More of the music of Gustav Holst (1874-1934)
Reviews and Commentaries for The Planets
This listing from 2008 has not aged well. We no longer recommend this performance of The Planets.
If you want to give one a try, make sure to get one on the Large Tulips label. The reissues tend to be thin and harsh.
Our current favorite performance of The Planets can be found here.
Notes from an Old Shootout
Side one here is AGAIG, as good as it gets. It shows the listener more of everything that’s wonderful about this wondrous work.
Side two is very nearly as good, and was only beaten slightly by one other copy in our shootout. This pressing gives you the complete work in the best sound we can find.
This was one long shootout, two and a half years in the making.
And I spent at least ten years before that collecting enough copies to be able to find some pattern in the stampers that clued me in as to what to look for.
It was a long time coming but we expect you will find it was all worth it in the end. This music is so important and moving; it belongs in every audiophile’s collection.
To get Steinberg’s version into your collection has not been easy, until now. This is the one.
Update 2023
As it turns out, as our stereo improved, we realized this recording, even on the best pressings, was not the one.
Live and Learn is our motto, and progress in audio is a feature, not a bug, of record collecting at the most advanced levels. “Advanced” is a code word for having little to no interest in any remastered pressing marketed to the audiophile community.
Further Reading