The Planets

     I heard the planets last week—not the music of the spheres but Holst's famous suite, The Planets, with the Rogue Valley Symphony Orchestra.

    Holst wasn't depicting the planets as the heavenly bodies astronomers study, I learned from the program, but as the ones astrologers study. It would be hard even for us, with our more scientific knowledge, to depict the celestial bodies in music without resorting either to astrology or to Greek mythology: Mars as the "Bringer of War," Venus as "The Bringer of Peace," and so on.  

    I found Holst's interpretations delightful.

    But Martin Majkut, the RVSO music director, had gone two steps beyond the music. Scientifically, he brought in Ashwin Vasada, a NASA scientist working on missions to Mars, for a pre-concert conversation.

NASA photo of Mars, from Rover

Vasada added to the music the honest-to-goodness planet that scientists know. He was fascinating.

    Artistically, Majkut brought in Adrian Wyard, to project his, Wyard's, video accompaniment to The Planets on a screen behind the orchestra as they played. Wyard's collages of his original animations and NASA media of each planet were perfectly synced with the music. The visuals were spectacular—the real planets, real space photos, perfect animations to match the music. It was a great show. 

    But we are a vision-dominant species. Given simultaneity of what is to be heard and what is to be seen, we will always give our first attention to the visuals. While the imagery did "add a new dimension to the experience," Holst's music did not "retain center stage," as described in the program. Instead of hearing music with visuals as an added effect, I was watching a video show with musical accompaniment. I enjoyed the experience a lot, but now I want the orchestra to play the music again, without the video, so I can let the sense of hearing dominate and the sense of sight, for a few hours, recede. I want to see what my imagination would hear in the music.