Yep, this is a good’un. “Mars” is fine. The tam-tam (miniature gong) player is impressively late at 1:14. (It made me chuckle.) Nobody seems to have been bothered by that, because the “Mars” Monster Truck keeps on rolling along. I’m enjoying this. The orchestra doesn’t seemed strained at all, I can hear the instruments clearly (even the bass tuba), and Andrew Davis is directing proceedings with an assured hand. It’s all good. Here’s hoping “Venus” is good as well.
Update: It is. And so are “Mercury” and “Jupiter”.
This is a very confident Planets. Case in point: The bit in “Jupiter” leading up to The Big Tune. Here the leading-up-to bit is from 2:53-3:10, and it’s played so much better than it is with a lot of other readings. In plenty of other recordings, not a lot of thought goes into that little bit – probably because the conductor has his or her eyes on The Big Tune, and is thinking more about that than this orchestral appetizer. I’ve said it before (about another recording), but I’ll say it again: It’s the little things. The Big Tune in “Jupiter” (3:10-5:07) is glorious. And the tiny bit of speeding-up that Gustav asks the musicians to do when the Jolly Tune returns (6:16-6:22), Andy Davis and the gang do that. The little things. Oh, and before I leave “Jupiter” I want to make special mention of the tambourine part from 7:06-7:14. Whoever played that tambourine (hi, tambouriner!) did an excellent job (thanks, tambouriner!).
Right, now on to “Saturn”.
I never thought I’d say this, but “Saturn” here is sweet. It’s not arthritic, curmudgeonly, melancholy, despairing, or any of those things. It’s relatively mild-mannered. I’m A-OK with that. It’s just a slightly different interpretation than the kind I’m used to. The last two-and-a-half minutes of this “Saturn” (6:00-8:36) are gorgeous.
“Uranus” is wizzo. The playing is so assured that it’s a joy to listen to. This is fast becoming one of my favourite Planets.
“Neptune” is excellent, and caps off a mighty, mighty decent Planets recording.
High Praise Time: As soon as this recording finished I wanted to play it again.
Another (Bigger) Update:
I want to mention something I forgot to mention when I forgot to mention it. (And it’s worth mentioning.)
A unique aspect of this Toronto/Andy recording is the chorus used at the end of “Neptune”. Instead of the usual yodelling women, Andy Davy decided to use a children’s choir. I would love to know why. Gustav O’Holst specifically states in the listing-the-instruments-section of the score:
“In the 7th Piece only, a Hidden Choir of Female Voices in 6 parts.”
That’s not terribly ambiguous is it?
(Or is it? Mr H doesn’t specify what age those female voices are supposed to be, now does he? And it could be interpreted as “Female Voices coming from children who haven’t gone through puberty so they sort-of sound like women…”)
Thanks to reader Gerry the Gerald (Hi, GerGer!) for reminding me (in the comments section below) that I forgot to mention the “Let’s use kids instead of women!” weirdness of this recording.
Weirdness aside, I still think this is a mighty fine recording of The Planets.
Peter's Planets 
You should mention that for some reason Davis uses a children’s choir.
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Oops. A part of me (i.e., the optimistic part) thinks I did mention it – but another part of me (i.e., the realistic part) says to myself, “You forgot to mention it, you idiot.”
I’ll quietly amend the post and hope no-one notices. Now let us never speak this again.
PS: Thanks for reminding me, Big G.
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Glad to help. Do you have a clue why Davis opted for a children’s chorus?
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Seeing as it’s a fairly bizarre thing to do (i.e., using kiddies instead of women for the choir), that’s not a bad question at all. My answer would be either a, b, or c:
a) Monsieur Davis thought children would sound more ethereal;
b) A children’s choir was the only one available for the date of the recording;
c) A children’s choir is cheaper.
I’m leaning towards c.
Actually, I’m now in the mood to contact a man named Davis to ask why on Earth he chose a children’s choir when Gustav specifically asked for women. It’s weird, I tell ya. Weird!
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Doing God’s work here, Peter.
Hadn’t heard this version before, and it’s really good. Listening to Jupiter, the winds sound particularly pleasing. I like the sound of the recording/hall. The winds and percussion are very present in a good way. Other than that, there’s a slight clam in the big tune right at 4:00 that I need to power through.
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Thanks, valer.
Yep. It’s a well-recorded Planets – and I think a rather underrated one as well. It almost never gets mentioned in Planets surveys (well, not the ones I’ve seen). It may be that there are so many recordings of Them Those Planets that people just don’t get around to the Andrew Davis recording. Or maybe they’ve just never heard of it. Who knows?
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I just discovered your site today, Peter. I love it. I never tire of hearing recordings of it, and I’ve heard many of these but nowhere near all. I even got to review a couple of them for a record magazine long ago. One of those was this Andrew Davis recording. After your suggestions “a, b, c” on the big Why Did He Use a Children’s Choir? question, I have a possibility “d” to propose: In a world with so very many Planets recordings available, it was a way to make this one a little different, to give it a little market identity — “the one with the children’s choir.” I have no idea if that’s true, but it seems as likely as any other.
I don’t like effect at all, by the way. The voices have a bright edge (as such choirs generally do) that works against blending with the instruments or fading away into nothingness.
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Howdy, rinaldo302/conrad/pick-your-own-name
Thanks. I hope you find it entertaining. If you don’t, at least I hope you find it tolerable.
Same here.
There are plenty of ’em, and it’d be unreasonable to expect anyone to listen to them all. I mean, what kind of person would be foolish enough to listen to every recording of The Planets? (Me, that’s who.)
Excellent.
Splendid.
Who knows? As for the possibility of it being a unique-and-noteworthy thing to sell to listeners, I’m not so sure. I’m having a look at the CD now, and there’s only a bit of text on the back to let anyone know it’s kiddies singing, and it’s not prominent at all. I thought that if the record company was going to it a selling point, they would have done something like plaster a “Now With Whippersnappers Singing At The End!” sticker on the front cover, or maybe have a photo of a group of children staring at a few planets.
But ultimately it’s a case of who knows?
Actually, I’ve just had a brainwave. I think I’ll try to contact* Andrew Davis and ask him.
[In my best Adam West Batman voice] To the Internet!
(*Andy will be on social media, won’t he?)
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I’ve emailed Sir Andrew of the Andrews ( office@sirandrewdavis.com ).
In the meantime, I found a Gramophone interview with Andy, and in it he said this:
( From: https://www.gramophone.co.uk/feature/gustav-holst-beyond-the-planets )
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