Presto Recording of the Week
3rd March 2023

Gramophone Magazine
April 2023
Editor's Choice

Isabelle Faust (violin), François-Xavier Roth, Les Siècles

Stravinsky: Apollo, 2nd tableau: II. Variation of Apollo (Apollo and the Three Muses)
Stravinsky: Violin Concerto in D
Stravinsky: Three Pieces for String Quartet
Stravinsky: Concertino for String Quartet
Stravinsky: Pastorale for Violin, Oboe, English Horn, Clarinet and Bassoon
Stravinsky: Double Canon for String Quartet

Isabelle Faust and François-Xavier Roth explore here extremely contrasting facets of Stravinsky’s output for violin.

From the Concerto to the Pastorale, the composer plays with codes and colours, sketching extraordinarily vivid soundscapes.

Once again, the musicians of Les Siècles have succeeded in rediscovering the works’ original dynamic by using period instruments – and that changes everything.

"Three-dimensional – with a startling inner clarity and rhythmic keenness that brings if off the page in ways you couldn’t imagined.Honestly, it’s like having one’s ears freshly syringed." - Gramophone Magazine, April 2023.