About The Planets Online
The Concert
'The Planets Op. 32' by Gustav Holst
Performed by the Auburn Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Anthony Spain
Featuring the Seattle Pacific University Women's Chorus
Choreographed visuals and lighting: 'The Planets Live' by Adrian Wyard
Sound by Bill Levey
Commentators
Music Composition: Bath Philharmonia Music Director, Jason Thornton
All others: Adrian Wyard
New commentaries will be added over time. To see what we're working on follow this link
Web Site
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The Planets was written by British composer Gustav Holst
Mars is marked Allegro (lively) in 5/4 with no expression marks, in Cmajor
Mars the Bringer of War
Mars begins with the angular and irregular meter of 5/4
Holst's main inspiration was the role of the planets in mythology and astrology
The first fragment of melody enters with very low bassoons
Mars in full from 1999 (NASA/JPL/MSSS)
Image taken by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft
Listen out for the crescendo and immediate diminuendo across two measures
The disturbing rattling sound is made by tapping the strings with the bow upside down
Mars has been explored by many missions beginning in the 1960s
The full 1st theme appears passed up through the woodwind families
A thin atmosphere has been added to this image even though it's not visible in the original
A Dflat chord over a G pedal creates a very unsettling dissonance
Mars - the red planet (Wikipedia)
The movement is dominated by an incessant ostinato...
The canyon you see here is Valles Marineris
The canyon Valles Marineris is 2500 miles long and 23,000 ft deep
Listen out for the strings returning to 'naturale'
Kasei Valles. (ESA/FU-Berlin)
Simulation built with data from the Mars Express spacecraft
The first entry of the tenor tuba, which begins the fanfares in the brass
This composition is formally known as The Planets Op. 32
First major climax
The plains west of Juventae Chasma (NASA/LPL/Univ. of Arizona)
This fast left to right motion is reminiscent of an army marching - which we hear in the music
Image taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft
The second theme makes its first appearance
Back to Kasei Valles. (ESA/DLR/FU)
Mars is the Roman god of war. Mars is also associated with the astrological sign Aries the ram
Olympus Mons - the largest volcano in the Solar System (NASA)
Olympus Mons is more than twice the height of Everest
Image taken by the Viking 1 spacecraft
Nili Patera (NASA/JPL/UA)
Notice that the lighting on the orchestra follows the beat
Gale Crater (NASA/JPL/ESA/DLR/FU-Berlin/MSSS)
Image sources include the Mars Express spacecraft
The full orchestral texture is replaced by stabbing quarters. This gives a very brutal and ugly effect
Enhanced landing video (NASA's Curiosity Rover) (NASA/Canning)
A militaristic fanfare in a call and response manner
This video was originally only 4 frames per second, but has been ‘tweened’ by Bard Canning
Mars can be from 35 to 250 million miles from Earth
The fanfares are accompanied by very fast scurrying chromatic string and woodwind lines
The orchestral texture grows and crescendos in a very menacing way
This is a video loop so it can match any performance tempo
As the music fades, so do the images. Dark, the unknown
"Twin Peaks" (NASA/JPL)
Image taken by the Mars Pathfinder rover
These slow pans suggest searching the landing site - looking for the enemy?
Twin Cairns Island (NASA/JPL/MSSS)
Image taken by the Curiosity rover
The music suggests suspicion
Naukluft Plateau (NASA/JPL/MSSS)
This is a composite of several images - color-graded to fit with the others
Endurance Crater (NASA/JPL)
Image taken by the Opportunity rover
The whole orchestra (Tutti) play the opening ostinato triple fortissimo (as loud as you can)
Victoria Crater (NASA/JPL/UA/Cornell/Ohio State Univ.)
Can you hear machine guns?
Emboldened, we take flight
The trumpets, timpani and side drum hammer out the ostinato incessantly
Animation by Mars3D using elevation data and imagery from orbit. (Mars3D)
The music here suggests fast marching, and so we are shown roaming over terrain
Back to Kasei Valles and 'The Floodwaters of Mars.' (ESA/DLR/FU)
Trombones enter playing the militaristic call and response melody
With each melody repeat we enter a new scene
The fanfare is interspersed with the chromatic theme in woodwind
As the pitch ascends so do we
Mars has a very thin Carbon Dioxide atmosphere. Earth’s is 166 times more dense
Listen out for the entry of the organ on the 4th and 5th beats of the measure
Ascending
The dunes of Meridiani Terra (NASA/LPL/UA)
The 'Spiders of Mars' (NASA/LPL)
A fresh impact crater (NASA/JPL/UA)
Martian Gulleys (NASA/JPL/UA)
A massive climax in augmented time of 5/2
Mars Limb (NASA/JPL)
This is a computer-generated image, but looks very real
Music returns to quarter note measures in 3/4
This scene needed lots of energy, hence the fast-moving stars
The final 8 measures are marked Rallentando al Fine (slowing to the end)
The synchronized lighting really adds to the force of this conclusion
Mars begins with the angular and irregular meter of 5/4 (5 beats per measure). As western listeners we are programmed to be comfortable in 2 or 3 or 4 beats per measure. 5 beats immediately gives the sense of being uneasy and mechanistic.
The first fragment of melody enters with very low bassoons plus contra bassoon and horn. The melody consists of a perfect 5th followed by a half step (semi-tone). It lasts for 20 beats or 4 measures.
Listen out for the crescendo and immediate diminuendo across two measures
The full 1st theme appears passed up through the woodwind families – bassoons – bass clarinet – bass oboe and english horn (Cor Anglais) to oboe. It consists of a rising perfect fifth followed by a semitone slide downwards, followed by another perfect 5th rise and another semitone slide downward. A very angular melodic shape.
A Dflat chord over a G pedal. This creates a very unsettling dissonance. In addition the horns are asked to play the notes stopped (the muting of the note with the hand in the bell) and the trumpet with a mute. This creates a snarling and rasping effect
The movement is dominated by an incessant ostinato (repeating pattern) of triplet, two quarters, two eighth’s and a quarter note. Holst’s orchestration (use of instruments) is remarkably novel with emphasis most definitely on the brutal and mechanistic. He uses the combination of unison (all playing the same thing), strings Col Legno (with the wood of the Bow), two harps in their low register, timpani using wooden sticks and a very quiet roll (p) on gong/tam tam.
Listen out for the strings returning to 'naturale' or with the use of the hair of the bow. This makes the combined sound of the string section much louder
The first entry of the tenor tuba, which begins the fanfares in the brass, leading to a major orchestral climax 5 bars later. The tenor tuba is a non-conventional orchestral instrument, more at home in a Brass Band, where it's called a Baritone
First major climax. The opening pedal G of this movement or the Dominant has finally moved to the Tonic of C. On top of the ostinato is a raw and dissonant Dflat major chord played by full woodwind, horns and trumpets
The second theme makes its first appearance. A legato chromatic theme with just one single note articulated staccato. It first appears on trombones and tenor tuba and then passed to horns and trumpets. The ostinato remains in full strings trumpet and timpani
An orchestral climax where the music abruptly begins in Eflat minor. The full orchestral texture is replaced by stabbing quarters in the strings using down-bow retakes (where the string player plays a down bow stroke lifts the bow of the string and plays another down bow stroke). This gives a very brutal and ugly effect
A duet between tenor tuba and trumpets. It is a militaristic fanfare in a call and response manner. This is repeated using fuller orchestral textures in the proceeding bars before returning to the duet between tenor tuba and trumpets with the inclusion of a military drum (snare drum) as if calling each other across the battlefield
The fanfares are accompanied by very fast scurrying chromatic string and woodwind lines underpinned by an Aminor Chord with superimposed dissonances of Fsharp and Gsharp in the horns and trombone. This leads to a massive held chord of the same notes as previous - a huge dissonance! Listen out for the organ - an ultra low pedal G
The music shifts from 5 quarters in a bar to 5 half notes and we hear the second chromatic melodic idea in augmentation (doubling of length) on low strings, bassoons and contra bassoon. The snare drum provides fragments of the original ostinato. The orchestral texture grows and crescendos in a very menacing way
The whole orchestra (Tutti) play the opening ostinato triple fortissimo (as loud as you can)
The trumpets, timpani and side drum hammer out the ostinato incessantly whilst the rest of the orchestra plays the first angular theme
Trombones enter playing the militaristic call and response melody accompanied by the original ostinato in strings, at the heel of the bow (at the bass end of the bow to give the most sound and edge to the notes)
The fanfare is interspersed with the chromatic theme in woodwind all still over the pounding ostinato in strings
Listen out for the entry of the organ on the 4th and 5th beats of the measure
A massive climax in augmented time of 5/2 (5 half notes per bar) of two unrelated perfect 5ths piled on top of each other - C/G with Dflat/Aflat
Music returns to quarter not measures in 3/4 with the return of the scurrying chromatic string and woodwind motif
The final 8 measures are marked Rallentando al Fine (slowing to the end). Holst refers back to the original ostinato and uses fragments pulling everything back to a grinding halt. The final note is an explosive and violent open 5th (C/G) using strings, percussion, brass and bassoons
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