From start to finish, astute collectors will discover that there is nothing terribly special about this performance and that it is bettered by numerous studio versions, including the reference recordings listed above. But the LSO management must have felt that this was a document worth preserving, featuring a conductor and orchestra whose Holstian credentials alone should be enough to engage our interest. So here we have yet another in the ever-expanding parade of Planets readings. Given that Colin Davis’ earlier Berlin Philharmonic recording on Philips from the late 1980s is long out-of-print (and long forgotten) we now at least have his current thoughts (such as they are) on this extremely popular work.
For the most part, Davis succeeds mainly in the loud sections (and who doesn’t?), but the result will not impress audiophiles dazzled by the sheer sonic impact of earlier recordings from Dutoit, Mehta, and even Boult. Davis offers a suitably determined interpretation of Mars, its forthright intentions established immediately by the nippy opening rhythms. Jupiter, too, comes off well without any ugly surprises (and also without a whole lot of strength in the low brass). And finally, Neptune benefits from a first-rate celesta player and barely-perceptible yet luminous strains from the women’s chorus.
The remainder of the program lapses into mediocrity, thanks to drab phrasing in Venus, some slack, unspirited playing in Mercury, and an interminably slow Saturn that just crawls (it’s supposed to represent old age, not induce it). Uranus is uneven, beset by some slapdash playing in the flutes’ skittering eighth-note passages, missed cues by the timpani (the exposed parts at 2:11 on track 6 that double the bassoons), an inaudible organ glissando, and a general lack of impact from the bass drum. Even the hair-raising climactic crescendos that close the movement fail to awe. Those who recall the subwoofer-destroying organ pedal-tones in Dutoit’s ever-exciting traversal will not find much to crow about here. So this is a mixed bag, and another missed opportunity for this accident-prone label.
