tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post4368970266750866853..comments2024-03-26T07:58:59.761+00:00Comments on I'll think of something later: ENO Pirates sail on in styleDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-89294862747005667292017-03-11T11:02:26.979+00:002017-03-11T11:02:26.979+00:00Last Saturday there was a slight ripple of applaus...Last Saturday there was a slight ripple of applause (in which I joined) at 'Because, with all our faults, we love our House of Peers'. ENO is, I think, down to 'do' Iolanthe next season. Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-64932026883432316132017-03-11T10:45:06.065+00:002017-03-11T10:45:06.065+00:00When House of Lords reform was seriously under dis...When House of Lords reform was seriously under discussion ( Lord Cranborne et al - and a rather good outcome they achieved, on the whole) I tried through the Deputy Chair of the ENO to get them to put on Iolanthe [" But if the House of Lords is to be composed entirely of people of intellect, what's to become of the House of Commons ?" - "I never thought of that" ......absolutely on the point] but the idea was not taken up.David Damantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-10576734475701218732017-03-11T09:43:29.221+00:002017-03-11T09:43:29.221+00:00The timelessness of Gilbert's language in the ...The timelessness of Gilbert's language in the truly comic operas is a wonder; and of course Sullivan's music fits the lyrics in speech melody as memorable as Gershwin's or Cole Porter's. As soon as a note of archaism creeps in, as in Yeomen and Princess Ida, it's less funny and seems more dated, wonderful as the plotting and the musical number still are. I have Ivanhoes sitting her, the 'serious' opera Sullivan always wanted to write. Must give it a go. But it does strike me how often the depths are sounded in the Savoy operas at just the right time - the duet between Frederic and Mabel, for instance, or the meeting of the Lord Chancellor and Iolanthe.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-73721819545889483992017-03-10T14:35:44.757+00:002017-03-10T14:35:44.757+00:00When G&S were in full flood the musical establ...When G&S were in full flood the musical establishment was quite clear - how could the composer of The Lost Chord lower himself to these comic trivia? We can now see that The Lost Chord exemplifies perfectly the sentimental self indulgence which we find pretty sickening in the Victorians and indeed is objectively a damning aspect of their understanding of the world. And G&S is now in the principal repertoiresDavid Damanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18409591480349323761noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-19757422721316911792017-03-09T22:22:15.272+00:002017-03-09T22:22:15.272+00:00I grew up on Village Institute productions, then b...I grew up on Village Institute productions, then being taken by our neighbours to see the D'Oyly Carte at Sadlers Wells in just about everything (including Utopia, though Grand Duke was done by local Cheam Operatic who brought out the first recording on Pearl). And I was Sir Joseph Porter aged 11, which I may have mentioned too many times on this blog.<br /><br />Hate to contradict you but do you mean Baker and Elsie Morison with Sargent from the 1950s? Happy to be put right if not. I think the best of the D'Oyly Cartes is Pirates with Valerie Masterson, Philip Potter, Reed, Donald Adams and Owen Brannigan (also on the Sargent Pirates). Then the Mackerras ones sans dialogue are very good. Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-6705863953490767672017-03-09T22:05:27.070+00:002017-03-09T22:05:27.070+00:00My first encounter with P of P was a high school p...My first encounter with P of P was a high school production which brings in images of "home-counties am-dram" that your friend Edsy imagined. The next time was the American Savoyards - a New York based company that brought productions to a summer theatre when I was in my teens. It was D'Oyle Carte in what I can only think was the good-old bad-old traditional style. But what made me realize that G and S were a series of beautiufully staged, designed and sung productions by our Stratford Company - a series that had been initiated by Tyrone Gutherie directing Pinafore and P of P. That and the incredible 1929 recording with George Baker, Peter Dawson, Elsie Griffin et al conducted by Malcolm Sargent. If ever proof was needed of what was need vocally in that remarkable score then that recording would be exhibit #1 in my opinion.<br />Willymhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03652532356102638621noreply@blogger.com