The Planets

There used to be a time when I would put blind trust in the reviewers of The Gramophone, but nowadays their judgment (or their hearing?) appears to be increasingly impaired. Last month they cursorily dismissed the glorious new recording of Bruckner 8 that Thielemann made in Dresden; this month they had as an 'Editor's choice' this pretty awful reading of The Planets, that is about as subtle as a sledgehammer demolishing a slab of reinforced concrete. True, this may not be the most refined of musical compositions, but it contains a lot more nuance and feeling than Jurowski gets out of it, who doesn't seem to know that there are dynamic possibilities quieter than mezzoforte, or tempos slower than Andante con moto.

Which is to say that everything in this Planets is loud and fast. Jurowski careens through the piece in almost ten minutes less time than Dutoit took in his classic reading. This works to some extent in the fast movements, that acquire a superficial sense of excitement and orchestral brilliance, but it robs Mars of its menace, and it ruins the poetry of Venus (marked Adagio but taken as a swift Andante); gone, too, are the majesty of Jupiter, the gloominess of Saturn and the mystery of Neptune - the latter, with its many guirlandes, sounding ridiculously matter of fact, almost like a study. The chorus is fine and well distanced but their hurried eighth notes sound muddled and there is no fade out at the end, they just stop.

The recording is harsh and unforgiving to match, shrill at the top end and lacking in ambiance and warmth. Occasionally an interesting detail leaps out (the left-right division of the violins is nice), but the organ goes for nothing, even in the insane glissando at the end of Uranus; and the bells in Saturn first sound like an ill-tuned harp, and then go inaudible when the metal striker is replaced with a felt one. If you want your Planets loud and fast and superficially sensational, you might consider this; if you want to get in touch with the undoubted feeling and poetry behind many of these notes, going for Dutoit, Gardiner or Andrew Davis is a much wiser choice.

The London Philharmonic has performed and recorded Holst's best-known (but perhaps least characteristic) orchestral work many times, most notably in Sir Adrian Boult's valedictory 1978 taping--still arguably the closest thing to a definitive reading of this many-faceted suite. Yet this concert performance under the LPO's current music director makes the piece sound fresh, almost as though it was being played for the first time rather than the umpteenth. At fast tempi approaching the composer's own breakneck pace of 41 minutes, Jurowski elicits tenderness in "Venus" as adroitly as he conveys menace in "Mars." Those who believe the suite's slow movements need to be soaked in legato syrup may turn away, but for anyone who doesn't insist on rounded-off corners, Jurowski's approach can be invigorating. As it was for me--I felt the performance threw open a window and let a blast of clean air into a chamber that had become festooned with cobwebs.

There are some disappointments. The dry acoustic of London's Royal Festival Hall is only slightly less arid than the Barbican Centre in which the London Symphony plays these days, although this sonic gauntness also enhances the clarity and transparency of the reading. "Saturn," my favorite movement, could stand just a tad more breathing room; the crushing onset of old age doesn't seem quite as inexorable when the procession is so brisk. In that movement and elsewhere, the organ--admittedly a supporting player--is nearly inaudible (I'm not absolutely certain the glissando at the climax of "Uranus" is actually played). Finally, I find the sudden cut-off of the wordless chorus that concludes "Neptune" as jarring as other commentators have. Yet any of these flaws would be more glaring in a performance that otherwise had only bland correctness to commend it.

This CD combines beautiful orchestra music that is supposed to mimic the sounds of the planets. With eerie silences, ethereal melodic lines and the exquisite talents of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, this CD provides you some very relaxing music as well as some musically diverse works. Although this CD was not exactly what I was expecting, it is still a nice CD to relax to and enjoy.