This is another one of those “never heard of ’em” recordings of Those Planets. Even if the artists are completely fictitious (as they were with this Planets recording), I’ll cheerfully listen to the contents of any disc that says “Holst The Planets” on the front.
“Mars” has begun, and it had me tapping my toes in no time. I’m only 40 seconds into it, but I’m definitely into it, if you know what I mean. The sound quality’s not that great, but it’s perfectly serviceable. (It lets me hear the music, and that’s what matters.) 1:28 doesn’t contain the most confident trumpet playing I’ve ever heard, but it’s fine. Actually, the whole orchestra doesn’t sound all that confident. They sound ever-so-slightly tentative, but they also sound like they’re giving it a go. (The more Planets I hear, the more I think this must be a hard piece of music to play.) Someone makes a little mistake at 1:51 (in the left channel). It’s 2:03, and now we’re at the chugging part of “Mars” (chug-chug-chug-chug-chug). I’m enjoying it. 2:59: The first bang!, and it’s a little underpowered, But I’m more than fine with it. I have a feeling I may be making allowances for the bargain-basement nature of this CD (it was $4 on eBay), but I hope not. I try to be as unbiased as I can when listening to any Planets recording. It’s now 4:07, and the main march has returned. It’s marching along quite well – and I’m tapping my toes again. At 5:46 there’s a tiny, tiny mistake from a (possibly stringed) instrument in the right channel, but overall this “Mars” is going very well. Update: It’s now finished. This “Mars” went very well.
“Venus” is fine. I’m now getting used to the not-so-great sound quality, and think it actually suits this “Venus”. I’m really warming to this CD. This is a fine, fine “Venus”. I’m looking forward to hearing the rest of these Planets. But quickly back to “Venus”. 2:53-3:04: That’s some lovely phrasing from the solo oboe. There are a few moments of small intonation problems with the strings (e.g., 3:03) but you know what? I don’t care. They don’t matter to me at the moment because: a) they’re insignificant; and b) I’m thoroughly enjoying this “Venus”. 4:05-4:10: Hooray! The cellos are in tune! (You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve heard that little section played with not-great intonation from the cellos.) And all the solo instruments are in tune as well when they play their little bits. (They sure aren’t terribly in tune on a lot of other recordings.) All of their moments in the spotlight are played very well – especially the cello from 5:44-5:54 (and I’m not even bothered by the boxy sound of that cello). I’m enjoying this an awful lot.
Two down, five to go.
Fun Fact: As I was listening to “Mercury” I did so without jotting down any notes, and kept my eyeballs busy by reading along with the score, marvelling at everything I was hearing and seeing. When it finished, I said this out loud: “Brilliant”.
Right. Now for “Jupiter”. This starts off so well. And continues that way. I’m starting to form the opinion that this is a very good Planets. The first Jolly Tune (0:56-1:16) is a ripper. It’s played with so much brio that I’m thinking “You now, I’m preferring this to some of those big-name recordings”. I’m loving it. The solo trumpet’s phrasing from 1:54-1:58 is a little iffy, but don’t you worry about that. This is a splendid “Jupiter”. Just listen to those lower strings in the quiet bit before The Big Tune (2:34-2:50), bubbling away under the other instruments. Excellent. And now for The Big Tune. This is played fairly briskly. It’s not syrupy at all, or blubberingly sentimental. And I think it’s fab. The quiet bit after after The Big Tune (4:22-4:41) is excellent., with its marvellous little twittering violins in the left channel. I tell ya, even the quiet bits in between the main tunes are splendid. This is a grand, grand “Jupiter”. (Although I must mention the high violins at 4:50. They start their long note slightly flat, but they straighten themselves out in no time.) The repeat of The Jolly Tune (5:19-5:38) is excellent. It’s just occurred to me that the possible jitteriness the orchestra may have felt at the start of this recording (see above regarding “Mars”) has completely disappeared. (Actually, it disappeared as soon as “Venus” began.) This is a very confident-sounding orchestra – except for that tiny cracked note from a trumpet at 6:38.
“Saturn” continues the sterling work this orchestra and conductor have produced on the (now to officially be known as) “I can’t believe I paid $4 for this” recording. 4:02: That might be an out-of-tune harp. (The notes are really low, but it still sounds out of tune.) Out-of-tune harps notwithstanding, I can’t tell you how much I’m enjoying this “Saturn”. The build-up (3:58-4:59) is magnificent. And the second, shorter build-up (5:03-5:13) is almost as magnificent. I absolutely adore the bit after it (5:13-6:08). And then comes the Calm Acceptance Of Mortality bit that ends “Saturn” (6:08 onwards). Here, it’s glorious. I’m going to stop typing now and just let it wash over me. Aaaaahhh…
Okey dokey. Now for the brass fanfare that I always think is too loud coming straight after “Saturn”. That was manageable. (I did turn the volume down, so I could avoid being annoyed by that too-loud brass fanfare.) The rolling thunder that is the timpani from 2:16-2:31 is mighty good. Come to think of it, the entire orchestra is excellent for whole movement. This is a tremendous “Uranus”.
Considering this is a bargain-basement, no-name label, “never heard of ’em” Planets recording, I think this is much better than anyone would imagine it to be. The album cover doesn’t help promote itself as a Planets worth buying. The artwork doesn’t scream “High Quality Product!” to me.
“Neptune” is magical. I can’t add anything to that previous sentence. I’m listening to “Neptune”, and all I can think of to say is that it’s… well, it’s magical. It caps off an outstanding Planets.
Peter Sez: If you find it, and it’s cheap, buy it.
I can’t believe I paid $4 for this.
Coda / Addendum / Weirdness
The fabulous detective work of a couple of commenters (Hi, Thomas and Gerald!) has discovered that this “Hymisher Greenburg” recording is a fake. I mean, the recording is real, but the name “Hymisher Greenburg” is fake. It’s actually Alfred Scholz, a chap who records classical music with various orchestras and conductors, and has the recordings distributed on super-cheap record labels. Scholz then uses a variety of made-up names (such as Hymisher Greenburg). The aforementioned detective work (thanks, guys!) has found that this recording is also:
• Alberto Lizzio, The Festival Orchestra, 1997
• Mayfair Philharmonic Orchestra, 2014
Who’d-a thunk it?
Peter's Planets 
sorry Peter, but for me this one belongs to the end of the list :(
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Fair enough, O Wummi. I guess I’m on its wavelength whenever I listen to it, whereas you probably have more of a “No, no, no!” response whenever you’re anywhere near it.
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Fascinating review. I have the identical CD with the identical cover– except for the complete omission of names of conductor and orchestra. I agree with your suspicion that we’re dealing with pseudonyms.
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“Fascinating review. I have the identical CD with the identical cover– except for the complete omission of names of conductor and orchestra. I agree with your suspicion that we’re dealing with pseudonyms.”
It’s possible that Hymisher Greenberg doesn’t actually exist, but there’s also the possibility that he’s a real person. Discogs has 15 CDs attributed to him:
https://www.discogs.com/artist/1530885-Hymisher-Greenburg
So he might just be a hard-working but hardly-known conductor working quietly but diligently somewhere in Europe.
Because of his mighty fine way with The Planets, I’m interested in hearing more from Hymisher. Time to visit eBay.
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I have just come across your blog and found it most interesting.
I have a eight cds in this series including The Planets and I agree completely with your judgement that this is an outstanding performance.
Regarding the identity of the artists, these are definately pseudonyms. There is a real orchestra called the European Philharmonic Orchestra but with the added suffix of “of Switzerland”. Having listened to the various Tring issues, I am convinced that all the issues are of different orchestras & conductors.
Of one thing I am convinced, none of them are by Alfred Scholz. My reasons are as follows.
Scholz had his own recording and production company with which he recorded standard repertoire, conducting a (non-royalty) moonlighting Hamburg Radio Symphony Orchestra, under his own name ( Haydn, Mozart, J Strauss etc. but not English Composers ) and under several aliases, most frequently Alberto Lizzio. There is also an association with the Austrian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Milan Horvat and the Ljubljana Radio Symphony Orchestra under Anton Nanut. I believe these (on the whole) to be genuine and contain some very fine performances. The point of this is that all these performances were licensed initially as Vienna Master Series on the Pilz Label, and thereafter to dozens of other companies under his own name as well as a variety of others. A Scholz product can usually be identified by the licensing company, frequently Mediaphon or Point, or the pseudonyms adopted.
These Tring products do not have what might be regarded as a Company Sound or Personality. Some of the Orchestras are first class all be it with slips, but others are decidedly 2nd rate, maybe provincial orchestras.
Of those I have been able to listen to The Planets is undoubtedly the best along with a companion cd of Elgar’s Pomp & Circumstance Marches. It has been suggested that these performances were recorded in Kingsway Hall since that listener claimed to hear the rumble of the Underground Tube trains. I can’t say I have noticed it. However, what I surmise is that this is a good British orchestra (maybe the BBC or LPO) with a competent assistant conductor on tour in Europe and recorded in a city radio studio for broadcast locally. After the broadcast, the tape was no longer needed and acquired somehow by Tring.
Incidentally, I have just acquired the Greig Peer Gynt Suites 1 & 2 and Piano Concerto. The Peer Gynt items have a full chorus and some fragments of dialogue leading me to believe this is taken from a full production of the play & incidental music for broadcast.
Although the orchestras in this series are below par, I have enjoyed all of them since the recordings are decent and some of the conductors have a definite view on how the piece should go and so is more than just a mere run through.
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Good morning/afternoon/evening/equinox/season of the witch (pick one), Howard
“I have just come across your blog and found it most interesting.”
Thanks for that interest, Howard.
And thanks for the information regarding Alfred Scholz, as well as the Tring label.
As for recordings on Tring, I have a few. They’re all from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, in “The Royal Philharmonic Collection“, distributed by Tring International PLC. Those CDs are mighty good.
By the way, another cheap’n’cheerful classical music label is Point Classics. If you see a Point Classics CD cheap anywhere, grab it, because there’s an awfully good chance the performance and recording will be more than decent. I have a few Point Classics CDs, and they’re excellent.
“Although the orchestras in this series are below par, I have enjoyed all of them since the recordings are decent and some of the conductors have a definite view on how the piece should go and so is more than just a mere run through.”
But they’re cheap, and well worth trying.
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Further to my missive of a fortnight ago, I think I may have solved the mystery, or partially anyway.
BTW there is a Scholz link. This Venus appears on a varied CD of concert items Vienna Master Series – Classic Festival Vol 2.
The attribution is Symphonisches Orchester Berlin, Cond. Carl-August Bunte.
I have revisited this Planets recording and recognised the orchestral and recording points you made with great interest.
One performance characteristic, that I noticed, is divided violins, left & right rather than all lumped to the left of the orchestra, with celli & basses to the right.
This is frequently adopted now by (particularly) British orchestras. Sir Adrian Boult was a fierce advocate of this performance presentation. (Sargent & Beecham were not!). Since Boult learned his technique at Artur Nikisch’s rehearsals in Leipzig in the 1900s, he passed this on to his conducting pupils.
Perhaps his most notable pupil was Vernon Handley who also supported divided strings and so I considered that he might be the mystery conductor. But then I checked the movement timings for Handley on your very useful conductor listing. They are totally different. So it can’t be him!
I next listened to the orchestral texture and noticed that the massed string sound was rather thin, sounding rather under-nourished, as if the number of violins needed to be increased. I tried to think of orchestras which have that particular sound and realised that the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra filled the bill for that one. I am familiar with their sound having been to many of their live concerts.
I then checked the movement timings for British orchestral recordings against Greenburg’s effort. I can now say that I have found one that fits exactly
– almost.
All the movements timings tally EXCEPT for Neptune. The one to which I refer is the RPO conducted by William Boughton.
I know very little about Boughton, although I have one or two CDs of his – a collection of overtures & Scheherazade. However he did recorded a substantial number of standard repertoire works on RPO’s own label in the early 1990s. He appears to have been a freelance conductor and provided CDs for several
small independant labels and items in large boxed sets for mail order organisations.
The odd acoustic can, I think, be attributed to being recorded in a church. This would explain the close up recording and long reverberation at the same time.
Independant companies, such as Nimbus and Chandos etc., do not have easy access to Abbey Road or specially built or adapted studios. One of the most frequently used venues is All Saints,Tooting, London which I think this may be.
The fly in the ointment is of course Neptune. The timing of 7:59 is considerably slower than most. I think this has a different source.
Checking other British recordings of about that date, I narrowed it down to three possibilities. Judd RPO 7:49, Hickox LSO 7:30 & Geoffrey Simon LSO 8:04
The nearest on timing is Geoffrey Simon but I think that James Judd is more likely if the timing difference can be explained. Not only that, it is with the RPO whose Cds, as you have stated above, were licensed to Tring.
Wouldn’t it be a great joke if Tring had access to bootleg tapes of these performances and disguised their transfers by substituting Neptune from a completely different conductor ? If anyone tried to prove copyright infringement, they would find the full Suite timings did not match any other performances.
Hope you find my ramblings useful/interesting. I have not actually listened to my conclusion so I am quite prepared to be shot down in flames. Still It’s an intriguing exercise. Perhaps you can check it out yourself and comment on your findings.
My very best wishes to you.
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Howard!
That’s some incredible detective work you’ve performed there.
You’ve gone above and beyond the call of duty with your research and cheeky suggestions.
Thanks for your sterling effort.
Onward and upward!
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Howard is correct, I compared the Boughton tracks with these and they are identical to the second. Furthermore, there is no mystery with Neptune – the original Boughton recording has six extra bars of the choir to final fade, while this Scholz copy presumably cut it short due to the poor audio quality. On that topic, a close listen suggests that Scholz made a cheap analog (cassette / reel) copy of the Boughton and re-released it under his multiple pseudonyms.
Peter I would highly recommend you no longer give this Scholz scam artist any more credit and remove these copies from your official rating list. Either put them as a footnote to the original Boughton (as a warning to others), or down to the bottom of the list as an unrated copy for the same reason.
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I just got hold of cheap copy of this disc and my opinion is that it’s OK but not great. I would be interested to learn where you got the recording/release date of 1993? There is nothing on the CD or cover and even Discogs lists the date as unknown.
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Howdy, Dick
I’m having a look at the CD, but there’s no date on it anywhere. Maybe I got the 1993 date from Spotify. Hang on…
Hmm. Spotify lists the album ( https://open.spotify.com/album/4lSrShujIzUbWQgBtTBda8 ), but states the release date as 2008.
As to why I specified 1993, I now have absolutely no idea. It’s as much a mystery to me as it is to you.
(What was I thinking?)
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I have a (weak) theory:
Spotify originally listed the Greenburg Planets as 1993, but then deleted it and replaced it with the newer 2008 listing.
Maybe.
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