Rameau has come to Glyndebourne at last, only four decades after the composer's revival in modern times. Better late than never, and this new production of Hippolyte et Aricie is at least strong in musical values. William Christie draws marvellously eloquent playing from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, exploiting the work's melting dissonances and often voluptuous scoring.
Christiane Karg and Ed Lyon look and sound alluring as the titular lovers, her mellifluous soprano blending with his plaintively expressive high tenor. Sarah Connolly is perfectly cast as Phaedra, racked with guilt for her incestuous infatuation with her stepson Hippolytus, yet neither she nor Stéphane Degout’s equally admirable Theseus eclipses the memory of Janet Baker and John Shirley-Quirk on the classic Anthony Lewis recording.
Attempting a fusion of the mythical and contemporary spheres, Jonathan Kent’s production is not short of ideas. Paul Brown’s designs, in conjunction with Mark Henderson’s lighting and Ashley Page’s choreography, incorporate witty, often sensuous images and gestures. They fail to resonate or enchant, however, in the way the same team’s production of The Fairy Queen did a year or two ago. Surely the camp matelot routine has been patented and exhausted by David McVicar?
A welcome chance to experience some of Rameau’s most glorious music, if not quite an unforgettable evening.
Until August 18 (01273 815000, glyndebourne.com; live cinema screening July 25).
