Holst: The Planets – Deborah Cheetham Fraillon: Earth

Conductor Jaime Martín encourages expressive yet taut playing from the Melbourne Symphony in Holst’s The Planets, a work that blends rich English pastoralism with a lean rhythmic drive. Fine recorded sound aside, performance highlights include a thrillingly detailed “Jupiter” and a “Neptune” that shimmers and glistens with the very best on record. Aboriginal Australian composer and soprano Deborah Cheetham Fraillon brings large, percussion-fuelled episodes and cinematic soundscapes to her dramatic and heartfelt homage to Earth. Fraillon joins the orchestra in the final minutes with her love letter to our planetary home, set to music of soaring beauty.