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 |
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
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 |
MAURICE RAVEL / MODEST MUSSORGSKY
Ravel [Includes Piano Concertos & La Valse] Cédric Tiberghien (piano), Stéphane Degout (bartone) / Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth [ Harmonia Mundi / 2 CD Box Set - released 14/Jun/2024 ] Les Siècles present two of their successful series of Ravel recordings on period instruments under François-Xavier Roth, with Cédric Tiberghien at the piano and baritone Stéphane Degout. |
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. |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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,... |
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 |
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... |
CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS
Saint-Saëns: Symphonic Poems - Le Carnaval des animaux - L'Assassinat du duc de Guise Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth [ Harmonia Mundi / 2 CD - released 17/Nov/2023 ] "As anticipated, Roth and Les Siècles bring sparkle and panache to these colourful scores. The four tone poems are packed with drama." Gramophone Editor's Choice Dec 2023 |
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... |
MESSAGER / DEBUSSY / DELIBES / STRAVINSKY / THOMAS / etc
Mirages: opera arias & songs Sabine Devieilhe (soprano) & Alexandre Tharaud (piano) / Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth [ Erato Classics / CD - released 10/Dec/2017 ] Gramophone Award Nomination 2018 - Recital BBC Music Award Finalist 2019 - Vocal |
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 |
PAUL DUKAS
The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Polyeucte & Cantate Velleda Chantal Santon, Julian Dran , Jean-Manuel Candeno / Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth [ Actes Sud Musicales / CD - released 29/Dec/2013 ] With this new recording, François-Xavier Roth, leading conductor of many ensembles and repertoires, and Les Siècles, with several award-winning discs under their belt return to an unsung genius, Paul Dukas. |
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,... |
FELICIEN DAVID
David: Christophe Colomb & Musique de chambre, symphonique et sacrée, etc Flemish Radio Choir, Brussels Philharmonic, Hervé Niquet, Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth [ Bru Zane Ediciones Singulares / 3 CD/Book - released 25/Aug/2017 ] "The performances are fabulous. François-Xavier Roth and Les Siècles mine the textures and sonorities of Christophe Colomb for all their worth" Gramophone Editor's Choice Oct 2017 |
GYORGY LIGETI
Ligeti: Six Bagatelles / Kammerkonzert / Dix pièces pour quintette à vent François-Xavier Roth and Les Siècles [ Musicales Actes Sud / CD - released 10/Apr/2018 ] BBC Music Magazine Awards 2018 Finalist - Chamber |
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 |
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 |
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 |
CLAUDE DEBUSSY
Debussy: La Mer / Première Suite D'orchestre Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 4/Nov/2022 ] |
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... |
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 |
MAURICE RAVEL
Ma mère l'Oye, Le Tombeau de Couperin & Shéhérazade Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 6/Apr/2018 ] When Ravel orchestrated his works, the scoring emerged with total spontaneity, as if by magic, for he had already worked out his orchestral colours with immense care at the piano. The fascination of the Orient or the fantastic, poetic homages, the... |
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... |
MAURICE RAVEL
Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé (complete ballet) Marion Ralincourt (flute) / Les Siècles & Ensemble Aedes, François-Xavier Roth [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 20/Apr/2017 ] "Lean gut strings achieve feathery lightness... With fine choral contributions from the Ensemble Aedes, this new recording is highly recommended." Gramophone Award WINNER 2018 - Orchestral |