pure pleasure

[fpb]

Those not born in Britain may not know what I mean, but I have just purchased the CDs of two more of Gilbert and Sullivan's operettas - Iolanthe and The gondoliers. They are the peak of comedic music, better, in my view, than the best of Strauss, Offenbach or Lehar. And to my delighted surprise, the versions I found - by chance - in a second-hand shop, happened, in spite of surprisingly good sound, to date from 1927, a generation that could still remember the living tradition of Sir William Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan. There has been, down the years, a tendency to reduce the wonderfully subtle irony of this music to buffoonery, but the artists on this recording, though not necessarily immensely talented, conduct themselves with a dignity that does nothing but enhance the music. And the accents are so interesting - in this day and age, we simply don't know what a real "clipped British accent" is like!

Comments

[bruno-greengras.livejournal.com]

Saw one hour of it...that's the bad side of not having cable TV. :/ Looked like a brilliant film.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

By all accounts, it was. But I wish you knew the original music. Can your computer play M3 files? If it can, I cannot promise anything, but I will try to send you some.

[bruno-greengras.livejournal.com]

It can, but the sound-thingie doesn't work. :/ So I can't even play the files I do have. My wizard brother was supposed to help me, but he's slower than a drugged...really slow thing.

I will slap him into doing it one day - then I will be very interested. :)