Megustav Holst

Having had the opportunity to work with the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra, I've been exposed to some different music, and reintroduced to some. One of them would be Gustav Holst. We played the First Suite in E Flat. Very wonderful piece of music.

However my personal favorite would be his 7 Movement Suite, The Planets. Excluding Earth, and with Holst's brilliant insight that Pluto would never be a planet, it captures the various moods of the planets. For example, Mars: Bringer of War, or Neptune the Mystic. This suite is very open to interpretation. Various groups have done well. My favorite, the Philadelphia Orchestra's version, under the direction of Eugene Ormandy. They do it best, and put the most feeling in it. OK, I will admit there could be more in Jupiter.

Beautiful piece. Listen to it. I dare ya. You'd enjoy it, as well as his other works. (NOTE: The picture is Eugene Ormandy conducting Jupiter: The Bringer of Jollity)