The Planets discography

This is a discography of commercial recordings of The Planets, Op. 32, an orchestral suite by Gustav Holst, composed between 1914 and 1916, and first performed by the Queen's Hall Orchestra conducted by Adrian Boult on 29 September 1918. It includes the composer's own recordings made in 1922–1923 and 1926. The chorus is identified where information is available.

Orchestral version

Year	Conductor	Orchestra and Chorus	Label	Recording notes
1922	Gustav Holst	London Symphony Orchestra	Columbia	recorded 27 October 1922 (Jupiter only) at Petty France Studios; acoustic recording^[1]
1923	Gustav Holst	London Symphony Orchestra	Columbia	recorded 23 August (Mercury, Venus), 24 August (Uranus), 30 October (Mars, Saturn), 6 November (Neptune) at Petty France Studios; acoustic recording^[1]
1925	Gustav Holst	London Symphony Orchestra	Columbia	recorded 19 February (Saturn), 15 September (Jupiter) at Petty France Studios; acoustic recording^[1]
1926	Gustav Holst	Women of the London Symphony Chorus; London Symphony Orchestra	Columbia	recorded complete on 22 June, 2 July, 14 Sept. and 22 Oct. at Petty France Studios; electrical recording; released in Dec. 1926;^[1] re-issued on LP in 1972, on CD from 1991 onwards^[2]
1926	Albert Coates	Symphony Orchestra	HMV	only Mars, Mercury, Jupiter and Uranus; reissued on CD in 1992 on Koch Historic
1942	Ernest MacMillan	Toronto Symphony Orchestra	RCA Victor	only Mars, Venus, Mercury and Jupiter; released on CD in 2006 by Analekta, on Portrait: Sir Ernest MacMillan
1943	Leopold Stokowski	NBC Symphony Orchestra	Cala Records	from an NBC radio broadcast in Studio 8H, New York City, the earliest American performance on disc
1945	Sir Adrian Boult	BBC Symphony Orchestra	HMV	the first of Boult's five recordings of the work
1954	Sir Adrian Boult	Philharmonic Promenade Orchestra; Members of the London Philharmonic Choir	Nixa	The orchestra was the London Philharmonic, under a pseudonym for contractual reasons
1954	Sir Malcolm Sargent	London Symphony Orchestra, Women's Chorus	Decca	Kingsway Hall; engineer Kenneth Wilkinson
1956	Leopold Stokowski	Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Women's Voices of the Roger Wagner Chorale	Capitol	the work's first stereo recording; issued on LP; reissued on CD by EMI
1958	Sir Malcolm Sargent	BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Women's Chorus	HMV	reissued on CD on Classics for Pleasure
1959	Sir Adrian Boult	Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Women of the Wiener Akademie Kammerchor	Westminster
1961	Herbert von Karajan	Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Women of the Vienna State Opera Chorus	Decca	remastered and reissued in 2007 in 24-bit, 96-kbps sound
1965	Sir Malcolm Sargent	BBC Symphony Orchestra	IMP	Royal Festival Hall, London, February 3, 1965; issued on IMP CD in 1995
1966	Sir Adrian Boult	New Philharmonia Orchestra, Women of The Ambrosian Singers	HMV
1970	Bernard Haitink	London Philharmonic Orchestra, Women of the John Alldis Choir	Philips
1970	Bernard Herrmann	London Philharmonic Orchestra, Ladies of the London Philharmonic Choir	Decca Phase 4 Stereo
1970	William Steinberg	Boston Symphony Orchestra, Women of the New England Conservatory Chorus	Deutsche Grammophon	recorded in Symphony Hall, Boston, in September and October 1970
1971	Leonard Bernstein	New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Women of the Camerata Singers	Columbia	recorded in Philharmonic Hall in early December 1971; released on LP in 1973; reissued on CD in 1985 and 1997; music was subject of Bernstein's final Young People's Concerts broadcast in March 1972
1971	Zubin Mehta	Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Female Voices of the Los Angeles Master Chorale	Decca	An extra tubist, Tommy Johnson (tubist), was hired during the recording sessions.
1973	André Previn	London Symphony Orchestra, Women of the Ambrosian Singers	EMI	recorded Sept. 28–29, 1973, in Kingsway Hall, London; engineer Christopher Parker
1974	George Hurst	Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Bournemouth Municipal Choir	Contour	recorded at Southampton Guildhall; producer Brian Culverhouse, engineer Brian Couzens
1974	Walter Susskind	Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Ronald Arnatt Chorale and Missouri Singers	Turnabout and VOX	recorded in Powell Hall in Sept. 1974; issued in 1975; reissued in 2004 by MFSL as a hybrid multichannel SACD
1975	James Loughran	Hallé Orchestra, Hallé Ladies Chorus	CfP/EMI	won a Gold Disc; in Dec. 2009 came 8th in BBC's Top 30 Most Played classical recordings over three-quarters of a century
1975	Eugene Ormandy	The Philadelphia Orchestra, Women's Voices of the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia	RCA Red Seal	reissued in 1993
1978	Sir Adrian Boult	London Philharmonic Orchestra, Ladies of the Geoffrey Mitchell Choir	EMI	Boult's fifth and final studio recording, recorded May 12 and 30, June 4 and July 31, 1978, in Kingsway Hall and at Abbey Road, 60 years after he led the work's premiere; released for Boult's 90th birthday
1978	Sir Neville Marriner	Concertgebouw Orchestra, Ladies of the Ambrosian Singers	Philips
1978	Sir Georg Solti	London Philharmonic Orchestra, Ladies of the London Philharmonic Choir	Decca	Kingsway Hall, Feb. 1978
1979	Sir Alexander Gibson	Scottish National Orchestra, Women's Voices of the RSNO Chorus	Chandos	recorded in Henry Wood Hall, Glasgow, 2–3 July 1979
1979	Seiji Ozawa	Boston Symphony Orchestra, Women of the New England Conservatory Chorus	Philips	recorded in Dec. 1979; reissued in 1992, 2005 and 2010
1980	Lorin Maazel	Orchestre National de France, Ladies of the Maîtrise de Radio France	CBS Masterworks	Children's choir used in "Neptune". Digital recording; released in 1981
1980	Simon Rattle	Philharmonia Orchestra, Ladies of the Ambrosian Singers	EMI	digital recording; Kingsway Hall, London, 29–30 Dec. 1980
1981	Karajan	Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Women of the RIAS Chamber Chorus	Deutsche Grammophon	recorded in the Philharmonie, Berlin, in Jan. 1981; digital recording
1986	Andrew Davis	Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Children's Chorus	HMV	recorded in The Centre in The Square, Kitchener, Ontario, on 20 Jan. 1986
1986	André Previn	Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Women of the Brighton Festival Chorus	Telarc Digital	Watford Town Hall, London, 14–15 April 1986
1986	John Williams	Boston Pops Orchestra, Women of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus	Philips	Symphony Hall, Boston
1986	Charles Dutoit	Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Women of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal Chorus	Decca / Penguin Classics	recorded by Decca; reissued in 1998 by Penguin Classics; used for a multi-disciplinary (skating, ballet/dance, music) version;^[3] awarded the 1987 Gramophone Award for Engineering [1]
1987	Eduardo Mata	Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Women of the Dallas Symphony Chorus	Pro Arte
1987	Sir Charles Groves	Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Ladies of the Philharmonia Chorus	Sanctuary Classics	recorded in July 1987 in Watford Town Hall
1987	Richard Hickox	London Symphony Orchestra, Ladies of London Voices	IMP Classics	recorded in Abbey Road Studio 1 on 8–9 July 1987
1987	Geoffrey Simon	London Symphony Orchestra, Women of the London Symphony Chorus	Delta Entertainment	recorded at All Saints, Tooting; reissued in 1998
1988	William Boughton	Philharmonia Orchestra	Nimbus	recorded in the Royal Albert Hall, London, 11–12 Jan. 1988
1988	Adrian Leaper	Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Women of the Slovak Radio Symphony Chorus	Naxos	recorded 26–30 Nov. 1988 in Bratislava; released in 1989, including Holst's Suite de Ballet, Op. 10
1988	Sir Sir Charles Mackerras	Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Women's Voices of the Liverpool Philharmonic Choir	Virgin Classics	recorded in the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, in June 1988; released on CD 1989
1989	James Levine	Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Women of the Chicago Symphony Chorus	Deutsche Grammophon	released in 1991
1989	Hilary Davan Wetton	London Philharmonic Orchestra	Collins Classics
1989	Sir Colin Davis	Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Frauenchor des Rundfunkchores Berlin	Philips
1990	Zubin Mehta	New York Philharmonic, Women of the New York Choral Artists	Teldec
1991	James Judd	Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Ladies of King's College Choir, Cambridge	Denon	recorded in Walthamstow Assembly Hall, London, on 1–2 Dec. 1991; released on CD 1992. Boys' choir used in "Neptune".
1992	Ross Pople	London Festival Orchestra, Ladies of St. Paul's Cathedral Choir	ASV
1992	Yevgeny Svetlanov	Philharmonia Orchestra, Women's Voices of The Sixteen	Collins Classics	reissued 1995 by Edgestone Classics (EC029); Svetlanov website indicates another recording by him with the Russian State Symphony Orchestra
1993	Mike Batt	Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Ladies from the John McCarthy Chorus	Guild	recorded at Watford Town Hall, 25 August 1993; released in 2018
1993	Vernon Handley	Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Women of the Ambrosian Singers	Tring	recorded Oct. 1993; released 1994
1993	Sir Andrew Davis	BBC Symphony Orchestra, Women of the BBC Symphony Chorus	Teldec	recorded at St Augustine's Church, London, in December 1993
1994	José Serebrier	Melbourne Symphony Orchestra	ASV
1994	Sir John Eliot Gardiner	Philharmonia Orchestra; Women's Voices of the Monteverdi Choir	Deutsche Grammophon released in 1995
1995	Adrian Leaper	Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria	Arte Nova Classics	live recording 25 January 1995 in the Teatro Pérez Galdós, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
1996	Leonard Slatkin	Philharmonia Orchestra, New London Children's Choir	BMG Classics	released in 1997 on CD
1996	Yan Pascal Tortelier	BBC Philharmonic	BBC Music Magazine	recorded July 13, 1996, in Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
1997	Roy Goodman	New Queen's Hall Orchestra, Ladies of New Queen's Hall Chorus	Carlton Classics	Historically informed performance
1997	Yoel Levi	Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus	Telarc Digital	recorded at Woodruff Arts Center, Atlanta, April 3–4, 1997
1998	Andrew Litton	Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Women of the Dallas Symphony Chorus	Delos
1998	Djong Victorin Yu	Philharmonia Orchestra	Exton / Octavia Records Inc.
2001	David Lloyd-Jones	Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Ladies of RSNO Chorus	Naxos	recorded February 17–18, 2001, in Glasgow; released in 2002 on CD; issued also on DVD in 5.1 surround sound (Dolby+DTS); includes Pluto, the Renewer by Colin Matthews as well as Holst's The Mystic Trumpeter
2001	Mark Elder	Hallé Orchestra, Ladies of The Hallé Choir	Hyperion	recorded in Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, on 27–28 March 2001; includes Pluto, the Renewer by Colin Matthews (commissioned by the Hallé Concerts Society and first performed by the Hallé under Kent Nagano in 2000); also includes the original and modified-ending versions of Neptune
2002	Dennis Russell Davies	Bruckner Orchester Linz	Chesky Records	recorded October 2–4, 2001, in the Brucknerhaus, Linz, Austria; released on SACD in 2002 and later as a digital download on Chesky's HDtracks site
2002	Sir Roger Norrington	Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ladies of the SWR Vokalensemble and the Staatsopernchor Stuttgart	Hänssler	live recording made in the Liederhalle, Stuttgart, 27–29 June 2001
2002	Paul Freeman	Czech National Symphony Orchestra	CNSO	recorded in the Rudolfinum, Prague, 2002; includes Pluto, the Renewer by Colin Matthews^[4]
2003	Sir Colin Davis	London Symphony Orchestra, Ladies of the London Symphony Chorus	LSO Live	live recording for the orchestra's own label in 2003
2004	Owain Arwel Hughes	Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Women of The Cambridge Singers	Warner Classics	recorded 26–27 April 2004 at Watford Colosseum; released on CD 2005; includes Pluto, the Renewer by Colin Matthews
2005	Yutaka Sado	NHK Symphony Orchestra	Avex
2005	Rico Saccani	Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, Women of the Chorus of the Hungarian State Opera House	BPO Live
2006	Sir Simon Rattle	Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Ladies of the Rundfunkchor Berlin	EMI	includes Pluto, the Renewer by Colin Matthews
2009	Paavo Järvi	Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra	Telarc
2009	Vladimir Jurowski	London Philharmonic Orchestra, Ladies of the London Philharmonic Choir	LPO	recorded live in the Royal Festival Hall on 22 May 2009; released on CD in 2010
2011	Sir Andrew Davis	BBC Philharmonic, Women of the Manchester Chamber Choir	Chandos
2012	Gennady Rozhdestvensky	BBC Symphony Orchestra, Ladies of the BBC Symphony Chorus	ica classics	First commercial issue of live 1980 performance at the Royal Festival Hall, London
2014	David Robertson	Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Ladies of the Sydney Philharmonia Chorus	Sydney Symphony Orchestra
2015	Michael Francis	NYO Canada	NYO Canada	recorded 1–3 Aug. 2015 in the McGill Multimedia Room, Schulich School of Music, McGill University, Montreal
2016	Edward Gardner	National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, CBSO Youth Chorus	Chandos	recorded 8–9 Aug. 2016 in Symphony Hall, Birmingham; released on CD in Feb. 2017
2016	Marko Munih	Radio Symphony Orchestra Ljubljana, Ladies of the RTV Chamber Choir	Pentagon Classics
2019	Daniel Harding	Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Frauenchor Des Bayerischen Rundfunks	BR Klassik
2019	Andrew Litton	Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Ladies of the Bergen Philharmonic Choir and the Edvard Grieg Kor	BIS
2019	Michael Stern	Kansas City Symphony, Women of the Kansas City Symphony Chorus	Reference Recordings
2023	Sir Adrian Boult	BBC Symphony Orchestra, Ladies of the BBC Singers and the London Choral Society	ica classics	Live recording from the 1973 Proms, Prom 47, 7 September 1973 (previously issued by BBC Music Magazine, Vol. 21, No. 10, July 2013)

Concert Band version

Year	Conductor	Ensemble	Label	Recording notes
1989	Eric Banks	London Symphonic Wind Orchestra	EMI Music Japan	Recorded at Abbey Road Studios on 11–12 April 1989. Wind orchestra version of the complete seven-movement suite transcribed by Cy Payne.
1994	Frederick Fennell	Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra	King Records, Japan	Recorded at Iruma Shimin Kaikan Hall (Saitama, Japan) on 3–4 Nov. 1994. Released in 1995. Concert band version by Takuzo Inagaki.
1994	Daniel Sieber	« Belalp » Jubilee Wind Orchestra	Tonstudio AMOS	Recorded at Zentrum Missione, Naters on 26–27 Nov. 1994. Concert band version by Pierre-Alain Bidaud, Jean-Pierre Hartmann and Daniel Sieber.
1996	James Watson	Black Dyke Mills Band	Doyen	Brass band version by Stephen Roberts.
1998	Eddie Green	University of Houston Wind Ensemble	Mark Custom	Concert band version by Merlin Patterson.
2003	Commander Yoshiiku Aoki	Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Band, Tokyo	Universal Music Japan	Live recording at Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall on 3 February 2003. Concert band version by Tatsuya Konishi.
2005	Ton van de Kieft	Noordenwind	Molenaar Edition	Live recording at Beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam on 1 July 2005. Concert band version by Geert Schrijvers.

Two-piano transcription

Year	Artists	Label	Recording notes
1984	Richard Markham, David Nettle	Psyche	Two-piano transcription.
1998	Len Vorster, Robert Chamberlain	Naxos	Two-piano transcription.
2000	Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow	Olympia	Two-piano transcription.
2001	York2 (John York, Fiona York)	Black Box	One piano, four hands transcription. Reissued 2011 on Nimbus Records.
2004	Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, Susan Bradshaw	Delos	Two-piano transcription.
2012	Anthony Goldstone, Caroline Clemmow	Diversions	Two-piano transcription.
2015	ZOFO (Eva-Maria Zimmermann, Keisuke Nakagoshi)	SONO Luminus	One-piano, four-hands transcription.

Other versions

Year	Primary musicians	Label	Recording notes
1976	Isao Tomita	RCA	Released in 1976/1991. Free arrangement and abridgement for electronic synthesiser.
1985	Kevin Peek with Rick Wakeman and Jeff Wayne		Progressive rock version called Beyond the Planets.
1996	Peter Sykes	Raven	Version for organ.
2009	Hugh Banton	Fie	Organ transcription.
2010	Buzz Ensemble	Fidelio	Version for brass and organ.
2010	Stefan Moser	H and M	Version for organ.
2020	Jeremy Levy Jazz Orchestra	OA2 Records	Big Band version called The Planets: Reimagined.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Stuart, Philip. The LSO Discography. 2009. Available at CHARM website, accessed 28 March 2013.
^ All the music from The Planets conducted by the composer, including alternate takes and original couplings, was issued together for the first time in 2014: Sanders, A. Review of Explore Multimedia ExM008. Classical Recordings Quarterly. Autumn 2014, No 78, p59–60.
^ The Planets (Multi-disciplinary) version only reference was found here: at Amazon
^ Available at CNSO website, accessed 4 July 2018.

[Stuart-1] Stuart, Philip. The LSO Discography. 2009. Available at CHARM website, accessed 28 March 2013.

[2] All the music from The Planets conducted by the composer, including alternate takes and original couplings, was issued together for the first time in 2014: Sanders, A. Review of Explore Multimedia ExM008. Classical Recordings Quarterly. Autumn 2014, No 78, p59–60.

[3] The Planets (Multi-disciplinary) version only reference was found here: at Amazon

[4] Available at CNSO website, accessed 4 July 2018.

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