Ronald Corp: New London Orchestra - Sullivan: The Contrabandista & The Foresters

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.