I sat in on François-Xavier Roth and the French period instruments orchestra, Les Siecles’ rehearsal for Rite of Spring yesterday then attended the concert. Really was a most remarkable smack in the face. Most conductors are preoccupied with the overall shape of a piece- how it hangs together temporally with a beginning a middle and an end and while I know this is ballet music, that all went out the window. It only seemed to exist in the moment and it was pungent, driven and bestial. I’ve not had this experience in a concert hall before. The only other conductor and orchestra I could have imagined doing something like this is Dudamel and his Venezuelans.
It sounds as if you had an extraordinary hour of music. Some of Les Siècles' instruments are quite different from what has become the international standard, especially in the brass and woodwind sections. I read somewhere that their clarinet player juggles 4 instruments: two 2-key instruments for Classical music, a slightly more modern one with 7 keys for Romantic period music, and a modern 18-key instrument. One oboist has 6 instruments, another has about 15... It must require amazing flexibility.I sat in on François-Xavier Roth and the French period instruments orchestra, Les Siecles’ rehearsal for Rite of Spring yesterday then attended the concert. Really was a most remarkable smack in the face. Most conductors are preoccupied with the overall shape of a piece- how it hangs together temporally with a beginning a middle and an end and while I know this is ballet music, that all went out the window. It only seemed to exist in the moment and it was pungent, driven and bestial. I’ve not had this experience in a concert hall before. The only other conductor and orchestra I could have imagined doing something like this is Dudamel and his Venezuelans.