BBC Symphony Orchestra – The Planets by Gustav Holst album art
Contributed by Florian Hardwig
on Jan 1st, 2026. Artwork published in
circa 1972
.
When Classics for Pleasure reissued the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s recording of The Planets in the early 1970s, Hellenic Wide as used in 1960 didn’t cut it anymore. Cover designer Jack Wood looked for something more futuristic, and settled on Ben Bold. This choice may have been inspired by its use for The Sky at Night 3, a book published by the BBC in 1970.
The illustration shows the Apollo CSM with our Blue Planet in the background – an image likely influenced by the iconic Earthrise photograph taken on Christmas Eve 1968, during the Apollo 8 mission.
