Samuel Arnold: Polly (Naxos Audio CD)

Laura Albino (soprano), Eve Rachel McLeod (soprano), Gillian Grossman (soprano), Marion Newman (mezzo-soprano), Loralie Kirkpatrick (mezzo-soprano), Bud Roach (tenor), Lawrence J. Wiliford (tenor), Andrew Mahon (baritone), Matthew Grosfeld (bass) & Jason Nedecky (baritone)

Aradia Ensemble, Kevin Mallon

Pepusch’s ballad opera Polly, composed in 1729 to John Gay’s libretto as a sequel to their highly successful The Beggar’s Opera (1728), never reached the stage owing to government censorship.

In 1777, Samuel Arnold completely renovated the score, which established his reputation as London’s pre-eminent theatre composer. It is here presented as a world première recording.

With its melodramatic tale reuniting Polly Peachum and Macheath in the West Indies and ending in Polly’s marriage to the ‘Indian prince’ Cawwawkee, this ‘island paradise’ opera was a huge hit and remains enormously entertaining today.