BaL 11.01.25 - Holst: The Planets

[pastoralguy]

One of the first digital LPs I ever bought was the Chandos disc of the Scottish National Orchestra under Sir Alex Gibson. Beautifully played and conducted.

[Lordgeous]

As a kid one of my first discs was of Boult conducting at least Mars & Jupiter on PYE (Nixa?). Have a feeling it was a 'put together' orchestra, not one of the recogniseable Englisg bands. Was it a 10" LP? All the movements? Can't remember. But the sound, and the music made a huge impression. Any ideas which recording that might be? Many years later I would be at the BBC to hear his daughter rehearsing (The Purcell Singers?) in a piece of mine she had commissioned for The Aldeburgh Festival!

[Ian Thumwood]

The Malcolm Sergent version was the one i grew up with in the 1970s. It was many years afterwards that i found out he was English but that and 1812 overture were my first introduction to orchestral music. In fact , i never listened to any classical again until about 18. I did not realise until Saturday that his remains are in Chichester Cathedral next to the memorial of Thomas Weekes. I have been to thr cathedral on numerous occasions and even heard the modern John Taverner in a concert which included Delius too.

i suspect many people are still not aware of his nationality. I did not know that he was frirnds with Bax who was someone my piano teacher was acqauinted with albeit he was friends with Sir Colin Davis.

[smittims]

I'm amazed to think that anyone could think Sargent was anything but English! His entire personality, with all its attributes and prejudices, was utterly English and surely could not be mistaken for any other nation.

I don't know that he he was a 'friend' of either Bax or Davis. He claimed all sorts of people were his friends, including Gusav Holst and the Queen Mother, whose signed photograph he kept on his piano, according to Roy Douglas. .

I was glad to see his sleeve-note for his second recording of the Planets (ALP 1600 ) was reprinted verbatim on its Classics for Pleasure reissue. It's a period piece; I don't think anyone would write about Holst or his music in this way today. If you get a chance listen to his Desert Island Discs appearence on BBC Sounds; it's a glimpse of a vanished world

[smittims]

Hi, Lordgeus, Boult's 1954 Nixa recording of the Planets , made in Walthamstow Town Hall and later reissued in Britain on a Pye 'Golden Gunea' LP, was with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, of which he was conductor at the time and with whom he made most of his recordings between 1949 and 1978. For some reason I've yet to discover,they were named in America as the 'Philharmonic Promenade Orchestra'.

A few years later he recorded it for Westminster in Vienna with the Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Westminster's house band at the time, and this was issued in Britain by the World Record Club. Collectors sometimes confuse these two recordings, both of which are complete with chorus.

To add a personal note while mentioning Boult, my own favourite Planets is his 1966 HMV recording with the New Philharmonia Orchestra (ASD 3201). It has a lovely photo of Saturn on the sleeve. Several recordings of this work feature not planets but stars!

.

[Belgrove]

Any thoughts on Colin Matthews’ addition to the suite with ‘Pluto: The Renewer’? I have Elder’s recording with the Hallé. It seemed just about as distant from my conception of ‘Pluto’ as the planet itself.

[hmvman]

I'm amazed to think that anyone could think Sargent was anything but English! His entire personality, with all its attributes and prejudices, was utterly English and surely could not be mistaken for any other nation.

I don't know that he he was a 'friend' of either Bax or Davis. He claimed all sorts of people were his friends, including Gusav Holst and the Queen Mother, whose signed photograph he kept on his piano, according to Roy Douglas. .

I was glad to see his sleeve-note for his second recording of the Planets (ALP 1600 ) was reprinted verbatim on its Classics for Pleasure reissue. It's a period piece; I don't think anyone would write about Holst or his music in this way today. If you get a chance listen to his Desert Island Discs appearence on BBC Sounds; it's a glimpse of a vanished world

I think Ian was referring to Holst rather than Sargent.

[smittims]

Thanks, HMVman! Delightful . A little matter of grammar. Honestly, it didn't occur to me.

By the way Delius was a German . He evencalled himself 'Fritz' as a young man. Absolutely true!

[Pulcinella]

Thanks, HMVman! Delightful . A little matterof grammar.

Fear not: I was similarly confused, but all now clear.

[hmvman]

[Sir Velo]

Several recordings of this work feature not planets but stars!

.

More appropriate than might at first be thought given the astrological (as opposed to astronomical) inspiration of Holst's work.

[Lordgeous]

Hi, Lordgeus, Boult's 1954 Nixa recording of the Planets , made in Walthamstow Town Hall and later reissued in Britain on a Pye 'Golden Gunea' LP, was with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, of which he was conductor at the time and with whom he made most of his recordings between 1949 and 1978. For some reason I've yet to discover,they were named in America as the 'Philharmonic Promenade Orchestra'.

A few years later he recorded it for Westminster in Vienna with the Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Westminster's house band at the time, and this was issued in Britain by the World Record Club. Collectors sometimes confuse these two recordings, both of which are complete with chorus.

To add a personal note while mentioning Boult, my own favourite Planets is his 1966 HMV recording with the New Philharmonia Orchestra (ASD 3201). It has a lovely photo of Saturn on the sleeve. Several recordings of this work feature not planets but stars!

.

Many thanks Smittims. The Philharmonic Promenade Orchestra certainly rings a bell - maybe a tubular one!

[Serial_Apologist]

I think Ian was referring to Holst rather than Sargent.

Not sure about that - Ian's confusing as to whom he is referring to in his post. Unless he has been disinterred and relocated Delius is buried in Kent, not Chichester.

[seabright]

Anyone with the score will know that the Female Chorus is divided into I and II. When they come in at Figure VI, the way it's written it looks rather as if Chorus II is providing a kind of echo effect to Chorus 1 by often coming in with the same notes but half a bar later. If they are standing in a group, Chorus II behind Chorus 1, then this echo effect won't be apparent. But if the two choruses were separated, Chorus I left and Chorus II right, particularly in a recording, I wonder if the "stereo" effect would work. Has any recording ever tried this chorus separation out?

[seabright]

Going back to Stokowski and The Planets ... He featured a great deal of 20th Century music when he was conductor of the NBC Symphony for three years during the war, Toscanini having declined to sign a new contract for the 1941-42 season. However, he changed his mind when Stokowski started getting excellent reviews for his concerts and returned the following year as his co-conductor. Toscanini's critics often dismiss him as a "speed merchant" and Glenn Gould once referred to each new Toscanini recording as "one metronomic steeplechase after another." One wonders if Toscanini's tempos had an effect on Stokowski at the time because in "Jupiter" he whips through it at 100 miles an hour in some places so as to make one suspect that they did! ... This comes from a complete broadcast of the work on 14 February 1943 ...