BaL 27.09.14 - Holst: The Planets

**Lordgeous** · 24-10-21, 11:25

Originally posted by Barbirollians View Post

The BBCSO/Boult from 1945 is stupendous and I had forgotten how stupendous - in the boult from Tchaikovsky to Gershwin box you get all three Boult versions on EMI 1945,1966 and 1978

In my youth I recall having a Boult version on, I think, a 10" Pye Nixa LP (must have been excerpts I guess). Would that have been any of the three versions above or a different one? Soiunded terrific (in my memory at least).

**Barbirollians** · 24-10-21, 11:51

Is that the Vienna one ? The 1945,1966 and 1978 were for HMV/EMI I think.

**Lordgeous** · 24-10-21, 11:54

I wish I knew/remembered!

**Nick Armstrong** · 24-10-21, 12:05

I may have been defeated by the sometimes erratic Qobuz search facility, but I’ve tried various combinations and cannot see that the chosen Jarvi/Cincinnati version is available on Qobuz, which strikes me as odd.

Can anyone prove me wrong?

**Bryn** · 24-10-21, 12:41

Originally posted by Nick Armstrong View Post

I may have been defeated by the sometimes erratic Qobuz search facility, but I’ve tried various combinations and cannot see that the chosen Jarvi/Cincinnati version is available on Qobuz, which strikes me as odd.

Can anyone prove me wrong?

Not the easiest recording to find at a sensible price in any format.

**Nick Armstrong** · 24-10-21, 12:52

Originally posted by Bryn View Post

Not the easiest recording to find at a sensible price in any format.

I’ve been considering recommending the work to a young (early 20s) relative who’s recently revealed that accompanying me to a couple of Proms has given him the classical bug, and has requested pointers to new discoveries. I’d been wondering which version to suggest, so the resurrection of this thread is timely.

I guess the Dutoit/Montréal version which is readily available will be the one I choose (which I actually never got round to hearing. Looking forward to the organ, I do agree with DON about that)

Said relative is now in the French army, I like the idea of Jupiter - or of course, Mars - echoing round some French barracks

**cloughie** · 24-10-21, 12:57

Originally posted by Lordgeous View Post

I wish I knew/remembered!

My guess is a mono Westminster recording from the 1950s by the Philharmonic Promenade Ochestra ( LPO or maybe RPO by another name? ) which started off on Pye Nixa then reissued on Golden Hour and other labels then a 1960 Westminster recording in Stereo with the VSOO which has appeared on CD on MCA and Westminster which is part of Universal.

**cloughie** · 24-10-21, 13:08

Originally posted by Bryn View Post

Not the easiest recording to find at a sensible price in any format.

Looks like the CD at £12 (Presto) is the best bet but out of stock and a wait for 6 week is stated - strangely there appears to be no download option for Telarc CDs - maybe same for Qobuz Nick!

**HighlandDougie** · 24-10-21, 13:28

Originally posted by Lordgeous View Post

In my youth I recall having a Boult version on, I think, a 10" Pye Nixa LP (must have been excerpts I guess). Would that have been any of the three versions above or a different one? Soiunded terrific (in my memory at least).

A geek writes:

I have that performance (on a 12" Nixa LP). Recorded in the autumn of 1953 in Walthamstow Assembly Hall by Westminster and released in the USA on that label in 1954. Also released in the UK by Nixa. I'm not sure if it has ever been generally available on CD* - the Westminster box sets released about 10 years ago (the big South Korean one and then the more condensed one readily available in Europe) have the stereo 1959 Vienna State Opera Orchestra recording.

As to Paavo Järvi and the Cincinnati SO, it doesn't seem to be available on either Qobuz or Tidal but is available on Spotify.

*I have a hazy memory of a cheapo CD on some obscure label of maybe 30 years ago with this performance on it but I may well be mistaken - and, if I still have it, it's in Scotland, not here in France, so I can't readily check.

**Lordgeous** · 24-10-21, 13:43

Thanks both. Yes Philharmonic Promenade Ochestra rings a large bell and it may have been a 12" LP and not a 10" though that may have been excerpts as I can only recall Mars and Jupiter! Cracking playing as I remember.

**cloughie** · 24-10-21, 13:46

Originally posted by HighlandDougie View Post

A geek writes:

I have that performance (on a 12" Nixa LP). Recorded in the autumn of 1953 in Walthamstow Assembly Hall by Westminster and released in the USA on that label in 1954. Also released in the UK by Nixa. I'm not sure if it has ever been generally available on CD* - the Westminster box sets released about 10 years ago (the big South Korean one and then the more condensed one readily available in Europe) have the stereo 1959 Vienna State Opera Orchestra recording.

As to Paavo Järvi and the Cincinnati SO, it doesn't seem to be available on either Qobuz or Tidal but is available on Spotify.

*I have a hazy memory of a cheapo CD on some obscure label of maybe 30 years ago with this performance on it but I may well be mistaken - and, if I still have it, it's in Scotland, not here in France, so I can't readily check.

Was it this one on Everyman?

Classical Item - The London Philharmonic Orchestra - The Planets - Everyman - Europe

http://www.45worlds.com/classical/music/evcd26

**HighlandDougie** · 24-10-21, 14:47

Originally posted by cloughie View Post

Was it this one on Everyman?

http://www.45worlds.com/classical/music/evcd26

Bingo! That's the one. But:

It ain't what it says on the Can !! (from an Amazon review)

Commenté au Royaume-Uni le 28 juillet 2015
Achat vérifié
I purchased this CD presumably as the Pye Nixa version of the Planets from the Late 50s early 60s. When it arrived it didn't sound like Boult. My suspicions were confirmed when the disc was placed into the Laptop and the following track information was displayed.. William Boughton Philharmonia Ochestra. Mars 7.02,Venus 8.46, Mercury 3.48,Jupiter 7.02, Saturn 8.57, Uranus 5.39, Neptune 8.30. It's an okay performance but not what I wanted. I think Everyman classics made a slight error. Never mind.

So it seems to be the LP or nothing (it also appeared on Marble Arch)

**Lordgeous** · 24-10-21, 15:00

A tangled web!

**cloughie** · 24-10-21, 15:25

Originally posted by HighlandDougie View Post

Bingo! That's the one. But:

It ain't what it says on the Can !! (from an Amazon review)

Commenté au Royaume-Uni le 28 juillet 2015
Achat vérifié
I purchased this CD presumably as the Pye Nixa version of the Planets from the Late 50s early 60s. When it arrived it didn't sound like Boult. My suspicions were confirmed when the disc was placed into the Laptop and the following track information was displayed.. William Boughton Philharmonia Ochestra. Mars 7.02,Venus 8.46, Mercury 3.48,Jupiter 7.02, Saturn 8.57, Uranus 5.39, Neptune 8.30. It's an okay performance but not what I wanted. I think Everyman classics made a slight error. Never mind.

So it seems to be the LP or nothing (it also appeared on Marble Arch)

So presumably instead of a 50s mono you got a 70s/early 80s stereo!

**visualnickmos** · 24-10-21, 20:03

Originally posted by HighlandDougie View Post

Bingo! That's the one. But:

It ain't what it says on the Can !! (from an Amazon review)

Commenté au Royaume-Uni le 28 juillet 2015
Achat vérifié
I purchased this CD presumably as the Pye Nixa version of the Planets from the Late 50s early 60s. When it arrived it didn't sound like Boult. My suspicions were confirmed when the disc was placed into the Laptop and the following track information was displayed.. William Boughton Philharmonia Ochestra. Mars 7.02,Venus 8.46, Mercury 3.48,Jupiter 7.02, Saturn 8.57, Uranus 5.39, Neptune 8.30. It's an okay performance but not what I wanted. I think Everyman classics made a slight error. Never mind.

So it seems to be the LP or nothing (it also appeared on Marble Arch)

Hah! I actually have that William Boughton Planets in my sub-library; it's actually not bad at all. The thing about multiple versions of some works, is that one day, one feels like hearing bombast, and on another one feels like hearing calm! An extreme gamut, yes, but it's for illustrative purposes.