The Planets

Charles Dutoit often sounds better on disc than he does live. The reason for this is simple: he loves to play to the audience, and the result is all kinds of wild gesticulating that the orchestra knows perfectly well to ignore. Sometimes they ignore him completely, to the peril of the performance at hand. In the studio, however, there is no audience and the conductor is free to focus on the music. Dutoit has a real affection for The Planets and his performance is vital, insightful, and recorded in resplendent digital sound. The Montreal Symphony has a particularly powerful trombone section, which adds just that extra drop of energy to "Mars,"Jupiter," and "Saturn." A fine disc. --David Hurwitz