Sony S2K 58892

Out of the ashes of the old D'Oyly Carte Company, a new Company arose in the late eighties. Called variously the "New D'Oyly Carte Opera Company," the "D'Oyly Carte Opera Company Birmingham," or its old name of simply "D'Oyly Carte," the new entity entered the recording studio for the first time in 1990 and produced adequate, if not outstanding, performances of The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado.

Many of the so-called New D'Oyly Carte recordings have distinguished themselves by restoring long-deleted materal, much of which had never before appeared on records. For several of them, the Company engaged Dr. David Russell Hulme to prepare authentic performing editions from Sullivan's autograph scores, scraping off a century's worth of errors and "improvements" from the orchestrations. This recording features the "What all?" ... "Well, nearly all!" section from the Act II finale, which has not been regularly performed on stage since at least the turn of the century and has been recorded nowhere else.

Koch International 340262

The musical values here are excellent, but it would be difficult to prefer this recording over the old D'Oyly Carte's superb 1968 recording with complete dialogue.

The highlights CD (issued on various labels) includes the following tracks:

• Overture
• When Frederic was a little lad
• Oh Better Far
• Oh is there not…Poor wand'ring one
• I am the very model
• Oh dry the glistning tear
• When the foeman bares his steel
• When you had left
• When a felons not engaged
• With cat like tread
• Finale (starting with "You triumph now")