Gustav Holst- The Planets- Mercury, The Winged Messenger (REACTION & REVIEW)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ส.ค. 2024
- Song Link: • Holst: The Planets, Op...
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It's rare for non-classical fans to like an entire suite of movements. The Planets is one of the rare cases where this doesn't hold true. It is magnificent from start to finish and there is much more to come as it moves into the farther reaches of the solar system. It's the first classical album I fell in love with and still the greatest.
One thing to note about this work: Holst wasn’t trying to evoke the original aspects of the Greek or Roman gods; he was basing his themes on the astrological aspects of the planets. It’s a subtle difference, but it gets more important as you get to the later planets.
When you get to Jupiter, I think you’ll find out why it’s a particular favorite of a lot of people, including me.
Let's go for Jupiter. yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh😛😛😛
BRAVO Justin!!!
Love this suite. I’m a symphonic metal and rock fan and this suite fits right in.
Gustav Mahler made several beautiful symphonies too.
I always had a soft spot for Mars as a metal fan, but Neptune takes the prize for me.
Well you can't go wrong with this suite. It's a truly superb 20th Century classical concept album, in a sense...please continue until the end, you won't regret it Justin. 🙃
I am really impressed that you are taking on classical music. I love my rock music (Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath…) but I think classical reactions are overdue. The Planets is a really good start. The famous piece is Mars but I enjoy Venus and Jupiter. Another great classical piece is Vaughn Williams, The Lark Ascending. Many thanks for this. I look forward to more. 👍
The Lark Ascending may be the greatest piece of music ever composed.
@@pentagrammaton6793 yes, it is my favourite and always hits me emotionally.
Any chance of Love's "Forever Changes" on one of your complete album Saturdays. A treasure of this magnitude cannot be ignored forever. Wonderful West Coast harmonies and quality songwriting would be a pleasant diversion from the wizard's and elves we get so much of down in Dingley Dell!
Mercury was the last movement to be composed in 1916. Leo calls Mercury the thinker and the Winged Messenger.
Mercury…represents the silver thread of memory, upon which are strung the beads which represent the personalities of its earth lives.” In this movement the silver thread if depicted by the use of the glockenspiel and celesta. Quote from a link that disappeared.
King Crimson used the ‘Mars’ theme for ‘The Devils Triangle’ on their second album. For reasons of copyright they couldn’t use Mars as the title.
Jupiter next, probably the most famous one.
didn't expect such a rabbithole on a music reaction video :O
Morse code… . .. … , I don’t know it, anyway joking aside, good catch.
I read just now on wiki that The Planets by Tomita was banned in Britain for many years by his daughter, Imogene Holst. This saddens me because I love the album and play it often.
Learning all the time… as Frugal already said Tomita’s version emphasizes the code a bit more clearly.
I enjoy listening to the traditional version very much. I’d meant to come back to the traditional version but hadn’t till I happened to hear it once on the way back from my sister’s house one night on public radio. Thrilled that you picked up on this opus. This takes me back to taking Music Appreciation in college with my artist friends in various states, did I pass that class, I must have…
oh well, it was fun. We were young… as we say often.
Apart from The Planets and a handful of other works, his music was generally neglected until the 1980s, when recordings of much of his output became available.
Holst was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, the elder of the two children of Adolph von Holst, a professional musician, and his wife, Clara Cox, the Holst side of the family was of mixed Swedish, Latvian and German ancestry, with at least one professional musician in each of the previous three generations.
Brilliant. The best classical suite for me. There’s also the excellent synth versions by Tomita ❤
Thanks, Professor. I appreciate the Morse code tangent. Very interesting! 👌
That was a nice catch by Justin.
Ain't music and history and culture and discovery fun?!
I must confess, I've never listened to The Planets, it's a joy taking the journey with you.
I do have some Classical favorites, though: Tchaikovsky's 1st piano concerto; Rachmaninoff's 2nd piano concerto; Handel's Water Music; and way up on top, Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. After touring the planets, you might want to consider immersing yourself in RK's truly magnificent symphony.
Thanks for this, and as always, carry on!
This is great! Holst is fantastic. The whole of Planets is iconic but my favorites are yet to come (Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune). Keep with the classical reviews.
Will do Joel! Ty
We can almost see this little planet streaming around the Sun. The wings of Mercury! (you will love Jupiter)
a little preview.....
Flash Mob - Gustav Holst - The Planets: Jupiter (Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra)
th-cam.com/video/q3cpOrB1GW8/w-d-xo.html
Great JP! I've got tickets to hear the Pittsburgh Symphony perform this work coming up soon! It's nice to see you expanding your musical exposure.
Afternoon, Justin. Dave from London. Looking forward to The Promise of many more great reaction videos in 2023 - like this one. Love the variety of this suite. This one has a real jauntiness to it, and it reminds me of a dog scampering around in the fields, periodically pausing for a bit of a sniff. A bit like our spaniel when I was younger. Her name? Jaunty! I like your theory of the Morse code reference. The quiet bell-like instrument is a celesta, I believe (although Wiki says it's a glockenspiel - surprising as I've seen it played live a few times)
P.S. my song ref The Promise is by the Von Hertzen Brothers, from one of my albums of 2022.
I wasnt expecting this!
Simon say's, finish the suite! Beware Greeks bearing gifts, how to telegraph this to you, without sounding like a 'heel'? Onto Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and then head into Uranus! Be careful piloting that ship though, many have 'wrecked 'em'! Peace & Love to"infinity and beyond"!
Fantastic bit of early 20th century classical impressionism. If you like this have I got some Ravel and Debussy for you. 😉
Morse code became very prominent during the time period of WWI when Holst was writing The Planets and likely wanted to correlate modern technology with ancient mythology in the guise of Mercury. There isn't a single second of this suite I don't absolutely adore.
In case anyone hasn't already mentioned it, Ken Russell produced a film based on this suite in 1983 for ITV's South Bank Show. I remember watching it and being mesmerised from start to finish. In fact it's no exaggeration to say that my appreciation of orchestral music began that evening. I found it on TH-cam some time ago, sadly the quality wasn't that great.
This version feels rushed. I love absorbing every nuance. This seems like it’s running over these moments. I always go back to Eugene Ormandy’s version every time.
Unfortunately for the morse hypothesis, The Planets was published in 1918, a bit more than a decade before the invention of Morse Code
6:02 I think you may find its a Celesta which is a keyboard instrument fitted with metal keys in place of strings. You will hear it also rounding off the final movement as well.
The celesta is also popularly known for its use in Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite.
I've seen you struggling to know what to call these, going through songs, pieces, tracks - they're movements. In classical music, with a symphony, suite, or other work with multiple distinct sections, they're called movements. Rock on! Can't wait for Jupiter and Saturn...
And the Morse code thing, what a trip! If it is Simon, who told the lie about the Trojan horse, that would make sense. Mercury is sometimes known as a wily trickster, or alternately, and exposer of lies! That could be a hidden message - and just think how much this predates the Beatles... 🤣
It's a great suite - each piece with its own style. I've heard this piece described as "a series of fluttering crescendos", which is fairly apt. The powerful Mars and stately Jupiter usually get the lion's share of the plaudits, but Mercury is memorable too. Pretty sure the instrument you're talking about is a glockenspiel. And quite a few classical composers put little musical puzzles (like the Morse Code) in their works. Perhaps the most famous is Edward Elgar's "Enigma Variations", which reputedly include the melody to an old folk song somewhere within them, though no-one has been able to figure out exactly which one or where.
... --- ...
(There was a time where in some parts of the old Usenet it was popular to make posts in dots and dashes. I would think someone from that cult would've deciphered the message by now? Interesting possibility, anyway - and a good spot, even if it turns out to be an accidental similarity.)
Unfortunately there's not yet a *Joe Parrish* interpretation of the song (in metal guitar). There is a quite new *Albion* single out, though. ( *Finding Avalon* th-cam.com/video/y9L9MXO2kyA/w-d-xo.html )
This is the shortest piece in the suite, but it packs so much in. The strings are very suggestive of the fluttering of Mercury's wings.
I think you are going to enjoy the rest of the Planet Suite, and I would suggest a couple more classical pieces that could float your boat may be Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F and Sibelius' Symphony No. 5, particularly the third movement.
Not a fan of this recording. It sound very rushed, and the mixing is just off. Some instruments are front and center when they need to be further back etc, but mostly it is just rushed. The dramatic moments are not allowed room to breathe as the entire piece. Subjective? Sure. But try Eugene Ormandy conducting Holst. Perhaps not with modern clarity, but dynamically far superior. But overall I am very glad you are reviewing this. The rest of the planets will be very hard for me to listen to knowing that this is the conductor.
glockenspiel and celesta
If you like this you may like Tomita - Smowflakes are dancing -- Classical music all made on a 1970s Moog synthesizer - incredibly done
Mellotron also.
One of my favorites - for me, it's always great to listen to when there's snow on the ground. Since my area had a big snow last Feb., I may get a chance yet.
For anyone who isn't familiar with this piece the sound quality of TH-cam makes it rather difficult to appreciate it properly.
The Morse code bit stands out even more in Tomita's electronic version of this song:
th-cam.com/video/17z13Cmj_7M/w-d-xo.html
I listen to Tomita: The Planets fairly often but as a whole. When Justin mentioned Morse code I thought, hey, that’s cool but, your link to Tomita reminded me of it. I heard it but hadn’t correlated it to messages of a messenger. See this is the reason I come back as much as I can. Good catch!
Not a good version - too slow. And the melodies should be tossed around the different parts of the orchestra as if on gossamer wings. Still wonderful music though.
For a look at a side of Englishness completely different to, but equally representative of, Ian Dury you should listen to The Lark Ascending by Vaughan Williams th-cam.com/video/-mHgucSz1hs/w-d-xo.html
Funny. Someone else felt this rushed.
If you want to explore classical music, I highly recommend Steven Malinowski channel (@smalin). He makes graphical representations of classical music that are phenomenal in helping you follow all that is going on in complex pieces. It's like following along with a conductors score but you don't have to read music.