Search - Edward Elgar, Gustav Holst, Georg Solti :: Holst: The Planets; Elgar / Solti

Good, but not best

jhorro | VA | 07/31/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Although the ingredients are promising, I would not call this the definitive Planets recording. However, it is hard to find a good team for this music. I think Mars and Uranus require a brass section of Wagnerian proportions, whereas Mercury and Saturn are closer to Ravel or Debussy. Karajan in Berlin was a fine exponent and so was Dutoit in Montreal. While Solti can naturally give excitement to this music, he is not as adept with bringing out the shading of the lighter movements. Especially, at the end of Saturn where Karajan, Dutoit, and Mehta have used a more spacious tempo, Solti seems uninvolved and determined to get the movement overwith. The recording quality, while good for its period, is inferior to that of newer versions of this work. There are plenty of good digital versions available, and unless Solti as conductor is a must, other versions do more justice to this music."

Great direction, poor mastering

Just a guy | 07/23/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is one of my favorite interpretations of Holst's work. I had an old Solti Cd when I was a kid, but because I played it so much, it was badly scratched. I decided to stick with Solti and London because this Cd was taken from the original 1978 recording. However, I quiickly discovered that when the engineers transferred the analog tape to the cd for this version, they compressed some of the tracks so that the whole cd would be louder. However, because of this, the glorious forte sections suffer terribly. In particular the hymn section of Jupiter is completely botched. You may not notice it if this is your first planets recording, but it bugs me to no end. You can hear where the engineers turned down the really loud secitions if you listen carefully at all and that just ruins it for me. So in the end, if you had the original recording from the '78 session, be wary of this cd."

The ONLY Planets!

David M. Lombardo | Overland Park, KS United States | 08/12/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I used to have this recording on cassette...it's great to have it on CD now - no hiss! This is by far the best recording of The Planets (better than my favorite conductor's & orchestra's version - Previn & LSO). I have heard many renditions of this piece, and nobody nails the timing & passion of Mars like Solti & the LPO...followed by the delicacy of Venus. His command of the orchestra can be felt through every note. This recording is a must, and is one of my all time greatest classical CDs!"