Holst's The Planets

Started by Elgarian, April 27, 2012, 07:07:26 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

jfdrex

Quote from: Peter Power Pop on January 29, 2015, 09:28:33 PM
I've added six more reviews to the still-in-draft-mode Recommend Planets list for your perusal:

Bernard Haitink, London Philharmonic Orchestra, 1970
Walter Susskind, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, 1975
Vladimir Jurowski, London Philharmonic Orchestra, 2010
Sir Charles Mackerras, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, 1989
Geoffrey Simon, London Symphony Orchestra, 1987
Sir Simon Rattle, Berliner Philharmoniker, 2006

Peter, thanks for reminding me of the Susskind/ St. Louis recording.  This was the very first recording (in its original incarnation, as a Vox LP) of The Planets I bought, in a time long ago and a galaxy far away. ;D  Not only did your review remind me of the existence of this recording, it also reminded me why I'd completely forgotten it. ;)

Peter Power Pop

#381
Quote from: Peter Power Pop on January 29, 2015, 09:28:33 PM
Walter Susskind, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, 1975

Quote from: jfdrex on January 30, 2015, 12:02:13 PM
Peter, thanks for reminding me of the Susskind/ St. Louis recording. ...

No problem.

Quote from: jfdrex on January 30, 2015, 12:02:13 PM... This was the very first recording (in its original incarnation, as a Vox LP) of The Planets I bought, in a time long ago and a galaxy far away. ;D  Not only did your review remind me of the existence of this recording, it also reminded me why I'd completely forgotten it. ;)

Believe it or not, I'm listening to Wally's Planets at this very moment. (Well, the very moment I'm typing these words.)

I wanted to hear it again to see if my opinion of it might have changed. (People rave about it, so I'm thinking to myself, "What did I miss?")

But no, it's as anodyne as it was the last time I heard it.

RJR

ABC of Music, Imogen Holst.

Peter Power Pop

Quote from: RJR on February 05, 2015, 05:26:23 AM
ABC of Music, Imogen Holst.

I'm afraid that comment was a little too cryptic for me, RJR. I had to search for "ABC of Music, Imogen Holst" to see what you were talking about. I found a book by Ms Holst called ABC of Music:



Does it mention The Planets, or recordings of it?

Peter Power Pop

#384
Yowser, folks.

Progress Report on Peter's Recommended Planets: Just two more reviews and I reckon I'll be ready to publish the whole thing.

However...

The main reason for this post wasn't to toot my own horn about the blog (well, I suppose a bit of it was), but to ask for advice and/or suggestions.

I want people who read each review to be able to hear what I'm talking about. Spotify has been marvellous in this, having plenty of Planets available for me to embed in each post. Unfortunately, Spotify doesn't have every version I've reviewed. (Notable exceptions include Haitink, Loughran, and Ozawa.) If you're going to be reading what I've typed, but don't have the music to hear so you can understand why I typed it (or even disagree with what I typed), I think it's going to be a boring read.

Can anybody suggest some way I can get people to hear the music?

I've thought about uploading each movement of each version to YouTube, but that would: a) take way too long; and b) and possibly invoke the wrath of the copyright police.

I've also thought about Soundcloud, but that's only for new musicians, not old CDs.

Help!

kishnevi


Peter Power Pop

#386
Yowser, folks.

I'm still working on the soon-to-be-enormous blog of recommended Planets recordings.

The blog's still in draft* mode, but I've posted another review to give the impression that I'm being very active:

This time it's the highly regarded recording by William Steinberg and Boston Symphony Orchestra. Spoiler Alert: It's not highly regarded by me.

Peter's Recommended Planets: William Steinberg, Boston Symphony Orchestra, 1970

(*I'm almost there. Two more recordings should do it. All I have to do is wait for them to arrive in the mail. In Australia. Across the ocean from where I bought the CDs. That I haven't heard yet.)

Peter Power Pop

#387
Quote from: Jeffrey Smith on February 13, 2015, 04:32:56 PM
Found in the bargain bin at Barnes and Noble,  and much better than a $4.99 CD has a right to be.

http://www.amazon.com/Planets-G-Holst/dp/B00000299B



I've just posted the review for the Mardjani, and for a related review (you'll see why when you read both):

Jahni Mardjani, Georgian Festival Orchestra, 2003
Jansug Kakhidze, Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra, 2003

Dax

#388
?

kishnevi

Quote from: Peter Power Pop on February 13, 2015, 09:40:47 PM


I've just posted the review for the Mardjani, and for a related review (you'll see why when you read both):

Jahni Mardjani, Georgian Festival Orchestra, 2003
Jansug Kakhidze, Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra, 2003

So Sony plays those games?  The Mardjani CD has an orchestral last track, but it has been so long since I played another version of Planets I can not swear that it was Neptune.
You are right about the reverb and the dinky organ, which I presumed sounded dinky because of how it was recorded.

kishnevi

Did some Googling. 
Kakhidze was a real person, and Tbilisi SO has released a couple of things on other labels per Arkivmusic listing. But he died in 2002, so that Planets had better not have been recorded in 2003...http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jansug_Kakhidze

Madjani, otoh, seems to be a phantom, and the Georgian Festival Orchestra only appears on this Infinity series.

André

#391
Kakhidze dit a lot of worthy recordings, including a Beethoven 9th (!!!), Tchaikovsky 6th (!!) of much depth and appeal. I have other things by him, but suffice to say that his MAIN title to fame is to have been the friend, confident and chosen interpreter of georgian composer Giya Kancheli, whose symphonies he recorded twice (among other things).

Peter Power Pop

Quote from: André on February 14, 2015, 04:51:10 PM
Kakhidze dit a lot of worthy recordings, including a Beethoven 9th (!!!), Tchaikovsky 6th (!!) of much depth and appeal. I have other things by him, but suffice to say that his MAIN title to fame is to have been the friend, confident and chosen interpreter of georgian composer Giya Kancheli, whose symphonies he recorded twice (among other things).

Thanks for that info, André.

I tend to forget there are so many not-so-well-known, non-superstar conductors out there who toil away for years, conducting equally-not-so-well-known orchestras (and occasionally recording with them).

Peter Power Pop

#393
Quote from: Jeffrey Smith on February 14, 2015, 11:41:14 AM
Did some Googling. 
Kakhidze was a real person, and Tbilisi SO has released a couple of things on other labels per Arkivmusic listing. But he died in 2002, so that Planets had better not have been recorded in 2003...http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jansug_Kakhidze

Madjani, otoh, seems to be a phantom, and the Georgian Festival Orchestra only appears on this Infinity series.

Discogs, my go-to place for accurate information about recordings, lists eight albums by Jansug Kakhidze, all released between 1978 and 2001. There are biographical details (and a photo), but they were pinched from Wikipedia. It's good to know that JK was a real person.

The elusive "Jahni Marjani" is also on Discogs, but there's no information about him. Three albums by him are listed (two Ravels and a Mussorgsky), and all were released in 2001 (Sony Music, Sony Classical, and the el cheapo label Infinity Digital).

The Infinity Digital recording of Them Planets by Jahni Mardjani and the Georgian Festival Orchestra is listed at Discogs, but I didn't find it the first time I looked because his name isn't mentioned. Only the name of the possibly-fictional orchestra is there.

http://www.discogs.com/Georgian-Festival-Orchestra-The-Planets/release/6629280



The plot... Well, it does something.

Peter Power Pop

#394
Four more reviews for the blog:

Sir Colin Davis, London Symphony Orchestra, 2003
Hymisher Greenburg, The European Philharmonic Orchestra, 1993
Vernon Handley, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, 1993
Peter Oundjian, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, 2011

Oh, and I have an aesthetically-related question...

Do you prefer the text justified?

To help you decide, this review's text is justified:

Hymisher Greenburg, The European Philharmonic Orchestra, 1993

And this one isn't:

Vernon Handley, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, 1993

Do you have a preference? Don't care? Why am I bothering you with insignificant questions?

brunumb

Quote from: Peter Power Pop on February 20, 2015, 03:40:25 PM

Do you prefer the text justified?

To help you decide, this review's text is justified:

Hymisher Greenburg, The European Philharmonic Orchestra, 1993

And this one isn't:

Vernon Handley, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, 1993

Do you have a preference? Don't care? Why am I bothering you with insignificant questions?

???  They both look the same to me. 

Peter Power Pop

Quote from: brunumb on February 20, 2015, 04:04:58 PM
???  They both look the same to me.

Oh.

I guess I'll keep it in its default non-justified format.

Thanks, almost-palindromic brunumb.

North Star

The justified version looks much better to me, FWIW.
"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

My photographs on Flickr

betterthanfine

Peter, I'm enjoying your reviews immensely, even though I don't think as highly of the work itself as you obviously seem to. ;) I own the Dutoit, Karajan VPO and the late Boult myself but didn't see those (yet?) on your blog. Would love to read your thoughts on them.

betterthanfine