Search - Gustav Holst, William [composer] Walton, Eugene Ormandy :: Holst: The Planets; Walton: Facade

Fairly Fine on 'The Planets'

Shota | Torrance, CA | 02/11/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Overall, Lenny's performance with the New York Phil on 'The Planets' is indeed fine in this CD. Jupiter is definitely awesome; the very best one I ever heard. Bernstein is definitely the best when it comes on this brilliant piece, especially the famous soft andante ('I vow to Thee'). The recording on Mars is excellent as well, and is likely to show his thrilling, boastful, and energetic performance. On the other hand, Uranus is kind of disappointing. The rest of them are well played.This CD is OK, but if you want to buy the Planets, you should buy Previn's or Karajan's instead. If you're after Jupiter only, this CD will definitely do!"

Very enjoyable for budget price

Ray Barnes | Surrey, British Columbia Canada | 05/07/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a very generous CD at budget price with a total playing time of almost 80 minutes. Bernstein's performance was originally recorded at Avery Fisher Hall in late November and early December, 1971, and is well played. Not unexpectedly, the reading has plenty of brio and excitement. Jupiter has plenty of weight and power. The digital remastering in 1996 has improved the sound from the original LPs, but there are other performances in this price range with even better sound. The Walton coupling is very enterprising and well performed, although the original recording dates from 1961 and still has some opaqueness in the remastering. The documentation is excellent, and the reproduction of the Van Gogh "Sternennacht uber der Rhone" (starry night over the Rhone) on the cover is welcome too. All in all, this can be recommended."

It's ok, but there much better

Joshua Kaufman | Cincinnati, OH | 01/08/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"For whatever reason, this recording of The Planets is generally highly recieved. Personally, I don't care much for it, outside of the wonderful rendition of Mars. For me, Bernstein is quite often a hit or miss conductor, and here he misses. Jupiter lacks energy (and goes too slow at times), Neptune lacks mystery, and Uranus lacks power. While the sound is pretty good for an Essential Classics release, and Mars is done very very well as I said, it just doesn't stand up to Levine's or Gardiner's wonderful renditions.

Now the "filler", excepts from Facade, is a whole seperate story. This is a great performance of this odd work for speaker and chamber group, as well as any such work could be. Personally I don't care for speaker when I listen as it tends to distract, but often the words and even the music are just so funny, one can't help but laugh a bit. Really I can only recommend this CD if either you've never heard Facade and want to test the waters on a cheaper recording before gettin the whole thing."