Modernism Conquers The Solar System: My Review of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra's "The Planets"
Also the Blitzkrieg, Film Cameras, Existential Introspection, and Tommy Chong
To be clear, Gustav Holst didn’t set out to score an hour of NASA video. He was vacationing in Spain in 1913 when he came upon a book about Astrology; on January 17, 1914 he attended a performance of Arnold Schoenberg’s Five Pieces for Orchestra at Queen’s Hall, known as the “musical center of the British Empire.”
Those two events inspired Holst’s “The Planets,” composed between 1914 and 1917 and debuted at Queen’s Hall, London, February 27, 1919. “Five Pieces” and “The Planets” are at the core of Musical Modernism, and Holst’s orchestral suite was the main event at last night’s excellent performance by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, George Eastman Theater (opened in 1922).
George Eastman made his fortune by creating film photography for the masses. As a man of a certain age, I remember dropping off 35mm film canisters at small, squat outbuildings near gas stations in the 1970s and 1980s. In retrospect, they were one of America’s first “drive through” experiences.
There couldn’t have been room for more than one person in those little places but the clerk would always take 5 minutes to come to the window when you drove up, reeking of bad weed. I suggest the scene below, while fictional, is essentially accurate (BTW Tommy Chong is awesome).
The Rochester Philharmonic, under the guest baton of the Peter Bay (Music Director the Austin Philharmonic), wrung all of Holst’s drama out “The Planets.” The high-definition (augmented with CGI) NASA images of the solar system’s seven planets matched perfectly with Holst’s seven planetary tone poems, each with an occult theme such as “Mars, Bringer of War.”
Below please find a similar but less visually sophisticated performance by the Auburn Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Anthony Spain.
“The Planets” places the string section in an accompanying role and relies on brass, woodwinds, and percussion (plus an organ which I had trouble hearing) to develop its sweeping, dramatic sound. The RPO did right by Holst, playing with bombast and nuance as the music demanded. You will be left with little doubt that the Red Planet is a hostile place, scarred and fearsome.
NASA images of the planets played on a large screen as accompaniment. This creates an immersive, cinematic experience which - be warned - comes with a side effect of existential introspection. So . . . maybe bring a bottle of water. Whatever you do.
The RPO began with Claude Debussy’s “Three Nocturnes” (1900). It is likely the piece was selected to give the audience another chance to hear from the Concentus Women’s Chorus, as both pieces on the program called for female voices. They were expressive and macabre, closing “The Planets” from offstage.
I left the performance to a raucous, full-house, standing ovation.
The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s performance of “The Planets” with NASA images repeats Saturday, January 28, 2024 at 7:30PM at the Eastman Theater in Rochester, New York. More information can be found here.