The Planets Re-Imagined for Flute Choir

From the Publisher

In 2017, Opal Flutes (a flute choir based in South London) decided to plan their Autumn concert around the theme of ‘Outer Space’. There was plenty of repertoire to choose from, but the most obvious candidate, Holst’s ‘The Planets’, felt impossible to rearrange for flutes. So we came up with the idea of producing our own Planets suite instead, and invited 7 local composers to contribute a movement each to the project. To distinguish it further from Holst’s masterpiece, we asked our composers to write about the characteristics of the gods each planet was named for, rather than the astrological significance that Holst focused on. We also requested that our composers wrote new material rather than re-working Holst’s music – though we did allow them to include short quotes from Holst’s original if they wished. The result is 7 unique movements that exist as individual pieces, as well as a complete set. The movements can be performed in any order. Sharon Moloney (Musical Director – Opal Flutes).

Winner: NFA Newly Published Music Awards 2021

Performance duration (approx): 33'

Contents

• Mars - God of War (Roger Cawkwell)
• Venus - God of Love and Beauty (John Holland)
• Mercury – God of Commerce, Travel and Thievery (Laura Shipsey)
• Jupiter – King of the Gods (Peter Bruce)
• Saturn – God of Agriculture (Derek Foster)
• Uranus – God of the Sky (Martin Jones)
• Neptune – God of the Sea (Michael Regan)
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Item Details

Instrumentation

• Part 1: Piccolo
• Part 2: Flute
• Part 3: Flute
• Part 4: Flute
• Part 5: Flute
• Part 6: Alto Flute
• Part 7: Bass Flute