The Savoy Operas - 1989 BBC broadcasts

[Albion]

Not everybody's cup of tea, certainly, and not in the main unsung, but it would be wonderful to have copies of the complete extant Gilbert and Sullivan canon (with dialogue) as broadcast (on Radio 2) in 1989 -

Trial by Jury (1875) - conducted by Charles Mackerras (3/1985, br. 1/10/1989)
The Sorcerer (1877) - conducted by Barry Wordsworth (3/1989, br. 1/10/1989)
H.M.S. Pinafore (1878) - conducted by Charles Mackerras (1/1986, br. 8/10/1989)
The Pirates of Penzance (1879) - conducted by Charles Mackerras (2/1985, br. 15/10/1989)
Patience (1881) - conducted by Ashley Lawrence (1988, br. 22/10/1989)
Iolanthe (1882) - conducted by Barry Wordsworth (1/1989, br. 29/10/1989)
Princess Ida (1884) - conducted by Charles Mackerras (1984, br. 5/11/1989)
The Mikado (1885) - conducted by Charles Mackerras (6/1986, br. 12/11/1989)
Ruddigore (1887) - conducted by Charles Mackerras (1984, br. 19/11/1989)
The Yeomen of the Guard (1888) - conducted by Charles Mackerras (1985, br. 26/11/1989)
The Gondoliers (1889) - conducted by Charles Mackerras (1986, br. 3/12/1989)
Utopia Limited (1893) - conducted by Barry Wordsworth (1989, br. 10/12/1989)
The Grand Duke (1896) - conducted by Barry Wordsworth (1989, br. 17/12/1989)

By all accounts, these were very fine performances: particularly valuable would be Mackerras' Princess Ida and Ruddigore, neither of which he recorded commercially, and there are no other fully professional audio recordings of The Sorcerer, The Mikado, Utopia Limited or The Grand Duke (other than a similar series broadcast in 1966, conducted almost entirely by Stanford Robinson) which include the dialogue.

Many enthusiasts are known to have recorded this series when it aired - are any on this forum?

 

[mikben]

I have a copy of the Mackerras Princess Ida broadcast. I'll try and upload it tonight, but if I don't have time, then it might be a few weeks before I can do it as I will be away from home.

[Albion]

Thanks, that's a good start!

 

[mikben]

It's ready to be posted, should I do that here?

[Albion]

You could either send the link to me in a PM or post it directly onto the downloads board.

Many thanks.

 

[mikben]

Sending it to you now!

[Albion]

Thankyou very much for this - one down, twelve to go!

 

[Jimfin]

Very much enjoyed hearing that 'Princess Ida' version again, especially with Philip Langridge. Frustratingly, I actually had a tape of 'The Grand Duke' made for me by Mackerras himself, very kindly after I'd missed the broadcast and, with the fearlessness of an 18-year-old, had written to him. But it's buried somewhere in a basement in the UK and I am in Japan. So, if no other version turns up from anyone, I'll try to dig it out when I next visit in a few months. Sorry, rather a long-term promise!

[HerbieG]

Hi guys,

I have all of these on cassette and open reel tapes.  I am in the process of transferring more than 400 cassettes to my PC so that I can edit them and share this largesse with all of you.  The G&S are next in line and I shall be doing these during the next few days.  I have not posted anything on this site yet but my Opus 1 will be the Symphony No. 8 and Patriotic Song by Meseron and if I can crack that you can expect a trickle of the G&S operas in the 1989 cycle to appear here over the next couple of weeks or so - or as long as it takes me to split the files!

Regards,

Herbie.

[Aosagibi]

I would be ecstatic to have the 1989 Barry Wordsworth recording of "The Grand Duke". I only have the 1976 D'Oyly Carte recording, and while it's OK, I can't help feeling that most of them, especially Kenneth Sandford, were just completely bemused by the whole thing. It's a lovely score, one of Sullivan's best.

[Aosagibi]

And thank you for "Princess Ida". Amazing cast. Janet Coster as Melissa is real luxury casting. Fascinating to hear Philip Langridge, and fascinating too to hear Valerie Masterson in that role when her voice was so much more mature than in her D'Oyly Carte years, a real lyric. Ida may only be 21 but it wasn't written for a 21-year-old, that's for sure.

One problem, which is that the Act Three download doesn't seem to be working on Mediafire. Though perhaps it's just me.

Edit: either it was just me, or it's now been sorted. Either way, thanks again.

[Jimfin]

Yes, the Grand Duke is a wonderful score: shame the libretto is such a mess. Whereas Utopia Limited is a bit uneven (songs like 'Bold faced ranger' and the dreadfully overrated 'Eagle high' leave me wanting to fall asleep), the Grand Duke doesn't have a single bad number. The Act II opening in particular is marvellous.
     However, I have at least heard that Mackerras performance (which is well worth hearing), but I never heard a number of the others, so very excited about them, even 'Utopia Limited'

[Jimfin]

One of the highlights of that series, especially before the New D'Oyly Carte recordings, were the cut numbers and other bits, eg, "Little Maid of Arcadee" from 'Thespis', "Though Men of Rank" from 'Patience', bits from the 1877 version of 'The Sorcerer', etc. I don't suppose anyone has the means to upload any of those? May I follow that cheeky request with heartfelt thanks for the opportunity to hear these wonderful performances again. In any other country, G&S would be performed every year at Covent Garden, but as it is, professional recordings are very few (the old D'Oyly Carte company's recordings are on the very edge of what can reasonably be called 'professional')

[Aosagibi]

I echo Jimfin's heartfelt thanks for what has been posted here so far, and I do hope there'll be more of this series to come. Mackerras had a real affinity with Sullivan. He brings out the champagne bubbles in the music, but also Sullivan's poignancy, which never, ever tilts over into sentimentality. (What, never? Well, hardly ever.) It's also wonderful to have the dialogue. (Patience and Grosvenor in this version, for instance, are particularly amusing and very un-D'Oyly-Cartey.)

[Aosagibi]

That "Yeomen" is the best performance I've ever heard. Philip Langridge, Valerie Masterson, Gillian Knight and Sally Burgess are utterly magnificent, really flourishing in the more "operatic" environment. And Mackerras really is in his element. It's ridiculous that this has never been released on CD. Thank you, once again, for these invaluable uploads, and shame on the BBC.