The Best of Gilbert and Sullivan CD Review

Cond. Malcolm Sargent, 1957 - 1963.
Pro Arte Orch, Glyndebourne Festival Chorus.

This is 90% guaranteed to have YOUR favourite G and S music (if you have any) on it...

The Mikado, Trial By Jury, HMS Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, Patience, Iolanthe, Ruddigore, The Gondoliers and The Yeomen of the Guard.

3 CDs of catchy, quirky and at times surprisingly beautiful songs.

My personal faves, by familiarity probably rather than according to intrinsic merit, are The Mikado (the plum of the crop!), Pirates and Pinafore, but the neat thing about this collection is you meet up with other stuff as well.

The soloists do the music justice, the orchestra hums like a dream and the chorus support all chorus-involved statements with great gusto.

As with other compilations, as mentioned before, 1 CD bite at a time is sufficient for me - listening to all 3 would be a bit like a Lord of the Rings Marathon.

8/10.