Customer Reviews

Gilbert & Sullivan: The Mikado

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

 

 

With this first digital Mikado recording, and the second digital one by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, we are in for an unforgetable musical experience. This recording presents a strong performance, with excellent crisp orchestral playing and ppowerful choral singing, capped by excelelntly wide-ranging digital sound. The one weak link is Michael Ducarel's portrayal of the eponymous title character. Even though he sings in tune, his voice is a little bit weak and small. The role of the Mikado is supposed to be firm and powerful, but this Mikado lacks a lot of the satanic glitter present in Donald Adams' portrayal. Also, Ducarel's cackle is rather weak. The rest of the cast is tremendously strong, even the minors. Bonaventura Bottone's portrayal of Nanki-Poo draws on experience from playing the role in the English National Opera production. Eric Roberts makes a light and airy Ko-Ko, giving a crisp performance, ruined only by a new verse in the Little List song. Malcolm Rivers makes a sonorous haughty Pooh-Bah, and he is joined by Deborah Rees' silken and seductive Yum-Yum and Susan Gritton's commanding Katisha. Overall, I would say that you should buy this recording, and that despite the minor flaw, this is a praiseworthy performance.

This recording from the late 1980's is a fresh interpretation of a much recorded operetta. This 'Savoy Opera' is the most popular of the 14 Savoy Opera canon and certainly the most widely quoted in the English speaking world. Many elements of this recording are worth the purchase, but my prefrence is for Susan Gorton as Katisha. Her interpretation of this role gives new impetus to what is usually an uninspired performance. Memories of the late Ann Drummond-Grant (1958 Decca, D'Oyly Carte recording) and the performance on stage by Christene Palmer (1960's-70's)are at last realised in a modern recording. The performer of the title role,is not that 'special' in fact, quite lack-lustre. to hear the best peformer of this role collect the recording with Donald Adams (1958, Decca or 1993, Telmarc) and/or Darrell Fancourt (1949, Decca - Ace of Clubs) Otherwise, enjoy this with recently found composer-autograph music sections, as a bonus.

This CD is about G&S's crown jewel: The Midado. The music is great. The musicianship is great.

Now we hear from the curmudgeon. I'm sure that there are those who could not care less if the CD came with or without a libretto. I happen NOT to be one of them. And unfortunately this album comes without one.

Gilbert's machine-gun poetry needs to be read at the time that Sullivan's music is being sung. For me, not having a libretto is like getting only half a loaf. Sullivan's music is sublime, but Gilbert's poetry needs to be read and savored. You can't do that without a libretto.

In this recording, Pooh-Bah (Malcolm Rivers) is the most entertaining voice to listen to, sounding extremely haughty, as he ought to, and all the songs which he sings in are my favorites on the CD. Also, though his part in this operetta is small, I also enjoyed Pish-Tush (Gareth Jones). However, I was quite disappointed with the performances of Ko-Ko (Eric Roberts), who sounded too confident with his excessive use of vibrato, and Nanki-Poo (Bonaventura Bottone), lacking the typical smooth tenor voice, thus mauling the "Wand'ring Minstrel."
Concerning the songs, Ko-Ko's "List" song was completely ruined; the third verse is replaced with text that is "contemporary," with references to yuppies, cell phones, and walkmans. Also, in the duet "Were you not to Ko-Ko Plighted," an extra verse with Yum-Yum is added in the beginning; though the booklet the CD comes with states this was cut from the original music, I didn't enjoy it very much. I also missed the kissing sounds.
In general, I didn't like this CD too much. Many of the songs are not pleasant to listen to because most of the singers treat the material as a serious opera.

This is the definitive Mikado, or at least as close as it gets. The voices are superb - Nanki-Poo in particular has a lovely strong tenor - the pacing excellent, and the diction clear. My only quibbles are the lack of dialogue and the "updating" of the list song. Although such modernization is usually tolerable in a live production, it is less forgivable in a recording. Verses about Walkmans may have been amusing in 1990, but in 2006 they are jarring rather than fresh. In a recording that will stand the test of time, I'd rather have the anachronisms of 1885 than 1985. (Minus the racism and anti-Semitism.) However, since most Mikados suffer from this flaw, it's best to overlook it here and focus on the rest of the songs, which are superbly executed.

Any doubts that Gilbert and Sullivan might be showing their age can be safely washed away by this magnificent new series of recordings by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. This performance of "The Mikado" comes up as fresh as paint, with sprightly, imaginative conducting from John Pryce-Jones and a glorious Yum Yum from Deborah Rees (no twittering operetta heroine this but a full voiced, womanly soprano whose Act Two aria sent shivers down my spine.) The whole cast is uniformly excellent, and that miraculous D'Oyly Carte chorus has the crispest diction I have ever heard. This whole cycle is a clear first choice for any G&S enthusiast.

This is a 1991 recording of a modern D'Oyly Carte Opera production of The Mikado. Although to me the ultimate version is the 1966-1967 film version starring John Reed, Donald Adams, Valerie Masterson and Phillip Potter, this is still a very enjoyable and excellent recording. Many have complained about the "modern" touch of adding new lyrics to Ko-Ko's "List Song". It is a different technique that can take away from the enjoyment of a classic light opera such as this one. But it still works for me. The Mikado is vintage Gilbert and Sullivan. Taking place in 1880's Japan, it is really a veiled satire of Victorian society. The plot revolves around Nanki Poo, the Mikado Emperor's son, and his love for Yum Yum. But since The Lord High Executioner Ko-Ko is in need of an execution, Nanki Poo volunteers with the condition that he is married to Yum Yum for a month. Further foils are Katisha, the elderly lady who wishes to marry Nanki Poo for herself and who vows revenge when she discovers betrayal. Being light opera, it has a happy ending for all the characters.

Eric Roberts is Ko-Ko in this recording, and along with other great names who have sung Ko-Ko, like John Reed and Richard Stuart, he is a great choice in the role. Debora Rees is a great Yum Yum, bright and bubbly, though nothing at all like the superior Valerie Masterson. Susan Gorton is a commanding and imperious Katisha, with a lot of fire in her voice and performance. Bonnaventura Bottone is Nanki Poo and does a good job. This is a great recording. I really enjoy this as a perfect compliment to the 1966 film version.

I have only recently come to light opera, and cannot therefore speak to the excellence of this performance The Mikado in reference to other recordings and other casts. However, it may be that some who read these reviews are looking for their first recording of the Mikado, and my impressions may have some relevance to such individuals.

There are, in my opinion, two major problems that confront the listener who is unfamiliar with this work: the lack of a libretto and the omission of the dialog. One should know better than to listen to an opera without first having gone through the libretto, mea culpa on that account; but it is in modern English, for crying out loud. I should be able to follow it. Not so, I fear. Omission of the dialog makes it difficult for one who does not know the opera by heart to follow the story. The modernized lyrics were also a source of puzzlement; did he say `yuppy'? The result is distraction. So if, like me, you are looking for your first recording of the Mikado, I submit that this one is lovely. But go to the web and download the libretto, and be prepared for the fact that large sections of the original text have been deleted and some of the lyrics have been changed, presumably to `modernize' the presentation. Once I got past these issues, I found this performance to be delightful.

I'll cut to the chase and assume you're familiar with the opera.

In most good performances I've attended, the runaway most entertaining character - and the best character in all of G&Sdom - is Koko. More than any other character, it is critical that he come off as energetic, neurotic, panicky, whiny, and above all else, hilarious. This Koko was weak, weak and bland. At times, I even had a hard time distinguishing between him and Nanki-Poo (the horror!). You can't have a weak Koko and a great opera together.

A smaller gripe, though one that's possibly understandable, is that Pooh-Bah likewise came off as bland, implying none of the conceit and pettyness we all (should) love him for. What makes this potentially understandable is that Pooh-Bah's strength is in the dialogue, which is not featured in this CD. Still, his "born smirking" attitude is not well conveyed in his singing, which is a shame.

Overall, I would rate this as an "average" Mikado. Everything else about the production was quite good, but without the dialogue, and with a weak Koko, there's really none of the humour that lies at the heart of The Mikado. It's still pleasant to listen to, but I cannot consider this to be a definitive version, unlike the similar D'Oyly Carte/John Pryce-Jones recordings of Pirates of Penzance and Iolanthe.

Well, the best thing about Amazon is the reviews posted for each item. I should've looked at the reviews before buying this one! It is a very well produced version/album, but I am a Gilbert & Sullivan purist and was displeased to see some of the lyrics changes. To find that "the Lady Novelist" had been taken of "The List" and replaced with someone else was horrifying! :)

If you're not a purist like me and some of the others here, this version is great, but I miss the original lyrics and I don't reccomend this album to others like me!