Holst: The Planets/John Williams: Star Wars/Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra

One of the best double-CD sets in classical music is this superlative reissue of top-notch performances of space-related music by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and the conductor who put it into world-class status, Zubin Mehta.

On Disc One, we get the orchestra's epic 1971 recording of Gustav Holst's celebrated suite "The Planets." In terms of the recording and performance, this has to rank as one of the greatest recordings this piece has ever had, right alongside Ormandy's equally vibrant 1975 RCA recording. The women's voices of the Los Angeles Master Chorale in "Neptune" are appropriately haunting and interstellar. This is followed by the orchestra and the chorale in a 13-minute arrangement of themes from the 1977 Steven Spielberg sci-fi classic CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND by John Williams, and it is something to behold.

Disc 2 opens up with the celebrated "Dawn" sequence that opens up Richard Strauss' celebrated tone poem...Read more

I'm glad someone else realizes Mehta conducts Williams better than Williams. The phrasing and balances are much better. The Planets is excellent, although some of the newest DG 4-D wonders are good sonically. But Mehta simply lets the music play itself without too much fussing. Most impressive, however, is the Zarathustra. It is one of the best because it uses a REAL pipe organ, not one of those electronic sheep bleeting things that masks out both the orchestra and the composer's spine-tingling harmonics that make this piece so awesome. Anyway, it is a superb collection of space-related works that also stands the test of classic concert scrutiny. This is simply the best overall collection of this music available.

Being a "fan" of classical music as well as a collector of good sci fi film scores, I immediately picked up this double CD even if I was short on cash. Although I have become used to my own favorite interpretations of these selections( like Andre Previn for the Zarathustra, Gardiner for The Planets, and John Williams or Charles Gerhardt for Star Wars)this album made me hear other parts of these works that I had not liked, or listened well before. This should be a collectors piece. Worth the price for any of the pieces.