Unusually popular repertoire for Hyperion; but the special interest here is Pluto, commissioned by the Halle’s outgoing director Kent Nagano to illustrate the eighth planet, discovered only in 1930. For proper effect, though, it obviously demands a decent Planets, which happily it receives. If the Halle lack the glitz and sheen of Dutoit’s and Karajan’s orchestras, they offer a warmly idiomatic sound which suits their new director Mark Elder’s generally expansive yet detailed approach, and the full-blooded, rather forward recording.
Mars, with balefully clear percussion, steers a middle way between the machine-gun tempo favoured by the composer and Haitink’s leaden grimness (Philips – nla). Venus and Mercury are sensuous, even lingering, but Jupiter is refreshingly vibrant and dancing. Tension slackens somewhat in Saturn, but spaciousness and detail make more sense of Uranus than usual, although the transcendent organ glissando is underwhelming.
Neptune is suprisingly lush, a distinctly fleshly Mystic with a chorus as alluring as ethereal. Which, in the main version here, fades out to Pluto – a flashing scherzo, inspired by the rushing particles of the so-called ‘solar wind’. Matthews wisely avoids Holstian pastiche, linking it to the original by tempo – Holst’s favoured 5/4 – and sound; celesta, glockenspiel and jittery percussion create fleeting reminiscences of the other planets. The result is appealing, postmodern but lyrical, yet ultimately unsatisfying.
Like a spectacularly modern wing grafted onto a classic building, it stimulates by contrast, yet the uneasy lack of unity diminishes both. A separate piece, linked companionably rather than umbilically, might have been more effective. As the composer disarmingly admits, Pluto’s planetary status is pretty dubious, anyway. The Lyric Movement, with a fine soloist, raises hopes for some more rare Holst from this team