Holst - The Planets [Ozawa-Boston Symphony Orchestra]
I've listened to this work a lot, even though i haven't got a lot of recordings of it, this is my third recording, and this is its maiden voyage, i sort of grew up with the Planets, even before i properly got into Classical music, there always seemed to be a vinyl LP of the Planets hanging around, i used to love Saturn the best [Holst's favourite], so it was good to try a different version, and get a different perspective.
Seiji Ozawa is Japanese, he is now 79, a long and distinguished recording career, he spent a lot of time at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and he recorded this back in 1979, this disc is a re-issue on the Philips 'Insignia' series, a wonderful bunch of discs, this one shows a lovely portrait of Ozawa [by Christian Steiner], very black & white, apart from the face, and the pink box with the lettering, nicely laid out.
It was Jupiter and Uranus i enjoyed the most, i must admit on this first listen, i found Ozawa a little low key, Mars should be menacing, and was a little on the tame side, Uranus needs to be ostentatious, a little too refined for my taste, but still the whole thing was colourful enough, maybe i need to listen to the whole thing at a louder volume, so here's my thoughts on Uranus,
6 Uranus / The Magician [5:41] - A piece with lots of brass and percussion, it's all over the place, stops and starts, all sorts of ideas coming in from nowhere, a real jumble at times, and yet wholly Holstian, it certainly has a similarity to Dukas's The Sorcerers Apprentice, another piece on the theme of Magic, i love the use of the xylophone [0:38-0:54], Holst nearly breaks into brass band music [1:24-1:45], reminiscent of his Hammersmith Overture, and then he breaks into a march [2:29+], using the timpani expertly, the whole thing comes to a head, and it explodes into a cacophony of sound [3:36+], with the xylophone again at the forefront of the riot, surprisingly the whole thing comes to a sudden 'end' [4:10], but it's a false ending, the sad strings and twanging harp are interrupted by the bassoon, and the rest of the mob come in again [4:44+], and then there's this desolate peace, but then it does have this dead ending of a couple of dull thuds [5:33 & 5:35], a strange piece indeed, but then there's Neptune...
Here's Mackerras conducting Uranus on YouTube.
Seiji Ozawa is Japanese, he is now 79, a long and distinguished recording career, he spent a lot of time at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and he recorded this back in 1979, this disc is a re-issue on the Philips 'Insignia' series, a wonderful bunch of discs, this one shows a lovely portrait of Ozawa [by Christian Steiner], very black & white, apart from the face, and the pink box with the lettering, nicely laid out.
It was Jupiter and Uranus i enjoyed the most, i must admit on this first listen, i found Ozawa a little low key, Mars should be menacing, and was a little on the tame side, Uranus needs to be ostentatious, a little too refined for my taste, but still the whole thing was colourful enough, maybe i need to listen to the whole thing at a louder volume, so here's my thoughts on Uranus,
6 Uranus / The Magician [5:41] - A piece with lots of brass and percussion, it's all over the place, stops and starts, all sorts of ideas coming in from nowhere, a real jumble at times, and yet wholly Holstian, it certainly has a similarity to Dukas's The Sorcerers Apprentice, another piece on the theme of Magic, i love the use of the xylophone [0:38-0:54], Holst nearly breaks into brass band music [1:24-1:45], reminiscent of his Hammersmith Overture, and then he breaks into a march [2:29+], using the timpani expertly, the whole thing comes to a head, and it explodes into a cacophony of sound [3:36+], with the xylophone again at the forefront of the riot, surprisingly the whole thing comes to a sudden 'end' [4:10], but it's a false ending, the sad strings and twanging harp are interrupted by the bassoon, and the rest of the mob come in again [4:44+], and then there's this desolate peace, but then it does have this dead ending of a couple of dull thuds [5:33 & 5:35], a strange piece indeed, but then there's Neptune...
Here's Mackerras conducting Uranus on YouTube.
