Les Siècles/François-Xavier Roth Les Siècles Live ASM 06***

This CD stems from a centenary celebration last October of the premiere of Stravinsky's first ballet, The Firebird. François- Xavier Roth and his Les Siècles orchestra programmed the Stravinsky with its original pairing, Les Orientales, a portmanteau piece, for which Charlie Piper and Bruno Mantovani provided some missing orchestrations. The players sought out period- appropriate instruments or copies to help recreate the original sound. The result is an often softer tone from strings and wind, and a sometimes more penetrating quality from the brass. But if you're expecting early 20th-century attitudes to vibrato and cantabile playing, you won't find them consistently here. And the atmosphere in this laudable undertaking is actually rather lacking. In spite of everything, the necessary perfume and magic aren't to be found.

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