Air France orchestra chases Lufthansa for business class

Air France orchestra chases Lufthansa for business class

News

norman lebrecht

October 02, 2022

The German airline led the way in nurturing an excellent staff orchestra and flying it around the world to new destinations.

Now Air France has set off in pursuit with a film of Stravinsky’s Firebird made with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and conducted by one of its own pilots, Daniel Harding.

The feature film was shot in a hangar at the Paris Charles-de-Gaulle airport, with some stray luggage visible at the periphery.

It’s a decent performance, only slightly pretentious in concept and execution. Airlines are presently in an all-out campaign to upgrade their image in order to attract business-class and first-class passengers.

Harding is music director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and a part-time Air France pilot.

Comments

  • Emile says:

    Meanwhile British Airways won’t let violins in the cabin.

  • Jonathon says:

    Perhaps next time they could leave the direction to a decent film director instead of an overrated English tenor? Conductors playing the piano, flying planes, tenors making films…what next?

  • JB says:

    The Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France is not an Air France staff orchestra !

  • Claudio says:

    Sorry, just watched it on Arte, decent performance is the best praise for this from musical standpoint.

    Overall, idea of video is fine and parallel of a plane and firebird is understandable.
    But why it is filmed to be so epic, like a Marvel film?

    P.S. initially I thought it was a hidden Aitbus product placement.

  • Meal says:

    Say what you want: I wished more commercials were like this.

  • Harpist says:

    Problem is if they fly with LH their instruments won’t arrive – that is if their flight is not cancelled.
    Avoided AF since a long time already. Too many crashes.

  • Hurz says:

    Complete nonsense.

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