Holst - The Planets

Hi.

Picked up a copy from a charity shop, having heard it mentioned many times and being told "yea, of course you know it! It's got that one that goes..... on it"

Have just played it through and quite impressed. Mars sounds the MOst like what i'm after. I'm not sure if i'd go out and buy particular things, I've got so much other music i'm after at the MOment that I limit my Classical purchases to just picking out something that looks like it's in decent enough quality and cheap Any tips for what else to keep an eye out for? I looked up the thought on Holst on the Intro thread and it says he has different styles so best to buy with care (or something along them lines).

99p Bargain me thinks!

Cheers

MO

 

Elgar's "Pomp & Circumstance" marches, the most famous of which is "Land of mope and tory" - which, shorn of its patriotic Proms setting, is, as Elgar said, a "damn fine tune". The Enigma Variations (most famously Nimrod) are also worth a listen.

And nearly anything by the late Russian Romantic composers, e.g.,

Rimsy-Korsakov, particularly "Scherezade"

Borodin, "In the steppes of central Asia", the symphonies

Mussorgsky, "Pictures at an Expedition", "Night on a bare mountain"

and the greatest of them all, Tchaikovsky - any of the ballet music, "Romeo & Juliet", Capriccio Italien, serenade for strings

 

If you like those you might enjoy Stravinsky's three 1911 ballets, try them in this order though, Firebird, Petroushka, and then when you've been through those the most challenging but also the most rewarding...Rite of Spring. I think they owe not a little to The Planets in places.

 

How do Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911) and the Sacre (1913) owe anything to Holst's Planets (1916)?

Herman

 

Oh goody, a quiz. How about that the Planets was described as the English Rite of Spring, in Venus you can hear Firebird influences, and that both were interpreted by Tomita soon after Snowflakes are Dancing. OK the 'owing' was slightly the wrong way round

 

I'm glad somebody knew what I meant.........Didn't someone somewhere post about classical music and red wine?:beer:

 

MO,

Director of a company called MusicBank is having a clearance sale at eBay.

The 60 CD Classical Spectacular Box Set is a brand new product released by Musicbank at £100 and it is being sold for around £12 !! View full pack details at www.musicbank.co.uk
He also sells 40 CD sets and 12 CD sets at silly prices.

Then go to eBay and look for the seller called 'apwmusic' or email him at [email protected]. His name is Tony Walsh.

They are excellent quality recordings. Re-released.
Will be a good intro to Classical music.

Also try the Brilliant Classics CDs they have left Superdrug stores.

 

Bargain!!!

Think that should keep me occupied for a while! 60 cds!!!

Cheers

 

MO

You will like them

MOre at eBid. Check your PM

 

Well I got my hands on one of the 60cd Box Sets

Never heard of a lot of the people on here, but I guess that's a good thing! Time to explore! Could take some time though!

Thanks for the reccomendation BlueMax :beer:

 

We'll see you next Christmas then when you've eventually worked your way through the entire box set!

I'm sure you'll become a classical officando in no time. I started off getting into classical through cheapo compilations that I borrowed or acquired. No one taught me or forced anything upon me, I just got a few names from the compilations then branched off through related pieces or by going to the local library and borrowing more CDs by the same composer, etc.

 

GR8

I bought 4 sets of those! one for myself and the others as X-Mas pressies

Let me know what you think of the technical quality of the recordings?

If you want to know MOre about the composers in there and other useful titbits on classical music, get a copy of the Rough Guide to Classical Music or the paperback by Classic FM. Many libraries stock them.

 

That's what this forums for is it not

As you say Henry, I've got a few odds and ends but think a compilation like this will allow me to explore a wider range of styles. And hopefuly find the "sound" I'm after

CD1: "Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No.3 in G Major...... "

 

Also popularly well known as the theme tune to the Antiques Roadshow!

 

Well that's just too tempting, I think I'll give that a whirl. I've got maybe 80 classical CDs, but there's plenty of stuff in this set I haven't heard so it's worth a pop for £20. I'm tempted to try the 6CD jazz set while I'm at it...

 

MO - how are you getting on with your rather daunting set of classical CDs to listen to then? Just in case you get bored going through things in order, I thought I'd just have a quick nose at the list to see what some of the more obviously accessible stuff was. I'm a classical novice myself really, but considering you said you liked Holst's Mars, you might like to check out:

Set 2 CD6 : Carl Orff : Carmina Burana
Set 2 CD9 : Wagner (you'll know the first track I'm sure
As a classical novice myself, I've just had a quick scan of the set myself, to see if )
Set 4 CD1 : Beethoven : Symphony no. 5

And a bit lighter, but for me an extremely good, accessible piece of classical music:

Set 4 CD8 : Vivaldi : Four Seasons

 

I've got the Classical Spectacular set of CDs now, and for the bargain price of 33p per CD you can't argue, but it is perhaps worth noting that the background hiss on many of them is pretty significant. For me they're great for background music at work, but I wouldn't want to listen them seriously at home TBH. I am perhaps more irritated by hiss than average though...

 

Of what I've listened to so far background noise seems ok. I've only managed about 5cds so far though

 

After reading Martins post I played Scheherazade and couple of other tracks with quite passages in it.

I too noticed the hiss when I got my ear close to the tweeters of my Mission 753s. So I suppose these CDs do not fully meet hi-fi standards.

Very listenable though

 

I wasn't just talking right up to the speakers Try the Grieg CD from Set1, from the start. The hiss is very obvious from 2m away on my Sony/Pioneer/Mission work system (it would be much more so on my home system). I must stress though that I really enjoyed this CD when I had it on yesterday; as I said for background music they're excellent. Even at home where I've stuck a few of this collection on they're great because on several occasions I've thought "Oh that's what that peice of music is!".

Still an absolute bargain at £20 delivered an no mistake .