The 1933 HMV Sorcerer [abridged]

Pearl GEMM CDS 9025

The Sorcerer is considered one of the lesser G&S operas today, but it was one of the key early works that got the famous partnership off to a strong start. After the unexpected smash-hit success of Trial By Jury in 1875, Gilbert and Sullivan were commissioned to write a full-length comic opera, and The Sorcerer was the result. Had it failed, it is likely the partnership would have ended right there. It was also the first of the full-length operas to be revived (1884), and one of the first to have a second revival (1898).

In the twentieth century, however, the opera gradually declined in popularity. After 1900, it was out of the repertory until 1916. Then, it was performed in all but one season through 1924. After five more years' absence, it was performed intermittently from 1929 to 1934, then twice each in 1938 and 1939. It then completely disappeared from the D'Oyly Carte repertory and did not return again until 1971.

Neither of the two complete recordings (1953 and 1966) was made at a time when the opera was in the repertory. This set, albeit incomplete, was made during the 1933-34 season, when the opera was still active, and it included many of the same cast members as the D'Oyly Carte production of the time. It is thus the only recording that can claim a connection with performers who knew the opera from stage experience. Since this was the Company's first recording of the opera, it is regrettable that the entire work was not recorded. Likely, the raging depression coupled with the opera's relative lack of popularity made a complete set economically infeasible.

This recording marked the end of an era, in that The Sorcerer was the last new opera to be issued on electrical 78 RPM records. (Only one other electrical set was made, and that was a remake of The Mikado.) It was also the beginning of an era, in that it was the first G&S recording to be conducted by Isidore Godfrey, who would lead nearly every D'Oyly Carte recording hereafter, through the end of the 1960s.

As shown below, this recording has enjoyed several re-issues, not only because of its historical importance, but also because it's short enough to be a filler item on a two-disc set.

Sounds on CD VGS 247 [Cover by Matt Bland]

Notes:

1. The table above presents the sides in the order recorded. This is the most straightforward recording schedule for any HMV G&S set of the period. The entire recording was made on two consecutive days, with no make-up session required for retakes, and no published side requiring more than two takes. The only other HMV G&S sets of the period for which this was true were the 1927 Trial by Jury and the 1931 Yeomen.

2. Side 6 was issued on EMI's A Tribute to George Baker.