The Sargent/Glyndebourne Patience (1962)

Cast Colonel Calverley John Shaw Major Murgatroyd Trevor Anthony Duke of Dunstable Alexander Young Reginald Bunthorne George Baker Archibald Grosvenor John Cameron Lady Angela Marjorie Thomas Lady Saphir Elizabeth Harwood Lady Ella Heather Harper Lady Jane Monica Sinclair Patience Elsie Morison Pro Arte Orchestra Glyndebourne Festival Chorus Conductor: Sir Malcolm Sargent Recorded 6 February 1959 (Overture) & 17-20 October 1961

EMI SXDW-3031

EMI CDS7 47783-8

This recording was the penultimate entry in Sir Malcolm Sargent's series of G&S recordings with grand opera singers. It is one of the least satisfying, mostly because septuagenarian George Baker was simply too old to play the aesthetic poet Bunthorne. D'Oyly Carte's 1961 recording with complete dialogue is preferable in nearly all respects.

Eric Peterson supplied the following capsule review:

EMI CMS7 64406-2

I went out and bought Patience on CD on a whim, and the local record store had only the Glyndebourne one. I gritted my teeth and bought it. Mistake. I have the Glyndebourne Iolanthe, and it's not bad (and it has wonderfully funny cover art), but the Patience is soporific, and no one is well cast, except for maybe Jane and Angela. I think Patience is a show you have to be careful with, or it can slide into "dull," and this recording is dull squared. That snappy cello opening of "Let the merry cymbals" is played slower than I ever want to hear it played again, thankyouverymuch. Luckily, I have the 60's DC recording on LP.

Angel 3635 B/L

This recording was originally issued on LP. As Patience is such a short opera, EMI was able to re-issue it on CD coupled with Sir Charles Groves's 1968 recording of Sullivan's Symphony in E ("Irish") with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.