by JOHN EARGLE
With at least 10 entries in the CD catalog (and more on the way), Gustav Holst's suite for large orchestra, "The Planets," must surely be reckoned one of the all-time orchestral favorites. But it was not always so. The work was completed in 1915 but not given its first full performance until 1920. Even during the burgeoning of the mono LP catalog in the early '50s, there was little representation of "The Planets" on records. I remember from those days only a 78 rpm English recording with, I believe, Adrian Boult conducting.
During the '60s, a number of stereo recordings began to appear, and the work was on its way to becoming a recording favorite, if not a concert-hall favorite. With the advent of digital technology, more recordings appeared, presumably spurred on by the capability of that medium to capture the immense range of the music.
The CD format seems tailor-made for "The Planets"-there are no side breaks, and, to handle the work's sonic demands, the CD has all the dynamic range and power bandwidth capability that one could wish for.
From the conductor's point of view, the work requires much musical planning. A lot of the orchestral writing is turgid, and textures must be kept clean. Some of the movements are just too long and must be kept taut. Finally, there are so many resources involved, including organ, women's chorus, and extra wind and percussion instruments, that normal orchestral routines must be changed.
From the producer's and engineer's point of view, the difficulties are awesome. Two four-hour recording sessions, the normal time allotment for a full CD, are barely enough-with luck.
More time than anticipated may be required to get acceptable orchestral balances, and this is often time taken away from productive recording. Balancing the organ and chorus with the orchestra will invariably take away from recording time, and the demands for absolute quiet in the softer sections are not always met. However, when all the right ingredients (or just most of them) come together in a recording, the effect over a wide-range playback system is both exciting and gratifying.
I recently auditioned 10 versions of "The Planets" on CD, and all are reviewed here, more or less in the order in which they were recorded. After addressing each, I will pick what I consider to be the best of the batch.
Sir Adrian Boult, London Philharmonic Orchestra (Precision PVCD 8381). Watch this one carefully! The performance is a classic, but the recording was made in mono in 1954 (probably an EMI original). The present reissue is obviously under license.
There are no notes whatever, and that is a shame. The remastering of the recording includes added stereo reverberation, and that really gets in the way of the original recording. I would not have minded an intelligent remake into artificial stereo, via Lauridsen's comb-filtering technique, inasmuch as mono playback of Lauridsen pseudo-stereo restores the original mono source. But here, the overlay of artificial reverberation is too much.
Leonard Bernstein, New York Philharmonic (CBS MYK-37226). The recording was made in 1973, and the present version has apparently been remixed from the original multi-track sources. CBS is to be congratulated for going to the effort to do this, rather than simply working with the existing two-track analog tapes. Bernstein's performance emphasizes the drama in the score, but some of that drama seems to be compromised by tempos that are exaggerated-both slow and fast. There are some ensemble problems, and I am left with the feeling that the overall production is a little bit perfunctory.
Sonically, the remix is quite good.
There are a few moments of old analog hiss and roughness of texture, but it's not bad, considering the era of the recording. There are lots of microphones used, but a pretty good feeling of natural fore/aft perspective has been retained in the remix.
LEONARD BERNSTEIN
Walter Susskind, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (Moss Music Group MCD 10038). This recording dates from 1974 and was originally made in four channel analog. The original two-channel mixdown was via matrix quad. Apparently, the present version takes us back to the original tapes, with no matrix compromise. Susskind was a superb conductor whose star has set, one hopes, only temporarily. The performance is intelligent; the music is paced beautifully, and the orchestra handles it all in stride.
The recording perspective is a little distant by today's standards, requiring some getting used to, especially the big ambience of the hall. However, all the orchestral details seem to be there.
This is clearly the best of the "old" recordings of "The Planets," both musically and technically.
SIR GEORG SOLTI
Sir Georg Solti, London Philharmonic Orchestra ( London 414 567-2). This production dates from 1978. The sound may put you off, but the fault is not in the recording. Anyone who has heard a live Solti performance will know what I mean. For all his musical excitement, Solti pushes the orchestra to such a feverish pitch that the brass take on an uncomfortable edge and the strings become coarse. The sound, which is analog original, is what many anti-digital people used to accuse digital recordings of. About the only really pleasant thing in the sonic texture is the Kingsway Hall pipe organ (most of the other performances on CD make use of electronic instruments). The recording used London's usual technique: A main pickup array plus many accent microphones operated at reduced level. The only problem is the hard-driven performance.
SIR ALEXANDER GIBSON
Sir Alexander Gibson, Scottish National Orchestra (Chandos CD 8302). This is a fairly early digital recording, dating from 1979. Gibson understands the Holst idiom very well and turns in a superb performance. His " Neptune" movement has all the excitement one could want, and he takes that usually earthbound scherzo to heights which most other conductors in this survey can't quite muster.
The recording approach of Chandos borrows from English Decca ( London in the U.S.) traditions, except that Chandos favors closer-in microphone positions. The result is a lot of "tizz" around the sound when heard over wide-range loudspeakers. Over the radio, or over lesser systems, the sound may be okay. Some of this may be the fault of early digital, but I doubt it.
Simon Rattle, The Philharmonia Orchestra (EMI CC38 3028, Japanese import). This digital recording dates from 1980. Again, we have an English conductor who understands the Holst idiom and gives us readings that are satisfactory overall. The sound is good but not distinguished. There also appears to be some kind of digital problem at the beginning of "Venus," where the opening horn figure is distorted with a funny buzzing; it sounds to me like some kind of gross quantization error in the digital encoding. Actually, the signal level is not low enough for this to be the case, but that is certainly what it sounds like. This is, however, a minor objection, and the recording is quite good overall.
HERBERT VON KARAJAN
Herbert von Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic (Deutsche Grammophon 400 028-2). On this digital recording dating from 1981, von Karajan turns in a hard driven performance that reminds one of Solti, except that the slow movements convey more repose. Von Karajan's conception of the score is almost completely subverted by the grotesque recording approach, in which accent microphones completely dissect the orchestral ensemble. Fore/aft perspectives are so out of proportion that the front row of strings across the stereo stage can almost be counted! In addition, the low end, under 50 Hz, has been attenuated, and the sound made gutless.
LORIN MAAZEL
Lorin Maazel, L'Orchestre National de France (CBS MK 37249). This digital recording of 1982 is an example of the wrong venue and the wrong recording approach. It was done in a large studio, but not one large enough to get along without artificial reverberation. What has been added in the artificial reverberation department is not natural; one hears "jangling" ring-outs where there should be natural decays.
On top of all this, there are digital problems. Typical here is the fade-out at the end of "Venus," where we hear the obvious effects of missing digital data.
Under the circumstances of the recording, and against such formidable competition, it seems almost pointless to comment on Maazel's interpretation of the score.
Andrew Davis, The Toronto Symphony (Angel CDC 47417). This CD was digitally recorded in 1986. Davis turns in a stunning performance, and the orchestra is up to all his demands.
The recording is remarkable in another way as well: One person, Anton Kwiatkowski, was responsible for both recording and producing. This is most unusual in an age of specialization.
There are a number of people who can handle either job, but doing them both at the same time is a problem, considering the pressures of commercial orchestral recording sessions.
In any event, Kwiatkowski does a beautiful job for Davis and the orchestra. With subtle use of accent microphones supplementing a main pickup array, he gets back-of-the-orchestra detail without destroying natural perspectives. The notes state that this recording was made on a 24-track Sony recorder, presumably allowing the producer/engineer to be unconcerned with details of balance during the session and to concentrate on matters of performance and covering the score.
Subsequent mixdown was made to two-track. I am impressed with all aspects of the recording, as unorthodox as the basic approach was.
André Previn, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Telarc CD-80133). Previn's identification with English music is well established, and he understands it to the core. This performance, digitally recorded in 1986, demonstrates his affinity for the score, just as did his earlier 1970s recording for EMI (not yet available on CD, but coming soon, I understand). The recording approach is as orthodox as Andrew Davis' was not. Here we have typical Telarc minimal paced-omni miking, with the expected natural perspectives. As with many Telarcs, it helps to raise the volume a bit to make up for the fact that there has been little, if any, manipulation of dynamic range during the recording. I am impressed with all aspects of this Compact Disc.
ANDRÉ PREVIN
Now for my conclusions. Curiously, the "big three" conductors, Bernstein, von Karajan, and Solti, do not rank high in these comparisons. The problems are basically on the recording side, and it would be good if these conductors could somehow reap the benefits of natural, uncluttered production techniques.
Of the older recordings, I judge Susskind's to be the best in the group, in both performance and recording.
While Gibson's performance is superb, it is done in by questionable recording practice.
This pretty much leaves us with the Davis and Previn versions, which really walk away with the honors, about equally, in both performance and recording areas. Technologically, I lean more toward the Previn, but I am thoroughly impressed with the Davis as well.
(Source: Audio magazine, Oct 1987)
FMX-Technology Update (Oct. 1987)
= = = =