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Spirited performances are the order of the day in this recording of two little-known operettas by Sir Arthur Sullivan. The Contrabandista – a ‘comic opera in two acts’ dating from 1867 – tells the story of the hapless Adolphus Cimabue Grigg, an English traveller who is co-opted into becoming leader of the Ladrones, a notorious band of thieves. Amid shenanigans of more than a passing resemblance to Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers Sullivan successfully imbues the spice of the Spanish countryside into his score. His second opera to reach the stage, this early work – to a libretto by Francis Burnand – already shows much of the musical mastery that was to characterize so many of Sullivan’s later collaborations with W S Gilbert. The work’s popularity ensured a run spanning 1867 and 1868 and inspired its composer to expand much of its material into his longer opera of 1894, The Chieftain. First performed – simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic – in 1892, The Foresters sets verses by Lord Tennyson on the theme of Robin Hood. Warmly received in the States, the work met with a distinctly hostile reception in London, where critics were less than impressed by the (American) lead soprano and gave Tennyson’s libretto a roasting. Sullivan’s score, by contrast, was universally recognized as being the saving grace; this new recording gives a new century the opportunity to draw its own conclusion.

'The choir and orchestra with Ronald Corp seem to be having a good time, enthusiastic in their task. The clear recording is helped by the fine acoustics of the Henry Wood Hall. This is a worthwhile addition to the Sullivan discography' (International Record Review)

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Recording details: January 2004; Henry Wood Hall, London, United Kingdom; Produced by Mark Brown; Engineered by Julian Millard; Release date: November 2004;