Holst’s Planets: A Celestial Remembrance

Sunday 10 November 2024 at 15:30

The Great British Masterpiece on Two-Pianos

To mark Remembrance Sunday, pianists Simon Callaghan and Thomas Kelly come together to perform Holst’s The Planets, in the composer’s original version for two pianos.  Begun in May 1914, shortly before the outbreak of World War I, Mars was the first movement to be written and is frequently seen as Holst's critique of war. Although Mars, the Bringer of War was completed before the start of the First World War, it is an ominous sign of what was around the corner. The following movements Venus and Jupiter. Saturn, Uranus and Neptune were all composed in 1915 and Mercury was completed in 1916. All inspired by the astrological qualities of the planets, they form a suite of seven pieces which has endured of one of the most-loved works in the British music canon. The wordless melody of Jupiter (Thaxted) later adapted and became the popular patriotic hymn tune ‘I Vow to Thee my Country’.

Please join us as the Reading Room is brought to life by the orchestral sonorities of two pianos played by two of the UK’s leading pianists.