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The quality is very good, and the set itself is an inside joke about Holst and John Williams -- Williams "borrowed" liberally from Holst for his StarWars music. This is a great production piece of familiar compositions.
I would also list Stokowski's interesting 1956 performance with the same orchestra on EMI.What really killed this for me was "Jupiter." the centerpiece of the suite and many listeners' favorite. Think of the L.A. This is a reasonably decent version of Holst's masterpiece, but there are many superior versions available at all price levels. At its' concluding climax, Mehta completely loses control of the orchestra, and the music disintegrates into a real train wreck. Philharmonic, all sections playing at full tilt, collectively falling down a flight of stairs.A great performance of "The Planets" cannot be without a great performance of "Jupiter." Check out the alternatives. "A. Customer's" 3-star review lists excellent alternative renditions (I own them all).
Each god had the attributes we see given to the planets. During the process of listening, thinking about the music and noticing how Holst capture the mood of each planet, note that he did not make up the concepts of which planet was War, Peace, Messenger, etc. You may be able to argue minor differences but then you are not listening to it. You may want to read about them and then come back to the music.Holst: The Planets / R. Others may have some preferences based on what they should like. As with anything that touches upon the eternal, after the technical is accomplished, then it is a matter of preference.
You are immediately taken to that other world as Mars takes over. They are the definitions of the original gods that the planets were named after. Here we have the Herbert Von Karajan version. Listen to this and make up your own mind. Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra Placed side-by-side with any other version the technical parts are excellent.
The tough call is preference; most people prefer the version with which they grew up.
All of them are great especially "Mars" and "Jupiter" which are my favorites. I'm not a big classical music fan - I love all types of music. Good Stuff. I've probably listened to this on 8-track, cassette, and DVD hundreds of time. However, I love to listen to this symphony, suite, whatever (not 100% on the music term). When I was a kid, these songs were so ubiquitous, they were the bumper songs on the 6 & 10:00 news of two different local TV stations.
It seemed to me I could almost touch the music in 'the air' (so to speak).So, without having heard this orchestra's performance, I do recommend it. Very impressive. Haven't heard Zubin Mehta's performance (I do like his work), but Holst's The Planets is a truly satisfying & inspiring listening experience.I've only heard it live once - at the Sydney Opera House by the Sydney Symphony / Edo de Waart(). in the mid-late 1990s.
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