1917 First Complete MIKADO Gilbert Sullivan Ernest Pike George Baker Byng Wood78

$

50

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I am currently selling a series of great Richard Wagner and classic European 78 rpm orchestral recordings on all the great European labels:

This is the famous COMPLETE 1917 HMV mikado, issued by Victor in a Musical Library Album on 11 x12" blue label records

 

The 1917 HMV Mikado

Cast The Mikado Robert Radford Nanki-Poo John Harrison /
Ernest Pike Ko-Ko George Baker Pooh-Bah Robert Radford /
John Harrison Pish-Tush George Baker /
Ernest Pike /
Robert Radford Yum-Yum Violet Essex /
Bessie Jones Pitti-Sing Violet Oppenshaw /
Bessie Jones /
Edna Thornton Peep-Bo Bessie Jones /
Violet Oppenshaw Katisha Edna Thornton

Chorus and Mayfair Orchestra
Conductors: George W. Byng / Arthur Wood

Recorded in London,
30 July–3 August 1917

 

 

CONDITION: Complete and undamaged, plays very quiet w stunning fidelity. Side 1 has a faint scratch, side 18 has two light longer scratches. Sleeves in great shape but brittle, spine missing, front cover loose. A GREAT COPY OF THIS RARE SET IN SUPERIOR PRESSING.

After Odeon's 1907 Mikado failed to sell well, the record companies evidently decided to stop making complete sets for a while. Compounding the problem was D'Oyly Carte's extended absence from central London, which presumably dampened the interest among those most likely to be buying records. However, in March, 1917, HMV renewed its interest and secured the artistic guidance of Rupert D'Oyly Carte's musical director and stage manager. This was enough for the phrase "recorded under the direction of Mr. Rupert D'Oyly Carte" to appear on records for the first time.

Under the covers, however, the recording had hardly anything to do with D'Oyly Carte. As had been customary from the earliest days of the gramophone, the opera was recorded by stock recording artists whose voices were known to record well. There was little consistency in casting, and indeed it would appear that roles were assigned based only on who showed up on a particular day; surely, one cannot imagine that such a patchwork quilt of singing assignments would have been planned.

"78s 2 CD" GS06

This was the first complete set to include George Baker. (He had already recorded at least one G&S single—see Gilbert and Sullivan: The Early Records). Baker never appeared with D'Oyly Carte, but he had an excellent intuitive feel for the Savoy Operas. Even after HMV started casting authentic artists in most of the roles, a place was found for Baker on nearly every 78rpm set made.

In the late 1950s, twenty-five years after his last G&S recordings with D'Oyly Carte, Sir Malcolm Sargent brought Baker out of retirement and cast him as the comic lead in several of the "Glyndebourne" recordings. Even in his late-seventies he gave credible performances, but certainly not as good as his 78's, which were made in his prime.

The allocation of the split roles is as follows:

Victor used this album design when it issued this set in March, 1925. Victor later used the same album design for its issue of the 1926 recording, before replacing the design in 1931.

Nanki-Poo Pike sings "Brightly dawns";
Harrison sings the rest. Pooh-Bah Harrison sings "See how the fates";
Radford sings the rest. Pish-Tush Baker sings "Our great Mikado" and "So please you sir"; Pike sings "I am so proud"; Radford sings "Brightly dawns." Yum-Yum Jones sings "Brightly dawns";
Essex sings the rest. Pitti-Sing Oppenshaw sings "Braid the raven hair"; Jones sings "See how the fates";
Thornton sings the rest. Peep-Bo Oppenshaw sings "Three little maids"; Jones sings "So please you sir." Conductor Wood conducts "As someday it may happen"; Byng conducts the rest.

 

The Acoustical Mikado and Pinafore in America

Reported by Bruce I. Miller

HMV's acoustical Mikado (recorded 1917) and Pinafore (recorded 1922-3) had an interesting issue history in America.

The Acoustical Mikado
The 1925 Victor catalogue lists The Mikado, record numbers 55181/91 (these are blue-label numbers, which was more prestigious than the black-labels but less prestigious than red-seal), but does not identify them as being by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. All the artists are listed as on the main web page, but the orchestra is listed as the "Light Opera Orch" with no conductors mentioned.

The March 1, 1925 Victor supplement contains the following announcement on page 13:

It is with great pleasure and no little pride that the Victor Company announces this month the latest addition to the Music Arts Library of Victor Records — an album containing one of, if not the most famous of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, The Mikado. The opera, as recorded by the most famous Gilbert and Sullivan company in the world, namely, the Rupert D'Oyly Carte Opera Company of England, is complete from overture to final chorus on the eleven twelve-inch, double-faced records encased in the handsome album. A libretto prepared expressly for use with these records accompanies each album, and a synopsis of the plot of the opera is also included. The libretto is marked to indicate the beginning and end of each record, and the words of each number in the whole opera follow in proper sequence.

The music is just what you would expect under the Victor imprint. As England is the home and great shrine of Gilbert & Sullivan Opera, it was to England that we went for an authoritative interpretation of this most enjoyable work. [A rather sly way of suggesting that Victor recorded this version, when actually its sister company, HMV, did. However, by this time Victor had bought a 50 per cent interest in the HMV company, so technically they could be said to be the controlling interest anyway. —BIM]

...A full orchestra supplies the accompaniments, and absolutely nothing has been left undone by the artists or the Victor Company [!] to make your enjoyment of this merry music perfect. The album and the libretto, with all they add to the pleasure of hearing these records, are included in the standard list price for the records alone....

Most curiously, this catalogue supplement does not list a catalogue number for this album or a list price. What they seem to have done was provide an album and libretto for the records already in their catalogue, and possibly this didn't have a number at all. The set seems to have had a short catalogue life, as two months later Victor issued its first electrically recorded discs (this 1917 Mikado was, of course, acoustic), and by the next edition of the catalogue (October 1926) there was no mention of the album or the separate discs.

Then, there was an April, 1927, catalogue entitled entitled: "SPECIAL CATALOGUE | VICTOR RECORDS | of HISTORICAL and | PERSONAL INTEREST". The introduction reads, in part:

...this catalogue extends the music-lover's range of choice in selecting Victor Records by relisting a number of records removed from time to time from the Victor Company's general catalogues, but now restored to the public by the public's own demand.

Practically all of these records were made by the now abandoned process of horn or acoustic recording, now permanently replaced by Orthophonic [Victor's brand name for Western Electric] methods. But their musical, historic or personal interest has proven so great that buyers, lovers and students of music will not permit us to discontinue them...

The 1917 Mikado is listed in this catalogue (as is the acoustical Pinafore), although the album for the records is not mentioned, just the individual records under the heading "Mikado" with the note that the entire work is recorded, as per the 1925 catalogue. [Bruce was able later to check catalogues through the end of 1924, so it seems that 1925 marked the first appearance in America of this set.]

So, technically the set was withdrawn as of October 1926 (or earlier; dealers received periodic cut-out lists which are hard to locate today) and reinstated in the special, supplemental April 1927 catalogue five months later. We can assume that once the set was re-listed in the April 1927 catalogue, it remained available until supplanted by the electrical version which occurred very soon thereafter.

Incidentally, this recording is listed in the Canadian Victor 1924 catalogue (copyright 1923, so this is as of January 1924). This is the Berliner Gram-o-phone Co. Limited of Montreal. They often issued items under the same catalogue nos. as the American Victor Co. but they also issued their own records and produced their own imports.

They list the 1917 Mikado as already having been issued (the acoustic Pinafore is not listed). Interestingly, they give the same blue-label catalogue record numbers as Victor was to use for its release in March, 1925.

 

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