D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, cond. Isidore Godfrey
From Decca Ace of Clubs 2 x Lp set, ACL 1014/1015 - MONO
Rec. 1950
The Mikado of Japan: Darrell Fancourt
Nanki-Poo: Leonard Osborn
Ko-Ko: Martyn Green
Pooh-Bah: Richard Watson
Pish-Tush: Alan Styler
Yum-Yum: Margaret Mitchell
Pitti-Sing: Joan Gillingham
Peep-Bo: Joyce Wright
Katisha: Ella Halman
Go-To: Radley Flynn
Chorus of Schoolgirls, Nobles, Guards, Coolies
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company with Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Isidore Godfrey
Source: mint condition Lp vinyls, purchased online from 'Bazers Bazaar' who had obviously, along with any previous owners, taken great care of them.
Although this recording has been made available commercially as a download or double CD album by Naxos and the 'Documents' label, I agree with at least one reviewer online that the remastered sound on the Naxos album is not their best. The 'Documents' album does not fare much better in my opinion: it has been amplified more than the Naxos, but otherwise the sound is virtually the same, having a boxy quality to it, certainly not representative of Decca's best sound of the period.
'True mono'? With commercially produced CD's or downloads, where recordings have been sourced from 78rpm or Lp/vinyls from the mono era, you may have spotted or heard that these are actually in stereo: a stereo cartridge will have been used to make a stereo recording of a mono record. This is understandable because the sound produced is more acceptable to many, being more easy-going on the ear. Some of the 'mono' posts in this blog were processed in that way. However, there are disadvantages to this, notably that a stereo stylus will pick up unwanted noise more because of its shape not being designed with mono grooves in mind. So 'mono' CD's/downloads do not really represent what record collectors would have heard in the 1950's, even if very good results are often achieved by record companies in producing them.
Here, an aim in uploading the present album is to encourage readers to download and listen to the present transfer which has been made using a mono cartridge, recorded in mono, edited/cleaned up minimally and finally exported in mono. In other words, the sound should sound exactly as it would have done on a decent or better domestic record player when these ACL re-issues were released.
The Decca Ace of Clubs label did produce remasterings that tended to be brighter in sound than on respective original releases and so the results as heard here will be brighter than on the original pressings which could have been used in some commercial releases.
The two vinyl discs themselves were set out with automatic record players in mind, the sides going 1, 4, 2 and 3 (but here of course following the correct order). The tracking (and song information) below reflects that as shown on the Lp labels/sleeves themselves.
The final track is my own personally edited selection from the opera, based on the selection played by the Black Dyke Mills Band which can also be found elsewhere in this blog (yes, the songs may be in the wrong order, but it's only a bit of fun! I'd become so used to hearing the excellent band arrangement that I thought a bit of experimentation with a sung performance was called for! - A kind of reverse authenticity a bit like the Academy of Ancient Music's rendition of a Bach/Stokowski arrangement at the BBC Proms in 2016).
So, included here are: 320kps mono mp3 files suitable for mobile use/iTunes/similar libraries, wav files for the more discerning and finally the raw/unedited wavs for real aficionados who wish to clean up and re-track the whole recording again for themselves.
The performance itself is arguably one of D'Oyly Carte's best. Enjoy!
Side 1
(Track 1) Overture - Act 1 (Part I): If you want to know who we are; Gentlemen I pray you tell me; Why, who are you who ask this question?; A wandering minstrel, I; Our great Mikado; Young man, despair; And have I journeyed for a month or nearly
Side 2
(Track 2) Act 1 (Contd.): Behold the Lord High Executioner; Taken from the county jail; As some day it may happen; Comes a train of little ladies; Three little maids from school are we; So please you, Sir; Were you not to Ko-Ko plighted?; I am so proud
Side 3
(Track 3) Act 1 (Concl.): With aspect stern; The threatened cloud has passed away; As in a month you've got to die; Your revels cease; Oh fool, that fleest my hallowed joys; The hour of gladness
(Track 4) Act 2 (Part I): Braid the raven hair; Sit with downcast eye; The sun, whose rays; Brightly dawns our wedding day
Side 4
(Track 5) Act 2 (Concl.): Here's a how-de-do; Miya sama, miya sama; A more humane Mikado; The criminal cried; See how the fates their gifts allot; The flowers that bloom in the spring; Hearts do not break; On a tree by a river a little tom-tit; There is beauty; For he's gone and married Yum-Yum
* * * * *
(Extra track 6) The Mikado - an Edited Personal Selection (7 mins.). One verse each from: There is beauty (orch. only); Brightly dawns our wedding day; Three little maids from school are we; See how the fates their gifts allot; On a tree by a river a little tom-tit; For he's gone and married Yum-Yum
The motivating force behind uploading the linked sound files and details is a love for the music concerned. However, as with other posts on this blog, I will willingly remove this post in the event of legitimate complaint on legal/copyrighting grounds.
Download links:
G&SMikadoGodfrey1950Mp3 (6 sound files, artwork, notes included)
G&SMikadoGodfrey1950Wav (6 sound files, artwork, notes included)
G&SMikadoGodfreyRAW-UNEDITED-Wav (1 large sound file)
Please feel welcome in commenting on this post.
