The Planets, Holst and the PSO

Each of the planets in its progression aligned before our ears, and in their turn these passages from the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra were presented one by one. And as I listened all I could do was smile. I could not write notes, I could not conjure words, hearkening to that stunning sound -- it came to me as an image upside down, inside out, inverted in sensory magic, and before my mystical mind was an n-dimensional universe, with planets everywhere.

Which was my favorite? It is hard to pin down, but I have to say that Holst weaved a magical chord in: Uranus, The Magician, what a mischievous tonal wandering, I like it more than ever before. Of course Jupiter is always fraught with jollity, and a bit of frivolity.



I reached, but she was no longer there,
and as my reward 'twas an empty hollow embrace,
these fragile hands no longer feel her supple silky hair.
Would I awake from a dream bereft of her sweet grace?

Alone, like the planets that revolve around the sun,
some with moons, some with none,
yet all alone are they in their darkest void of space,
never slowing, never yielding, till their path is done.

Lost souls wandering, connecting with only means
of simple communication, like light beacons between the stars,
some understood, others pass us by, missing our horizon,
until the heavens unite our worlds, a journey ever far.