Les Siècles conducted by François-Xavier Roth at Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, June 12th 2018

According to a study by the Aalto University in Finland, shoebox shaped concert halls acoustics retain a wider range of dynamics allowing a more emotional response from the audience. The sidewalls reflect sound into the listeners’ ears taking advantage of their highest sensitivity points, making the louder sounds stronger without affecting the softer sounds. A a result, this wide sound dynamics spectrum evokes goosebumps and shivers during a performance.

The Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall is a shoebox shaped concert hall and it’s a magnificent building. The wood side panels on the walls reach the top of the incredibly high ceiling in a way reminiscing of what it might look from inside a hallowed pyramid. We got lucky and got seats above the orchestra on the right. That point of view allowed us not only to hear the music of François-Xavier Roth conducting Les Siècles, but also to see it.

In acoustic performances of that scale, with a full orchestra, the sound can be seen traveling from one side of the room to the other. The conductor’s movements extend to the musicians that, even though static in their seats, produce sound from each of their sections; in what it looks to the eye like dominoes toppling and getting back up.

The first half of the program was dedicated to Claude Debussy -in his centennial year- and Maurice Ravel. Their Impressionist style of orchestration is a perfect example of this visual effect. The orchestra is used as a color palette and the sight of it is like that of a switch board lighting up to reflect volume in certain areas. This fascinating effect is only a small part of the whole listening experience.

It’s impossible not to get an emotional response from Debussy’s Prèlude à l’après-midi d’un faune. The piece that opened the concert set the mood for a performance of emotional crescendos flowing from soft pianissimos to rumbling fortissimos. The flute soloist was acknowledged by the audience with raucous applause as Mr. Roth signaled him to bow several times at the end of the performance.

The second Debussy collaboration with the choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky came next: Jeux, followed by Ravel’s La Valse. The latter with its impressive dynamism, executed magnificently by this group of musicians, was received with a huge ovation. With its cubist burst of dissonance interrupting the traditional waltz motif, it’s not difficult to imagine noises from the first factories in the 19th century leaking into stuffy dance ballrooms, the transition from pre-industrial times to modernity.

The modern era is in full bloom in the piece that was played in the second half of the program. Le sacre du printemps’ premiere is famous for the violent reaction from the audience to the angular movements of the Nijinsky’s dancers and the cacophony of Stravinsky’s music. The riot that ensued from this unconventional performance is one of my favorite music history anecdotes. The following is an obvious remark: in an era when music is experienced mostly amplified and cities are shrouded in inconspicuous noise, this music still sounds powerful, challenging and LOUD.

Those drums were loud! How would those have sounded in Paris at a time when horse hooves on cobble roads were the most disruptive racket you could experience? Les Siècles answered this question by using musical instruments from that era, more noticeable in the wind section, which is predominant in Le sacre du printemps. The dynamism was off the charts in this performance. Roth’s hands and body motions -he doesn’t uses a baton- embodied the visual aspects referred earlier, intensifying the expressiveness of this piece. 

This spectacular rendition of Stravinsky’s masterpiece closed the official program. After a non-stop ovation the orchestra returned for an encore: Bizet’s Adagietto from L’Arlésienne. It was a showcase for the string section that closed this Parisian program in a very French way, with the musicians exchanging kisses, one for each cheek, as they were leaving the stage. A nice end to a concert where goosebumps and shivers were omnipresent.

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