Customer Reviews

The Pirates of Penzance

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When Decca decided to re-record the G&S operas they could not have chosen a better time to capture a superlative company. D'Oyly Carte were at their zenith in the 1960's and to hear such stalwarts as Donald Adams, Philip Potter, Valerie Masterson and John Reed together on a full recording is a chance not to be missed. John Reed would not have performed the role of Major General Stanley at the this point in his career, but his inclusion is obviously the 'selling' point. Owen Brannigan, as Sergeant of Police never performed with the company and was again an 'attraction' to buyers. He was noted for the more (dare we state) serious opera world and concert platform. When I first heard his rendition of the part I was not at all sure of his style. But, one cannot deny his individuality of performance which does, I must agree enhance the overall casting and performance quality. Just thrill at the lyricism of Philip Potter, surely the best tenor since Derek Oldham (1920's-30's). His dialogue I feel is too precious, but what glorious singing. He is certainly the singer to listen to for style and delivery of Gilbert and Sullivan melodies. Donald Adams gives a vintage performance, while Christene Palmer, as Ruth is superbly characterful. Go on, buy and relish such a wonderful, historical account.

Even though the 1968 D'Oyly Carte stereo remake of PIRATES has been highly praised by its fans, I don't really think that this is a performance with lasting freshness. Firstly, John Reed, who is easily the selling part of this record, gives an impressive portrayal of the Major-General, but his voice is rather stale. And so is Donald Adamss in his vintage portrayal of the Pirate King. I have a strong feeling that he will be sounding better on the 1958 D'Oyly Carte recording. Philip Potter's Frederic and Valerie Masterson's Mabel make a pair of lovers that sound like ear candy, though I am sure to prefer Thomas Round's portrayal on the earlier set. Another selling point is Owen Brannigan's Sergeant of Police, with its highly special and individual portrayal, whose inclusion seems to be a little awkward. The chorus and orchestra, as always, are well-disciplined, with Godfrey adding his usual light glossy touch, even despite the cramped accoustics. Overall, I feel certain to recommend this to any Savoyard despite its faults, and I look forward to Decca (Polygram) reissuing the earlier 1958 stereo version on CD.

Pirates is ideal as a first taste of Gilbert and Sullivan as it is light hearted and funny too! The songs are extremely memorable and carry you along throughout until the end when you suddenly realise that you really want to listen to it all over again!

For newbies: *Pirates* is indeed one of the most pleasurable of the G&S shows. While not the most satirical, not the most ambitious, it is perhaps the most perfectly realized. Particular treat: wonderful music and lyrics for the chorus.

For newbies: the D-Carte Company produced the premieres of the G&S operettas with Gilbert and Sullivan. Until some point well into the 20th c (1980's?) the company performed and recorded the repertory. Thus, there is a rare historical cachet to anything D-Carte.

The Good on this recording: a sly, sonorous, and expressive Police Sgt; sensitive duet singing by Frederick and Mabel; anchoring tempi; a strong chorus.

The Bad on this recording: J. Reed as Major-General is really hard for me to listen to...his instrument is dreadful AND he manages to not be amusing. On the whole I think sounds as if the cast has been performing this show for decades. There is dignity here, but little light or life. I'm not looking for some tarted-up reimagining, but it all strikes me as stodgy.

This past March, I went on a shopping ripper and finally decided to start listening to and buying some music I, at 53 post 6 heart stints, just never took the time to stop and appreciate. Everything Gilbert and Sullivan was at the top of that list. Been singing, doing music and community theater for years, so the names of Gilbert and Sullivan are very familiar to me. I also saw Topsy Turvy a few years ago, loved it. This Isidore Godfrey D'Oyle Carte recordings, analog though they are, are simply astounding. One of the nicest things about this 1968 performance is a practical one. I can hear every word and every syllable. What some other listeners may have characterized as stodgy, I would attribute to gleefully PERFECT diction. I am chortling with joy. There is absolutely nothing uninspired about these performance. I don't have to sit with a libretto (which doesn't come with the set) to understand what is happening. Also, with this version you get the unsung dialogue, which, if you are not familiar with the story, you actually need to understand plot and what is happening on stage. I say "stage" deliberately because the engineers use stereo sound stage to recreate what you might hear in the theater minus all the shuffling around. Front row seat of course.

Comparisons to digital? I have a really top notch system. Nice when you have perfect source material. Sometimes a pain when you're dealing with analog recordings with inherent tape hiss. The point is I hear everything, whether I want to hear it or not. Folks, I don't know how they folks at Decca/London did it, but the sound it so clear, virtually no hiss, rich and full bodied sound. I am talking goose bumps. You experience every nuance of emotion, frivolity, and it makes it so much easier to get into the spirit of things. And even if I boost the treble, listening through speakers vice headphones...no hiss. G&S were not only the Rodgers and Hammerstein of their day, they were the Lennon and McCartney too. Gilbert could write a book and do pop lyrics. Paired with Sir Arthur's music, the songs are catchy, fun, and often absolutely gorgeous.

The performers are all appropriately over-the-top, but even without the visuals, they communicate the melodrama and the humor, musically of course. The attention to diction and clarity of sound never overpowers to drama of the performance. I agree with another reviewer that calls out the Police Sergeant, performed by Owen Brannigan. He is funny, quick witted, with one of the finest voices in this performance. I also enjoyed hearing Christine Palmer as the aging Ruth. What a pill. But the real star of this recording are the men and women of the D'Oyle Carte Opera Company Chorus. Luscious, clear as a bell, using dynamics musicianship, and collective acting skills to get something across that Mackerras doesn't do nearly as well. The drama of the thing.

If you want a fine recording of the music, the Telarc recording is great. If you want to get into Pirates - and give it a committed listen, this is a wonderful investment. And from what I can tell, the other Godfrey recordings are all this good. Yes, in the performers pre Olivia Hussey's appearance in Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet weren't always age appropriate, but man oh man, could they sing. Highly recommend.

The Pirates of Penzance was the second of Gilbert and Sullivan's most popular operas. The D'Oyly Carte Company recorded this opera in 1957 (I do believe), but without dialogue. Though by this time the Company had forsaken the habit of recording dialogue, this recording and the later account of HMS Pinafore are two happy exceptions, particularly this one. The casting, the conducting, and the recording are all excellent.

There is quite a starry lineup for this opera. John Reed takes the role of the Major General, one of his strongest roles, though he only recorded it this one time. (Listen to the audio clip of his Act I song to see what I mean.) Valerie Masterson makes the perfect Mabel, throwing off "Poor wand'ring one" with unbelievable ease. Hers remains one of the finest voices the Company ever had (she even looked like Mabel). She is matched well by Philip Potter, who, along with Thomas Round, was the best Gilbert and Sullivan Tenor of the Stereo Era. The present Sergeant of Police deserves special notice. Bass Owen Brannigan played the role in Sir Malcom Sargent's recording of Pirates, but appears here as a sort of guest artist. Brannigan, as the Penguine guide says, "was surely born to play the Sergeant of Police in the Pirates of Penzance." Take a few spins through his Act 2 song, "When a felon's not engaged in his employment," and you'll see what they mean. This the last recording Donald Adams made with the company, and he sounds just as fine as in any other recording he sang in. His sumptuous Bass-Baritone voice works incredibly well as the Pirate King. Even Kate and Edith are fine. I do not find Christine Palmer's voice as pleasant on record as Gillian Knight, Jill Pert, or Ann Collins (the fabulous Contralto of the Brent Walker video series), but she is still a very good Ruth.

This is Isidore Godfrey's last recording (1968), but he is still as full of his characteristic verve as he was in the 50's. The Major General's song (with perfect diction by Reed) is performed excitingly by the orchestra, with real panache. This is exemplary of the general treatment given Sullivan's orchestration here. None of the slow tempi that characterize Sargent's later recordings can be found in this set.

As for the recording, it is of the highest quality and is well up to Decca's standards. The recording quality contains none of the distortion found in the 1971 HMS Pinafore mentioned above, and is worlds better than the Mono of the previous decades. In short, it is very true to the original performance.

A couple minor notes: One oddity is that the Act I finale is pushed onto the second disc, though it could fit easily onto the first one. (I think this is on account of how the original LP was laid out; they wanted to duplicate it.) Also, the cover picture, the original LP art, is not the best, but it is the music that counts. One small cut can be found in the dialogue. Gilbert's gag after the Major General's song is trimmed down a bit, but with positive results. The joke outlives its welcome if done in extended form, and is performed convincingly as it is here.

This is top choice, all things considered. No better stereo version has been offered, and there is no sign of it being outdone for some time. Unless you do not want dialogue, this is the way to go.

This 1968 studio recording is out of stock. There is another recording which is the same as this one with a pirate on the cover holding a sword between his teeth. That recording is in the market at Amazon.com and seems to enjoy more popularity. Truthfully, it's the same as this album. The same cast of singers (Phillip Potter, Valerie Masterson, Donald Adams, John Reed, Christene Palmer) and same conductor Isidore Godfrey. Because I enjoy re-surfacing old or neglected classics, I decided to review this album. Gilbert and Sullivan were the ancestors to Broadway. In the late 19th century (1870's, 1880's and 1890's)Gilbert and Sullivan teamed up to produce the most popular and successful light operas ever written. There are other hits include H.M.S. Pinafore, The Mikado, Trial By Jury, Princess Ida, Iolanthe, Patience and The Gondoliers. These British men popularized English light opera in the fancy West End of London, the theatre district. The Savoy theatre was built especially to stage their operettas. While the plots and subject matter to these Savoy Operas are not really serious opera per se, they are the English equivalent of the light-hearted, waltz-like and comic style of Offenbach's operas of French satire (Orpheus In The Underworld, La Belle Helen, Duchess Of Geroldstein) and the charming Vienna operetta of Johann Strauss (Die Fledermaus, The Gypsy Baron, A Night In Venice, Vienna Blood). Arthur Sullivan, who was a serious musical composer of symphonies and program music, perfectly captured the melodies of bel canto and comic opera.

The D'Oyly Carte Opera was the leading Gilbert and Sullivan production company at one time. It is now extinct. It was founded by Richard D'Oyly Carte, Gilbert and Sullivan's manager. The Company featured many stars, among them John Reed and Valerie Masterson who were the leading baritone and soprano respectively. The singers who appear in this album were also singing-actors (they appeared most notably in a 1967 film version of The Mikado). The Pirates in this opera are a rag-tag group of scoundrels lead by The Pirate King (Donald Adams) who sings a terrific "I am a Pirate King". Major General Stanley (John Reed) is a brainy and calculating general whose most significant aria is "I am the very model of a modern major General" which John Reed delivers famously. Phillip Potter is the lyric tenor in the role of Frederick, who is in love with Stanley's daughter Mabel, one of his many daughters. They meet when the girls are at the beach for a picnic (Climbing Over Rocky Mountain, O Beautifully Blue The Sky). Potter is an excellent singer of lyric phrase (O Is There Not One Maiden Breast) and Valerie Masterson holds her own with impressive coloratura embellishment (Poor Wondering One) and together they sound heavenly in their duet after "Stay Frederic Stay". Christene Palmer is the very same well-endowed mezzo soprano who gave us the commanding role of Katisha in The Mikado 1967 film. She sings the nurse Ruth in this recording. Other highlights in this recording, which are delivered perfectly note for note are the scene for "When The Foreman Bears His Steel" which has multiple voices singing in a breath-taking, patriotic ensemble in which the men are off to combat. The finale is also noteworthy.

Few if any G&S studio recordings capture the exhilaration of live performances as well as this one. This is a terrific introduction to G&S for beginners, and people who love this romp will be entranced by the thrilling performances.

Leave it to Isidore Godfrey and the D'oyly carte company to provide one of the finest interpretations ever pressed. 10 thumbs up for this one!

This is definetly my favourite G&S Opera. I wish I could have been performing this, but my voice can not be trusted. I wish I could have conducted this, it's so brilliant.

I only really got into this Opera when it was performed at the Baxter Theatre, in Cape Town(I went because my Uncle was one of the pirates). Ever since I saw that, I've really gotten into it now. It's superb. A very good opera to start off with if you've never heard G&S.