The Planets has received dozens of recordings since its earliest accounts in the 1920s under the composer’s baton. And no wonder: the seven-movement work (Pluto was discovered in 1930, some 15 years after Holst wrote his suite, and of course no longer has planetary status anyway) is both a vibrantly atmospheric depiction of astrological marvels and a visionary orchestral showpiece.

The Kansas City Symphony seize the day, and night, on their new recording under music director Michael Stern. Some performances of The Planets focus more on the score’s colourful surfaces than on its dramatic mysteries and jubilance but Stern’s concept pays close attention to every alluring aspect of Holst’s achievement. The vivid and often asymmetrical rhythmic elements are highlighted to a lucid degree, even as the mesmerising textures are beautifully etched.

Stern lingers on the noble theme in the middle of the otherwise gleeful ‘Jupiter’ to stirring effect. The orchestra is everywhere responsive and full of character, whether the music is hushed or exuberant. In the final ‘Neptune’, the women of the Kansas City Symphony Chorus sing their wordless lines with shimmering refinement. In the end, another recording of The Planets is more than justified.

Heavenly matters are not all that make this disc welcome. Stern and his players are equally persuasive in the charming ballet music from Holst’s one-act opera The Perfect Fool, written several years after The Planets. Although the opera has faded from the repertoire, the four pieces performed here are choice examples of the composer’s gift for conjuring descriptive and captivating sound worlds.