François-Xavier Roth conducts Les Siècles at Royal …...François-Xavier Roth conducts Les...

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Debussy Jeux – poème dansé Ravel Concerto in D for Piano (Left-hand) and Orchestra Ma Mère l’Oye Debussy La mer – three symphonic sketches Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (piano) Les Siècles François-Xavier Roth Grégoire Pont – Animator [Mother Goose] François-Xavier Roth conducts Les Siècles at Royal Festival Hall – Debussy Jeux & La mer and Ravel Mother Goose – Jean-Efflam Bavouzet plays Ravel’s Left-hand Piano Concerto Wednesday, November 02, 2016 Southbank Centre, London – Royal Festival Hall Reviewed by Colin Anderson As part of the Southbank Centre’s International Orchestra Series, Les Siècles and François-Xavier Roth made a French Connection to four native masterpieces and with a soundworld appropriate to their times of creation. Whatever the repertoire, and Les Siècles covers the range, the players try to use commensurate instruments, Here the strings were gut and vibrato was used. Debussy’s Jeux, composed for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, was first-produced in 1913 and became the composer’s final orchestral work. This elusive yet seminal score (much-admired by Pierre Boulez) was shimmered into life by the baton-less Roth, the performance taking just a little while to settle but always transparent in timbre and just in balance, the sounds gratifyingly less-bright than with a ‘modern’ symphony orchestra, the music vividly detailed without force, Roth keeping the score in progress but leaving room for sentiment and investing pregnancy into pauses. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet is a seasoned campaigner on behalf of Ravel’s Left-hand Concerto, completed in 1930 for the Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein who lost his right arm in World War One. In-keeping with the ‘period’ stance of Les Siècles, Bavouzet used a handsome-looking Pleyel piano, which Ravel would have known although he had an Érard at home. The Pleyel, a brown bear rather than a black beast of an instrument, brought its own distinction to Ravel’s great work, a drier, woodier stamp, leaner, clarity its essence, and a thunderous if focussed bass when Bavouzet elicited one. He played superbly and, following the mists of the beginning, with every orchestral strand opened out, and with an appealingly croaky contrabassoon solo, Bavouzet was in commanding form. Roth set a faster-than-usual pace for the middle section and its dark jazz, and Bavouzet ensured that the cadenza was suitably cumulative. Shares Contact Us

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Page 1: François-Xavier Roth conducts Les Siècles at Royal …...François-Xavier Roth conducts Les Siècles at Royal Festival Hall – Debussy Jeux & La mer and Ravel Mother Goose – Jean-Efflam

Debussy Jeux – poème dansé Ravel Concerto in D for Piano (Left-hand) and Orchestra Ma Mère l’Oye Debussy La mer – three symphonic sketches

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (piano) Les Siècles François-Xavier Roth Grégoire Pont – Animator [Mother Goose]

François-Xavier Roth conducts Les Siècles at Royal Festival Hall – DebussyJeux & La mer and Ravel Mother Goose – Jean-Efflam Bavouzet plays

Ravel’s Left-hand Piano Concerto

Wednesday, November 02, 2016 Southbank Centre, London – Royal Festival HallReviewed by Colin Anderson

As part of the Southbank Centre’s International Orchestra Series,Les Siècles and François-Xavier Roth made a FrenchConnection to four native masterpieces and with a soundworldappropriate to their times of creation. Whatever the repertoire,and Les Siècles covers the range, the players try to usecommensurate instruments, Here the strings were gut andvibrato was used.

Debussy’s Jeux, composed for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, wasfirst-produced in 1913 and became the composer’s finalorchestral work. This elusive yet seminal score (much-admiredby Pierre Boulez) was shimmered into life by the baton-lessRoth, the performance taking just a little while to settle butalways transparent in timbre and just in balance, the soundsgratifyingly less-bright than with a ‘modern’ symphony orchestra,the music vividly detailed without force, Roth keeping the scorein progress but leaving room for sentiment and investing pregnancy into pauses.

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet is a seasoned campaigner on behalf of Ravel’s Left-hand Concerto, completed in 1930 for the Austrian pianistPaul Wittgenstein who lost his right arm in World War One. In-keeping with the ‘period’ stance of Les Siècles, Bavouzet used ahandsome-looking Pleyel piano, which Ravel would have known although he had an Érard at home. The Pleyel, a brown bear ratherthan a black beast of an instrument, brought its own distinction to Ravel’s great work, a drier, woodier stamp, leaner, clarity itsessence, and a thunderous if focussed bass when Bavouzet elicited one. He played superbly and, following the mists of the beginning,with every orchestral strand opened out, and with an appealingly croaky contrabassoon solo, Bavouzet was in commanding form. Rothset a faster-than-usual pace for the middle section and its dark jazz, and Bavouzet ensured that the cadenza was suitably cumulative.

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Page 2: François-Xavier Roth conducts Les Siècles at Royal …...François-Xavier Roth conducts Les Siècles at Royal Festival Hall – Debussy Jeux & La mer and Ravel Mother Goose – Jean-Efflam

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· 74 weeks ago

An early orchestral Brexit, one supposes, at the end!

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Sometimes, when the woodwinds signal the orchestra’s return they can be indistinct, but with this piano and these instruments bothaudibility and blend disproved any miscalculation on Ravel’s part: we heard what he expected, and there was much about this concertthat was similarly illuminating.

Bavouzet offered an encore, both hands now employed, Ravel’sJeux d’eau, the Pleyel rippling responsively to Bavouzet’svirtuosity, fountain-spray activity giving way to a calmer residue.No wonder the pianist patted the piano with affection; a job welldone from both.

With Mother Goose (1912), given complete, we hit a bit of asnag, if not a disastrous one. Ravel’s inimitable score says it all,and then a bit more, so having graphics flashed up on a screencould be counted as a distraction. Grégoire Pont – positionedbehind the first violins (Roth likes the seconds the other side ofthe podium) with his drawing board – produced animations thatwere consistently complementary to the music and on their ownterms proved attractive, witty and nicely coloured, very artistic ...but watch them and the music faded a bit (made incidental), lookaway and the ears had a treat, not only magical music but an

innate realisation of it, although it had to compete with some disturbing coughing. Fortunately, the screen was high enough to beignored, or viewed briefly, for the subtlety and affection of the music-making was the real and only deal, shapely and nuanced, and fullof character, culminating in an especially rapt ‘Le jardin féerique’ that was clapped into far too soon, Roth keeping his arms aloftregardless.

The members of Les Siècles are devoted to their particularcause and were busy practising well before the start of each half;and their tuning procedure is a complex affair. Roth’s conductingof La mer (1905) was something of a masterclass, flowing andatmospheric, but also symphonic, so that when ‘Midday’ arrivedto close the first movement it did so organically and brass andpercussion were integrated without being downgraded; and I’mnot likely to forget the ensign-waving piccolo a little earlier. ‘Playof the Waves’ was lively and darting, perfectly paced, viewedwhole, and the final ‘Dialogue of Wind and Sea’ had plenty ofdrama.

There was a curious end to the concert. The musicians producedfurther copy, an additional oboist appeared, Roth said a fewwords, and then gestured that his troops leave the stage, so theydid. The extra piece would have been a ‘Prelude’ (said the first-violin parts), maybe the opening of Tombeau de Couperin or from Fauré’s music for Pelléas et Mélisande, or something else! We maynever know!

Southbank Centre www.southbankcentre.co.uk (http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk)

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