We are blessed (I suppose that's the word) with several recordings of Rameau's opera "Castor & Pollux", the tale from Greek mythology of two very devoted brothers with parent "issues". Matters are complicated a bit by the existence of two versions of the work by Rameau himself, the original 1737 premiere and a heavily-revised 1754 version. In Rameau's lifetime, the original was only a modest success, while his later version (the one under examination here) achieved a spectacular breakthrough. These days "Castor & Pollux" seems to be no one's particular favorite Rameau opera, but the work has had steady trickle of admirers, from the 18th on into the 19th and even the early 20th centuries.
There are girlfriends present in the storyline, but the main subject, fraternal devotion, (Pollux sacrifices his divine immortality, conferred by his father Jupiter, to save the life of his mortal brother Castor) gives the opera a slightly calmer, more meditative character than the usual drum-beating battlefield-glory plotlines of other opera seria-tragedies lyriques. This is supplemented by the high-quality libretto (by Pierre-Joseph Bernard) provided Rameau for the 1754 revision.
As I said, the several recordings here complicate criticism. An early Harnoncourt recording may be ignored as out-of-date. Unfortunately I haven't heard the 1998 "chamber-opera" version of the 1754 "C&P" conducted by Jean-Christophe Frisch and so can't comment (though I very much wish to hear it). That leaves us with: this, the Farncombe (a reissue of a 1982 recording); the William Christie-Les Arts Florissants Harmonia Mundi CD set of the 1737 opera (studio-recorded after a live production in Aix in 1991). and the 2003 Naxos set of the 1754 work conducted by Kevin Mallon (who was, interestingly, a performer in Christie's production). The Mallon-Naxos set has some very good singing and is fine for a budget recording. I'm not fond of the sonics, however; it was recorded in a church and sounds like it, very reverberant, more like a motet than an opera.
Christie's set of the 1737 work is longer and of very high quality. It retains Rameau's original Prologue, a long discussion amongst the gods about love, devotion, selfishness, and whatnot--an aspect of the work I think Rameau was wise to discard for the 1754 opera. But Christie has the benefit of some wonderful (native French-speaking) singers, like Veronique Gens, Sandrine Piau, and Agnes Mellon (and non-natives like Howard Crook, Sophie Daneman, and Mark Padmore, who might as well be). The quality of French pronunciation, usually less of a concern for me, is quite telling in Christie's recording.
Charles Farncombe was a conductor of importance in the revival of Handel opera performance in the late 50s, 60s, and 70s in England. He was the founder and leader of the Handel Opera Society, headquartered at Sadler Wells, for 30 years. Unfortunately he is poorly represented in the recording catalog (other than this Rameau work, I believe the only other available complete work is a live Handel "Rodelinda" with Janet Baker and Joan Sutherland from 1959). I've been intensely curious about his conductorial abilities, and fortunately, I can report that Farncombe doesn't disappoint. This "Castor & Pollux" is sharp and incisive, bringing out all the natural joy present in Rameau, and it's surprisingly period-performed for a 1982 recording.
What DOES disappoint about this set is the vocal work. The male leads,Peter Jeffes (Castor, tenor) and Phillipe Huttenlocher (Pollux, baritone), are adequate and sometimes even good, but the female soloists are, sadly, second-rate. The one exception is soprano Gillian Fisher, but her part is a minor one. One interesting aspect of "Castor & Pollux" for me is that with the leads being a tenor and a baritone, the opportunity for duets with these two voices is greater than in most baroque opera.
To sum up: if you can only have one "Castor..." and can spring for it, the Christie set is probably the way to go. But in the 1754 category, this Farncombe recording is definitely still very competitive, despite the weak female performances. Warner-Erato did an excellent job of remastering the 1982 sound, so sound quality isn't an issue.