Holst's The Planets

[Moonfish]

PS: The Penguin Guide I have is from 1990, and it lists 8 versions. That's alright. There haven't been all that many new recordings of the Concerto, have there?

*muaaaahahahahahahahahaaaa*

[Peter Power Pop]

I bet there's at least 50 of the Sibelius VC, probably more. ...

Gah!

Well, in that case I'd like to choose a different piece of music.

Update: I've just checked Discogs, and they list 161 CDs.

Now I definitely want to choose a different piece of music.

... It's a staple. I have Heifetz, Gitlis/Vox, (young) Perlman/RCA, and Lin. (On the wishlist: Haendel, and maybe Hahn and Wicks.)

I didn't know it was that popular.

[André]

Dear PPP. Thanks for that sterling work

Don't listen to the sirens (I'm amongst them)  . Tend your garden. Walk your dog. Wade in the waves. Then figure what pushes your buttons.

And thanks in advance for your contribution     !!

[Moonfish]

More, we need mooore...moooooooore .......   

[mc ukrneal]

Gah!

Well, in that case I'd like to choose a different piece of music.

Now I definitely want to choose a different piece of music.

Do you like Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky?

[Christo]

Do you like Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky?

He does, we don't. Let's take Vaughan Williams' Tallis Fantasia. 

[Peter Power Pop]

Kenneth Wilkinson engineer, Kingsway Hall: a winning ticket !! By all means let us know your findings about that version if it it lands in your tentacles hands !

As for another foray into popular repertoire, I second Also Sprach, but also Schéhérazade by Rimsky.

Well, that's two votes for Also Sprach Zarathustra and a vote for Scheherazade.

I'm all for both of those.

Zara's Thruster is a piece I don't know well (I've probably only ever heard it twice all the way through), so compiling a list of available versions would be one mighty fine way of getting to know it.

As for Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, it's a piece I've always loved, and I'd be more than willing to pester multiple versions of that.

Le Sacre du printemps is a bit too heavy going. ...

I agree. I don't know how many times I can be bludgeoned by music that brutal.

(Plenty I guess, considering I listened to that, and the other Stravinsky ballets, last year for a few months. I tend to have phases where I'll listen to nothing but one piece of music, or everything by one composer.)

... There's even a PPP version ( ).. Come to think of it, there's also a PPP version of Schéhérazade 

I must admit I have no idea what a "PPP version" is. The only "PPP"s I know are: a) me (Peter Power Pop); and b) the dynamic marking ppp, meaning "Shhh, I can't hear what you're playing."

[Peter Power Pop]

Dear PPP. Thanks for that sterling work

Your entirely welcome, André.

Don't listen to the sirens (I'm amongst them)  . Tend your garden. Walk your dog. Wade in the waves. Then figure what pushes your buttons.

But I love listening to lots of music. Lots and lots of music.

And thanks in advance for your contribution     !!

No problem.

[Peter Power Pop]

More, we need mooore...moooooooore .......   

I hear ya, baby.

[Peter Power Pop]

Do you like Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky?

Love it.

[Peter Power Pop]

He does, we don't. Let's take Vaughan Williams' Tallis Fantasia. 

Oh man. Whenever I listen to that, I think it's the greatest* piece of music written in the 20th century.

(*I also think that when I'm listening to other 20th-century works, but when the Tallis Fantasia is on... Hoo-wee.)

[Christo]

Oh man. Whenever I listen to that, I think it's the greatest* piece of music written in the 20th century.

(*I also think that when I'm listening to other 20th-century works, but when the Tallis Fantasia is on... Hoo-wee.)

Dozens of recordings. Nobody knows to choose between them. True vocation waiting. 

[mc ukrneal]

Love it.

One advantage, only about 25-30 recordings in total (if one sticks to the cantata, though there are only a handful of the film). Now here, I can offer to do it with you as I also have most of them. It's one of the few pieces I allow myself to collect multiple versions.

[Peter Power Pop]

One advantage, only about 25-30 recordings in total (if one sticks to the cantata, though there are only a handful of the film). Now here, I can offer to do it with you as I also have most of them. ...

I might* take you up on that offer, MC Unreal.

I currently have seven Alexander Nevskys:

• Abbado
• Masur
• Previn (1971 EMI, not 1987 Telarc)
• Reiner
• Rostropovich
• Schippers
• Temirkanov

The Temirkanov is the film soundtrack:

... It's one of the few pieces I allow myself to collect multiple versions.

Splendid.

For years and years I was happy with one of everything. A version of something would be good enough. But recently I've started wanting as many versions of a piece of music as possible, and I don't really know why. It started last year with the Tchaikovsky ballets, then the Stravinsky ballets, then the Beethoven symphonies. This year it's been Orff's Carmina Burana and now The Planets. I don't know what's going on, but I've become a musical hoarder. Or putting it more charitably, a musical squirrel.

(*Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade is looking very tempting at the moment.)

[mc ukrneal]

I might* take you up on that offer, MC Unreal.

I currently have seven Alexander Nevskys:

• Abbado
• Masur
• Previn (1971 EMI, not 1987 Telarc)
• Reiner
• Rostropovich
• Schippers
• Temirkanov

The Temirkanov is the film soundtrack:




(*Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade is looking very tempting at the moment.)

I wouldn't blame you if you chose Scheherezade. Beautiful piece. I have only Mackerras on Telarc (never felt the need for more). And if you go back a few years, you might find that Elgarian posted some comments on a number of different versions (no idea which thread though). You may find that interesting.

[Mirror Image]

I think Elgar's Enigma Variations would a great work to do a bunch of these reviews on. There are certainly a lot of recordings of this work available.

[Peter Power Pop]

I think Elgar's Enigma Variations would a great work to do a bunch of these reviews on. There are certainly a lot of recordings of this work available.

There are, but I'm not much of a fan of it. I wouldn't relish the thought of spending a few months with only that.

I have six versions of the Enigma Variations...

• Boult (London Symphony Orchestra, 1971)
• Elgar (Royal Albert Hall Orchestra, 1926)
• Gibson (Scottish National Orchestra, 1978)
• Jochum (London Symphony Orchestra, 1975)
• Monteux (London Symphony Orchestra, 1958)
• Solti (Chicago Symphony Orchestra, 1974)

...and don't see myself with a need to buy any more.

I'd prefer to cover Elgar's Nursery Suite. I like that much more. And there are only five versions of it on CD.

https://www.youtube.com/v/8YyXcZHFMG0

[Peter Power Pop]

Dozens of recordings [of Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis]. ...

Yep. Discogs lists 52. (Although some of those are the same performance duplicated because of reissues with different couplings.)

... Nobody knows to choose between them. True vocation waiting. 

I'm verrrry tempted.

I mean, I could listen to this all day...

https://www.youtube.com/v/RH71ik9lHmM

[Moonfish]

Yep. Discogs lists 52. (Although some of those are the same performance duplicated because of reissues with different couplings.)

I'm verrrry tempted.

I mean, I could listen to this all day...

https://www.youtube.com/v/RH71ik9lHmM

Me too......     0:)

[Peter Power Pop]

Oh man. Whenever I listen to that [Tallis Fantasia], I think it's the greatest* piece of music written in the 20th century.

(*I also think that when I'm listening to other 20th-century works, but when the Tallis Fantasia is on... Hoo-wee.)

Dozens of recordings. Nobody knows to choose between them. True vocation waiting. 

I already have a slight headstart on the work. I have seven versions of the Tallis Fantasia at the moment:

• Barbirolli (Sinfonia of London, 1962)
• Boult (London Philharmonic Orchestra, 1975)
• Judd (New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, 2001)
• Marriner (Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, 1972)
• Ormandy (Philadelphia Orchestra, 1972)
• Silvestri (Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, 1968)
• Slatkin (Philharmonia Orchestra, 1991)

Tempted. Tempted.