LP Album Cover

Reader's Digest Gondoliers Sleeve (Five others like this, not shown.)

In February, 1963, Reader's Digest recorded a three-disc boxed set containing highlights of six G&S operas. The casts were stellar, including Donald Adams and Kenneth Sandford, but not in the parts for which they were best known, since their recording contracts with Decca prohibited them from recording their usual roles on a competing label. Thus, Adams recorded Ko-Ko, the Sergeant of Police, Private Willis, Don Alhambra and Bunthorne. Sandford recorded the Pirate King, Lord Mountararat, Giuseppe, the Duke of Plaza-Toro and Colonel Caverley.

Other familiar names included Anthony Raffell, who played secondary bass parts with D'Oyly Carte; Jean Allister, and Stanley Riley, both of whom guested on several D'Oyly Carte recordings of the 1960s but were not members of the Company itself. The recordings featured the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and were conducted by James Walker (before he assumed the reins as Musical Director of the D'Oyly Carte, in 1968).

The recordings had the full blessing of Bridget D'Oyly Carte, and in the U.K. issue there was a white paper band about one inch wide which encompassed the actual set of three records in their sleeves inside the box. On this was printed, ''It gives me great pleasure to recommend these recordings,'' and underneath that Bridget D'Oyly Carte's facsimile signature and the words Bridget D'Oyly Carte. The paper band also bore a gold seal marked RDA and RCA.

Casting and selections are as listed below.

Reader's Digest RDCD 641-3

This set is extremely popular among collectors and has generated numerous comments. Dan Kravetz wrote:

The Reader's Digest was in the recording business in a very big way throughout the 1960s. Sales were strictly by mail-order, and one would guess that a large potential audience for G&S (who were not in the habit of frequenting record shops) was waiting to be tapped. The results were quite satisfying -- Donald Adams made a fine Ko-Ko and Bunthorne, and it was a treat to hear Sandford branch out. A very large percentage of the Reader's Digest classical recordings have been put out on CD on the Chesky label [but not the G&S highlights, alas]. The sound quality was state-of-the-art when the recordings were made, and the CD pressings have been acclaimed for preserving sound that is still superb by today's standards.

J. Donald Smith adds:

These are excellent recordings and interpretations. Rather rapid tempi, in contrast to the D'Oyly Carte recordings of the same period, which tended to drag. The cast are uniformly excellent (with the minor exception of Jean Allister as the Duchess of Plaza-Toro -- she never got the stresses right in "On the day when I was wedded"; the rest of her work is superb).

Kenneth Sandford is excellent, but Donald Adams is spectacular. Next to his Sergeant of Police or Private Willis, Sandford's interpretations seem wooden by comparison. As for Adams's Ko-Ko and Bunthorne: WOW! A patter baritone with perfect diction who can sing! In Buxton [the '95 Festival], he said that he would have loved to do other roles (as would have Sandford), but "they weren't allowed to." Good old D'OC type-casting.

Philip Sternenberg wrote: "The excerpts sounded as good as D'Oyly Carte recordings would have sounded had there been role reversal there. Oh, how I wish I could have kept that set!"

Chris Webster has copies of both the mono and stereo versions of this set (his mono set has lost the box), and he added the following comments:

1. Some of these sets were available with lilac coloured boxes but my copy, although having the same Pinafore cover on the front is in a white box.
2. Both stereo and mono versions have yellow labels, but the stereo pressing has green lettering and the mono pressing has red lettering.
3. My stereo set has the records in proper card sleeves as well as the usual white plastic lined inner sleeves. The proper sleeves are in three different colours, but are all identical other than the opera titles. These are not the sleeves mentioned by other writers which show a scene from the opera.
4. My stereo records have each track banded, but the mono records are not banded.
5. The stereo box does not have any 'set' number at all, and no reference is made to individual record numbers except on the record labels. However, each indivual sleeve does have a different number in the bottom right hand corner of the reverse or 'evens' side of the sleeve: GS-3A/S1, GS-3A/S2 and GS-3A/S3 respectively
6. The 'cyclophonic' logo on the front cover of earlier issues is not present on the front cover, but it is printed in plain b&w on the front of the booklet. The booklet is one large sheet folded to make four pages: a cover page listing players etc., but not detailing who sings what, and three pages of synopses with a line drawing for each opera (possibly the same pictures that were used on sleeves in some pressings). No author credit is given, and there is no mention of Bridget.
7. John Cartier is credited as playing the Lord Chancellor, but in the finale the Lord Chancellor is played by Neil Howlett, who does not otherwise feature on the Iolanthe side.

Howard Friedman described his set thus:

1. The labels are light and dark blue, with silver lettering. No selections appear on the labels, and there are no track bands. The record numbers on the labels are RDS 42-1, RDS 42-2, RDS 42-3.
2. The lower portion of each label says Stereophonic, and below that, Made for Reader's Digest in Cyclophonic Miracle Sound by Radio Corporation of America
3. The individual paper sleeves have no windows or inner liners. Each has the selections and casts for two operettas. Each reverse has two plot summaries.
4. The cover is the first picture on the web page, with the set number RD42-M in the lower right hand corner. The box is pink, and opens with a brass latch. The left-hand inside cover has Notes and Comments by Newman Levy. The right-hand inside cover lists the selections found on each side of each record, with a brief biography of the conductor, James Walker, at the bottom.

Note: One of my correspondents reported that some of these items are included on a Reader's Digest "Classics of Operetta" CD, but I don't have any further details. Sarah Mankowski reported that she has a 12 record set issued by Readers Digest called "Festival Of Light Classical" that includes the Overture di Ballo. This is the same item included in the 3 cassette/CD set listed above.