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
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 13 okt. 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Enescu: Symphonies Nos. 1-3; 2 Romanian Rhapsodies
Orchestre National de France, Cristian Măcelaru
Klassiek - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 12 apr. 2024
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Dutilleux: Tout un monde lointain - Dusapin: Outscape
Victor Julien-Laferrière, Orchestre National de France, Kristiina Poska
Klassiek - Released by Alpha Classics on 19 mei 2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Saint-Saëns: Complete Symphonies
Cristian Măcelaru, Orchestre National de France
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 5 nov. 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Violin Concerto Op. 77 by David Oistrakh (Remastered 2022, Studio 1960)
David Oïstrakh, Otto Klemperer, Orchestre National de France
Klassiek - Released by Alexandre Bak - Classical Music Reference Recording on 30 jan. 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Shostakovich: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2, 3 Danses fantastiques (Mono Version)
Dimitri Chostakovitch, Orchestre National de France, André Cluytens
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Violin Concerto Op. 61 by David Oistrakh
David Oïstrakh, André Cluytens, Orchestre National de France
Klassiek - Released by Alexandre Bak - Classical Music Reference Recording on 31 okt. 2022
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
Klassiek - Released by Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg on 1 jan. 1997
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Erik Satie: Oeuvres pour piano, Parade
Christoph Deluze, Orchestre National de France, Manuel Rosenthal
Klassiek - Released by Praga Digitals on 1 jun. 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Jean-Baptiste Robin: Time Circles, Orchestral & Chamber Music
Klassiek - Released by Brilliant Classics on 1 dec. 2022
24-Bit 96.0 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
Symfonische muziek - Released by Les Indispensables de Diapason on 25 okt. 2012
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
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 15 aug. 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
Klassiek - Released by Naxos on 13 jan. 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
Klassiek - Released by Ina, musique(s) on 1 mei 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 30 & Prelude, Op. 3 No. 2
Alexis Weissenberg, Orchestre National de France, Leonard Bernstein
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 24 mrt. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sacred Voices
Accentus, Accentus - Laurence Equilbey, Orchestre National de France
Klassiek - Released by naïve classique on 24 nov. 2017
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
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Léna et l'orchestre enchanté
Gallimard Jeunesse, Mathieu Lamboley, Orchestre National de France
Kinderen - Released by Gallimard Jeunesse on 21 sep. 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
Klassiek - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 jul. 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Offenbach : Maître Péronilla
Orchestre National de France, Choeur de Radio France, Markus Poschner, Véronique Gens
Klassiek - Released by Bru Zane on 14 feb. 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
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 1 mei 1998
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo