I conducted the greatest Planets by Holst ever. Who am I?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Humorem, Mar 26, 2002.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Humorem

    Humorem New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    LOS ANGELES
    This will only work as long as I keep this avatar, so post at your earliest convenience if you know who I am.

    Of course, the version of The Planets of which I speak is the greatest in my opinion. It's very unlikely many of you have heard it as it is on a label shunned by audiophiles. But it's still the greatest!

    TP
     
  2. Ronald

    Ronald Senior Member

    Location:
    Columbus, OH
    Looks like Jean-Luc Picard aka Patrick Stewart.
     
  3. Ronflugelguy

    Ronflugelguy Resident Trumpet Geek

    Location:
    Modesto,Ca
    well, I know its not Zubin Mehta. Sir Thomas Beecham?
     
  4. Patrick M

    Patrick M Subgenius

    Location:
    US
    Must be the UHQR with Solti. I know how you love MoFi.
     
  5. Patrick M

    Patrick M Subgenius

    Location:
    US
    William Steinberg.

    What do I win?
     
  6. Jimbo

    Jimbo Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Zero/Zero Island
    Well, the greatest version of The Planets is by Tomita, but that guy ain't Tomita.
     
  7. Humorem

    Humorem New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    LOS ANGELES
    Congratulations. Knowledge is its own reward, of course.

    Do you know the recording of which I speak, and the many variations of it?

    TP
     
  8. Patrick M

    Patrick M Subgenius

    Location:
    US
    Conducting BSO?

    I haven't played The Planets in years and years and years.
     
  9. Andrew

    Andrew Chairman of the Bored

    Hmm, I was gonna guess Sir Adrain Boult.
     
  10. Humorem

    Humorem New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    LOS ANGELES
    Look for the original silver back DG pressing and you will find yourself returning to this music on a regular basis from now on, I would hope. When you find them they are usually two or three bucks, so good hunting!

    (Skip the first movement; he really gets going after that.)

    TP
     
  11. Pinknik

    Pinknik Senior Member

    Humorem, do you like the Mehta? Performance, sound or otherwise.
     
  12. Humorem

    Humorem New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    LOS ANGELES
    I consider it one of the worst Planets ever recorded, sound and performance. An unmitigated disaster.

    But audiophiles seem to like it, don't know why!

    TP
     
  13. Angel

    Angel New Member

    Location:
    Hollywood, Ca.
    I like it! I like the performance and the recording.

    Oh well!
     
  14. BradOlson

    BradOlson Country/Christian Music Maven

    Different strokes for different folks.
     
  15. Ronflugelguy

    Ronflugelguy Resident Trumpet Geek

    Location:
    Modesto,Ca
    Mehta "PLANETS"

    Some of the greatest Low brass playing ever!!!! I remember seeing this section perform live with the LA Phil . What a great section!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
     
  16. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    I have fond memories of the Mehta "Planets". I was on one of my very first dates going to see the L.A. Phil and Mehta do that back in---1971 was it?

    I remember that the orchestra sounded pretty amazing that night, and that Zubin got so excited his baton flew out of his hand at one point.

    I think they made the record the next day, and I bought it when it came out. It's the version of Holst that "imprinted" on me.

    My wife and I had dinner with my long ago date and her husband a week ago. That was a true time warp dinner!!!
     
  17. Humorem

    Humorem New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    LOS ANGELES
    Our mutual friend Robert Pincus thinks it was slated for a Phase 4 release, because they certainly seemed to have used every mic they could get their hands on and every imput on the board.

    When sections of the orchestra suddenly jump out of nowhere, in nice little box size units, and then disappear again until it's time to turn up their mics, it bothers me. The tympanists especially seem to be able to jump forward 40 feet at a time. This to me is the opposite of hi-fi. It's no-fi: zero fidelity to the live event.

    But not really. There is a very long and detailed story of how they recorded this particular performance, with sections of the orchestra placed all over the hall for particular effects. (It's in an old TAS.) And that's what it sounds like!

    For performance, listen to Steinberg, then make up your mind. I went through ten Planets before I found his. Started with Ormandy, then naturally to Boult, (three of the four versions he recorded for LP, the last when he was 95! I used to sell it because it was in print. The playing is quite sloppy I have to say.)

    The Previn on EMI import LP is the best overall for sonics and performance; it deserves its place on the TAS list. But Steinberg plays the English flavor in the music that you don't even know is there until you hear his version. He finds the uniquely English rhythms buried deep within the score and makes the music dance to them. And the BSO gives a faultless performance; they are first among equals.

    To me, hearing his performance was like hearing the music make perfect sense from beginning to end for the first time. That's what I imprinted on.

    I even bought the CD, which is almost unlistenable, but I play it anyway.

    TP
     
  18. R. Cat Conrad

    R. Cat Conrad Almost Famous

    Location:
    D/FW Metroplex
    Yep, I'd have to say that the Mehta is a keeper.

    I managed to locate and acquire the gold CD version a few years ago (London Classic Compact Disc CSCD 6734) and never regretted the purchase. Before taking up a more lucretive career as a writer my wife played clarinet in a couple of symphony orchestras just out of college; she has an extremely critical ear for classical music and considers this performance of the Planets exceptional.

    Of course, I'm an audiophile, but I have to differ with Humorem about this title just on the grounds of it being a great performance. I'm sure that there are other fine recordings of this composition with equally prestigious conductors, but the interpretation would have to be very special indeed to move me as Mehta and the LAPO do on this version of Holst's Planets.

    BTW, Steve, I do hope you're having a better day. :)

    Cat
     
  19. Humorem

    Humorem New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    LOS ANGELES
    Hey Steve...

    Steve, what's your take on that gold CD? I think it ranks right up there with the Classic Ella. Care to borrow one?
    TP
     
  20. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    Didn't know there was one.

    Somehow I was left off the Classic Records' mailing list.

    Sigh.

    All I know is that my old London LP (at least at the time), was the MOST dynamic, the MOST exciting version, with the quitest surface I had ever come across.

    It also tickled me that something recorded in Los Angeles would show up on British Decca (London).

    So I'm an Audiophile. Sue me!
     
  21. FabFourFan

    FabFourFan Senior Member

    Location:
    Philadelphia
    Mr Hoffman, you are a braver man than I! Congratulations! :)
     
  22. Andrew

    Andrew Chairman of the Bored

    My copy is the (sorta) recent version by John Eliot Gardiner on DG. Back in the day I remember people thinking the Boult 1967 recording was a BFD.
     
  23. Humorem

    Humorem New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    LOS ANGELES
    From a dealer's perspective, I can tell you that you are a lucky man: that record is always noisy, pressed on crappy vinyl until the stampers were smooth, my friend. Ask RP. A mint minus copy is one out of ten, maybe. I've cracked open brand new ones that were noisy.

    Dynamic? Exciting? Agreed. Listen to Jupiter. It's one effect after another; sounds like it was written by committee. To me it's like Reiner's Pictures: the music doesn't flow because the conductor doesn't know how to tie all the pieces together. The structure of the piece isn't being given its rightful place along side the colors and effects, IMO.

    You like Jerry Bruckheimer's movies? They're dynamic and exciting. The word that doesn't come to mind is "good". The word that does come to mind can't be printed here, in point of fact.

    The point I'm making--beating a dead horse but what else is new?--is not to compare something you know and like to something that you've never heard. It can't be done, right? It's a natural tendency; I do it myself. But it's not a promising approach to discovering something new, something you might like even better.

    When anyone offers to bring something over for me to listen to, equipment comes to mind, have you ever heard me say "no, I like what I have. That won't be necessary. This thing you have is probably no better than what I have and may even be worse." I NEVER say things like that! Know why? Because it doesn't work. You get nowhere thinking like that.

    People on this forum are "made sick" by the fact that I come on here and say the version they have of X isn't as good as some other version of it. Of course they have never heard the version I recommend they try. They just don't want to be bothered, I guess. Fair enough.

    Me? I love to be bothered. Please bother me with all the stuff you know to be the best. Bring it on. Bring over better sounding equipment. Bring over better records, even CDs if you got 'em. What could it hurt? You mean I might find something even better than what I have now? Oh no! My ego might suffer a temporary setback but I think I'll get over it. (And then my id can take the helm and enjoy the pure pleasure of it.)

    Most of the recommendations I have posted on the forum were discovered by someone else. I'm just spreading the news. (And taking some of the credit!) Happy as a clam? Don't want to be disturbed? Don't read my stuff! You won't like it. I don't do the "pat on the back" thing very well. I like the "wake up and smell the coffee" thing much better. My parents were divorced when I was twelve, been this way ever since.

    TP:eek:
     
  24. Metralla

    Metralla Joined Jan 13, 2002

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    Humorem,

    I like your attitude. It's certainly easy to get locked into the sound we have - like an old slipper, comfortable and familiar. Our brains get an easy time after a while and we start extrapolatiing; but are we really listening? Then someone comes over with a new version of a favourite album (format immaterial) and we get blasted. Maybe it's better, maybe it's worse. But either way, it's a fresh perspective and that always helps our enjoyment of the piece - in the case of a dud, that'll be when we go back to our comfy slippers.

    Likewise with equipment. I love it when someone wants to bring a piece of gear over. I'm always up for a visit to the local hifi haunts with friends when they are buying or just looking. Sometimes I get turned on to a new disc by the retailer, something that they have found that is different (like "Global Fusion" by L. Subramaniam - this is incredible). All grist for the mill.

    Keep on truckin' mate

    Regards,
    Metralla
     
  25. Tom B.

    Tom B. New Member

    Favorite Holst's Planets

    This is my first entry on this board, so I'll probably blow it. Here it goes anyhow......

    I always preferred Boult's performance of the Planets until I came upon a London Blue Back featuring HVK & the VPO. WOW.......talk about incredible sonic spectacular, it wins hands down over the Boult recording. I'm well aware of many Stienberg's recordings on Capitol, but I've never had the priveledge of hearing his Planets.

    [​IMG] http://www.geocities.com/tjb49/Classical_Vinyl_Artwork.html



    Ciao, Tom B. (I hope this works)
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine