Sir Malcolm Sargent’s 1957 Planets with the BBC Symphony Orchestra was one of EMI’s earliest and most spectacular stereo triumphs — a vivid, spacious recording that Gramophone hailed as “the most vivid bit of stereo recording I have yet heard.” Compared with his 1954 Decca version, Sargent’s later interpretation offers greater breadth and refinement, the BBC players and Women’s Chorus responding with radiant precision and beauty.
From the same Kingsway Hall sessions comes Beni Mora, Holst’s shimmering North African tone-painting, while The Perfect Fool, recorded four years later at Abbey Road with the Royal Philharmonic, reveals Sargent’s flair for orchestral colour and wit. Together they form a superb portrait of Holst’s world — visionary, exotic, and exuberant — newly restored here in pristine stereo sound.
We also mark the 135th anniversary of the death of César Franck with a 15% discount on all his music at Pristine.