Bruckner’Third – a creative history that is unique even for the great Austrian
romantic. No other of his symphonies has been revised, reshaped and
reissued more often. Yet the first version from 1873, which François-Xavier
Roth has chosen for this recording, bristles with boldness and the joy of
experimentation. Here, the reminiscence of Beethoven’s Ninth and the works
of the dedicatee Richard Wagner is almost tangible.
With this recording, François-Xavier Roth and the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln
continue the highly acclaimed Bruckner Symphonies cycle and, with great
attention to detail, once again present the ‘unvarnished’ Bruckner,
groundbreaking, virtuosic and refined.
C’est un portrait à double face de Saint-Saëns que nous livrent ici François-Xavier Roth et Les Siècles : côté pile, quelques-uns des plus fascinants poèmes symphoniques du romantisme français nous sont révélés dans toute la chatoyance due aux timbres d’époque. Côté face, on redécouvre un compositeur volontiers farceur (le Carnaval des animaux retrouve lui aussi ses couleurs d’origine !), quand il n’est pas engagé dans les balbutiements cinématographiques de son temps, avec la toute première musique jamais composée pour un film !
Poursuivant leur exploration de l’œuvre de Ravel, François-Xavier Roth et Les Siècles nous proposent deux pages unies par son amour de l’Espagne. Au côté du célébrissime Bolero, qui retrouvera toute sa saveur originelle sur instruments d’époque, le premier ouvrage lyrique de Ravel flirtait avec le libertinage : défendue par une distribution exceptionnelle et entièrement francophone, cette Heure n’en reste pas moins aussi espagnole que caustique !
Texte: harmonia mundi
The Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, conducted by François-Xavier Roth, plays the rarely performed original version of Anton Bruckner’s 4th Symphony in E-flat major, »Die Romantische« (»The Romantic«) from 1874. Anton Bruckner himself gave his symphony, next to his 7th the most popular with the public, the nickname »Die Romantische«. It paints an ideal world in bright colors, as if looking back into an ideal past. Nevertheless, Bruckner was not satisfied. He reworked the work several times, in 1878 and 1880, creating an entirely new third movement, while other movements were fundamentally revised, shortened and condensed. François-Xavier Roth has chosen the original version from 1874 for this performance.
Anton Bruckner
Sinfonie Nr. 4 Es-Dur
Gürzenich-Orchester Köln
François-Xavier Roth Dirigent
Released on April 14th 2023
On sait quel intérêt Ligeti portait aux sonorités et aux timbres instrumentaux. Eux-mêmes véritables alchimistes des sons et des couleurs, François-Xavier Roth et les musiciens des Siècles signaient en 2016 des lectures chatoyantes de ces trois œuvres, d’une clarté et d’une évidence inouïes, pleines d’humour aussi – et superbement remastérisées à la faveur de cette réédition.
Ecouter/ Listen : https://lnk.to/StravinskyConcertoFaustFA
Apollon Musagète – Variation d’Apollon (Apollon et les Muses)
Interprétation sur instruments français de 1900
During the coronavirus pandemic that dominated 2020 and 2021, the orchestra was forced to perform less frequently than it normally does, yet it managed nonetheless to premiere all the works it had commissioned. These performances often took forms different from those originally planned, but contemporary music as a ‘mirror of the times’ continued to be a main priority – one characterised by its power of expression. That applies to the music of big names of our day like Wolfgang Rihm and Detlev Glanert, as well as to that of younger composers such as Rick van Veldhuizen and Celia Swart.
The result is three discs full of music of importance, an album featuring what will be the traditional repertoire of the future. Horizon 10 thus offers not just an overview of the premieres that the Concertgebouw Orchestra has given in recent years, but also a blueprint for contemporary composition with an exciting cross-section of today’s young leading high-profile composers. That is why this tenth release in the Horizon Series is both a resounding testimony to a world in the midst of a disturbing health crisis and painful periods of lockdown, and – above all – a state-of-the-art manifesto for composition for symphony orchestra and related ensembles around the beginning of the second decade of the twenty-first century.
Text: RCO
Les Siècles
François-Xavier Roth – Direction
La danse traverse toutes les strates de la société romantique. Depuis les bals populaires jusqu’aux salons de la cour, on se présente au monde, on se divertit et on se rencontre sur des rythmes de valse, des quadrilles ou des polkas. Le spectacle chorégraphique gagne également, à cette époque, une notoriété sans précédent sur la scène de l’Opéra de Paris. La musique qui accompagne en France cette ronde effrénée a longtemps été négligée, alors même que les Viennois n’ont jamais cessé de célébrer leurs valses. Sous la baguette experte de François-Xavier Roth, l’orchestre Les Siècles se lance dans sa redécouverte, sur instruments historiques, et parcourt aussi bien les productions de compositeurs établis – comme Camille Saint-Saëns, Ambroise Thomas, Charles Gounod ou Jules Massenet – que celles de musiciens spécialisés dans le divertissement – tels Philippe Musard, Isaac Strauss, Émile Waldteufel et Hervé.
Enregistrement réalisé au Théâtre Raymond Devos à Tourcoing, les 8 et 9 janvier 2022
Éditions musicales du Palazzetto Bru Zane
Ecouter : https://lnk.to/Les_nuits_de_Paris
Sabine Devieilhe, soprano
Les Siècles
François-Xavier Roth – Direction
» Après une lecture sur instruments d’époque de la Symphonie n°1, unanimement saluée par la critique, François-Xavier Roth et Les Siècles reviennent à Mahler. Rejoints par la lumineuse Sabine Devieilhe pour le célèbre mouvement final, ils nous livrent ici leur vision de cette Quatrième qui marque à sa manière le passage du compositeur vers la modernité, révélant des couleurs et des équilibres instrumentaux insoupçonnés. La transparence polyphonique au sein du grand orchestre mahlérien n’avait pas encore livré tous ses secrets ! » – harmonia mundi
Ecouter : https://lnk.to/Malher4RothID
Debussy: Pélleas et Mélisande
Francois-Xavier Roth / Les Siecles
Vannina Santoni / Julien Behr / Alexandre Duhamel / Marie-Ange Todorovitch / Jean Teitgen
HMM90535254
Anton Bruckner
7th symphony (1881–83)
Gürzenich-Orchester Köln
François-Xavier Roth
Live recording, October 8.-10.th, 2019, Kölner Philharmonie
In co-production with Deutschlandradio
CD by myrios classics, catalogue n°. MYR030
Released on February 11th 2022
Maurice Ravel
Concerto pour piano en Sol Majeur
Don Quichotte à Dulcinée
Deux mélodies hébraïques : Kaddish et L’enigme éternelle
Pavane pour une infante défunte
Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé : Soupir, Placet futile et Surgi de la croupe et du bond
Concerto pour piano en Ré Majeur
Sainte
Les Siècles
François-Xavier Roth
Cédric Tiberghien / Stéphane Debout
Release in 2022-05-20
CD by Harmonia Mundi
SAINT-SAËNS, Symphony n°3 / Piano Concerto n°4
Virtuose du piano, de l’orgue et de la direction d’orchestre, Camille Saint-Saëns était aussi un grand admirateur de Liszt. Sa Symphonie n°3, qui invite les deux claviers à se joindre à l’orchestre, et son Concerto pour piano n°4 reprennent les codes du vieux maître pour mieux les transcender. Partenaire des Siècles depuis 2017, harmonia mundi réédite aujourd’hui les lectures enflammées de ces deux pages maîtresses de la grande tradition romantique française, pour lesquelles François-Xavier Roth avait fait appel à deux solistes de choix !
Les Siècles
Jean-François Heisser, piano
Daniel Roth, orgue
François-Xavier Roth, direction
Symphonie n° 3 en ut mineur « avec orgue » op. 78
1 – Adagio – Allegro moderato
2 – Poco adagio
3 – Allegro moderato – Presto – Allegro moderato
4 – Maestoso – Allegro – Più allegro – Molto allegro – Pesante
Concerto pour piano n°4 en ut mineur op. 44
5 – Allegro moderato – Andante
6 – Allegro vivace
7 – Andante
Gürzenich Orchester Köln
François-Xavier Roth, conductor
Jean-Guihen Queyras, cello
Tabea Zimmermann, viola
STRAUSS, Don Quixote, Op. 35, Phantastische Variationen über ein Thema ritterlichen Charakters, TrV 184 (1897)
STRAUSS, Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op.28
STRAUSS, Romanze, for cello and orchestra, TrV 118 (1883)
Après deux mémorables enregistrements consacrés aux 3e et 5e Symphonies de Mahler, François-Xavier Roth poursuit son exploration des œuvres majeures créées par l’Orchestre du Gürzenich. À l’honneur cette fois, deux pages parmi les plus brillantes du jeune Richard Strauss : Till l’Espiègle et Don Quichotte. Pour ce poème symphonique en forme de double concerto, Jean-Guihen Queyras et Tabea Zimmermann, duo complice et picaresque, incarnent le Chevalier à la Triste Figure et son écuyer Sancho Panza.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZkTw-cfyyg
Boulez Ensemble
Daniel Baremboim, François-Xavier Roth, conductors
Astrig Siranossian, cello
Yulia Deyneka, viola
BOULEZ, Messagesquisse
BOULEZ, Messagesquisse, viola version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZkTw-cfyyg
Les Siècles
Michael Rolland, bassoon
François-Xavier Roth, conductor
STRAVINSKY, Le Sacre du Printemps
STRAVINSKY, Pétrouchka (version 1911)
GLAZUNOV, Les Orientales
STRAVINSKY, L’Oiseau de Feu (version 1910)
Juin 2021
Paris, début du XXe siècle : un compositeur russe encore méconnu révolutionne en l’espace de trois ballets la musique de son époque. Avec L’Oiseau de feu et Petrouchka, contes féerique pour le premier, populaire pour le second, et bien sûr Le Sacre du printemps, invocation tellurique aux harmonies et aux rythmes insensés, Stravinsky dynamite l’orchestre romantique pour l’emporter vers des espaces littéralement inouïs. Étant parmi les tout premiers à interpréter ces œuvres sur les instruments qui les ont vu naître, François-Xavier Roth et Les Siècles ont initié une redécouverte en profondeur de ces pages fondatrices, permettant à l’auditeur d’aujourd’hui d’en goûter pleinement l’audace et la puissance âpre et sauvage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL87s53Rubw
Les Siècles
François-Xavier Roth, conductor
BEETHOVEN, Symphonie n°3 ‘Eroica’
MÉHUL, Les Amazones, ou La Fondation de Thèbes, Ouverture
Avril 2021
Poursuivant leur exploration des symphonies de Beethoven, François-Xavier Roth et Les Siècles nous font redécouvrir toute la modernité et la puissance de l’Eroica. Grâce à la magie des timbres des instruments anciens, les équilibres et les effets voulus par Beethoven retrouvent ici toute leur force. De huit ans sa cadette, l’ouverture des Amazones sera pour beaucoup une découverte. Avec cet opéra, Méhul posait lui aussi, côté français cette fois, un jalon de cette esthétique nouvelle : le Romantisme.
RICHARD STRAUSS – Complete Tone Poems
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg
François-Xavier Roth direction
Frank-Michael Guthmann (viola)*
Johannes Lüthy (cello)*
Jermolaj Albiker (violin)**
Sortie en Février 2021
Disque 1
STRAUSS, Ein Heldenleben, Op.40
STRAUSS, Tod und Verklärung, Op.24
Disque 2
STRAUSS, Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op.28
STRAUSS, Don Quixote für Solocello, Solobratsche und großes Orchestra*, Op.35
STRAUSS, Macbeth Op.23
Disque 3
STRAUSS, Also sprach Zarathustra, Op.30
STRAUSS, Aus Italien, Sinfonische Fantasie, Op.16
Disque 4
STRAUSS, Eine Alpensinfonie, Op.64
STRAUSS, Don Juan Op.20
Disque 5
STRAUSS, Symphonia domestica Op.53
STRAUSS, Metamorphosen, Studie für 23 Solo-Streicher, AV142
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DEBUSSY, La Mer
DEBUSSY, Prélude à l’après-midi d’un Faune
RAVEL, Rapsodie espagnole
François-Xavier Roth, conductor
Gareth Davies, flute
LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Roth’s newest album opens with Ravel’s Spanish-influenced piece, Rapsodie espagnole. A fascination with his Spanish heritage would be a recurring theme in many of the composer’s creations, and mysterious melodies weave delicately throughout this early work, which is punctuated by bursts of Spanish-inspired fanfares and Habanera dance rhythms.
Next comes the voluptuous flute opening of the Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, an iconic work that immediately conjures a world of luxurious fantasy, weaving through changing scenes with effortless spontaneity. Every instrument adds something unique, and the whole work appears to float free of form and convention.
Finally, in La mer Debussy tells the story of the eternal odyssey of the ocean. He sails through storm and calm, wind and rain, in music that rises and falls with the rhythms of the sea. The score is so vivid that you can almost smell sea salt and see the crests of the waves.
You can purchase the new recording on CD from the LSO Live store, and find it for streaming and download on all digital music services. Click here to discover more recordings from François-Xavier Roth on LSO label.
LES SIÈCLES
François-Xavier Roth direction
Premier enregistrement réalisé sur l’édition du Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles
« De la nuit vers la lumière« … « Ainsi le destin frappe à la porte » : entre citations supposées et interprétations romantiques les plus échevelées, on ne compte plus les commentaires qui depuis sa création ont accompagné « la Cinquième ». Et si l’on revenait à la partition originale ? Si l’on acceptait l’idée que dans un contexte profondément marqué par cette Révolution française qu’incarne à la même époque le brillant Gossec, c’est la musique de Beethoven elle-même qui était totalement révolutionnaire, comme aiment à nous le rappeler François-Xavier Roth et ses musiciens des Siècles ?
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Gürzenich Orchester Koeln
François-Xavier Roth – conductor
Robert SCHUMANN
Symphony No. 1 in B-flat major, Op. 38 »Spring« (1841)
Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 120 (First version of 1841, edited by Jon Finson)
Natalie Chee, violin solo
Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne
François-Xavier Roth conductor
Live-Recording, 2019, June 16-18. (No. 1) and 2018, December 16.-18., Cologne Philharmonie
Release in 2020-08
The Gürzenich Orchestra and its chief conductor François-Xavier Roth dedicate their first release on myrios classics to two symphonies by Robert Schumann. The CD is based on live recordings made at Cologne’s Philharmonie; its release is scheduled for August 21, 2020.
In 1841, Robert Schumann finally had the breakthrough he had long dreamed of as an orchestral composer. He created no less than two works that year: his first, the »Spring Symphony«, and a piece he originally conceived as a »Symphonistic Fantasy« and which later turned into his Symphony in D-minor.
The »Spring Symphony« was written in the coldest depth of winter. It is a work of longing which knows only one direction: growth, blossoming, forging a path towards light and new life. The Symphony No. 4 in D-minor, on the other hand, seems far more shadowy and personal, »a work created from the depths of the soul«, as Clara Schumann confided in her diary. The audience, however, failed to warm to the impetuous work, leading Robert Schumann to put it aside in resignation after the first performance. Only ten years later, he revised the work, which then appeared as his Fourth Symphony.
This album combines the »Spring Symphony« with the first version of the Symphony in D-minor – a version preferred by several of Schumann’s friends, including Johannes Brahms. During Schumann’s lifetime, however, it was never performed again. It was the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne which gave its next performance in 1889, under the baton of Gürzenich kapellmeister Franz Wüllner.
François-Xavier Roth also prefers the original version of 1841. »In its sparser instrumentation, it is more radical, demanding extreme dedication from all of us.«
The SACD recording also includes a 5.0 surround version; in its breath-taking energy, it documents the Schumann focus the orchestra dedicated to the composer during the 2018/19 season. An intense impression of this energy is also conveyed by the concert video of the »Spring Symphony«, captured as part of GO Plus.
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Camille SAINT-SAËNS
Le Timbre d’Argent
François-Xavier Roth, direction
LES SIÈCLES
ACCENTUS
avec
Hélène Guilmette, Jodie Devos,
Edgaras Montvidas, Yu Shao,
Tassis Christoyannis, Jean-Yves Ravoux,
Matthieu Chapuis
2 CD / 163 pages (textes et livret)
Premier enregistrement mondial
Drame lyrique en 4 actes sur un livret de Jules Barbier et Michel Carré, créé le 23 février 1877 au Théâtre National Lyrique à Paris. Version revue par le compositeur à l’occasion de la reprise de l’œuvre au Théâtre de la Monnaie de Bruxelles, en mars 1914. (Éditions Choudens.)
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London Symphony Orchestra
François-Xavier Roth – conductor
THE PANUFNIK LEGACIES 3
Release in 2020-05
Conductor François-Xavier Roth leads the London Symphony Orchestra on the third album in the Panufnik Legacies series, which showcases new music by some of the most exciting young composers working in the UK today. All of the composers featured on this recording are alumni of the LSO Discovery Panufnik Composers Scheme, which offers six composers each year the opportunity to write for a world-class symphony orchestra, guided by renowned composer Colin Matthews.
The Panufnik Legacies III contains world premiere recordings of compositions by Ayanna Witter-Johnson, Ewan Campbell, Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian, Donghoon Shin, Alex Roth, Matthew Sergeant, Patrick Giguère, Sasha Siem, Bethan Morgan-Williams, Michael Taplin, Benjamin Ashby and Joanna Lee.
This recording has been generously supported by The Boltini Trust. The LSO Panufnik Composers Scheme is generously supported by The Helen Hamlyn Trust.
Buy on https://lsolive.lso.co.uk/products/panufnik-legacies-iii
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Les Siècles
François-Xavier Roth – Direction
RAVEL, La Valse
MOUSSORGSKY-RAVEL, Pictures of an exhibition
Release in 2020-04
BESTENLISTE 3-2020 PREIS DER DEUTSCHEN SCHALLPLATTENKRITIK
READ THE BOOKLET (pdf)
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Les Siècles
François-Xavier Roth – Direction
BERLIOZ, Symphonie fantastique – épisode de la vie d’un artiste, op. 14, H. 48
BERLIOZ, Les Francs-Juges – Ouverture op.3, H. 23
Release in 2019-10
Cristallisant les multiples influences de la jeune génération romantique des années 1820, la Fantastique a bouleversé tous les codes symphoniques… pour mieux redistribuer les cartes. Ce nouvel enregistrement des Siècles s’appuie plus que jamais sur une étude fine du manuscrit autographe et l’usage des instruments d’époque… y compris les cloches de la Côte-Saint-André ! L’ouvrage puisait partiellement dans un opéra de jeunesse, Les Francs-Juges, dont quasiment seule l’ouverture nous est parvenue – dont François-Xavier Roth nous rappelle qu’elle a toute sa place au répertoire symphonique berliozien.
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Les Siècles
François-Xavier Roth – Conductor
MAHLER, Titan – Ein Tondichtung im Symphonieform
Release in 2019-05
Back to the sources !
Les Siècles has worked from the Budapest, Hamburg and Weimar manuscripts, in close collaboration with Universal Edition, the musicologist Anna Stoll Knecht and Benjamin Garzia, to offer us, on the types of instruments on which it was premiered and for the first time on record, the second version (Hamburg/Weimar 1893-94) of Mahler’s First Symphony. Initially presented as a symphonic poem in two parts and five movements entitled ‘Titan’, this version continually faced severe criticism as it developed. The fascinating reconstruction testifies in many respects to the genius of one of the greatest symphonists of the modern era!
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Sara Mingardo – Contralto
Women’s choir of Schola Heidelberg
Young Singers of the Kölner Dom
Gürzenich-Orchester Kölner Philharmoniker
François-Xavier Roth – Conductor
MAHLER, Symphonie n°3
Release in 2019-03
A masterpiece first premiered by the Gürzenich Orchestra !!
The premiere of Mahler’s Third Symphony took place in June 1902 in Krefeld (not far from Düsseldorf), but it was indeed the Gürzenich Orchestra of Cologne which gave that first performance… greeted with acclaim – this was not always the composer’s experience with his masterpieces. Originally conceived as a hymn to Nature, in which the inert chaos of the opening movement is gradually left behind, the work calls for enormous forces (large orchestra, women’s choir, boys’ choir, and contralto soloist) and at each hearing leaves an unforgettable impression on the audience. Such was the case in October 2018, when François-Xavier Roth led the esteemed successors of the work’s first interpreters in this latest Mahler adventure.
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Tabea Zimmermann – Viola
Stéphane Degout – Baritone
Les Siècles
François-Xavier Roth – Conductor
BERLIOZ, Harold en Italie
BERLIOZ, Nuits d’été
Release in 2019-01
Berlioz the pioneer !
A new aesthetic calls for new forms: such is the challenge the composer set for himself in the two works presented here. In Les Nuits d’été, Berlioz pioneered, well before Mahler and Ravel, a song cycle for voice and orchestra. In Harold in Italy, scored for large orchestra and solo viola, he experimented with the symphonic genre. These period-instrument performances by Les Siècles, led by François-Xavier Roth, with violist Tabea Zimmermann, also feature Stéphane Degout in the vocal cycle, heard here in the composer’s own version for baritone. File under: out of the ordinary.
Tabea Zimmermann plays a viola by Paolo Maggini, Brescia 1610
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Les Siècles
Les Cris de Paris
François-Xavier Roth – Conductor
DEBUSSY, Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
DEBUSSY, Jeux
DEBUSSY, Nocturnes
Release in 2018-11
A century after his death on 25 March 1918, many harmonia mundi artists are eager to pay tribute to Claude Debussy, the magician of melody and timbre, the great ‘colourist’ and father of modern music. With the musicians of Les Siècles, we have the opportunity to discover on period instruments the original colours of such key works as Jeux and the Nocturnes. After his sumptuous recording of Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, François-Xavier Roth adds a new and splendid achievement to his discography.
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Renaud Capuçon, violin
London Symphony Orchestra
François-Xavier Roth, conductor
BARTOK, Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
Release in 2018-03
Renaud Capuçon expands his wide-ranging concerto discography with Bartók’s two violin concertos. Composed almost three decades apart, they are highly contrasted, inhabiting very different emotional and musical worlds. Partnering Capuçon is the London Symphony Orchestra under its Principal Guest C
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Les Siècles
François-Xavier Roth – Conductor
RAVEL, Ma mère l’Oye
RAVEL, Le Tombeau de Couperin
RAVEL, Shéhérazade
Release in 2018-03
A master of orchestration !
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 enthralling world of childhood – everything here is suffused with subtle refinement, in the use of forms inherited from the 18th century as in the choice of sonorities suited for storytelling. Who better than Les Siècles could recreate this world, as magical as that of the rarely performed Shéhérazade overture?
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Sabine DEVIEILHE, Soprano
Les Siècles
François-Xavier Roth – Conductor
MIRAGES – Works of André Messager, Charles Koechlin, Claude Debussy, Léo Delibes, Maurice Delage
Release in 2017-11
This release by hot French soprano Sabine Devieilhe has multiple strengths that propelled it onto the charts right out of the box, so to speak. Appreciation for Devieilhe’s manifest vocal gifts should not obscure the superb work done by recording and mixing engineer Hugues Deschaux, working in the Salle de répétition no. 1 of the Philharmonie de Paris. Especially on the orchestral tracks featuring the group Les Siècles under François-Xavier Roth, Deschaux creates a mysterious sound environment in which Devieilhe seems to hover alluringly in the distance. This fits the programming concept in an uncanny way: Mirages explores exotic heroines in late Romantic French opera and song. This is hardly an uncommon idea in the opera of the period, French or otherwise, but Devieilhe’s focus is both close and original: moving outward from the familiar Flower Duet from Lakmé (featuring mezzo-soprano Marianne Crebassa), she touches on both unusual and peripherally related repertory. Both are compelling. Do not miss the rarely heard Quatre Poèmes Hindous of Maurice Delage, composed in India and making the orchestra most evocatively into a traditional Indian instrument. Likewise, Devieilhe links heroines such as Berlioz’s Ophelia to the emergence of the themes here. The mix of orchestral and piano-accompanied pieces is slightly jarring, but this is in the main both beautiful and compelling.
Gürzenich-Orchester Kölner Philharmoniker
François-Xavier Roth – Conductor
MAHLER, Symphonie n°5
Release in 2017-11
Immortalized in Luchino Visconti’s masterpiece “Death in Venice”, Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 (with its unforgettable Adagietto) today needs no introduction. Except to point out that the composer himself led its premiere some 113 years ago, conducting the Gürzenich Orchestra of Cologne. For this recording, the modern-day players comprising the very same ensemble are led by the city’s newly appointed General Music Director, François-Xavier Roth, which patently places this version in a class of its own.
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SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg
François-Xavier Roth, Conductor
Tedi Papavrami, violin
MONNET, Mouvements, imprévus, et … pour orchestre, violon et autres machins
Release in 2017-09
Comme toute son œuvre, les Concertos de Marc Monnet déconcertent… car ils ne se reposent jamais sur des repères acquis ou des règles communément admises. Marc Monnet préfère l’inconnu, se laisse inspirer par les chocs qu’ont provoqué en lui la danse de Merce Cunningham, le cinéma de Jean-Luc Godard ou les textes d’Antonin Artaud. D’où ce style inimitable, sans cesse renouvelé, qui cherche les sensations nouvelles et une virtuosité quasi expérimentale. Le tout avec un esprit parfois provocateur qui joue avec nos attentes pour mieux les déjouer. Les interprètes de cet enregistrement (Tedi Papavrami, François-Xavier Roth, Marc Coppey, Christian Arming) sont des intimes du compositeur : ils connaissent l’homme autant que le style. D’où ce sentiment de liberté totale qui se dégage de leur interprétation tout entière au service d’une vision « intégrée » du soliste et de l’orchestre. L’un n’est plus opposé à l’autre : mais les deux renforcent l’interdépendance de leur liberté.
Ce disque a reçu le Grand prix de l’Académie Charles Cros (octobre 2017).
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LES SIÈCLES
François-Xavier Roth, conductor
Choeur de la Radio Flamande
avec Chantal Santon-Jeffery, Julien Behr, Josef Wagner, Jean-Marie Winling,
Release in 2017-08
Chaque livre-disque de la collection « Portraits » est consacré à un compositeur français aujourd’hui oublié. Il présente, en associant le talent de nombreux artistes, un panorama musical varié de son œuvre. Le portrait de Félicien David se propose de compléter la discographie déjà disponible par des premiers enregistrements mondiaux d’ouvrages importants du compositeur. On découvrira notamment une partie de son catalogue symphonique, dont la Symphonie n° 3 et l’ouverture de son opéra-comique La Perle du Brésil, œuvre qui lança véritablement le compositeur dans la carrière lyrique. Mais c’est surtout le Christophe Colomb de 1847 qui doit être signalé, car cette ode-symphonie avec récitant prolonge ambitieusement le succès du Désert, donné au Théâtre-Italien quelques années auparavant. Ce livre-disque n’oublie pas, néanmoins, que Félicien David fut aussi un homme de salon apprécié pour sa musique intimiste et en particulier ses mélodies. On pourra ainsi découvrir des extraits des Mélodies orientales pour piano seul, un choix de romances dans le style des années 1840 et les très rares motets de jeunesse pour chœur aux effectifs variés. Le point d’orgue de ce « Portrait » réside dans l’exhumation du Jugement dernier, final prévu pour l’apothéose de l’opéra Herculanum, en définitive retranché et jamais publié jusqu’à aujourd’hui.
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LES SIECLES
François-Xavier Roth, Conductor
Carl CRAIG, composer and machines
VERSUS
Release in 2017-05
Les SIècles
ENsemble AEDES
Marion Ralincourt, flûte
François-Xavier Roth, Conductor
RAVEL, Daphnis & Chloé
Release in 2017-03
The arrival of an orchestra like Les Siècles on the harmonia mundi label is entirely logical: ever since it was founded by François-Xavier Roth in 2003, its musicians (mostly belonging to the new generation) have succeeded in placing several centuries of musical creation in perspective by playing the works they tackle on precisely the instruments used at the time of their premiere – without the slightest concession. The result is quite simple dazzling: never, since it was first heard, has Daphnis et Chloé displayed such a shimmering sound, revealing an infinity of details without ever losing sight of the subtle beauty of the most French of the great ‘Ballets Russes’.
‘At this moment in the history of music, Ravel raised the French “Impressionist” orchestral style to a sort of apogee – in a sense it is the last great comédie-ballet in the history of French music’ (François-Xavier Roth).
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg
François-Xavier Roth, conductor
Release in 2017-02
This is the fifth and final installment of the Strauss Complete Tone Poems Cycle performed by the Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden and Freiburg under their chief conductor François-Xavier Roth.
The other volumes in this cycle have been positively reviewed all over the world.
The orchestra and conductor are a perfect match for Richard Strauss’ lively and ecstatic music. Conductor François-Xavier Roth enjoys a worldwide reputation.
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LES SIECLES
François-Xavier Roth, Conductor
LIGETI, Six bagatelles
LIGETI, Kammerkonzert
LIGETI, Dix pièces pour quintette à vent
Release in 2016-10
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LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
François-Xavier Roth, Conductor
THE PANUFNIK LEGACIES 2
Release in 2016-01
LSO Live present an album of new works by emerging composers, all of whom have been members of the Panufnik Composers Scheme. Devised by the LSO in association with Lady Panufnik in memory of her late husband, the composer Sir Andrzej Panufnik, the Scheme began in 2005 and each year offers six composers the opportunity to write a three minute piece for the LSO. The pieces featured on this release were recorded by the Orchestra at LSO St Luke’s under the baton of François-Xavier Roth, a conductor renowned for his interpretations of contemporary music.
Following on from The Panufnik Legacies, a release which presented works by composers from across the first five years of the Scheme, this recording showcases the works of selected composers from across the first ten years of the Scheme alongside Panufnik Variations, a project that brings together Colin Matthews and Panufnik Scheme graduates. Taking a theme from Sir Andrzej Panufnik’s Universal Prayer as a starting-point, the work features a series of variations showcasing the sounds and styles of Panufnik Scheme alumni Max de Wardener, Evis Sammoutis, Christopher Mayo, Toby Young, Elizabeth Winters, Larry Goves, Raymond Yiu, Anjula Semmens and Edmund Finnis, bookended by an opening and conclusion by Colin Matthews.
Also featured on this release are works by Kim B Ashton, Leo Chadburn, Bushra El-Turk, Matthew Kaner, James Moriarty, Elizabeth Ogonek, Aaron Parker, Alastair Putt and Duncan Ward.
Colin Matthews says of the Panufnik project, ‘A real relationship develops, which continues beyond the scheme itself, so that we feel that a ‘Panufnik family’ has been established…. What is remarkable to me is the unity that has emerged from this project : a tribute both to the inspiration provided by Andrzej Panufnik, and to the faith that the LSO has shown in the Panufnik Scheme.’
The Panufnik Scheme is generously supported by Lady Hamlyn and The Helen Hamlyn Trust. The Panufnik Legacies II was generously supported by the Boltini Trust.
| Composers | Colin Matthews, Max de Wardener, Evis Sammoutis, Christopher Mayo, Toby Young, Elizabeth Winters, Larry Goves, Raymond Yiu, Anjula Semmens, Edmund Finnis, Duncan Ward, Alastair Putt, Aaron Parker, Kim B Ashton, James Moriarty, Elizabeth Ogonek, Leo Chadburn, Bushra El-Turk, Matthew Kaner |
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| Conductor | François-Xavier Roth | |
| Performers | London Symphony Orchestra |
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg
François-Xavier Roth, conductor
STRAUSS, Tone Poems Volume 4
STRAUSS, Eine Alpensinfonie
STRAUSS, Don Juan
Release in 2015-11
LES SIECLES
François-Xavier Roth, Conductor
DUBOIS, Symphonie n°2 “française”
Release in 2015-08
LES SIECLES
François-Xavier Roth, Conductor
FRANCE ESPAGNE
CHABRIER, España rhapsodie pour orchestre
MASSENET, Suite de ballet du Cid
RAVEL, Alborada del gracioso
DEBUSSY, Iberia
Release in 2015-04
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg
François-Xavier Roth, conductor
STRAUSS, Aus Italien
STRAUSS, Also sprach Zarathustra
With “Aus Italien”, sketched while on a tour of Italy suggested to the young composer by Johannes Brahms, Richard Strauss (1864-1949) began his decisive journey into the musical form that would come to define his orchestral output, the tone poem. In this work, Strauss‘ orchestral mastery is already plainly evident. Honoring the composer’s sesquicentennial, François-Xavier Roth couples this work on his third volume of the complete Strauss tone poems with the monumental “Also sprach Zarathustra” – a work inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophic prose poem.
Release in 2014-09
LES SIECLES
François-Xavier Roth, Conductor
STRAVINSKY, Le Sacre du Printemps (Récréation version jouée le 29 mai 1913)
STRAVINSKY, Petrouchka (version 1911)
Release in 2014-05
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LES SIECLES
Chantal SANTON, soprano
Julien DRAN, ténor
Jean-Manuel CANDENOT, baryton-basse
François-Xavier Roth, Conductor
DUKAS, L’apprenti Sorcier
DUKAS, Velléda
DUKAS, Polyeucte
Release in 2013-12
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg
François-Xavier Roth, conductor
STRAUSS, Till Eulenspiegel
STRAUSS, Don Quixote
STRAUSS, Macbeth
Release in 2013-10
This is the second installment in the recording of Richard Strauss’ symphonic poems with François-Xavier Roth and the SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden and Freiburg. His “transparent orchestral balance” has been praised by BBC Music Magazine.
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg
François-Xavier Roth, conductor
STRAUSS, Ein Heldenleben
STRAUSS, Tod und Verklärung
Release in 2013-05
This CD marks the beginning of a new recording cycle of the complete symphonic poems of Richard Strauss as performed by the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg and their principal conductor, François-Xavier Roth.
LES SIECLES
François-Xavier Roth, Conductor
DEBUSSY, Première Suite d’orchestre (1er enregistrement mondial)
DEBUSSY, La Mer
Release in 2013-03
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LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
François-Xavier Roth, Conductor
THE PANUFNIK LEGACIES
Release in 2013-01
An album of new works by ten emerging composers. The pieces – originally commissioned as part of the LSO Panufnik Scheme – were recorded in LSO St Luke’s and are now presented on disc, enabling the LSO to share and promote the composers’ music world-wide. The LSO Panufnik Scheme began in 2005 and each year offers six composers the opportunity to write a 3 minute piece for the LSO. This recording showcases the works of selected composers from across the first five years of the scheme, representing the eclectic range of styles and influences of the 45 composers who have now worked with the Orchestra through this scheme.
| Composers | Andrew McCormack, Christian Mason, Charlie Piper, Eloise Nancie Gynn, Edward Nesbit, Jason Yarde, Martin Suckling, Christopher Mayo, Elizabeth Winters, Vlad Maistorovici | |
| Conductor | François-Xavier Roth | |
| Performers | London Symphony Orchestra |
LES SIECLES
Maîtrise de Caen
François-Xavier Roth, conductor
LISZT, Dante Symphonie
LISZT, Orpheus
Release in 2012-08
This CD marks the beginning of a new recording cycle of the complete symphonic poems of Richard Strauss as performed by the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg and their principal conductor, François-Xavier Roth.
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg
François-Xavier Roth, conductor
MAHLER, Symphonie n°1
WEBERN, Im Sommerwind
Release in 2012-03
For his debut recording for SWR music/hänssler CLASSIC, the distinguished young conductor François-Xavier Roth has carefully selected a program that will serve as a foundation for his future work with the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg. Creatively building on the romantic foundations laid by Beethoven, Schubert, Bruckner and Brahms, both Gustav Mahler and the young Anton Webern shared a common vision to push the limits of Viennese symphonic tradition.
Conductor Roth is no stranger to contemporary music, having made his conducting debut at the famous Donaueschinger Musiktage as well as being a regular guest conductor with the Ensemble intercontemporain. Maestro Roth returns to the beginning of that journey with a pair of youthful works by Mahler and Webern. Mahler’s First Symphony still has the power to raise audiences to the feet while Webern’s hyper-romantic Im Sommerwind, was the last large-scale composition he completed before he met Arnold Schoenberg.
LES SIECLES
Vanessa WAGNER, piano
François-Xavier Roth, Conductor
DUBOIS, Ouverture de Frithiof
DUBOIS, Concerto pour piano n°2
DUBOIS, Dixtuor
Release in 2012-04
LES SIECLES
François-Xavier Roth, conductor
STRAVINSKY, L’Oiseau de Feu
OUVRAGE COLLECTIF, Les Orientales
Release in 2011-09
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Ensemble MODERN
François-Xavier Roth, conductor
VARESE, Offrandes pour soprano et orchestre de chambre
VARESE, Hyperprisme pour 9 vents et percussions
VARESE, Intégrales pour 11 vents et 8 percussions
VARESE, Ionisation pour ensemble de 13 percussionnistes
VARESE, Ecuatorial pour voix basse, cuivres, piano, orgue et 2 ondes Martenot and percussionists
Release in 2011-07
LES SIECLES
Cédric TIBERGHIEN, piano
François-Xavier Roth, Conductor
FRANCK, Le Chasseur maudit
FRANCK, Les Djinns
FRANCK, Les Éolides
FRANCK, Variations symphoniques
Release in 2011-06
LES SIECLES
Florence CIOCCOLANI, piano
Maude GRATTON, clavecin
Eriko MINAMI, marimba
François-Xavier ROTH, conductor
MATALON, Trames II, IV et VIII
Release in 2011-03
Ensemble intercontemporain
François-Xavier Roth, conductor
POSADAS, Oscuro abismo de llanto y de ternura
POSADAS, Nebmaat
POSADAS, Cripsis
POSADAS, Glossopeia
Release in 2011-02
LES SIECLES
Daniel ROTH, orgue
Jean-François HEISSER, piano
François-Xavier Roth, Conductor
SAINT-SAËNS, Symphonie n°3 avec Orgue
SAINT-SAËNS, Concerto pour piano n°4
Release in 2010-09
LES SIECLES
Tedi PAPAVRAMI, violin
François-Xavier Roth, Conductor
SAINT-SAËNS, Introduction & rondo capriccioso en La Mineur op. 28
CHAUSSON, Poème pour violon et orchestre en Mib Majeur op. 25
YSAYE, Poème élégiaque pour violon et orchestre en Ré mineur, op. 12
SAINT-SAËNS, Concerto pour violon n°3 en Ré mineur op. 31
Release in 2010-05
LES SIECLES
François-Xavier Roth, conductor
BERLIOZ, Symphonie Fantastique
Release in 2010-04
ORCHESTRE PHILHARMONIQUE DE RADIO-FRANCE
François-Xavier Roth, Conductor
PECOU, Symphonie du Jaguar
PECOU, Vagues de pierre
Release in 2010-01
LES SIECLES
Denis PASCAL, piano
François-Xavier Roth, Conductor
CHOPIN, Concerto pour piano n°1
CHOPIN, Concerto pour piano n°2
Release in 2008-03
LES SIECLES
François-Xavier Roth, conductor
BIZET, Symphonie en ut
CHABRIER, Suite Pastorale
Release in 2007-10
LES SIECLES
Vincent Warnier, orgue
François-Xavier Roth, Conductor
LENOT, La Gérusalemme Céleste
Daniel ROTH, Licht im Dunkel, poème pour orchestre
POULENC, Concerto pour orgue, timbales et orchestre
Release in 2007-01
ORCHESTRE PHILHARMONIQUE DE STRASBOURG
François-Xavier Roth, Conductor
AGOBET, Génération
AGOBET, Feuermann
AGOBET, Ritratto concertante
AGOBET, Phonal
Release in 2005-01
Michel DEBOST, Flûte
ORCHESTRE SYMPHONIQUE DE MISKOLC
François-Xavier ROTH, conductor
FLUTE PANORAMA
Release in 2005-01
SWR Baden-Baden und Freiburg Sinfonie Orchester
Heidrun WARMUTH, narrator
François-Xavier ROTH, conductor
STRAUSS, Till Eulenspiegels
Jörg Widmann (clarinet)
Trombone Unit Hannover, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Nadar Ensemble, SWR Experimentalstudio, Peter Eötvös, François-Xavier Roth, Gregor Mayrhofer
Donaueschinger Musiktage, Armin Köhler
Klangforum Wien, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Ennio Poppe, Emilio Pomarico, Francois-Xavier Roth, Wolfgang Lischke, Christopher Sprenger, Pascal Rophe
Each year in October, NEOS presents the essence of the previous year’s Donaueschinger festival.
The works from 2012 featured on this three disc set include: Martin Smolka’s “My My Country,” Stefan Prins’ “Generation Kill,” Clemens Gadenstatter’s “Sad Songs,”Arnulf Herrmann’s “Durchbrochene Arbeit,” Yoav Pasovsky’s “Mimshak,” Malin Bang’s “Kobushi Burui,” and other artists including: Bernhard Gander, Franck Bedrossian, Johanne Kreidler, Klaus Schedl, Georg Katzer, and Beat Furrer. Performed by: SWR SinfonieorhcesterBaden-Baden and Freiburg, Rupert Huber and Francois-Xavier Roth (conductors), Ensemble Asamisimasa,Ensemble Ascolta, Ensemble Nikel, Nadar Ensemble, andJohannes Kalitzke (conductor).
Gjermund Larsen (Hardanger fiddle), Lars Petter Hagen & Wieland Hoban (speakers), Nina Janßen (clarinet), Sarah Maria Sun (soprano)
Ensemble musikFabrik, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, EXPERIMENTALSTUDIO des SWR, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, Emilio Pomàrico, François-Xavier ROTH
Ensemble Jean WIENER
Jean-François VERDIER, Clarinette
François-Xavier ROTH, direction
Copland: Clarinet Concerto
Lutosławski: Dance Preludes
Nielsen: Little Suite in A minor for strings, Op. 1 (FS6)
Strauss, R: Duett-Concertino for Clarinet, Bassoon & Strings, AV147
Release in 2005-01
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg
François-Xavier Roth, conductor
Disc 1 (68:44)
1–6 Ein Heldenleben | A Hero’s Life Op.40 (44:42)
7 Tod und Verklärung | Death and Transfiguration Op.24 (24:02)
Disc 2 (74:19)
1 Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche | Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks Op.28 (14:33)
2–15 Don Quixote für Solocello, Solobratsche und großes Orchestra | Don Quixote for cello, viola and orchestra* Op.35 (40:41)
16 Macbeth Op.23 (18:36)
Disc 3 (77:37)
1–9 Also sprach Zarathustra | Thus Spoke Zarathustra Op.30** (32:26)
10–13 Aus Italien, Sinfonische Fantasie | From Italy, Symphonic Fantasy Op.16 (45:11)
Disc 4 (67:17)
1–22 Eine Alpensinfonie | An Alpine Symphony Op.64 (50:22)
23 Don Juan Op.20 (16:45)
Disc 5 (68:58)
1–5 Symphonia domestica Op.53 (43:02)
6 Metamorphosen, Studie für 23 Solo-Streicher | Metamorphosis, Study for 23 Solo Strings, AV142 (25:56)
Release in 2021-02
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