Rameau: Castor & Pollux (complete opera)
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JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU
Rameau: Castor & Pollux (complete opera)
Colin Ainsworth, Florian Sempey, Emmanuelle de Negri, Clémentine Margaine / Ensemble Pygmalion, Raphaël Pichon
[ Harmonia Mundi / 2 CD Box Set ]
Release Date: Monday 1 June 2015
This item is currently out of stock. We expect to be able to supply it to you within 2 - 4 weeks from when you place your order.
In contrast to its reception in 1737, 'Castor et Pollux' enjoyed great success in 1754 and it was given regularly until 1755. It was revived again at court in November 1763, then at the Académie Royale de Musique from January 1764 (six months before the elderly Rameau's death) until 1765, and continued to receive frequent performances from 1770 to 1782: eloquent testimony to its popularity. Thanks to the recent discovery of a manuscript close to the autograph that Rameau finalised in the last months of 1753, this second version of the work, with its tauter dramatic action, can now be heard in the pristine splendour and refinement of its orchestration. As a result the revised tragédie lyrique, unfairly overshadowed nowadays by the 1737 version, emerges in its full force and dramatic power under the inspired direction of Raphaël Pichon.
'Ensemble Pygmalion's choir, orchestra and reduced ensemble of two violins, three cellos and two harpsichords play and sing with uncommon variety of timbre and attack, and with a real sense of engagement with the drama.' (BBC Music Opera recording of the month August 2015)
"The performance under the direction of Raphaël Pichon is excellent: clean, precise, refined and airy, cast with largely Francophone singers who have an instinctive understanding of Rameau's rhythmic vocabulary as well as superb clarity of diction." The Telegraph, 23rd May 2015 ****
"Pichon uses a responsive, youthful-sounding chorus of 21…along with some excellent orchestral playing." Early Music Today, June/August 2015
"As usual with Rameau, the dance music is a delight, and it's beautifully played. Another pleasure is the high-quality casting of Philippe Talbot and Sabine Devieilhe in minor roles...[Ainsworth's] voice is still in excellent shape, the top notes light and unforced, while his declaiming of the text sounds free and natural...All in all this is a splendid achievement." Gramophone Magazine, July 2015
