Search - Rameau: Zoroastre [Blu-ray] on Blu-ray

Outstanding opera production - highly recommended

Mr. John A. Coulson | Australia | 10/05/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Basically the story of the opera centres around the tussle between good and evil, the good being personified in Zoroastre with his love for Amelite and the evil in the sorceror Abramante allied to Erinice, the sister of Amelite who also desires Zorostrate but is vengeful because of rejection.
Rameau was 66 when he composed this piece and it reflects his maturity with its sensuous and cleverly designed music. There are layers of interpretation which are easy to miss but the excellent one hour documentary gives a great introduction and should be viewed first, something I failed to do and so became somewhat perplexed about what was going on. Unfortunately the accompanying booklet gives no written synopsis, an silly omission as the 4 minute verbal description is next to useless. I extracted one from the net and it helped to explain what was going on.
The singing is uniformly excellent and very well recorded with appropriate costuming and excellent lighting to make the production very attractive. No it is NOT Eurotrash!!!
Rameau was a contemporary of Bach and Handel so if you like their music then this is a must for your collection
Video and Audio first class.
Unreservably recommended. This is a Blu Ray I will return to many times again. I'm purchasing the CD set featuring William Christie, Les Arts and one whi Florissants, et al. and this will add to further enjoyment of this delightful work.
Unreservably recommended."