The 1964 D'Oyly Carte Yeomen

Cast Lieut. Cholmondely Anthony Raffell Colonel Fairfax Philip Potter Sergeant Meryll Donald Adams Leonard Meryll David Palmer Jack Point John Reed Wilfred Shadbolt Kenneth Sandford First Yeoman David Palmer Second Yeoman Thomas Lawlor Elsie Maynard Elizabeth Harwood Phoebe Meryll Ann Hood Dame Carruthers Gillian Knight Kate Margaret Eales D'Oyly Carte Opera Chorus Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Sir Malcolm Sargent Recorded at Walthamstow Town Hall 5–8 & 11 April 1964

London A-4258

London/Decca 417 358-4

This is a fine performance of the opera, though Yeomen has fared exceptionally well on records, and it is doubtful that most collectors will be satisfied with just one recording. There are no significant weak spots in the cast. My only complaint is that Philip Potter makes the lout Fairfax sound far too sweet.

Sir Malcolm Sargent conducts his first D'Oyly Carte recording since the 1930s, though of course he had by this time completed his series for EMI with grand opera singers in the leading roles. It is surprising that he recorded another Yeomen just six years after his EMI performance, which certainly was still in the catalog. (These days, artists generally sign a ten-year exclusion agreement for any work that they record.)

One casting oddity is Elizabeth Harwood as Elsie. Harwood sang small parts on a couple of the other Sargent recordings, but she never appeared on stage for D'Oyly Carte. Ann Hood was the Company's regular Elsie at this time, and so she was here re-assigned to Phoebe — no small part to be sure, but not a role she ever sang on stage.

Decca 473 655-2