, morceaux choisis
Jean-Joël Barbier, Jean Wiener, Orchestre National de France, Manuel Rosenthal
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on Sep 17, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Albéniz: Iberia / De Falla: Noches en los jardines de España
Yvonne Loriod, Orchestre de l’Opéra national de Paris, Manuel Rosenthal
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on Jan 18, 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Albert Roussel : Evocations - Ravel : L'Enfant et les sortilèges (Semaines musicales de Paris - 27 novembre 1962)
Secular Vocal Music - Released by Ina, musique(s) on Oct 28, 2013
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hector Berlioz : Les Troyens (24 mai 1956)
Orchestre National de la RTF - Manuel Rosenthal
Classical - Released by Ina, musique(s) on Oct 28, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Concert du 25 octobre 1960
Manuel Rosenthal and A. Focheux
Classical - Released by Ina, musique(s) on Apr 15, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lyrinx Archives (1958·61·75) Zino Francescatti, New York, Dec. 16, 1975: The Last Performance
Zino Francescatti, New York Philharmonic, Pierre Boulez, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Manuel Rosenthal
Concertos - Released by Lyrinx on Dec 16, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
De Falla: El Amor Brujo / El Sombrero de Tres Picos
Manuel Rosenthal, Orquesta del Teatro Nacional de la Ópera de París
Miscellaneous - Released by MARFER on May 8, 1965
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Les Caprices de Marianne
Full Operas - Released by Solstice on Sep 1, 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Orchestre Philharmonique de la RTF - Manuel Rosenthal
Full Operas - Released by INA Mémoire vive on Feb 7, 2012
16-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms, Debussy, Delage, Duruflé (Live du 24/01/1955)
Orchestre national de la RTF and Manuel Rosenthal featuring Lelia Gousseau
Symphonic Music - Released by Ina, musique(s) on Aug 3, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo