Symphony joins astronomical group in concert
Partnership sheds new light on Holst’s musical Planets suite, with NASA images
The Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra will go beyond the bounds of Earth with its next concert — and with a little help from the stargazing community.
Gustav Holst’s orchestral suite The Planets is probably his most popular piece of music still played to this day. Keeping with the theme of The Planets as the cornerstone of its upcoming concert, the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra will partner with the Saskatoon Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada to provide a deeper dive into the actual planets of our solar system on Saturday.
“It’s always really interesting to be able to connect the music we’re doing on stage with things that are real and happening in our community,” SSO executive director Mark Turner said.
Holst’s famous suite is composed of seven movements, each named after a different planet. Earth and Pluto are not included — Earth by Holst’s choice, and Pluto because the planet wasn’t discovered until after the suite was written and about four years before Holst’s death. The most famous of all the suites is most likely the first in the list: Mars, The Bringer of War. The piece, characterized by a pulsing horn and drum section — and an unusual quintuple meter — is said to be the inspiration for John Williams’ Imperial March in Star Wars and Hans Zimmer’s score for Gladiator, among many others.
Patricia Gakis with the astronomical society joked that while Mars is often the best-known movement of The Planets, as a planet it’s actually “kind of dead.” She also said Holst wrote The Planets from the perspective of astrology and not astronomy, so she can draw parallels and distinctions between the music and the planets themselves.
“It’s so funny for someone like me to pick out these differences,” Gakis said. “I love listening to the music, but it’s a little bit comical — I think I would change the titles around a little bit.”
A musician herself, Gakis said she looks forward to the partnership between the astronomical society and the orchestra. The astronomical society will be set up at TCU Place to share information on coming celestial events, like the transit of Mercury, which Gakis said will take place in November.
“Anything that gets people talking about music, talking about science and astronomy — I’m all for it,” she said.
Along with the music, footage will be projected of the actual planets, prepared by NASA specifically for use with Holst’s suite to add a visual component to the concert.
Turner said Holst’s music is a “warhorse” of orchestral repertoire, and the addition of the astronomical society and the footage from NASA should make the concert a unique event for the SSO.
“Some of the moments in this music still sound modern today, even though they are a hundred years old,” he said. “And I think that’s really what made them such a benchmark of musical achievement.”