Search - The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company :: Iolanthe

Pickwick is proud to release eleven of the most famous Gilbert & Sullivan operas recorded by the world famous D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. Whilst the original operas were performed at the Savoy Theatre in London towards the end of the 19th century, it was invariably not until the 1920s that the company began recording. It was the following decade that saw the most notable recordings undertaken, a period when Martyn Green was the company's principal comedian between 1934 and 1951 with a gap between the Second World War. There are ten double CD packages - the only missing operas are Thespis (which was performed but never published and is therefore lost), Utopia Limited and The Grand Duke, with the latter two relative failures compared with earlier successes and therefore not recorded as often as the greater works. By way of a bonus, however, Trial By Jury, a one-act opera that marked the arrival of Gilbert & Sullivan, has been included in this collection. The cover to each of the CD s is based on the original programme issued in the 19th century. Inside the four page booklet is a brief synopsis of each work together with the full cast list. These include Martyn Green, Eric Thornton, Leonard Osborn, Fisher Morgan, Alan Styles and Ella Halman.