Recordings of The Yeomen of the Guard

Background

Contemporary Drawing of The Yeomen of the Guard

The Yeomen of the Guard has fared extremely well on record, with five musically-complete stereo sets available on CD. The one most least likely to please is Sir Malcolm Sargent's 1958 recording with the "Glyndebourne" forces. It is sung competently enough, but with so many other options on the market, it must come in last place.

The venerable 1964 D'Oyly Carte recording will satisfy most listeners, and the CD re-mastering comes with the company's excellent recording of Trial by Jury made the same year.

Two more recent recordings are worth serious consideration. The 1993 New D'Oyly Carte recording includes all of the "cut" material, "When jealous torments," "A laughing boy," the original setting of "Is life a boon?" and the third/fourth yeomen's couplets.

Sir Neville Marriner's recording came out the same year. It is the only commercially-issued Yeomen to date with dialogue, albeit abridged. I found the dialogue dramatically compelling, especially considering that the artists had not played their roles on stage, but this view has not been universally shared. Sir Neville coaxes strong performances from cast and orchestra.

Yeomen was the final (to date) entry in Sir Charles Mackerras's G&S series. Richard Suart's Jack Point does not live up to the level of his predecessors in the role. The set does come with a superb Trial by Jury, however.

Having said all that, you will not go seriously wrong with any of these sets. Several of the vintage sets are available on CD also, but the artistic trade-offs of these versions are too subtle to make a recommendation. If you like vintage sets, you will likely want them all.

The situation on video is not as good. The only video currently on the market is the Brent Walker production from 1982. The production is almost universally despised, both for Joel Grey's terribly misjudged Point and several brutal cuts.

Recordings

NR	1907 Pathé	Acou Abrg
NR	1907 G&T	Acou Abrg
NR	1920 HMV	Acou
	1928 D'Oyly Carte	Elec
NR	1931 Columbia	Elec
NR	1931 D'Oyly Carte	Elec Abrg
	1950 D'Oyly Carte	Mono
NR	1957 Hallmark Hall of Fame	Abrg
	1958 Sargent/Glyndebourne	Ster
	1964 D'Oyly Carte	Ster
NR	1966 BBC	Dial
	1966 Michael Sammes Singers	Ster Hlts
	1972 G&S For All	Ster Abrg
NR	1974 BBC Video	Dial
NR	1978 City of London Festival	Dial
	1979 D'Oyly Carte	Ster
	1982 Brent Walker Productions	Dial
NR	1989 BBC	Ster Dial
	1993 Marriner/Philips	Dig Dial
	1993 New D'Oyly Carte	Dig Bonus
	1995 Mackerras/Telarc	Dig