Tír Na HiFi

Yes indeed, Fergus, I think this has been a great thread. I had occasion to listen to the entire work today (something that never happens) and I your notes really illuminated my listening. I also have a new appreciation for the work, as I don't think I ever listened to the later movements before, and they really are fascinating. I also stand by my earlier comment that this music has obviously hugely influenced film score composers. So many of the techniques and soundscapes are so familiar now it's hard to imagine how it must have sounded to early audiences.

Anyway, thanks for guiding us on our inter-planetary journey, Fergus.

Well done Fergus! You did a brilliant job on making our journey a smooth one. Not an easy task but you nailed it with wonderful clarity. Thank you.....

Seán wrote:I have spent the last few nights listening to the Adrian Boult recording and I want to listen to the Stokowski and Colin Davis recordings too. I will return with my thoughts very soon.

I look forward to that Seán.

Diapason wrote:I had occasion to listen to the entire work today (something that never happens) and I your notes really illuminated my listening. I also have a new appreciation for the work, as I don't think I ever listened to the later movements before, and they really are fascinating. I also stand by my earlier comment that this music has obviously hugely influenced film score composers. So many of the techniques and soundscapes are so familiar now it's hard to imagine how it must have sounded to early audiences.

Good stuff Simon. I really do think that it is a very underrated work possibly because of the "familiarity" of the sound world which is, as you point out, a by product of the modern film score. I also agree that if you put the work in its time context then one begins to understand how revolutionary it was.
Anyway I am delighted that you have not only rediscovered but enjoyed the work Simon.

cybot wrote:Well done Fergus! You did a brilliant job on making our journey a smooth one. Not an easy task but you nailed it with wonderful clarity. Thank you.....

Cheers Dermot; I appreciate your comments but I really only "put it together" from other sources with an occasional personal comment of my own. However I was a bit dubious about how "The Planets" itself would be received but I am pleased with the positive reaction to it.

I recently added this version to my collection....





Holst: Planets: Haitink...

Mars was menacing but not as ferocious as others that I have heard.
Venus was beautiful, gentle and serene.
Mercury sounded wonderful.
Jupiter was special in its bubbling joviality. The movement’s big theme is played with warmth and earnest feeling; it is a big performance.
Saturn’s opening builds inexorably and wonderfully and the performance is well paced.
Uranus is full of orchestral colour and is very well done.
Neptune had a little more weight than was usual but was interesting for it. It becomes wonderfully icy cold in a vast inky blackness and the entry of the voices is hauntingly beautiful.

This purchase proved to be an asset to my collection. It is a very good performance overall and it definitely has something else to say about the work. The sound quality is wonderful which is a bonus for music with such a wonderful sonic palette.

Having only recently purchased this version by Boult and for the sake of completion I offer my reaction to my first hearing of this particular recording:





Mars was very forceful, powerful and full of menace. The brass section comes across very well here.

Venus was a lovely, gentle affair and appeared somewhat contemplative to me.

Mercury was, I thought, full of light hearted mirth and the celeste really sparkled in this recording.

Jupiter was a brash offering and the central hymn like section was powerfully rich with a lovely warm string section.

Saturn was measured and well paced; like a giant slowly stomping in places! The brass section was once again sounding wonderful in this section.

Uranus offers wonderful orchestral colour which was wonderfully brought to the fore in this recording.

I did not think that Neptune was played quite as pianissimo or as “dead” as other performances but it was played very well nonetheless. I got quite a different “feel” from this movement than I got from other performances.


In summary, based on my first listen I really liked the performance. I also like the historical connection between Holst and Boult and I really should have owned this performance long before now!

^^ thank you for your thoughts Fergus..

I don't know whether this is of any interest to you, but next month's BBC Music Mag is their Proms Special edition, and the free CD contains (I believe) a live proms performance of Adrian Boult conducting Holst's Planets... but then again, I couldn't blame you if you were all 'planeted' out by now!

Thank you for that Jared; I will have a look at it when I see it as I will never get tired of listening to The Planets.

fergus wrote:Thank you for that Jared; I will have a look at it when I see it as I will never get tired of listening to The Planets.

I'm afraid this is where we differ, Fergus... I don't dislike them at all, but they've become so overplayed (we had Jupiter arranged for Brass Band on the R3 breakfast show this week) that I'd be quite content not to hear them again for another decade...