The new score is simply the 1892 Chappell edition, with the dialogue and an attractive cover added. It is nothing that you could not obtain yourself by downloading readily available sources on the net, but it’s nice to have it in one volume, if you happen to be interested in The Mountebanks.

It is available here.

There is a new logo (right), replacing the ugly monstrosity with concentric green circles (shown below). There is also a new color scheme, with gentle shades of blue and gray replacing the former mixture of bright blue, bright green, and cornfield yellow.

Incidentally, if you are ever in the market for a logo, I highly recommend logosnap.com. Its  pre-defined templates and a rich graphics library make logo design a snap. I wouldn’t call the Discography’s new logo a great work of art, but from a blank slate I couldn’t have done anything nearly as good.

I have received a number of comments about the availability of digital downloads, such as MP3, iTunes, and so forth. This is a dimension not noted on the site, which indicates availability only on tangible media (LPs, cassettes, CDs, DVDs, and so forth).

Most recordings issued nowadays are available as digital downloads, and older recordings are added all the time. Just to update the site for what is available today would be a daunting task, and the information would be continuously out of date.

Accordingly, I have decided not to indicate which recordings are available as downloads, if they were also issued in physical form. If a G&S recording is issued only as a download (there are none so far that I am aware of), I will note the fact.

To order, click here for the main edition (with introduction and appendices), or here for the performer’s edition.

By popular demand, I have created a “Performer’s Edition,” which omits the introduction and appendices. It is 115 pages shorter, and the printed version is $3 cheaper. (The PDF download is still free, and will always be.) As I found out myself during rehearsals last summer, the lighter volume is a lot easier to carry around.

Much as I would like to think that every reader will devour every word of the introduction and critical apparatus, the reality is that many people are just happy to have an easy-to-read performance text, and are not concerned with the history or editorial process that produced it. The Full Edition is recommended for directors, conductors, or anyone else interested in the additional detail.

An Errata List is now available. After many rounds of proofs and drafts, fortunately there were not many remaining. (A few of the changes are more accurately described as “second thoughts.”) This list will be updated as new errors are found. I will probably not update the printed edition unless there are a large number of them, or unless I’ve committed an egregious howler that demands immediate correction.

We’ve also solved a long-standing mystery: the identity of the uncredited pattern baritone on the 1964 National Musicale recordings who sounded uncannily like Vincent Price. (We were always sure it wasn’t Price.) It turns out to have been Ralston Hill, a little known stage actor whose voice sounded a lot like Price, and who understudied Green in various post-D’Oyly Carte G&S productions.

I also added “comparative timing” pages for Pinafore, Pirates, Mikado, and Ruddigore. Correspondent Riley Pritchett did the hard part in each case—noting the track timings for the major recordings of each opera and putting them in tabular format. The site now has this for five operas (Ida being the other).

As always, have a look at the Revision History for further additions.

I don’t have any of these in my own collection, so there wasn’t much I could say about them, so I would appreciate any reviews that reader may wish to send along.

I said that updates would be posted more frequently from now on, and I hope to live up to that. A revision is out this evening, which adds Rebecca Hains’s excellent solo recital disc, The Gilbert & Sullivan Soprano Arias, which came out in 2007.

As we note in our review:

Rebecca Hains is an amateur, but her voice is practically perfect for this material. She sings with a lovely, clear tone, and with a bright, forward sound that is ideal for making the words heard. She sings securely and without apparent effort throughout her entire range. Her sense of phrasing is nearly always spot-on. She is at her best in the arias that exploit her skill at fioritura, though there is really not a bad number on the hour-long disc.