Sounds on CD VGS254

Overview by Chris Webster

Many Gilbert and Sullivan compilation albums have been issued over the years, and these largely consist of tracks taken from the complete recordings. However, on four occasions D'Oyly Carte entered the Decca studios with the aim of specially recording individual highlights from the operas. The first occasion was to record excerpts from Utopia Ltd to pad out the 1963 recording of Trial, while the other occasions were to specifically record three individual 'highlights' LPs: G&S Spectacular (1965), G&S Choruses (1969) and Songs and Snatches (1970).

This special jam-packed CD set, containing many items that have never before been reissued on CD, brings together all of these recordings and also captures many important stage portrayals which were not otherwise recorded, such as Alan Styler's Captain Corcoran, John Webley's Samuel, Philip Potter's Dick Dauntless, etc. The cast is a Who's Who of a D'Oyly Carte golden age —John Reed, Kenneth Sandford, Thomas Round, Donald Adams, Philip Potter, Alan Styler, Thomas Lawlor, John Ayldon, John Webley, Clifford Parkes, Anthony Raffell, Ralph Mason, Valerie Masteron, Christene Palmer, Peggy Ann Jones, Julia Goss, Ann Hood, Anne Guthrie, Pauline Wales —who are led by three of the greatest G&S conductors of their age, Isidore Godfrey, Sir Malcolm Sargent and James Walker, conducting two of the world's leading orchestras, the Royal Philharmonic and Covent Garden.