Gustav Holst (1874-1934)
The Planets, Op 32
Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934)
Pomp and Circumstance Military March No 1, Op 39
Camerata Singers
New York Philharmonic Orchestra/Leonard Bernstein
rec. 1971, Avery Fisher Hall, New York
Reviewed as download
Sony Classics G010000934534X [56]
Over-familiarity with Holst’s magnificent score that is The Planets Suite has perhaps led some listeners to take it for granted or even to dismiss it altogether. Not me, I hasten to add – although this recording certainly tried my patience as, yes, this is Bernstein at his most wilful, so much so that at times he often sounds as if he’s operating in a completely different solar system from the rest of the human race. So Mars is taken very fast, but with barely a hint of aggression, sounding more like a concerto for orchestra, rather than something written just before the outbreak of the First World War, full of foreboding. Venus is sensuous in parts, but the celeste at the end is hideously spotlit, its twinkling making the music sound like something from a Disney movie – far too calorific. Mercury is just too swift, even for the expert New York Philharmonic players who are left scrambling to keep up with Bernstein’s ill-judged tempos here. On the other hand, Jupiter sounds portentous, its central lyrical section mannered and overdone, while Saturn seems merely disengaged. Finest of all is Uranus, which responds best to Bernstein’s uber-extrovert approach, although much to my surprise, he also pulls off a very good Neptune too, with the Camerata Singers neatly balanced. Still, this is all too little too late and my favourites remain Sir Adrian Boult with the New Philharmonia Orchestra (review) and Herbert von Karajan in Vienna (review).
In spite of my own misgivings, there are some who rather rate this recording – as there are others who still swear by Leopold Stokowski’s recording with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, in spite of the conductor’s habitual interventions which includes an outrageous tam-tam roll at the end of Mars, amongst other Hollywoodian-horrors [review]. If that is the case and you must have a Bernstein Planets, then the best sonics for his recording can be found on the 2017 remastered issue rather than this one, where you can more clearly hear Bernstein’s decision to seat the two harps either side of the orchestra; that issue is also available as a high resolution download format.
However, there is one very good reason why prospective purchasers should skip that Holst-only album and instead opt for this one.
That is because at the end of reviewing this Planets Suite, with this as well as his infamous BBCSO Enigma Variations still echoing in my mind’s ear, I was left wondering if Bernstein really understood British music at all – but then the ‘bonus’ started. Is it right that one should have an album in a collection just for a performance of Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March No 1 ? I’ll let your wallet be the judge of that, but listening to this performance, which opens with a brilliance and swagger I cannot recollect ever hearing before in the music, with a central section of such stirring and noble grandeur that any listener would wish they were British if they weren’t already, I’m once again reminded that Lenny was a genius. An unpredictable one, yes, infuriating at times too, but on the basis of this short piece by Elgar lasting less than six minutes, an indisputable one.
Lee Denham
Editor’s note: please be aware that this download release is not available in all geographical regions
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