I have given up on Southern Gospel – bad theology – and contemporary Christian music – no theology, so I’ve turned to something else. Classical music, and light operetta. This is one of my favorites:
From Wiki:
The Planets, Op. 32, is a seven-movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1916. Each movement of the suite is named after a planet of the Solar System and its corresponding astrological character as defined by Holst. With the exception of Earth, which is not observed in astrological practice, all the planets are represented.
From its premiere to the present day, the suite has been enduringly popular, influential, widely performed and the subject of numerous recordings. However, it had a protracted birth. There were four performances between September 1918 and October 1920, but they were all either private (the first performance, in London) or incomplete (two others in London and one in Birmingham). The premiere was at the Queen’s Hall on 29 September 1918, conducted by Holst’s friend Adrian Boult to an invited audience of about 250 people. The first complete public performance was given in London on 15 November 1920, with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Albert Coates.
Joel Landon Watts is a Masters of Theological Studies student with a focus in Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark. His interests include exploring the role of mimesis in human civilization, specifically in the study of religion and media, as well as science fiction and the way in which it has allowed mythology to be explored in light of scientific ideals of the past century. Currently, he is a TA for Old Testament at United Theological Seminary under Dr. Vivian Johnson, Associate Professor of Old Testament. His first book, Rhetorical Strategies of the Evangelist: Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark, is expected to be published by Wipf and Stock early next year. He is currently co-editing a book on moving from Fear to Faith (Energion, 2013).
Amen!!
Glad you are discovering this great music! There is plenty more wonderful music of this sort for you to discover. Give me even a slight show of interest, and I’ll inflict all my favorite composers on you, including some you’ll probably never have heard of.
Feel free! There is so much variety… and they seem to be long lasting too.
awesome piece.
If you have yet to discover Rachmaninov, you might want to give him a try. The second and third piano concertos and the Symphony No.2. From there you can move on to Korngold – start with the violin concerto.
One of my all-time favorites is Atterberg’s Symphony No.2, in particular the opening and closing sections of the second movement. And now there is at long last a recording on YouTube!
[...] 1st, 2011 by James F. McGrath Joel Watts recently discovered 20th century orchestral music in the form of The Planets by Gustav Ho…. I was all set to leave a recommendation of my favorites and complain about the fact that there is [...]