Holst's The Planets

[Moonfish]

Hmm, considering your strong interest in Baroque music: why not do a comparative listening session on a French Baroque Opera? E.g. one of Rameau's? Or some shorter piece/overture/aria/etc?   0:)

[Christo]

To add a twist on that, the original Hebrew word is one of the common titles of God (haMakom), usually in that context translated as "the Omnipresent".  The usage derives in turn from a rabbinic expression of God's transcendence: He is the place of the world but He has no place in it.

Now back to Holst's HaKokhavim-lechet.  Or Debussy's HaYam.

Great to learn. Yes, I've been swimming a lot, last summer, in the Mediterranean Hayam with my kids, at Akhziv, Galilee.

I'm all in for Debussy's 1905 reading of it, an orchestral tour de force that I still find as thrilling as when I first heard it, about forty years ago (a 13/14 years old). I guess I own about a dozen recordings of it, but have to rely on PPP's hoped-for final verdict to be able to choose between them.

When Christo suggested La Mer[/url], that suddenly became more attractive than all the other frontrunners I was pondering.

Aaargh.   Okay, I accept my responsibility. I do love the piece enough for bearing it. 

[Peter Power Pop]

Hmm, considering your strong interest in Baroque music: why not do a comparative listening session on a French Baroque Opera? E.g. one of Rameau's? Or some shorter piece/overture/aria/etc?   0:)

I'd love to pester a Rameau opera, but there just aren't enough versions of any of them to justify a survey. (Actually, I don't think any Baroque composer has an opera in which there are enough versions to make a list with.)

With Rameau, Castor et Pollux is the most recorded of his operas, but there are only four recordings of that. Two of those are the 1737 version, and the other two are the 1753 version, which doesn't help when trying to make a go of listing the best "version".

Pygmalion is Rameau's next most recorded opera. That has a total of three recordings, but that's not enough for any kind of survey.

Although Rameau's Zoroastre has only two recordings, I did manage to scrape together six versions of one of the pieces from it. I posted those in the Zoroastre thread.

Alternatively, I could do a "Here's what Rameau wrote" kind of thing, featuring a variety of recordings, but that'd be pointless. It'd just be a blog featuring my favourite Rameau CDs, and nobody'd be interested in that.

I'm most interested in listing a pile of recordings of one work. With Baroque music, the likeliest contenders would be Messiah, the Brandenburg Concertos, and the Fireworks/Water Music.

The Brandenburg Concertos is entirely doable, as there's a huge variety of interpretations available (Note to Self: Add the Brandenburg Concertos to the list of frontrunners).

I could do the Fireworks/Water Music but I'd rather listen to something else.

And Messiah would be a nightmare. There are hundreds of 'em. Hundreds!

[Peter Power Pop]

BTW, if you are going to do La Mer,  this seems a good thread to revive for that purpose.
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,11445.msg588354.html#msg588354

That's just the ticket*. Thanks, Big J.


(*Do people still use the phrase "that's the ticket"?)

[Moonfish]

Alternatively, I could do a "Here's what Rameau wrote" kind of thing, featuring a variety of recordings, but that'd be pointless. It'd just be a blog featuring my favourite Rameau CDs, and nobody'd be interested in that.

I would be...     

[Peter Power Pop]

I would be...     

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Moonfish.

[Moonfish]

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Moonfish.

Btw I just listened to one of Colin Davis's performances of "The Planets" (with BP/1988). Excellent!   

[mahler10th]

This was the first ever Classical album I bought back in the day...I might get it again, it's on sale here and there...I played it often.

[Peter Power Pop]

Btw I just listened to one of Colin Davis's performances of "The Planets" (with BP/1988). Excellent!   

I agree completely. I loved it on first listen. The thing I love about it is that the performance is so muscular. There's no messin' about. Sir Colin and the Berliners mean business from the very first note. Oh man, I want to hear it again right now.

[Peter Power Pop]

This was the first ever Classical album I bought back in the day...I might get it again, it's on sale here and there...I played it often.

Mighty good.

I wanted to like it more, but those pesky mistakes kept marring my enjoyment.

By the way, if you buy the CD you won't be disappointed. The digital transfer retains the much-admired sonics of the recording. (At least, I'm imagining it does. I've never heard the vinyl version, but people rave about how "warm" it sounds. The CD sounds very nice indeed.)

For buying it, I think your best bet is eBay. They have a copy there for less than $10 (with free shipping).

Amazon.com has it, but for an unreasonable amount of money ($24.99).

And Amazon.co.uk has it as well, but for a ridiculous amount of money. (How does £115.03 sound?)

[Karl Henning]

That's just the ticket*. Thanks, Big J.


(*Do people still use the phrase "that's the ticket"?)

If you wish to, I shan't "give you the air"!

[Peter Power Pop]

If you wish to, I shan't "give you the air"!

I'm afraid that sentence was a bit too cryptic for me, Karl. (I understand all the words, but not in that order.)

[Karl Henning]

Earlier this month, I saw a performance of 42^nd Street, and one of the bits of antique slang in the script was "giving me the air" (something akin to "brushing me off," I should think) ... and I did reflect (as it was a high school production) that the kids probably needed that one explained to them, and it was from well before their instructors' time, too ....

[Cato]

Earlier this month, I saw a performance of 42^nd Street, and one of the bits of antique slang in the script was "giving me the air" (something akin to "brushing me off," I should think) ... and I did reflect (as it was a high school production) that the kids probably needed that one explained to them, and it was from well before their instructors' time, too ....

Well, at least nobody "put the whammy on them."   0:)

[André]

Listening to the Enigma Variations by Litton and the RPO. Gorgeous music. Beautifully laid out (theme and 14 "named" variations), the perfect vehicle for an in depth survey. Just sayin' 

I have 11 Variations and they all seem good to me. A PPP survey would help separate the chaff from the grain. (re:  .

Edit: this should be useful: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_Variations_discography

[Peter Power Pop]

Earlier this month, I saw a performance of 42^nd Street, and one of the bits of antique slang in the script was "giving me the air" (something akin to "brushing me off," I should think) ... and I did reflect (as it was a high school production) that the kids probably needed that one explained to them, and it was from well before their instructors' time, too ....

Thanks for the clarification, KH. "Giving me the air" is a groovy phrase, daddy-o. It's a bit like "Talk to the hand", "Get outta my face", "Don't rain on my parade" etc.

I guess "Giving me the air" is just an updated version of "Giving me the bum's rush".

I'd say that pretty much every phrase is an update of an earlier phrase. (Or, as someone once said: "There's nothing new under the sun.")

[Peter Power Pop]

Listening to the Enigma Variations by Litton and the RPO. Gorgeous music. ...

Litton's Planets are/is fabulous, so I'd love to hear his Enigma Variations. (Note to self: Listen to Litton's Enigma Variations.)

Thank you, YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/v/9sgsjv8zCXU

Update: I'm listening to it now. Very nice.

... Beautifully laid out (theme and 14 "named" variations), the perfect vehicle for an in depth survey. Just sayin' 

I agree.

I have 11 Variations and they all seem good to me. A PPP survey would help separate the chaff from the grain. (re:  .

Right up until the moment La Mer was suggested, I was all set to do the Enigma Variations. (It was the prime contender.)

Although I do want to do the Enigma Variations, the collecting of La Mer recordings has begun, and I'm afraid it's unstoppable now. I have about 40 of them at the moment, and finding more as I keep looking. (I'm trying very hard not to say I've been "deluged with La Mers".)

Edit: this should be useful: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_Variations_discography

That's mighty helpful. Thanks, André.

[André]

I certainly won't quibble with your La Mer choice and will follow this with much pleasure !  Make sure you have enough oldies on hand (Inghelbrecht, Desormière, Munch, Monteux, Toscanini, Rosenthal), as they present quite a different picture than the postacard seascapes often offered in the stereo era.

[Peter Power Pop]

I certainly won't quibble with your La Mer choice and will follow this with much pleasure !  Make sure you have enough oldies on hand (Inghelbrecht, Desormière, Munch, Monteux, Toscanini, Rosenthal), as they present quite a different picture than the postacard seascapes often offered in the stereo era.

These are all the pre-1961* La Mers I've found so far. They're all mono except for the ones that aren't:

1932 Coppola
1935 Toscanini
1939 Koussevitsky
1950 Toscanini
1950 Mitropolous
1952 Desormière
1953 Toscanini
1954 Cantelli
1955 Paray (stereo)
1956 Munch (stereo)
1957 Ansermet (stereo)
1957 Beinum (stereo)
1957 Szell
1959 Markevitch (stereo)
1960 Reiner (stereo)


(*I was born in 1961, so they're the "before my time" recordings. I'm working on finding other pre-Peter La Mers.)

[Karl Henning]

Tonight or tomorrow I can return to the source;  but in The Memoirs of an Amnesiac, Oscar Levant recounts the story of Albert Coates leading the Rochester Philharmonic in The Planets.  George Eastman (hereinafter "Sugar Daddy") was appalled by such a modern piece, and told Coates that if he conducted it again, he would be out of a job.  Coates defied Sugar Daddy, and paid the price.