The 1968 D'Oyly Carte Pirates

Cast Major-General Stanley John Reed Pirate King Donald Adams Samuel George Cook Frederic Philip Potter Sergeant of Police Owen Brannigan Mabel Valerie Masterson Edith Jean Allister Kate Pauline Wales Isabel Susan Maisey Ruth Christene Palmer D'Oyly Carte Opera Chorus Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Isidore Godfrey Recorded at Decca Studios, West Hampstead 4–8 December 1967

London OSA-1277

London 425 196-2

London 436 292-2

London Jubilee JL 42003

After the 1966 Sorcerer, the D'Oyly Carte Company had issued stereo recordings of all its operas, except for the little-known (at the time) Utopia Limited and Grand Duke. This Pirates began a re-traversal of the canon (which was never finished due to the Company's budgetary problems and eventual closure). From this point forward, recordings also became less frequent.

Sadly, most of the recordings in this second stereo series failed to improve on the sets they were intended to replace. This Pirates was an exception. Not only does it include complete dialogue (which its 1957 predecessor had not done), but the excitement of the opera literally leaps off of the disc and into one's living room. This recording is one of the best D'Oyly Carte sets of all time, and certainly the best Pirates. Guest artist Owen Brannigan nearly steals the show as the Sergeant (a role he also played on the Sargent recording). D'Oyly Carte's regular Sergeant, George Cook, was demoted to Samuel, because Decca felt he didn't have a good enough singing voice.

(Chris Webster points out that the June 1968 issue of The Savoyard announced Alan Styler as Samuel, and this was Styler's regular stage role at the time. Cook may have recorded the role, not as a consolation prize after Brannigan took Sergeant, but because Styler was unavailable. Styler did continue with the Company until retiring for health reasons on 1st June 1968. His final performance was as Samuel.)

One suspects that the motivation for issuing this Pirates was to offer an alternative to the competing recording on RCA with Martyn Green as the Major-General. This, too, may be the reason why the dialogue was included, something the Company had not done on any recording since 1959-61.

J. Donald Smith points out a problem with the 1970s re-issue on London's Jubilee label: "One needs to be careful about this particular version.... Decca was apparently being frugal at the time and used left-over copies of the 1957 Pirates libretto instead of printing a new one. They changed the libretto but left intact the 1958 cast list. The cast list is correct on the record labels, and of course the recording has the dialog."

Decca 473 650-2

Similarly, while Donald Adams's Pirate King may not appeal to all tastes, he was a major star in 1968, and I'm sure the possibility of replacing him with Owen Brannigan would never have entered into anyone's calculations. The case was quite different with the role of the Sargeant, since D'Oyly Carte's incumbent at the time, George Cook, was considered a minor artist.

Until Kenneth Sandford's day, the Sargent was always played by owners of the "Pooh-Bah parts." Sandford considered the role too low, and after several years persuaded D'Oyly Carte management to assign it to someone else. By 1968, he was no longer playing the role on stage. As a matter of history, Li is incorrect about the Sergeant of Police. It was written for a true bass, not a bass-baritone.]

Decca K61K-22