Den Gode Fregat Pinafore (1957)

Permission to use Danish Lyrics in place of original words
by Sir WS Gilbert has been given by the copyright owners.

Chris says that there was an article about the production in the May 1956 issue of The Gilbert and Sullivan Journal, which mentioned that the production on which the recording is based had its Copenhagen premiere on 10th December 1955.

Polyphon EPS 93

Chris sent me the names in Danish of the selections on the 45rpm disc. I'll leave it to the reader's imagination to guess what numbers in the opera they correspond to:

Introduktion og Matroskor
Forglemmigej's sang
Kaptajnens entresang
Admiralens Vise
Trio (Josephine, admiralen og kaptajnen)
Finale

Don sent me the names in English of the selections on the LP:

"We sail the ocean blue"
"I'm called Little Buttercup"
"The nightingale...A maiden fair to see"
"I am the Captain of the Pinafore"
"When I was a lad"
"The hours creep on apace ... A simple sailor"
"Nevermind the why and wherefore"
"Kind Captain, I've important information"
"Carefully on tiptoe stealing"
"He is an Englishman"
"Farewell, my own"
"A many years ago"
"Finale Act II"

These selections correspond to the first half of Act I and the second half of Act II, suggesting there could be another disc out there—not yet identified—comprising the second half of Act I and the first half of Act II!!

Notwithstanding that it is in Danish, this is a more than adequate recording of the opera, with the performers apparently well-schooled in the G&S idiom. A Sir Joseph who more speaks his role than sings it is the only blemish on an otherwise enjoyable set.