THIRD PIECE

The Planets by Gustav Holst
(Charles Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra)

After Sheherazade inspired me to compose my own Magellan Suite for piano, a friend asked if I knew The Planets by Gustav Holst. Astronomy fascinated me. What a great idea to write about the solar system! Only later did I learn that it was astrology, not astronomy, that inspired Holst: Mars, the Bringer of War, Venus, the Bringer of Peace, Mercury, the Winged Messenger, etc. (That’s why Holst didn’t compose an “Earth” movement.)

Listening to Holst’s The Planets can obsess you in a good way for months! First, you get hooked on the rhythm and drama of Mars. Then as you listen to the rest of the piece, you keep discovering more “favorite” movements—the grandiosity of Jupiter, the sheer beauty of Venus, the cosmic mysticism of Neptune.

The Planets is in 7 movements for a very large orchestra. On the low end are bass clarinet, contrabassoon, 2 tubas, and 3 trombones.. The brass includes 6 horns and 4 trumpets for a huge sound. There are parts for organ, celesta, and two harps. And-count ‘em—6 timpani, among a bunch of percussion including a tam-tam and tubular bells. There is even a women’s chorus that sings offstage just for the last movement (Neptune, the Mystic).

This music sounds perhaps overly familiarly to us. That’s because we’ve grown up watching fantasy and sci-fi films and TV shows that have copied Holst’s orchestral colors, harmonies, and even themes quite religiously :) Hearing them again in “the original” can is refreshing, compelling, and much more emotional. All his colors and harmonies serve a larger imaginative narrative that go far beyond “special fx.”

Two points more interesting—
First, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sheherazade clearly influenced Holst in this suite. Not only in the sense of its compelling orchestral journey, but literally in its emphasis on tritone harmonic progressions and invocation of folk tunes and dances. Second, the dissonances in The Planets—even the extreme ones—are immediately compelling and attractive. Much more so than the comparative dissonances in contemporaries Stravinsky and Schoenberg. Holst was familiar with Schoenberg’s Five Pieces for Orchestra and he composed The Planets during World War I, so he was certainly aware of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. Unlike both of those works, Holst still embraced the tonal system. So his dissonances are both prepared by tonal expectations and ultimately resolve with tonal expectations. They function as an expanded or extended tonality. In other words, even though the chords are more complex than Beethoven’s, they still progress in the same familiar way. Chords of tension resolve to chords of comparative release, so that we respond to them immediately and emotionally in ways that relate to all the earlier music we love. For me as a teenager, I could relate my love for Bach and Beethoven immediately to Holst, while thrilling to its more complex dissonances and orchestral colors. Only once I was willing to abandon those expectations was I able to process and love the far deeper music of Schoenberg and Stravinsky!

Here are my favorite moments from the first four movements of The Planets by Gustav Holst—

Mars, the Bringer of War

Back to the compulsive rhythm and drama of Mars. Yes, this music clearly inspired John Williams for his Star Wars scores, especially the Darth Vader theme. That’s obvious. But there is so much more to hear in Mars. To begin, the strings flip their bows upside down to play on the wood (col legno), tapping an ominous rhythmic ostinato in 5/4 meter. That ostinato runs through most of the piece. Perhaps this piece inspired Ravel when he later composed his own ostinato rhythm years later for Bolero. Above the strings, horns and bassoons intone slow rising lines. Low and high brass gradually enter, then woodwinds, and more percussion. The accumulation of sound is both terrifying and magnificent:

First big climax in Mars, the Bringer of War

The final climax is even more shattering. You feel the power of the dissonant chords in different combinations of brass and strings, empowered by the organ. Then scurrying strings and woodwinds build excitement for the final statement of the ostinato:

Final climax in Mars, the Bringer of War

Venus, the Bringer of Peace

Then comes the tender Venus movement. What a contrast! I love the harmonies in the winds and cellos that introduce the first violin solo. They play in B flat minor, a chord that then transforms magically to F# major (B flat minor slides to B natural major 7th). Great moment!—

Introduction to the gorgeous violin solo in Venus, the Bringer of Peace

It’s even more gorgeous when it comes back a second time, now preceded with chords in the flute and high violins (divided in 8 parts!) and then a magnificent solo cello:

Reappearance of the music that introduces the violin solo in Venus, Bringer of Peace

I also love the ending of Venus with its exquisite Celesta part:

Celesta giving heavenly sparkle to the end of Venus, the Bringer of Peace

Mercury, the Winged Messenger

The tempo picks up in Mercury, the Winged Messenger. This scherzo has an intentional Mendelssohn “fairy dust” quality, as well as suggesting a bit of the tarantella from the last movement of Scheherazade!):

Scherzo theme in Mercury, the Winged Messenger

The influence of Scheherazade continues in the magnificent lyrical theme that repeats in crescendo as it’s tossed from solo violin to oboe to flute to celesta to clarinet to violins and a huge orchestral tutti:

Lyrical theme in Mercury tossed from instrument to instrument

The ending of Mercury is a tour de force of orchestration. Celesta, harp, piccolo, and flute descend in a magical sparkle, followed by woodwinds scurrying in ascent:

Magical end of Mercury, the Winged Messenger

Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity

It’s fitting that Jupiter is the heftiest movement of The Planets. It expresses “jollity” first in the high energy of its accompaniments. Hear the violins begin the movement with fast imitation of a pentatonic scale:
High energy violins opening Jupiter, Bringer of Jollity

Second, Holst expresses “jollity” with hearty melodies that recall English folksongs. Six horns play the “big tune” that repeats over and over in ever larger orchestration, eventually layering in the energy from the beginning accompaniment, not unlike his treatment previously of the lyrical theme in Mercury:

The Big “English Folk Song” Theme in Jupiter, Bringer of Jollity

After the climax of this big theme, a short bridge prepares the trio section with an even more expressive “English folksong” theme:

The Big “Noble Trio Theme” in Jupiter, Bringer of Jollity