There are symphony orchestras and there are period instrument bands, and then there is Les Siècles. Founded in 2003, François-Xavier Roth’s crack French ensemble pulls off the remarkable feat of finessing a dizzying array of music on instruments specific to the time of composition. What’s more, they do it all in the same concert. As a London Symphony Orchestra principal guest conductor, Roth is no stranger to these shores, but this was the first time he’s brought his Paris-based outfit to the Barbican, an event well worth the waiting for.
The programme spanned 80 years of French music: from 1841 and Berlioz’s frothy take on Weber’s Invitation to the Dance to Lili Boulanger’s death-haunted D’un soir triste. The latter was written in 1918, the year she died at the age of 24. Tonal contrasts throughout were revelatory. The diaphanous textures of Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune responded instinctively to the gut strings and mellow early-1900s horns. The sound was warm, though never amorphous, in a performance shot through with airiness and light. By contrast, the Berlioz was rich and hefty, an intoxicating waltz fed by a raw, earthy energy. The change to natural horns here lent the music a brazen theatricality.
