The Planets & Asteroids

This was one of my favourite classical pieces as a child and consequently I have a large number of versions in my collection. So what makes this one so special?

It is a dazzling performance - and live too. All credit to the production team, as well, of course, to the performers. Feeling that I know this work inside out, I was amazed at the clarity of the sound: I did hear things that I had not heard so clearly before. Rattle seems to have adopted an upfront approach, giving the instruments more of a soloistic freedom than other interpretations. And yet the sound is not crowded. One result is that the climaxes are more startlingly real and full of power. I have heard 'Mars' countless times, but Rattle's approach brought out the hairs on the back of my neck. I do not begrudge the inclusion of Matthews's 'Pluto': it is a very good work and fits perfectly.

The downside of the wall of sound approach is that the recording lacks subtelty, and that is more important in this work than in many others. Whereas Karajan, for instance, would let the strings at the close of 'Saturn' fade out into tranquil nirvana, Rattle lets them appear to stop dead.

This criticism aside, Rattle earns top points for several instances in the piece where his emphasis is quite radical. I've noticed this before with him - whether it is the jazz influence or something else - he has a forgiveable habit of syncopating the big punch: it seems to come at a point where you did not expect it, and yet it all fits together.

All in all, this is marvellously disciplined interpretation, full of life and vigour and it will not disappoint, which alas is more than one can say about the second disc's contents of 'asteroids'. These are all freshly comissioned so there is in essence no anticipation to be disappointed. The playing is again crisp and clear, but only Turnage's 'Ceres' and Dean's 'Komarov's Fall' elicited from me more than a dull response.

Current scientific thinking seems to have relegated Pluto from the list of fully-fledged planets in our Solar System. It might have been better if these discs had followed received opinion and moved Colin Matthews Pluto to the second disc of other Plutons. It is a fine and interesting piece in its own right, but it completely destroys Holst's planned, considered and magical fade-out to Neptune with the female chorus's eternally alternating chords disappearing into the farthest reaches of space.

That said, this is an enterprising pair of discs. Most people will obviously buy them for the Holst work but the new works, specially commissioned by Rattle (apart from Pluto) for this project, are an interesting collection of Plutons and a substantial bonus. Saariaho's Toutatis is the most impressive: she seems to have listened to and assimilated Holst's Planets and filtered them through her own refined orchestral sensibilities. The result is a delicate piece with evocative woodwind textures that structurally reflects the complex orbit of the asteroid after which it is named. The Pintscher is a more overtly exciting item with a wonderfully played virtuoso trumpet cadenza. Mark Anthony Turnage's Ceres is perhaps more familiar territory with its jazzy syncopations and woodwind colourings typical of the composer. Brett Dean, an ex-viola player with the orchestra, contributes Komarov's Fall which has an arch structure leading to and from a big climax, but maybe overstays its welcome a touch. The second disc also includes some CD-ROM material to play on your computer - well produced but it might have benefited from a little less chat and a bit more of the rehearsal sequence.

But what of the main work which will, after all, be the chief reason to purchase for most people?

If Holst later came to find the rich panoply of sounds and textures in the Suite almost embarrassing as he sought a more sparse and ascetic sound world, there is no denying his supreme mastery over orchestration throughout his career. And the Berlin Philharmonic fully live up to all the demands made of them here. With all the skills of the EMI engineers to help them, there is so much on this disc which is ravishing to the ear. From the perfectly voiced and balanced big full orchestra discords of Mars and Saturn to the softest and most exquisite string pianissimos in Venus and Neptune, this is demonstration quality stuff both for sound and playing. The only quibble I can find is that the celeste, magical in Holst's writing for Venus and Neptune, is placed so far forward as to make it almost a concerto instrument.

The performance itself probably comes off worst in the familiar warhorses. Mars is a tad too fast and a bit matter of fact, so that the threatening, disrupting 5/4 rhythm becomes just insistent - rather like the passage in the first movement of Shostakovich's Leningrad that Bartok took to task in his Concerto for Orchestra. The separate sections of Jupiter don't quite cohere into a whole and the `Big Tune' sounds a little as if it's placed where it is because that's what the composer's great friend, Vaughan Williams, would have done.

On the plus side, though, is as breathtakingly beautiful a Venus as you'll hear. The horn steals in after the violence of Mars like a refugee from Weber's Oberon: the woodwind chords are balanced perfectly: and the solo violin and cello are sweetness personified. Mercury has the lightness of step of a Mendelssohn Scherzo with the subtlety of the rhythmic writing for timps and celeste perfectly realised. Saturn is perhaps the highpoint of Rattle's performance, profoundly moving and achieving a climax of huge weight and intensity. The harmonic suspension just before the beginning of the march is superbly judged by Rattle and his players provide a superb luminous quality for the coda. Uranus shows off Rattle's ability to lift and bounce rhythms, though the famous organ glissando at the climax goes for nothing. Neptune is a wonderful study in pianissimo writing and playing - if a little compromised by the prominence given to the celeste. Vaughan Williams must have had this movement in mind when he wrote the finale of his Sixth Symphony.

Two discs for the price of one and Rattle's choice of challenging couplings is more than justified. They come with a performance of The Planets that will certainly ravish the ear and, for the most part, satisfy the mind, too.

There is no doubting that most connoisseurs of classics have "The Planets" somewhere in their collections. However, this new recording is not only fresh, it comes with new interpretations and additional suites that now complement the astronomical designations of Planets, Asteroids, and Outer sub-Neptunian objects. At the very time the International Astronomical Union have downgraded beloved Pluto, it has in turn given us new understanding. In a sense, Holst's original scores have done the same and Sir Simon Rattle/Orchestra has pulled off a masterstroke here. The old favourites of Mars and Jupiter quite rightly take centre stage, but the beauty (understated) of Venus is superb here, and the already referred to additional suites provide a marvelous varied selection - just like the Night Sky and Solar System and anything else astronomical. Rattle is a beacon for Britain on the world stage and has again slienced his critics - the conductor is up there with the very very best masters of the baton.