Which of Holst's Planets Sounds the Best?

May 15, 2008 5:29 PM

Seeking the definitive recording of Gustav Holst's The Planets.

In planning for the 2008 competitive marching season, we have selected music from The Planets. The entire staff has listened to several versions of the work, but thought I'd use my bi-weekly question and query the hivemind as to the best recording of this work since we cannot seem to settle on a particular interpretation.

posted by bach to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

I've heard many, and in my opinion the best was a recording by William Steinberg and the Boston Symphony, which was issued by Deutsche Grammaphon. Unfortunately, that was 35 years ago.

It's listed here, so maybe it's still available.
posted by Class Goat at 6:20 PM on May 15, 2008

I have the Charles Dutoit/Montreal Symphony Orchestra version, which is pretty good.

(Disclaimer - I'm not exactly a classical guru, so I have to defer to Class Goat on this...)
posted by The Shiny Thing at 6:32 PM on May 15, 2008

I have a recording by the Hallé Orchestra. Can't seem to find the exact CD, but this one seems to be the same. An extra is the specially-commissioned "Pluto".
posted by Xere at 6:40 PM on May 15, 2008

Don't know about the music quality, but without a doubt the Westminster Records recording has the best cover art.
posted by Etaoin Shrdlu at 8:18 PM on May 15, 2008

I like the Andre Previn Royal Philharmonic
posted by hortense at 8:51 PM on May 15, 2008

If you want to browse some pro reviews, join http://gramophone.co.uk/ and their Gramophile thing. It's free access to tons of their reviews. You can search for all their reviews of The Planets and see what they think. After all, they've listened to tons.
posted by ChickenringNYC at 10:10 PM on May 15, 2008

I've listened to versions conducted by Solti, Dutoit, and Karajan and of the three prefer the Karajan.
posted by shadow vector at 10:37 PM on May 15, 2008