Based on last July’s Royal Festival Hall production – with one cast change – this new HMS Pinafore’s most distinctive characteristic is the inclusion of dialogue, which has not been on disc since the D’Oyly Carte recordings of 1960 and 1971. As well as furthering our admiration for Gilbert’s ingenuity, its inclusion helps make sense of the musical numbers. It is also extremely well handled here, the contrast between Alfred Boe’s north-country Ralph and Gordon Sandison’s upper-class Sir Joseph emphasising the class conflicts at the heart of the work. Sandison was Captain Corcoran in TER’s 1987 recording (5/88) and was brought in here to strengthen the singing of the principal comedy role. Admirably he does it, too. Good as the men are, though, it’s the ladies who take the laurels. Frances McCaffery offers a model Buttercup, and Yvonne Barclay soars delightfully in ‘The hours creep on apace’.
John Owen Edwards’s conducting helps greatly, concentrating, as it does, on bringing out the beauties of Sullivan’s score. The inclusion of the original 1878 ending with its subsequently dropped recitative makes admirable sense, while an appendix of a conjectural completion of the lost duet, ‘Reflect, my child’, may provide additional interest for some. Those who can manage without the dialogue may prefer the cheaper, more operatic versions under Mackerras and Sargent, but this newcomer offers a highly recommendable account of both score and dialogue.'