Gilbert & Sullivan: The Sorcerer (Rec 1953) plus highlights from the 1933 recording

"The 1953 recording transfer is excellent. Still owning the LPs, LK4070/1, I was interested to compare the Naxos CD equalisation with the sound from the turntable. The result was that one cannot tell any difference in tonal balance, but LP Side 4 suffers from a lathe/pressing background 'roaring' noise whereas the CD version is quite silent -so congratulations to the expert Naxos engineer (uncredited) who accomplished this excellent transfer. The booklet (in English only) gives a track running synopsis and potted biography for each of the soloists. A short note is given on the place of this opera in the G&S canon but nothing is said about the composer or writer."
-- Raymond Walker, MusicWeb, 29 March 2005

Chronologically the second of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, if we count Trial By Jury as their first, The Sorcerer opened at the Opera Comique in London on 17th November 1877 to a successful initial run of 178 performances. The first full-length G & S comedy, it was sequentially their third collaboration, the two-act Thespis, or the Gods Grown Old, (Gaiety Theatre, 1871) having been their earliest. Produced on commission by impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte, who had also staged Trial By Jury, and billed as an 'entirely New and Original Modern Comic Opera', it was cast in the rather tame, German Reed-esque style of English opera typical of its time, in contrast to the more extrovert opéra-bouffe also currently in vogue. Like its predecessor its plot was derived from a story by Gilbert, which had previously appeared in Graphic Magazine, this latest specifically in its Christmas number of December 1876.