Search - Holst, London Symphony :: Planets

Invaluable musical legacies!

Hiram Gomez Pardo | Valencia, Venezuela | 08/25/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Since I saw this record in a Caracas store 1999, I just couldn't believe it. The buy decision was instantaneous.

The Planets Op. 32 is without any doubt the supreme musical achievement. And not for mere casualty, Holst begins the work with Mars, The Bringer of War in May 1914 completing it in 1916.

The First complete performance of this Suite was conducted by Albert Coates on 7 November 1920

G.H. recorded the work twice: acoustically in 1923 and electrically on 22 October1926 , the latter set appearing on this towering CD.

There are lapses -according Mogen Holst, his daughter who cautions he was a professional conductor- such as an overloud chord at the end of Mercury and the inability to put on shellac the diminishing pianissimo that concludes Neptune.

But leaving behind aspects of technical aspects, what it really matters is the fact we have in front of the London Symphony the one's own composer conducting that admirable and notable symphonic work. You can realize how in Jupiter it can be felt the superb Edward Elgar' s influence (Enigma Variations) in a brief passage and the undeniable British smell around this section. Several sections of this monumental suite have been employed over and over as musical curtains or episodes in countless films of different nature including Sci-fi, Westerns, Drama and War genres and so TV series.

Vaughan Williams is the legitimate heiress of the British musical tradition in the XX Century, followed obviously by the gigantic shadow of Edward Elgar. Works as On Wenlock Edge (1909) or Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (1910)

This solemn and enigmatic work appears with the exquisite Sixth as one of the most widely known symphonies of this worldly estimated and acclaimed composer. Recorded October 1937, Williams conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

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