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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Zoological Sorcery, 19 Dec 2003
By A Customer
This is the only recording of either work currently commercially available.THE SORCERER was recorded by D'Oyly Carte as a last minute project. The company had been scheduled by Decca to record MIKADO under the batton of Sir Malcolm Sargent, but illness struck and Isadore Godfrey stepped into the breach to complete what is affectionately referred to as the "Decca 2nd Series" with this recording. THE SORCERER had not been in the repertoire of D'Oyly Carte since before the war, the costumes and scenery having been destroyed in the blitz, and indeed this recording must have been instrumental in the reinstatement of the opera in 1971. None of the cast on this recording had played the work on stage and therefore there is rather a feeling of a concert performance about the work. John Reed is as usual excellent as John Wellington-Wells, the sorcerer of the title, with Valerie Masterson in truly magnificent form as Aline. Donald Adams (who sang the Notary in the 1953 recording) gives a wonderful account of Sir Marmaduke and is admirably matched by Christine Palmer's Lady Sangazure. Orchestral and choral work is superb. THE ZOO first appeared in 1875 just three months after TRIAL BY JURY and as with that work is through composed. The libretto by B C Stephenson is a wild burlesque of the Victorian conventions of Grand Opera. The opera was lost to sight for many years and was thought to have been destroyed. However, since the rediscovery of the work in the late 1960's, THE ZOO has become a great favourite with amateur companies as a curtain raiser. Suffice it to say that although never staged by D'Oyly Carte, the company gives a sparkling performance of what is a really hilarious Musical Folly. I tend to feel that the narration is unnecessary and a mistake, but it is unobtrusive enough not to detract from the overall enjoyment.
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