• Gustav Holst liked to speak of his seven-movement orchestral suite The Planets, Op 32 (1918) as a series of musical “mood pictures”. Whatever his theories about the individual planets – and as a student of astrology he had a few – the variety of musical styles in his work is remarkable. This is demonstrated in a superb new recording by the choir and orchestra of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BR Klassik), conducted by Daniel Harding. From the menace of Mars, bringer of war, to the serene beauty of Venus, the mix of jollity and nobility in Jupiter, the unworldly sadness of Saturn and the pianissimo dissonance of Neptune, this is a revelatory performance.
