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List Price : $17.98 new Price : $11.68
List Price : $17.98 new Price : $11.68
we have pleased to offer you to Gilbert & Sullivan: The Mikado Reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful 
The best bargain for the price, September 28, 1999 By This review is from: Gilbert & Sullivan: The Mikado (Audio CD) First of all, this entire presentation fits onto a single CD, so you are paying 1/2 the price for starters. To make this happen, the producers have dropped the overture (which is one of the series' weakest and not even by Sullivan) and one stanza of Ko-Ko's "Little List" song. There are also a few bars missing from the Act I finale, but I cannot understand why. The voices are generally excellent, the conducting lively and completely in keeping with the joyous mood of this operetta (that is concerned with decapitation, boiling in oil, hanging, being buried alive, and other punishments that fit the crime). This is definitely <The Mikado> of choice--unless you insist on absolute completeness.
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful A digital Mikado set to eclipse all others, January 30, 2001 By Yi-Peng (Singapore) - See all my reviews This review is from: Gilbert & Sullivan: The Mikado (Audio CD) With this groundbreaking entry in the new Mackerras series, we are drawn into a new and fruitful era of Gilbert and Sullivan recordings. Mackerras devotes himself fully to the cause of Gilbert and Sullivan, and with a flick of his baton before the Welsh National Opera forces, he produces delicious results, even from his starry, inspired, first-rate singers. Donald Adams is on top form and in his element in his solid, satanic and memorably cheerfully-positive portrayal of the eponymous comical tyrannical autocrat. It is really amazing how he has managed to maintain his touch with the role since he recorded the role for D'Oyly Carte thirty years before contributing to this recording, because he still manages to maintain his inimitable style. As his son, Nanki-Poo, Anthony Rolfe Johnson uses his Lieder-singing experience to give a lyrical touch to the role and a romantic edge common in Marie McLaughlin's petite Yum-Yum. The rest of the major cast use their experience of English National... Read more
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful Superb voices!, March 17, 2000 By Amazon Verified Purchase This review is from: Gilbert & Sullivan: The Mikado (Audio CD) I'm with "Bunthorne" on this one. As we all know, "Hey Diddle Diddle would rank as an idyll if he pronounced it chaste" (and if you don't get the reference, you need to bone up on your G&S, so definitely buy this album, and maybe some others!). As a general rule, Gilbert and Sullivan operettas are performed by good comic actors with decent, but not top-notch, singing voices, and women's arias in particular are strangled by what the great Anna Russell described as the "piercing British soprano." So it's a real joy to hear Sullivan's lovely, infectious melodies sung by a cast of consistently excellent singers with operatic as well as operetta experience. Felicity Palmer was a special treat as Katisha; it's easy to forget that although the role was supposed to be comic, it was also written for a fine mezzo, and Sullivan graced her with a couple of beautiful arias. I didn't notice the poor diction that one reviewer complained about, but... Read more
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| 20 of 20 people found the following review helpful The best bargain for the price, By This review is from: Gilbert & Sullivan: The Mikado (Audio CD) First of all, this entire presentation fits onto a single CD, so you are paying 1/2 the price for starters. To make this happen, the producers have dropped the overture (which is one of the series' weakest and not even by Sullivan) and one stanza of Ko-Ko's "Little List" song. There are also a few bars missing from the Act I finale, but I cannot understand why. The voices are generally excellent, the conducting lively and completely in keeping with the joyous mood of this operetta (that is concerned with decapitation, boiling in oil, hanging, being buried alive, and other punishments that fit the crime). This is definitely <The Mikado> of choice--unless you insist on absolute completeness. 23 of 24 people found the following review helpful A digital Mikado set to eclipse all others, By Yi-Peng (Singapore) - See all my reviews This review is from: Gilbert & Sullivan: The Mikado (Audio CD) With this groundbreaking entry in the new Mackerras series, we are drawn into a new and fruitful era of Gilbert and Sullivan recordings. Mackerras devotes himself fully to the cause of Gilbert and Sullivan, and with a flick of his baton before the Welsh National Opera forces, he produces delicious results, even from his starry, inspired, first-rate singers. Donald Adams is on top form and in his element in his solid, satanic and memorably cheerfully-positive portrayal of the eponymous comical tyrannical autocrat. It is really amazing how he has managed to maintain his touch with the role since he recorded the role for D'Oyly Carte thirty years before contributing to this recording, because he still manages to maintain his inimitable style. As his son, Nanki-Poo, Anthony Rolfe Johnson uses his Lieder-singing experience to give a lyrical touch to the role and a romantic edge common in Marie McLaughlin's petite Yum-Yum. The rest of the major cast use their experience of English National... Read more 14 of 14 people found the following review helpful Superb voices!, By Amazon Verified Purchase This review is from: Gilbert & Sullivan: The Mikado (Audio CD) I'm with "Bunthorne" on this one. As we all know, "Hey Diddle Diddle would rank as an idyll if he pronounced it chaste" (and if you don't get the reference, you need to bone up on your G&S, so definitely buy this album, and maybe some others!). As a general rule, Gilbert and Sullivan operettas are performed by good comic actors with decent, but not top-notch, singing voices, and women's arias in particular are strangled by what the great Anna Russell described as the "piercing British soprano." So it's a real joy to hear Sullivan's lovely, infectious melodies sung by a cast of consistently excellent singers with operatic as well as operetta experience. Felicity Palmer was a special treat as Katisha; it's easy to forget that although the role was supposed to be comic, it was also written for a fine mezzo, and Sullivan graced her with a couple of beautiful arias. I didn't notice the poor diction that one reviewer complained about, but... Read more |
› See all 22 customer reviews...
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