Lebrecht Weekly | The Most Convincing Performance of Stravinsky’s Le Rossignol on Record

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The English conductor Sir Eugene Goossens was stopped in March 1956 on arrival at Sydney Airport. He was found to be in possession of pornographic materials and rubber goods that he intended to share with a female lover. The police had been tipped off by a tabloid reporter, in cahoots with the conductor’s professional rivals. Goossens was fined a hundred pounds and left Australia in disgrace. Back in London he resumed working with BBC orchestras and others, going on to make one of my most-played recordings, the Bach double concerto with the Oistrakhs. Sir Eugene, who kept his knighthood, died in 1962. That was then, this is now.

I am reminded of Goossens since I have been sent for a review a recording of Igor Stravinsky’s little-seen 1914 opera, conducted by the currently ostracised Francois-Xavier Roth with his epoch-instrument ensemble, Les Siècles. Some months ago, Roth was accused of sending indecent selfies to female musicians in another of his orchestras. He withdrew from the podium, was denounced by the French culture minister, lost his job and has been erased by the music world. Roth is now a non-person. So, should I review his recording?

The production was recorded in March 2023 at the Théatre de Champs-Elysées, predating the conductor’s embarrassments. It involves the stellar voice of Sabine Devielhe, alongside Laurent Naouri, Cyrille Dubois and other fine French artists. The orchestral sound on pre-1914 instruments is extraordinary and the shaping of the piece is wondrously idiomatic. I cannot recall a recording of Le Rossignol that gave more tingle to my ears. So am I allowed to recommend it here without incurring the wrath of #Metoo activists and the neighbourhood watch of public morals?

Let’s look at it another way. Two of the most prolific conductors on record, Herbert von Karajan and Karl Böhm, were at one time enthusiastic supporters of the Hitler regime. Neither ever recanted or publicly regretted their Nazi affiliation. Nobody, in their time, thought to suggest that their recordings should be banned and their careers terminated. That was then, this is now.

Francois-Xavier Roth is a highly accomplished leader of orchestras, a goose whose gifts should not be suppressed forever for an odious misdemeanour that he will regret to the end of his days. This is an exceptional performance of an esoteric, if flawed, work by an important composer. It is the most convincing on record.

That’s all I can say. You decide.