Rameau: Castor & Pollux

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
Castor et Pollux ranks high in Rameau's output, the product of consolidated artistic successes he had with Hippolyte et Aricie and other lighter, more-dance oriented works. It was one of the first Rameau operas recorded complete in a set by Nikolaus Harnoncourt that was sometimes so rough, it left aural splinters. This recording by Les Arts Florissants perhaps goes too far in the other direction: its suaveness sometimes threatens to negate the drama in this story of a man who rescues his slain brother in the underworld amid the usual romantic conflicts. The cast catches a number of early-music notables at the beginning of their careers, including Howard Crook, Véronique Gens, Sandrine Piau, and Mark Padmore. Indeed, when this set was first issued in 1993, one never imagined that it would come to be regarded as something close to a dream cast. --David Patrick Stearns --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Tracks:

Ouverture
Scene Funebre
Air Tendre
Tambourins I & II
Air Tendre Pour Les Muses
Contredanse
Air Gracieux
Gavottes I & II
Orage
Prelude
La Poule
Musette
Ritournelle
Riguadons I & II
Danse Des Sauvages
Entre De Polymnie
Chaconne

Customer Reviews:

Love it!.......2006-11-10

Love it, love it, love it. Have not stopped playing it since it arrived and haven't gotten sick of it yet either. I bought it because I heard just one track briefly on the radio - bit of a gamble but it paid off. Great to drive to! Love the fast violin playing and the french horns. Rameau was one cool dude. Can't wait to share it with my dad. Am even wondering if I could wire the garage for sound so we can listen to Rameau while working there over Christmas! (Sorry this is not a high brow, classical music critic kind of review with lots of technical observations - I'm just a passionate classical music lover speaking from the heart).

Fantastic!.......2006-07-15

Great,I heard this piece on ABC Classic fm yesterday,the 14th of July....Amazon is a day late.Thank you to the programmer,they often use the savage dance as a theme.I must have this CD the thumping tympani and the tambourine really brightens up my day.I didn't even know there was a fugal bassoon movement!
The true french baroque is far better than any thing Handel could wright or borrow.Vivre Rameau!Beautifully played by all,the tempo and ornamentation's are perfect in all parts.Vivre Les Musciens du Louvre!Vivre Motorola for having a camera on their phones so I don't have to remember how to spell in french.
I do not work for any party mentioned.

Rameau, Minkowski: an intelligent concert!.......2006-04-14

Minkowki dedicated this album to his father, Dr. Alexandre Minkowski. The symphony imaginaire recorded live, is for him a personal intimate selection. This is intelligent, sensitive and extremely well played music by Rameau.
I stumbled upon this recording after being impressed by the last Bartoli recording with Les Musiciens du Louvre. Happy me!
The SACD is worth it.

A beautiful bit of late Baroque Color.......2005-09-12

I plan to give copies of this CD to my friends whose musical taste froze 35 years ago and who think of Baroque music as just so much "sewing machine music". Rameau was an imaginative instrumental colorist, and these dance pieces, taken from several of his operas and ballets, show him at his best in that regard.
While the conceit of calling this a "symphony" may seem strange, the pieces are arranged to form a nice sequence and, most importantly, are engagingly played by this early music ensemble. The interpretation is lively and the playing stylish. The sonics are detailed without being analytical.
I would recommend this to anyone as an introduction to the joys of French Baroque, but would encourage a follow-up purchase of one of the full operas.

A hoot!.......2005-08-20

Within a few seconds after pressing the "play" button for this CD, the sound of a percussionist beating the tar out of the tympani emergeged from my speakers. The waps and thumps are intermittenly interrupted by an orchestra on steroids. From there this production goes on a musical romp that I regret hearing come to an end. I'm not sure if this is authentic French baroque; but as a musical listening experience it is a blast. Great sound. Great energy. Wonderful music.

Rameau: Castor et Pollux (Opera in 5 Acts, 1754 version)

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A Sterling Performance of Rameau's Revised 'Castor & Pollux'

Rameau: Castor et Pollux (Opera in 5 Acts, 1754 version)

Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Rameau: Castor & Pollux
Rameau: Une Symphonie Imaginaire
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ASIN: B0001AGOOU
Release Date: 2004-04-20

Tracks:

Overture
Scene 1
Scene 2
Scene 3
Scene 4
Air Tres Pointe, Deux Menuets
Ariette
Deux Gavottes
Deux Tambourines
Scene 5 Entr'acte
Scene 1
Scene 2
Scene 3
Scene 4
Scene 5
Air Pour Les Athletes
Air Tres Gai
Scene 1 Ritournelle Et Air
Scene 2
Scene 3 Descente De Jupiter

Tracks:

Scene 4 Entree D' Hebe
Recitative
Une Suivante D'Hebe
Recitative
Gavotte 1&2; Recitative
Scene 1 Prelude
Scene 2 Descente De Mercure
Phebe, Cleone, pollux, Choeur Et Air Des Demons
Scene 3
Scene 4
Choeur Des Ombres Heureuses
Menuet
Passepied 1&2, Choeur Derriere Le Theatre
Scene 5
Scene 1 Ritournelle
Scene 2
Scene 3
Tonnerre
Scene 4
Scene 5
Chaconne
Ariette Gracieuse

Customer Reviews:

A Sterling Performance of Rameau's Revised 'Castor & Pollux'.......2004-06-14

Rameau had a hard-earned reputation as an opera composer and his timing was terrible. He got caught up in the battle between the followers of Lully and those of his own new French school. The battle was, however, pretty much won after Rameau's first opera, 'Hyppolite et Aricie,' written four years before 'Castor et Pollux.' With his second opera in 1737 public opinion swung strongly his direction, but a few years later the strong tide of Italian opera washed ashore and so Rameau and his librettist, Pierre-Joseph Bernard, rewrote the work in 1754. They eliminated the prologue and rewrote the first act, tightening the action and changing the emphasis of the plot somewhat: Castor and Pollux did not, as in the 1737 version, both love the heroine, Telaire, but Pollux was betrothed to her and he, out of brotherly love, gave her up to his brother Castor who WAS in love with her as she with him. [Sidebar: Castor and Pollux were erroneously thought by astronomers to be twins and hence the two so-named stars are the 'Gemini,' but in Greek mythology they were only half-brothers. And thus as mistakes memorialized.] The 1737 version has been recorded two or three times - most remarkably by William Christie's Les Arts Florissant, following up on their amazingly populer recording of 'Hippolyte et Aricie' - but there have been none that I'm aware of of the 1754 version. And it has plenty advantages of its own and certainly deserves a decent recording; it gets that, and more, with this issue from a Canadian group, Aradia, under their director, Kevin Mallon (who had himself participated in the earlier Christie recording). Aradia and the singers involved performed the opera several times in concert and were certainly ready when it came time to record it. From the very first note of the Overture, one can tell that these musicians have the music in their blood. Particularly notable is the solo baroque bassoonist, James Bolyard, whose playing is simply magnificent. The solo singers are uniformly excellent. Telaire, sung by Monica Whicher, sings her 'Tristes apprets,' movingly. Meredith Hall's Phoebe is similarly well-sung. Castor is sung by tenor Colin Ainsworth, Pollux by Joshua Hopkins, whose warm baritone is, I think, destined for great things. The smaller parts are taken by members of the chorus, by and large, and are more than adequate. Mallon's pacing is spot on. There are significant orchestral movements which are played with spirit and tranlucency by the Aradia Ensemble. In fact, my only very minor quibble with this performance is that sometimes I had difficulty distinguishing the voices of Whicher and Hall.

This is a necessary recording for all who are interested in 18th-century French opera.

Tracks:

Ouvertures: Les Fetes de Polymnie
Ouvertures: Les Indes galantes
Ouvertures: Zais
Ouvertures: Castor et Pollux
Ouvertures: Nais
Ouvertures: Platee
Ouvertures: Les Talens lyriques (Les Fetes d'Hebe)
Ouvertures: Zoroastre
Ouvertures: Dardanus
Ouvertures: Les Paladins
Ouvertures: Hippolyte et Aricie
Ouvertures: Le Temple de la Gloire
Ouvertures: Pigmalion
Ouvertures: Les Surprises de l'Amour - Prologue (Le Retour d'Astree)
Ouvertures: Les Fetes de l'Hymen de l'Amour, ou Les Dieux d'Egypte
Ouvertures: Les Surprises de l'Amour - Acte I (L'Enlevement d'Adonis)
Ouvertures: Acante et Cephise, ou La Sympathie

Amazon.com essential recording

Rameau waited until he was nearly 50 before writing his first opera, but after that there was no holding him back. One of the great masters of the Baroque orchestra (if not the greatest), he wrote overtures to theater works that call on a lavish array of instruments and use them all with an extraordinary feel for color and style. Although he was the major musical theorist of his day, Rameau's works sound wholly fresh and spontaneous, with numerous surprising twists and turns of phrase where you least expect them. Christophe Rousset leads his enthusiastic band of authentic instrument players in performances that will enchant all Baroque music fans. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

Unexpectedly 'new' Style.......2007-01-20

I am not very familiar wiht Jean-Philippe Rameau's music, so when I looked at his dates, I expected something which sounded a lot like Henry Purcell. I was quite taken aback when the music I heard was nowhere near as wooden or 'mannered' as Purcell's work, almost all of which sounds like another version of the piece used as the theme to Masterpiece theatre.

The greatest surprise was saved until the end, with the Overture to 'Acante et Cephise, ou La Sympathie'. The surprising tympany accents made it sound positively 19th century, and the fluid strings supported that notion. It almost sounds as if Rameau skipped right over Mozart to Beethoven. Of course, Rameau is not nearly as delicate or sweet as Mozart, but this is still a welcome gift from the 18th century.

A great walk-through Rameau's ouvertures.......2006-09-10

Jean-Philippe Rameau was certainly a vastly greater composer of orchestral music than Handel, that's for sure!

This excellent and beguiling collection of ouvertures is nearly complete, as far as I can tell - very few of the opera ouvertures Rameau wrote are not here. The performances are first class colourful and alive. There are those delicate and expressive moments we come to expect from a French Baroque composer, movements of great energy and the occasional fiery manifestations of "Sturm und Drang", too. Rameau's earliest ouvertures, Hippolyte et Aricie and Les Indes Galantes, show us a fully formed composer at the height of his powers - those powers only seemed to increase through Rameau's operatic career and his most daring, adventurous and fresh music composed in his old age.

Unlike Handel's ouvertures, which usually features oboes, bassoon, strings and basso continuo, Jean-Philippe Rameau used an orchestra sometimes featuring: piccolo, flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets, timpani, percussion and string orchestra - in fact an orchestra larger and more diverse than anything normally available to Franz Joseph Haydn or W. A. Mozart.

I have listened to this album many times since I first bought it and it always a delight to return to it. It can be "dipped into" or listened to in its entirety.

I hope Christophe Rousset and his talented Les Talens Lyriques eventually records some complete opera of Rameau for CD or DVD. Rousset's Monteverdi "L'incoronazione di Poppea" DVD is excellent and possibly the best DVD recording of that work currently available.

Cold heat.......2002-09-08

The French Baroque Roccoco School of music has suffered in comparison to the most vibrant Italian competition, or Bach and Handel dexterity and brilliance, not to mention soul enhancing character of their works. That is unfortunate since some of the graduates of that French period like Rameau have a record that is far from insignificant. But Rameau wrote for a public that liked mental games, was more subdued and courtly. The fire had to be contained. But the intelligence and brilliance did not have to be contained. If you want to be convinced of this, do yourself a favor and get this record. I will warn you, you might need to listen to it a few times, to let it grow on you, but next thing you know you might be purchasing some of these great operas. Oh! And the quality of the recording is impeccable, though a little bit low for my taste.

A constant pleasure.......2000-12-14

A collection of overtures to operas written by a Baroque composer whose name is well known but whose music is lesser known may not be high on everyone's 'want' list, but I urge you to take a chance on this CD. I obtained this disc as part of a 15-free-CDs introductory offer to a mail order CD club but it has turned out to be a pleasant surprise. This is music that seems to get better the more you hear it and ruminate over it afterward. Rameau is obviously a composer of considerable ingenuity and resource. These ouvertures positively bubble with effervescence and there is a refreshing lack of sameness among them. The period instrument group Les Talens Lyrique (named after one of the ouvertures on this CD) are obviously enthusiastic about this music and their playing is a joy. There is an appealing, analogue-like warmth about the recording, too.

excellent.......2000-12-08

My favorite CD in my collection, but I lost the disc so I have to order a new copy!

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Rameau: Castor & Pollux Churs et danses

Manufacturer: Hmf Musique D'abord
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Rameau: Une Symphonie imaginaire [Hybrid SACD]

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RAMEAU - MINKOWSKI & Les Musiciens du Louvre: sur le Ouvre posthume

Rameau: Une Symphonie imaginaire [Hybrid SACD]

Manufacturer: Archiv Produktion
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00083FYQE
Release Date: 2005-07-12

Customer Reviews:

RAMEAU - MINKOWSKI & Les Musiciens du Louvre: sur le Ouvre posthume.......2006-12-28

Before Rameau (1683-1764) there was instrumentation; after Rameau, there was orchestration. Then came Mozart, Beethoven, von Weber, Berlioz, Fry, Lizts, Gottschalk, Wagner, Lèfébure-Wélly, Franck, Bruckner, Mahler, and the rest is part of the world's music history.

In the beginning, Rameau was an expert organist intensely interested with the exploration of new instrumental possibilities in music which he had already explored with organ music both as an instrumentalist and composer. He treated the organ as a great symphonic instrument rather than a polyphonic instrument. What we have here is what we call now "homophonic" music. He was not the only one to enter this form of thinking and composing; indeed there were others, but that does not take any away from his enormous accomplishments and advances in music theory.

Rameau was throughly contemporary with François Couperin Le Grand (1668-1733), Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767), Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741), Giussepe Tartini (1692-1770), Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) and many other very well known composers of the early and mid 1700's. There is no doubt that for the most part all of the above knew in great detail about each other's whereabouts and current musical developments; assimilation of each other's theoretical and compositional ideas and forms was a widely accepted practice during that time period.

Rameau as a matter of fact did not discover anything whether in music and/or instrumental sound acoustics but formally stated sound and acoustic "combinations" which if and when executed by composer and instrumentalists added to the clarity of the whole.

As our old friend Mr. Plato (428-347 BC) remarked (I hope more than once), the foundation of anything in this universe (music included) in itself is indifferent to the existence of our universe. Indeed, indifferent to our minds and evanescent existence. Put it another way, music would exist even if musicians and/or we the listeners did not. I know this could be a debatable philosophical point for some but that's a theme for another discussion somewhere else.

With his compositions Rameau explored first at the organ and then with opera, ballet and overtures orchestral and musical methods, and acoustic forms which in the end provided other musicians/composers in general with highly idealized representations of the real world, whatever the real world of acoustics in reality can be said to be.

There is so much music (of all kinds), and composers which to this date knowingly or not, having adopted and assimilated Rameau's dictums have achieved such a mastery of acoustic "combinations" with effects of space, sonority, tone placement, antiphony, echo, silence, etc., etc, that have made this a wonderful world. One that Rameau re-discovered and which now-a-days is an integral and essential part of recognized music theory.

Rameau wrote a number of "treatises" and books on music theory; the two most important are "Traité de l'harmonie" and "Gènération harmonique." In these two studies he described or "explicated" exhaustively all known to him blends of timbres/tones, space and reverberation combinations; to this day no musician could do without them! His main point was that melody and harmony are not independent of each other. These musical combinations were known by many, but Rameau was the first to write about them and put them to practice in a formal fashion - again - as far as we know now.

I may add here that organists in general knew what Rameau knew; organistis knew very well how to score and employ acoustics and concomitant specific reverberation times and silences to obtain desired sound effects with their organ compositions. J.S. Bach was a master of this technique incidentally. It was and still is part of every good organist to "have the knowledge" and the skills to partake with organ music in such way; we also intuitively know when an organist is not for whatever reason applying these acoustic principles during a performance, generally to everybody's dislike.

We must add here that Archangelo Corelli, Giuseppe Tartini and J.S. Bach for example scored "in scordatura" for string instruments, especially for viola da gambas but also for violins. Scoring "in scordatura" basically produces the same acoustical effects and results as those organists obtained with their organs;"in scordatura" in plain musical language means "mis-tuning." Scoring in this manner was a common practice during the 1600 and 1700's because it produced acoustical effects of the desired kind, that is, natural sound effects.

Never-the-less, Rameau was apparently the first one to write and compose music following "natural" sound combinations without the need for scordatura. This is Rameau's legacy for the ages.

He was (again, probably) the first to describe, justify and explain harmonic practice in music whithin a coherent system derived from the "nature" of sounds. It had been there all the time and Rameau just "nurtured" the idea. Again, we have here another example of "nature" and "nurture." Remember Mr. Plato's dictum?

Very few composers before Rameau had conciously exposed and/or utilized that knowledge aside for the ocassional "in scordatura." We must resort here to Nikolaus Harnoncourt's "The Musical Dialogue - Thoughts on Monteverdi, Bach and Mozart" and Paul Bekker's "The Orchestra" to fully understand the inner works of this process. I highly recommend lecture of these two capital books as well as Dr. Philip Gossett's English translation of Rameau's "Traité de l'harmonie."

With this SACD Marc Minkowski and his Les Musiciens de Louvre amply succeed in the representation of Rameau's orchestral music.

Rameau never wrote a symphony as such; let's consider that for a moment. At about the same time J.S. Bach was calling some of his compositions "Symphonias", but it was not ultil his son Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach (1714-1788) threw away the traditional polyphonic media (instrumentation) or subordinated them to the dominant idea of harmonic development that a "formal" symphonic form appeared; we call this "homophonic" music incidentally.

There were no symphonies until that time (C.P.E. Bach's time) but only "concertos" of the "grosso" kind. Concerti grossi (Italian for big concerts) were a popular form of Baroque music whereby an orchestra ensemble passed musical material between an small group of soloists (the concertino) and the full orchestra (the ripieno).

That's the main reason for the added title to this SACD: "...un symphonie imaginaire." This SACD is about symphonies; symphonies which were never formally scored by Rameau. We are asked here and now to think about this music as being an imaginary symphony...or pieces of symphonies, or opera...ballets. Indeed not an easy proposition but, just after the first few bars of the the first track we realize that Rameau had a new perspective in music; his music was all about orchestration.

Did Minkowski and his group succeed in their mission? Obviously the answer is a resounding yes! Minkowski and his musicians created these imaginary symphonies out of some orchestral music originally written for operas and ballets, and some specific overtures. These were orchestral parts composed during the last thirty years of Ramaeau's life. Previously he had only composed keyboard music mostly for organs.

Presently, the question might be as follows: where do we begin with this SACD?

The instruments: the instruments are all original period instruments
and tuned to a prevalent a'= 415 Hz (so it's stated in the notes and my chromatic tuner corroborates exactly that) and that's very different than today's a'= ~ 440 Hz. The instrument's sound in this recording is different, totally different, and the tuning of the strings bespeaks well of the mastery of this orchestra's players. Remarkable, it's all I can say!

Minkowski, the conductor. There is no doubt in my mind that he, along with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Andrew Manze, is the dominant figure in Baroque music at the present time. You can not do better than this or these if we include the other two conductors.

The musicians. What can I say about them? That they have perfect pitch? Yes. That they play all the notes? Yes. That their string instruments had to be re-strung to a'= 415 Hz instead of playing "in scordatura"? I think so. Can they play in harmony? This is a great rendition of musical harmony at it's purest form.

I think Rameau with this music and specially it's orchestration showed to the future the shape of things to come. This was the beginning of the end of the Baroque and the start of a new era.

There are no words that could possibly describe the level of excellence which is achieved in this and the other Baroque recordings this conductor and musical group have been involved with. We do know this is the normal state of affairs with Minkowski and the musicians that subordinate to him. This is absolutely perfect.

The sound, again, Archiv has produced another SACD reference recording. It's a true 5.1 DTS recording which means the sound will be coming out of six speakers if played in an SACD player. The total surround sound is as real as one could get and much better and more realistic than the same version in just plain stereo. In my opinion the SACD is far superior than the stereo version.

I would not hesitate for a moment in recommending this SACD or any other that Minkowski and his musicians throw at us. Please hit us again and again with recordings of this caliber.

FINAL WORDS: B U Y I T - NOW.

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Castor & Pollux
Rameau , Farncombe , and Eco
Manufacturer: Elektra / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000009KMN
Release Date: 1994-09-06

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Serene and beautiful Rameau
Best of genre

Rameau: Castor & Pollux
Jerome Correas , Jean-Claude Sarragosse , Howard Crook , Jean-Claude Sarragosse , Kenneth Weiss , and Les Arts Florissants
Manufacturer: Harmonia Mundi Fr.
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000027P8K
Release Date: 1993-04-22

Tracks:

Prologue: Ov - Les Arts Florissants/William Christie
Prologue, Scene I: 'Venus, O Venus' - Les Arts Florissants/William Christie
Prologue, Scene I: Sym - Les Arts Florissants/William Christie
Prologue, Scene I: 'Je Vous Revois, Belle Deesse' - Rene Schirrer
Prologue, Scene II. Gavottes: 'Renais, Plus Brillante' - Mark Padmore
Prologue, Scene II. Primier Menuet: 'Naissez, Dons De Flore' - Mark Padmore
Prologue, Scene II. Deuxieme Menuet: 'D'un Spectacle Nouveau'/Ov (Reprise) - Claire Brua
Act One, Scene I: 'Que Tout Gemisse' - Les Arts Florissants/William Christie
Act One, Scene II: 'Ou Courez-voux?' - Agnes Mellon/Veronique Gens
Act One, Scene III: 'Tristes Apprets, Pales Flambeaux' - Agnes Mellon
Act One, Scene IV: 'D'ou Partent Ces Cris Nouveaux?'/'Eclatez, Fieres Trompettes' - Jerome Correas/Agnes Mellon/Adrian Brand/Jean-Claude Sarragosse
Act One, Scene IV: Deuxieme Et Troisim Airs De Athletes - Les Arts Florissants/William Christie
Act One, Scene V: 'Je Remets A Vos Pieds Ces Depouilles Sanglantes' - Agnes Mellon/Jerome Correas
Act One, Scene V: Premier Airs Des Athletes - Les Arts Florissants/William Christie

Tracks:

Act Two, Scene I: 'Nature, Amour, Qui Partagez Mon Coeur' - Jerome Correas
Act Two, Scene II/Scene III: 'Le Souverain Des Dieux' - Jerome Correas/Agnes Mellon/Mark Padmore
Act Two, Scene IV: 'Ma Voix, Puissant Maitre Du Monde' - Rene Schirrer/Jerome Correas
Act Two, Scene V: 'Connaissez Notre Puissance' - Les Arts Florissants/William Christie
Act Two, Scene V: 'Qu'Hebe De Fleurs' - Les Arts Florissants/William Christie
Act Two, Scene V: Deuxieme Air Pour Hebe Et Ses Suivantes/'Voici Des Dieux' - Sophie Daneman
Act Three, Scene I: 'Rassemblez-vous, Peuples'/Scene II - Veronique Gens/Jerome Correas/Agnes Mellon
Act Three, Scene III: 'Son Char A Recule Tout A Coup A Mes Yeux' - Agnes Mellon
Act Three, Scene IV: 'Sortez D'esclavage'/Premier Air Des Demons - Jerome Correas/Agnes Mellon/Veronique Gens
Act Three, Scene IV: 'Brisons Tous Nos Fers'/Deuxieme Air Des Demons - Les Arts Florissants
Act Three, Scene V: 'Tout Cede A Ce Heros Vainqueur' - Veronique Gens

Tracks:

Act Four, Scene I: 'Sejour De L'eternelle Paix' - Howard Crook
Act Four, Scene II: 'Qu'il Soit Heureux Comme Nous' - Les Arts Florissants/William Christie
Act Four, Scene II: 'Ici Se Leve L'aurore' - Sandrine Piau
Act Four, Scene II: 'Sur Les Ombres Fugitives' - Sandrine Piau
Act Four, Scene II: Autant D'amours que De Fleurs' - Sandrine Piau
Act Four, Scene II: 'Fuyez, Fuyez, Ombres Legeres'/Scene III: 'Rassurez-vous, Habitants Fortunes... - Les Arts Florissants/William Christie
Act Four, Scene III:'Rassurez-vous, Habitants Fortunes'/Scene IV: 'Revenez, Revenez Sur Les... - Les Arts Florissants/William Christie
Act Five, Scene I: 'Castor Revoit Le Jour' - Veronique Gens
Act Five, Scene II: 'CIel Est Donc Touche' - Howard Crook/Agnes Mellon
Act Five, Scene III: 'Vivez, Heureux Epoux'/'Peuples, Eloignez-vous' - Howard Crook
Act Five, Scene IV: 'Eh Quoi! Tous Ces Objets Ne Peuvent T'attendrir?'/'Qu'ai-je Entendu! Quel Bruit - Howard Crook/Agnes Mellon
Act Five, Scene V: 'Les Destins Sont Contents' - Rene Schirrer/Agnes Mellon/Howard Crook/Rene Schirrer
Act Five, Scene VI: 'Mon Frere... O Ciel!/'Palais De Ma Grandeur Ou Je Dicte Mes lois/'Palais D - Rene Schirrer/Agnes Mellon/Howard Crook/Jerome Correas
Act Five, Scene VII: 'Tant De Vertus Doivent Pretendre'/Entree Des Astres. Gigue - Les Arts Florissants/William Christie
Act Five, Scene VII. Ariette: 'Brillez, Brillez, Astres Nouveaux' - Les Arts Florissants/William Christie
Act Five, Scene VII. Chaconne: 'Que Les Cieux, Que La Terre Et L'Onde' - Les Arts Florissants/William Christie

Amazon.com essential recording

Castor et Pollux ranks high in Rameau's output, the product of consolidated artistic successes he had with Hippolyte et Aricie and other lighter, more-dance oriented works. It was one of the first Rameau operas recorded complete in a set by Nikolaus Harnoncourt that was sometimes so rough, it left aural splinters. This recording by Les Arts Florissants perhaps goes too far in the other direction: its suaveness sometimes threatens to negate the drama in this story of a man who rescues his slain brother in the underworld amid the usual romantic conflicts. The cast catches a number of early-music notables at the beginning of their careers, including Howard Crook, Véronique Gens, Sandrine Piau, and Mark Padmore. Indeed, when this set was first issued in 1993, one never imagined that it would come to be regarded as something close to a dream cast. --David Patrick Stearns

Customer Reviews:

Serene and beautiful Rameau.......2006-02-02

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.

Best of genre.......1999-03-13

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.

Average customer rating:

Rameau:Castor & Pollux

Manufacturer: Astree
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0000DET9X
Release Date: 2003-07-01

Gérard Souzay sings Classical Airs and Songs

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Gérard Souzay sings Classical Airs and Songs

Manufacturer: Preiser Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Baroque (c.1600-1750) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

French | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

German | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Italian | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Cantatas | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0006OSAOS
Release Date: 2005-02-22

Rameau - Castor & Pollux (Chamber Version 1754)/ Corréas · Einhorn · Gerstenhaber · Vinson · Le Coz · Cantor · XVIII-21, Musique Des Lumières · Frisch

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Rameau - Castor & Pollux (Chamber Version 1754)/ Corréas · Einhorn · Gerstenhaber · Vinson · Le Coz · Cantor · XVIII-21, Musique Des Lumières · Frisch
Jean-Philippe Rameau , Jean-Christophe Frisch , Jérôme Corréas , Christophe Einhorn , Cyrille Gerstenhaber , Brigitte Vinson , Claudine Le Coz , Philippe Cantor , Serge Goubioud , Sandrine Rondot , Musique Des Lumières XVIII-21 , Patrick Bismuth , and Emmanuel Balsaa
Manufacturer: Auvidis
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

French | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000007N64
Release Date: 1998-05-12

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