Talking of Gesamtkunstwerk... Zoroastre Mark Padmore Amelite Gaelle Mechaly Erinice Karine Deshayes Abramane Clive Bayley Cephie Stephanie Revidat Zopire/Vengeance Matthieu Lecroart Narbanor Francois Bazola Oromases/Ariman Thierry Felix Conductor William Christie Les Arts Florissants The first three Proms concerts are all opera, which may be an accident of scheduling or a result of putting the big themes, magic and mystery, power and politics, up front. Maybe it was a mistake putting this performance of Rameau's Zoroastre by William Christie and Les Art Florissants so early in the season. It presents almost all the imaginable musical approaches to the themes in epitome. And it will be a very hard act to follow. The plot is an elegantly balanced contest between good and evil. (Zoroastre is based on Masonic ideas, but unlike in The magic flute, there is never any doubt which is which.) Abramane, the high priest of the dark god Ariman, supports Erinice, the pretender to the throne of Bactria, whose king has just died. Erinice has been rejected by Zorastre, the top magus and devotee of the sun god, who is in love with Amelite, the true heir to the kingdom. Abramane has similarly been rejected by Amelite. Abramane and Erinice form a sado-masochistic alliance to avenge themselves. Zoroastre is sent by Oromases, the king of the genii, to defeat them, and rescues Amelite from them. Zoroastre and Amelite are just about to marry when Abramane intervenes, and causes Amelite to faint. Erinice tries to reconcile herself with Zoroastre, having fallen out with Abramane, but he rejects her. The evil doers summon up the forces of darkness for one last massive assault, and capture Amelite. Faced with a choice of seeing her killed or sacrificing his people, Zorastre saves his people, arguing that his gods will protect her, and zaps Abramane and his legions. Oromases appears and tells Zoraostre that he has passed the final test. Zoroastre founds the first temple of light and marries Amelite. The work is organized as a set of symmetries and reflections, of music, characters, scenes and ideas. The good and bad characters live in contrasting musical worlds. Zoroastre and Amelite's music is graceful and erotic, as is the music of the Bactrians, and their love is the focus of their pastoral world. The Bactrians' dances are celebrations of love, first of longing for the absent beloved and then of happy union in marriage. Arbamane's world, in contrast, is a clever systematic inversion of heroic and religious display in both language and music. His invocation, "Supreme auteur des maux..." is not far from some of Handel's invocations of Jehovah in the oratorios. And he pumps himself up for the final battle with a heroic aria, "Osons achever des grands crimes...". His world is full of itchily dancing spirits, with an allegorical ballet in which vengeance inflicts misery on former lovers. It could be mechanical, but the balance is elegant and the music is irresistable on both sides. And Erinice mediates the two worlds: she is as passionate as Amelite, and Zoroastre's second rejection of her, although inevitable, seems unfair and gives her a tragic aspect. As often, William Christie's concert performance had more drama and excitement than many staged productions. The singers all acted their parts, though there was no movement, and the women had co-ordinated their appearance (black sequined sheath for Erinice, nearly nice-girl white Audrey Hepburn frock for Amelite, quasi-business suit for the functional Cephie). And, while it would have been great to have the dances and special effects, the playing just about delivered them (except that Rameau didn't do the thunder as such). There was a bit of dancing, in fact, from Christie, who seemed to be conducting the continuo from the waist down. The singers were all spot on dramatically. None of them was totally impeccable, but they were all completely inside their roles. Mark Padmore doesn't quite sound French, but he was beautifully expressive as Zoroastre, from his first aria of longing for Amelite through to his final triumphant reunion with her. Gaelle Mechaly matched him in every way, and also managed some exuberant Italian coloratura. Karine Deshayes was a definitive mixed-up mezzo as Erinice. Thierry Felix had some rough moments vocally (his final aria as Oromases was haywire) and he looked amusingly like Peter Mandelson to Padmore's Tony Blair. But he has a lot of style, and a pleasant voice. Stephanie Revidat as Cephie, the spokeswoman for the Bactrians (more or less) and Matthieu Lecroart and Francois Bazola as Arbamane's two stooges did some impressive singing. I think Clive Bayley's Abramane is my favorite villain, this week anyway. He looks the part (long nose with a couple of kinks in, red hair) and he has an agile medium-weight voice with some heavy bottom notes. He gestured repetitively, but he brought out every nuance of Abramane's fairly wide range of music, from archetypical baroque melodrama to near-Verdian heroic breadth. Terrific, though you know that someone that impeccably villanous isn't a real threat. Rameau rules.