Captured live in 2006, this pressing documents Sir Simon Rattle conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker in a performance that had been more than two decades in the making. The Berlin Philharmonic had not recorded The Planets since Herbert von Karajan's landmark 1981 version, making this release a genuine event in the classical recording world. Rattle himself had recorded The Planets once before (with the Philharmonia Orchestra in 1980) but this Berlin performance is widely regarded as his definitive statement on the work.
The Planets, composed between 1914 and 1917, is far stranger and more cosmopolitan than its reputation as a staple of the British concert hall suggests. Gustav Holst drew not from English pastoral tradition but from astrology, Sanskrit literature, and the modernist innovations of Debussy, Stravinsky, Ravel, and Scriabin. The result is a suite of seven movements, each depicting the astrological character of a planet. BBC Music Magazine called this a magisterial performance, closely attentive to detail, with continental influences foregrounded as never before. For collectors of classical vinyl, this is a benchmark recording on one of the world's great labels, preserved in documented, unhandled condition, the standard serious collectors demand.
What Alliance Authentic Preservation Means: Every copy in this catalog was moved directly from the pressing source into preservation: uncirculated, unhandled, and documented before it ever reached the open market. Each preserved copy includes an embedded NFC chip. Tap it with any smartphone to access your Certified Copy: verified authenticity, documented condition, and a full provenance chain from pressing source to you.
Limited to 3 individually numbered copies.
