Not that I was around when Yuri Gagarin made his famous flight, but his name has always been the beacon of promise. Anyway, as yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of his big moment in history - and damnit I was going to blog it except I got distracted - it seems a appropriate to pay tribute with Gustav Holst's 'The Planets'.
Holst's 'The Planets' is of course the collective cycle of music that formed the template for John Williams' soundtrack for the original 'Star Wars', which if nothing else means it has much more reach than we ordinarily give it credit. It's probably more meaningful in recent history than say the doodle of Erik Satie or something like the 'Bolero'.
Today I present to you my favourite recording of this cycle of orchestral bombast.
This one is Charles Dutoit conducting the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, originally released in 1987. What do I like about this recording? Let's see... It's fully digital from the recording to the mix to the mastering. And it has one of the fastest renditions of 'Mars, the bringer of War'. The 'Jupiter, bringer of Jollity' is dynamic and rich. The whole album is clear, it's evocative and energetic and actually sounds quite a bit like its idiot bastard son, the sound track to 'Star Wars', which in its own way has an unique sonorous quality.
Because the piece is so popular, there are many performances of this thing in recording. Over the years across LPs and CDs, I have owned 4 versions of this thing by different conductors. Heck I have more of these than Goldberg variations or Bach's Orchestral Suites or sets of Beethoven's symphonies. I can only conclude by this numerical evidence that I must really like this bit of music.
What always amazes me is just how different these same pieces can sound with different conductors and orchestras and rooms. The differences can be quite surprising when listened to and given A/B testing. In many ways this album is an artefact of its time with its crystal clear, bell-like digital tones with somewhat jagged lower mids, but I do like how the dynamic range plays out in the recording as well as the gusto in the performance. It almost sounds reinvigorated as a result of the advent of 'Star Wars' movies and the renewed interest in the source material. Anyway, on the day after the day commemorating the first man into space, I thought this one might be of some interest.
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