EMI ASDZ 4392

In 1982, EMI published an album of G&S solos and duets featuring Valerie Masterson, the former D'Oyly Carte soprano, and Robert Tear, an English grand opera tenor with little G&S background. Most of the items were G&S staples, with a couple of items from Ruddigore being as adventurous as the disc got.

In 1984, EMI published a considerably more interesting highlights disc called "Here's a How-De-Do" featuring Tear, Sheila Armstrong and Benjamin Luxon. Robert Tear is the common denominator between the two discs, and I find him unpersuasive: his interpretation is a bit too precious; he lacks the swagger I expect in a G&S tenor. The remaining performers are all excellent, and the second disc has the additional virtue of presenting a number of items not often heard on records, particularly two items from Haddon Hall.

EMI CDM 7 64393 2

HMV 5 72128 2

In 1987, EMI combined material from the two original LPs into a CD issue called "A Gilbert & Sullivan Gala." Some items were dropped, however, so that the entire package could fit on a single CD. The contents of the two LPs are listed below, with asterisks denoting the items included on the CD. Singers' initials are given after each number.

Valerie Masterson & Robert Tear Sing Gilbert & Sullivan
Valerie Masterson, soprano; Robert Tear, tenor
Bournemouth Sinfonietta, Kenneth Alwyn, conductor.

Iolanthe: "If we're weak enough to tarry" (VM/RT) [*]

Ruddigore: "If somebody there chanced to be" (VM) [*]

The Gondoliers: "Take a pair of sparkling eyes" (RT) [*]

Patience: "Prithee, pretty maiden" (VM/RT) [*]

The Yeomen of the Guard: "Is life a boon?" (RT) [*]

H.M.S. Pinafore: "The hours creep on apace" (VM)

The Mikado: "A wandering minstrel, I" (RT) [*]

Ruddigore: "Happily coupled are we" (VM/RT)

The Gondoliers: "O rapture, when alone together" (VM/RT)

Patience: "A magnet hung in a hardware shop" (RT) [*]

The Mikado: "The sun whose rays" (VM) [*]

H.M.S. Pinafore: "Rafrain, audacious tar" (VM/RT)

H.M.S. Pinafore: "Sorry her lot" (VM)

The Mikado: "Were you not to Ko-Ko plighted" (VM/RT) [*]

The Yeomen of the Guard: "Free from his fetters grim" (RT) [*]

The Pirates of Penzance: "Poor wandering one!" (VM) [*]

The Pirates of Penzance: "Stay, Frederic, stay!" (VM/RT) [*]

Here's a How-De-Do! A Gilbert & Sullivan Gala
Sheila Armstrong, soprano; Robert Tear, tenor; Benjamin Luxon, baritone
Northern Sinfonia of England, Richard Hickox, conductor.

Ruddigore: "In sailing o'er life's ocean wide" (SA/RT/BL) [*]

Patience: "When I go out of door" (RT/BL) [*]

The Sorcerer: "Oh, happy young heart!" (SA)

Ruddigore: "The battle's roar is over" (SA/RT) [*]

Utopia, Limited: "Oh, Zara, my beloved one....A tenor all singers above" (RT)

Iolanthe: "None shall part us from each other" (SA/RT) [*]

Haddon Hall: "I've heard it said" (BL) [*]

Ruddigore: "You understand? I think I do!" (RT/BL)

Haddon Hall: "The earth is fair" (RT)

H.M.S. Pinafore: "Never mind the why and wherefore" (SA/RT/BL) [*]

The Mikado: Here's a how-de-do!" (SA/RT/BL) [*]

The Yeomen of the Guard: "Here upon we're both agreed" (RT/BL) [*]

The Grand Duke: "When you find you're a broken-down critter" (BL) [*]

The Gondoliers: "There was a time" (SA/RT) [*]

The Sorcerer: "For love alone" (RT) [*]

Cox and Box: "The buttercup dwells on the lowly mead" (RT/BL)

The Sorcerer: "When he is here" (SA) [*]

The Gondoliers: "We're called gondolieri" (RT/BL) [*]

The Sorcerer: "My name is John Wellington Wells" (BL) [*]

The Yeomen of the Guard: "Alas! I waver to and fro" (SA/RT/BL)