Latest CD releases reviewed

RAMEAU: CASTOR ET POLLOX (1754 VERSION)

Soloists: Ainsworth, Hopkins, Whicher, Hall, Tomkins, Winick, McMillan. Opera in Concert; Aradia Ensemble. Naxos 8.660118-19

If Lully was the pre-eminent French opera composer during the reign of Louis XIV, Rameau became his acknowledged successor in the age of Louis XV. While Lully concentrated on elegant melody with harmony only as a consequence, Rameau developed the harmonic content of his compositions, resulting in rich orchestration and expressive recitative. Castor et Pollox was premièred in 1737, but Rameau revised it in 1754, during a controversy about the relative merits of French and Italian opera, where it was claimed the dramatic possibilities of the medium were being more fully explored. In his revision, Rameau tightened the dramatic character of this work, producing a richly expressive score, far from the melodic pastoral scenes of Lully. The performances on these two discs (under the direction of Kevin Mallon) do full justice to the moving score. www.naxos.com