Paris orch and chorus go uncredited on US #1 hit
OrchestrasThis week’s unexpected Billboard chart-topper is a studio retake of ‘Mea Culpa/ca ira’ from the Paris Olympics opening ceremony. It features heavy metal band Gojira and mezzo-soprano Marina Viotti.
Missing from the credits on the recording are the Orchestre de Paris and its chorus, let alone their conductors.
Klaus Mäkelä was somehow unavailable to conduct the recording session. Barbara Dragan directed the orchestra and Richard Wilberforce the chorus. They deserve a shout-out, to go with their #1 status.
It was only very recently, within the last couple of years, that major motion pictures started to list the studio orchestra players and staff by name in the end credits. I always thought that was tragic. Imagine how terrible movies would be without the orchestras, and yet…
True. For years, every snake wrangler, trainee carpenter, miscellaneous clapper loader, even interns, earned a namecheck, while an orchestral soloist or vocalist might not. Times changing, hopefully.
The orchestra in that photo is Orchestre National de France, not Orchestre de Paris.
Thanks for the shout out Norman – we had great fun doing this!