The purpose of this comparison is not judging sound quality since all three recordings are very different, particularly the first one compared to the other two. The idea here is listening to three different performances of the same parts of the same work and choosing a favorite based on “musical” instead of “sonic” criteria. I picked up the best-known parts of Gustav Holst’s “The Planets” Op. 32 suite: The first part, “Mars, The Bringer Of War”, and the fourth part, “Jupiter, The Bringer Of Jollity”. These are the contenders:

1. London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gustav Holst, recorded in 1926. This one is supposed to be THE version, since it’s conducted by the composer himself. However, it doesn’t mean that other conductors’ interpretation of the work can’t be considered “better”. It’s all about personal preference. Mono recording captured from shellac records.

2. Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by William Steinberg, recorded in 1970. Stereo recording on analog tape.

3. Orchestre Symphonique De Montréal conducted by Charles Dutoit, recorded in 1986. Stereo digital recording.

And here are the time marks for you to find the recordings easily:

(00:00) Video intro

HOLST 1926

Mars (Holst, 1926): 00:28
Jupiter (Holst, 1926): 06:41

STEINBERG 1970

Mars (Steinberg, 1970): 14:06
Jupiter (Steinberg, 1970): 20:39

DUTOIT 1986

Mars (Dutoit, 1986): 28:42
Jupiter (Dutoit, 1986): 35:49

Numark TTXUSB turntable – Nagaoka MP-500 phono cartridge – ART DJPRE II phono stage preamp – Vinyl record vinilo LP