Whereas The Mikado seems traditionally unfortunate in its recordings, The Pirates of Penzance has fared much better. Yet, just as Mackerras's Mikado seemed to stand out from current competition, so this new recording of Pirates ranks with the best. Just as with The Mikado, small cuts have been necessary to get the work on a single, crammed CD. 'the overture is again a victim, as is the recitative before ''When a felon's not engaged in his employment'' and a few unimportant bars in the Act 2 finale that were restored in the TER recording ((CD) CDTER1177, 9/90).
This may be enough for some to reject this new version. So may the fact that the humour is less broadly captured than in stage performances or in recordings such as TER's. Commentators who found Mackerras's Mikado too operatic may have similar reservations about this successor; but for me the approach is just what the piece requires and deserves. Singing, orchestral palying and choral work are altogether of a higher standard than in TER's recording, and Mackerras's love of Sullivan shines through every bar, making the important double choruses especially joyous affairs.
The cast combines all the best elements of G&S tradition and operatic standards. In the former category fall Donald Adams's formidable, ageless Pirate King (his fourth recording of the role, 35 years after the first), Gillian Knight's Ruth, and the Major-General of Richard Suart, who here strikes a better balance between musical standards and the comic tradition than in The Mikado. In the latter category fall John Mark Ainsley's splendidly characterized, elegantly sung Frederic, Richard Van Allan's superb Pirate of Police, and Rebecca Evans's tender Mabel—though her ''Poor wandering one'' is no match for Valerie Masterson's on Decca's 1968 recording. I do miss the overture; but I find this new Pirates has a sparkle not to be found in its predecessors.'