Holst: The Planets / Schoenberg: Verklarte Nacht (Transfigured Night) ~ Stokowski [Original recording remastered]

Holst (Composer), Schoenberg (Composer), Stokowski (Conductor), Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: Stokowski
• Composer: Holst, Schoenberg
• Audio CD (February 13, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: EMI Classics
• ASIN: B0000589T6
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #340,963 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hot, hot, hot: a Planets for the ages, July 16, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Holst: The Planets / Schoenberg: Verklarte Nacht (Transfigured Night) ~ Stokowski (Audio CD)

The best, hottest, most intense "Planets" on the...planet. Man, they really knew how to lay it down in the 1950s. The sound here is great too, probably thanks to Stokowski's total involvement. Listen to a few seconds of "Mars." Yeah... You know it's going to be a heck of a trip. Really, one of the CDs that I absolutely treasure and recommend to others. I preach Stokowski's 'Planets,' as it were. I'd say essential.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-have if you love the Planets, July 24, 2009

By 

DJ Rix (NJ USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Holst: The Planets / Schoenberg: Verklarte Nacht (Transfigured Night) ~ Stokowski (Audio CD)

Stokowski didn't record The Planets just to add his version to the stack. In 1956, the stack wasn't very large. Stokowski was always interested in new recording technology, & i think he would be pleased with this remaster of the analog stereo he tried to record with great care. It brings out details in winds & percussion (but unfortunately not the organ), adding about 10 seconds of silence at the conclusion of Neptune before the track ends, his original intention.

You know this recording is a little different from start, with the blitzkrieg paced Mars (Maestro adds a tam-tam at the end, but it works). He eases back on the Elgarian tone of Jupiter, & whips up the wizard in Uranus. Neptune may be the loveliest, most ethereal version of all, with vague premonitions of minimalism Stokowski seems to sense (& Holst toyed with in several other compositions); the ending takes us out of the world of myth & the gods & leaves us in the silence of outer space. Not the best Planets all around (maybe the best Neptune), but if you love the work enough to collect fine recordings of it, this is a must-have.

If post-Wagnerian is your cup of Viennese coffee, it doesn't get served up much better than Transfigured Night. Stokowski knew this music intimately & his recording here has always been considered one of the finest available. Darkly, even passionately, romantic on the surface - Schoenberg was falling in love at the time - it is as brilliantly constructed as his later 12 tone works.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this album, June 12, 2009

By 

White Whale (Nebraska) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Holst: The Planets / Schoenberg: Verklarte Nacht (Transfigured Night) ~ Stokowski (Audio CD)

Believe it or not, I purchased this album on vinyl years ago. I no longer have the vinyl version so I was pleased to see Stokowski's arrangement of the Planets Suite on a CD -- and using the same album picture yet. I had another arrangement of Holst's work and it was fine but not as good as Stokowski's.