In 1918, a symphonic blockbuster was born in London. The Planets, a seven-movement orchestral suite by Gustav Holst, depicted the mythical character of planets from our solar system and has been a fixture in orchestral repertoire ever since. From the relentless, mechanized march of Mars to the ethereal, otherworldly fade of Neptune, Holst’s The Planets is a landmark in 20th-century orchestral music. Its influence extends beyond the concert hall, inspiring movie scores, science fiction, and even popular music.
Each movement represents a different planet in our solar system (excluding Earth and Pluto, the latter of which had yet to be discovered), not in a scientific sense but as astrological archetypes. So, we have Mars, the Bringer of War; Venus, the Bringer of Peace; and Mercury, the Winged Messenger. Then come Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity; Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age; Uranus, the Magician; and finally, Neptune, the Mystic. Though Holst himself grew weary of its popularity, and even a bit resentful of all the attention it cannibalised from his other works, The Planets remains his most celebrated work—an orchestral masterpiece that continues to enthral audiences over a century after its creation.
Plus Kaija Saariaho’s 2005 work Asteroid 4179:Toutatis, inspired by the asteroid of the same name which makes frequent close approaches to Earth, with a currently minimum possible distance of just 0.006AU (2.3 times as far as the Moon), and Jess Montgomery’s Starburst, a play on imagery of rapidly changing musical colours, inspired by the rapid formation of large numbers of new stars in a galaxy.
