Gilbert & Sullivan: Princess Ida; Patter Songs

Gilbert & Sullivan (Composer), Isidore Godfrey (Conductor), New Symphony Orchestra of London (Orchestra), D'Oyly Carte Opera Company (Performer), Nelson Eddy (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, Nelson Eddy
• Orchestra: New Symphony Orchestra of London
• Conductor: Isidore Godfrey
• Composer: Gilbert & Sullivan
• Audio CD (May 22, 2007)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Avid Records UK
• ASIN: B000NTPDXW
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #321,728 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Mixed Savoyard Blessing., October 10, 2007

By 

David Cellitti (Las Vegas, NV USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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

Many decades ago the singer George Baker told me in an interview in the early 1970's that the reason he was asked by EMI to take over the comedy parts in the 1960's Malcolm Sargent Gilbert and Sullivan stereo recordings was because it was felt that Sir Geraint Evans, fine singer though he was, had failed to capture the spirit of the roles. The same case could be made against Nelson Eddy in his detour into the Savoy Operas. When noted Basso John Charles Thomas decided to let his hair down in the 1940's he did a recording of "When I was a Lad" for RCA that was startling, fresh and VERY un-D'Oyly Carte like. . Here Eddy hits all the notes and does his best to inject some "character" to some of the songs but it's all very workmanlike and pedestrian. I am no stranger to these recordings and I always felt they were nothing more than a curio, much like when Mae West took on Grand Opera by doing a scene from "Samson et Dalila" in "Goin' to Town".

At about the same time that I got an audience with singer George Baker I was also able to spend a little time with the D'Oyly Carte soprano Muriel Harding. Even decades later she was wistful about the fact that when Bridget D'Oyly Carte revived "Princess Ida" in the mid-1950's she was passed over for the title part in favor of Sadler Wells artist Victoria Sladen. Although she eventually did play the part on stage she was saddened that she never was able to commit the part for posterity on record. This re-release only adds to that wistfulness when I was reminded how delightful she is in the comparatively small role of Lady Psyche and how wooden Ms. Sladen sounds in the principal part. Ms. Sladen was originally brought on board to "punch-up" the "importance" of the "Ida" revival, but on record the concept backfires.

As I said in my comments for the re-release of first complete D'Oyly Carte "The Sorcerer", some may prefer the sonics of the later recording but point-by-point they each have their delights and drawbacks. Elizabeth Harwood's Ida on the stereo version is certainly heads above Sladen's, but who can resist Peter Pratt's wonderfully sardonic King Gama on the mono version? Thomas Round or Philip Potter as Hilarion? Ya got me brother! It's a matter of taste. The deciding factor for me in going with this earlier effort is Isidore Godfrey's sprightly conducting. Sir Malcolm Sargent tended to slow tempi down to a snails pace on his later Savoy efforts, and here he reins in numbers where he should let them loose and gallop.

And the Nelson Eddy recordings? I'm glad to have them for historical reasons on a remastered CD and I suppose the true Gilbert and Sullivan afficinado should have them in their library if only for the sake of completeness.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars More's the pity..., December 30, 2009

By 

Plantagenet1485 (USA) - See all my reviews

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

What a shame! This is a splendid version of Princess Ida regardless of the "bad press" that Victoria Sladen's Ida has generated. The overall production is sprightly, with generally spirited singing and conducting. The sound, moreover, is very well remastered by Avid, and is much cleaner and brighter than the other muddy masterings that I have heard. The tempi never drag as Sir Malcolm Sargent's tempi do in his "Ida."

However--I have listened to three different copies of this CD, and each one has a defect at about the 12 minute 15 second mark in the finale of Act two. At about this point on each of my three copies the CD mistracks and/or miscues and leads to some noticeable distortion for about 30 seconds or so. For those of us who care about such things-admittedly not everyone-it tends to ruin what is one of the highlights of the opera. I purchased these CDs at different times and notified Amazon U.K. about this. I can only assume that there was some distortion in the master, or that Avid allowed a batch of defective CDs to be pressed and sold. If they did such a splendid job on the rest of the CD, how could they miss this and not clean it up?

If this does not bother you, then this CD is recommended. I have listened to other masterings that do not contain the distortion that I have alluded to above, and so I cannot look lightly on Avid allowing these pressings to be sold "New" in such condition. Caveat emptor.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars too little of Nelson!, July 6, 2007

By 

Thomas B. Schwartz "nelson fan" (Muncie, in United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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

The patter songs of Nelson Eddy are performed flawlessly; however, it is misleading in the title. ONe thinks that ALL of the music on this cd is by Nelson Eddy and it's not. Too bad as his interpretations are by far the finest recordings of G & S which are available. Amazon should tell the readers that.