This recording of The Planets, generally quite
well spoken of by other reviewers, has been around a while and was once
available on Quadraphonic LP. Now it is released on a double sided EMI
DVD containing the same program in four formats. Side A will play on
DVD players (but not on CD players) and contains a four
channel ("4.0") AC-3 encoded surround sound format recording and a 2.0
channel Linear PCM stereo version of the identical program in "48/24,"
that is, 48KHz sampling frequency and 24bit sample depth. On the television
screen one sees a pleasing abstract still graphic which changes colour
as the successive pieces play, which one may select using the arrow
keys on the remote for the DVD player. During the playing of Op.47 the
quote from Thomas Hardy inscribed on the score is displayed on the screen.
One can also switch back and forth between the two sound formats with
keys on the remote. On this particular disk there is no informative
text video display.
It must be said that during A/B comparisons I could
not detect any improvement in the ambience, in fact any difference
whatever in the ambience in the 4.0 version over the 2.0 version played
through a Dolby PRO Logic decoder. However the 2.0 version appeared
to have significantly higher resolution. That is what I listen to from
this side of the disk and I suggest you will do likewise. However, let
there be no mistake, even my aged ears can hear a significant improvement
in sound between the CD at 44/16 and the DVD at 48/24. Improved transparency,
dynamic range, reduced distortion, a greater sense of ‘depth’ or what
recording engineers call ‘air’.
Side B again contains two versions of the identical
program, one in 48/24 MLP encoded 4.0 surround sound and one in 48/24
2.0 stereo. These are only playable on dedicated DVD-Audio players and
when this is accomplished the quality of sound improves another quantum
jump over side 1. The dynamic range is richer and orchestral detail
so clear that following with a score becomes superfluous, most especially
in the surround sound version. Once you hear this, you’ll not bother
to listen to any other part of the disk. The dynamic range in Mars,
for instance, moves from the faintest whisper on the snare drum to the
full orchestra with brass choir encompassing a greater dynamic range
than I’ve ever heard from any kind of disk before! Timpani are clearly
differentiated from bass drum both in location and tone. In Neptune,
the chorus is securely in the back of the hall. After hearing this,
no matter what your favorite performance of The Planets has been, this
will certainly be your favourite recording.
Previn’s tempos at first seem just slightly on the
brisk side, but in fact he is actually slower than Boult 1953, my reference
recording. Mars is particularly strong. The rhythm is sharply
precise but always gripping, the low brass are rich, the timpani pitches
are clearly distinguishable and very separate from the bass drum. On
too many recordings the timpani and bass drum merge into a lumpy lurching
growl. (Leonard Bernstein on Sony manages to get a particularly violent
effect in Mars with some gross tempo changes, particularly in
the finale. At the end one has the definite feeling something has been
stomped to death.) The Venus might be a tad foursquare for some
tastes (Karajan and the Vienna PO on an old Decca stereo recording achieve
a tender sensuous sweetness here). Mercury and Jupiter
go well. Boult 1953 achieves a more Elgarian grandeur in Jupiter
without making the tambourines seem out of place. Although some may
prefer a bit more organ, Previn’s Saturn is supreme, overwhelming;
I cannot hear it without breaking down. The xylophone in Uranus
is very clear without being loud and again the timpani pitches are clearly
distinct. Some may prefer a bit more organ. In Neptune the balances,
especially the glockenspiel, the chorus and the harps, are perfect.
Some conductors omit the harps presumably because they can’t play precisely,
evenly or softly enough. In some recordings (e.g. Boult’s stereo Westminster
go at it with the Vienna State Opera Orchestra) you wish he’d
omitted them. They sound like someone rattling dishes in the kitchen
next door.
During a performance of The Planets with the
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by John Williams an incident
dramatised how difficult to play are the percussion parts in Jupiter.
During the movement the three percussionists had been jumping back and
forth at the back of the orchestra grabbing one thing after another
to make their cues. At the end of the movement two of the percussionists
sank gratefully into their folding chairs while the third set off in
a dead run toward the bass drum only to fumble and drop the stick. So,
the conductor held the penultimate chord for what seemed like ten minutes
while the humiliated man crawled on all fours under the music stands
until he found the stick, placed himself at the drum and nodded at the
conductor. Then they delivered the final coup perfectly together. The
once distinguished Los Angeles Times music critic did not report this
in his review because he held the music in such contempt that he skipped
out on the concert early. When criticised for this, he responded with
a two page outburst in the Sunday music supplement denouncing The
Planets as an "ooze orgy" and suggesting that anyone who liked it
was an illiterate imbecile fit only to watch Spielberg movies — this
from a man who had recently sat still all the way through a performance
of Lucia di Lammermoor! It was his last appearance in the paper.
The Perfect Fool has never sounded so good.
Egdon Heath comes off especially well in the higher resolution
sound. The silences between the notes seem much deeper, the individual
instruments so clear and real. The first time I played it, I had to
hear it a second time straight through
Paul Shoemaker
*Ambrosian Singers (Chorus
Master: John McCarthy) 