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Any comments on this? I'm in the mood for another Planets version and was thinking of trying this. Or maybe the Telarc with Previn.
"To Learn Who Rules Over You, Simply Find Out Who You Are Not Allowed to Criticize."
-Voltaire
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A decca recording from late 70s.For audiophiles, imho it's the one to own. More interesting than Mehta's, too.
Spirited playing, great bass, and even a little imagination from the shadow boxing mantis. : )
Edits: 07/17/16
I find it interesting that in all the posts below there is no mention of the Zubin Mehta recording. Always thought this was the most known and famous of all the planets recordings. I also like the Bolt the best. The slow movements are very moving
Alan
It is one of the best sounding, but not that great of a performance, IMO.
Some interesting comments here on what the priorities are for judging the Planets. For me, it is the same as always - top priority is the quality of the actual playing. And if there is a finer recording of the Planets in that respect, I haven't heard it. The Montreal/Dutoit is the best in that regard, by some distance.
Here, learsfool, is one of the few instances I'm not entirely with you. If quality of playing was all or almost all that mattered, one could simply stick with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics and call it a day. And it's true that for a large chunk of their discographies, you really could stick with them.
But at least when it comes to recorded as opposed to live performance, they don't always top the charts for me, despite superb technical precision and great soloists. Sometimes lesser orchestras are more convincing, though of course these days those "lesser" orchestras still often play to a sky-high technical standard as well.
The Montreal winds and brasses do great things in the Planets. But as I said, modern technical standards are high. I once heard a live Rite of Spring from MTT and the SFSO, also spectacular winds and brasses and great overall.
A number of orchestras today have the chops to do a great Planets or Rite of Spring. But the result on record is not always equally successful.
Hi rbolaw - sorry I just saw this, been off this board for a few days. I hope you see this reply. If so, I'm really not sure exactly what you are trying to say here. I would agree with pretty much everything in your post, and I am not sure why you seem to think I was implying that only the very best orchestras should be listened to?? I was merely stating that a) many audiophiles do NOT value the actual playing of the orchestra very highly, being stuck only on recording quality (a couple of inferior performances are mentioned here, but which ones are not really the point), and b) I have not heard a recording in which the Planets was better played by the entire orchestra than that Montreal one. I notice you did not offer an alternative....FYI it is very possible that you were hearing me when you heard a live MTT/SF Symphony Rite, depending on when you heard it, I performed it multiple times with them....but I will say no more about that.
. . . when we start discussing standards of orchestra playing, we're getting into "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin" territory. Yes, the Montreal players are outstanding - along with dozens of other orchestras around the world whose playing is at a similarly high standard. Even what one might have previously considered third-rate orchestras play to an amazing level of accomplishment these days. Sometimes, I would never have known about these orchestras except for their involvement on various audiophile, hi-rez labels:
(My wife's favorite Mahler 5th of the over 80 we've had)
Bold and vivid in the typical Dutoit/Montreal style. Brilliant sound, with instrumental solos in sharp relief.
I like it, but it doesn't have the element of distance and mystery some others bring to it. After all, these are far-away, mysterious celestial objects, especially Neptune, which for me should have a distant, ethereal quality throughout, even before the fade away at the end.
But I quibble. Dutoit's drama and energy work well.
Dutoot really takes the piece seriously, hery imaginative and atmospheric. Some Brits don't think Jupiter is "English" enough. IMHO far more interesting than Previn.
To the day I'm trying to figure out why people prefer Boult, esp this final ecording.
Digital sound not bad.
Good sound partly because of the venue.
"If people don't want to come, nothing will stop them" - Sol Hurok
The Telarc version to have is the Paavo Jarvi one with the Cincinnati Orch. This was judged the best version available currently in an almost forensic comparison with the demands of the score against all others by David Owen-Norris last year on BBC Radio 3's " Building a Library" feature. A particularly interesting choice as us Brits are not always enthusiastic about foreign perfomances of our music. I have a copy and it is superb.I also have the Dutoit but have not yet played it (it being part of a huge box set of Dutoit's recording career with Decca so I just haven't reached it yet). I will give it an airing tomorrow - local time heading towards 02:00 right now. If it's a clunker I will let you know but I think he is reliably good , it's just that the Jarvi is special.
Edits: 07/14/16
Other than the Previn and the Yoel Levi with the Atlanta Symphony?
I just broke down and ordered the Levi.
"To Learn Who Rules Over You, Simply Find Out Who You Are Not Allowed to Criticize."
-Voltaire
Yep.
*
..I said in my earlier post on this that i would give it a spin today.
For me one of its greatest faults will be its greatest benefit for others. It is an unremitting hifi spectacular. Perhaps the Decca engineers had their Phase 4 hats on, at least spiritualy. As the performance in general lacks an organic sense of wholeness this tends to make it just a sequence of sonic events.
IMO it lacks any real sense of mystery and wonder and instead of traversing the huge distances of space to end our journey in the dark, cold and distant reaches of our solar system I found myself trapped in L'Eglise de Saint-Eustache with an Orchestra and a (seemingly rather small) female chorus.
My own big touchstone for The Planets is how well the women's chorus can stay in tune as they fade away through the end of Neptune, and in this respect, the women of The Sixteen (yes - I know they're kind of a HIP group!) are very accomplished on an unlikely recording of this repertoire which I still find extremely impressive overall:
So far, the hi-rez versions of this work I've heard (Andrew Davis on Chandos, etc.) aren't quite as compelling for me as interpretations. As with many Collins Classics titles, the microphones on this Svetlanov album are a bit further away than usual. I see that Svetlanov also has an in-concert recording of this work with the Swedish RSO and Choir - haven't heard it. I'd say that overall, Svetlanov's tempos are a bit on the slower side. I like other CD-rez versions too, including the Karajan/VPO (a much better example of Decca engineering than the Dutoit IMHO).
In that I admire Dutoit as a conductor. I have now seen him with the SFS some 8 times, leading a wide variety of works (including the Planets, but also works like Shostakovich's 10 symphony, the Strauss Don Quixote, Berlioz Harold in Italy and the Damnation of Faust) and except for once when I felt the orchestra let him down badly (very poor Firebird Suite), that all of the concerts have been superb. I look forward to his annual visits to San Francisco.
My wife just got back from England and, during our catching up on what happened during the time she was away, I casually mentioned that I'd posted here about her admiration for Dutoit. She then became very annoyed and told me in no uncertain terms that she is NOT an admirer of Dutoit! In fact, the last time she saw Dutoit was when James Ehnes was playing with the SF Symphony (the Lalo, I think) and Dutoit conducted the Enigma Variaions on the same concert. "Flat and dull" was her description of that performance. I must have confused her admiration for Ehnes with an admiration for Dutoit! ;-)
Didn't he conduct a Symphonie Fantastique here a few years ago?
We try to see him every year.
I don't know if you or PAR saw my comment about the Dutoit Planets, but obviously, PAR and I are in agreement. Sometimes I hesitate to say anything negative about the "sonic spectaculars" that pretty much rule the roost here and in similar audiophile forums. And sonic spectacle is an important element of the Planets and many other orchestral standards often discussed here.
But PAR puts his finger right on the issue with Dutoit -- the lack of mystery.
And you too are exactly right, imo -- I also listen for how the women's chorus fades away at the end of Neptune. In fact, for me the approach to Neptune as a whole is critical for a truly successful Planets. The aura of unfathomable distance and mystery, which imo should always be present on some level earlier in the work, should come to the fore.
Edits: 07/15/16
I heard him conduct it live with the SFS - very effectively, too, so probably a good bet, although I tend to shy away from the 80s digital recordings.
Have you heard Steinberg with the BSO? Quite a tour de force.
Isn't the Steinberg also an 80's digital recording?
"To Learn Who Rules Over You, Simply Find Out Who You Are Not Allowed to Criticize."
-Voltaire
. . . well before digital.
That's been my 'go to' version for 30 years.
"To Learn Who Rules Over You, Simply Find Out Who You Are Not Allowed to Criticize."
-Voltaire
I can't remember why I never acquired the DVD-Audio incarnation of it so I could hear it in quad. (BTW, I see that some folks date the original release at 1974, rather than 1971 - not that that's a big difference.)
Steinberg made a number of late 60s early 70s recordings with the BSO that in retrospect seem like classics, including this Planets. It isn't necessarily the best sounding recording of the Planets (there is a European company that has released it on a 180 gram vinyl and a 15 ips tape using what they say are the original master tapes that I would love to hear). The Mehta recording is better sounding, but is a far lesser interpretation, IMO.
Steinberg's illness while music director of the BSO led to the opportunity for MTT to perform and record.
- It's also very good
"Man is the only animal that blushes - or needs to" Mark Twain
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