BaL 27.09.14 - Holst: The Planets

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I just have the BPO Karajan, which is stunning.
However, the bookies have the chances of DON recommending it at 300 to 1!

As a performance, it's great, but with such opaque sound, it's a non-starter.

[Tony Halstead]

The one for me

One of the few recordings Steinberg made for DGG

One of the greatest DGG recordings from the BSO/ Steinberg era is/ was the Hindemith 'Mathis der Maler' symphony. A wonderful interpretation that I think the composer would have loved.
On the original LP ( thank goodness I didn't sell it or donate it to a charity shop) the last three chords of the 1st movement are unbelievably full-sounding, LOUD and thrilling. My 'Thorens' LP deck has no difficulty coping with them.
But on the DGG CD transfer - oh dear - they are compressed and 'watered down' in a sort of 'polite' and disembodied way. Very disappointing indeed. In my naive way I thought that CDs were supposed to have ( potentially) a wider dynamic range than LPs, but in this particular instance somebody in the 'post-production' team evidently got scared and used / abused the 'fader'...

[Roehre]

One of the greatest DGG recordings from the BSO/ Steinberg era is/ was the Hindemith 'Mathis der Maler' symphony. A wonderful interpretation that I think the composer would have loved.
On the original LP ( thank goodness I didn't sell it or donate it to a charity shop) the last three chords of the 1st movement are unbelievably full-sounding, LOUD and thrilling. .....:

A great recording indeed (DGG 2530.246 with that spooky sleeve with Grünewald's Anthony's Temptation detail ), and with an excellently performed and recorded Concert Music opus 50 at the B-side
I kept it too, and haven't got the CD-transfer

[LeMartinPecheur]

A great recording indeed (DGG 2530.246 with that spooky sleeve with Grünewald's Anthony's Temptation detail ), and with an excellently performed and recorded Concert Music opus 50 at the B-side
I kept it too, and haven't got the CD-transfer

This LP was my first Hindemith disc and still gets a spin. All this stuff about BSO/ Steinberg has persuaded me to invest, somewhat belatedly, in his Planets and Zarathustra for a mere fiver. Judging by the comments here about the Hindemith's CD transfer, I do hope DG used someone different for this one!

[Pulcinella]

Looks like the Hindemith Mathis der Maler got released on CD with different couplings.
Don't know which came first.
One is all Hindemith, but the one I have is (Italian) Classikon, with some Weill, Pfitzner, and Busoni.
Date given for the Hindemith is 1972.
I guess it will not have been re-edited (or whatever) if there was a problem with the fade in the original release, but I need to listen (don't know the piece well enough) to see what Tony means.

PS: Apologies for staying with the off-topic comments!

[ardcarp]

If I may go a bit off-topic too, I wonder how DON will tackle his task? Reading (most of) the posts, many are from those learned about particular historic orchestras/conductors and especially the finer points of recording techniques. For me, The Planets is simply the most extraordinary thing to have emerged in British music, written as it was around the time of the 1st War when Britain was hugely 'backward' in cultural matters. I hope DON, in his choice, will be swayed as much by performances which capture the revolutionary* nature of The Planets as by anything else. These may not be the most polished or perfectly recorded.

*Interesting that the word 'revolution' in the political sense was coined in response to those who postulated that Earth...and hence the other planets...revolved around the Sun.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

For me, The Planets is simply the most extraordinary thing to have emerged in British music, written as it was around the time of the 1st War when Britain was hugely 'backward' in cultural matters.

Not Dunstable?

[Roehre]

Not Dunstable?

[visualnickmos]

This will be an interesting (to say the least!) BaL!
I recollect that last time round, Dutoit's 'Venus' was catatonic! [sic]
I think it was Yoel Levi and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra 'wot' won it. I - in my sad little way - am a bit of a collector of "The Planets" and good, though this one is, is not my personal choice. That may well go to Dutoit..... or even JEG on DG! Yes I even surprise myself from time to time.......

But Steinberg would perhaps eclipse all others - I can fully recommend it. That may be the one.

[EdgeleyRob]

Yep - me, too. (I have it on a DG "Walkman" cassette with Jochum's impressive Enigmas on side two.)
Great piece - I hadn't listened to it in years until a broadcast I tuned into in the car one afternoon earlier this year. It wasn't a particularly good performance, but I kept thinking "Wow! This is a fantastic piece of Music" all the way through.

I've just ordered the CD for £1.50 (used inc pp)for the Jochum Enigma http://www.amazon.co.uk/Holst-Planet...olst+steinberg

[Barbirollians]

I have the late Boult, Previn. VPO/karajan and the Halle/Elder - all very good but enough versions for me .

[MickyD]

I have an interesting (and long-deleted) HIP account from The New Queen's Hall Orchestra and Roy Goodman which appeared in the 1990s on Carlton Classics. It was coupled with the St Paul's Suite. Does anyone else possess this disc?

[cloughie]

I have an interesting (and long-deleted) HIP account from The New Queen's Hall Orchestra and Roy Goodman which appeared in the 1990s on Carlton Classics. It was coupled with the St Paul's Suite. Does anyone else possess this disc?

Yes - I must have another listen to it.

[Radio64]

I've just ordered the CD for £1.50 (used inc pp)for the Jochum Enigma http://www.amazon.co.uk/Holst-Planet...olst+steinberg

..adds to basket.

[PJPJ]

I have an interesting (and long-deleted) HIP account from The New Queen's Hall Orchestra and Roy Goodman which appeared in the 1990s on Carlton Classics. It was coupled with the St Paul's Suite. Does anyone else possess this disc?

I regret not getting this one, now only as mp3 sadly.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004872RGG/ref=dm_cd_album_lnk

I tried to find it a few days ago but misremembered the conductor as Barry Wordsworth. The NQHO website doesn't seem to exist any longer - does the orchestra still give concerts?