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September 21, 2025

20,000 vinyl LPs 399: Isao Tomita: Gustav Holst ~ The Planets

Isao Tomita ~ Gustav Holst ~ The Planets

vinyl LP front cover detail

cover illustration – Stanislaw Fernandes

detail photo of album cover by Styrous®

On September 21, 1874, composer Gustav Theodore Holst was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. Apart from The Planets and a handful of other works, his music was generally neglected until the 1980s, when recordings of much of his output became available.

Isao Tomita ~ Gustav Holst ~ The Planets

vinyl LP front cover

cover illustration – Stanislaw Fernandes

photo of album cover by Styrous®

Some of his friends and influences were Ralph Vaughan Williams, George Bernard Shaw and fabric designer William Morris. Holst was also frequently inspired by literature, Max Müller, Walt Whitman, Thomas Hardy and Robert Bridges.

Isao Tomita ~ Gustav Holst ~ The Planets

vinyl LP back cover

illustration – Stanislaw Fernandes

photo of album cover by Styrous®

Patrick Gleeson, who did several classical synthesizer albums using the Emu Modular synthesizer, released his own version of the Holst Planets on Mercury Records (link below). There was some consternation at RCA and Mercury that both artists had worked unknown to each other on a synthesizer version of the same piece. 'The Tomita Planets' was more than likely so named in the USA to avoid the confusion the record companies were fearful of.

The Planets was taken out of market for a few years by court order from the Holst's relatives. They claimed that Tomita had manhandled their father's great composition, and the record company withdrew some 30,000 records from the stores. Despite this, The Planets is Tomita's most complete and popular work, and was listed as one of the best keyboard albums by Keyboard Magazine. It was the last album to be released by RCA Records in the quadraphonic format.

There have been many interpretations of The Planets; Emerson, Lake & Palmer did a version of Mars The Bringer Of War.

Isao Tomita ~ Gustav Holst ~ The Planets

vinyl LP back cover detail

illustration – Stanislaw Fernandes

detail photo Styrous®

There is more information on Holst and Tomita on a previous article I've written about the LaserDisc version of this recording (link below).

The illustration for the cover of The Planets was created by Stanislaw Fernandes who also did the cover for the Enchantment album by Utopia (to be a future article).

Isao Tomita ~ Gustav Holst ~ The Planets

vinyl LP, side 1

photos by Styrous®

Isao Tomita ~ Gustav Holst ~ The Planets

vinyl LP back cover detail

illustration – Stanislaw Fernandes

detail photo Styrous®

Tracklist:

Side 1:

A1 - I. Mars, The Bringer Of War - 10:48
A2 - II. Venus, The Bringer Of Peace - 8:46
A3 - III. Mercury, The Winged Messenger - 5:28

Side 2:

B1 - IV. Jupiter, The Bringer Of Jollity; V. Saturn, The Bringer Of Old Age - 17:35
B2 - VI. Uranus, The Magician; VII. Neptune, The Mystic - 9:37

Companies, etc.

Phonographic Copyright ℗ – RCA Records
Copyright © – RCA Records
Pressed By – RCA Records Pressing Plant, Indianapolis
Published By – G. Schirmer

Credits:

Composed By – Holst*
Illustration – Stanislaw Fernandes
Performer [Electronically Performed] – Isao Tomita*
Producer [Produced By] – Plasma Music, Inc.

Notes:

Includes a poster of the front sleeve, and a poly-lined Red Seal inner sleeve.
Some copies have a Demonstration/Not For Sale gold stamp on the back cover.

Artist/title on front cover:
The
Tomita
Planets

Artist/title on spine:
Holst · The Planets – Isao Tomita

Artist/title on labels:
Holst
The Planets

Artist/title on back cover:
Holst
The Planets
Electronically performed by
Isao Tomita

Info on back cover:
TMK(S) ® Registered • Marca(s) Registrada(s) RCA Corporation • © 1976 RCA Records, New York, N.Y. • Printed in U.S.A.

Info on labels:
(Recorded in Japan)
TM(s) TCA Corp.—Made in U.S.A.

Runouts are stamped except the last letter or number is etched (e.g. A).

Barcode and Other Identifiers

Rights Society: ASCAP
Pressing Plant ID: I
Price Code (on spine): 0698
Matrix / Runout (Side A label): ARL1-1919-A
Matrix / Runout (Side B label): ARL1-1919-B
Matrix / Runout (Side A runout variant 1): ARL1-1919A-1 I A0 3
Matrix / Runout (Side B runout variant 1): ARL1-1919B-2 I AC C
Matrix / Runout (Side A runout variant 2): ARL1-1919 A-6
Matrix / Runout (Side B runout variant 2): ARL1-1919 B-10
Matrix / Runout (Side A runout variant 3): ARL1-1919A-1 I ^0A
Matrix / Runout (Side B runout variant 3): ARL1-1919B-2 I ^2B
Matrix / Runout (Side A runout variant 4): ARL1-1919A-1 I A1 cC
Matrix / Runout (Side B runout variant 4): ARL1-1919B-2 I A C D
Matrix / Runout (Side A runout variant 5): ARL1-1919A-1 I Λ0 J
Matrix / Runout (Side B runout variant 5): ARL1-1919B-2 ΛI L
Matrix / Runout (Side A runout variant 6): ARL1-1919A-1 I A4C
Matrix / Runout (Side B runout variant 6): ARL1-1919B-2 I A2C
Matrix / Runout (Side A runout variant 7): ARL1-1919A-1 I A3 L
Matrix / Runout (Side B runout variant 7): ARL1-1919B-2 I A1 L
Matrix / Runout (Side A runout variant 8): ARL1-1919 A-6 I 1 Λ2B
Matrix / Runout (Side B runout variant 8): ARL1-1919B-12 Λ1P
Matrix / Runout (Side A runout variant 9): ARL1-1919 A-1 I A1H
Matrix / Runout (Side B runout variant 9): ARL1-1919B-2 I A4D
Matrix / Runout (Side A runout variant 10): ARL1-1919A-1 I Λ7 F
Matrix / Runout (Side B runout variant 10): ARL1-1919B-2 I Λ7 C
Matrix / Runout (Side A runout variant 11): ARL1-1919 A-3 I A3 A1
Matrix / Runout (Side B runout variant 11): ARL1-1919B-2 I A10 K

Tomita – The Planets
Label: RCA Red Seal – ARL1-1919
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo, Indianapolis Pressing
Country: US
Released: 1976
Genre: Electronic
Style: Modern Classical

Viewfinder links:

Benjamin Britten

Emerson, Lake & Palmer

Stanislaw Fernandes

Patrick Gleeson

Gustav Holst

Gustav Holtz ~ The Planets (LaserDisc)

William Morris

Edmund Rubbra

George Bernard Shaw

Michael Tippett

Isao Tomita

Walt Whitman

Ralph Vaughan Williams

Net links:

Cultural influence of Holst's The Planets

Playbill ~ Why Holst's Masterpiece The Planets Is Out of This World

SF Crow's Nest ~ The Tomita Planets by Isao Tomita

Synth Junkie ~ Mars The Bringer of War: Two Synthesizer Interpretations

Isao Tomita ~ The Planets

ypoiw ~ Isao Tomita - The Planets

YouTube links:

Emerson, Lake & Palmer ~ Mars The Bringer Of War

Isao Tomita ~ Gustav Holst ~ The Planets (complete)

Styrous® ~ Sunday, September 21, 2025

20,000 Vinyl LPs Archive
MAIN MENU - Blog Articles
~

September 26, 2024

Howard Coster articles/mentions

mentions:

Benjamin Britten articles/mentions

Howard Coster - 1939

photo by Keith Medley

Photographers
Photography Articles
MAIN MENU - Blog Articles
~

August 3, 2019

20,000 vinyl LPs 193: Roman Ryterband ~ Chamber Music

Roman Ryterband ~ Chamber Music
vinyl LP front cover detail
sketch by Rodolfo Dei
detail photo by Styrous®

Yesterday was the birthday of the Polish composer, Roman Ryterband who was born in Łódź, Poland on 2 August, 1914, to a well to do family of lawyers and musicians. By the age of 12, he was composing music and was encouraged by Alexander Glazunov to pursue a musical career; he performed as a pianist in Łódź and Warsaw during the mid-1930s.

Roman Ryterband ~ Chamber Music

vinyl LP front cover
sketch by Rodolfo Dei

photo by Styrous®

Touring Western Europe on the eve of World War II, Ryterband was able to board the last train to Switzerland, where he took refuge and worked as a manual laborer alongside other wartime foreigners interned on Swiss territory until the mid-1950s. Except for his sister and her son, his entire family perished in the Holocaust.

He completed his PhD studies of musicology at the University of Berne, indulging his passion for studying different languages and cultures, and conducting an extensive research of Slavic, Swiss, Italian, Brazilian, Indian, and Negro folk music traditions. They inspired Ryterband to write a number of works utilizing various native idioms as well as author and deliver numerous lectures and articles on indigenous music traditions throughout his life.

Roman Ryterband ~ Chamber Music

vinyl LP back cover

photo by Styrous®

His music represents a cross-pollination of early twentieth century modernists like Debussy and Britten with folk elements present in the works of Bartok, Copland, or Kodaly. Although his career as a composer began with a few short piano works and some popular songs in Poland in the late 1930s, Ryterband came into his own during the World War II years spent in Switzerland. There he completed several large-scale solo piano cycles (24 Variations on a Folk Song, Suite Polonaise, and Three Preludes) and a number of solo and chamber works for harp (Two Images, Sonata for Harp and Two Flutes, Sonata breve and Trois Ballades Hébraïques), as well as many vocal works, choral cantatas and compositions for saxophone and piano.

Trois Ballades Hébraïques sheet music

Almost forty years after his death, Ryterband’s music remains largely unknown, especially in his native Poland, perhaps because he spent most of his creative life abroad.

Although most of his catalog is represented by chamber music (often in interesting combinations of instruments), Ryterband also penned a few large-scale orchestral works, including Jubilate Deo for soloists, orchestra, organ and men’s and boys’ choirs (1949), symphonic poems Vida Heroica (1953) and Russian Rhapsody (1962), as well as orchestral ballet music Tableaux of Laguna (1976) and Heracles and the Argonauts (1978).

Heracles and the Argonauts

Folk and religious music add further diversity to Roman Ryterband’s opus with such entries as Three Hebrew Songs for voice and piano (1938), Song of the Slavonic Plains for violin and piano (1944), Rhapsodia helvetica for trombone and piano (1948), and several songs based on Negro spirituals (The Gospel’s Mah Religion, Yo’ Serbant, So Sing—So Play, Trusty Jim), as well as a number of psalm settings (Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem, Raise Your Heads, O Gates) and settings of traditional texts and poetry in Hebrew, Polish, French and German.

Roman Ryterband ~ Chamber Music

vinyl LP back cover detail

detail photo by Styrous®

The winner of several awards, including the First Prize at ISCM Chicago in 1961 for Piece sans titre for two flutes, Ryterband also received the Kosciuszko Foundation 1977 Award and a grant from the National Endowment of the Humanities for a work celebrating American Bicentennial celebrations in 1976.

Roman Ryterband ~ Chamber Music

vinyl LP label, side 1

photo by Styrous®

Roman Ryterband ~ Chamber Music

vinyl LP label, side 2

photo by Styrous®

Tracklist:

Side 1: 23:16

Sonata Breve for vionlin & harp - 10:02
1 - Allegro agitato 3:03
2 - Adagio pastorale, poi passionato - 3:20
    Vivo e scherzoso - Adagio - 3:39
    Elemér Glanz - Violin, Eva Kauffungen - Harp

3 - Pièce sans Titre for Two Flutes alone - 3:56
    Alexander Magnin, Geoges Guéneux - flutes

    Deux Sonnets for Contralto, Flute & Harp - 9:18
4 - Eroica - 4:43
5 - La Perle 4:45
    Lyn Vernon - Mezzo-Soprano, Alexandre Magnin - Flute, Eva Kauffungen - Harp

Side 2: 20:11

Trois Ballades Hébraïques for Violin & Piano - 11:56
1 - Le Rêveur - 4:19
2 - La Maître Joyeus - 2:35
3 - Berceuse - 5:02
    Elemér Glanz - Violin, Boris Mersson - Piano

    Suite Polonaise for Piano (Three excerpts) - 8:55
4 - Drobny - 3:07
5 - Krakowiak - 2:35
6 - Oberek 3:13
    Boris Mersson - Piano

Roman Ryterband ~ Chamber Music
Label: Orion Sound, ORS 74167 Stereo
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US



Viewfinder links:

Béla Bartók
Benjamin Britten
Claude Debussy
Alexander Glazunov

Net links:

Polish Music Center ~ Roman Ryterband
UCR ~ Talents Revealed in Composer's Concert

YouTube links:

Roman Ryterband ~
          3 Ballades hébraïques: No. 1. Le Reveur
          3 Ballades hébraïques: No. 2. Le Maitre Joyeux
          3 Ballades hébraïques: No. 3. Berceuse
Le Maître Joyeux for violin & harp
        Sonata breve: I. Allegro agitato
      Sonata breve: II. Adagio Pastorale - Poi Passionato







Styrous® ~ Saturday, August 3, 2019

20,000 Vinyl LPs Archive
MAIN MENU - Blog Articles
~

January 2, 2019

1,000,001 CDs 13: Sir Michael Kemp Tippett ~ Praeludium

photos by Styrous®

Sir Michael Kemp Tippett ~ Praeludium

CD cover photo by Jason Shenai

Today is the birthday of Michael Tippett who was born in 1905 and is known as a composer of modern vocal music. But he wrote some fine works for orchestra (link below) such as his Praeludium for brass.

The Praeludium for brass, bells and percussion, written in 1962, is atonal, dissonant and clamorous, a true child of the 60's, but it is celebratory. It is a wonderful exposition for trumpet, trombone, French horn, saxophone and tuba accompanied by percussion and bells. This is a recording of a performance conducted by Tippett himself.

Tippett was born in Eastcote, a part of the London Borough of Hillingdon, but raised in Wetherden in Suffolk.

He attended Brookfield Preparatory School in Swanage, Dorset where he earned notoriety by writing an essay that challenged the existence of God; a precursor of things to come.

In 1918 he won a scholarship to Fettes College, a boarding school in Edinburgh, where he studied the piano, sang in the choir, and began to learn to play the pipe organ. The school was not a happy place; sadistic bullying of the younger pupils was commonplace. When he revealed to his parents in March 1920 that he had formed a homosexual relationship with another boy, they removed him. He transferred to Stamford School in Lincolnshire, where a decade previously Malcolm Sargent had been a pupil.

In mid-1932 his friendships with David Ayerst and Francesca Allinson had opened up new cultural and political vistas. Through Ayerst he met W. H. Auden, who in due course introduced him to T. S. Eliot. Although no deep friendship developed with either poet, Tippett came to consider Eliot as his "spiritual father".

Ayerst also introduced him to a young artist, Wilfred Franks. By this time Tippett was coming to terms with his homosexuality, while not always at ease with it. Franks provided him with what he described as "the deepest, most shattering experience of falling in love".

In November 1940 Tippett had formalised his pacifism by joining the Peace Pledge Union and applying for registration as a conscientious objector. His case was heard by a tribunal in February 1942, when he was assigned to non-combatant duties. Tippett rejected such work as an unacceptable compromise with his principles and in June 1943, after several further hearings and statements on his behalf from distinguished musical figures, he was sentenced to three months' imprisonment in HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs. He served two months, and although thereafter he was technically liable to further charges for failing to comply with the terms set by his tribunal, the authorities left him alone.

Tippett formed a fruitful musical friendship with Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears, for whom he wrote the cantata Boyhood's End for tenor and piano. Encouraged by Britten, Tippett made arrangements for the first performance of A Child of Our Time, at London's Adelphi Theatre on 19 March 1944.

In 1946 Tippett organised the first British performance of Monteverdi's Vespers, adding his own organ Preludio for the occasion. His compositions in the immediate postwar years included his First Symphony, performed under Sargent in November 1945, and the String Quartet No. 3, premiered in October 1946 by the Zorian Quartet.^[59] His main creative energies were increasingly devoted to his first major opera, The Midsummer Marriage.^[60] During the six years from 1946 he composed almost no other music, apart from the Birthday Suite for Prince Charles (1948).

In November of 1997 he made his last overseas trip, to Stockholm for a festival of his music. After suffering a stroke he was taken home, where he died on 8 January 1998, six days after his 93rd birthday. He was cremated on 15 January, at Hanworth crematorium in London.

Tracklist:

    Ritual Dances — From The Midsummer Marriage

    Bass Vocals – Matthew Best (2)Mezzo-soprano Vocals – Margaret McDonaldSoprano Vocals – Rita CullisTenor Vocals – Mark Curtis (2)

    (24:27)
1 - Prelude —     2:49
2 - Transformation And Preparation For — 1:42
3 - The First Dance: The Earth In Autumn — 2:14
4 - Transformation And Preparation For — 1:51
5 - The Second Dance: The Waters In Winter —     2:59
6 - Transformation And Preparation For — 2:22
7 - The Third Dance: The Air In Spring — 3:37
8 - Preparation And The Fourth Dance: Fire In Summer - 6:53

9 - Sosostris's Aria — From The Midsummer Marriage, Contralto Vocals – Alfreda Hodgson - 10:31

10 - Praeludium For Brass, Bells And Percussion - 7:29

    Suite For The Birthday Of Prince Charles (Suite In D) - (18:09)

11 - I Intrada    - 3:41
12 - II Berceuse - 3:06
13 - III Procession And Dance    - 3:03
14 - IV Carol - 4:07
15 - V Finale - 4:12

Companies, etc.

    Recorded By – Nimbus Records Limited
    Mastered At – Nimbus Records Limited
    Manufactured By – Nimbus Records Limited
    Phonographic Copyright (p) – Nimbus Records Limited
    Copyright (c) – Nimbus Records Limited
    Distributed By – A&M Records, Inc.

Credits:

    Chorus – Chorus Of Opera North*
    Composed By – Tippett*
    Conductor – Sir Michael Tippett
    Orchestra – English Northern Philharmonia

Notes:

Recorded, Mastered and Manufactured in England by Nimbus Records Limited.
Distributed by A&M Records Inc.
℗ 1990 Nimbus Records Limited
© 1990 Nimbus Records Limited

Made in England
Distributed by
A&M Records Inc
Stereo Ambisonic
UHJ encoded
Barcode and Other Identifiers

    Barcode: 0 8360-35217-2 1

Tippett* - Alfreda Hodgson, Chorus Of Opera North*, English Northern Philharmonia, Sir Michael Tippett ‎– Ritual Dances
Label: Nimbus Records ‎– NI 5217
Format: CD, Stereo, Ambisonic
Country: US
Released: 1990
Genre: Classical
Style: Contemporary

Viewfinder link:

Michael Tippett

Net links:

List of Tippett compositions
Music Web ~ Tippett CD review

YouTube links:

Michael Tippett ~ Praeludium

Styrous® ~ Wednesday, January 2, 2019

1,000,001 CDs Archive
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September 21, 2018

1,001 LaserDiscs 6: Gustav Holtz ~ The Planets

Gustav Holst ~ The Planets

12" NTSC LaserDisc front cover

photo by Styrous®

Today, September 21 is the birthday of composer Gustav Holst, who was born in 1874. He is best known for his orchestral suite The Planets, which was written between 1914 and 1916. Each movement of the suite is named after a planet of the Solar System and its corresponding astrological character as defined by Holst.

The premiere was at the Queen's Hall on 29 September 1918, conducted by Holst's friend Adrian Boult before an invited audience of about 250 people. The first complete public performance was finally given in London by Albert Coates conducting the London Symphony Orchestra on November 15, 1920.

Gustav Holst ~ The Planets

12" NTSC LaserDisc back cover

photo by Styrous®

This recording is performed by Isao Tomita who adapted The Planets for Moog and other synthesizers and electronic devices. Tomita, was a Japanese music-composer, regarded as one of the pioneers of electronic music and space music, and as one of the most famous producers of analog synthesizer arrangements.