Peter Dawson "On Stage"

This disc is a compilation of highlights from Peter Dawson's great recording career. Like a number of other artists, Dawson had no D'Oyly Carte career, but he was enlisted on the early HMV sets because his voice recorded well, and he was extremely popular. He appeared on some of the very earliest acoustical sets, as well as two electrical sets — the 1929 Pirates and the 1928 Yeomen — made when the Company was on tour in America (and hence, Darrell Fancourt was unavailable).

G&S items on the disc, many of which have not been re-issued anywhere else, are as follows:

ItemSource RecordingMatrix NumberAdditional Artists
"Oh better far to live and die"1929 PiratesCc 15943 
"When the foeman bares his steel"1920 PiratesHo 4474 afViolet Essex, Bessie Jones, George Baker
"When you had left our pirate fold"1929 PiratesCc 15906Dorothy Gill and Derek Oldham
"Though in body and in mind . . .When a felon's not engaged"1920 PiratesHo 4548 
"If you want a receipt for that popular mystery"1921 PatienceHo 4712 af
"When I first put this uniform on"1921 PatienceHo 4713
"When Britain really ruled the waves"1922 IolantheCc 898
"The criminal cried1906 Mikado8718bAmy Augarde
"There is beauty in the bellow of the blast"1906 Mikado 8724 bAmy Augarde
"Rapture, Rapture"1907 Yeomen9989 bFlorence Venning
"I am a courtier grave and serious"1907 Gondoliers10039 bSullivan Operatic Party

Other items of interest to the G&S fan include:

  • Cellier: "Queen of my heart" (from Dorothy)
  • Messager: "Trot here and there" (from Veronique)
  • Messager: "Swing song" (from Veronique)
  • German: "The yeomen of England" (from Merrie England)

Additional tracks cover the range of Victorian and Edwardian musical comedies and finish with some Jerome Kern numbers.

Issue History
DateLabelFormatNumber
1985 HMV Treasury LP EM 29 0573 3