Holst: The Planets

Holst: The Planets

Holst: The Planets
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CD Details

Composer: Gustav Holst
Composer: Richard [1] Strauss
Conductor: Herbert von Karajan
Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2007-06-12
Music Label: Decca
Soundtracks:
  1. The Planets, suite for orchestra & female chorus, Op. 32, H. 125: 1. Mars, The Bringer of War
  2. The Planets, suite for orchestra & female chorus, Op. 32, H. 125: 2. Venus, The Bringer of Peace
  3. The Planets, suite for orchestra & female chorus, Op. 32, H. 125: 3. Mercury, The Winged Messenger
  4. The Planets, suite for orchestra & female chorus, Op. 32, H. 125: 4. Jupiter, The Bringer of Jollity
  5. The Planets, suite for orchestra & female chorus, Op. 32, H. 125: 5. Saturn, The Bringer of Old Age
  6. The Planets, suite for orchestra & female chorus, Op. 32, H. 125: 6. Uranus, The Magician
  7. The Planets, suite for orchestra & female chorus, Op. 32, H. 125: 7. Neptune, The Mystic
  8. Don Juan, tone poem for orchestra, Op. 20 (TrV 156)

Music reviews of Holst: The Planets

Music Review: Intensity!!
Rating: 5 Stars

Imogen Holst, the composer's daughter and a fine conductor in her own right pronounced this the finest performance of this piece she had heard. It's easy to understand why.
Mars moves forward with grim force and a kind of nervous energy that can raise goosebumps. The VPO, one of the great orchestras and one of the great opera orchestras, has remarkable tone colors to offer: grim metallic trumpets, heavy trombones, horns like human voices, strings that sing and sting, crushing percussion.
Venus brings cool peace. It seems almost stylized, a kind of art deco sound with rich tone - the VPO sounds like the orchestral distillation of all of the great singers who these players have accompanied - but formal restraint.
Mercury flies along with speed, but also with elegance. You can hear the speed, but not the effort that produced it.
Jupiter is sheer power - Brahmsian (or even Elgarian - what a shame that Karajan never conducted Elgar, his second symphony would have been amazing) in its breadth and nobility - but, for all the power of the concept, this Jupiter moves along. No Falstaff here! The richness, nobility, and sheer naturalness of the big tune - the trio section, if you will - is wonderful, as is the amber-to-gold sound that the normally silvery VPO comes up with for it.
Saturn opens with icy remoteness. A good reminder of the vast range of color that the VPO commanded. The dry to lamenting sound of the first violin entry is like a cry of protest against the clock ticking inexorably in the background. The trombones are ghostly and noble in their procession and the sweeping up of the whole orchestra into the energy is like a gathering of the world into the inevitable progress, with colossal brass chords marking the progress and a huge cry of protest echoed down the orchestra until the starry sky of serene acceptance suddenly appears.
Uranus is brisk and tricky and Neptune remote and evocative.
Don Juan was a Karajan specialty. He recorded it in concert with Concertgebouw in 1943, made his debut with the Philharmonia in a concert that included it in 1948, and made a memorable recording with that ensemble. He also recorded it at least twice later with the Berlin Philharmonic. All of these are memorable recordings, as is this. Karajan was attuned to Richard Strauss as he was to a handful of other composers. This recording has the energy and forward movement that Karajan offered in 1960, at the peak of his early maturity. It also has the unique sound of the VPO, with its sweet strings, tangy winds, and heroic brass (I love the molten sound of the horns in the big call ten minutes in).
Decca's sound is deep and vivid. It's startlingly immediate in this remastering. There's some hiss and a bump from a tape join partway through the big oboe solo in the Strauss - the Holst sounds as if they did it (or at least each planet) in one take like Karajan's amazing second recording of The Rite of Spring.
A wonderful archive of splendid music-making. They don't make conductors or orchestras like this any more.
Karajan's remake of the Holst in Berlin is also fine, but this one is more lively and immediate. Don Juan sounds like a great opera here.
Well worth the price, though if you can find the Decca box with 9 discs of Karajan in Vienna, that's even better.
More Holst: The Planets free music reviews:
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