Despite being, by common consent, the best of three post-war D’Oyly Carte Opera Company recordings of The Mikado, this sparkling early stereo performance with Donald Adams, Thomas Round and Peter Pratt has never been reissued by its parent label during the CD era.

As it was not recorded with dialogue, the extra space has enabled Magdalen to include not only John Hollingsworth’s vivid version of Pineapple Poll but also, for the first time on CD, three overtures conducted con brio by the inimitable Arthur Fiedler.