Classical

Artur Sullivan & William Gilbert - Princess Ida or Castle Adamant (1982)

2011-07-31T18:45:50Z

Arthur Sullivan & William Gilbert - Princess Ida or Castle Adamant (1982)

CD1
Princess Ida
1. Overture
2. Act 1 Search throught the panorama (Florian)
3. Now hearken to my strict command (Hildebrand)
4. Today we meet … (Hilarion)
5. From the distant panorama (Arac, Guton, Scynthius)
6. If you give me your attention (Gama)
7. Finale. P’raps if you address the lady most politely
8. Act 2 Towards the empyrean heights (Lady Psyche,Melissa, Sacharissa)
9. Mighty maiden with a mission (Chorus)
10. Minerva… Oh goddess wise (Princess)
11. Gently gently evidently (Cyril, Hilarion,Florian)		play
12. I am a maiden (Cyril, Hilarion,Florian)
13. The world is but a broken toy (Princess,Cyril,Hilarion,Florian)
14. A lady fair (Lady Psyche, Melissa, Cyril,Hilarion,Florian)
15. The woman of the wisest wit (Lady Psyche, Melissa, Cyril)
16. Now wouldn’t you like to rule the roost (Melissa, Lady Blanche)
17. Merrily ring the luncheon bell (Lady Blanche,Cyril)
18. Would you know the kind of maid (Cyril)h
19. Finale.Og joy! Our chief is sav’d
20. We may remark, tho’ nothing can dismay us

CD2
1.Act 3 Death to the invader (Melissa)
2. I built upon a rock (Princess)
3. Whenever I spoke sarcastic joke (Gama)
4. When anger spreads his wing (Chorus)
5. This helmet I suppose (Arac,Guron,Scynthius)
6.  This is our duty plain (Chorus)
7. Finale. With joy abiding

Pineapple Poll
8. Scene 1 Opening dance					play
9. Poll’s and Pas de deux
10. Belaye’s solo
11. Pas de troi
12. Finale
13. Scene 2 Poll’s solo, Jasper’s solo
14. Scene 3 Belaye’s solo & Sailor’s drill
15. Poll’s solo
16. Entry of Belaye with Blanche as bride
17. Reconciliation
18. Grande Finale


King Hildebrand - Kenneth Sandford
Princess Ida - Elizabeth Harwood
Hilarion - Philip Potter
Cyril - David Palmer
Florian - Jeffrey Skitch
King Gama - John Reed
Arac - Donald Adams
Guron - Anthony Raffell
Scynthius - George Cook
Lady Blanche - Christene Palmer
Lady Psyche - Ann Hood

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Chorus of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
Malcolm Sargent - conductor, 1965

'Princess Ida' (or Castle Adamant) is one of the lesser known Savoy operas by Gilbert and Sullivan but it is no less spectacular and inventive. This Decca recording features the famed Sir Malcolm Sargent directing the equally legendary D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and there is also a fine recording of Pineapple Poll thrown in for good measure.

The opera is split into three acts and after a sprightly overture we are thrown pell-mell into a load of memorable and wonderfully tuneful numbers that are so characteristic of Sullivan at his best. The Finale to Act 1 is particularly inspiring with the chorus singing lustily and with great character to conclude the piece in superb fashion. The rest of the opera is vintage G&S with numbers including several arias and duets that are too numerous to mention but which will definitely please all good old anglophiles! The 1965 recording is beautifully crisp and clear giving an added bonus to the recording which has been resurrected in its original cover.

I have recently reviewed some new Testament discs with Sir Charles Mackerras conducting his own Verdi arrangements and this famous recording of 'Pineapple Poll' is no less desirable for the collector. The pot pourri of tunes from the Savoy operas comes across as wonderfully refreshing and the 1972 recording is a wonder for clarity and breathtaking sound. It makes the set very generous as regards playing time and if you are collecting these operas, I would unhesitatingly recommend that this double bill should be one of the first items on your next shopping list. --- www.classical.net

Pineapple Poll is a ballet in one act and three scenes with a libretto and choreography by John Cranko commissioned by the Sadler's Wells theater, meant to coincide with the Festival of Britain. Cranko based the scenario on one of Gilbert's "Bab Ballads," entitled The Bumboat Woman's Story. Gilbert's "Bab Ballads" were short comic "plays" written for the British satirical magazine, Fun. "Bab," which is short for "Baby" (pronounced "Babby"), was Gilbert's pseudonym, originally appended to drawings and later to innumerable, brief ballads, appearing mainly in the 1860s and 1870s.

Conductor Sir Charles Mackerras gleaned excerpts of Sullivan's music from Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. This was made possible by the expiration in 1950 of the copyright on Sullivan's works. First performed at the Sadler's Wells in March 1951, Pineapple Poll became an immediate sensation and the production was given regularly into the late 1950s by both the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden and Sadler's Wells. In a similar manner, Mackerras has also arranged the ballet, The Lady and the Fool, from music by Sullivan.

The plot of Pineapple Poll revolves around Pineapple Poll and her colleagues, who are all madly in love with the captain of the good ship H.M.S. Hot Cross Bun. In order to board the ship, they disguise themselves in sailors' clothes, a fact that is not revealed to the audience until near the end of the ballet.

Mackerras came to know the works of Gilbert and Sullivan while he was an oboist at the Sydney Theatre. After playing a piano reduction of Offenbach's Gay Parisienne for a ballet performance, it occurred to him that an arrangement of Sullivan's music would also lend itself to a ballet setting. Mackerras describes his arrangement of Sullivan's music as "a patchwork quilt of tunes from most of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. Every bar of Pineapple Poll, even the short bridge passages, is taken from some opera or other." Melodies from the various operettas intertwine in such a way that one follows the other in rapid succession. Employing a much larger ensemble than Sullivan did (three each of woodwind and trumpets, plus a large percussion section), Mackerras' orchestration is particularly lush, with many harp glissandi and warm horn passages. Most interesting is Mackerras' simultaneous scoring of the opening chorus of Patience and the second-act quintet from The Gondoliers.

The length of the complete ballet -- 45 minutes -- prompted Mackerras to make a concert suite arrangement, which has been recorded numerous times and is easy to find. Mackerras alone has recorded the entire ballet four times. ---John Palmer, Rovi

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Gilbert & Sullivan - The Mikado (Mackerras) [1992]

2011-01-19T19:35:50Z

Gilbert & Sullivan - The Mikado (Mackerras) [1992]


1. Gilbert & Sullivan: The Mikado: Song and Chorus - Nanki-Poo (A Wandering Mistrel I)	3:01	
2. Song and Chorus - Nanki-Poo (A wandering mistrel I )	4:20
3. Song - Pish-Tush and Chorus (Our great Mikado, virtuous man)	2:58	
4. Song - Pooh-Bah with Nanki-Poo and Pish-Tush (Young man, despair, likewise go to)	2:43	
5. Recitative - Nanki-Poo and Pooh-Bah (And have I journeyed for a month)	0:49	
6. Gilbert & Sullivan: The Mikado: Chorus with Solo - Ko-Ko (Behold the Lord High Executioner)	2:39
7. Song - Ko-Ko with Chorus of Nobles (As some day it may happen) "List Song"	2:00	
8. Chorus of Schoolgirls (Comes A Train Of Little Ladies)	2:12	
9. Gilbert & Sullivan: The Mikado: Trio - Yum-Yum, Peep-Bo and Pitti-Sing with Chorus of Schoolgirls (Three little maids from school are we)	1:32
10. Quartet - Yum-Yum, Peep-Bo, Pitti-Sing and Pooh-Bah, with Chorus of Schoolgirls (So please you, sire, we much regret)	1:55	
11. Duet - Yum-Yum and Nanki-Poo (Were you not to Ko-Ko plighted)	2:27
12. Trio - Pooh-Bah, Ko-Ko and Pish-Tush (I am so proud)	3:00
13. Finale, Act One (With aspect stern and gloomy stride)	14:24	
14. Solo - Pitti-Sing and Chorus of Schoolgirls (Braid the raven hair)	3:25	
15. Song - Yum-Yum (The sun, whose rays are all ablaze)	3:10
16. Madrigal - Yum-Yum, Pitti-Sing, Nanki-Poo and Pish-Tush (Brightly dawns our wedding day)	3:58
17. Trio - Yum-Yum, Nanki-Poo and Ko-Ko (Here's a how-de-do! If I marry you!)	1:13	
18. Entrance of Mikado and Katisha (Miya sama, miya sama)	2:46	
19. Song - Mikado and Chorus (A more humane Mikado never did in Japan exist)	4:05	
20. Trio and Chorus - Ko-Ko, Pitti-Sing, Pooh-Bah and Chorus (The criminal cried as he dropped him down)	3:24
21. Quintet - Pitti-Sing, Katisha, Ko-Ko, Pooh-Bah and Mikado (See how the Fates their gifts allot)	2:03
22. Duet - Nanki-Poo and Ko-Ko with Yum-Yum, Pitti-Sing and Pooh-Bah (The flowers that bloom in the spring)	1:36
23. Recitative and Song - Katisha (Alone, and yet alive)	2:56
24. Song - Ko-Ko (On a tree by a river, a little torn-tit sang, "Willow, tit-willow")	2:30	
25. Duet - Katisha and Ko-Ko ((There is beauty in the bellow of the blast)	2:00
26. Finale, Act Two (For he's gone and married Yum-Yum)	1:53

The Mikado - Donald Adams
Nanki-Poo - Anthony Rolfe Johnson
Ko-Ko - Richard Stuart
Pooh-Bah - Richard Van Allan
Pish-Tush - Nicholas Folwell
Yum-Yum - Marie McLaughlin
Pitti-Sing - Anne Howells
Peep-Bo - Janice Watson
Katisha - Felicity Palmer

Chorus of the Welsh National Opera
Orchestra of the Welsh National Opera
Sir Charles Mackerras – conductor

Regarded by G & S fans as the best of the all the operettas, The Mikado is given a sizzling performance by Sir Charles Mackerras, who--by leaving off the overture (which isn't by Sullivan anyway)-- manages to squeeze the piece onto one CD. He also shortens the "list" song since Gilbert's original features a prominent use of the "N" word, which, not withstanding the fact that he's making fun of people who performed in black-face in the 19th century, isn't worth the trouble it would cause by leaving it in. The singers are real singers; that is, they treat the music with respect and make it sound great. Of course, it is. ---David Hurwitz, amazon.com

The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations. It opened on March 14, 1885, in London, where it ran at the Savoy Theatre for 672 performances, which was the second longest run for any work of musical theatre and one of the longest runs of any theatre piece up to that time. Before the end of 1885, it was estimated that, in Europe and America, at least 150 companies were producing the opera. The Mikado remains the most frequently performed Savoy Opera, and it is especially popular with amateur and school productions. The work has been translated into numerous languages and is one of the most frequently played musical theatre pieces in history.

Setting the opera in Japan, an exotic locale far away from Britain, allowed Gilbert to satirise British politics and institutions more freely by disguising them as Japanese. Gilbert used foreign or fictional locales in several operas, including The Mikado, Princess Ida, The Gondoliers, Utopia, Limited and The Grand Duke, to soften the impact of his pointed satire of British institutions.

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Sullivan & Herbert - Cello Concertos (1986)

2017-03-09T16:07:37Z

Sullivan & Herbert - Cello Concertos (1986)


1 Sir Edward Elgar - Romance, Op. 62 	

Sir Arthur Sullivan - Cello Concerto In D Major 
2 	First Movement: Allegro Moderato 	
3 	Second Movement: Andante Espressivo 	
4 	Third Movement: Molto Vivace 	

Victor Herbert - Cello Concerto No. 2 In E Minor, Op. 30 
5 	Allegro Impetuoso 	
6 	Lento - Andante Tranquillo 	
7 	Allegro (Tempo 1)

Julian Lloyd Webber - cello
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Charles Mackerras – conductor

I have really grown to love the Sullivan cello concerto, every time I finish playing it I can't stop humming the opening bars! This 1986 recording with the London Symphony Orchestra and Julian Lloyd Webber as soloist is the best recording of the Sullivan I have ever come across. The three movements, which are played without a break, climb from a brief formal opening, to soar like an operatic aria in the second movement before culminating in a very powerful and melodic finale. The Herbert Cello Concerto n 2 is one of the composer’s most notable instrumental works (although he was a cellist himself, Herbert remains well known primarily for his operettas and musicals). Lloyd Webber’s interpretation of the concerto is flawless.

For an even more authentic and pure sound I recommend listening to the cello concerto on LP, as the quality is similar to the one of an SACD. ---Mikicellist1975, amazon.com

download (mp3 @320 kbs):

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