Rameau Castor et Pollux
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Jean-Philippe Rameau
Genre:
Opera
Label: Das Alte Werk Reference
Magazine Review Date: 7/1987
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 0
Catalogue Number: 8 35048
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Castor et Pollux |
Jean-Philippe Rameau, Composer
Gérard Souzay, Pollux, Bass Helga Reiter, Follower of Hébé, Soprano Jacques Villisech, Jupiter, Bass Jeanette Scovotti, Minerve; Télaïre, Soprano Jean-Philippe Rameau, Composer Märta Schéle, Vénus, Follower of Hébé, Shadow, Athl Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Conductor Norma Lerer, Phébé, Soprano Rolf Leanderson, Mars, Athlete Stockholm Chamber Choir Sven-Erik Alexandersson, High Priest; Athlete Vienna Concentus Musicus Zeger Vandersteene, L'Amour, Castor |
Author: Nicholas Anderson
It is nearly 15 years since this complete performance of Rameau's Castor et Pollux was first issued by Telefunken. I found it quite stylish and very enjoyable, then, and so it still seems today. Castor et Pollux was Rameau's second tragedie-en-musique and was first performed in 1737. The librettist was Pierre-Joseph Bernard—Gentil Bernard, as Voltaire nicknamed him. He was one of the ablest writers with whom Rameau collaborated and his libretto for Castor et Pollux has sometimes been considered as the best in the history of eighteenth-century French opera. The work was revised in 1754 and this later version, stripped of its Prologue, whose connection with the rest of the opera was, at best, tenuous, waved the French flag in the so-called ''Querelle des Bouffons'' which raged in Paris between supporters of the intrusive Italian opera style and that of the French, during the 1750s.
Nikolaus Harnoncourt has opted for the original version of 1737 with its Prologue and five acts. Some of the solo voices sound a little old-fashioned by comparison with the most stylistically informed baroque singing of today—I am thinking in particular of Gerard Souzay's Pollux. Yet his timbre, his technique, his diction and the finely controlled shades of expression which emerge are qualities which I greatly admire and which, perhaps, amply compensate for his evident disdain of certain baroque ornamentation. Zeger Vandersteene makes an excellent Castor, and Jacques Villisech a resonant and authoritative Jupiter. No less enjoyable is the soprano, Jeanette Scovotti's Minerve (in the Prologue) and Telaire, loved by both Castor and Pollux. It is she who has the opera's most purple passage, the poignantly beautiful air ''Tristes apprets'', one of many musical riches which occurs in Act 1 of the opera. The faintly Elgarian flavour of the orchestration may be in part due to Rameau's nineteenth-century editors but it is handled with such sensibility and insight by Harnoncourt that one can wholeheartedly enjoy it for what it is. The several smaller roles are never less than adequate and the chorus, which has some particularly arresting music, both at the beginning of Act 1 and elsewhere, too, is excellent.
The early to mid 1970s were, perhaps, the heyday of the Vienna Concentus Musicus and their playing in this recording is first rate. Laurel wreaths are especially earned by the woodwind department from which oboes and bassoon shine forth with radiance. Castor et Pollux is no exception to the baroque French operatic rule and its score is plentifully endowed with delightful and inventive orchestral divertissements. The three-CD package includes an excellent booklet with full texts in French, English and German, clearly printed and easy to read. The recorder sound is spacious and often very effective. A welcome reappearance to the catalogue.'
Nikolaus Harnoncourt has opted for the original version of 1737 with its Prologue and five acts. Some of the solo voices sound a little old-fashioned by comparison with the most stylistically informed baroque singing of today—I am thinking in particular of Gerard Souzay's Pollux. Yet his timbre, his technique, his diction and the finely controlled shades of expression which emerge are qualities which I greatly admire and which, perhaps, amply compensate for his evident disdain of certain baroque ornamentation. Zeger Vandersteene makes an excellent Castor, and Jacques Villisech a resonant and authoritative Jupiter. No less enjoyable is the soprano, Jeanette Scovotti's Minerve (in the Prologue) and Telaire, loved by both Castor and Pollux. It is she who has the opera's most purple passage, the poignantly beautiful air ''Tristes apprets'', one of many musical riches which occurs in Act 1 of the opera. The faintly Elgarian flavour of the orchestration may be in part due to Rameau's nineteenth-century editors but it is handled with such sensibility and insight by Harnoncourt that one can wholeheartedly enjoy it for what it is. The several smaller roles are never less than adequate and the chorus, which has some particularly arresting music, both at the beginning of Act 1 and elsewhere, too, is excellent.
The early to mid 1970s were, perhaps, the heyday of the Vienna Concentus Musicus and their playing in this recording is first rate. Laurel wreaths are especially earned by the woodwind department from which oboes and bassoon shine forth with radiance. Castor et Pollux is no exception to the baroque French operatic rule and its score is plentifully endowed with delightful and inventive orchestral divertissements. The three-CD package includes an excellent booklet with full texts in French, English and German, clearly printed and easy to read. The recorder sound is spacious and often very effective. A welcome reappearance to the catalogue.'
Rameau Castor et Pollux
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