Gilbert and Sullivan / Mackerras, Welsh National Opera

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Music reviews of Gilbert and Sullivan / Mackerras, Welsh National Opera

Music Review: A budget-friendly G&S series of Mercedes-Benz quality
Rating: 5 Stars

Mackerras's Gilbert and Sullivan series is one of the best things that have happened to this aspect of classical music. Luminously recorded with a starry and inspired cast (consisting of such stalwarts as Donald Adams and Richard Suart) and the first-rate and well-disciplined forces of the Welsh National Opera, this series has definitely a lot to recommend it. Mackerras, whose roots are in serious classial music, devotes himself whole-heartedly to the cause of G&S by making full use of his Sullivan background, but without allowing the music to lose its charm and light-heartedness. This is especially so when the grand opera singers rise to the challenge of producing idiomatic G&S portrayals and shear the operatic bombust that would normally be associated with their performances of the operas. The end result shows the operas having a greater lusture and sparkle that seems to be lacking in its predecessors, even those recordings by D'Oyly Carte and Sargent, in whose footsteps Mackerras has loyally followed.

Mackerras, in following in Sargent's footsteps, exceeded every Savoyard's expectations by starting his series with MIKADO as his first installment. He had a deep respect for the unqualified popularity of this opera and used it to produce an unquuestionably delicious and appetizine performance to make every G&S afficionado long for more in the right way. One listen to this recording has indeed swept away all signs of being unable to surpass D'Oyly Carte standards, for the sparkle and lusture in this delicious performance has turned out to come in a greater amount than we expect it to. With Donald Adams' portrayal of the eponymous title-character, we know that he has managed to maintain his touch of the role through all these years and during the hiatus in recordings of the work. He still maintains the satanic glitter that adorns his performance, and laughs with terrifying bravura. As his son, Nanki-Poo, Anthony Rolfe Johnson brings his own Lieder-singing experience to the part admirably and gives it both a lyrical edge and a romantic tenderness that Marie McLaughlin in her petite characterisation of Yum-Yum matches perfectly. The rest of the major cast, who have had experience of singing the opera with the English National Opera in their celebrated Jonathan Miller production, are equally strong, and give insightful performances of their characters. As Koko, the Lord High Executioner, Richard Suart makes use of his G&S experience and gives a delectable and memorable characterisation. And Richard Van Allan's lugubrious and haughty Pooh-Bah raises the same laughs as Felicity Palmer's comical and commanding Katisha. The text is musically complete except for some cuts in the shapes of second verse of the Little List song (it contains the six-letter Negro-related N-word that can be substituted at the patter baritone's request to make it unnecessary) and a few unimportant bars of the Act One finale. This was inevitable to fit the opera onto a single CD. So, I can safely recommend this Mikado more than any of its D'Oyly Carte predecessors, except for their most recent 1990 effort which is just sa good.

For the second installment, Mackerras chose PIRATES, which has justly been enjoying the same amount of popularity as MIKADO and PINAFORE. While there are several Savoyards who think that D'Oyly Carte's 1968 Decca recording with full dialogue is the best overall Pirates on CD, this idiomatic Mackerras performance would prove them wrong. Mackerras enables the opera to have an added polish and sheen that is lacking a little in its predecessors. Every aspect of this performance manages to convince you that this is THE ULTIMATE PIRATES recording to own, be it the well-polished orchestral playing, powerfully-disciplined choral contributions, or the unifying strength of the outstanding team of starry singers, most of whom participated in Mackerras's earlier Telarc MIKADO. As Major-General Stanley, Richard Suart, one of the greatest Savoyards of today, makes full use of his D'Oyly Carte experience (he was there when this recording was made) to give a subtly-nuanced, memorable and delectable and nimble-tongued portrayal. His famous lickety-split patter song in particular is given a new and more natural life of its own, giving John Reed a run for his money, and there is no hint of mawkishness or any rushed quality. Donald Adams' remarkable characterisation of the Pirate King shows him solidly maintaining his touch after his long hiatus since leaving D'Oyly Carte. The romantic aspect is eloquently demonstrated in John-Mark Ainsley's sweet-toned Frederic and Rebecca Evans' creamy Mabel, with spine-chilling solos and duets. Equally impressive are Gillian Knight's bright-toned and well-timed Ruth and Richard van Allan's bumptuous Sergeant of Police, who gives Owen Brannigan a run for his money. He moulds his voice to fit in with the character and he also sings as if he sounds flattered, even though he knows that a policeman's lot is not a happy one! The text is musically complete except for the overture (like MIKADO omitting it was very inevitable) but this minor cut is not really significant. So this recording can be heartily be recommended as highly as MIKADO and is surely second to none.

The last opera about which I will talk is PINAFORE, since I feel unwilling to listen to YEOMEN and TRIAL BY JURY for a lack of interest in the operas outside the triptych of the greatest G&S operas. In this exceptional series, PINAFORE presents virtually no textual problem at all to add to the high quality of the singing and playing and the truth in the notion of this being the best Mackerras G&S recording in the series. Of course, some may carp about the lack of dialogue and their belief in D'Oyly Carte's 1960 John Reed recording being the absolute best of the bunch of stereo PINAFORE CDs available today, coming with the added advantage of dialogue. The stalwart of this delightful PINAFORE is Richard Suart's dry-timbred portrayal of the Ruler of the Queen's Navee. He scores over his immediate rival John Reed by stressing the snobbishness of this ignorant First Lord and injecting the inspiration into future "First Lords" to stick close to their desks and never go to sea. Thomas Allen makes a gallant Captain, and he sings with a firm sense of conviction that instills a sense of pride in his crew, even in the jealous, grouchy and grumpy Dick Deadeye, whose villainy G&S stalwart Donald Adams stresses as strongly as on the incomporable 1960 D'Oyly Carte recording, and in the Boatswain Bill Bobstay, who is personably and bumptuously characterised by the Pooh-Bah role specialist Richard van Allan. The romantic edge is admirably brought out in Michael Schade's heady-toned Rackstraw and Rebecca Evans's creamy and vulnearble Josephine. As in PIRATES, the romantic singers manage to send shivers down the spine with their beautifully-sung solos and duets. Oh, I almost forgot about dear Little Buttercup. How delicious Felicity Palmer sounds! She definitely oozes with plumpness to make her sound like a rosy round woman. The chorus does equal justice to their parts of the sailors and Sir Joseph's female relatives, and of course the orchestral playing and brilliant Telarc recording make this a desirable Pinafore recording indeed. What makes this even more compelling is the completeness of the text, because the opera fits comfortably onto one CD with not a single omitted bar at all, replete with a scene-setting overture.

I have not much to say about YEOMEN and TRIAL BY JURY except that they have all the hallmarks of the other recordings in the series and that the cast is perfect.

To sum everything up, this is a must-have G&S series that contains the best elements of its predecessors and much more besides. One listen to it shows that its quality is comporable to a Mercedes-Benz S-Series car, and proves that it is certain to exlipse every other available G&S series, especially when it is certain to top the list of digital versions for a long time to come. The price is also value-adding because it is much cheaper to buy the whole series at this price than at the price of all the separate issues together. I'm sue that the two writers would have been proud of this entire series and beamed with delight.

Description of Gilbert and Sullivan / Mackerras, Welsh National Opera

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