The Planets - Alberto Nosè, Valentina Fornari

Alberto Nosè and Valentina Fornari perform Gustav Holst’s The Planets in the composer’s version for two pianos: seven movements, from Mars to Neptune.

Formats and editions

• CD — CVLD337CD
• Hi-Res file 88.2kHz · 24bit — CVLD337

Musicians

Alberto Nosè — piano 1
Valentina Fornari — piano 2

Recording and production

Original 88.2 kHz · 24-bit recording at FAZIOLI HALL, Sacile, Italy, on 14 and 15 September 2021. Two FAZIOLI F278 pianos, tuned and prepared by Fazioli staff. SCHOEPS MK2s linear, SENNHEISER MKH8020 and AUSTRIAN OC818 microphones, one stereo pair of each; three MILLENNIA MEDIA HV-3B preamplifiers. LYNX AURORA “n” ADC. Microphone setup selected by Marco Lincetto.

Production: Velut Luna
Executive producer: Marco Lincetto
Recording, mix and mastering: Marco Lincetto
Musical production and editing: Mattia Zanatta
Cover photograph: Edoardo Brotto
Design and layout: L’Image

Track listing

01 - Mars, the Bringer of War  6:41
02 - Venus, the Bringer of Peace  7:47
03 - Mercury, the Winged Messenger  3:58
04 - Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity  7:30
05 - Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age  8:55
06 - Uranus, the Magician  5:38
07 - Neptune, the Mystic  8:01
 
Total Time: 48:37

Critical notes

A critic once defined THE PLANETS, probably not by chance, as "The British Rite Of Spring."
In reality, it is very descriptive music, yet not without considerable complexity of writing, which, however, never appears as such to the listener's ears. Within the seven small rhapsodies, which correspond to the name and presumed "mood" of the seven planets honored, themes and harmonies that are extremely effective and impressive chase each other, destined to be immediately fixed in the memory even of a distracted listener.
So many are these happy moments that this work would inspire more than one great film composer of our time, often directly quoting entire musical phrases, such as the very famous theme from the Star Trek saga in the finale of Jupiter. But John Williams, Bernard Hermann, Alan Silvestri, and James Horner also owe a great debt to Holst for some of their most celebrated themes.
In the last part of his life, "after" The Planets, Holst would create other valuable works, but none on the level of his masterpiece, which, consciously or not, all of Humanity has learned to love, directly or indirectly.
The version we propose today is a transcription of THE PLANETS for two pianos, made by Holst himself. It is an extremely rare work to find on record and also performed live. In fact, from a technical point of view, this version presents absolutely transcendental difficulties for interpreters who decide to try their hand: and this precisely because of the need to reduce the extreme complexity of the sound textures of a large symphony orchestra to only 4 hands and two keyboards of this reduced ensemble.
Only very great and well-rehearsed performers can rightly tackle this high mountain to climb, as is the case with our Alberto Nosè and Valentina Fornari, also partners in life, interpreters of great talent and long experience.
 
Finally, in my opinion, this album offers a last but not least reason for interest in the sound we managed to achieve, starting from the pianos and the recording location, which are two wonderful FAZIOLI F278 grand pianos recorded in the equally splendid acoustics of the FAZIOLI HALL in Sacile, home of the prestigious FAZIOLI company, universally known for building some of the best pianos on the Planet. The native high-resolution digital recording, the use of highly selected and absolute reference microphones and microphone preamplifiers (AUSTRIAN OC818, SCHOEPS MK2s and SENNHEISER MKH8020; and also MILLENNIA MEDIA HV3-B) complete the work.
Marco Lincetto

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