Customer Reviews

Gilbert & Sullivan: HMS Pinafore Highlights

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I must admit, I only bought the opera because I was rather amused by Sideshow Bob's rendition of the HMS Pinafore (Cape Feare, The Simpsons). Since then, I've bought (and enjoyed) the Mikado, planning to get the Pirates of Penzance soon. This opera is both hilarious and beautiful, mainly thanks to a great performance by the D'Oyly Carte opera company. If you're at all interested in classical music and the opera (which you should be), this is something that everyone should have.

Nothing more needs to be said about this superb D'Oyly Carte Pinafore, which won a well-dseerved Rosette from the Penguin Guide. Yet, in this highlights disc, I find that despite containing most of the major scenes, I dearly wish that Decca had chosen the excerpts a little more carefully. The lack of the entire "Carefully on tiptoe stealing" sequence seems to be an extremely serious minus in my book, particularly when it presents a sharp twist in the story. In addition, I also find that the inclusion of the entire "Over the bright blue sea" sequence is a little too - too redundent because the entrance of Sir Joseph is more important. Nevertheless, this is a wonderful disc of Pinafore excerpts. It presents a generous selection of excerpts that offers a good playing time without affecting sales of the complete set, and it also is enough to make one feel contented for a long time before purchasing the complete recording.

With so much of the recording offered as highlights it would have been better to purchase the full operetta. This recording dates from 1960 and is superalative in every respect. John Reed, Jean Hindmarsh, Thomas Round together with the late Donald Adams are reasons enough to acquire this version. The only missing quality is the dialogue. Never was the libretti of Gilbert ever spoken with more relish for the language and with such finesse. If you decide upon further investigation I urge you to do so.

For me, the voices were faint relative to the musical instruments. It was difficult to hear them. Yet, the language was so stylized that, even when heard, understanding the words was tedious and exasperating. Most mannerisms of the stage originated in purposeful behavior, I feel sure, but they detract from the performance when overindulged. I think I'd prefer a studio recording in which the singers sang with unpretentious style right into a microphone, and the audio engineer adjusted tone and timbre. I imagine elitists cluck-clucking about the purity of music without microphones. In my opinion, if you're making a CD, then you've sinned already, so why not go all the way and make a great CD? If my dear reader remains with me at this stage of my rant, I say the performance at the opera house may be mahvelous and pristine, but a CD and an opera house are different media, and performers should optimize for the medium. However, this recording of Pinafore is the best I've found of the sad available lot. I'd rate it 2 stars if it weren't superlative.