Ruddigore - Recordings

Recordings

The four D'Oyly Carte Opera Company recordings (1924, 1931, 1950, 1962) substantially reflect the 1920s cuts and alterations, although they differ in some details. None of these four recordings include Robin's Act II recitative and patter song. There is no commercial recording of Ruddigore as Gilbert and Sullivan left it, but the 1987 New Sadler's Wells recording largely presents the opera with the materials that were included on its first night.

The Gilbert and Sullivan Discography judges that the best commercial recording is the New Sadler's Wells disc and that, of those by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, the 1924 and 1962 recordings are best. It also asserts that the Brent Walker video of Ruddigore is one of the stronger entries in that series. More recent professional productions have been recorded on video by the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival.

Selected recordings

• 1924 D'Oyly Carte – Conductor: Harry Norris
• 1931 D'Oyly Carte – Conductor: Malcolm Sargent
• 1950 D'Oyly Carte – Conductor: Isidore Godfrey
• 1962 D'Oyly Carte – Orchestra of the Royal Opera, Conductor: Isidore Godfrey
• 1963 Glyndebourne Festival Chorus, Pro Arte Orchestra, Conductor: Malcolm Sargent
• 1967 Halas and Batchelor Films (animation; abridged) – D'Oyly Carte, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Conductor: James Walker
• 1982 Brent Walker Productions (video) – Ambrosian Opera Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra, Conductor: Alexander Faris; Stage Director: Christopher Renshaw
• 1987 New Sadler's Wells – Conductor: Simon Phipps