This is a very exciting and marvelously played performance of The Planets. Where Paavo Järvi really excels is in securing amazingly precise rhythm (critical in Holst) at some very fleet tempos. Passages that usually come off as a garbled mess, such as the upward run for brass and timpani at the start of Jupiter’s recapitulation, here sound perfectly clean. The Cincinnati brass and percussion have a field day in Mars, Saturn, and Uranus, while Mercury is light as a feather. There’s no lack of mystery in Neptune, or sweetness in Venus. It’s just a pleasure of a performance from beginning to end, and my only tiny reservation concerns the fact that the cymbals are balanced a bit backward in the mix, robbing some of the extra dazzle from a couple of the otherwise extremely vivid climactic moments.
The Young Person’s Guide appeared previously coupled to Järvi’s recording of Elgar’s Enigma Variations (and the Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes). I suppose it offers additional value if you don’t already have that previous release, and it’s also an excellent performance, but of course it would have been nicer if Telarc had found something else as a coupling, giving listeners good reason to get both discs. But that’s their problem, not yours. If the coupling suits, this is wholly recommendable.
