Andre Previn - Holst: The Planets

Early in 1914, Gustav Holst told a friend: "As a rule I only study things that suggest music to me…Recently the character of each planet suggested lots to me." This marked the beginning of the composition of his biggest orchestral work, a suite of seven movements. The first to be sketched was Mars – prophetically, for the First World War began just as he completed it. The order of the composition of the remainder was Venus and Jupiter in the autumn of 1914, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune during 1915 and Mercury in 1916. The orchestration of the complete work was also finished in 1916.