A Gilbert and Sullivan Spectacular (1965)

John Reed (Sir Joseph, Major-General, Ko-Ko)
Phillip Potter (Nanki-Poo)
Alan Styler (Captain Corcoran)
Kenneth Sandford (Pooh-Bah)
Donald Adams (Mikado, Sergeant of Police, Sir Roderic)
Anthony Raffell (Samuel)
Valerie Masterson (Mabel, Yum-Yum)
Ann Hood (Edith)
Peggy Ann Jones (Peep-Bo)
Pauline Wales (Hebe, Pitti-Sing)
Christene Palmer (Buttercup, Dame Hannah)

D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
Chorus Master: James Walker
Conductor: Sir Malcolm Sargent

Recorded at Decca Studios, West Hampstead
3–4 December 1965

London SPC-21010
London SPC-21010

This recording of concerted highlights features a number of D'Oyly Carte stars in roles they either never recorded elsewhere, or never played at all, with the Company. Just why it was made is unclear, though one story is that it was a celebration of Sir Malcolm Sargent's anniversary with the Company.

This recording was one of two G&S albums that featured Decca's "Phase 4" sound—a kind of enhanced stereo. (A fuller explanation of Phase 4 is provided separately.) Whereas Decca's other Phase 4 G&S effort, the 1971 Pinafore, went wild with sound effects that most listeners detested, this highlights disc represented the technology at its best. Get this one, if you can find it; or, buy the re-issue on Sounds on CD.

Side 1Side 2
  • Pinafore: Overture
  • Pinafore: "We sail the ocean blue" (Men's Chorus)
  • Pirates: "Hold, monsters" (Masterson, Raffell, Reed)
  • Pirates: "I am the very model of a modern Major-General" (Reed)
  • Mikado: "Three little maids" (Masterson, Jones, Wales)
  • Pirates: "With cat-like tread" (Raffell and Chorus)
  • Mikado: "On a tree by a river" (Reed)
  • Mikado: "The flowers that bloom in the spring" (Potter, Reed, Masterson, Wales, Sandford)
  • Pinafore: "My gallant crew, good morning" (Styler and Chorus)
  • Pinafore: "I am the monarch of the sea" (Styler, Reed, Wales and Chorus)
  • Pinafore: "When I was a lad" (Reed and Chorus)
  • Mikado: "A wandering minstrel" (Potter and Chorus)
  • Mikado: "A more humane Mikado" (Adams and Chorus)
  • Pirates: "When the foeman bares his steel" (Adams, Masterson, Hood and Chorus)
  • Ruddigore: "There grew a little flower" (Palmer, Adams)
  • Pinafore: Finale (Reed, Styler, Palmer and Chorus)
Issue History
DateLabelFormatNumber
1965 Decca Stereo LP PFS 4097
196-? Decca Australia Stereo LP SKLA 4768
196-? Reader's Digest Stereo LP GSTP-8A/S11
1971 Decca Phase 4 Stereo LP ZAL 7083
London Phase 4 Stereo LP SPC 21010
1971? London 4-track reel-to-reel LCL-75010
1981 Contour Stereo LP CC7508
Cassette CCTC7508
Sounds on CD 2005 CD VGS254

Notes:

  1. The Decca CD re-issue of the 1971 Pinafore (no longer in print) included the non-Pinafore selections from this album.
  2. The Contour release of 1981 is titled "Highlights from Gilbert and Sullivan," although the content is the same.