Holst: The Planets

My main reason for buying this was the London Symphony Orchestra. There may be better versions. This may not be everyone's cup of tea, and I am no master musician, so I can't critique on those levels. However, I do know what I like--which is music that resonates emotionally. If you like bold instrumental music, then you may enjoy this album, but hear the samples first! Feel the planets and their mythological personalities come alive. Each piece seems to be designed to portray a planet's persona / attitude: Venus is beautiful, peaceful, and a tad romantic; Mercury contains lively, quick, busy moments appropriate for the winged messenger. Jupiter sounds a bit like an Aaron Copeland piece, insisting on bigness, power, and distance. I played the Mars selection for a college class, and they were very impressed, wondering if it was a theme from a war film. The Mars piece had bold "brassy" moments that had the air of a soaring battle between two equal, opposing forces, and then softer tense moments that would build into full flourishes. Play this while showing MArs images on screen. It makes an impact regarding the Red Planet! Quite fun for myth or astronomy class.Some people may see the title and think, "Oh! Space music!" However, they may not be getting what they think they are getting. People who prefer a more "new age" / cosmic ...even ethereal... selection of planetary / space music may prefer the works of composer, Jonn Serrie. I actually enjoy Serrie's music and moods much more than Holst: The Planets, but now and then, I like the big, old orchestra sound to stir the soul and get the old heart pumping. Compare The Planets with Serrie's Planetary Chronicles Vol. 1 and 2, and you'll hear the difference between genres. Just note Serrie's work is otherworldly...not necessary within our own solar system! :D LOL The Stargazer's Journey is worth a listen as well. Ultimately, beauty is in the ears and mind of the listener.___Updated: July 9, 2009

This recording of this fine piece was excellent. So good a recording that it was able to use it for an auditorium, and it sounded so rich and full. Forgot how wonderful each section was. So many movies pull from Holst's The Planets for their music. Very cool to say, "Hey! That was used in ____ movie."

`Holst: The Planets' was introduced to me at a young age and over the years it has lost none of it's power or magic, even after repeated listening. It runs you through the gamut of emotions, from tranquil musing, to soaring jubilation, angry fired up aggression and lilted sadness and all in a short space of time. The skill and ability of the composer to affect the human spirit from such music can not be underestimated. This performance is wonderful and sits at the top of other recordings I have and if this is your first listen of this piece you can't go far wrong in starting here. A worthy addition to any classical collection.Feel free to check out my blog which can be found on my profile page.

It is very difficult to get a good recording of this work due to the volume and orchestral highlight changes within the various movements. But this version does a wonderful job of it.

This is a great version of "The Planets". The most well-known may be "Jupiter" (and this is a great version of it) but the whole is certainly worth buying.

An excellent purchase. Definitely not a waste of time or money.

I already have a couple of other performances of this, including Solti's classic, which is a great performance but poorly recorded and dynamically compressed.This Hyperion recording is absolutely fantastic. I bought the 96/24 studio master direct from Hyperion. It is a live performance from 2002 with tremendous dynamic range (DR 15 overall), clear and detailed yet natural sounding without the hyper-detail of artificial brightness. The performance is quite different from Solti's, though I like it.If you like The Planets and you're an audiophile, this is a must-have.

I have several cds of Sir Colin Davis conducting the LSO who always does a very good job, so I was excited to purchase this disk. What a disappointment!!. After sitting through one listening, I put it away and did not intend to listen again. But, then I decided to critically listen to see what was wrong with it, so I listened several times over the span of a couple of weeks and I took notes. The performance is OK, although a bit uninspired, IMO, but the biggest problem by far is the lousy engineering! By that I mean both the microphones used (they are thin sounding like a mic from the 1950s) and the mixing are horrible. It sounds like a recording in a can. No real ambience is imparted. The sound is flat and often very tinny. In particular, Mars sounds very tinny and like an old record not spinning at a full 33 1/3 rpm at times. The bass sections sound like they are in the next room heard through the wall. The mix on Jupiter is also not right--I found one spot where the horns were not synchronized, Just a bit off, but noticeable--that's an engineering problem. Tonal quality of the flutes and piccolos is just not right (I have played the flute for over 45 years, so I know what it should sound like). The trumpets sound bright and edgy which really makes the recording hard to listen to. Overall, this really undercuts the sheer beauty of this work which is very powerful and full sounding. It is particularly galling when one compares this recording to the recordings by von Karajan and Solti done over 30 and 40 years ago which sound so much fuller and lifelike.In sum, the balance of the orchestral sound just isn't right. I am sure this is not the fault of maestro Davis, but in the engineering of the recording. I find it hard to believe in the 21st Century such a rank amateur engineering effort would be put out for sale. I have heard better recordings done in a garage with 4 track tape.

Opera che ho avuto modo di conoscere grazie all'apertura dei concerti dei Deep Purple.Molto belli tutti i brani, ricordano le colonne sonore di qualche film.Consegna Amazon perfetta.

un regal

Sehr gute Aufnahme und Interpretation, die wahrscheinlich hauptsaechlich Colin Davis zu verdanken ist. Ich habe diesen britischen Komponisten erst jetzt richtig entdeckt, grossartige wunderschoene Musik.

I should point out that I'm not a music buff, but I do enjoy a whole range of different music depending on my mood. I only knew Mars and Jupiter reasonably well before buying this CD, and considered those two pieces of music alone well worth the money, the others were, at the time, just bonus material.Jupiter stands head and shoulders above the other 'planets' in this CD, but then again it stands head and shoulders above almost any music ever written. A part of this piece is more commonly known as 'I vow to me my country', or as the Rugby world cup theme 'World in union', which is well worth the £4.69 I paid all on its own.I was slightly wary of one or two other reviews where the quality of the CD was questioned, all I can say is that I doubt you'd notice unless you really were an expert......and I think most of those wouldn't buy a piece of classical music without listening to it beforehand. For me it sounds wonderful from start to finish, there are little gems all the way through and I find my emotions are well and truly stirred whenever I listen to it.I can't fault this in any way. The music is stunning and the conductor/orchestra more than does it justice. Buy it, you really won't be disappointed.

ロンドン響のライヴシリーズの惑星。指揮はおなじみの、サー・コリン・デイヴィス。デイヴィスは80年代にベルリン・フィルと惑星を録音していたが、大して心に残るような名演ではなかった。しかしこのロンドン響との惑星は凄い！では、僕が聞いて思った事を少し述べます。・火星：テンポが速めで打楽器が凄く目立ってる。金管楽器が物凄く元気。・金星：遅めのテンポ。ホルンソロの歌い方が非常に良い。・水星：比較的遅めな方。ヴァイオリン・ソロはコンサート・マスター独自の歌わせ方が出ていておもしろい。・木星：冒頭を聞くと遅めかな？と思うが、そんなことは無く、中間部までは結構テンポを上げていく。中間部は遅めで歌い、コーダは速いテンポのまま大爆音で終わる。ロンドン響のホルン・セクションが上手すぎる!!・土星：約10分という遅めのテンポで進められて行く。鐘の鳴り響く山場は圧巻。しかし鐘の音がスタジオ録音ではなくライヴ録音な為、少し聞こえづらいかも。・天王星：至ってノーマルテンポ。だがやっぱりここでもロンドン響のブラス・セクションは凄さを増す。ブラスだけではなく、弦楽器の聞かせ方なども研究されており、隅々まで聞こえる。・海王星：この海王星は速い。冒頭は大して早くないのだけど、女声合唱が登場する辺りからデイヴィスはテンポを上げる。ラストのフェードアウトの場面は怒涛の速さである。　ロンドン響の惑星は作曲者のホルスト、コーツ、プレヴィン、サイモンなど様々な指揮者が録音している。それだけ幾度となく惑星を演奏してきた楽団だから、この大曲をちょちょいのちょいで演奏しているところが素晴らしい。そしてデイヴィスが過去、世界一のオケで録音した演奏よりも遥か上の演奏となった。価格も安いし、録音も良いし、安心してオススメできます。