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Les Siècles

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Les Siècles is a French symphony orchestra founded in 2003 by the conductor François-Xavier Roth. The orchestra aims to put music from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century in a new light. For that reason it plays every repertoire on the historical instruments that belong to the year of its composition. Berlioz or Bizet thus sound on instruments from their own time, and Debussy or Stravinsky on different ones again. The orchestra performs regularly in Paris, including at the Opéra Comique and the Philharmonie, but also in Amsterdam, London, Cologne and Tokyo.

Music and breakthrough

In 2013 the publisher Boosey & Hawkes exceptionally gave the orchestra permission to play The Rite of Spring as it sounded on 29 May 1913 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. That performance was recorded, together with Petrushka in the 1911 version. The Stravinsky album won the Edison Classical Award in the Netherlands and the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik in 2012. Other recordings are Symphonie fantastique from 2010, the pairing of Bizet and Chabrier from 2007, and records with Debussy and Saint-Saëns.

Influence

The musicians also teach and perform in schools, hospitals and prisons. The orchestra shows that a symphony can sound different when the instruments are the old ones, and thereby makes clear that performance practice is not the exclusive preserve of the Baroque.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Symphonie fantastique and notice the tone colour of the woodwinds and brass, which sound different from those on modern instruments. Look for the moments where the wind instruments stand out most.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Categories: Artists