Holst: The Planets (Penguin Music Classics Series)

.com In the CD's liner notes, novelist Ethan Canin's analysis of Holst's The Planets describes the composition to be the source material for most of the great cinema's scores. It's a fact he learned from his father--a violinist who left the San Francisco Symphony to pursue Hollywood studio work and kept referring back to The Planets as a source of inspiration. Holst's work--a composition for each planet in the solar system minus Earth and Pluto--was considered revolutionary in 1916 and it still sounds convincing today. Mars, the Bringer of War is a violent work that deserves a place in any sci-fi shoot out, while Mercury, the Winged Messenger is pure pastoral impressionism. Filled with moodswings and folk influences, Holst created a classic--a musical portrait of astrology eight decades before the term "new age" was infused into our vocabulary. This recording, featuring Charles Dutoit conducting the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, is a keeper. The orchestra's mastery of Holst is apparent throughout, especially on more powerful cuts, such as Mars and Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity. --Jason Verlinde

Holst: The Planets