Amazon.co.uk allows you to pay for your items in your local currency. Restrictions apply. Learn More. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s
Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or
view the MP3 Album.
|
Disc 1:
Disc 2:
|
Product Description
CD Description
Pickwick is proud to release eleven of the most famous Gilbert & Sullivan operas recorded by the world famous D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. Whilst the original operas were performed at the Savoy Theatre in London towards the end of the 19th century, it was invariably not until the 1920s that the company began recording. It was the following decade that saw the most notable recordings undertaken, a period when Martyn Green was the company's principal comedian between 1934 and 1951 with a gap between the Second World War. There are ten double CD packages - the only missing operas are Thespis (which was performed but never published and is therefore lost), Utopia Limited and The Grand Duke, with the latter two relative failures compared with earlier successes and therefore not recorded as often as the greater works. By way of a bonus, however, Trial By Jury, a one-act opera that marked the arrival of Gilbert & Sullivan, has been included in this collection. The cover to each of the CD s is based on the original programme issued in the 19th century. Inside the four page booklet is a brief synopsis of each work together with the full cast list. These include Fisher Morgan, Neville Griffith, Jeffrey Skitch, Donald Adams and Peter Pratt.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This is a transfer from an early 1950s recording - nothing wrong in that, but it would be useful to mention the fact on the case or in the liner notes. It would also be useful if the liner notes were printed in focus (the font is tiny) and in black on white, rather than in brown on brown. They might actually be legible then! As for the CD itself, the transfer is awful - blasting on all the loud passages, as if the original lp had been played with a damaged stylus, and the numbers cannot be selected individually, Instead, each side is divided into only two parts, and (despite what it says on cover) the first side ends before the end of Act 1. Perhaps this was one of the four breaks on the original lp set? Not worth the moeny, even at this bargain price.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This disc is a digital version of the Decca 1953 mono FFRR recording. My disc was a great disappointment because of what seems to be excessive over modulation noises which make the listening experience unbearable. I could not recommend this disc even if it was a free gift!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
6 reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Unlistenable
24 Sep 2010
Format:Audio CD
I took the opportunity to buy this entire series of the complete G&S operettas offered at dirt-cheap prices by Pickwick. I have not listened to them all yet, but have to agree with the earlier reviewers that the sound quality of "Sorcerer" renders it unlistenable. It's not the age of the recordings, but the quality of the transfers. Of the others I've heard so far, "Pinafore" isn't quite as bad but suffers some of the same issues. "Penzance" is a lot better, though still not free of the distortion in loud passages. I'll be curious to see how the rest of the set stacks up. For real G&S fans, I'd recommend paying more for better versions.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Good Performance, Terrible recording
22 Sep 2010
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is an old performance by the D'Oyly Carte opera company. But it is well sung and lots of fun. Unfortunately the technical quality of the recording is very poor. It sounds like a copy of a very old LP complete with scratches and pops. The high notes are distorted and so are the orchestral passages. Too bad.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Excellent post-War D'Oyly Carte mono performances in questionable sound
24 Feb 2011
Format:Audio CD
I saw the three previous one-star reviews of this re-issue and thought to myself, no, this can't be right. This "Sorcerer" is part of the post-WWII series of mono recording issued by the English D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, the production company set up by Gilbert, Sullivan and their producer Richard D'Oyly Carte (and which was finally done in by the penny-pinching follies of Margaret Thatcher's government.) I have known these performances as they were issued on 78 rpm discs, on LPs and finally on digitally re-mastered CDs.
They were initially recorded with great care and represent pretty much the cutting edge of sound technology for their times. Admittedly, they were in mono and by digital-era standards, they sounded a little boxy, that's given, but to see them trashed in print for their sound seemed altogether too much.
I have not heard these CDs as such, but Auntie Ammy has been kind enough to make a handfull of short samples available right here on the website. And, alas, they are fairly bad, sounding as though someone had transferred from a set of badly overplayed LPs or even 78s.
It's really too bad, because these are truly classic performances. Some G&S fans, though by no means all, regard them as the best ever to appear on records. On the other hand, they are readily available in skillfully remastered digital editions at quite reasonable prices.
Still, too bad, too bad.
Five-star performances to which I am giving three stars because of the recording quality.
They were initially recorded with great care and represent pretty much the cutting edge of sound technology for their times. Admittedly, they were in mono and by digital-era standards, they sounded a little boxy, that's given, but to see them trashed in print for their sound seemed altogether too much.
I have not heard these CDs as such, but Auntie Ammy has been kind enough to make a handfull of short samples available right here on the website. And, alas, they are fairly bad, sounding as though someone had transferred from a set of badly overplayed LPs or even 78s.
It's really too bad, because these are truly classic performances. Some G&S fans, though by no means all, regard them as the best ever to appear on records. On the other hand, they are readily available in skillfully remastered digital editions at quite reasonable prices.
Still, too bad, too bad.
Five-star performances to which I am giving three stars because of the recording quality.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
