# Holst's The Planets with slow tempi



## Il_Penseroso (Nov 20, 2010)

I have a dozen of recordings: Composer's both acoustic and electrical, Boult, Stokowski, Sargent, Susskind, Ormany, Karajan, Herrmann, Previn, Haitink, Gibson, Gardiner and Lyold-Jones. 

Among them I've found Bernard Herrmann with the London Philharmonic the slowest. I'm still looking for recordings depicting slower tempi for some reasons. Any recommendation please?


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

If I'm not mistaken Herrmann's dreary Planets is the longest on record. I have quite a few Planets and one of the slower ones i have is Haitink/LPO. Colin Davis /LSO Live is another slow one but maybe it just sounds slow because its quite dull and boring. If you get the time you need to head over to the excellent Peter's Planets (link below). The wonderful Peter is a far too infrequent poster here and takes you through every recording.

https://petersplanets.wordpress.com/


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## tterrace (Nov 25, 2013)

Merl said:


> If I'm not mistaken Herrmann's dreary Planets is the longest on record. I have quite a few Planets and one of the slower ones i have is Haitink/LPO. Colin Davis /LSO Live is another slow one but maybe it just sounds slow because its quite dull and boring. If you get the time you need to head over to the excellent Peter's Planets (link below). The wonderful Peter is a far too infrequent poster here and takes you through every recording.
> 
> https://petersplanets.wordpress.com/


I was glad to see his enthusiasm for the 1954 Boult; it's the Planets I imprinted on back in 1954 or 1955 when I was 8, via the Westminster US release my older brother had gotten when he became a hi-fi bug in high school. I still have his (well-scratched) disc and album, in fact. The Mars is hair-raising and the Neptune magical. I've never heard anything to equal the performance. I have a bootleg CD-r from the vinyl; has it ever been issued officially from the master tapes?


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

tterrace said:


> I was glad to see his enthusiasm for the 1954 Boult; it's the Planets I imprinted on back in 1954 or 1955 when I was 8, via the Westminster US release my older brother had gotten when he became a hi-fi bug in high school. I still have his (well-scratched) disc and album, in fact. The Mars is hair-raising and the Neptune magical. I've never heard anything to equal the performance. I have a bootleg CD-r from the vinyl; has it ever been issued officially from the master tapes?


It's available on Deezer.


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## tterrace (Nov 25, 2013)

Merl said:


> It's available on Deezer.


Thanks. No CD or downloadable uncompressed or high-quality Mp3 or AAC availability, does anyone know?


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## Il_Penseroso (Nov 20, 2010)

Merl said:


> If I'm not mistaken Herrmann's dreary Planets is the longest on record. I have quite a few Planets and one of the slower ones i have is Haitink/LPO. Colin Davis /LSO Live is another slow one but maybe it just sounds slow because its quite dull and boring. If you get the time you need to head over to the excellent Peter's Planets (link below). The wonderful Peter is a far too infrequent poster here and takes you through every recording.
> 
> https://petersplanets.wordpress.com/


Thanks for your concern... also thanks for the link.


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## Il_Penseroso (Nov 20, 2010)

tterrace said:


> Thanks. No CD or downloadable uncompressed or high-quality Mp3 or AAC availability, does anyone know?


Here's a one on Youtube. Though I'm not sure if it helps (i.e. the pseudo-stereo restoration):


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

Not helpful, but there are three recordings of The Planets from Adrian Boult in here, from 1945, 1966 and 1978:









No sign of your elusive 1950s recordings, sorry.


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## Oldhoosierdude (May 29, 2016)

tterrace said:


> Thanks. No CD or downloadable uncompressed or high-quality Mp3 or AAC availability, does anyone know?


It is a download on Amazon and Google. Don't know the quality however.


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## JB Henson (Mar 29, 2019)

John Elliot Gardiner's Mars is the slowest I've ever heard. I hate it.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

CnC Bartok said:


> Not helpful, but there are three recordings of The Planets from Adrian Boult in here, from 1945, 1966 and 1978:
> 
> View attachment 123044
> 
> ...


Boult recorded the PLanets 5 times, btw (1945, 1954, 1960, 1967 & 1978). I have a FLAC rip of the 1954 Planets and it's definitely one to hear. Here's details of all 5 of Boult's recordings from Peter's Planets, for those who are interested.

https://petersplanets.wordpress.com/tag/boult-adrian/


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## Kiki (Aug 15, 2018)

^^ In addition to those 5 commercial recordings, the BBC has also released a live recording from the 1973 Proms, so there are six out there in the wild.









I have the 1945, 1966, 1973 Live & 1978/79. The 1973 live recording is quite amazing in its attack, despite the relatively poor sound quality. No idea about the 1953 and the 1959 though. Boult's Planets are not very collector friendly. :lol:


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## Il_Penseroso (Nov 20, 2010)

JB Henson said:


> John Elliot Gardiner's Mars is the slowest I've ever heard. I hate it.


You'll find Herrmann's and Haitink's even slower.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

I recently got hold of a CD of the Planets by Alexander Gibson and the RPO (not to be confused with his very good Chandos recording with the SNO). It's very broad indeed with Jupiter weighing in at nearly 8 minutes ( I know that's not unduly slow but Gibson slows down considerably for the big tune, making it seem slower than it is) . Its at least half a minute longer in each movement than his SNO account. It was a freebie given away with the Daily Telegraph. I picked it up for 25p in my local charity shop, last month. Rather slow but well recorded and played (pics below).


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## gardibolt (May 22, 2015)

I have the Amazon download of the 1954 Boult and I find the quality acceptable; it's never going to be great sounding, I'm afraid. This might be a good one for Andrew Rose to work his magic on.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

gardibolt said:


> I have the Amazon download of the 1954 Boult and I find the quality acceptable; it's never going to be great sounding, I'm afraid. This might be a good one for Andrew Rose to work his magic on.


Aye its a tremendous performance but the sound isnt great.


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