In a release that marks the centenary of Camille Saint-Saëns’s death in December 1921, the Orchestre National de France, conducted by its music director Cristian Măcelaru, performs the composer’s five symphonies: nos 1, 2 and 3 and two unnumbered works, the early Symphony in A major and the Symphony in F major, ‘Urbs Roma’. The works span some 35 years of the composer’s dazzling career – from around 1850, when he was 15, to 1886, the year that the Symphony no.3 was premiered. By far the best known of the five, no.3 famously complements the orchestra with an organ, played on this new recording by Olivier Latry.

Recording dates and venue: Auditorium de Radio France
- Symphony no.2 in A minor: 4–6 September 2020
- Symphony in A major: 26–27 October 2020
- Symphonies no.1 in E flat major & no.3 in C minor: 5–9 July 2021
- Symphony in F major ‘Urbs Roma’: 22–24 July 2021