Adrian Boult, LPO, LSO - Holst-The Planets, Elgar-Enigma Variations

 

Release Date: 04/09/2002 Label: EMI Number of discs: 1 Composer: Gustav Holst,  Sir Edward Elgar Performer: Adrian Boult  cd info/ buy

Review:

Boult's stereo recordings of "The Planets" and "Enigma" variations have been around 30 years and are well-known to collectors. Newbies taking their first steps into these wonderful British scores could hardly do better than in this starting place. What makes Boult among the greatest interpreters of this music? He was British, of course, and interpreted this music with a sense of proportion that deletes bombast while still making most of the large moments in the scores. His elegance in "Enigma" is still a benchmark in this score. Boult recorded this music many times; this was his final recording notable for the slower tempo of the menacing opening movement. Many collectors prefer his earlier recording of "The Planets" including his 1950s mono version that was once on a Westminster LP in the United State. Intrepid Internet searchers can still find this recording, made from the perspective of the podium and with far greater drive and emotion than this one. Still, Boult's stereo recording is spectacular, proportionate and very personal. It will tell you everything you need to know about the scores even though it may lack some of the headlong emotion Boult brought in his earlier recordings. The same is true of Boult's later Vaughan Williams' recordings of the symphonies and other music, which are still beloved even though his earlier mono recordings may outdo them. Anyone wanting a modern recording of "The Planets" and "Enigma" variations cannot go wrong with this CD.

 

flac, covers

Holst - The Planets and 20th Century Works Collections - Rattle

Holst - The Planets and 20th Century Works Collections - Rattle
Orchestral | Eac, flac, | log, scans | 2 CD, 297 MB
September 12, 2006 | EMI | FF

Near the beginning of his EMI career Simon Rattle recorded his first The Planets. It is excellent, but next to this spectacular new account it rather pales away. That 1982 recording cannot compare with the blazing brilliance, warmth and weight of the new one, which fully brings out the glory of the Berlin sound. Some may find the wide dynamic hard to cope with domestically – too loud at climaxes if the soft passages are to be clearly heard – but the body of sound is most impressive, with string pianissimi in "Venus", "Saturn" and "Neptune" of breathtaking beauty.

Rattle's interpretation has intensified over the years. "Mars" is more menacing and the dance rhythms of "Jupiter" and "Uranus" have an extra lift. Clearly the Berlin players have taken to this British work in the way they did for Karajan. Cohn Matthews's "Pluto" is given an exceptionally bold performance which exploits the extremes.

The second disc has four works commissioned by Rattle, dubbed "Asteroids". Kaija Saariaho, celebrating the asteroid Toutatis and its complex orbit, uses evocative textures and woodwind repetitions in ostinato patterns, much in line with Holst's technique. Matthias Pintscher's Osiris is more individual, featuring a spectacular trumpet solo in celebration of the Egyptian deity who became ruler of the underworld. Again, the piece is reflective rather than dramatic.

Mark-Anthony Turnage's Ceres is energetic with jazzy syncopations typical of the composer, while Kumarov's Fall by Brett Dean, formerly a viola player in the orchestra, builds up to an impressive climax before fading away on evocative trills. Rattle's boldness in offering such unusual couplings is amply justified, even if most purchasers will concentrate on the superb version of a favourite piece. Edward Greenfield

CD Content
cd1
Holst - Mars, the Bringer of War
Holst - Venus, the Bringer of Peace
Holst - Mercury, the Winged Messenger
Holst - Jupiter, the Bringer of Jolity
Holst - Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age
Holst - Uranus, the Magcian
Holst - Neptune, the Mystic
Matthews - Pluto, the Renewer
cd2
SAARIAHO - Asteroid 4179, Toutatis
PINTSCHER - towards Osiris
TURNAGE - Ceres
DEAN - Komarov's Fall

http://www.gustavholst.info/