7 thoughts on “Reference Recordings: Holst's The Planets”
My preference for Boult is the last one from 1978. But my true reference recording is, and always will be, Steinberg/Boston. Bonus, is that fantastic cover art by Peter Wandrus. Yes, Dutoit is great, but Steinberg reigns supreme for me.
(Considering your recent video regarding grammar, I hope I’ve placed my commas correctly.)
I love this series. For some reason the Schumann Symphonies reference recording is not showing up in the reference recording playlist. I’m not sure if there are others that are missing, but I noticed that that one was.
Boult also recorded The Planets twice in the 50s: once with the Philharmonic Promenade Orchestra (I'm not sure, but I think that's actually the LPO) & once with the Vienna State Opera Orchestra, of all things. His 66 & 78 recordings are both amazing, but I have a preference for 78, not least for its sumptuous sound.
There's an episode of Futurama where Fry, a time traveler to the year 3000, calls the planet "Uranus," in the ordinary pronunciation. He gets corrected: "The name was changed because people were offended by how it sounded. It's now called 'Urrectum'". 😂
Never reject late-analogue recordings for not being digital. When the recording studios adopted digital recording they expected digital recording to solve all their problems — when in fact analogue recordings were at the peak of the art of recording. Boult just missed the 'digital era' — or the digital era just missed him. His 1978 recording sounds as good as any recording of the Planets… and it couldn't be more (sorry for my mixing of idioms) "echt".
Does anyone get British music well as a conductor without being British? Previn counts as British because he grew up in England. Mackerras was Australian… close enough. Surprisingly such conductors as Klemperer, Szell, Dorati, Karajan, Kubelik, and Ozawa rarely recorded British music.
My preference for Boult is the last one from 1978. But my true reference recording is, and always will be, Steinberg/Boston. Bonus, is that fantastic cover art by Peter Wandrus. Yes, Dutoit is great, but Steinberg reigns supreme for me.
(Considering your recent video regarding grammar, I hope I’ve placed my commas correctly.)
I love this series. For some reason the Schumann Symphonies reference recording is not showing up in the reference recording playlist. I’m not sure if there are others that are missing, but I noticed that that one was.
I like the 1966 version the best. Always thought the 1978 version was a little overrated.
Boult also recorded The Planets twice in the 50s: once with the Philharmonic Promenade Orchestra (I'm not sure, but I think that's actually the LPO) & once with the Vienna State Opera Orchestra, of all things. His 66 & 78 recordings are both amazing, but I have a preference for 78, not least for its sumptuous sound.
There's an episode of Futurama where Fry, a time traveler to the year 3000, calls the planet "Uranus," in the ordinary pronunciation. He gets corrected: "The name was changed because people were offended by how it sounded. It's now called 'Urrectum'". 😂
Never reject late-analogue recordings for not being digital. When the recording studios adopted digital recording they expected digital recording to solve all their problems — when in fact analogue recordings were at the peak of the art of recording. Boult just missed the 'digital era' — or the digital era just missed him. His 1978 recording sounds as good as any recording of the Planets… and it couldn't be more (sorry for my mixing of idioms) "echt".
Does anyone get British music well as a conductor without being British? Previn counts as British because he grew up in England. Mackerras was Australian… close enough. Surprisingly such conductors as Klemperer, Szell, Dorati, Karajan, Kubelik, and Ozawa rarely recorded British music.
The '78 is available on a compilation "20th Century Masterpieces" which you reviewed earlier this year and is how/why I now have it (thank you).
Dave. Was the 1978 version sponsored by Kef speakers?