cilgwyn
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Playing here,now. The 1966 BBC complete recording,with dialogue,of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Gondoliers. These recordings are imho,vastly superior to the 1989 BBC Series (good as they are). The characterisation's,the liveliness of the interpretations,and the acting of the dialogue is superb. I'm pro-dialogue,when it comes to operetta,but even I have to admit that allot of the dialogue in the old D'Oyly Carte recordings is a bit of a yawn! The delivery of the dialogue in the 1966 recordings is so good I'll actually find myself listening to every word. The key? They treat it as a radio play,rather than just a,let's do the dialogue read-through. If you ignore the quaint introductory narration's (in an old school BBC posh accent) which I find fun;and the fact that the most of the character's dialogue is actually performed by actors (not the singers themselves) with the notable exception of Peter Pratt; these are very probably the best performances of G & S dialogue ever,period! In fact,if the dialogue had been performed this well on the commercial recordings that were released,it might have been more popular with music lovers,who usually find it tedious and boring! And as I say,the performances are absolutely superb. I would even go so far as to say,fan of the old D'Oyly Carte as I am,that these are among the best G & S recordings of the last sixty years (taken as a whole). And Peter Pratt performing the patter songs! :) The Recording of The Pirates of Penzance is the one big disappointment,with Vilem Tausky conducting,and no Peter Pratt. But no one can replace Owen Brannigan,in the role of the Sergeant Major,for me,anyway!! The good news? While the recordings have never been released commercially,they can be downloaded for free,in very clear mono from the internet. I'm not telling you where;but if you want to hear them,just put 1966 BBC Gilbert and Sullivan into Google (other search engines are available! ;D) and you'll find them. Unfortunately,one half of the recording of The Grand Duke is actually the D'Oyly Carte recording! :( The remainder are in very clear mono!
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