On this 2006 double-disc from EMI, Simon Rattle, and the Berlin Philharmonic offer not only a gripping reading of The Planets and Colin Matthews' Pluto, but also fill out their musical solar system with a handful of astronomically inspired pieces. Kaija Saariaho's haunting Asteroid 4179: Toutatis and Mark-Anthony Turnage's brutal Ceres are rather straightforward in depicting their orbiting subjects, while Matthias Pintscher's mythological tone poem towards Osiris and Brett Dean's Komarov's Fall, based on the cosmonaut's ...
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On this 2006 double-disc from EMI, Simon Rattle, and the Berlin Philharmonic offer not only a gripping reading of The Planets and Colin Matthews' Pluto, but also fill out their musical solar system with a handful of astronomically inspired pieces. Kaija Saariaho's haunting Asteroid 4179: Toutatis and Mark-Anthony Turnage's brutal Ceres are rather straightforward in depicting their orbiting subjects, while Matthias Pintscher's mythological tone poem towards Osiris and Brett Dean's Komarov's Fall, based on the cosmonaut's tragic death, are more loosely evocative but just as powerful. Rattle and the orchestra recorded these pieces in concert, so the performances have a bit of a rough edge; but this is sufficiently balanced by the fine atmospherics and shimmering sonorities the Berlin Philharmonic serves up. EMI's sound is quite good throughout, with little of the haziness that sometimes attends Rattle's live recordings., Rovi
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