Holst's The Planets

The Oregon Symphony brings Gustav Holst's The Planets to the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall this October, with three performances on the schedule: Thursday, Oct 8 at 7:30 PM, Saturday, Oct 10 at 7:30 PM, and Sunday, Oct 11 at 2:00 PM. Giancarlo Guerrero conducts, and the symphony is joined by the Portland State University Chamber Choir and the Portland State University Thorn Choir.

The Planets is the big draw here. Holst wrote it between 1914 and 1917, and he didn't intend it as a set of astronomical portraits. He was a private music teacher at St Paul's Girls' School for nearly 30 years, and his interest in Hindu mythology and astrology is what really drove the suite. He conceived the seven fantasies as character profiles rather than literal depictions of the planets, and they take you on a tour of the solar system from the warlike Mars to the mystic Neptune.

The program pairs the Holst with two other works. Kaija Saariaho's Asteroid 4179: Toutatis (2005) was written for a recording by Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic, inspired by the asteroid whose orbit passes closest to Earth. Then there's Gabriela Lena Frank's Picaflor: A Future Myth, a co-commission by the Oregon Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Bravo! Vail Music Festival that draws on Andean Peruvian mythology. It's a West Coast premiere, so this is one of the first times it'll be performed on this side of the country.

Between the Holst, the Saariaho, and the Frank, the whole evening stays in the realm of the celestial and the mythic. Tickets range from $43 to $161, and the three dates give you a few options for when to catch it: Thursday night, Saturday night, or a Sunday matinee.