Gilbert & Sullivan: Ruddigore

Arthur Sullivan (Composer), Simon Phipps (Conductor), Sadler's Wells Opera Orchestra (Orchestra), David Hillman (Performer), Gordon Sandison (Performer), Joan Davies (Performer), John Ayldon (Performer), Linda Ormiston (Performer), Marilyn Hill Smith (Performer), Thomas Lawlor (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: David Hillman, Gordon Sandison, Joan Davies, John Ayldon, Linda Ormiston, et al.
• Orchestra: Sadler's Wells Opera Orchestra
• Conductor: Simon Phipps
• Composer: Arthur Sullivan
• Audio CD (March 14, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Jay Records
• ASIN: B00004NKHU
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #282,458 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Ruddigore (The Witch's Curse), operetta: Overture - New Sadler's Wells Orch/Simon Phipps

2. Ruddigore (The Witch's Curse), operetta: Fair is Rose - Alexandra Hann/New Sadler's Wells Chor/Valda Plucknett

3. Ruddigore (The Witch's Curse), operetta: Sir Rupert Murgatroyd his Leisure - Joan Davies/New Sadler's Wells Chor/Valda Plucknett

4. Ruddigore (The Witch's Curse), operetta: If Somebody There Chanced to be - Marilyn Hill Smith

5. Ruddigore (The Witch's Curse), operetta: I Know a Youth - Marilyn Hill Smith/Gordon Sandison

6. Ruddigore (The Witch's Curse), operetta: From the Briny Sea - David Hillman/New Sadler's Wells Chor/Valda Plucknett

7. Ruddigore (The Witch's Curse), operetta: Hornpipe - New Sadler's Wells Orch/Simon Phipps

8. Ruddigore (The Witch's Curse), operetta: My Boy You May Take it from Me - Gordon Sandison

9. Ruddigore (The Witch's Curse), operetta: The Battle's Roar is Over - Marilyn Hill Smith/Gordon Sandison

10. Ruddigore (The Witch's Curse), operetta: If Well his Suit had Sped - New Sadler's Wells Chor/Valda Plucknett

See all 16 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Ruddigore (The Witch's Curse), operetta: I Once as Meek - Gordon Sandison/John Ayldon

2. Ruddigore (The Witch's Curse), operetta: Happily Coupled are we - Marilyn Hill Smith/David Hillman/New Sadler's Wells Chor/Valda Plucknett

3. Ruddigore (The Witch's Curse), operetta: In Bygone Days - Marilyn Hill Smith/New Sadler's Wells Chor/Valda Plucknett

4. Ruddigore (The Witch's Curse), operetta: Painted Emblems

5. Ruddigore (The Witch's Curse), operetta: When the Night Wind Howls

6. Ruddigore (The Witch's Curse), operetta: He Yields

7. Ruddigore (The Witch's Curse), operetta: Away Remorse

8. Ruddigore (The Witch's Curse), operetta: I was Once a Very

9. Ruddigore (The Witch's Curse), operetta: My Eyes are Fully Open

10. Ruddigore (The Witch's Curse), operetta: Melodrame

See all 12 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sullivan's masterpiece?, December 10, 2002

By 

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

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

Ruddigore in its original form was considered in rather poor taste (in Victorian London) although after a few cuts in act 2, and a discreet change of name, it went on to a very respectable first run. Gilbert is supposed to have said "We could do with a few more failures like this!". Theatre goers at the time quite enjoyed it when they got over the initial disappointment that it wasn't another "Mikado". The sequences where the ancestors descend from their frames have always been difficult to stage successfully, and by all accounts the original production did the switch very unconvincingly. And the whole idea of a spoof on melodrama is, of course, dated and rather corny - in fact even at the time it fell a bit flat.

None of this should have anything to do with purchasing the CD - because this is very simply Sullivan's most glorious score - in my view only Iolanthe and Yeomen come close. Possible weaknesses in the play (I must admit I have never had a chance to see it staged) are simply irrelevant - the music is so absolutely spine tinglingly GOOD.

In my view the performances are excellent - and the recording quality superb. Beats my old vinyl hands down (and this is far from true of all G&S CDs I have known).

The "spookiness" of the ghost scenes, that another reviewer here complains of, is perhaps a little under done - but then you have to remember it is after all supposed to be a spoof!! Too heavy a hand here can kill the humor stone dead. In fact one of the complaints against the very first production was just that - and apparently some "overly-serious" music was cut from these scenes in order to lighten them up a bit.

My only real disapointment is that the original overture (by Hamilton Clarke) is substituted for the later one by Geoffrey Toye. In theory it's good to get back to an opera's first form I suppose - the snag is that the Toye overture is a much better integrated piece of music. A shame Sullivan didn't write his own - but of course he usually didn't. Fortunately I have a recording of the Toye overture so I can listen to that first instead if I like.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Critical praise, May 4, 2002

By 

Erik M-H "erikmh" (Cabot, VT USA) - See all my reviews

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

I have not yet heard this recording yet. However, I thought it would be useful for potential purchasers to know the following:

This record is the chosen recommended version of Ruddigore by both The Penquin Best Classical CD Guide and The Gramophone Good Classical CD Guide.

It was also rated five stars (top rating) at the Gilbert and Sullivan Discography web site, with the comment "It is rare that one recording of an opera so towers over the others that there can be no dispute over its superiority.... In my view, this is the one Ruddigore recording to have."

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of G&S' best! (but aren't they all?), March 19, 2005

By 

Pitti-Sing (Titipu, Japan) - See all my reviews

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

According to the booklet, after Ruddigore's first, reletively unsuccesful performance, Sullivan made some musical changes to the score including "the replacement of an Act Two patter song ["For Thirty-Five Years," as heard on the CD] with another of the same genre ["Henceforth All The Crimes"]. It was probably during this period of post-premiere pruning, too, that the Ghost Scene lost a good deal of more solemn music and strophic second verses to a couple of other settings were cut." The potential customer should be aware of this so that he will not feel a little cheated (as I did) at being given the original, unadulterated version, as opposed to the usual one.

That aside, let me tell you how grand this CD is. It has a different feel to it than the D'Oyly Carte productions, but perhaps I'm just paranoid. The singers are VERY good. Rose is Rose is Rose is Rose - snobbish and cute, slim and trim and prim. Dame Hanna is WONDERFUL, and it would be a crime if she weren't. Her voice is creamy and smooth, a slightly humorous but mellow contralto, perfect for "There Grew A Little Flower." Anne Collins couldn't have done better (and that's high praise from me!). Robin & Richard are both fine, though Richard, peculiarly enough, puts on an American accent for "I shipp'd, d'ya see." Some reviewers have hinted that Mad Margaret was not mad enough; I defy this. She's plenty mad and her "To A Garden Full Of Posies" will have the listener in tears. Also, I wouldn't have minded piling on the creepiness of "When The Night Wind Howls" and I WOULD like to hear Donald Adams sing it, but this guy gets it pretty good.

If your G&S is limited to "Pinafore," "Mikado," and "Penzance," try this as a change. Then try "Yeomen" - a little less melodrama and more real feeling. Both are pearls too little worn.