Review:

on 2011-03-27 CharlesMartel Said:

One of the earliest records I ever bought, and certainly the first classical record, was a recording of Gustav Holst's "The Planets". At the time I was just a kid who was fascinated by astronomy and I would spend hours of a clear evening looking through a telescope up at the night sky. I always got the greatest thrill when I was able to see one of the planets in full majesty. Buying an album about those planets seemed to be a fine way of demonstrating my interest. Unfortunately, being a kid at the time, I was not fully able to appreciate "The Planets" as well as I later could. I lost that record many years ago and it was not until relatively recently that I purchased a fresh copy on CD.

Whatever else Holst may have done in his career, he will always be best remembered for this suite. His personal fascination with the solar system sees the listener taken on a musical ride through it, missing out only the Earth and Pluto, the latter of which had not been discovered when the suite was written. Each planet is given characteristics which broadly (very broadly?) represent those of the Roman God after whom each planet is named. Having said that, I am unconvinced that Neptune was much of a broody, almost pathological loner, or that Jupiter was really such a jolly old deity as Holst portrays them to be.

And yet it is with Jupiter that Holst's suite reaches its true stature. The music here is at times majestic, at times rambunctious and at times even playful. The characterisation of Jupiter is only matched by his characterisation of Mars as the bringer of war, a dark and brooding piece of music which has a martial subtheme played out under a melancholy and at times frightening arrangement. As Holst lived through the Great War of 1914 to 1918, it is hardly surprising that he portrays war in this ambivalent light. The characterisation of Saturn is the third impressive piece in the suite, full of grandeur and large sounds, albeit with a somewhat sinister overtone, as befits the brooding nature of the deity.

While the other pieces have their moments they seem to be less impressive than this trilogy. In particular, the depiction of Neptune as a mystic (far from his powerful oceanic representation in mythology), and the relatively quiet and contemplative nature of the piece, including a rather muted performance from the choir, seems a little strange. Indeed, far from drawing on the rather more familiar personae of the gods in something like Ovid's Metamorphosis, Holst seems to prefer to link the planets instead with the aspects of their astrological influence and portray their characterisations in that light. At times it works well; at others it is somewhat less successful.

I do have some difficulties with the version itself as contained in this recording, principally around the interpretation placed upon it by Sir Simon Rattle. Rattle is not one of my favourite conductors, despite his undoubted talent and well-established reputation. His flamboyant personality (and flamboyant, dare I say, new romantic, hairstyle) is not matched by a flamboyance and flair when it comes to interpretations of the pieces. His reading of "The Planets" portrays this trait, yet that is more than compensated for by the sense of feeling and vivacity which the recording itself creates. This is, therefore, one of the better recordings of "The Planets" and is recommended to anyone with an interest in the classics who is looking for a good, accessible introduction to well-loved piece of music.
Rating: 6/10