Holst at St Paul's Cathedral
Oct. 9th, 2015 11:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sawylInspired by a short excerpt on R3's CD Review a couple of weeks ago, I've been listening to Simon Johnson's amazing performance of Peter Sykes' arrangement of Holst's The Planets recorded in St Paul's Cathedral. The piece makes excellent use of the vast accoustic and the huge tonal pallet of the cathedral organ, making it feel like the whole building is participating in the performance.
Here's a taste of Sykes' arrangement in the form of Mars performed by Hansjorg Albrecht in St Nicolas Cathedral Kiel. Where the St Paul's version is of necessary smoother, this is extremely punchy with wonderful staccato pedalling and really blazing trumpets:
Although Mars and Jupiter are the obvious poster children of the suite, the other movements in Johnson's performance stood up every bit as well — I especially liked the serene Venus and the bumbling, mischievous Uranus the Magician. The inclusion of the choristers of St Paul's in Neptune was a nice touch and added just the right mystical note to the final movement.
Here's a taste of Sykes' arrangement in the form of Mars performed by Hansjorg Albrecht in St Nicolas Cathedral Kiel. Where the St Paul's version is of necessary smoother, this is extremely punchy with wonderful staccato pedalling and really blazing trumpets:
Although Mars and Jupiter are the obvious poster children of the suite, the other movements in Johnson's performance stood up every bit as well — I especially liked the serene Venus and the bumbling, mischievous Uranus the Magician. The inclusion of the choristers of St Paul's in Neptune was a nice touch and added just the right mystical note to the final movement.
