THE GRAND DUKE has always been the most unjustly neglected of all the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. First produced in 1896 the piece must have seemed slightly old-fashioned when compared with the new craze - the musical comedy - and such frivolous pieces as THE GEISHA which was currently playing to packed houses at the Gaiety Theatre. Most of the opening reviews were excellent, but Gilbert panicked and uncharacteristically made a number of poorly judged changes both to the dialogue and by cutting three numbers from Act Two. In actual fact the opera is no longer or complicated than a well produced GONDOLIERS or YEOMEN. The works greatest glory is its magnificent score - here Sullivan really does excel himself.
A radio presentation in the mid-sixties and a couple of amateur productions in London at around the same time seemed to mark a turn in the work's fortunes, and a concert performance by D'Oyly Carte in 1975 seemed to set the seal on this with THE GRAND DUKE being now performed regularly in two, three or four productions a year in the UK.
Even before D'Oyly Carte bit the bullet in 1975, GRAND DUKE began to appear on LP. During the 60's the Lyric Theatre of Washington issued a set of 3 discs and in 1974 the Parish of Cheam Operatic Society went into Pearl's recording studios and issued a 2 disc set of their recent production.
The 1973 recording made by the University of Michigan Gilbert and Sullivan Society is currently available from Sounds On CD VGS230 (pictured). The recording is virtually complete (just a few minor cuts) and was recorded in a studio immediately after a very successful stage production.
Cast and orchestra are uniformly excellent and American accents are at a minimum. The lynch-pin role of Ludwig is played excellently by the late Stephen Poulos who went on to sing with the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The musical director is a youthful Eric Stern.
Chris Webster of Sounds on CD has done wonders with the transfer. The master tapes are lost but Chris has managed to make an excellent transfer from two sets of very clean and unblemished LP's. Sounds on CD being (until recently) a UK based label, their issues are now freely available over the internet from UK based Music Hall Masters and also from 78s2cd. See links to both sites on the links page.
To hear "By the mystic regulation" from this recording, click on the image above.
The D'Oyly Carte recording of 1976 was the direct result of a concert performance of the opera given at the Savoy Theatre on the 5th April 1975 during the D'Oyly Carte centenary season. I have always suspected that the intention (as with UTOPIA on the previous evening) had been to stage a full production as the parts of Viscount Mentone and Martha (speaking roles only) were cast and announced in 'The Savoyard', but also suspect that rehearsal time and cost did not allow for this.
John Reed adds the role of Rudolph, the Grand Duke of the title, to his rosta of G & S Patter roles, graciously leaving the immense part of Ludwig to the inimitable Kenneth Sandford. Julia Goss is superb as Juilia Jellicoe, the English comedienne starring with the German theatrical troupe; her mad scene is chilling and her extended number "All is darksome" is magnificent. John Ayldon is excellent in the small role of the Prince of Monte-Carlo and went on to make the roulette song truly and notoriously his own.
Musical gem is followed by musical gem from the overture to the finale with the Act Two opening chorus, "As before you we defile" a definite highlight among highlights. Chorus and orchestra are magnificent and there is a very definite feel of joy at being able to sing something that was new to the company as a whole.
The set has been re-packaged at mid-price by DECCA with the original artwork. Two pieces of Sullivan's incidental music for Shakespeare's HENRY VIII are used as a filler for the second disc. DECCA 473 635-2
To hear Julia's 'Mad Scene' from Act Two of this recording, click the image above.
The Ohio Light Opera recording emanates from their stage production of 2003 and I have to say that as a record of a live production of an operetta, which (to judge by the applause at the end of each act) was enthusiastically received, this is an excellent recording. As a representation of Gilbert and Sullivan's GRAND DUKE it falls somewhat short. Such a pity as many of the criticisms that I had of the same company's PRINCESS IDA have been addressed, as indeed they were in UTOPIA.
To the British ear the most unpalatable aspect of any recording of G & S Opera, or indeed any European work, made in America, is the accent. In IDA this was a real problem, in UTOPIA it was almost conquered, here in GRAND DUKE it is almost non-existent although the word 'Can't' still defeats the performers.
To hear the Overture from this recording, click on the image above.
The real gripe with this recording is the amount of totally unnecessary musical (and some of the dialogue) cuts and the disc break - why oh why does the break come in the middle of the Act One finale during the "O horror" sequence? With disc one timed at 63:27 and the second half of the finale timed at just 8:19, left on disc one this would have made a total of just 71:46. With some discs running to 80 or more these days, this disc break is totally unacceptable. Even with a multi-deck player, the playout of disc one and the play in of disc two time at 0:10 making it impossible to hear the finale without a break.
Ohio bill the opera as a "Romantic comic opera" and play it very much as they play Kalman or Strauss. Why? This is Gilbert and Sullivan. It may not be their best work (I don't know anyone who would claim that it is), but a well played and paced GRAND DUKE can, and does, sparkle like champagne. Here we have a very good white wine but there is not a bubble in sight.
The cuts that are made are of the nature of 'all or nothing' and in some cases are unintelligent. We lose the second verse of "Strange the views", very sad as the first verse is excellent sung, not to mention the fact that having given the reason why duelling is unacceptable we are denied the Pfennig-Halbpfennigian solution.
The second verse of "As o'er our penny role" is cut. This seems to be a tradition, but as the preceding dialogue has also been reduced to a very bare minimum, this reduces Rudolph's, and even more so, the Baronesses' role to a minimum.
The Act One Finale begins very strangely with the "Tall snobs" verse of the Ludwig/Rudolph duet. It is quite common to cut this down by a verse but I have never heard the first ditched in preference to the second. And whilst on the subject of this finale, it was here that Ted Christopher's (Ludwig) habit of speaking his lines very much in the vein of Rex Harrison in MY FAIR LADY became annoyingly apparent. It was also with the "Jolly jinks" sequence that the overall lack of pace in some of the numbers (but not all) becomes apparent.
Ludwig's Greek pronunciation in "At the outset" is dubious to say the least, Julia misses the lines "I have a rival, frenzy thrilled I find you both together" at the beginning of her mad scene which actually makes a nonsense of the whole scene as I don't suppose that anyone would realise that she is 'acting' a mad scene. "Come bumpers aye ever so many", "The Prince of Monte-Carlo" and "We're rigged out in magnificent array" are all shorn of their second verses.
When one considers that the two discs of Ohio's UTOPIA run for 75:35 and 71:16 with barely a cut in site, one has to wonder why so many musical cuts have been made in GRAND DUKE. Does Ohio not have any confidence in its ability to present the opera successfully in its uncut form? There is more than enough time on the discs to include all the musical and most of the dialogue cuts.
All this said however, this is a pleasant recording, which, although it claims to be the "First Complete Recording", cannot perhaps be so considered by anyone who owns either the UMGASS or D'Oyly Carte recordings reviewed above. The recording is on the TROY label - TROY631632, and is available in the UK from Amazon.