Vol. 3 Review/Gustav Holst: The Planets—William Steinberg & Boston Symphony Orchestra: The DG Recordings Original Source 3LP Vinyl-Box

I don’t like writing reviews with multiple subjects, music or gear. One at a time for me. Focus. Cable looms make things extra difficult for me, but for everything else no matter the manufacturer's request, I break into individual reviews. Same for this important release from DG The Original Source; the long-awaited William Steinberg recorded canon with his Boston Symphony Orchestra and combined into a superbly executed boxed set. Steinberg’s was a short-lived music directorship that produced three very famous recordings on Deutsche Grammophon, now receiving the loving benediction of the Emil Berliner Studios. All analog remastering front the original four-track tapes, mixed down to two tracks and cut all analogue.

This time, Gustav Holst’s The Planets (Suite for Large Orchestra) recording (reviewed here) and works by Hindemith and Also Spruce Zarathustra. This record completes the three LP box set conducted by William Steinberg and his Boston Symphony Orchestra along with Lorna Cooke de Varon’s very well-trained New England Conservatory Chorus for the “Neptune” movement in The Planets.

The original 1970 Deutsche Grammophon recording from Symphony Hall, Boston was produced by Karl Faust and Thomas Mowrey and recorded by Günter Hermanns.

The DG Original Source reissue was mixed by Rainer Maillard and cut by Sidney C. Meyer at Emil Berliner Studios.

Much like Elgar produced his Enigma Variations at age 42, with not much written before it to portend such a masterpiece, the same for Gustav Holst (1874 – 1934). Saddled with a day gig teaching music at St Paul's Girls' School, suffering from myopia and other ailments, Holst produced his masterwork at 40 years of age, and without a symphonic track record.

Holst was a bit of a mystic and horoscopes, astrology, etc, turned his crank. On holiday with his fellow composers Bax and Balfour-Gardinour, both suggested that Holst write something based on his mystical interests. The Planets was born over the following three years (1914-1917).

His friend Balfour-Gardiner generously subsidized a first performance attended by a few friends and conducted by another friend Adrian Boult (1918). Soon after the first full performance (all seven movements) by the LSO in 1920, it became an international sensation.

My father spoke to Imogen Holst during a break in a recording he was involved in (Imogen was Holst’s daughter and a good conductor of his works) and she mentioned that he was painfully shy and didn’t like the fame the work brought him. Next to The Planets, not much of Holst’s output is programmed. However, the continuing popularity of his masterpiece is enough to cement his place in musical history.

Discogs suggest over 2500 different editions and formats of the hundreds of recordings of The Planets. You are not spoilt for choice. (If I was going for a CD, well, we all know what’s tops, right? Montreal/Dutoit/Decca, of course. An “all-world” technical and musical tour-de-force that hit like a thunderbolt when it was it was released in 1986).

So the newly recut Steinberg had better be good to elbow its way to the top of a very starry vinyl field.

It is.

As a performance, it ranks among the pantheon of greats which includes Previn/LSO/EMI, Karajan/VPO/Decca, Boult/LPO/EMI, and Mehta/LA Phil/Decca among others.

The Boston Symphony’s playing under their short-term, superb music director William Steinberg is nonpareil. James Stagliano’s heartbreaking horn beginning “Venus”, powerhouse timpanist Vic Firth in “Mars” and “Uranus” and Armando Ghitalla’s thrilling C trumpet leading the clarion calls in “Jupiter” help make Steinberg’s fast-paced journey through our (then known) solar system a riveting musical ride. (Notice no “Earth”; Holst was interpreting the planets as an astrologer, not an astronomer—looking out to the universe). Even “Saturn”, The Bringer of Old Age, is not a slog, but has forward momentum and is played with power and pathos. And when the double-time (animato) syncopations excite the senses, the tolling bells only add to the intense feeling. And it’s a place like this, where the new recut shines and sparkles. Especially the glorious heaven-sent resolution with the pedal E on the organ.

Recording

DG’s time in Boston was like the curate’s egg, a few hits and more than a few misses. I’ve had the original DG Holst pressing since it was released and have enjoyed it. One of the better ones. It does not suffer the ridiculous spotlighting favoured by Günter Hermanns and others on a few of the Boston releases (looking at you MTT/Le Sacre!). But the Berliner team freshens it up and controls the reverb up to a point. People forget even great acoustics in halls such as Boston and the Concertgebouw suffer when not full of patrons. So, engineers and producers remove seating and place an orchestra in the centre of the hall. I’m not sure if this was the case here, but Rainer Maillard does a good job of preserving the natural decay and reflections of the hall while focusing on the beautiful timbres of the players and the massive sound of the tuttis. You’ll hear no distortion of any type no matter how loud you turn up the volume.

What I loved most about the new recut was the lustre the orchestra produced en masse and released through the grooves. Listen carefully to the central “Jupiter Hymn” (later conscripted as I Vow to Thee, My Country) to hear the glorious sound the orchestra produces under Steinberg. This happens in all three releases in the boxed set.

Yes, there is reverb, but it’s fairly well controlled and never blurs the proceedings as it did briefly on Zarathustra (timpani opening). There is no spotlighting and each soloist is placed perfectly in the orchestral setting as you’d experience in Boston’s great hall.

The Planets is a fitting conclusion to a much-needed and appreciated box set. To release Steinberg’s three recordings in a set was a masterstroke. Come for Holst but stay for Paul Hindemith. He deserves it. It’s the best record of the set, with the addition of a fine Zarathustra and this magnificent Planets.

I know the DG team and Emil Berliner read these reviews, so please repress them as soon as possible. I’ve had many people comment across our social media complaining about it being sold out and wanting it. Thank you.

And thank you for this magnificent vinyl testament.