Les Siècles
Les Siècles is a historical performance ensemble that uses appropriate instruments to realize works of various eras, often employing instruments from the group's own collection. Unusually, Les Siècles apply historical performance principles to music as far forward in time as the early 20th century. Les Siècles ("The Centuries") was founded in 2003 by conductor François-Xavier Roth. The group succeeded quickly, partly by dispersing its performances among venues around France. It performs regularly at multiple Paris venues, including the Opéra Comique, Salle Pleyel, and Philharmonie de Paris, and in other cities around France as well as touring internationally. Les Siècles have appeared in Amsterdam (at the Concertgebouw), London (at the BBC Proms), and other European capitals as well as in Tokyo. The group also performs frequently in schools, hospitals, and prisons. Les Siècles gives performances of music from various eras, but they are notable for extending the realm of historically oriented performance into the repertory of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 2013, at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, the group participated in a 100th-anniversary re-creation of the original performance of Stravinsky's Le sacre du printemps, using only instruments that would have been available in Paris in 1913; the performance was broadcast internationally. Les Siècles have amassed a catalog of some 20 recordings, beginning with an album devoted to Saint-Saëns' Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78 ("Organ Symphony") and Piano Concerto No. 4 in C minor, Op. 44. That and the group's other early recordings were made for the Actes Sud label. Les Siècles moved to the Harmonia Mundi label in 2017 for a recording of Ravel's complete Daphnis et Chloé ballet and has continued to record for that label. The year 2020 saw three new Les Siècles recordings, including one of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, with François-Joseph Gossec's rare Symphonie à dix-sept parties. Les Siècles returned in 2021 with a new recording of Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 55; both recordings were part of a Harmonia Mundi cycle of historically oriented Beethoven symphonies, featuring various ensembles.© James Manheim /TiVo Read more
Les Siècles is a historical performance ensemble that uses appropriate instruments to realize works of various eras, often employing instruments from the group's own collection. Unusually, Les Siècles apply historical performance principles to music as far forward in time as the early 20th century.
Les Siècles ("The Centuries") was founded in 2003 by conductor François-Xavier Roth. The group succeeded quickly, partly by dispersing its performances among venues around France. It performs regularly at multiple Paris venues, including the Opéra Comique, Salle Pleyel, and Philharmonie de Paris, and in other cities around France as well as touring internationally. Les Siècles have appeared in Amsterdam (at the Concertgebouw), London (at the BBC Proms), and other European capitals as well as in Tokyo. The group also performs frequently in schools, hospitals, and prisons. Les Siècles gives performances of music from various eras, but they are notable for extending the realm of historically oriented performance into the repertory of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 2013, at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, the group participated in a 100th-anniversary re-creation of the original performance of Stravinsky's Le sacre du printemps, using only instruments that would have been available in Paris in 1913; the performance was broadcast internationally.
Les Siècles have amassed a catalog of some 20 recordings, beginning with an album devoted to Saint-Saëns' Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78 ("Organ Symphony") and Piano Concerto No. 4 in C minor, Op. 44. That and the group's other early recordings were made for the Actes Sud label. Les Siècles moved to the Harmonia Mundi label in 2017 for a recording of Ravel's complete Daphnis et Chloé ballet and has continued to record for that label. The year 2020 saw three new Les Siècles recordings, including one of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, with François-Joseph Gossec's rare Symphonie à dix-sept parties. Les Siècles returned in 2021 with a new recording of Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 55; both recordings were part of a Harmonia Mundi cycle of historically oriented Beethoven symphonies, featuring various ensembles.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Mahler: "Titan" Symphony (Version 2, 1893-94) - Live
Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 10 May 2019
4F de TéléramaDiapason d'or / Arte5 Sterne Fono Forum Klassik24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel : Daphnis et Chloé (Live)
Les Siècles, Ensemble Aedes and François-Xavier Roth
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 17 Mar 2017
4F de Télérama4 étoiles Classica5 de DiapasonGramophone AwardGramophone Editor's Choice24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz : Symphonie fantastique (Live)
Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 25 Oct 2019
5 de DiapasonThe large collection of antique instruments at Les Siècles' command makes its recordings more than just speculative period exercises, but something ap ...
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: Jeux, Nocturnes, Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth
Symphonic Music - Released by harmonia mundi on 30 Nov 2018
Choc de ClassicaGramophone Editor's ChoiceThe originality of this recording (which presents works that are, in fact, rather common) comes from the orchestra Les Siècles playing on periodic ins ...
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 - Gossec: Symphonie à dix-sept parties
Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 4 Sep 2020
‘From darkness to light’ . . . ‘Thus Fate knocks at the door’: what with alleged quotations from the composer and the wildest Romantic interpretations ...
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel: La Valse - Mussorgsky: Les Tableaux d'une exposition (Orch. Ravel) (Live)
Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 3 Apr 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 ...
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Ballets Russes
Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 25 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 Fi ...
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz : Harold en Italie (Live) - Les Nuits d'été
Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth, Tabea Zimmermann, Stéphane Degout
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 18 Jan 2019
4F de TéléramaChoc de ClassicaA 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 p ...
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel: Ma Mère l'Oye, Tombeau de Couperin, Shéhérazade
Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth
Symphonic Music - Released by harmonia mundi on 13 Apr 2018
Diapason d'or5 Sterne Fono Forum KlassikRecording Ravel's music on period instruments is the kind of thing that might raise a smile... until you realise just how much the production of instr ...
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 "avec orgue" & Piano Concerto No. 4 (Remastered Edition)
Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth, Daniel Roth, Jean-François Heisser
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 11 Jan 2011
Les Siècles is one of France's finest early music ensembles, and its work in repertoire from the Baroque era to the Romantic period is fascinating for ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: La Mer & Première Suite d'Orchestre (Live, Remastered)
Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth
Symphonies - Released by harmonia mundi on 25 Nov 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, ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Piano Concerto No. 23 in A, K. 488: II. Adagio (Air France TV Ad) - Single (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
Classical - Released by InFiné on 16 Sep 2011
Hi-Res Audio24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Igor Stravinsky : Le sacre du Printemps & Petrouchka
Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth
Classical - Released by Actes Sud Musicales on 5 May 2014
Hi-Res Audio5 de Diapason24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: L'Oiseau de feu
Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth
Classical - Released by Actes Sud Musicales on 6 Sep 2011
Gramophone Editor's Choice16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
France - Espagne (Chabrier, Massenet, Ravel, Debussy)
Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth, Jules Massenet
Classical - Released by Actes Sud Musicales on 7 Apr 2015
Choc de Classica16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dukas : Velléda - Polyeucte - L’Apprenti sorcier
Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth
Classical - Released by Actes Sud Musicales on 18 Nov 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Les Siècles Play Bizet and Chabrier
Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth
Classical - Released by Mirare on 27 Sep 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dubois: Ouverture de Frithiof, Concerto pour piano N°2 & Dixtuor
Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth, Vanessa Wagner
Classical - Released by Actes Sud Musicales on 17 Apr 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Les Siècles Play Bizet and Chabrier (Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth)
Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth
Classical - Released by Mirare on 27 Sep 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rite of Peace - Symphonie concertante pour violoncelle et orchestre
Les Siècles, Aurélien Azan Zielinski, Xavier Phillips
Classical - Released by Klarthe Records on 21 Jan 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Franz Liszt : Dante Symphonie & Orpheus
Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth, Maîtrise de Caen
Symphonic Poems - Released by Actes Sud Musicales on 11 Sep 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo