GYORGY LIGETI
Ligeti: Bagatelles. Kammerkonzert & Pieces for wind quintet Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 7/Jul/2023 ] "...beautifully and expressively played, this release will prove very satisfying." Fanfare |
MAURICE RAVEL
Ravel: L'Heure espagnole, Boléro Isabelle Druet, Julien Behr, Loïc Félix / Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 16/Jun/2023 ] "As in previous releases, the orchestral playing is exquisite, the strings silky, woodwinds perfumed, the trumpets (1930s Selmers) sweetly tangy, the trombones suggestively louche." Gramophone Editor's Choice Aug 2023 |
Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth
Les nuits de Paris [ Bru Zane / CD - released 5/May/2023 ] The dance permeated every layer of Romantic society. From popular dance halls to courtly salons, people showed their public face, enjoyed themselves and met one another in waltz time or to the rhythms of the quadrille or the polka. At the same time,... |
IGOR STRAVINSKY
Stravinsky: Violin Concerto & Chamber Works Isabelle Faust (violin) / Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 3/Mar/2023 ] "Three-dimensional - with a startling inner clarity and rhythmic keenness that brings it off the page in ways you couldn't imagined.Honestly, it's like having one's ears freshly syringed" Gramophone Editor's Choice April 2023 |
CLAUDE DEBUSSY
Debussy: La Mer, Première Suite d'Orchestre Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 2/Dec/2022 ] La Mer is one of Debussy's most universally admired orchestral works. By contrast, his Première Suite pour orchestre was lost for more than a century, and came as a complete discovery in 2013 when Les Siècles made the world premiere recording, played... |
CLAUDE DEBUSSY
Debussy: La Mer / Première Suite D'orchestre Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 4/Nov/2022 ] |
GUSTAV MAHLER
Mahler: Symphony No. 4 Sabine Devieilhe (soprano) / Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 26/Aug/2022 ] "I absolutely adored this performance...What registers immediately in Roth's reading - and the deliciously honest playing of his band Les Siècles - is an open-faced, playful nature.." Gramophone Recording of the Month Sept 2022 |
MAURICE RAVEL
Ravel: Concertos pour piano -Melodies Cédric Tiberghien, Stéphane Degout, Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 20/May/2022 ] Les Siècles continue their successful series of Ravel recordings on period instruments under François-Xavier Roth, with Cédric Tiberghien at the piano and baritone Stéphane Degout. |
CLAUDE DEBUSSY
Claude Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande Julien Behr, Vannina Santoni, Alexandre Duhamel, Marie-Ange Todorovitch, etc / Les Siècles, Chœur de l'Opéra de Lille François-Xavier Roth [ Harmonia Mundi / 2 CD - released 28/Jan/2022 ] 'I enjoyed the orchestral contributions of Les Siècles and the lucidity that period instruments bring to Debussy's score...there's an almost clinical clarity to their playing.' Gramophone Award Finalist 2022 - Opera |
CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS
Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 'Organ Symphony' / Piano Concerto No. 4 Daniel Roth (organ), Jean-François Heisser (piano) / Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 19/Nov/2021 ] Camille Saint-Saëns, virtuoso pianist, organist and conductor, was also a great admirer of Liszt. His Symphony no.3, which adds both his chosen keyboard instruments to the orchestra, and his Piano Concerto no.4 utilise the codes of the old master,... |
IGOR STRAVINSKY
Stravinsky: "Ballets Russes" Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth [ Harmonia Mundi / 2 CD - released 1/Jun/2021 ] Paris, early twentieth century: in the space of three ballets, a previously unknown Russian composer revolutionised the music of his time. With The Firebird and Petrushka, respectively fairytale and folktale, and of course The Rite of Spring, a... |
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Symphony no.3 'Eroica', Mehul : Overture from 'Les Amazones' Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 23/Apr/2021 ] "Superbly played by the musicians of Les Siècles and compellingly conducted by François-Xavier Roth, this is an exceptional, dramatic and probing recording of the 'Eroica'. I urge you to hear it." MusicWeb recommended |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Symphony no.5 (plus Gossec: Symphonie) Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 4/Sep/2020 ] "It is hard to recall a more relentlessly driven performance of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony than this newcomer." BBC Music |
CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS
Saint-Saëns: Le Timbre d'argent (complete opera) Yu Shao (tenor), Jodie Devos (soprano), Edgaras Montvidas (tenor), Hélène Guilmette (soprano) / Les Siècles, Accentus, François-Xavier Roth [ Bru Zane / 2 CD/Book - released 28/Aug/2020 ] International Classical Music Awards 2021 Winner - Opera |
SARASATE / STRAVINSKY / de FALLA / RODRIGO / MILHAUD / DEBUSSY / etc
Les Musiques De Picasso [Picasso and Music] Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Pablo Heras-Casado Ensemble Aedes & Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth Orchestre de Paris, BBC Symphony Orchestra, etc [ Harmonia Mundi / 2 CD - released 17/Jul/2020 ] To coincide with the opening of the Picasso exhibition at the Paris Philharmonie's Museum of Music in April 2020, harmonia mundi invites you to discover a different facet of the artist: Picasso the music lover! As a creator who found a lifelong... |
MODEST MUSSORGSKY / MAURICE RAVEL
Ravel: La Valse / Mussorgsky (orch. Ravel): Les Tableaux d'une exposition [Pictures at an Exhibition] Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 1/May/2020 ] Toscanini regarded this orchestration of Pictures at an Exhibition as a genuine treatise on instrumentation, on a par with that of Berlioz: scored for the same instrumental forces as La Valse, Ravel's version quickly established itself ahead of all... |
HECTOR BERLIOZ
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique / Les Francs-juges Overture, Op. 3 Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 7/Feb/2020 ] "Roth seems to have an emotional hotline to Berlioz, alive to every twist and turn of the composer's fevered passions." Gramophone Awards 2020 Short List - Orchestral |
GUSTAV MAHLER
Mahler: Symphony no.1 - Titan François-Xavier Roth, Les Siècles [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 10/May/2019 ] "The recording sticks a feather in the cap of Les Siècles, among the most adaptable and engaging of today's historically informed ensembles formed in the image of their director" Gramophone |
HECTOR BERLIOZ
Berlioz: Harold en Italie / Nuits d'été Stéphane Degou (baritone) Tabea Zimmermann (viola) / Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 18/Jan/2019 ] "Les Siècles use woodwind and brass instruments from the middle decades of the 19th century, which, combined with the gut strings, create busy, buoyant textures over which Tabea Zimmermann's solo viola can soar with ease" Sunday Times |
CLAUDE DEBUSSY
Debussy: Jeux / Nocturnes / Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 30/Nov/2018 ] ""Both works are essentially about desire, and their sensuality is heightened here not only by their juxtaposition but by the dark warmth of Les Siècles' period-instrument sound and the restrained intensity of Roth's interpretations" Gramophone |