Yoel Levi, in his tenth year as Music Director of the ASO, with plans to remain in that position until the year 2000, now has over twenty recordings in his Telarc discography. His most recent release is an album of Beethoven Overtures with the orchestra (CD-80358). Upcoming recording plans include the Mahler Symphony No. 6 in A minor, the "Tragic," scheduled for release in April. In early 1997, the orchestra made a tour of the Northeastern United States under Levi's baton, including a concert at New York's Carnegie Hall, termed "a performance for the ages," by reviewer Bill Zakariasen. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra is now in its 53rd season.

Called "a blend of astrology and mythology, austerity and voluptuousness," Holst's The Planets is an orchestral showpiece. Taking the listener on a journey to seven planets, the music ranges from the ominous rumblings of the planet "Mars" (whose rhythms were said to have frightened Holst himself) to the ethereal mystery of the final movement, "Neptune." It's a sonic trip to outerspace, without leaving the comforts of planet Earth.