Nocturne on neptune

“Neptune represents the nebulous stage which all must pass through… the shutting off of memory between day and night, sleeping and waking, and from life to life.” —Alan Leo, the pioneer of modern astrology, in The Art of Synthesis (1912).

Gustav Holst, a lifelong devotee of astrology (his so-called “pet vice”), integrated Leo’s astrological concepts into his epic orchestral masterpiece, The Planets (1917). The seventh and final movement borrows its title and essential qualities from Leo’s chapter “Neptune the Mystic” which articulates Neptune’s spiritual associations with the ineffable sensations of “trance, ecstasy and bliss.” While Holst himself crafted a straightforward two-piano arrangement of the fantastically eerie movement, he remained skeptical of the instrumentation. Our very different rendition, titled “Nocturne on Neptune,” takes a meditative, freewheeling approach to the source material while aiming to preserve the spirit of Leo’s text. We use Holst's irregular meter, motivic fragments, and oscillating harmonies as a point of departure, drifting through a sonic world inspired loosely by classical minimalism. While listening, we encourage you to embrace the ambiguities of infinity and the unknown.

— Greg Anderson

You may also like: