The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra crammed about 100 people on the stage of Little Rock's Robinson Center Performance Hall for a star-studded performance Saturday night of Gustav Holst's "The Planets."
That's counting the 22-voice women's chorus, who technically were offstage, but not counting conductor Geoffrey Robson.
Holst's monster orchestration calls for an alto flute, a bass oboe (did you even know there was such a thing as a bass oboe? I didn't), a tenor tuba, keyboard players (one at the piano and celeste, one at the organ), seven horns and several extras -- a second timpanist, a second harpist, a second piccolo player and some stray brass and woodwinds.
Robson kept all that under control -- mostly; there were a few sketchy moments of dis-synchronicity and some notes that didn't quite hit true -- for what may not have been the cleanest performance of this piece that I've heard, but one of the most enjoyable.
Holst's seven-movement suite premiered in 1918; his interest in the title heavenly bodies was astrological, not astronomical, and so he wrote no movement for Earth. Nor is there a movement for Pluto, which, though recently "discredited" as a full-fledged planet, wasn't discovered until 1930.
The brightest moments came, as you might expect, during the fourth movement, "Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity," in which the orchestra went on a joyous and jubilant romp, and in the boisterous yet mysterious "Uranus, the Magician." The opening segment, "Mars, the Bringer of War," was merely loud. The 22 singers from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Women's Choir aptly and wordlessly extended the finale into infinite interstellar space.
The audience for the concert, which celebrates Monday's total eclipse of the sun and its path of totality through a wide swath of Arkansas, didn't quite fill the house but was larger than for most of the orchestra's recent Masterworks concerts (due in part, perhaps, to a sprinkling of folks just in town for the eclipse). They also applauded generously between each of the movements, which disrupted the flow.
Robson's program opened with "Night Ferry" by Anna Clyne (or as I have been calling it, with apologies to Mozart and please pardon the pun, "Anna Clyne's Nachtmusik"). A piece Robson originally programmed for a concert canceled because of the pandemic, this turned out to be a surprisingly good fit with the Holst -- also by a British composer, and certainly loud and violent (a stormy passage indeed) until out of the chaos comes a hushed and almost sweet finale.
Robson and the orchestra repeat the program at 3 p.m. today at Robinson, 426 W. Markham St. at Broadway. Concert sponsor Saracen Casino is providing eclipse glasses for all patrons.
Ticket information is available by calling (501) 666-1761, ext. 1, or at ArkansasSymphony.org.