Exploring Sullivan’s range & experiencing how he evolves artistically: conductor John Andrews on his continuing exploration of the music of Sir Arthur Sullivan including a new disc of songs

John Andrews at recording sessions for his disc of Sullivan songs

When conductor John Andrews and I met up for a chat recently, it was the music of Sir Arthur Sullivan that was high on the agenda thanks to the release of John’s new disc, Sir Arthur Sullivan: Songs for Tenor with tenor David Webb and the Academy of Ancient Music on Resonus Classics, and his recent recording of Sullivan’s The Martyr of Antioch for Dutton.

Rather appropriately, a week before we met the news had come through that three deleted songs from Iolanthe had been found hiding in plain sight in the British Library. One song had been performed at the work’s New York premiere but was then dropped and the others never made it at all. John points out that because of the Sullivan tradition continuing through the D’Oyley Carte Company, any music not part of the D’Oyley Carte canon effectively disappeared without trace. [Further details]

John raises the fascinating point that if Sullivan’s music had disappeared after his death like that of his contemporaries such as Parry and Stanford, then when his music was being rediscovered in the later 20th century we might have chosen a different set of pieces to focus on. As it is, he was revered for one part of his output whilst the rest disappeared from consciousness.

For John’s new Sullivan disc on Resonus Classics he is joined by tenor David Webb and the Academy of Ancient Music for a recital that mixes classic tenor arias from the Gilbert & Sullivan operas with numbers from Sullivan’s oratorios – The Golden Legend, The Light of the World and The Prodigal Son – a number from The Rose of Persia (which Sullivan wrote with Basil Hood) and the song, The Lost Chord. The result is a mix of writing with Sullivan in comic, lyrical and serious mode spanning virtually the whole of the composer’s vocal writing life from The Prodigal Son in 1869 (before his collaboration with Gilbert began) to The Rose of Persia in 1899 (after the collaboration with Gilbert ended). John feels that the programme enables us both to see Sullivan’s range and to experience how he evolves artistically, as well as giving David Webb the chance to showcase his variety. Whereas Sullivan’s oratorios were written for classically trained singers, his operas with Gilbert were written for singing actors and so the music requires lyricism but also attention to the nuance of meaning. And John adds that when recording this disc it was the first time that he was able to record music that he had been familiar with for decades!

When discussing the use of period instruments in the recording John’s eyes lit up. He comments that late-19th century composers were concerned with the timbral quality of the music, exploring sounds and colours. With period instruments the orchestra is able to bring out a greater range of contrast so the gut strings give a transparency around the voice, the narrow bore brass are less dominant (and the instruments used include Gustav Holst’s trombone) and there are contrasts in the wind colours. The result is more colourful with the instruments as characters in the drama. Also, John points out that you can enjoy the richness of Sullivan’s inner part writing.

Around half the numbers on the disc are performed with an orchestra with the size and make-up of that used for the Savoy Operas. The numbers of string players make the sound more bass heavy than we are used to in modern performances. This combined with the use of gut strings shifts the centre of gravity of the sound lower. And when Sullivan writes cod 16th-century music then the sound quality really does hark back.

David Webb at recording sessions for his disc of Sullivan songs

For the rest of the disc, John’s approach references the long tradition of arranging Sullivan’s music. Whilst John wanted to demonstrate the range of ways Sullivan’s music was being performed, in practice little of this survives so John has tried to imagine how it might have been. The result brings strong contrasts to the disc and helps us to understand how influential Sullivan was.

John wanted to include a military band type arrangement and as the libretto for The Mikado has Nanki Poo masquerading as second trombone in Titipu town band, the performance of A Wandering Minstrel cried out for this. Rather aptly the Major General’s song from Pirates of Penzance and Colonel Fairfax’s song Is Life a Boon from The Yeomen of the Guard are also given this treatment. John mentions that he remebers hearing Fairfax’s song performed by a brass band in an arrangement that dated from the 1920s. John felt that Take a pair of sparkling eyes from The Gondoliers was highly redolent of Venetian cafe bands, and for this John stripped the song down to its essentials. 

As regards the arias from the oratorios, John points out that we now have modern recordings of these so he felt able to imagine them performed as motets in a well-heeled parish church! John admits that these arrangements come with apologies to Sullivan who was himself a spectacular orchestrator. In creating his own versions John has not been unduly radical he feels.

Sullivan: The Martyr of Antioch – John Andrews, BBC Symphony Chorus, BBC Concert Orchestra at recording session in Watford Town Hall in March 2026

Back in 2017, John conducted the BBC Symphony Chorus and BBC Concert Orchestra in the first complete recording of Sullivan’s oratorio The Light of the World (release on Dutton Epoch in 2019). They were supposed to follow this with a recording of The Martyr of Antioch
in 2018 but multiple problems with the recording venue as well as
interruptions from COVID meant that these recording sessions did not
come to fruition until earlier this year. Again John was conducting the
BBC Symphony Chorus and BBC Concert Orchestra with soloists including Anush Hovhannisyan, Kitty Whately, Will Morgan, Ben McAteer and Rob Hayward and the recording will be released on Dutton again. 

John feels that it is important that there is a good recording of such rare works, only then can you judge the piece. He finds The Martyr of Antioch an interesting piece, situated between an oratorio and an opera. Sullivan wrote it in 1880 (the year after The Pirates of Penzance had opened). John thinks the piece sits in a very individul place between theatre and serious music, and it does not sound like anything else Sullivan wrote. As such it was a bit of a challenge with a lightness and tunefulness not normally associated with 19th century oratorio, so the tone of the piece is different and it is certainly like neither Mendelssohn’s Elijah nor Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius. The opening scene includes a chorus of countertenors and Sullivan also includes both trumpets and cornets, and an alto trombone. In many ways Sullivan’s approach might seem old-fashioned yet John views Sullivan as trying to create a different approach to the oratorio form.

Sir Arthur Sullivan

18 years after the work’s premiere it was performed as an opera by Carl Rosa Opera Company. Sullivan made a few changes to the work for this, but he was cross because the staging of the closing scene (when the heroine, Margarita is burned) was rather abstract rather than literal.

John feels that we are nearly there with Sullivan’s music, ensuring that all his major works are present in good modern recordings. Next year, John plans to record The Chieftan (Sullivan’s comic opera with F.C. Burnand from 1894) which will mean that everything of Sullivan’s will be available in first class digital records. The Sir Arthur Sullivan Society has been behind a lot of these recordings and its ambition is to have everything available.

But as far as John is concerned there is so much wonderful music still waiting, and he names Elizabeth Maconchy, and Grace Williams as amongst the 20th century composers worth exploring. He points out that the number of composers whose works are either unpublished or unrecorded is endless. Then with a smile, John comments that he does indeed conduct mainstream repertoire as well and the weekend after we met he was planning to conduct Mozart! And he will be conducting Richard Studer’s production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute for West Green House Opera in July.

He has just recorded George Dyson’s Violin Concerto with Charlie Lovell-Jones and the BBC Concert Orchestra for a disc that includes Dyson’s Hierusalm and At the Tabard. Dyson is one of those composers who is known for just one or two pieces, his Canticles are familiar to choral singers and recording buffs might remember Isobel Baillie’s recording of The Wife of Bath‘s aria from The Canterbury Tales. His concerto was entirely unknown to the orchestral players at the recording. There is a real darkness to the concerto partly because it was written during the Blitz. John and solost Charlie Lovell-Jones performed the concerto in concert a month before the recording which John felt was a huge luxury and this familiarity enabled them to find really light and shade in the work when they explored it in the studio. John feels that for those that know Dyson’s music the concerto will change perceptions and he hopes that it will also introduce people to Dyson’s music. He adds that regarding the solo part, the work is not for the fainthearted.

Other recordings in the pipeline include Doreen Carwithen’s Concerto for Piano and Strings which John recently recorded with pianist Alexandra Dariescu on a disc which also includes Elizabeth Maconchy’s A Life Story and music by Ruth Gips.. A week before the recording, John performed the work live with Dariescu and the Manchester Camerata before going into the studio with them, again something of a luxury. It is a fabulous piece and John comments on its immediacy, its cinematic quality and he feels that it should be performed more often. The audience in Manchester (at the Stoller Hall) did not know the work and gave it a fabulous reception. In budgetary terms, needing just strings, the work is a safe bet and it has the feeling of lrage chamber music.

He adds that this year has been a ludicrous one for recordings and he hopes the world does not get bored with him!

When we spoke, John had plans to return to Manchester to conduct Peter Maxwell Davies’ Eight Songs for a Mad King with mezzo-soprano Rosie Middleton and the Manchester Camerata (this was at the Stoller Hall on 5 June, and at Kings Place on 6 June, see the review on Bachtrack). John met Maxwell Davies many years ago when John was doing work experience with the BBC Philharmonic and Maxwell Davies was guest conductor. John comments that Maxwell Davies was an astonishing person to watch when he was working. He could hear every note in complex musical textures. And John has wanted to do Eight Songs for a Mad King ever since.

John Andrews (Photo: Edmund Choo)

Looking ahead, John is conducting the world-premiere of Errollyn Wallen’s new community opera A Christmas Miracle directed by Frederic Wake-Walker opening at Orford Church and then travelling to Orkney. This is based on Britten’s plans for a Christmas opera for children [see my article] Wallen’s work uses four professional singers and a band of eight or nine professional instrumentalists, with multimple childrens choruses and many non-singing roles. The results will be epic he avers!