unqualified praise; but with the Pirates it is happily otherwise; from first to last, and in every bar, a simply delightful production." Of later recordings by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, the 1968 recording (with complete dialogue) is highly regarded: The online Gilbert and Sullivan Discography says, "This recording is one of the best D'Oyly Carte sets of all time, and certainly the best Pirates", and the Penguin Guide to Opera on Compact Disc also recommends it. So too does the Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music, alongside the 1993 Mackerras recording. The opera critic Alan Blyth recommended the D'Oyly Carte recording of 1990: "a performance full of the kind of life that can only come from the experience of stage performances". The online Discography site also mentions the 1981 Papp recording as "excellent", despite its inauthentic 1980 re-orchestrations that "changed some of the timbres so as to appeal to a rock-oriented public". Of the available commercial videos, the Discography site considers the Brent Walker better than the Papp version. More recent professional productions have been recorded on video by the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival. Selected recordings 1929 D'Oyly Carte – Conductor: Malcolm Sargent 1957 D'Oyly Carte – New Symphony Orchestra of London; Conductor: Isidore Godfrey 1961 Sargent/Glyndebourne – Pro Arte Orchestra, Glyndebourne Festival Chorus; Conductor: Sir Malcolm Sargent 1968 D'Oyly Carte (with dialogue) – Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Conductor: Isidore Godfrey 1981; 1983 Papp's Pirates (with dialogue) – Director: Wilford Leach; Musical Director: William Elliott; Choreographer: Graciela Daniele 1982 Brent Walker Productions (with dialogue) – Ambrosian Opera Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra; Conductor: Alexander Faris; Stage Director: Michael Geliot 1990 New D'Oyly Carte – Conductor: John Pryce-Jones 1993 Mackerras/Telarc – Orchestra and Chorus of the Welsh National Opera; Conductor: Sir Charles Mackerras 1994 Essgee Entertainment (video adaptation) – Director and Choreographer: Craig Schaefer; Orchestrator and Conductor: Kevin Hocking; Additional Lyrics: Melvyn Morrow Cultural impact Major-General's Song Pirates is one of the most frequently referenced works of Gilbert and Sullivan. The Major-General's Song, in particular, is frequently parodied, pastiched and used in advertising. Parody versions have been used in political commentary as well as entertainment media. Its challenging patter has proved interesting to comedians; notable examples include Tom Lehrer's song "The Elements" and David Hyde Pierce's monologue, as host of Saturday Night Live. In 2010, comedian Ron Butler released a YouTube pastiche of the song in character as President Obama which,