Planets

I'm a big Tomita fan or maybe better said "appreciator" as I'm not nuts about everything he has done. That being said even the stuff I'm not crazy about, I seriously respect the effort and expertise that went into the recording and production. I'm not sure how he recorded some of the stuff he did given the technology of the time, but to successfully interpret and capture the dynamics and moods of the various pieces of music he recorded was no small feat I'm sure.I own quite a bit of his catalog, and my favorite pieces of his tend to be the ones that better balance the traditional feel of the piece with the creative flavorings and timbres a synth or keyboard can bring to it. His take on "The Planets" is probably my top one or two in his body of work. Enough of the essential elements from the original music (and I do really like the various orchestral versions as well) combined with a basic bit of beeps, bells, whistles, and various Tomita-style touches.When I saw that he had released a remastered and retouched (new voices, elements were added) version of "The Planets" I mulled over buying it, because the price wasn't so great (around $40) and I eventually caved and one-clicked it.Was it worth the purchase price? For me, yes. Definitely. Though I have no equipment to play the SACD portion of this disc, the CD portion plays fine and sounds tremendous: a pristine aural image of his original recording, embellished with some more modern synth sounds that for me rarely detract from the original version, and in some instances, nicely enhance it.Now some of you will still say, "Forty bucks...for a CD?"Two big reasons it was worth it to me? One, I really love the original orchestral work (the melodies and arrangement) and Tomita's interpretation of it. Second, of all the original Tomita CDs I own, my older version of "The Planets" was probably the weakest for audio fidelity. It's the one most needing a remastering.The new track Tomita added to this version is mostly for transitioning between pieces but fits perfectly, and though some won't like the replacement of some of the sounds in the recording (for me they are seamless for the most part), I can honestly say the only negative for me on this disk was the price.If you're a Tomita purist, you might not like the new touches (hey, at least he did them himself), but it's all subjective anyway. Plenty of "Planets" purists and classical fans never liked Tomita's version anyway. I believe there was another, earlier remastered version of this without the changes or additions, so if you prefer your "Planets" untouched, you might try to hunt that version down instead. Maybe it's cheaper too.Definitely 5-stars for me...mileage may vary for others depending on your requirements!

If you know Isao Tomita's original recordings, you know his uncompromising visions of the same forward momentum in artistic interpretations, as the original audiences experienced with the debuts of the original versions of the composers works. With this album, the Mussorgsky reimaginings and particularly the elevation of Debussy's genius into the heavens, you will have the foundations of the most thrilling revisioning of some of the masters of classical, orchestral, serious music, interpreted by this new medium Tomita was reviled/renowned for.Yeah, this is all flowery bee-ess and all, but, should you get this? Is it worth the investment? I mean heck, is this even the original recording?It's honestly better. A sonic delight that truly benefits from SACD standards. One dimension further in 5.1 than the original quad mixes. The same startling departure from Walter/Wendy Carlos-style faithfulness. The rediscovery of how much further an intelligent, empathetic arrangement can take a well-known (well-WORN) classical piece if the listener is willing to understand, this isn't blasphemy...no, the original was blasphemy, and we owe it no less than that same bold attitude. And thank Isao Tomita for caring enough to give you one more glimpse into the possiblity that classical music still holds, on his way out of the world of the living.

I'm still trying to translate Japanese press about this album. Basically it seems that Nippon Columbia (Denon), Tomita's label since around 2000 gave him an opportunity to update/redo his classic (and somewhat controversial in some circles) "The Tomita Planets" from 1976. On this 2011 and the 1976 version Tomita has arranged Gustav Holst's early 20th century orchestral tour de force for Moog Syntheiszer and Mellotron (a pre-digital ancestor of the sampler). Controversial and even removed from sale in England because it makes a good number of changes as well as casting a different light on it due to the synthesized colors. I absolutely love what Tomita did with the material though I understand that some won't. Talking with Tomita well after the original 1976 version but before this version he explained that since he was working with synthesizers to make an album he felt artistically he needed to adapt the work. He was not working with an orchestra for a concert. In the same conversation I could also tell he regretted his technical production skills left flaws on his earlier albums. Tomita released a now rare DVD-Audio version in 2003 of The Tomita Planets but it's beyond this review to go into it.On this album Tomita is surely trying to preserve what worked well in 1976 on the Moog Synth. You still hear many of his classic lead instrument Moog sounds and his overall arrangement is quite similar with a few changes. He seems to have done a lot of replacing of the accompanying sounds with various new synths from Roland. Currently my opinion is he improves some things technically and performance-wise while others are kind of the same and a few elements from time to time are, in my opinion, not improvements. The Disc is SACD surround with a compatible CD layer. Unfortunately my system can only play stereo at this time from an SACD thanks to hardware rights management and (lack of) hardware support.I'm still researching the track "Itokawa And Hayabusa". Itokawa is an asteroid named after Hideo Itokawa, a late Japanese rocket pioneer whom Tomita knew and admired. He seems to have guest appeared as an astronomer in a ballet interpretation of the Planets that Tomita worked on long ago. Hayabusa was a Japanese space probe designed to take a sample of the Itokawa asteroid back to earth, which it did in 2010. The image on the cover seems to be a fanciful traditional Japanese festival interpretation of the Hayabusa probe by Japanese computer graphics pioneer Yochiro Kawaguchi. Tomita's music is more a textural memento and interlude than the full blown orchestra sound of the Holst work.

I am very pleased with this recording.