Holst: The Planets / Elgar: Enigma Variations 
Customer Ratings: - Memories rekindled. My father and grandfather were both musicians, and for both of them Nimrod was their favourite piece of music as it is mine. I believe that my grandfather knew Sir Adrian Boult, but cannot be certain of this as he died fifty years ago. The first LP I ever purchased was Enigma Variations conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham, so this CD really evokes my youth. I still have links today to Elgar as I volunteer at a National Trust property which exhibits the Broadwood Piano from Sir Edward s home and on which he wrote both Enigma and the Dream of Gerontius. A very tingling corner!
I remember Sir Adrian coming to South Wales to give a concert in the early fifties. I m ashamed to say that I have forgotten the name of the Orchestra and also the programme, but one thing that I shall never forget is the style of his conducting. We get so used to seeing conductors performing incredible contortions these days, but not with Sir Adrian. Even in the big tutti passages his right arm hardly moved - all the right hand conducting was done with the fingers and the stick flicked to an fro giving an unmistakable lead to the orchestra.
A memorable sight, and when I grew a little older and went to the Festival Hall and saw some other conductors I thought them a little odd and in poor taste by comparison!
The Holst is also superb, but without the personal memory jogging! Even without the memories, the music on this CD is superb, and the sound astonishing for a recording made thirty years ago. - Beautiful music. I was astonished by how much this music has inspired the composition of other great pieces of music - Mars is interpreted by John Williams as the Empire March or Darth Vader`s theme in Star Wars. Otherwise the various pieces pepper our popular culture and crop up in made advertisement and instrumentals accompaniments to documentaries the World over.
- As Holst intended?. This version of The Planets has replaced my recent LSO version.
Why? Well, the balance between the contributing elements is the best i ve heard so far: The bass is thunderous analogue and the high woodwind/strings are like crystal in equal measure. This is a superb achievement and exceptionally important for, large orchestra where Dynamics become a recording engineer s delight or problem depending on how good they are. And these people are the best: Abbey road have done a fantastic job on the remastering of a late 70 s classic, although there is one thing they could never tackle: Is this as Holst intended?
Bolt was a friend of Holst and was given the opportunity to first conduct the piece, Bolt read and heard the original two piano score and must have got the full S.P. from Holst? If this is so, then what we have here is close to the real deal?
OK, Bolt had five cracks at this recording before producing this last version, so we may have the advantage of decades of Bolt s polishing and highlighting the manifold textures one may hear in this genius of a masterpiece. It certainly sounds like it.
I was surprised to hear a faster Venus than i think i have ever heard before, and Jupiter is a bit nippy also. But i was also surprised at how quickly i accomodated these unexpected nuances and began to listen to the clarity of what was going on instead. I don t think i have ever before been able to hold so many themes and harmonies in one passing than i have experienced with this recording of The Planets because so much usualy becomes burried in the total wash. Not so here: the richness and variety of the score is available at all sonic levels.
Majestic stuff. - not impressed. The style of the presentation of the pieces here could be described as majestic although a trifle slow for my taste. The style is in keeping with its time.
However I have had a number of versions of both works over the years and the dynamics on this rendition must be the worst. Whoever transfered the music from master tape to CD did not make anywhere near the most of the expanded dynamic capabilities available today. I do not mean that the bass should destroy buildings a mile distant or that the treble should cause bats to explode in mid air. But the bass was mushy and upper registers rather swamped by the mid-tone brass.
There was a distinct lack of detail in a number of the movements that make up both works (one example is the undercurrent of bubbling oboes and bassoon in Mercury which is just completely absent). Compare this recording with the astonishing RCA Living Stereo series.
I was left with the aural equivalent of a half-sucked jelly baby. I m only glad it cost me less than a fiver. - In a league of its own. Towering, majestic, commanding, bursting with passion and energy, these are thoroughly spirited performances of the Elgar variations and Holst s Planets, sublime recordings that are truly worthy of the EMI Classics logo. Part of their Great Recordings of the Century series, it provides welcome relief for escapees of the Classic FM pop culture, for connoisseurs of truly beautiful and complete classical interpretations.
Famous around the world, Elgar s supreme string control and intertwining themes, and Holst s magical woodwind and transcendent strident brass provide monumental templates that many subsequent composers have turned to for inspiration and reference.
These are not just any recordings, they are, in my opinion, the best recordings ever made of these works, and conducted by a legend - Sir Adrian Boult - who met and worked with both Elgar and Holst during his formative years. Boult s masterful control of large orchestra shines unrivalled in these recordings, and will leave you breathless in awe. You haven t heard The Planets if you haven t heard Boult s dramatic and legendary interpretation.
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Holst: The Planets / Elgar: Enigma Variations (ID: B00005YUBA)
