Les Siècles
François-Xavier Roth | direction
Marie-Nicole Lemieux | contralto
Andrew Staples | tenor
A programme of two diverse halves featuring Les Siècles performing Rameau, and Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Marie-Nicole Lemieux and Andrew Staples.
Rameau Les Indes galantes, Orchestra Suite
Mahler Das Lied von der Erde
Rameau was not only a hugely gifted harpsichordist and opera composer but also an accomplished symphony writer. One of his talents was his dazzling and innovative use of woodwind and wind instruments, considered by some to herald the symphonic poem genre of the Romantic era. As keen players of period instruments, Les Siècles should thoroughly enjoy it. In the second half we have Das Lied von der Erde, one of the most famous and deeply moving works by Mahler. For almost two years, Mahler kept the unfinished score of Das Lied von der Erde in a drawer. This work probably affected him so deeply that he could not bring himself to finish it. Mahler died in 1911 and Bruno Walter conducted it a few months later in Berlin at a memorial concert. Few posthumous works have been such a resounding success. The voices of the two soloists are treated like instruments in their own right, thus creating a perfect balance between the purity of the singing and the power of the orchestra.
Coproduction Théâtre des Champs-Elysées | Les Siècles
