If Sullivan's "Rose of Persia" score is inferior to the music he composed for Gilbert, I can't hear it. To me, this final comic opera of his sounds full, rich, and melodic, with only an occasional echo of something specific in the G&S scores. I found the singers delightful, the musicians excellent, and heard nothing technically wrong with the recording. The one thing that would tempt me to knock my rating down a star is that the booklet (63pp.) furnishes only the song lyrics, not the dialogue. Maybe some people can appreciate a work for the musical stage on the basis of the synopsis. I need the full context. Fortunately, the complete libretto is available via Internet; and having it before me made all the difference. Hood wasn't Gilbert, but on his own terms he wasn't bad -- I actually like "The Rose of Persia" much more than "Utopia, Limited" -- and I so enjoyed Richard Stuart's Hassan that I wouldn't at all have minded hearing what he might have done with the spoken dialogue, though as a rule I greatly prefer recordings with only the music, for repeated hearings.