English composer Gustav Holst (1874-1934) has exerted an unexpected influence on much of the film-score world over the last 25 or so years. Years ago, I overheard a professor of music sagely remark to one of his students, "You want to write like John Williams' heroic music for Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark? That's fine, but seek out the source: Holst. The Seattle Symphony does The Planets once a season; go hear the real thing."

Composed from 1914 to 1917, Holst's masterwork, The Planets, still conjures the triumphal, goosebump-inducing, cataclysmic grandeur that only a symphony orchestra can summon forth. A seven-movement suite depicting the astrological traits of our solar system's planetary bodies, The Planets is packed with rousing Edwardian-era tunes propelled by sumptuously scored horns, trumpets, and trombones. After hearing the heraldic pageantry of "Mercury, the Winged Messenger" and the magisterial "Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity," even a grumpy fake-o anarchist like me believes that the sun will never set on the British Empire.

Given the ongoing war in Iraq, The Planets' ominous doom-laden first movement, "Mars, the Bringer of War," seems especially pertinent. Prophetically, Holst completed "Mars" a few short weeks before the outbreak of World War I. The remaining movements--"Venus," "Mercury," "Jupiter," "Saturn," "Uranus," and "Neptune"--were written and orchestrated by 1917. Astronomy addicts may wonder about the absence of Pluto, but our solar system's most distant planet wasn't discovered until 1930. Rounding out the program are Berlioz's overture to Béatrice et Bénédict and Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor, op. 45. CHRISTOPHER DeLAURENTI

Catch the Seattle Symphony performing The Planets Thurs Nov 13 at 7:30 pm, Sat Nov 15 at 8 pm, or Sun Nov 16 at 2 pm (Benaroya Hall, Third Ave & Union St, 215-4747), $12-$80.

chris@delaurenti.net