Gustav HOLST's famous orchestral suite 'The Planets' is, without an ounce of a doubt, one of the top achievements in the music art form of the twentieth century. Previn's recording with the Royal Philharmonic has shades of greatness. The central and final sequences in particular are monumental.
Concerning the first part, 'Mars', i've hardly heard better than Boult--or Dutoit notably. Still, it doesn't mean things are "out of tune" with the Previn/RPO ; to the contrary, Previn's contains its share of excitement and is, obviously, of significant value. And if 'Uranus' and 'Neptune' do not seem to capture the sense of a cold, inhuman, remote mystery as much as in Mackerras/RLPO, for instance, then Previn rather insists on other aspects of the journey. Not to mention the clarity and tremendous power of orchestral playing that make this cd a reasonable "best choice". As is usual with most Telarcs, recorded sound is excellent. I intentionally exclude the old "glories of the past" recordings, such as the inimitable composer's own or Boult's boisterous and robust BBC performance of 1945, because it would rather be unfair to put those side-by-side with today's great sounding stereo versions.
'The Planets' were first performed in 1918. At that time, the suite didn't include Pluto. This was before the planet went discovered in 1930 but, ironically, the suite was accurate in portraying eight planets instead of nine : There have been much debate and controversy on the status of Pluto in the last few decades which ultimately led the IAU's definition to be modified and now classifies it as a "dwarf planet". It's also interesting to note that Holst's composition is akin to the frozen, often distant and hostile atmosphere of Vaughan Williams's Seventh Symphony ('Antartica'), even if the themes are obviously different. One is a brilliant attempt to portray (and pay tribute to) the expedition of Scott on the continent of ice ; the other is a powerful (and quite imaginative) attempt to situate the human being in the universe which surrounds him. Both are great works by two geniuses, two congenial minds who belonged to the same generation. 'The Planets' remain Holst's best-known opus, for better and for worse, and endure as one of the most popular pieces of music in the concert hall.
There exist many excellent recordings of this unequivocal masterpiece (some might want to refer to Karajan and also to Levine, both excellent) ; the Previn/LSO (on EMI) and Boult/LPO (also on EMI) are equally very good, reliable accounts. The latter has been coupled on cd with Elgar's 'Enigma Variations' and is one of the best sounding records featuring Boult. Still, this stellar RPO performance--brightly directed by maestro Andre Previn--will stay on my list as one of the most memorable moments in the course of 'The Planets'.