A French international orchestra shuts down
NewsThe equal-opportunity orchestra Les Dissonances will give its final concert at the Paris Philharmonic on October 7, 2024.
Its founder David Grimal says: ‘Les Dissonances will have played on the biggest European stages for 20 seasons. Musicians of all generations from all over Europe will have come together to work under the musical direction, without a baton, of David Grimal and explore the great symphonic repertoire in a different way. Many films and recordings broadcast around the world will remain living testimony to this.
‘Les Dissonances Orchestra has been a metaphor for a different society in which complexity can be resolved through collective intelligence and individual empowerment under a less vertical direction, in a more equitable economic system . It will not have been possible for us to perpetuate and develop what will remain the attempt at another proposal in which requirement, sharing and respect will have been central values.’
Never heard about them up to today.
Great orchestra. By the way, conductor-less orchestras are the best way to understand what the function of a conductor truly is. Performances by conductor-less orchestras strike me as very conservative. Marvellously played, with tremendous involvement and listening. But musically, because so many individualities have to find a common ground everybody can get on board with, these performances are very much middle of the road. Therefore, we can deduce that the conductor’s role is to bring the artistic vision to the extremes, as that’s the one thing orchestras can’t do by themselves
Interesting perspective.
Thanks.
This conductorless orchestra can always be relied on to give stunning, inspired performances. Let’s hope a donor opens up his pocketbook before its demise.
If the Orpheus chamber orchestra is a reasonable comparison, then I have to say I have heard some impressive performances from them. But this might be a larger ensemble with a different repertoire.
I’ve listened and learned for 9 years. On you tube dreamed of watching them. I want to thank all of you that have played over the years and brought fantastic music. You might not know how inspiring you have been. Love you!
Janet Sherman
I wonder if this is part of an attempt to escape the ‘toxicity of professional music’ which has been more openly talked about recently? Of course, conductors themselves can be part of this movement, and some names come to mind…
(And It wasn’t clear from the article why the orchestra decided to disband)
Whilst we might expect a marching military band to set out from base and stick to it’s own tempo, the idea that an 80+ piece orchestra could ever agree to start and end a Mahler symphony together without a conductor………time is a relative thing.