Gramophone Magazine
February 2023
Editor's Choice

Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth

Massenet: Le Carillon: Valse au cabaret
Hervé: Espagnoles et Séguedille
Danglas: L’Amour s’éveille: Valse
Strauss, I: Hébé-Polka
Dubois, T: La Farandole: Valse des âmes infidèles
Waldteufel: Grande Vitesse, Op. 146
Gounod: Faust, Ballet: V. Les Troyennes
Joncières: Le Chevalier Jean, Ballet: Valse
Saint-Saëns: Le Timbre d’argent: Valse
Waldteufel: Les Patineurs - Valse, Op. 183
Thomas, Ambroise: Raymond Overture
Guiraud: Valse de Colin-Maillard (from Gretna Green)
Musard: Ouistiti-Polka
Delibes: Coppelia: Valse lente
Strauss, I: Orphee aux enfers - Quadrille
Hervé: Valse du mal de mer
Waldteufel: Bella bocca Polka, Op. 163

The dance permeated every layer of Romantic society. From popular dance halls to courtly salons, people showed their public face, enjoyed themselves and met one another in waltz time or to the rhythms of the quadrille or the polka. At the same time, ballet gained unprecedented fame on the stage of the Paris Opéra. The music that accompanied this frantic round in France has long been neglected, whereas the Viennese have never ceased to celebrate their waltzes. Under the expert baton of François-Xavier Roth, the orchestra Les Siècles has set out to rediscover this French repertory using historical instruments. Their album explores the output of both established composers – Camille Saint-Saëns, Ambroise Thomas, Charles Gounod, Jules Massenet – and their colleagues who specialised in Terpsichorean entertainment, including Philippe Musard, Isaac Strauss, Émile Waldteufel and Hervé.

"Beautifully recorded and with Bru Zane’s customary excellent booklet notes, this is a disc to delight Francophiles, especially sweet-toothed ones like myself." - Gramophone Magazine, February 2023.