Holst: The Planets & Egdon Heath

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This is a mightily impressive account of The Planets.
The high is undoubtedly 'Saturn', whose remorseless tread has rarely seemed more implacable.
Aided by orchestral playing that's both memorably... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Release Date: 19th Feb 2002
Catalogue No: 8573890872
Label: Apex
Length: 63 minutes

Building a Library

August 2005

Budget Choice
International Classical Music Awards

2019

Nominee - Symphonic Music

Holst: The Planets, Op. 32

Work length50:20

$9.10

$11.90

Sir Andrew Davis (organ)
BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Chorus
Sir Andrew Davis

I. Mars, the Bringer of War

Track length6:44

$1.30

$1.70

II. Venus, the Bringer of Peace

Track length8:43

$1.30

$1.70

III Mercury, the Winged Messenger

Track length3:40

$1.30

$1.70

IV. Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity (I Vow to Thee, My Country)

Track length8:09

$1.30

$1.70

V Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age

Track length9:28

$1.30

$1.70

VI Uranus, the Magician

Track length6:17

$1.30

$1.70

VII Neptune, the Mystic

Track length7:19

$1.30

$1.70

Holst: Egdon Heath Op.47 : I Adagio - Poco Allegro - Andante maestoso

Work length13:07

$1.30

$1.70

BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sir Andrew Davis

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Reviews

2010

This is a mightily impressive account of The Planets.
The high is undoubtedly 'Saturn', whose remorseless tread has rarely seemed more implacable.
Aided by orchestral playing that's both memorably concentrated and rapt, Holst's textures in the closing section acquire a breathtaking translucency, and how memorably the BBC SO brass thrusts home the terrifying central climax.
'Neptune', too, is exceptionally successful: ethereally delicate tremolando harps set the scene for a tone picture of exquisite beauty, graced by choral work of notable purity from the women of the BBC Symphony Chorus. Elsewhere, 'Mercury' darts hither and thither in suitably impish fashion.
'Venus' is cool and chaste: if the BBC violins can't quite command the bloom and sheen of the very finest groups, the liquidity and poise of the woodwind are most striking. And the burst of energy at the close of 'Jupiter' is genuinely exhilarating. The spectacularly ample sound certainly makes the mischievous antics of 'Uranus' a feast for the ears, and Davis handles the coda superbly, plunging the listener into a world which is unnerving in its bleakness. He shows comparable perception in the similarly remote terrain of Egdon Heath, and succeeds in conveying much of the sombre intensity of Holst's cloud-hung evocation.

Holst: The Planets & Egdon Heath

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