Though Pearl presents this as the first CD transfer of this 1949 recording, it has already been made available by the G & S specialist operator Sounds on CD. I mention this not to quibble, but because both organisations have stressed the difficulties of transferring early Decca LP recordings to CD. These difficulties include a dry acoustic, extraneous noises and, most particularly, pitch variations that arise from Decca’s preference for acetate masters rather than magnetic tape.
Be that as it may, this is the LP recording with which I grew up, and I can’t say the problems worried me then or indeed, do so now, for the most part. Certainly the string tone is extremely thin and the sound uncomfortably constricted – especially at the climaxes of the act finales. The overriding impression, though, is of a more easy-going performing style than we tend to get these days, most immediately in the relaxed conducting of Isidore Godfrey.
Among the singers, the biggest disappointment is perhaps Muriel Harding’s Josephine. She sings sweetly enough at times, but too often with a disturbing shrillness, and she never shines as she could on stage. Ella Halman’s Buttercup is agreeably rounded, if sometimes rather mechanical in expression. Leonard Osborn’s Ralph (a role he curiously never sang on stage) is everything I recall – finely characterised, beautifully enunciated and with some ringing top notes. I simply don’t understand the adverse comments about him in the accompanying booklet. Among the baritones, Leslie Rands’s agreeably firm Captain includes as natural and convincing a ‘Well, hardly ever!’ as I have heard. Then there is a cameo piece of villainy from veteran Darrell Fancourt. Perhaps the most distinctive contribution of all comes in Martyn Green’s marvellously snobbish and splendidly sung Sir Joseph – a gem of a performance.
Nobody wanting the best available Pinafore would go for this in preference to modern recordings. However, Pearl’s planned reissue of all the early Decca post-Second World War recordings fills a gap in representation of G & S on CD that will gladden the hearts of older collectors for whom, like me, these performers were a formative influence.'