10.10.24, 20:00, Belgian Brass & Stefaan Degand, The Planets

Gustav Holst was clairvoyant; his planets proved prophetic. No Pluto for miles — the planet had not yet been discovered in 1914 — but Pluto eventually turned out not to be a planet at all either. Ask Neil deGrasse Tyson should there be any doubt about this. And thus, no man overboard anyhow. That he also omitted Earth from his cosmic musings we will conveniently blame on inattention.

The other seven planets did make it. With Jupiter as their central axis, the other planets seem to be orbiting the gas giant rather than the sun. In just under an hour, the planets show off Holst’s compositional diversity wonderfully. The static of Neptune with which the piece ends in contrast to the constant motion with which Mars begins the piece; lofty Venus in stark contrast to the vulgar Uranus; the light and jesting Mercury versus the heavily toiling Saturn.

Narrator on duty is Stefaan Degand. That the man has a thing for classical music is downright obvious. That he will be able to bring Gustav Holst’s Planets to life like no other is therefore beyond dispute!