Sargent conducted Gilbert and Sullivan recordings in four different decades. His early recordings with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company for HMV included "The Yeomen of the Guard" (1928), "The Pirates of Penzance" (1929), "Iolanthe" (1930), "H.M.S. Pinafore" (1930), "Patience" (1930), "Yeomen" (excerpts 1931), "Pirates" (excerpts 1931), "The Gondoliers" (excerpts 1931), "Ruddigore" (1932) and "Princess Ida" (1932). More than 30 years later, for Decca, he recorded "Yeomen" (1964) and "Princess Ida" (1965) with the D'Oyly Carte company. In addition, between 1957 and 1963, Sargent recorded nine of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas for EMI, with the Glyndebourne Festival Chorus and soloists from the world of oratorio and grand opera. These were "Trial by Jury", "Pinafore", "Pirates", "Patience", "Iolanthe", "The Mikado", "Ruddigore", "Yeomen" and "The Gondoliers". According to the Gilbert and Sullivan scholar Marc Shepherd, "The recordings' musical excellence is undisputed, but many listeners object to Sargent's lugubrious tempi and the singers' lack of feeling for the G&S idiom." Sargent used an orchestra of thirty-seven players at the Savoy Theatre (the same number as Sullivan), but sometimes added a few more when recording.