![]() I heard a bit of it on iTunes and agreed. People tell me that James Levine's version with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is very lush and romantic, very on the sleeve, for those who prefer that kind of an approach. Herbert von Karajan's later version (the digital one) with the Berlin Philharmonic is great, as is John Eliot Gardiner's recording with the Philharmonia Orchestra. But there are others I own or have heard that can also be recommended. The selection I've chosen is before the choir comes in, pretty much in the middle of the movement.Īll the excerpts you hear in this post come from my favorite recording of this work, a Decca issue made by Charles Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. Holst uses a choir toward the end that's reminiscent of Debussy and Ravel, only this all-female choir fades out into space, nothingness - perhaps the first musical fade-out in history. But unlike the others, so influenced by Leo's writing, Neptune seems more about the planet orbiting slowly on the edge of outer darkness, at least to me. As usual, Holst's depiction of Neptune doesn't match the traditional view of the storm-bringing god of the sea. The eight-minute long last movement is perhaps the most celestial of all. I've selected an excerpt that, because of the way Holst orchestrated it with all the tambourine, has always reminded me of Rimsky Korsakov's Scheherazade. Berlioz' "Witches Sabbath," the final movement in his Symphonie Fantastique, and Dukas' symphonic poem, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, come to mind, and were probably in Holst's mind when he sat down to write Uranus. It's all quite dramatic.įor some reason, classical composers usually associate magic with jazzy, syncopated rhythms. ![]() Again, you'll hear some passages that Williams borrowed in one of the Star Wars flicks. It's as if the mighty brass section is revolting, refusing to grow old with the rest of the instruments. ![]() But about five minutes into the 10-minute movement, the brass start to rise up out of the muck in a minute-long crescendo that seems to suggest a rejection of sorts. It's meant to portray the slow onslaught of old age. The great majority of this movement is quiet, slightly lugubrious, and slow. Leo described Jupiter as "the Uplifter" signifying "happiness and abundance" and "expansion." Listen for that in the excerpt I've selected, which comes right at the beginning of the movement. The opening of this upbeat movement borrows again from Stravinsky, this time another ballet, Petrushka. Listen for the "silver thread" as depicted by the use of the glockenspiel and celesta toward the end of the excerpt I've chosen. represents the silver thread of memory, upon which are strung the beads which represent the personalities of its earth lives". Leo also describes the planet in a way that aptly describes the orchestration of the movement. Leo used to call Mercury the "thinker." Also, in his book How to Judge a Nativity, he writes that the planet is "the Winged Messenger," which is what Holst went with for his subtitle. everywhere it produces order out of disorder, harmony out of discord." Listen for the beautifully peaceful opening French horn solo, before the rest of the woodwinds enter. Here Venus is not the Roman Goddess of fruitfulness, instead Holst based his inspiration on the work of Leo, who once wrote: "Venus creates orderly harmonic motion. The second movement, Venus, is much quieter. I'll recommend some of the better recordings at the end of the post, but let's first look at each planet. The one and only 7-movement piece (there was never an Earth movement) is about 50 minutes long when played in its entirety. The piece was inspired by astrology, not astronomy (though he wasn't eager to reveal his main influences because the most famous astrologer in Britain, Alan Leo, had been prosecuted under the Vagrancy Act of 1917, which declared all astrologers, palmists, clairvoyants and mediums "common thieves and vagabonds.")īy the time Pluto was discovered, Holst was so over the success of the piece, which seriously dwarfed the rest of his works, the composer decided against adding an 8th movement, refusing to write a Pluto.Īs we know now, this turned out to be a good thing. ![]() The English composer Gustav Holst completed his most famous work, The Planets, about 15 years before Pluto was discovered. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |