Customer Reviews

Gilbert & Sullivan: Yeomen of the Guard; Trial By Jury

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

 

 

This 1964 recording, coupled with Trial by Jury is a superb release. The chorus, orchestra and soloists are uniformely superb. Sir Malcolm Sargent encourages the best of performances from the cast and although he is known for particularly slow tempi in his conducting, this is not so here. The cast is a complete success, even though Decca engaged the services of the late, but gloriously voiced Elizabeth Harwood as Elsie Maynard. Ann Hood, at the time the soubrette, was the former soprano lead for the company and to my ears seems a little laboured in the lower register. But, this is a minor point and this should not detract you from buying what is the 'grandest' of D'Oyly Carte performances. The smaller operetta Trial by Jury is a 'show-case' cast and not the regular performing cast for of the time. But, what would have a threatrical experience with this troupe have been like ? Wonderful, that's for sure. When this recording of Trial by Jury was originally released in 1964, it was coupled with excerpts of Utopia Limited. At that time the thirteenth Savoy Opera was not performed professionally, until during the centenary performances of the D'Oyly Carte in 1975. It is a shame that these excerpts are not available on the current market, for my memory of them was of style and affectionate performance. But back to 'Yeoman', go for it and re-live one of the 'Golden' periods of The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company history.

Yeoman is a curiosity. It isn't quite what used to be called "grand opera." It is perhaps better described as "grand operetta." But much of the music here is operatic -- soaring, noble, passionate, with superb vocal scoring. I've always thought that Sullivan sort of dragged Gilbert into new territory with this show.

The recording here has much to recommend it. The conducting is sensitive, with some pokey tempi. The orchestral and choral work is superb and remarkably clear on disc. The singers perform with gusto. I particularly appreciate how accomplished and how "deep" this cast is, even the characters with limited solo time, make their dramatic and musical presences felt. And some of this score is challenging to sing.

This is a D'Oyly Carte recording, which means that it is more sung than acted and there is a certain hide-bound, traditional approach to things. And, typically, the roles of young "maidens" are sung by women who sound like they might just be old enough to have been married. For a while.

And then there is Jack Point. A great role. A role different from the other Grossmith parts. The pivotal role in the show. Darkly comic. A thinker and an outsider. A character built from a Shakespearean model, with an edge, a point. John Reed as Point has nothing to offer in this recording. His vocal presence is slight. He is out-sung and out-acted by every other cast member. Yes, he can spit out patter. However, Yeoman is substantially different than the rest of the G&S canon and requires a different approach in some respects. We don't get it in this recording and we certainly don't get it from Mr. Reed.

The Yeomen of the Guard is Gilbert and Sullivan's only genuine opera. The rest of their operettas, while completely wonderful, are simply too lighthearted to count as operas.

And D'Oyly Carte gets the job done. The most important Men's role is that of Jack, sung very well by John Reed. After all, if you go to a performance of this opera, you'll be humming, no, whistling "I have a song to sing" on the way home.

The difficult role of Phoebe is admirably performed by Ann Hood, who also plays the Plaintiff in the farcical "Trial By Jury." And she does a fine job with "When maiden loves, she sits and sighs," and "Were I thy bride."

But the key to this opera has to be Carruthers, superbly played by Gillian Knight. We hear her at her best, malicious, satisfied, and proud as she sings:

"The screw may twist and the rack may turn
And men may bleed and men may burn ..."

At this point, we aren't exactly wondering about which lucky guy will get to marry her.

And after she is thwarted in her efforts to kill a completely innocent man, we hear her again, in ultimate fury, as she belts out the most ridiculously shocking and dramatic four words in all of Gilbert and Sullivan:

"Pretty warders are ye!"

The intensity of these words sets the stage for the bizarre final act and provides the first suggestion that evil will indeed triumph over good in this story.

Knight, um, spreads her pall once more, running the gamut of emotions by showing her joy at the end of the opera as things turn out her way.

All in all, an excellent performance.

The Yeomen of the Guard competes closely with Princess Ida as being the most operatic of Gilbert and Sullivan's works. Although the three most popular G&S operas are HMS Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, and The Mikado, the three of the greatest quality musically would be Iolanthe, Yeomen of the Guard, and one other--perhaps Ruddigore. All of the operas are wonderful, each with its own different flavor. Yeomen is the saddest of them all, though it is not truly a tragic opera (this is more apparent in the dialogue). Anyway, on to the actual recording.

John Reed is a perfect Jack Point. He does very well (see his Act 2 song and "I have a song to sing, O") I only wish this recording included dialogue, but Sargent was not wont to do such a thing, and never did throughout his long and distinguished career (to my knowledge). Reed's display of emotion does not overdo the drama nor underplay it, though he would have been perfect for the dialogue. Really, Point is the role most fitted to Reed. Point or Ko-Ko (but that's another story). The other principles also do very well. Donald Adams is in good form as usual, though he does not have too much to do in this opera as Sergeant Meryll. Philip Potter is an outstanding Colonel Fairfax, a tenor of the highest order. Elizabeth Harwood as Elsie, Ann Hood as Phoebe Meryll, and Gillian Knight as Dame Carruthers all sing finely. Kenneth Sanford makes a perfect Wilfred Shadbolt, demonstrating the roughness of a jailer without singing like one. The recorded sound is kind to all their voices, as it is to the choral singing, which is also outstanding.

The worst thing about this recording is the lack of dialogue, but regardless a libretto can be downloaded from The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive and read between numbers (it helps, believe me). There is currently no alternative with dialogue, excepting Sir Neville Marriner's recording with heavily abridged dialogue and the 1982 Brent Walker/Opera World video, which excludes six numbers on account of time restraints. (As a side note, the present performance includes a song for Dame Carruthers and Sergeant Meryll, "Rapture, rapture," that is often omitted.)

I have not mentioned the filler as of yet. Trial by Jury is a delightful work well up to the standards of later operas in many ways (though this one is more of an operetta). Often you may read (as in this volume) that a recording includes "Trial by Jury, without dialogue." This is something of a misnomer, since Trial by Jury is the only of the G&S operas not to have any dialogue whatsoever. It is all words set to music.

The cast for this work is just as strong as for Yeomen of the Guard. Thomas Round makes himself the perfect Defendant. Though only he and Anthony Raffell would actually perform this work on tour when this recording was made, this performance includes many of the big names from the D'Oyly Carte opera company of those days. John Reed makes a fine learned judge; Kenneth Sandford (as the Counsel for the Plaintiff) and Donald Adams (as The Usher) fill their roles in a similarly convincing manner. The only female principle is the Plaintiff, and Ann Hood adapts as well to this role as she did to Phoebe Meryll (though her sobs after the Cousel's song is a bit contrived). Isidore Godfrey conducts this work, and does it very, very well. The music glows, making this one of the best Trial by Jury's available.

Overall, this recording fully deserves five stars. As in all the Decca recordings of this series, a synopsis for both works is included. If you like any of the other Gilbert and Sullivan Operas, you will most certainly like The Yeomen of the Guard and Trial by Jury.

'Tis true as other customers have stated that this is the definitive 1964 recording of what I personally consider Sullivan's masterpiece and Sir Malcolm Sargent's tempo is spot on. I own 8 different recording's of "Yeomen" ,and this is the one I always come back to, so trust me in that this is the one to buy.