HOLST: What is favorite recording of "Neptune"?

[gggg...@gmail.com]

Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?

[Kerrison]

On Friday, April 11, 2014 12:56:35 AM UTC+1, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?

Interestingly, the score indicates that the female voices at the end are to be divided into Chorus I and Chorus II, with the second choir providing a kind of "echo" effect to the first. I wonder how many recordings have separated them left and right stereophonically? I believe Sargent and the BBCSO did it that way on their 1957 HMV LP, but has anyone else done so since?

[Charles Milton Ling]

On 11.04.2014 01:56, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?
>

I like Steinberg very much (perhaps more than I like "The Planets" per se).

--
Charles Milton Ling
Vienna, Austria
Gpg4win encryption available

[gggg...@gmail.com]

If you can believe it, Sargent's NEPTUNE was included in a cd entitled CLASSICAL MUSIC FOR STUDYING:

http://www.shazam.com/music/web/album?id=52508804

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?

The following has been said about NEPTUNE:

- ...[Holst] finishes with the mystic Neptune, where the music hints at a realm beyond form and melody -- the dark world of "uncreated reality".

http://vidoz.com.ua/video/_l8LTDs1Hh5.html

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?

Considering that Dutoit's recording received 36 5-star reviews at Amazon, is it really THAT good?

[gggg...@gmail.com]

In 2011, someone here said:

- My most recent concert experience
(Mackerras at the 2009 Proms, and at the top of the gallery too) was
overwhelming. There was a quietude throughout that huge hall at the end
of Neptune which was intensely moving. I don't suppose my friends and I
were alone in feeling that we'd just experienced something communally
unforgettable: something to do with a sense of place in the cosmos ....
something to do with how to live life in the knowledge of our own
transience ... hard to put into words, but very deep.

[whiskynsplash]

The BBC schedules The Planets practically every year at the Proms. I was not at the 2009 performance, but I do remember a hushed silence in that enormous hall after Neptune either in 2008 or 2010. I believe it is because they put the womens chorus offstage and rather high up and they may have even separated the chorus into Chorus I and Chorus II offstage on either side of the stage as is called for in the score.

It's an effect that must be heard live and simply cannot be reproduced on a recording no matter how good the equipment. Another remarkable aural experience was 2013's Parsifal where they essentially treated the domed Albert Hall as the Grail Temple and placed the childrens chorus high up in the Gallery. I think old Wagner, who once conducted in the hall, would have been pleased. All it needed was for one of London's fat pigeons (flying rats) to be dropped in from a skylight to stand in for the dove.

[Kerrison]

And as with so much else these days, Mackerras's performance can be readily seen on You Tube ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQQGi4gN6gI

[Kerrison]

Whilst on You Tube, I heartily recommend a viewing of a Russian performance conducted by Valeriy Platonov. There's a hilarious comment under the video, where someone says he "can't imagine how long it took to get all of Tomita's music onto sheets ... even though its kinda missing the beauty of the two aliens talking with each other." Surely he can't be serious in thinking this is an orchestral arrangement of a synthesiser recording?! ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiTI3XonUZA

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 11:18:08 PM UTC-10, Charles Milton Ling wrote:

> On 11.04.2014 01:56, wrote:
>
> > Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?
>
> >
>
> I like Steinberg very much (perhaps more than I like "The Planets" per se).
>
>
>
> --
>
> Charles Milton Ling
>
> Vienna, Austria
>
> Gpg4win encryption available

The following review of Steinberg's recording may be of interest:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2012/May12/Strauss_Holst_UNI016.htm

[Randy Lane]

On Sunday, April 13, 2014 12:42:25 PM UTC-7, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Thursday, April 10, 2014 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote: > Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson? The following has been said about NEPTUNE: - ...[Holst] finishes with the mystic Neptune, where the music hints at a realm beyond form and melody -- the dark world of "uncreated reality". http://vidoz.com.ua/video/_l8LTDs1Hh5.html

Credit for the Dutoit Planets, as well as the equally praised Ravel orchestral cycle, should probably all go to the Decca recordng team and not the conductor. Dutoit will always be Dutoit. Some good stuff (I like some of his Berlioz), but most of the time smoothed over to sound nice but not very provacative or masterful.

[gggg...@gmail.com]

It says:

- ...The strange sonorities of Neptune. Once again the level of detail in this 40-year-old recording is astonishing making this otherworldly music as haunting as one could wish. Unusually the wordless choir - normally so genteel - conjures up images of keening winds in that distant, frigid place.

[Randy Lane]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 4:56:35 PM UTC-7, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?

Previn/EMI (oh for an affordable quad SACD!)

Thought today about some conductors I don't think recorded The Planets but might have left us very good renditions had they done so. Perhaps they exist somewhere in a broadcast archive.

Silvestri
Barbiroli
Berglund

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 11:01:37 PM UTC-10, Kerrison wrote:

On Youtube, aren't the two posting of his recording of NEPTUNE in mono?

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?

Concerning Mehta's recording with the L.A. Philharmonic, I found the tempi too fast--almost rushed--especially at the beginning.

[Kerrison]

>
> > Interestingly, the score indicates that the female voices at the end are to be divided into Chorus I and Chorus II, with the second choir providing a kind of "echo" effect to the first. I wonder how many recordings have separated them left and right stereophonically? I believe Sargent and the BBCSO did it that way on their 1957 HMV LP, but has anyone else done so since?
>
>
>
> On Youtube, aren't the two posting of his recording of NEPTUNE in mono?

As far as I can discover, it's Sargent's mono Decca 1953 LSO recording that is on You Tube, not his 1957 HMV stereo remake with the BBC Symphony. There was also a live performance from the Royal Albert Hall in 1965, again with the BBC SO, on BBC Radio Classics, but with the choir so distantly placed up in the gallery it's not clear whether Sargent had the two choruses divided or not.

[Terry]

In article <ac8cd8c5-13b5-4c56...@googlegroups.com>,

Whilst at present the only recording I have is that by Dutoit and the
Montrealers, I have very pleasant memories of HvK and the VPO on Decca.
I must see if that recording has made its way onto CD.

[Gerard]

"Terry" wrote in message news:250420140141556870%tlst...@tpgi.com.au...

I have very pleasant memories of HvK and the VPO on Decca.
I must see if that recording has made its way onto CD.

===================

A few times.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Holst-Planets-Wiener-Philharmoniker/dp/B000KQGOA4/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Planets-Vienna-Philharmonic-Orchestra/dp/B009IK4U9U/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Holst-Planets-op-32-Karajan/dp/B00000E3BF/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Planets-Vpo-Karajan-Gustav-Holst/dp/B0000042EN/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Karajan-Great-Decca-Recordings-1959-1963/dp/B000025WIP/

On SACD:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/HOLST-PLANET-SACD-SHM-ltd/dp/B006GHC25M/

[Terry]

In article <45798$535945f9$54686658$79...@cache1.tilbu1.nb.home.nl>,

That's good! The SACD is tempting, as I just bought a SACD-capable
player a couple of weeks ago.

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?

Concerning Bernstein's NEPTUNE, an Amazon customer said:

- Dark and mysterious as is the blue gas planet at the edge of the solar system, its ominous lower chords are lifted by a wordless chorus halfway through and ends with the voices getting fainter and fainter until you cannot distinguish the sound you're hearing from your own imagination.

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?

Concerning Sir Charles Groves' NEPTUNE, an Amazon customer said:

- And Neptune is just gorgeous. It is the sound of quiet rapture, rather than infinite space. The choir sounds suitably disembodied and ethereal.

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?

Concerning Yoel Levi's NEPTUNE, an Amazon customer said:

- Neptune, the Mystic, a musical painting of the infinite. Here, as in all the planets on this recording allows the listener to get inside the music. Turn this movement up in volume, the darkness and mystery is tangible, but yet again, even here, a sense of urgency, perhaps the urgency of the unanswered question of time and space as the wordless female chorus fades into the nothingness of silence.

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, wrote:
> Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?

Concerning Stokowski's 1956 stereo recording, someone at Youtube said:

- I don't know of a lovelier "Neptune." Stokowski insisted that ten seconds of silence be added before the needle ran into the end groove. The sound is warmly analog.

[gggg...@gmail.com]

Is the conclusion of NEPTUNE a rare classical music example of a repetitive fade-out?

[Ray Hall]

gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> Is the conclusion of NEPTUNE a rare classical music example of a repetitive fade-out?
>

There are other examples, two of which spring to mind, namely
Tchaikovsky's 6th, and Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde. I am sure there
are others too .... Shosty's 15th ebbs away with the ticking of a clock.

Ray Hall, Taree

[John Wiser]

"Ray Hall" <raymon...@bigpond.com> wrote in message news:llmp13$8ra$1...@speranza.aioe.org...

Several of Vaughan Williams's, notably the Pastoral Symphony.
and the otherwise so very different 6th. Schulhoff's 1st String Quartet,
after being quite rowdy.

jdw

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 24, 2014 5:41:55 AM UTC-10, Terry wrote:
> In article <>,

>
> <> wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Thursday, April 10, 2014 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> > > Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?
>
> >
>
> > Concerning Mehta's recording with the L.A. Philharmonic, I found the tempi
>
> > too fast--almost rushed--especially at the beginning.
>
>
>
> Whilst at present the only recording I have is that by Dutoit and the
>
> Montrealers, I have very pleasant memories of HvK and the VPO on Decca.
>
> I must see if that recording has made its way onto CD.

Concerning the HvK and the VPO on Decca, CLASSICA TODAY loved that recording:

http://www.classicstoday.com/review/radar-karajans-stellar-vienna-planets/

[deta...@att.net]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 6:56:35 PM UTC-5, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?

Holst, 1923 (acoustic) and 1925 (electric).

[Sacqueboutier]

Regardless of what one may of Dutoit as an interpreter (or noninterpreter), his Planets is a complete success. The Decca team may be responsible, but the results are the same. This isn't terribly deep music, but the character and colors are truly spectacular. That said, it's pretty hard to misinterpret as long as you have a great orchestra sitting in front of you. Combination of great orchestra, near perfect recording venue, best recording team in the digital age, and a conductor willing to stay out of the way yields a recording of this work that I turn to more often than any other.

Steinberg was my second recording of the piece, back in the day. One of the all time greatest LP covers. You should get the L p just for that. Again, great orchestra, venue, recording team, and a conductor who kept things moving at an unforced natural pace. Great recording. If I were to live with only two, these two would probably take to to honors.

That said, I also like the final Boult recording.

[Willem Orange]

Just ordered the Steinberg on DG originals = right it is a great cover!!!!

[Mark Obert-Thorn]

On Saturday, May 31, 2014 5:50:17 PM UTC-4, deta...@att.net wrote:
> Holst, 1923 (acoustic) and 1925 (electric).

Both just reissued together, here, along with the rest of Holst's recordings:

http://www.cherryred.co.uk/shopexd.asp?id=4593

Mark O-T

[Gerald Martin]

Andrew Davis/Toronto on EMI uses a children's chorus.

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Sunday, June 1, 2014 12:40:30 AM UTC-10, Sacqueboutier wrote:
> Regardless of what one may of Dutoit as an interpreter (or noninterpreter), his Planets is a complete success. The Decca team may be responsible, but the results are the same. This isn't terribly deep music, but the character and colors are truly spectacular. That said, it's pretty hard to misinterpret as long as you have a great orchestra sitting in front of you. Combination of great orchestra, near perfect recording venue, best recording team in the digital age, and a conductor willing to stay out of the way yields a recording of this work that I turn to more often than any other...

There is something on Youtube that says that its a live 2009 Dresden Dutoit performance of "The Planets".

[gggg...@gmail.com]

There is something on Youtube that says that its a 1926 Holst recording of Neptune.

[Mark Zimmer]

Thanks for the tip! Order placed.

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Sunday, June 1, 2014 12:40:30 AM UTC-10, Sacqueboutier wrote:

> Regardless of what one may of Dutoit as an interpreter (or noninterpreter), his Planets is a complete success. The Decca team may be responsible, but the results are the same. This isn't terribly deep music, but the character and colors are truly spectacular. That said, it's pretty hard to misinterpret as long as you have a great orchestra sitting in front of you. Combination of great orchestra, near perfect recording venue, best recording team in the digital age, and a conductor willing to stay out of the way yields a recording of this work that I turn to more often than any other.

Concerning Dutoit's NEPTUNE, it reminded me of his recording of DAPHNIS...-- sonically, it was too languid and too luxurious and musically I felt that the performance was not terribly inspired.

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 11:18:08 PM UTC-10, Charles Milton Ling wrote:
> On 11.04.2014 01:56, wrote:
>
> > Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?
>
> >
>
> I like Steinberg very much (perhaps more than I like "The Planets" per se).

The following review of Steinberg's recording may be of interest:

- Indeed, if there's one recording that delivers all the complexity--and skill--of Holst's great score it must be this one. As good as he is, none of Boult's celebrated versions offers this level of insight or involvement...the strange sonorities of Neptune. Once again the level of detail in this 40-year-old recording is astonishing making this otherworldly music as haunting as one could wish. Unusually the wordless choir - normally so genteel - conjures up images of keening winds in that distant, frigid place.

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2012/May12/Strauss_Holst_UNI016.htm

[gggg...@gmail.com]

With regard to his later BPO recording, an Amazon customer said:

- In Neptune, Karajan finds pure, searching mystery that is simply more unreal than Rattle.

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 24, 2014 5:41:55 AM UTC-10, Terry wrote:
> In article <>,

> wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Thursday, April 10, 2014 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> > > Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?
>
> >
>
> > Concerning Mehta's recording with the L.A. Philharmonic, I found the tempi
>
> > too fast--almost rushed--especially at the beginning.
>
>
>
> Whilst at present the only recording I have is that by Dutoit and the
>
> Montrealers, I have very pleasant memories of HvK and the VPO on Decca.
>
> I must see if that recording has made its way onto CD.

According to this review:

- ..."Neptune" has carefully calculated gradations of dynamics but altogether lacks any sense of blissful departure into infinite space.

http://www.allmusic.com/album/holst-the-planets-mw0001853935

[Terry]

In article <d42e8e6d-804e-4dbe...@googlegroups.com>,

I found that the Karajan had indeed made it onto CD, bought it, and
declare myself in total disagreement with this reviewer. ("superlative
but distinctly unidiomatic playing by the VPO" is the revealing
phrase.)

[gggg...@gmail.com]

Concerning Rattle's recording, an Amazon customer said:

- I've never heard a Neptune that leaves me so stunned as this one. The female voices from the Rundfunkchor Berlin leave me feeling like I've left this world. EMI might get some of the credit, but the female voices sound so entirely "out there" that it's hard to fathom the fact that this was actually recorded by regular people. I'm left wanting to cry, it's so unbearably touching.

[gggg...@gmail.com]

An Amazon customer said:

- Neptune may be the loveliest, most ethereal version of all, with vague premonitions of minimalism Stokowski seems to sense (& Holst toyed with in several other compositions); the ending takes us out of the world of myth & the gods & leaves us in the silence of outer space. Not the best Planets all around (maybe the best Neptune)...

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?

At 9'31" (according to Youtube), isn't Stokowski's live 1943 performance the longest Neptune on record?

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?

Comments from GRAMOPHONE above various recordings:

http://www.gramophone.co.uk/forum/recordings/historic-planets

[Matthew B. Tepper]

gggg...@gmail.com appears to have caused the following letters to be typed
in news:338cd7d7-4e32-445b...@googlegroups.com:

Speaking of historical "Planets" recordings, has anybody here heard this yet?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IOAY1VW/

The obvious question would be about the quality of the transfers.

--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!!
Read about "Proty" here: http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/proty.html
To write to me, do for my address what Androcles did for the lion
Opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of my employers.

[Mark Obert-Thorn]

On Thursday, September 18, 2014 3:39:39 PM UTC-4, Matthew B. Tepper wrote:
> Speaking of historical "Planets" recordings, has anybody here heard this yet?
>
> http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IOAY1VW/
>
> The obvious question would be about the quality of the transfers.

Well, FWIW, they were done by me. Capstan was used to steady the notoriously wandering pitch of the 1926 early electrical "Planets" and its filler for the first time, as an additional bonus. (The acoustics didn't need it.)

Mark Obert-Thorn

[Matthew B. Tepper]

Mark Obert-Thorn <Trans...@aol.com> appears to have caused the following

letters to be typed in

news:85d3dcba-7525-4b41...@googlegroups.com:

In that case, I'm buying it!

Do you think Capstan could do anything for the wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey 1935
Metropolitan Opera "Don Giovanni" excerpts with Ponselle, Pinza, and Schipa?
The sound makes the Salzburg Selenophones sound like FFRR in comparison, but
fixing those horrid pitch problems would help somewhat.

[Mark Obert-Thorn]

On Friday, September 19, 2014 3:52:08 PM UTC-4, Matthew B. Tepper wrote:
> Do you think Capstan could do anything for the wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey 1935
> Metropolitan Opera "Don Giovanni" excerpts with Ponselle, Pinza, and Schipa?
> The sound makes the Salzburg Selenophones sound like FFRR in comparison, but
> fixing those horrid pitch problems would help somewhat.

Maybe ... Sony used it on the 1935 Ponselle "Traviata" in their "Verdi at the Met" set.

Mark O-T

[gggg...@gmail.com]

Am I the only one who feels that NEPTUNE would be perfect for a future edition of FANTASIA?

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?

Concerning Boult's 1966 recording with the New Philharmonia, is this the only cd reissue of that?:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51bUc%2BFIQ3L._SL500_AA280_.jpg

[Kerrison]

The BBC Radio 3's "CD Review" will have a critic on hand next Saturday morning to tell you which is the best recording of "The Planets," so now is your chance to say what you think his No. 1 choice should be ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04jj37s

Incidentally, is this Wiki "Planets" Discography complete and up-to-date? ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Planets_discography

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Tuesday, September 23, 2014 10:29:49 PM UTC-10, Kerrison wrote:
> The BBC Radio 3's "CD Review" will have a critic on hand next Saturday morning to tell you which is the best recording of "The Planets," so now is your chance to say what you think his No. 1 choice should be ...
>
>
>
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04jj37s

Thanks a lot.

Is that something I have to listen to at that exact time, or will it be posted such that it can be listened to later?

[Kerrison]

Yes, they have a "Listen Again" page where the broadcast is uploaded not long after its transmission and can be heard worldwide. Here, for example, under "On demand" is last Saturday's broadcast which you can hear by clicking the purple 'player' icon ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tmtz

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?

Listening to NEPTUNE, am I the only one who is reminded of some of the movements of Beethoven's late string quartets which may also have been marked "sempre piannissimo"?

[gggg...@gmail.com]

Here is a review of that cd:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/march99/holst.htm

[Herman]

Beethoven's Quartets were not marked thus.

Plus, only a day ago you said you were reminded of "Fantasia".

Maybe Neptune reminds you of everything you know.

[gggg...@gmail.com]

- There is as much difference between us and ourselves as between us and others.

Michel de Montaigne

[Kerrison]

The BBC reviewer went for Paavo Jarvi / Cincinnati on Telarc as his top choice.

[Alan Dawes]

In article <90ba415c-cfb8-4e0c...@googlegroups.com>,

Kerrison <kerrison1...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> The BBC reviewer went for Paavo Jarvi / Cincinnati on Telarc as his top
> choice.

I did enjoy Own Morris' review, it was "a real hoot". He must have had
great fun putting it together.

Alan

--
alan....@argonet.co.uk
alan....@riscos.org
Using an Acorn RiscPC

[Christopher Webber]

On 27/09/2014 12:12, Alan Dawes wrote:
> I did enjoy Own Morris' review, it was "a real hoot". He must have had
> great fun putting it together.

David Owen Norris can be too quirky for some, but his acute ear for
small details (such as spotting that telling, uncorrected wrong violin
note in Karajan's sloppy 'Venus') makes for excellent fun, just as you say.

[Joe Morris]

I'm excited by Bell's Neptune that should be released next summer
http://bellsbeer.com/planets/neptune/

We got to try their Mars recently and it was very tasty!

--
Joe Morris Atlanta history blog
jol...@gmail.com http://atlhistory.com

[Matthew B. Tepper]

I have just today received from the UK that 3-CD set of all of Holst's own
recordings, including the acoustic and electrical "Planets" (plus alternate
takes from some of the acoustic), remastered by Mark Obert-Thorn. I know I'm
going to be listening to it soon.

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, September 25, 2014 2:52:58 AM UTC-10, Herman wrote:

When listening to Neptune, am I the only one who feels (from a recent article on Beethoven):

- ...Withdraw[n] into an inner world...beyond everything and everybody around [me]...A profound depth in music that is possessed of an otherworldly, cosmic beauty. The sense of expanded time and space conveyed in the final piano sonata or the slow movements of the late quartets...The illusion of the limitless in art...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/beethoven-solitude-was-composers-freedom--and-his-only-only-peace/2014/08/06/93c533d4-0cde-11e4-b8e5-d0de80767fc2_story.html

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?

Did you know that Holst used an organ to compose Neptune?:

- When composing The Planets Holst initially scored the work for piano duet, except for "Neptune", which was scored for a single organ, as Holst believed that the sound of the piano was too percussive for a world as mysterious and distant as Neptune.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Planets

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, May 1, 2014 12:00:10 AM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Thursday, April 10, 2014 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> > Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?
>

> Concerning Bernstein's NEPTUNE, an Amazon customer said:
>
> - Dark and mysterious as is the blue gas planet at the edge of the solar system, its ominous lower chords are lifted by a wordless chorus halfway through and ends with the voices getting fainter and fainter until you cannot distinguish the sound you're hearing from your own imagination.

Bernstein's NEPTUNE is on Youtube and has generated over 100 comments.

[William Sommerwerck]

> Did you know that Holst used an organ to compose Neptune?

Two, in fact... His thumb and forefinger.

ba DUM

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?

Recently uploaded NEPTUNEs on Youtube:

- Karajan's VPO (which has been hailed as better than his later BPO recording),

- Mehta's 1st(?) recording,

- Jarvi's recording which BBC proclaimed as the best,

- Stokowski's late fifties studio recording which at 6:43 is among of the fastest.

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Wednesday, April 23, 2014 10:58:34 PM UTC-10, Kerrison wrote:
> >
> > > Interestingly, the score indicates that the female voices at the end are to be divided into Chorus I and Chorus II, with the second choir providing a kind of "echo" effect to the first. I wonder how many recordings have separated them left and right stereophonically? I believe Sargent and the BBCSO did it that way on their 1957 HMV LP, but has anyone else done so since?
> >
> >
> >
> > On Youtube, aren't the two posting of his recording of NEPTUNE in mono?
>
> As far as I can discover, it's Sargent's mono Decca 1953 LSO recording that is on You Tube, not his 1957 HMV stereo remake with the BBC Symphony. There was also a live performance from the Royal Albert Hall in 1965, again with the BBC SO, on BBC Radio Classics, but with the choir so distantly placed up in the gallery it's not clear whether Sargent had the two choruses divided or not.

Is this the 1957 HMV stereo recording with the BBC Symphony? Does this recently upload Youtube clip sound like stereo?:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVuB1bAm-6Q

[dk]

http://youtu.be/L6rnCHybaKk (note: mono recording)

dk

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?

Can anyone identify the conductor of this?:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkLzTfu7QD0

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 at 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?

Solti's Neptune was recently uploaded on Youtube.

[gggg...@gmail.com]

As well as Davis' and Rattle's.

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 at 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?

According to this review of Oudjian's recording:

- Neptune is just splendid, running like water on oil, and capturing that mystical mood that the piece needs. The beautifully polished orchestral playing, coupled with the conductor's refusal to drag, make this the most memorable movement of all. Oh yes, and the wordless chorus is exceptionally done, perfectly matched with Oudjian's vision.

http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/t/tso00005a.php

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Friday, September 26, 2014 at 11:20:32 PM UTC-10, Kerrison wrote:
> The BBC reviewer went for Paavo Jarvi / Cincinnati on Telarc as his top choice.

Here is a review of Jarvi's recording:

http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/t/tlc80743a.php

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 at 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?

Upcoming radio program on Holst:

http://tpr.org/post/hubble-space-telescope-skies-beyond-holsts-planets

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Friday, January 23, 2015 at 1:08:52 AM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:

Recently uploaded on Youtube:

- Rattle's recording w/the Berlin Philharmonic,

- Stokowski's 1950's studio recording with the LA Philharmonic.

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 at 11:01:37 PM UTC-10, Kerrison wrote:

> On Friday, April 11, 2014 12:56:35 AM UTC+1, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> > Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?
>

> Interestingly, the score indicates that the female voices at the end are to be divided into Chorus I and Chorus II, with the second choir providing a kind of "echo" effect to the first. I wonder how many recordings have separated them left and right stereophonically? I believe Sargent and the BBCSO did it that way on their 1957 HMV LP, but has anyone else done so since?

Is this it? It was posted last week on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8ovw2f0llo

[gggg...@gmail.com]

Review of Mehta's recording:

http://audaud.com/2013/08/holst-the-planets-the-los-angeles-philharmonic-orch-zubin-mehta-london-1971original-recordings-group-45rpm-vinyl-2-discs/

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 at 11:01:37 PM UTC-10, Kerrison wrote:

> On Friday, April 11, 2014 12:56:35 AM UTC+1, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> > Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?
>

> Interestingly, the score indicates that the female voices at the end are to be divided into Chorus I and Chorus II, with the second choir providing a kind of "echo" effect to the first. I wonder how many recordings have separated them left and right stereophonically? I believe Sargent and the BBCSO did it that way on their 1957 HMV LP, but has anyone else done so since?

You can listen to Sargent's Neptune w/the BBCSO here. But is it stereo or mono?:

http://darkmp3.ru/album-classical-music-for-studying-8410717.html

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 at 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?

When listening to Neptune, does something like this come to mind?:

http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site241/2015/0325/20150325_052819_refund006_300.jpg

http://www.la.com/ci_27783154/new-west-symphony-presents-planets-accompanied-by-artwork

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 at 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?

Concerning Colin Davis' studio recording, I just listened to it on Youtube where it was uploaded earlier this year.

It doesn't sound rushed or brisk even though it comes in at 6:46 which is on the fast side for this movement.

Davis is very restrained and I agree with the Amazon customer who said:

- "Neptune"...is a miracle of delicacy, and the offstage women's chorus quite ethereal, impeccable in fact.

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Sunday, April 13, 2014 at 9:01:13 PM UTC-10, Kerrison wrote:
> On Sunday, April 13, 2014 8:49:01 PM UTC+1, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> > On Sunday, April 13, 2014 9:42:25 AM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:

> >
> > > On Thursday, April 10, 2014 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> >
> > >
> >
> > > > Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?
> >
> > >
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> >

> > > The following has been said about NEPTUNE:
> >
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> > > - ...[Holst] finishes with the mystic Neptune, where the music hints at a realm beyond form and melody -- the dark world of "uncreated reality".
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> > > http://vidoz.com.ua/video/_l8LTDs1Hh5.html
> >
> >
> >
> > In 2011, someone here said:
> >
> >
> >
> > - My most recent concert experience
> >
> > (Mackerras at the 2009 Proms, and at the top of the gallery too) was
> >
> > overwhelming. There was a quietude throughout that huge hall at the end
> >
> > of Neptune which was intensely moving. I don't suppose my friends and I
> >
> > were alone in feeling that we'd just experienced something communally
> >
> > unforgettable: something to do with a sense of place in the cosmos ....
> >
> > something to do with how to live life in the knowledge of our own
> >
> > transience ... hard to put into words, but very deep.
>
> And as with so much else these days, Mackerras's performance can be readily seen on You Tube ...
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQQGi4gN6gI

Mackerras' studio recording of Neptune is also on Youtube. It's been viewed close to 220,000 times and has almost 300 comments.

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 at 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?

The following on Youtube may be of interest:

- Listening Guide: Holst's The Planets - Neptune, the Mystic

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 at 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?

Has anyone heard Ozawa's NEPTUNE?

This recent list ranks his PLANETS recording near the top:

https://petersplanets.wordpress.com/

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Tuesday, April 15, 2014 at 2:43:33 PM UTC-10, Randy Lane wrote:

> On Thursday, April 10, 2014 4:56:35 PM UTC-7, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> > Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?
>

> Previn/EMI (oh for an affordable quad SACD!)

Previn's LSO recording became available on Youtube last month.

I found the NEPTUNE to be unremarkable.

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 at 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?

Richard Hickox's recording of Neptune has over 300,000 hits on Youtube and over 300 comments.

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Sunday, August 10, 2014 at 11:36:50 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Monday, June 23, 2014 12:45:11 AM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> > On Saturday, May 24, 2014 9:59:57 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> >
> > > On Thursday, April 24, 2014 5:41:55 AM UTC-10, Terry wrote:
> >
> > >
> >
> > > > In article <>,
> >
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> > > > <> wrote:

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> > > > > On Thursday, April 10, 2014 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> >
> > >
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> > > >
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> > >
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> > > > > > Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?
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> > > > > Concerning Mehta's recording with the L.A. Philharmonic, I found the tempi
> >
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> > > > > too fast--almost rushed--especially at the beginning.
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> > > > Whilst at present the only recording I have is that by Dutoit and the
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> > > > Montrealers, I have very pleasant memories of HvK and the VPO on Decca.
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> > > > I must see if that recording has made its way onto CD.
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> > > Concerning the HvK and the VPO on Decca, CLASSICA TODAY loved that recording:
> >
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> >
> > > http://www.classicstoday.com/review/radar-karajans-stellar-vienna-planets/
> >
> >
> >
> > With regard to his later BPO recording, an Amazon customer said:
> >
> >
> >
> > - In Neptune, Karajan finds pure, searching mystery that is simply more unreal than Rattle.
>
> Concerning Rattle's recording, an Amazon customer said:
>
> - I've never heard a Neptune that leaves me so stunned as this one. The female voices from the Rundfunkchor Berlin leave me feeling like I've left this world. EMI might get some of the credit, but the female voices sound so entirely "out there" that it's hard to fathom the fact that this was actually recorded by regular people. I'm left wanting to cry, it's so unbearably touching.

According to this review of Rattle's recording:

- The ''Neptune'' singers are ideally balanced and the recording gives a real sense of remoteness throughout this movement.

http://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/holst-the-planets-9

[gggg...@gmail.com]

According to this review:

- My chief complaint with this CD is not the interpretation—it is stimulating to encounter a fresh mind at work on the music—but the consistent tendency towards playing that is too loud. Nowhere is this more obvious, of course, than in ''Neptune''. Ozawa (or perhaps the engineers are to blame) never achieves a real pp. The women's voices are too numerous as well as too strong—their first entry is treated as a crescendo, and there is no suggestion of mystical remoteness about them at any point.

http://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/holst-the-planets-9

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 at 11:01:37 PM UTC-10, Kerrison wrote:

> On Friday, April 11, 2014 12:56:35 AM UTC+1, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> > Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?
>

> Interestingly, the score indicates that the female voices at the end are to be divided into Chorus I and Chorus II, with the second choir providing a kind of "echo" effect to the first. I wonder how many recordings have separated them left and right stereophonically? I believe Sargent and the BBCSO did it that way on their 1957 HMV LP, but has anyone else done so since?

Concerning the recording w/Sargent conducting the BBCSO, I have a question concerning Youtube posts of that.

Some of them identify the chorus as the "bbc symphony chorus" while others identify the chorus as "bbc women's chorus".

Are we talking about 2 different recordings with the same orchestra but different choruses?

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 at 11:01:37 PM UTC-10, Kerrison wrote:
> On Friday, April 11, 2014 12:56:35 AM UTC+1, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> > Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?
>
> Interestingly, the score indicates that the female voices at the end are to be divided into Chorus I and Chorus II, with the second choir providing a kind of "echo" effect to the first. I wonder how many recordings have separated them left and right stereophonically? I believe Sargent and the BBCSO did it that way on their 1957 HMV LP, but has anyone else done so since?

That echo effect can also be heard on Boult's 1960's recording with the New Philharmonia.

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Sunday, June 1, 2014 at 7:15:02 AM UTC-10, Gerald Martin wrote:
> Andrew Davis/Toronto on EMI uses a children's chorus.

According to the following, so does Maazel's recording:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Planets_discography

[gggg...@gmail.com]

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 at 11:01:37 PM UTC-10, Kerrison wrote:
> On Friday, April 11, 2014 12:56:35 AM UTC+1, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> > Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?
>
> Interestingly, the score indicates that the female voices at the end are to be divided into Chorus I and Chorus II, with the second choir providing a kind of "echo" effect to the first. I wonder how many recordings have separated them left and right stereophonically? I believe Sargent and the BBCSO did it that way on their 1957 HMV LP, but has anyone else done so since?

According to this review:

- In ‘Neptune’ no-one has quite achieved that other-worldly quality that Sargent evinces from his wordless chorus.

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2014/Jul14/Sargent_icon_2564634121.htm

[gggg...@gmail.com]

If there is a stereo Neptune on Youtube from Sargent's studio recording, please let me know. They all seem to be mono.

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 at 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?

According to the following:

- [The quiet opening of Neptune] is the intense concentration of a prolonged gaze into infinity.

https://books.google.com/books?id=hGQJAQAAMAAJ&q=%22the+intense+concentration+of+a+prolonged+gaze+into+infinity.%22&dq=%22the+intense+concentration+of+a+prolonged+gaze+into+infinity.%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiFt_Ou9KrYAhUpxlQKHQ2nC_4Q6AEIKTAA

[O]

In article <42acba90-e218-4b5a...@googlegroups.com>,

How silly. Brings to mind Beecham's yaks or Disney's hippos. I was
gazing into infinity just the other night, then the neighbors closed
the drapes.

To me, it is just 'Allegro con brio.'

-Owen

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Wednesday, December 27, 2017 at 9:53:09 AM UTC-10, O wrote:
> In article <42acba90-e218-4b5a...@googlegroups.com>,

> <> wrote:
>
> > On Thursday, April 10, 2014 at 1:56:35 PM UTC-10, gggg...@gmail.com wrote:
> > > Steinberg? Dutoit? Gibson?
> >
> > According to the following:
> >
> > - [The quiet opening of Neptune] is the intense concentration of a prolonged
> > gaze into infinity.

https://books.google.com/books?id=hGQJAQAAMAAJ&q=%22prolonged+gaze+into+infinity%22&dq=%22prolonged+gaze+into+infinity%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi3yeHRzqLdAhXLjFQKHaw2BYYQ6AEILzAB