Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: Act 1. Overture
2. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: Act 1. Search throughout the panorama
3. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: Act 1. Now hearken to my strict command
4. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: Act 1. Today we meet, my baby bride and I
5. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: Act 1. From the distant panorama / We are warriors three
6. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: Act 1. If you give me your attention
7. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: Act 1. P'raps if you address the lady
8. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: Act 1. Come Cyril, Florian / Expressive glances
9. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: Act 1. Must we, till then, in prison cell be thrust? / For a month to dwell in a dungeon cel
10. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: Act 2. Towards the empyrean heights
11. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: Act 2. Mighty maiden with a mission
12. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: Act 2. Minerva, oh hear me
13. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: Act 2. Gently, Gently, evidently
14. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: Act 2. They intend to send a wire to the moon
15. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: Act 2. I am a maiden, cold and stately
16. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: Act 2. The world is but a broken toy
17. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: Act 2. A lady fair of lineage high (the Ape and the Lady)
18. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: Act 2. The woman of the wisest wit
19. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: Act 2. Now wouldn't you like to rule the roost?
20. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: Act 2. Merrily ring the luncheon bell
21. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: Act 2. Would you know the kind of maid?
22. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: Act 2. Finale

Disc 2:

1. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: Act 3. Death to the invader!
2. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: Act 3. I built upon a rock
3. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: Act 3. Whene'er I spoke
4. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: Act 3. When anger spreads his wing
5. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: Act 3. This helmet, I suppose
6. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: Act 3. This is our duty plain
7. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: Act 3. Finale. With joy abiding
8. The Mikado (The Town of Titipu), operetta: My object all sublime
9. The Yeomen of the Guard (The Merryman and his Maid), operetta: Oh! a private buffoon
10. Iolanthe (The Peer and the Peri), operetta: Lord Chancellor's Song
11. The Sorcerer, operetta: My name is John Wellington Wells
12. H. M. S. Pinafore (The Lass that Loved a Sailor), operetta: I am the monarch of the sea
13. H. M. S. Pinafore (The Lass that Loved a Sailor), operetta: When I was a lad
14. The Pirates of Penzance, operetta: Major General's Song
15. The Pirates of Penzance, operetta: When a felon's not engaged in his employment
16. The Pirates of Penzance, operetta: When the foeman bares his steel
17. Patience (Bunthorne's Bride), operetta: If you're anxious for to shine
18. Trial by Jury, operetta: When I good friends
19. Ruddigore (The Witch's Curse), operetta: My boy you may take it from me
20. The Gondoliers (The King of Barataria), operetta: Rising early in the morning
21. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: If you give me your attention
22. Princess Ida (Castle Adamant), operetta: When e'er I spoke

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #226252 in Music
• Released on: 2007-05-22
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .24 pounds

Customer Reviews

A Mixed Savoyard Blessing.
Many decades ago the singer George Baker told me in an interview in the early 1970's that the reason he was asked by EMI to take over the comedy parts in the 1960's Malcolm Sargent Gilbert and Sullivan stereo recordings was because it was felt that Sir Geraint Evans, fine singer though he was, had failed to capture the spirit of the roles. The same case could be made against Nelson Eddy in his detour into the Savoy Operas. When noted Basso John Charles Thomas decided to let his hair down in the 1940's he did a recording of "When I was a Lad" for RCA that was startling, fresh and VERY un-D'Oyly Carte like. . Here Eddy hits all the notes and does his best to inject some "character" to some of the songs but it's all very workmanlike and pedestrian. I am no stranger to these recordings and I always felt they were nothing more than a curio, much like when Mae West took on Grand Opera by doing a scene from "Samson et Dalila" in "Goin' to Town".

At about the same time that I got an audience with singer George Baker I was also able to spend a little time with the D'Oyly Carte soprano Muriel Harding. Even decades later she was wistful about the fact that when Bridget D'Oyly Carte revived "Princess Ida" in the mid-1950's she was passed over for the title part in favor of Sadler Wells artist Victoria Sladen. Although she eventually did play the part on stage she was saddened that she never was able to commit the part for posterity on record. This re-release only adds to that wistfulness when I was reminded how delightful she is in the comparatively small role of Lady Psyche and how wooden Ms. Sladen sounds in the principal part. Ms. Sladen was originally brought on board to "punch-up" the "importance" of the "Ida" revival, but on record the concept backfires.

As I said in my comments for the re-release of first complete D'Oyly Carte "The Sorcerer", some may prefer the sonics of the later recording but point-by-point they each have their delights and drawbacks. Elizabeth Harwood's Ida on the stereo version is certainly heads above Sladen's, but who can resist Peter Pratt's wonderfully sardonic King Gama on the mono version? Thomas Round or Philip Potter as Hilarion? Ya got me brother! It's a matter of taste. The deciding factor for me in going with this earlier effort is Isidore Godfrey's sprightly conducting. Sir Malcolm Sargent tended to slow tempi down to a snails pace on his later Savoy efforts, and here he reins in numbers where he should let them loose and gallop.

And the Nelson Eddy recordings? I'm glad to have them for historical reasons on a remastered CD and I suppose the true Gilbert and Sullivan afficinado should have them in their library if only for the sake of completeness.

too little of Nelson!
The patter songs of Nelson Eddy are performed flawlessly; however, it is misleading in the title. ONe thinks that ALL of the music on this cd is by Nelson Eddy and it's not. Too bad as his interpretations are by far the finest recordings of G & S which are available. Amazon should tell the readers that.