Jessie Montgomery – Johannes Brahms – Gustav Holst

The Sound of the Universe

What might the stars and planets sound like? In »Die Planeten« (The Planets), Gustav Holst offers one possible answer. He assigns each planet in the solar system known to him at the time –excluding Earth – its own unique musical character. Mars becomes a barren, warlike landscape, while distant Neptune remains veiled in mystical sound. This is how the cosmos could be imagined in music. Equally imaginative are the vibrant and playful sounds of Jessie Montgomery’s »Starbust« for string orchestra, where musical energy flares across all voices and vanishes as quickly as it appears – like a brief cosmic explosion.

Completing the programme is Johannes Brahms’s Violin Concerto in D major, a cornerstone of the concerto repertoire, performed with brilliance by soloist Vadim Gluzman. The Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the women of the Rundfunkchor Berlin perform under the baton of Adam Hickox.