Roth certainly foregrounds each work’s grotesque qualities. The slithering string portamento in ‘Gnomus’ is striking…Roth has taken some pains to perform a version of Pictures faithful to Ravel’s final thoughts…Yet the differences are not so notable as to make this an ‘essential’ version.

At just over 44 minutes, this new album from Les Siècles could be considered short measure, but the performance of La valse is very nearly worth the price of the disc by itself...the poème chorégraphique steals the show in a dazzling performance of outstanding virtuosity...As Pictures go, this is a very enjoyable tour around the gallery … but it’s that La valse which keeps haunting me (in the best possible way).

The choice of instruments produces a wealth of almost infinitesimally distinctive timbres that cumulatively bring a real freshness and revitalisation...Ravel's treatment of Mussorgsky's composition is rightly held up as a textbook example of orchestration, and Roth makes sure that we hear every last nuance of such masterly efforts…[La Valse] is magnificently balanced, with virtuosity on display from every section of the orchestra.

However thorough the scholarship, it’s the performance that matters most. This one is scintillating, and the nightmarish fin-de-siècle parody of La Valse is thrilling.

His performance [of La Valse] is less nihilistic than some readings, it’s lighter, wonderfully athletic and full of brilliantly lit detail, though still mustering a real punch in the cataclysm of the final pages. It also makes a real showcase for Les Siècles’ gorgeous early 20th-century French woodwind sound and plush strings...The result is like viewing a restored old master; every detail glows, exactly as Ravel would have imagined it.