Customer Reviews

Holst: The Planets

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Once in a while you get lucky and come across a very good recording for very little money. This Laserlight issue, unlike most of them, features Western musicians, in this case the London Symphony Orchestra under Geoffrey Simon, and regardless of price this is an excellent performance. It has great digital sound, excellent playing, and is well conducted too. The Paganini coupling is perhaps a pretty strange choice, but to be fair it is well done too. In comparison to the Millennium issue with Sir Adrian Boult leading the Vienna State Opera Orchestra, at the same super-budget price range, this performance is absolutely superior in every respect. There is also an excellent budget release of this music, coupled I believe with The Perfect Fool also by Holst, played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, which ranks alongside this issue. The documentation is brief, but that should not deter anybody. In comparison to the full or medium priced issues directed by Karajan, Dutoit, Mackerras, Boult (in England), et al, this issue is not quite in the same class, but comes pretty darn close, at one-third the cost. Truly a great buy. Highly recommended.

Like so many budget CDs, this one would also be suspect, digital or not, because of the label... and the tiny tickling at the back of our craniums that alerts us to probable cause; a person usually has no way to counterbalance the options. Price is the deciding factor. That and our basic judgement and intuition. I used all three and, much to my sheer delight, was rewarded by one of the finest versions of The Planets I've yet heard. Previous performances of choice have been Steinberg, Dutoit, Karajan, Previn, Mackerras, Boult, et. al. These conductors, naturally, have much to say. Naturally, but so does Simon and the LSO at a fraction of the cost. And just so you don't think I'm being simply and altogether pecuniary here, I would venture to say that Laserlight has given the LSO a remarkably-engineered, vivid, totally convincing sound picture. I've never heard such a frightening rendition of "Uranus, The Magician," or been swept away so thoroughly by the martial opening of "Mars, The Bringer of War." Or so mesmerized by "Venus." Or enchanted by "Neptune."

[Running time: 61:01]

Why pick up a CD of Holst's masterpiece with an unrelated piece by Paganini stuck to the end? I can give you several reasons:

1. Expert engineering on sound.
2. Exceptional interpretation.
3. An all-out perfect performance.
4. IT'S ONLY A FEW CENTS!
5. You can easily ignore the Paganini double-bass triviality by burning the first seven tracks on another CD, or organizing them on your mp3.
6. Hearing the women's chorus in the finale on this CD is the next best thing to hearing it live.

Unless you're a beginner with the classics, you normally avoid Laserlight like the plague. Not this time.

Gustav Holst's "The Planets" is a brilliant portrayal of the other celestial bodies outside of Earth (except for Pluto because it wasn't discovered back when Holst composed this). Mars is violent and in a military march form. Parts of it have the brassy dominating sound resembling that of Darth Vader's theme. Venus sounds like something out of a black-and-white romantic movie, high lush strings, celesta, french horn and all, a personal favorite. Mercury is a very playful sounding piece, strong emphasis on the woodwinds and strings. Jupiter is definately my favorite. It has a very happy theme and moves me on every listening. One of its themes sounds like the score Chariots Of Fire. Saturn sounds slow, repetitive, and sluggish (no insult). This might make you fall asleep so be forewarned. Uranus sounds like a crazy circus, not like a magician as it is titled. Neptune is definately very mysterious and vague, another personal favorite out of all the other great tracks. The Paganini piece is in this recording for some strange reason but sounds good on its own, a little weird with the double bass, if I might add. The LSO's performance is all I called ask for and definately lives up to its reputation. They play with style that other orchestras can't. I highly recommend it as a classic symphony piece and as the best and cheapest of "The Planets" recordings.

While this is not my absolute favorite recording of "The Planets," it's still a superb rendition by The London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Geoffrey Simon. Plus, here, you get a wonderful "bonus" recording of "Introduction and Variations on a Theme by Rossini," (Paganini, 8:52).

My favorite version (of the 5 that I own) is this one:

Holst: The Planets

This was Holst's Magnum opus and what a wonderful slate of music it is! One reason that I like it is because it's easy to compare one orchestra against another with this particular music.

I won't be so foolish as to try to describe, in a blow-by-blow detail, this spectacular, mostly beautiful music via mere words, other than to say that this is "modern" (not "contemporary") classical music. But it may be helpful if you know this: If you like the following pieces/CDs, you'll clearly love "The Planets".

Elgar: Violin Concerto / Lark Ascending

Dvorák: Symphonie No. 9; Smetana: Moldau

Hovhaness: Symphonies Nos. 4, 20 & 53; The Prayer of St. Gregory

Respighi: Pini di Roma; Fontane de Roma; Feste Romane


In any case, For a quick check, (against other renditions of "The Planets"), go directly to Track 4 and listen to that very moving late, middle-portion 2 minutes of "Jupiter" (up until they hit that Major 9th chord). That magnificent segment seals the deal on them all!

To summarize, this is a very SMOOTH conveyance of "The Planets," and the sound quality is first-class. This is a DDD recording.

This lacks perhaps the last ounce of finesse and impact that you can get on the very best versions (Gardiner, Bernstein/NYPO, Solti/LPO), but it beats out many recordings available at full price. Geoffrey Simon is excellent at colorful scores like this, and the LSO play predictably well. This is easily the best recording available at "budget" price - heads above the Naxos recording both in orchestral execution and recording quality.

I have to admit that I've owned this CD before (I lost it either while moving or to an ex girlfriend), and of all of the versions of "The Planets" I've owned it's one of my favorites. (I've had 10 different versions over the years. One of my other faves was actually performed by U.M.K.C.'s orchestra!) If you know much about Gustav Holst, then you know that his greatest strengths lie in his skills as a composer, and that as a conductor he wasn't one of the best (a fact he fully admitted to in interviews). I feel that Geoffrey Simon took the essence of what Holst was trying to say and effectively translated it into auditory bliss. The London Symphony Orchestra was excellent, and the engineering for the CD was nearly perfect. Despite the low price, this version sounds like a lot of time, money, and effort was put into it. It isn't incredibly verby, yet it's not so dry that it's sterile. There's no distortion or clipping, even during the dramatic highs and lows of Uranus. The brass is absolutely perfect: not too cold, not too tinny, but warm when it has to sound warm, and angry when it has to sound angry. The one flaw is that it's CD quality digital, and because of that there's a slight loss of warmth in the strings during the uplifting part of Saturn (when the harp and the winds are adding texture) but, like I said earlier, I believe that this has less to do with the recording as much as the medium.

Sorry if I'm pontificating, but I really, really geek out on "The Planets"!

The second piece on the CD is Niccollo Paganini's Introduction and Variation on a Theme by Rossini. I had never even heard of the work before the first time I bought this CD (at its full price back in the early '90s, I might add...) but it greatly moved me and actually affected my own compositions and arrangements. It also was beautifully recorded, and the only critique I can offer is that for certain notes the cello does seems to be a little overpowering. (I don't know if this was purposeful or not. I don't own the score to this piece. I do, however, have three versions of the score to "The Planets". Did I mention that I like "The Planets"? Heh. Anyway...back to the Paganini.) A great piece overall with subtle textural variations that continue to delight, despite the piece's simplicity. Though the piece seems to be from the Classical period, there are elements of Romantic orchestral technique -- perhaps as a precursor to the Romantic period. (I do not know when the piece itself was composed, but Paganini only lived ten years into the Romantic period. Of course, Beethoven was composing Romantic style pieces before his death, and technically that was a few years before the Romantic period officially began! But I digress..)

Whatever the case may be, I bought it for only 5 dollars and some odd change. It was brand new (a reissue from 1998) and that included shipping and handling. So, definitely worth a five spot.

There have been many recorded versions of "The Planets" over the years, and this one I find to be the best. It's also the first one I've ever listened to. It has also been featured in movies and commericals (Mars and Saturn, from what I can recall).

Holst is able to bring the mood to each planet and each piece works. "Mars" is a military march and violent battle sequence surely living up to "Bringer of War." "Venus" is dreamy, classical, and feels like something from a true romance movie. "Mercury" is the shortest track, quick tempo, perky, with use of mostly strings and woodwind instruments. "Jupiter" is all joyful from start to end, with the whole orchestra in the moment. There are a few points though where it darkens (just prior to the end) but it's mostly cheerful. "Saturn" is the longest track, starts quiet and builds up to a mysterious/action-like piece in the middle before mellowing down again. I agree it's slow and repetative, but I like the ending the best (starting after 6 minute mark). "Uranus" sounds more like a "crazy" magician, lots of percussion is used, the orchestra is loud and filled with "Ka-Pow!" (lot of action going on in other words) and is one of the loudest tracks on the CD (with Mars). "Neptune" is vague and dreamy, and the closing female chior at the end is haunting but very beautiful, I actually like it over "Venus."

**Fun Fact: Holst completed "Planets" in 1916. Pluto didn't make the cut because it wasn't discovered until 1939. I wonder the "Ruler of the Underworld" might have been like!**

There's a special track "Paganini" added to this disk. I don't listen to it as much as I do the planets, but it's quite good with its double bass dominating the track.

I don't know why some people thought this CD had poor sound quality. I know some of the tracks (Mars, Saturn, Neptune) start out quietly but gradually volume up. Also, this CD is over 15 years old, so you're not going to get that LOUD sound quality you're normally used to these days.

Great CD, recommended, especially if you like classical music. Also, try Isao Tomita "The Tomita Planets" an electronic version of Holst's Planets.

I bought this CD based on the recommendations of reviewers at Amazon and was not disappointed. I heard the Jupiter piece on my local classical station and in movie soundtracks and wanted to own it on CD but within a budget. This CD fits the bill. I am not a true classical afficianado (sp?), just an average person who happens to like a few classical pieces, so I admit that there may be recordings by other orchestras that are better and held up as the "gold standard" by true music lovers. But I think this one is very good and I highly recommend it as an affordable, well done orchestration of Holst's Planets.

The accomplished Australian native and founder of CALA records, Geoffrey Simon; leads the London Symphony in an authoritative straight-forward interpretation of "The Planets". This 1991 DDD recording has been curiously overlooked by critics. Simon apparently avoids the idiosyncrasies of his conductor peers and the engineers achieve balance and detail in sound throughout. In "Mars", "Jupiter", "Saturn", and "Uranus" the LSO brass shimmers to my delight. Depending on your personal sound level, plus or minus the bass as you desire. This is a work of contrasts so "Venus" and "Neptune" supply serenade like and other worldly tranquility. As usual, the LSO playing is as versatile as anyone could expect for a purchase price of less than $4.00. The rare bonus work by Paganini, a fantasy for double bass makes a most unusual encore to close the program.