bdp24 wrote (in part):
...Holst The Planets conducted by just about anyone (I favour Sir Adrian Boult)...
I also have an EMI/Angel pressing of Adrian Boult's rendition. I have several versions of The Planets on CD and LP, and have heard the Seattle Symphony play it live twice, with different conductors.
Anyway, I was listening to the Boult Planets and there were things about it that caught my attention, particularly the tempi and dynamics, but also the ability to bring up the volume of particularly significant themes or harmonies. I thought, "Whoever this guy is, he sounds like he was BORN to conduct this." I checked the liner notes and it turns out Sir Adrian Boult conducted the world premier of "The Planets." Not only that, but he did all the legwork, recruiting an orchestra up to the challenges, finding a suitable venue, raising funds, getting the word out, etc. He was probably working out The Planets with an orchestra while Holst was still composing it.
Anyway, on the back of the album jacket is the facsimile of a note handwritten by Holst, profusely thanking Boult's participation in that project, and realizing it might not have seen the light of day without Boult's participation.
So, yes Bdp24, there's a good reason for you favouring the Sir Adrian Boult version.
Another version I *really* like is conducted by John Eliot Gardiner. I was curious how a conductor so deeply involved in period-correct Baroque works, downsized for authenticity, could take such masterful command of The Planets, a work where the orchestral company has to recruit extra celli and bassists, and drag out just about every percussion instrument (plus the celeste) they can get ahold of.
It turns out that Gardiner is a descendant (grand nephew or something) of Holst's patron, who underwrote Holst's efforts to compose that ambitious work.
I love bombastic oversized orchestral works such as The Planets and Pictures at an Exhibition.
But I also love J.S. Bach's six Cello Suites. It demonstrates that J.S. Bach didn't know how to write bad music. The Suites are produced by one musician, one bow, and one cello, but the melodies are so compelling that they draw your mental focus in like a magnet. In fact, I find the Suites to be the best cure for earworms. Listen through one or two Suites and the musical flow on one hand and the creative intricacy on the other will make you forget everything else, and likely put a spring in your step for the rest of the day. Each of the six Suites is composed of six movements, which give you 36 first-rate melodies to flush out the earworms and replace them with a great stream of variety.
After 55 years or so, Janos Starker's version on Mercury Living Presence (from the mid-'60s) largely survives as the gold standard. A few years ago, it was *still* available on CD, SACD, LP, and hi-def download--every format up to the task.
I consider Starker's rendition of the Bach Suites analgous to the music you hear from the piano playing of the great Artur Rubinstein. Both are all business, avoid schmaltzy excess, and play with an expressive purity that showcases the genius of the composers. I also like Lynn Harrell's rendition (CD) on London Digital, whose tempo and style capture the dance origin of the Suites' format without getting too cute about it.
If you have a turntable, the Speakers Corner reissue of the mid-'60s Living Presence Bach Suites in stereo is to die for. I ought to know: I also have an original pressing in mono. I also grew up listening to Starker's Mercury Suites in stereo and heard my brother practicing his cello lessons for 9 straight years. The 9th year he studied under Lynn Harrell.
