Gilbert and Sullivan reviews
Cellier • Ford • Sullivan: Haddon Hall, etc
Sullivan: The Light of the World
The Scottish Opera conducted by Richard Egarr perform Sullivan's HMS Pinafore
Scottish Opera braved extraordinary critical snobbery for daring to inflict Gilbert and Sullivan on the supposedly cutting-edge Edinburgh Festival. The audiences nonetheless evidently enjoyed this one. Baroque specialist Richard Egarr treats Sullivan no less respectfully, bringing similar structural sense and springy energy to the score, and a cast of top-drawer voices headed by Toby Spence’s buoyant Ralph Rackstraw and Elizabeth Watts’s Josephine, with strong top notes and a pleasantly mischievous touch.
Gilbert & Sullivan's HMS Pinafore
Royston Nash Conducts Gilbert & Sullivan's The Yeoman of the Guard
Sullivan - Ivanhoe
Ivanhoe was the grand opera everyone told Sullivan he should write, instead of Mr Gilbert’s Savoy frivols. Launched with immense expense at D’Oyly Carte’s new opera house, it sank after a season, unprofitable more than unpopular, and was never seriously revived. The main earlier recording, a semi-amateur performance (Pearl CDS 9165, 1989), was inadequate. This one, planned by the late Richard Hickox, is another matter. We can at last hear what Sullivan conceived – and it’s impressive.
Sullivan: The Rose of Persia
Sullivan: Cox and Box; Trial by Jury
Sullivan: The Contrabandista; The Foresters (incidental music)
Sullivan: Gilbert and Sullivan Overtures
Sullivan: Gilbert and Sullivan Overtures
Sullivan: The Complete D'Oyly Carte Gilbert & Sullivan
Sullivan: Cox and Box
Sullivan: The Yeomen of the Guard
Sullivan/Verdi
Charles Mackerras’s score for the ballet Pineapple Poll is a patchwork quilt of tunes from Gilbert and Sullivan operas. It has become a firm favourite and makes delightful listening; so too does the compilation from Verdi’s music that is The Lady and the Fool, another ballet about the love of a penniless clown for a rich society beauty. Mackerras and the LPO clearly enjoy themselves with these lively, radiant scores. Ian Lace