Of all the major Gilbert and Sullivan two-act works, this is the one that Telarc was always going to have least difficulty fitting onto its preferred single-CD format. Where The Mikado (5192) and The Pirates of Penzance (11/93) were shorn of their overtures and suffered the odd snip here and there this time even the overture is comfortably accommodated. But the aptness of the enterprise extends far beyond such mundane matters.
As always, Mackerras keeps the livelier numbers moving along comfortably without ever a hint of rushing, whilst giving full weight to the tender moments and, above all, caressing all the details of Sullivan's delicious orchestration. Right from the overture, with its beautifully shaped andante section, this is music-making to perfection. Of the singers, Felicity Palmer's Buttercup truly oozes plumpness and pleasure, while Thomas Allen's Captain does not just the crew of the Pinafore, but 11 all of us, proud. If Rebecca Evans's Josephine is a shade lacking in colour, Mackerras has found in Michael Schade's Ralph Rackstraw a most elegant addition to his G&S team. As for Richard Suart's Sir Joseph Porter, this is surely as stylish a demonstration of patter singing as one can find on disc while Donald Adams's Dick Deadeye is no worse for his 40-odd years singing the role.
Add orchestral playing of refinement, choral work whose perfection extends from the formal numbers to the varied inflexions of ''What nevers?'', plus a recording that brings out the instrumental detail to perfection, and one has a Pinafore that is unadulterated delight from first note to last.'