Customer Reviews

Rameau - Castor & Pollux

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Castor & Pollux is a moving story about love and sacrifice set to beautiful music, showing Rameau at the height of his talent (although some historic evidence suggests that despite his innovations Rameau never quite dared to go as far as his talent would have allowed in the absence of the period inertia). Telaire's aria "Tristes apprets" is singularly famous, the most stunning glimpse into what Rameau was capable of composing to transcend the immediate aesthetics of his time. But the rest of the opera, although more conventional, is no less beautiful. Even the prologue (which is quite long) is uncommonly beautiful. Other highlights include the aria of Le Grand Pretre in the 2d act, and Castor's "Sejour de l'eternelle paix" at the beginning of the 4th act. The cast includes many of the familiar names in Les Arts Florissants universe. Agnes Mellon excels as Telaire. The role of Castor is taken by the American lyric tenor Howard Crook who used ot be quite popular with Christie before being squeezed out by Mark Padmore, who in turn was later squeezed out by Paul Agnew. Padmore, singing his trademark haute-contre, makes an appearance in Castor & Pollux as the Cupid in the prologue. I personally much prefer Padmore to Crook (or to anybody else for that matter), so to me the writing was clerly on the wall that Crook's days were numbered. Yet I don't want to sound disparaging, Crook is a very talented singer, he is utterly moving in "Sejour..." This is a brilliant recording which you should not miss. Other Christie must-buy CD's include Charpentier's Medee (one thousand thumbs up); Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie; and Charpentier's La Descente d'Orphee aux Enfers.

Castor et Pollux may not be Jean-Philippe Rameau's greatest operas, although it is a very fine opera, but it is certainly Rameau's most beautiful. The orchestral music is rich and full of life and colour, as always. The tunes are very good - we have the usual range of music here, from toe-tappers to sublimely beautiful arias.
The aria "Tristes apprêts, pâles flambeaux?", sung by Télaïre (Agnés Mellon), Acte I, Scène III, is one of the most beautiful and, indeed, sublime Baroque opera arias I've ever heard. Here this and you'll want to buy this opera.

The cast is strong - Howard Crook, Agnés Mellon, Véronique Gens, Sandrine Piau, Mark Padmore, Claire Brua and Sophie Daneman (before the wobbly vibrato heard in later recordings set in) - and Les Arts Florissants directed by William Christie are in top form.

A must for lovers of Rameau and those curious about Baroque opera.

Hopefully, William Christie and Les Arts Florissants will revisit this work on DVD soon.

Rameau - Castor & Pollux is a recording under the direction of William Christie who leads the Les Arts Florissants on this harmonia mundi France recording from 1993. The booklet is over 100 pages. Sylvie Bouissou has written the well-written and informative music notes. These have been translated into English by Derek Yeld. One also gets a short and concise synopsis. The lyrics are available in French, English and German. The sound quality is astounding. Highly recommended. 5/5.