After the relative handful of recordings during the first half-century of its existence, and nearly a decade after Karajan became the last outsider to break the British hegemony of artists, the marketing floodgates opened in the early 1970s with a sudden abundance of a half-dozen new Planets LPs, to be joined since then by dozens more. In short, this movement reveals Holst as the gutsy risk-taker that he was. Hutchings, Arthur: "Music in Britain, 1918-1960" article in Martin Cooper, ed., James, Burnett: notes to the Boult/Philharmonic Promenade LP (Nixa LP 903, 1954), Kennedy, Michael: notes to the Boult/BBC reissue LP (HMV Treasury ED 39 0725 (1986), Lyons, James: notes to the Steinberg/Boston LP (DG 2530 102, 1971). In the interim, Holst himself conducted just Venus, Mercury and Jupiter in April 1919 at Queen's Hall and Henry Wood led the same movements that December, setting a precedent that would be followed for several years until the full orchestral score was published in late 1921. There are points where the time signature is less obvious and that is part of the whole excitement of the movement! Soon to enter are the horns, lower strings and both sets of timpani with a syncopated theme which builds into the fabric of this first theme (of a mighty six for this movement!). Pluto Yet Colin Matthews rose to the task in 2000 on commission from the Hall Orchestra. None of his further works caught much attention from colleagues or the public; although often austere and still heavily weighted toward vocal pieces, they included operas, fugal and double concertos, a choral symphony, orchestral, chamber and piano works and even a self-descriptive 1932 "Jazz Band Piece.". The first half is soft and rather bitter, strewn with a few reminiscences of Holst's movements, and is described by Foreman as "a pianissimo world, a mercurial scurrying of chromatic runs and scales" in which "long-held very soft pedal points, evocative orchestral color, and the shining effect of harp and celesta all add to the almost tangible pictorial effect." With the harmonic ostinato (the harmonic intervals being of two half-diminished seventh chords Bdim7 and Adim7) and the oscillating chord changes between the flutes and harps creates a dark image for the listener. The Planets, Op. To keep our ears interested, Holst dashes quickly between tonalities, and never quite settles down into one key. Three months earlier Edwin Evans had expanded on this outlook in a Musical Times article, presumably with the composer's authority: "The generally accepted astrological associations of the various planets are a sufficient clue in themselves to the imagination. Jupiter--Bringer Of Jollity By Gustav Holst (1874-1934) - Score and Part(s) Sheet Music for Orchestra - Buy print music AP.12202 | Sheet Music Plus. Freed similarly credits Holst with innovation beyond the scoring of his predecessors: "His vast forces are deployed with the utmost imaginative flair to achieve the most delicate and subtle effects and always with the feeling of great wells of strength in reserve." Jupiter the Bringer of Jollity Tab by Gustav Holst. There is an extensive use of percussion and other less-used instruments such as contrabassoon, euphonium and tuned percussion. Lee admits some logic to certain selections, analogizing the progression of Mars, Venus, Mercury and Jupiter to a conventional four-movement symphony. : Westminster Abbey I Vow to Thee My Country +2 - They played it during Princess Diana's funeral (it's her favorite hymn) and the camera zoom out from . Born September 21, 1874 Died May 25, 1934 (59) Add or change photo on IMDbPro Add to list Known for Knowing 6.2 - Orrin Howard So for instance he uses contrary motion scales between the upper winds and the tuned percussion to create a different kind of scalic sound. Not only is this movement calm and tranquil, but if offers a rest and an answer against the war. Not only one of the very first compositions to renounce tonal anchors and modulation in favor of extensive dissonance (but prior to tone rows), it used a huge orchestra, yet deployed with discretion to create a kaleidoscope of unusual textures within a highly expressionistic set of moods. The composer, a man of intellect and wide-ranging interests, found musical inspiration in diverse places. The Sciences Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity Bad Astronomy By Phil Plait Dec 24, 2010 10:00 AM Newsletter Sign up for our email newsletter for the latest science news The line between amateur and professional astronomer has always been thin. Or even it could musically represent the breakout of WW1 (as Holst was writing this movement in 1915). Boult calls it "a perfect impression of winged lightness" and its harmonic ambivalence "a wonderful sense of elusiveness as of quicksilver.". While none attracted much notice or met with any appreciable success, their underlying character would permeate The Planets. This makes the piece incredibly enchanting, enthralling and completely other-worldly. Whatever path you may take it does not take away from the fact that the music has gone into complete turmoil for a section of this piece. "Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity," is the most thoroughly English section of the work, with Jupiter's high spirits projected through a broad, infectiously energetic melody. That, in turn, suggests that the very notion of authenticity cannot be reduced to a single set of parameters and that great music can only be enriched by a range of personal interpretation. Flaws aside, Holst is an enormously persuasive advocate for his Planets and either set affords the incomparable thrill of eavesdropping on a composer supplementing the cold written score to infuse his creation with the essence of his personal creative spirit. Each of the seven movements depicts the astrological qualities of a planet in the solar system. In the Arts Gazette, Dunton Green observed: "It was an injustice to the composer to rob his planetary system of the two stars whose soft light would have relieved the fierce glare of the five others." The most unconventional part of this movement, however, is Holsts use of a female choir in the latter half of the movement. These bursts also give an insight into the military feel as you can often hear fanfares from the brass section. Its small details like the bass flute bringing a darker timbre underneath the concert flutes, and the celeste bringing a beautiful dulcet tone alongside the harp. Also jollity I suppose because the Romans also called him by the name of Jove, from which we get our word jovial. A stronger influence perhaps was that of Stravinsky, whose music had greatly impressed Holst before he took on the universe, the effects of which in The Planets can be seen in the very large Firebird and Petrushka kind of orchestration, in insistent rhythms, and also in striding rhythmic shifts. Holst's work comprises seven movements, each devoted to a particular planet in our solar system (excluding the earth, the focus of the other planets' influences), beginning with the inner three but in reverse order from their distance from the sun, and then proceeding outwards through the rest. Thus Greene contends that the slow tempo reflects the pace of the aged, the oscillating chords hold tonal progression in abeyance as a symbol of timelessness, the gradual accumulation of tonality suggests steady progress, and the final tune sounds cold and arid, to which might be added that the constant syncopation tempers inevitability with unease. The simple answer is that Pluto was only discovered and named in 1930, long after The Planets took final form. The exuberance of this movement shows itself not only in its tempo and rhythm but also in the multiplicity of subjects. As the round-faced cheery uncle of all the planets, and king of the gods, Jupiter is impressive and majestic. Holst's musico-spatial explorations may not be cosmic, but they are brilliant, dramatic, and picturesque enough to fit into almost anyone's concert hall horoscope. Boult contends that "if it is possible for a piece of music never to finish, this is what happens here" and that the prolonged diminuendo following "this tuneless, expressionless, shapeless succession of cloudy harmonies, suggesting as it does an infinite vision of timeless eternity" makes us wonder if we still hear the chorus "or only hold them in our memory, swinging backward and forward for all time." However dark the underlying topic may be here, the music creates a stunning effect that is mesmerising to hear. March 15, 2011 . Others, though, question the semblance of The Planets to prior tone poems, as they note that it is far longer than such typical single-movement works or even Debussy's La Mer or Nocturnes (Matthews), nor a collection of short pieces (like Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition or Elgar's Enigma Variations) (Matthews), and a far less literal depiction than the tone poems of Strauss or Delius (Lee). Even within each movement, Holst does not organically develop his themes symphonically, but rather uses them to create a structure suited to the psychological character and associations of each planet. Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity - By far the most accessible of the movements, Jupiter is an unabashed celebration of life, fortune and hope in a multitude of forms. Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity English composer Gustav Holst's orchestral suite, The Planets, Op. Any meaningful consideration of Planets recordings begins here. Mars, the Bringer of War Holst wastes no time launching his Planets with startling gestures. "As a rule," he said, "I only study things that suggest music to me. 10,000+ blues, R&B, rock, jazz and pop 78s, 45s, LPs and CDs and even some ragas, punk and rap. VIDEO COMMENT Holst's "Jupiter" +9 - As long as it's played well it sounds amazing on anything: : Gustav Holst - A Fugal Overture (1922) +3 - Holst didn't write a movement for Earth, but the Fugal Overture would be an interesting insertion . After the calmness of Venus, we bounce straight into the third movement, Mercury The Winged Messenger, which takes us on an exciting journey, though it is only brief, with this movement being the shortest of the seven. Halbreich calls its beauty remote, as "its quiet and silvery stream of sounds unfolds without the slightest hint of any earthly sentiment. 10pm - 1am, Symphony No.6 in D major (2) For details on how we use cookies, see our. A stately, more serious processional theme then enters, its royal dignity fully intact, after which the vigorous melody returns. Although Macmillan was a multi-talented composer, author and teacher who was cherished as Canada's foremost musician, he and the Toronto orchestra he raised to prominence and led for 25 years were barely known abroad and it is unclear why they cut the next Planets and why only the first four movements. Indeed, Holst's working title for The Planets on its first publication (along with his name as "von Holst," soon to be changed in deference to anti-German sentiment) was Seven Pieces for Large Orchestra. The mood is unmistakably mystical and the hero may indeed imagine himself contemplating the twinkling stars on a still night.. ; Hatsune Miku has competition with A.A's "VII. Comparing Holst's two recordings, the second obviously has richer sound. He Reviews. If Holst's recordings were meticulous translations of his score into sound, Coates's is a deeply inventive interpretation that opened the door for others to approach it fearlessly with their own notions of personal freedom. The theme is undoubtedly celebratory, taking us on a whirlwind of emotions which is full of climatic passion, zeal and triumphant feelings. In the interim between Pluto's ascent and demise it must have seemed tempting to complete the task that Holst, by necessity, had left unfinished, while dissuaded from the heresy of tampering with the magical ending of Neptune. Sargent's reading is remarkably potent, from a downright spooky opening as Mars seethes toward a giant climax, to alarmingly loud bells that shake off any sense of torpor in Saturn, and earth-shaking organ pedal points and huge tympani that magnify the drama of Uranus.