For a long time, I've been aware of Sir Adrian Boult's classic EMI account of Holst's 'The Planets' - now available as part of that label's Great Recordings of the Century series. But I only heard it today ... and it left me shell-shocked!
Not only is this the most vivid recording of the work I've yet heard - the depth of it is quite staggering, given its age - but it's also the most violent, delicate, passionate and breathtaking by turns. More so than either of Rattle's EMI accounts, and easily more so than Elder's for Hyperion, to name but a few that I previously rated.
The pairing - Elgar's 'Engima Variations for Orchestra' - was a different story. True, it had its impressive moments (the whole of EDU being the most memorable of these), but when placed alongside Zubin Mehta's blistering and keenly felt performance with the LA Philharmonic, or any of Sir Andrew Davis' traversals, Boult's account falls short of the gold. A shame, as had it been more insightful, it would've made for a tremendous musical powerhouse of a disc.
