Recordings of Rameau orchestral suites have been appearing for as long as those of the complete operas they are taken from‚ and long may that continue. No corner of the operatic repertory offers a greater wealth of freestanding orchestral dances as the French Baroque‚ and no composer wrote such a rich and enjoyable array of them as Rameau‚ that master blender of melodic inspiration‚ rhythmic irresistibility and orchestral colour. Frans Brüggen and the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century have footed it with Rameau on more than one occasion in the past‚ and here step out again with music from two stage works both composed in the same year: Naïs‚ a relaxed pastorale­héroïque written in 1749 to celebrate the Treaty of Aix­la­Chapelle (over in London‚ Handel’s Fireworks Music was doing the same thing); and Zoroastre‚ a fully­fledged five­act tragédie premièred a few months later. While Rameau’s dances tend to be integrated into the action more than most‚ you do not really need to study the plots of these operas too much to enjoy the music they deliver‚ though it is useful to know that the overture to Naïs‚ with its pounding drum and battering syncopations‚ represents Olympus under siege‚ and that its counterpart in Zoroastre explicitly depicts the conflict between good and evil that forms the subject of the ensuing action (so it wasn’t Gluck who invented the anticipatory overture!). Other things worth being aware of are that the chaconne in Naïs shows the activities of athletes at the Isthmian Games (you can have fun trying to guess in which disciplines)‚ or that Zoroastre’s Air grave is that of an army of demons. In the end‚ though‚ the music is just there to be enjoyed‚ and in any case Rameau himself was not always that particular; those familiar with his harpsichord pieces will recognise a few old friends wearing hastily chosen new clothes. As for the performances‚ little needs to be said about them save that they meet the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century’s normal high standards – impressively weighted sound‚ tight ensemble and excellent style – and are all the more admirable for being recorded live in concert‚ as usual.