The Tucson Symphony Orchestra took us to Mars in early March via Gustav Holst's "The Planets." Holst's 51-minute, seven-movement piece includes "Mars, the Bringer of War." The TSO emphasized the movement's sense of imminent battle with shattering timpani and panicked horn exclamations whose tempos carried over into the strings.
"I'm looking forward to my first engagement there," said George Hanson, TSO's conductor and music director. "As you know the gravitational pull on Mars is about three-fifths of that of the planet Earth. I'm having some batons made with lead in the cork handles that will make it balance out nicely in the slightly gravitational force of Mars."
