Operas of Gilbert and Sullivan [Box set, Extra tracks]

D'Oyly Carte Opera Company (Artist), Arthur Sullivan (Composer), W.S. Gilbert (Composer), Charles Mackerras (Conductor), Stanford Robinson (Conductor), George Weldon (Conductor), Isidore Godfrey (Conductor), BBC Theatre Orchestra (Orchestra), D'Oyly Carte Opera Orchestra (Orchestra), Sadler's Wells Opera Orchestra (Orchestra), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), Deidree Thurlow (Performer), Alan Styler (Performer), Geoffrey Sanders (Performer), Enid Walsh (Performer), Ann Drummond-Grant (Performer), Darrell Fancourt (Performer), Donald Harris (Performer), Ella Halman (Performer), Fisher Morgan (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Deidree Thurlow, Alan Styler, Geoffrey Sanders, Enid Walsh, Ann Drummond-Grant, et al.
• Orchestra: BBC Theatre Orchestra, D'Oyly Carte Opera Orchestra, Sadler's Wells Opera Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Charles Mackerras, Stanford Robinson, George Weldon, Isidore Godfrey
• Composer: Arthur Sullivan, W.S. Gilbert
• Audio CD (April 20, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 10
• Format: Box set, Extra tracks
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Avid (City Hall)
• ASIN: B0001E5U8C
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #69,952 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

78 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not the best sung but among the best in characterization, July 8, 2005

By 

F. Behrens "Frank Behrens" (Keene, NH USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Operas of Gilbert and Sullivan (Audio CD)

Between 1949 and 1951, the D'Oyly Carte Company was very busy recording nine of the Gilbert & Sullivan works onto mono LPs for the Decca label (or the London, as it was known over here), with comic lead Martyn Green in all but "Trial By Jury." After he left the company, Green was supplanted by Peter Pratt, who recorded the comic lead roles in "The Sorcerer" and "Princess Ida." All of these have waited a long time to appear on CDs and several companies have taken advantage of the copyright lapse to issue them at very high prices and at least one at very budget ones.


But now I find that all of the 1949-1951 sets are available on the Avid Entertainment label as a boxed set of 10 discs (AMSC 780-789). To keep things compact, the Avid people unavoidably had to place on the same disc Act I of one opera after Act II of the one before. There is also orchestral bonus material towards the end including orchestral selections from "Pinafore" and "Yeomen of the Guard," Sullivan's salute to the dance "Overture Di Ballo," and the entire score of the G&S-based ballet "Pineapple Poll."


Green is good and even better are the bottomless basso of Richard Watson, the most famous Mikado of them all Darrell Fancourt, and the sympathetic contralto of Ella Halman. Only tenor Leonard Osborne does not come over very well on recordings, although he was very good on stage. No true "Savoyard" will want to be without this collection.


Those who are perfectly happy with less will want "Gilbert & Sullivan: Highlights and Overtures" (AMSC 800), a double-CD set in which there are 27 selections from the complete recordings and the 9 overtures, plus "Overture Di Ballo." A great starter kit to introduce newcomers to the magic of the G&S team.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good collection, but not all it could or should be, September 1, 2011

By 

Caroline938 - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Operas of Gilbert and Sullivan (Audio CD)

This is a good collection, and for those of us who are most familiar with Martyn Green as the comic tenor, rather than his successor John Reed, it's wonderful to hear him and the cast of that generation again. Though later D'Oyly Carte recordings have been very fine, they have also included all the dialogue, and I have always found that intrusive and a bit annoying. These never did, and I'm enjoying that as well. I do have a few issues.

First, my impression is that the tempi are just a shade fast--not enough to change the pitches, but enough to shave minutes off a ten-CD set, and since I know the original recordings so well, I can be fairly certain that they were not THAT fast when the tracks were first laid down. The time between numbers can be measured in nanoseconds, which is fine, but a little disconcerting. I understand the desire to get the whole set on ten CDs, but the speed, and the fact that most of the operettas start midway through one CD and finish on the next one, are clearly decisions made for reasons having to do with marketing--not love of or appreciation for the operettas themselves. The decision to include Pineapple Poll and several orchestral numbers is a sad trade-off for the absence of the duet between Sergeant Meryll and Dame Carruthers ("Ghastly, ghastly!"), and the complete exclusion of Princess Ida, surely one of the most musically sophisticated, if lesser-known works in the canon.

I gave this set four stars, and in all honesty, half a star was probably for nostalgia value. That's not to say it's not a good set, and I have been waiting for many years for someone to reissue these old recordings, with Martyn Green, Ann Drummond-Grant, Darrell Fancourt,and others who made those early recordings so wonderful. I think that the music is fine (if fast).

The set, as a whole, appears to have been put together by people who do not know or love the operettas, the performers, the company, or the context in which they all came together, and that is very, very obvious. Skillfully, lovingly done, this would be a collector's item, and I'd pay twice the money for it.

17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best; done by the original company!, January 7, 2009

By 

H. W. Dixon "Cranky One" (Pensacola, Fl.) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Operas of Gilbert and Sullivan (Audio CD)

Absolutely the best versions of Gilbert & Sullivan, because it is by the original company, D'Orly Carte. And the tempo is a bit slower on the ones I have listened to,(compared to later versions) which is great, because the lyrics are easier to understand. Well worth the price!