Les Siècles
Trailblazing period orchestra Les Siècles search for new light in Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring and Lili Boulanger's Faust et Hélène.
Hear Stravinsky’s gripping, ground-breaking The Rite of Spring as his Parisian audience did at its premiere in 1913.
Pioneering Paris-based orchestra Les Siècles performs music from across the centuries on instruments appropriate to the time it was written. Founded in 2003 by world-renowned conductor François-Xavier Roth, the orchestra is a trailblazer in historical performance from the 19th and 20th centuries, shining a searching new light on music both much loved and unfamiliar. Roth has directed the orchestra at concerts and festivals all over the world, where it’s been hailed for its strongly individual playing and its vivid sonic flavours.
Perhaps the 20th century’s greatest piece of music, The Rite of Spring is a brilliant showpiece of raw rhythms and melodic intensity that famously provoked a riot at its 1913 Paris premiere. It has become a musical calling card for Les Siècles, who discover new details and fresh perspectives on the music using instruments from the early 20th century.
Lili Boulanger would have been one of the 20th century’s most daring and expressive composers had she not tragically died at the age of 24. Her sumptuous cantata Faust et Hélène won her the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1913. It’s a lush, voluptuous retelling of Faust’s pact with the Devil, blending influences from Fauré, Debussy and even early Schoenberg.
Sung in French with English supertitles.
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François-Xavier Roth Conductor
Véronique Gens Soprano
Julien Behr Tenor
Jean-Sébastien Bou Baritone
Lili Boulanger Faust et Hélène
Stravinsky The Rite of Spring
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