Out of this world might best describe Saturday’s concert by the Butler County Symphony Orchestra at Butler Intermediate High School. Musical director Michael Kraemer deftly led the orchestra on a musical journey through our solar system.

The concert opened with the Helios Overture, Op. 17 by Danish composer Carl Nielsen. Composed while Nielsen was in Greece, this early 20th century work depicts the path of the sun from daybreak to twilight. The string basses open with a whisper as dawn approaches before the horns announce sunrise. Section by section the orchestra lyrically describes the sun’s path to its zenith before quieting down to the quiet of sunset.

The premiere of “Penumbra” by Stephen Barr, assistant professor of music at Slippery Rock University, fit perfectly with the super blue blood moon of a few days ago (penumbra is a portion of the shadow cast by a lunar eclipse). Although not intentionally scheduled to coincide with that event, just like nature itself, it provided an unexpected musical beauty with a euphonium solo performed by Tom Mahovsky of the Air Force Band of the Golden West. Mahovsky, a graduate of SRU, commissioned the piece along with Kraemer and the BCSO, and Jonathan Helmick and the SRU Wind Ensemble.

Much like the contrast of light and dark in an eclipse, the piece alternated between a mysterious orchestral background to the lyrical euphonium, then allowed the orchestra to swell in lush harmonies. “Penumbra” beautifully matched the artistry of Mahovskv. As Barr pointed out in the pre-concert lecture, there were some unusual harmonies as well, adding a beautiful composition to the repertoire for the euphonium.

The second half took the audience to the outer reaches of our solar system with Gustav Holst’s The Planets. The English composer, who had more of an interest in astrology than astronomy, begins the suite with Mars, the Bringer of War, not surprising since he composed the work during World War I.

The orchestra, augmented with additional woodwinds, brass and percussion, began the ominous, pounding Mars movement forcefully. They conveyed the opposite texture in the next movement, Venus, the Bringer of Peace, with its lyrical, sometimes ethereal quality.

Mercury, the winged messenger, is the shortest, quixotic movement. The strings were fairly flying as well as Mercury himself.

Jupiter, the Bringer of Jolity, certainly brought joy to both orchestra and audience. This robust, most familiar movement of The Planets suite, highlights the best of every section of the orchestra. Kraemer achieved a celebratory feeling throughout, especially with the soaring central section extracted to become the hymn “I Vow to Thee My Country.”

Strings, brass and tympani created tension in the more somber Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age, immediately contrasted by the rousing and more boisterous Uranus, the Magician.

Holst and the orchestra reached the edge of the solar system with Neptune, the Mystic. The flutes begin with an other-worldly melody developed by the orchestra before the clear voices of the SRU Women’s Choir offstage provide a music of the spheres that fades to close the work.

Before space exploration, composers relied on imagination to depict the wonders of the cosmos. We have seen the details of the solar system from the photography of the Cassini mission, Mars Curiosity Rover, and old-timers Voyager 1 and 2. We are fortunate to have both with us for our musical journey.