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
This site was designed by Adrian Wyard and coded by Candice Canoso & Pablo Ramirez with assistance from Waleed Malik. Funding was provided by Counterbalance Foundation.
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Neptune is marked Andante in 5/4 (3 beats followed by 2), with no expression markings
Neptune the Mystic
Opening melody is harmonically ambiguous
Neptune is the Roman god of the sea. Neptune is also associated with Pisces
This is Neptune (Wikipedia)
To date Neptune has only been visited by the Voyager 2 spacecraft
Tremolo in 1st & 2nd Harp on the same chord written enharmonically
The Eastern Veil (Ermolli)
As with Uranus transparency is used to give a sense of mystery and the unknown
Neptune was discovered in 1846 - by mathematical prediction
Neptune has the fastest winds in the Solar System (1200mph)
M82 - The Starburst Galaxy (NASA/ESA/STSci)
Strings enter muted (Con Sordino) with celeste chords
Neptune’s moon Triton will feature later, so it’s introduced in this scene
This is Neptune's moon, Triton (Wikipedia)
Composite held chords of Emin/Emajor...
Beyond Neptune are the stars
Trills and tremolos in strings with scalic passages in celeste
Westerlund Cluster (NASA/ESA/STSci)
Antennae Galaxy NGC 4038-4039 (NASA/ESA/STSci)
This Celeste melody here suggests millions of twinkling stars
30 Doradus - Tarantula Nebula (NASA/ESA/STSci)
Sul Ponticello tremolando in strings
M106 (NASA/ESA/StSci)
Sailing past Neptune's moon Triton (NASA/GSFC/JPL/LPI/Schenk/Blackwell)
Here we meet mysterious Triton
Pianissimo Bass Drum stroke with composite chords in wind
Neptune is 30 times further from the Sun than the Earth
It takes radio signals from Earth four hours to reach Neptune
Harps glissando in contrary motion
A simulation of galaxies colliding (NASA/GSFC/AVL/Robertson/Hernquist)
The off-stage wordless choir enter for the first time
Billions of stars are singing, courtesy of the women’s chorus
NGC 1300 (NASA/ESA/STSci)
A beautiful image for a beautiful melody
The choir of female voices breaks into six parts of weaving wordless counterpoint
The Orion Nebula (NASA/ESA/STSci)
The chorus sounds other-worldly here, almost heavenly - we are after all in the heavens at this point
Carina Nebula (NASA/ESA)
The Lagoon Nebula (NASA/ESA)
NGC 6543 (NASA/ESA/STSci)
The orchestra comes to the fore
The center of our Milky Way Galaxy (NASA/ESA/SSC/CSC/STSci)
A change of direction in the music indicated by a change of direction in the zoom. We are leaving
The work concludes with voices repeating two chords quieter and quieter
The choir re-enter in a call and response sequence
M101 (NASA/ESA/JPL/STSci)
As we leave the planets in our solar system we get a sense of the vastness that lies beyond
The choir recedes to silence. This is one of the first indefinite fades in classical music
This look was inspired by the closing credits in Close Encounters of the Third Kind - as the spaceship is slowly receding into the distance
Credits
Andante in 5/4 (3 beats followed by 2), with no expression markings
Opening melody is harmonically ambiguous and given to a solo flute ghosted by bass flute a sixth below
Tremolo in 1st & 2nd Harp on the same chord written enharmonically (Gsharp minor/Aflat minor). The chords are played on different strings so can be oscillated from one to another
Strings enter muted (Con Sordino) with celeste chords and the opening melodic material is converted into accompanying texture
Composite held chords of Emin/Emajor in trumpets and Trombones with arpeggiated textures in strings and harps
Trills and tremolos in strings with scalic passages in celeste. From this point melodic shape disappears and is replaced by pure texture and slow moving harmony.
Sul Ponticello tremolando in strings (the bow played close to the bridge producing a more scratchy harsh texture), followed by composite chords in brass accompanying florid complex textures in celeste, harps and upper strings
Pianissimo Bass Drum stroke with composite chords in wind colored by sul ponticello in strings and the entry of the celeste in quintiplets starting at various points in the bar leading to the listener not knowing where the measures start and finish
Harps glissando in contrary motion underpinned by a composite chord of Emajor/min
The off-stage wordless choir enter for the first time a held top G accompanying the first truly melodic idea since the opening of the movement played by solo clarinet, followed by 1st Violins without their mutes
The choir of female voices breaks into six parts of weaving wordless counterpoint in Emajor accompanied very sparsely by harp harmonics and very low and quiet flute chords
The orchestra comes to the fore using virtuosic complex textures of scalic and arpeggiated patterns in harps, celeste and strings, with composite chords in woodwind and brass
The choir re-enter in a call and response sequence gently and beautifully accompanied by glissandi in harps and an upper pedal (B) on 1st Violins
The work concludes with voices repeating two chords which become quieter and quieter
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