Gustav Holst 1874 -- 1934 The Planets. 1916 Conductor; Bernard Hermann London Philharmonic Orchestra Mars, The Bringer Of War. Venus, The Bringer Of Peace. Mercury, The Winged Messenger Jupiter, The Bringer Of Jollity
This was the first copy of The Planets I ever owned, on vinyl, and as soon as I heard it, I decided that I never needed another. The performance of "Neptune" in particular resonates right down to my soul.
Critics say Herrmann's version is too slow, but for me he nailed Venus better than any other recording or live performance I've heard. I used to have this album, but it was lost when Hurricane Andrew walloped our house. Thanks for posting! (If it were available to buy, I'd buy it). Neptune's great too.
A excellent version. Sadly, is out of print, and through headphones the youtube quality is so-so. Please, would you mind to share it in lossless format?
This is absolutely my definitive version of The Planets, owning to death on both Woolworth’s vinyl and cassette. (Alas, the professional digitalisation to CD was a sad disappointment with much lost in over-amplification). Mars in particular should always be this slow and menacing, the machine of war building and fighting to the last skirmish. All other conductors seem to want to ‘get through’ this and the rest of the suite as quickly as possible with some, even professional, orchestras seemingly going through the motions, lacking passion. However, so long was Herr Herrmann’s version that it almost defeated the vinyl recording engineers in that the amplitude of the sound had to be kept low to prevent groove skipping in this packed-to-the-limit LP. I came across an excellent amateur digitalisation of the much finer Phase 4 recording where every little nuance, down to the occasional clunk of the music stand and the irritated response of the solo violinist to an accidental thrum from a nearby cellist in Venus came through brilliantly. Herrmann’s placing of microphones within the orchestra was in my opinion a brilliant idea although much panned by dyed-in-the-wool critics. Alas, I lost that digitalised recording and cannot track it down. Maybe one day, when I’m rich and famous, I’ll pay a professional orchestra to play it in the same way - ah Me!
