Gilbert & Sullivan: Princess Ida [Original recording remastered]

Arthur Sullivan (Composer), Malcolm Sargent (Conductor), Charles Goulding (Performer), Darrell Fancourt (Performer), Derek Oldham (Performer), Dorothy Gill (Performer), Edward Halland (Performer), George Baker (Performer), Nellie Briercliffe (Performer), Richard Watson (Performer), Stuart Robertson (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Charles Goulding, Darrell Fancourt, Derek Oldham, Dorothy Gill, Edward Halland, et al.
• Conductor: Malcolm Sargent
• Composer: Arthur Sullivan
• Audio CD (November 20, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Pearl
• ASIN: B00005Q635
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #476,150 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Overture

2. Search Throughout The Panorama

3. Now Hearken To My Strict Command

4. Today We Meet, My Baby Bride And I

5. From The Distant Panorama

6. We Are Warriors Three

7. If You Give Me Your Attention

8. Perhaps If You Address The Lady

9. Come, Cyril, Florian, Our Course Is Plain

10. Towards The Empyrean Heights

11. Mighty Maiden With A Mission

12. Minerva! Minerva! O Hear Me!

13. Gently, Gently

14. I Am A Maiden Cold And Stately

15. The World Is But A Broken Toy

16. A Lady Fair, Of Lineage High

17. The Woman Of The Wisest Wit

18. Now Wouldn't You Like To Rule The Roost

19. Merrily Ring The Luncheon Bell

20. Would You Know The Kind Of Maid

See all 30 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Remastered 1932 "Princess Ida", August 14, 2005

By 

L. E. Cantrell (Vancouver, British Columbia Canada) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Gilbert & Sullivan: Princess Ida (Audio CD)

Source: Studio recording made in London by HMV, September 26 to October 27, 1932.

Sound: This performance is over seventy years old. It is the second complete and the first electrical recording of "Princess Ida." It is not and never will be equal in clarity to a digital recording. Live with it! This reconstruction is based on 78 rpm sides in near-pristine condition from the American edition of the original album.

It is apparently Pearl's remastering policy to preserve performance quality by holding digital tweaking of background noises to a minimum. The result is a certain amount of low-level background crackle. The crackle is most noticeable in the first part of the overture, the side (of the original album of about twenty 78 rpm sides) that was most likely to be played. In other places the crackle is very much less apparent. With a little bit of goodwill, the crackle can be ignored entirely. For those not familiar with how good state-of-the-art recording techniques were in the 1930s, it will come as a pleasant shock to find that this "Ida" sounds very like something on a mono Lp from the 1950s.

A notable difference in the soundscape of this recording from more modern efforts is the relationship of the principal singers with the chorus. I think it probable that the principals were arranged in a semi-circle around the microphone, with the chorus arrayed in ranks behind them. In the big ensemble numbers, soloists are given thereby a somewhat excessive prominence against the chorus.

Pearl's remastering does extend to correcting the sound roll-off that afflicts the ends of many 78 rpm sides. Although I am not so obsessive as to sit at a piano with a tuning fork at hand while listening to this set, I think that this CD version is in correct pitch throughout (as 78s often were not.)

Text: This recording reflects the performance practice of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company at the time. Lady Blanche's song, "Come Mighty Must," is omitted. "Whom Thou Hast Chained" is slightly abridged. A fanfare and a brief duplicate of a women's chorus are not included. WARNING FOR THE EASILY SHOCKED: Historically accurate but distinctly non-PC lyrics, changed in all subsequent recordings and in current performance practice, are present on this disk.

Format: One disk with thirty tracks. Playing time is just under 74 minutes.

Principal performers: King Hildebrand - Richard Watson; Hilarion - Derek Oldham; Cyril - Charles Goulding; Florian - George Baker; King Gama - Sir Henry Lytton; Arac - Darrell Fancourt; Princess Ida - Muriel Dickson; Lady Blanche - Dorothy Gill; Melissa - Nellie Briercliffe. Conductor: Malcolm Sargent

This is not quite a recording of the D'Oyly Carte Company, the performing company founded by Gilbert, Sullivan and their producer, Carte. Most of the soloists were DOC Company members, but emphatically not George Baker and two women in small solo roles, who were tame performers for HMV. (Baker appeared in precisely one staged performance of G&S in his entire life--and that after he had retired!)

Those of you who are familiar with the cut and thrust of G&S fandom will know that there is wide and passionate disagreement on the merits of each recorded performance and every performer. I shall say no more than that this cast is widely accepted as a good one and regarded by some as the best of all. The cast mostly consists of the second and third generation the DOC Company, whose stars were Derek Oldham, Darrell Fancourt, Dorothy Gill and Nellie Briercliffe. The main exception is Sir Henry Lytton--imagine, being knighted for G&S!--who appears here in his final recording. He was a great star of his day and had been hired by W. S. Gilbert with approval by Arthur Sullivan for the chorus of the first run of "Princess Ida" about fifty years earlier.

All the singers display to a greater or lesser extent the effects of English vocal training. It should be noted that English accents in the 1930s were considerably more English than they are today.

This performance was conducted By Malcolm Sargent, who would conduct an entire series of stereo recordings of the G&S comic operas in the 1960s. His later recordings would be widely criticized for lugubrious tempos, but this one is blazingly fast, quite the fastest of the D'Oyly Carte recordings of "Ida."

This is a good show in a good performance in surprisingly good sound. Five stars.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vintage G&S, October 14, 2004

By 

Paul A. Gerard (Australia) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Gilbert & Sullivan: Princess Ida (Audio CD)

The sound quality is actually very good for the period (it is a thirties recording for goodness' sake). I bought this item in spite of the remarks from other reviewers and was very agreeably surprised. Not "modern" quality mind you, but very well re-mastered.

Sargent takes this fine score at a crackling pace - and emphasises the vigour and humour of the music rather than its lyrical beauty. In his later (1965) recording he reversed this interpretation - which is more satisfying is largely a matter of taste.

The play itself has dated in a way that the Mikado, for instance, has not - but many of the songs are very funny, and the music is Sullivan near his peak.

Especially if you don't mind listening to older recordings - snap this one up - as the chances of it being released again are probably slim! Otherwise hunt up a copy of the 1965 version - this is also well remastered (and is obviously much closer to modern sound quality) and gives Sullivan (as opposed to Gilbert) a slightly better go.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quite enjoyable, December 30, 2002

By 

Bingo Little (Brinkly court) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gilbert & Sullivan: Princess Ida (Audio CD)

To me, this is a very special cd. And of course it's scratchy, considering how old it is and how long it was probebly in some old damp storage room. It has a certain rustic charm very typical of the period. It's quite magical to hear all the old performers in one of my favorite G&S opera's. I recomend this to the g&s collector.