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Holst - The Planets OP. 32

This is the version I have on vinyl - how do other versions compare?

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I have the version that came with tha CHANDOS box set I bought a few years back. Amazingly it's also the RSNO and as such is a familiar performance to me. It's also a lovely and unfussy recording
 
Peter G said:
If you enjoy Dutoit & The Montreal Orchestra 'Planets' check out their recordings of French composers Bizet, Satie, Chabrier et al with 'Fete a la Francaise'. Also Debussy with 'Images and Nocturns'.
Peter
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Their Ravel 4CD set is extremely excellent, even if it does have to include the awful Bolero (this is the one piece of Ravel's which I absolutely hate - boring, tedious, tedious and boring).
 
Cuyahoga said:
Their Ravel 4CD set is extremely excellent, even if it does have to include the awful Bolero (this is the one piece of Ravel's which I absolutely hate - boring, tedious, tedious and boring).
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I find it strangely hypnotic though it`s not a piece I listen to often. My Mother would completely agree with you however, having first heard it at a Prom during or just after the war. Standing in the Gods, really hot evening, no view and it went on.... and on.... and on. She has never been able to listen to it since.
 
Barrymagrec said:
I find it strangely hypnotic though it`s not a piece I listen to often. My Mother would completely agree with you however, having first heard it at a Prom during or just after the war. Standing in the Gods, really hot evening, no view and it went on.... and on.... and on. She has never been able to listen to it since.
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It nearly drove a musician friend mad: she complained of the wait...the wait...the wait...the wait...for that key change...and then felt annoyed and let down...

I've always been a bit confused as to why I hate Bolero, given my liking for other music which using repetition, slight shifts, cycling themes and the like, but I cannot pin it down.
 
Yep I will get on the job and have it in very shortly. Probably Karajan for me and I will have it in for a few quid. I think its in the charity shop :)

Ive just been listening to a boxset of Karajan conducting Tosca. You can have Half Man Half Biscuit and classical opera :)
 
I have ordered Karajan with the Vienna Philharmonic. Decca label cd £2.99 new....I love the internet.

I read one forum entry that said Imogen Holst loved that particular recording which swung the decision.

Had a good day with classical in the charity shops yesterday Saint Saens, Bach, Mendelssohn etc. 33p a pop in as new condition! Those Orbis classical collection cds are a great introduction to any composer. It was a build up magazine collection and theres about 95 of them!

The Saint Saens Fantasy in E flat for organ and Organ Symphony no 3 are a great workout for 12" drivers :)
 
Anybody else listen to Building a Library yesterday? I thought it was interesting but rather more fragmented than usual and I didn`t come away with a burning desire to add to my present collection of different versions.
 
Barrymagrec said:
Anybody else listen to Building a Library yesterday? I thought it was interesting but rather more fragmented than usual and I didn`t come away with a burning desire to add to my present collection of different versions.
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Fragmented yes, I found it a bit of a task to keep up at times. It covered a lot of ground and seemed aimed at the more musically literate so a lot went over my head but still an interesting listen. Something to return to on iplayer perhaps http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04jj37s , starting at about 35 mins in.

The one eventually chosen by David Owen-Norris was a 2009 recording by Paavo Järvi and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002MHTGM2/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

To compare there is a ridiculous number of versions of The Planets on Spotify to wade through, though sadly not the Jarvi. I spent some time diving in to various popular versions and, unsurprisingly perhaps, so far the Boult seems as close as you would probably get to a definitive version but I also rate the Gardiner/ Philharmonia and Davis/ BBC Symphony. A highly regarded version I didn't get on with was the Jurowski/ LPO, lively and pacey it may be but overall far too rushed for me. There's also a curious version by Mardjani and the Georgian Festival Orchestra which has an amazing OTT lush acoustic which works nicely in parts but really is overwhelming, not one for the purist me thinks.

Stefan
 
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Gardiner/ Philharmonia does funny things with the rhythm in Mars I think... doesn't sound quite right to me.

Interesting that BBC should choose Jarvi/Cincinnati - they've made some superb records of standard repertoire in last 10-12 years or so that have been pretty much ignored by UK music critics - check out their Petrouchka/Firebird and Symphonie Fantastique.
 
alanbeeb said:
That would be a great recording but..... they didn't appear to have any tubular bells in Vienna in 1960 so instead they used dustbin lids at the climax of Saturn. Totally ruins it for me.
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Well, yes, I have just listened to this recording for the 1st time, on LP. Very good apart from the end of Saturn.

I think you have got it wrong regarding the dustbin lids, the sound is too high, I think they are tin cans.

My personal favourite, Dutoit.
 
Stunsworth said:
Remarkably Boult recorded in every stage of commercial recording from making acoustic 78s all the way through to digital.

Wasn't his final recording sponsored by Kef?
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I have the KEF sponsored Boult version on the black stuff, and it's my fave of the seven versions I have
 
Nice One!

There's a copy of your No. 38; Sir Charles Mackerras, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, 1989, in the Pink Fish record shop. You gave it a pretty good review, so I just ordered it!
 
Oh, and I already have:

48. William Steinberg, Boston Symphony Orchestra, 1970 (LP)

and

56. Adrian Leaper, CSR Symphony Orchestra (Bratislava), 1988 (CD)
 
flatpopely said:
As long as SXL2305 come out best all is good........
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Nah, Charles Dutoit, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, 1986 came out top.

SXL2305 (Herbert von Karajan, Vienna Philharmonic) is 39 on the list, assuming they are listed in the order of merit.
 
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