Good news : if the Venera probes' photos are anything to go by, daylight does reach the surface. Bad news : ...yeah, it's still an unfathomable sauna with a pressure equivalent to 900 meters under the sea, and 430°C temperatures sufficient to make the aforementioned sulfuric acid rain evaporate. (ah, and nights are as cold as Mercury's)
@@ClassicsExplained What you mean is subscribe.......so I did.....because I enjoy your videos. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Also, if you sprinkle when you tinkle, be a sweetie wipe the seaty.
I have a gig nightmare story about the planets. I performed with a symphony in a hall that didn't have a room for the choir. They decided to have the choir walk away through the wings. There were two problems. 1. The wings went out into the audience area, so they got louder. 2. Many dressed in fancy high heel shoes, even though they weren't visible. The result was a clomping sound like a herd of horses that got louder from the audiences perspective. It was not exactly what Holst was going for. :)
many a young astronomer were probably inspired by Holst’s The Planets. but when it comes down to it, the music he composed served more as an interpretation of the Greek gods characterization than the planet themselves. although it could be said that the planets’ names do aptly represent a certain characteristic of their respective god name. Jupiter being the king of the planets and gods, Mars being red, representative of fury and war. Mercury being the fastest god and planet.
I listened to an orchestra play the entirety of The Planets at a live concert, and I felt like I'd traveled through space at the end of it all. Truly some of the most captivating music ever written.
@@solarean Well, I didn't want to burst your bubble, but the only part in Planets is Mars, Jupiter almost. As for Toccata and Fugue, it's not just the first part; the later parts are more metal. It's well known that metal pulls heavily from Baroque music, and Bach was the pinnacle of Baroque, and music for that matter. Give the metal covers a listen. I think you may be talking about not metal, but just epic or hardcore
Holst became so infatuated with eastern mysticism that he learned Sanskrit and set some verses of the Rig Vada to music ,he also composed a Christmas carol “In the Bleak Midwinter”.
Indeed! There's a great deal more to the composer than The Planets - hope people who don't know much about him will go off and delve deeper into the composer after watching the video :)
I've sung in the Neptune chorus, with the Minnesota Orchestra, and it's really rather tricky. But the worst thing is knowing that the rest of the suite is being played and only getting the muted sound through the walls while you wait.
If there's ONE THING I've learned from this, it's that Holst was a MAJOR fanboy. I love the detail and explanations that you use! I hope that you blow up (like in views/subscribers sort of way not the other kind)
While the stuff about Holst not wanting to do Pluto is mostly true, I remember reading somewhere that there was a bit more to it than that. Basically, he stated something along the lines at some point, "If you want your piece for Pluto, listen to/perform "Ode to Death". It's good fit. and fits Pluto nicely."
I think (and this is just based on research) that he was going to write "Pluto - The Renewer" but died 4 years after Pluto was discovered. So, somebody named Colin Matthews composed Pluto to complete the set while doing so changing a few bars on Neptune.
4:11 not only is Glockenspiel there, but the Celesta is as well! (I'm unsure if that was in the original version but I often see those in performances) 6:00 Yeah we can easily tell that through Saturn he loves using strange harmonies. I was once playing Saturn on piano, and there are 4-note chords with the strangest combinations of notes! I personaly think Saturn, Uranus, and Jupiter are the best ones entertainmentwise. Also your videos are actually entertaining, so I subbed. Keep up the gr8 work!
The Planets is my favorite piece of classical music! I remember playing Mars back in high school and cello with the high school‘s entire orchestra! Holst’s compositions really inspired me to learn music theory and composition! I even find myself using certain aspects of the Planets in my pieces!
I can't believe it, a new video. I'm so glad to see you guys again. As well as on a subject that I'm trying to study on. This is some good timing right here.
I cannot tell you how much I love your videos. Thank you for taking the time to explain the background of musical pieces. After hearing them, knowing the history behind makes them million time better. Keep on the AMAZING work
Tears. Man, that was really great. Thank you for that. I’ve been using my imagination for that piece for about 25 years now. It’s incredible how close my thoughts about this piece and my imagination was to your video. Again great job and thank you
Thanks for opening my eyes and ears to the inspirations which Holst had, and I'd offer a few more: Mars and Stravinsky is not difficult, in Venus I can hear e.g. some Ravel, of Mercury I'm not sure, Jupiter's beginning reminds of Stravinsky's Petrouchka while much of Jupiter's "Englishness" is reminiscent of Elgar. Schönberg (in Saturn) is probably less well-known, and I also didn't know of Debussy's choir (Neptune). But what bugs me the most is how blind (or deaf) I've been for many years, not recognizing Dukas' sorcerer's apprentice in Uranus, even though I've even played Dukas myself in an orchestra! It starts with the titles of both pieces, for crying out loud (sorcerer = magician)... Once you know it, it's blatantly obvious: The staccato dance of the bassoons in the beginning, the dissonant menacing theme, the stumbling tympani, the avantgarde wild harmonies, the long alarm chords at the climax, the wondrous soft conclusion after that. Fortunately Holst omitted the final "butt-kick", that would have been too much ;-)
I always had trouble relating to this piece, I'll have to go back and listen again now that I know more of the context. Thank you so much for posting these! They're wonderful
I am planning on using your videos in my middle school music classes! They are of great quality and funny in a way that I think my students will appreciate!
Just discovered this channel today. Instantly became a huge fan! I’ll be sending this to all my friends. These videos are such an excellent way to expose people to important musical works.
I love this piece! The Jupiter movement is my favorite, especially since I sang the song "I vow to thee, my country" which is based on that movement in my choir.
About The Imperial March from Star Wars, there was a little segment from Arnold Bax's first movement of his first symphony that sounds similar to John Williams piece. I guess John was inspired by Bax as well.
At the "I vow to thee, my country" part in Jupiter, I give my grade 6 (Indonesian) students Kipling's If to read. Afterwards, they're so roused, they want to colonise somewhere.
Mars: Theme song of WWII, played in 1939 when the Germans invaded Poland (When I listen to this piece, I can hear the loud wail of the air raid sirens and the whistling of falling bombs.) Venus: When the rainstorm is over and the clouds open to reveal the sun Mercury: Sounds like Peter Pan Jupiter: I Vow To Thee My Country, played at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales (RIP) Saturn: An elegy of mystery, suspense and fear of the unknown Uranus: A festival of curiosity and eccentricity Neptune: A piece to fall asleep to
This is so fantastic. Jupiter was used as the background music of a film that was shown every hour at the North Rim Lodge at the Grand Canyon back in 1974 when I worked there. The title of the film was "Wings in the Canyon" and this music fit the views of the canyon so perfectly, filmed from a small plane. I have loved this music for many years.
Absolutely loved that one, I never got around to really fully assimilate this oeuvre and now I'm looking forward to listening to it with these ideas in mind! Also 11:19, very good joke!
Thanks Benjamin et al! I have watched all of your videos over the recent years, and each of them is a gem. 3:49 your Venus is ....er...uh..... hilarious! Much admiration and appreciation for all of your excellent work.
Was introduced to the piece by Mars, more specifically through the music game Smule. Then the fascination grew when i recognized the idea behind the piece in one of the songs in Hyrule Warriors (video game). Though not a perfect match, it gets surprisingly close, only changing the progression of a note or 2. Now i should probably hear the suite in full, as this video has given me a taste of the scope of the piece.
Arnold Schonberg was not the only avant garde composer behind Holst's Saturn! So too was Alben Berg and Anton Webern. All these composers developed a system called atonalism/ twelve-tone/ or serialism.
It's so sweet of you! Our Patreon page is still up but a much better help is to spread the word about us :) The more views and subscribers we have here, we better chances we have to get some external funding and keep producing videos forever (www.patreon.com/classics )
I love your videos and use it a lot with my kids! Could I request some videos addressed to younger kids , maybe not too scary or adult language? Thanks so much!
Thank you for this warm feedback! If everything is going well, we'll be producing a series of videos aimed at 7-11-year-olds very soon! Fingers crossed!
I remember one time in orchestra class, I was looking at a Chorale that I have never heard before and started to sight read. As I got to the end, I realized that the chorale I mentioned earlier was the middle section of Jupiter from Gustav Holst’s The Planets!
::Searches for "The Rite of Spring":: ::Finds this channel:: Neat! I don't know much about the ballet itself! ::Sees The Planets in Recommended:: Sure I really like that one too! I'm sure that'll be the end of this dive ::Starts video, sees New Word Symphony in recommended:: Damnit, I was about to go to bed!
That said, New World Symphony is the only that I haven't had the opportunity to see performed in person. It is impossible to record the feeling that happens when a full horn section hits at once like in Mars (though when I saw it, the tympani in [fuck, is it neptune or uranus] was what I was really looking forward to seeing)
I played mars in grade 9, the way my band teacher had us remember the main beat was "strawberry milkshake pizza pie" (it was a triplet, 2 quarter notes, two eighth notes followed by one last quarter note)
Awesome video! Came across it while doing some research on the full composition. I do photography for a living and have had good luck with photographing the planets this year. Every time I post one on Instagram I would do the accompanying song and most recently I caught Saturn and wanted to look up some more history
The LA Phil recording of the Planets is the finest recording of the piece ever and I will fist fight you if you disagree. The engineering was superb, the mics perfectly chosen, the recording space ideal. On top of that, put it on a GOOD sound system and turn it up and you can hear the mid-range harmonies and lower tones with amazing clarity. Mars moves at a perfect pace, not rushing or dragging. Moving at an unstoppable pace and when the trumpets hit the big ostinato the low brass swoop in with the melody and that bass trombone/tuba combo hits you with the wrath of the gods. Jupiter is masterfully executed and the waltz drives itself faster and faster until the midsection where it absolutely sings and the bass accompanies it perfectly, not too long, not too short, not too loud or soft. The cut time section at the end charges up evenly with no bumping of anything or unintended speed changes until the trumpets call over the orchestra and the final note strikes and just reverberates there in the air. The recording is a masterclass on how to perform that piece. I'm big on being inventive with interpretation in score study and I've made huge edits for the sake of making a performance more engaging to the audience, but this piece I conduct it as much like that recording as I can. It's that good. Fight me.
Cute storytelling, and it's nice to hear about the inspiration for the work and a little of its history, but it would have been nice to have some discussion of the actual process of composition and orchestration - the structure of the individual movements, the chord progressions, the melodies, etc., explaining why it works so well, what was so different about it.
Thanks Matthew. Whilst we would have loved to have done this (and we do talk in passing about chords compositional process and orchestration), the purpose of this video - as with much of the content on the channel - is a precis. We are really aware that there are many channels out there that focus on the minutiae of music theory and didn't want to replicate that, least of all because our mission is to talk about classical music in jargonless fashion that can bring in both classical enthusiasts and non-classical music listeners. We hope our video would be something of a launching pad where people will be able to discover a bit more about the pieces of music in depth and at their own pace. We spent most of the time cutting down the videos to under 15 minutes for easy of accessible watching. Were we to engage with the harmonic progressions, individual movement structures, the nitty-gritty, we could be here for well over an hour! Perhaps we could do a short standalone video delving into some of the deeper musical issues posed by The Planets :)
When I saw this in my recommendations, I jumped! Great to see you back. Also, didn't Ralph Vaughan Williams contribute to the creation of The Planets, too? I think I read something somewhere about him giving Holst money as a gift, which allowed him to take the vacation that inspired the planets, which I read was to Algeria. If you could clarify, that would be great. Thanks!
Hi there! Thanks for the kind words :) Yes, that happened in 1907, 6 years before the Mallorca holiday. Holst had failed to win a music prize for his work Sita and really needed the money. Vaughan Williams stumped some up for Holst to go to Algeria. It wasn't that holiday that was the direct inspiration for The Planets but, undoubtedly, Algeria was immensely important insofar as it informed Holst's interest in other cultures and alternative philosophies. It led to Beni Mora: An Orchestral Suite in 1912, another fascinating piece because it was essentially a precursor to minimalist music.
Astrology Venus: peace & feminine beauty
Astronomy Venus: burning hell of acid rains where Sun never shines
haha love this comment!
Good news : if the Venera probes' photos are anything to go by, daylight does reach the surface.
Bad news : ...yeah, it's still an unfathomable sauna with a pressure equivalent to 900 meters under the sea, and 430°C temperatures sufficient to make the aforementioned sulfuric acid rain evaporate.
(ah, and nights are as cold as Mercury's)
it's home sweet home if your life is a burning hell of acid rains
Astrology Venus: peace and feminine beauty!
Astronomy Venus: burnin' hell of acid rains whert' sun don't shine
Well, whether Venus is the goddess or the planet, she is too hot to handle.
Please never stop making this videos!
we'll do our best! :) we really don't want to stop
@@ClassicsExplained please do a translation to spanish! Many many more views!
@@ClassicsExplained cool!! :)
*AGREE* the animation is a stroke of genius
@@ClassicsExplained What you mean is subscribe.......so I did.....because I enjoy your videos. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Also, if you sprinkle when you tinkle, be a sweetie wipe the seaty.
I have a gig nightmare story about the planets. I performed with a symphony in a hall that didn't have a room for the choir. They decided to have the choir walk away through the wings. There were two problems.
1. The wings went out into the audience area, so they got louder.
2. Many dressed in fancy high heel shoes, even though they weren't visible. The result was a clomping sound like a herd of horses that got louder from the audiences perspective. It was not exactly what Holst was going for. :)
If he can’t make the music about Pluto, but we will do it for him!
Haha...
That is a very 'rock n roll' story :D
When I saw the planets, the choir actually sang in the lobby. So the audience got to see the doors to the lobby close as the piece ended.
@@meganlewis2377 In 2000, Colin Matthews wrote “Pluto, the Renewer.”
many a young astronomer were probably inspired by Holst’s The Planets. but when it comes down to it, the music he composed served more as an interpretation of the Greek gods characterization than the planet themselves.
although it could be said that the planets’ names do aptly represent a certain characteristic of their respective god name. Jupiter being the king of the planets and gods, Mars being red, representative of fury and war. Mercury being the fastest god and planet.
Gustav's Holst's best achievement is making the theme for every ww2 documentary for the past couple of decades
I listened to an orchestra play the entirety of The Planets at a live concert, and I felt like I'd traveled through space at the end of it all. Truly some of the most captivating music ever written.
Most metal classical piece....I'm binging this channel muhaha
Thanks!
*cough* shostakovich *cough*
Toccata and Fugue
@@Ace_of_Empires not good enough that barely makes it
@@solarean Well, I didn't want to burst your bubble, but the only part in Planets is Mars, Jupiter almost. As for Toccata and Fugue, it's not just the first part; the later parts are more metal. It's well known that metal pulls heavily from Baroque music, and Bach was the pinnacle of Baroque, and music for that matter. Give the metal covers a listen.
I think you may be talking about not metal, but just epic or hardcore
Holst became so infatuated with eastern mysticism that he learned Sanskrit and set some verses of the Rig Vada to music ,he also composed a Christmas carol “In the Bleak Midwinter”.
Indeed! There's a great deal more to the composer than The Planets - hope people who don't know much about him will go off and delve deeper into the composer after watching the video :)
Veda not Vada
@@arnavranka4510 I stand corrected thank you 🙏
One of the greatest Christmas carols of all time, the last verse makes my sister and I cry....so moving.
@@KentuckyLiz yes, I just discovered it Christmas 2019 and I swear I was still singing it (badly) 6 months later. In fact....
My music teacher showed this to the class. Im was absolutely shocked to find put this much quality only had 30k views. Really good job
I've sung in the Neptune chorus, with the Minnesota Orchestra, and it's really rather tricky. But the worst thing is knowing that the rest of the suite is being played and only getting the muted sound through the walls while you wait.
If there's ONE THING I've learned from this, it's that Holst was a MAJOR fanboy.
I love the detail and explanations that you use! I hope that you blow up (like in views/subscribers sort of way not the other kind)
While the stuff about Holst not wanting to do Pluto is mostly true, I remember reading somewhere that there was a bit more to it than that. Basically, he stated something along the lines at some point, "If you want your piece for Pluto, listen to/perform "Ode to Death". It's good fit. and fits Pluto nicely."
I think (and this is just based on research) that he was going to write "Pluto - The Renewer" but died 4 years after Pluto was discovered. So, somebody named Colin Matthews composed Pluto to complete the set while doing so changing a few bars on Neptune.
4:11 not only is Glockenspiel there, but the Celesta is as well! (I'm unsure if that was in the original version but I often see those in performances)
6:00 Yeah we can easily tell that through Saturn he loves using strange harmonies. I was once playing Saturn on piano, and there are 4-note chords with the strangest combinations of notes!
I personaly think Saturn, Uranus, and Jupiter are the best ones entertainmentwise.
Also your videos are actually entertaining, so I subbed. Keep up the gr8 work!
"Every Day" by Buddy Holly has a nice Celesta passage
Great video! You deserve way more views for this quality. I reccomend posting this on the classical music subreddit, I think they will enjoy this!
Thank you for your feedback and recommendation! Will do!
The Planets is my favorite piece of classical music! I remember playing Mars back in high school and cello with the high school‘s entire orchestra! Holst’s compositions really inspired me to learn music theory and composition! I even find myself using certain aspects of the Planets in my pieces!
The first time I listened to Jupiter I burst into tears crying, it moved me in a way music has never done before
Gorgeous, isn't it :)
Someone else watched Bluey huh?
@@Nikkidafox it’s been my favorite looong before the show came out, but it hit me especially hard in that one scene 🥺
I can't believe it, a new video. I'm so glad to see you guys again. As well as on a subject that I'm trying to study on. This is some good timing right here.
I cannot tell you how much I love your videos. Thank you for taking the time to explain the background of musical pieces. After hearing them, knowing the history behind makes them million time better. Keep on the AMAZING work
Thank you - we cannot tell you how much we love your comment!
The Blasting Off sequence from Star Wars: literally Mars
Tears. Man, that was really great. Thank you for that. I’ve been using my imagination for that piece for about 25 years now. It’s incredible how close my thoughts about this piece and my imagination was to your video. Again great job and thank you
They're back!
Thanks for opening my eyes and ears to the inspirations which Holst had, and I'd offer a few more: Mars and Stravinsky is not difficult, in Venus I can hear e.g. some Ravel, of Mercury I'm not sure, Jupiter's beginning reminds of Stravinsky's Petrouchka while much of Jupiter's "Englishness" is reminiscent of Elgar. Schönberg (in Saturn) is probably less well-known, and I also didn't know of Debussy's choir (Neptune).
But what bugs me the most is how blind (or deaf) I've been for many years, not recognizing Dukas' sorcerer's apprentice in Uranus, even though I've even played Dukas myself in an orchestra! It starts with the titles of both pieces, for crying out loud (sorcerer = magician)...
Once you know it, it's blatantly obvious: The staccato dance of the bassoons in the beginning, the dissonant menacing theme, the stumbling tympani, the avantgarde wild harmonies, the long alarm chords at the climax, the wondrous soft conclusion after that. Fortunately Holst omitted the final "butt-kick", that would have been too much ;-)
Thanks so much - great comment
I always had trouble relating to this piece, I'll have to go back and listen again now that I know more of the context. Thank you so much for posting these! They're wonderful
as did I funnily enough - and then I researched it more and more and making this video made me finally fall in love with it
I am planning on using your videos in my middle school music classes! They are of great quality and funny in a way that I think my students will appreciate!
Thanks so much - really appreciated :)
This is what I’ve been looking for to help understand why classical music is both great and important. Thank you!
Our pleasure!
Just discovered this channel today. Instantly became a huge fan! I’ll be sending this to all my friends. These videos are such an excellent way to expose people to important musical works.
I love this piece! The Jupiter movement is my favorite, especially since I sang the song "I vow to thee, my country" which is based on that movement in my choir.
So good. Like, just really top notch. If I complete nothing else today I at least learnt something about this wonderful piece of art.
Thank you! We are so excited to be back and so glad the new video has been received so well!
This channel is outstandingly beautiful, thank so very much for doing this, hope that next generations continue to value this wonders of music.
Thank you so much - this is music to our ears; hugely appreciate your support
5:50
Holy donuts! I am dead!
8:46
The choir just got yeeted into space
About The Imperial March from Star Wars, there was a little segment from Arnold Bax's first movement of his first symphony that sounds similar to John Williams piece. I guess John was inspired by Bax as well.
Oh that's interesting! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Inspired?
So very enjoyable - loved the graphics, too !
Please give us some more interpretations of ballets & opera, too.
At the "I vow to thee, my country" part in Jupiter, I give my grade 6 (Indonesian) students Kipling's If to read. Afterwards, they're so roused, they want to colonise somewhere.
Well if Holst won’t make a music about the planet Pluto then maybe we should in the memory of Pluto and Gustav Holst himself!
Dang, hope my indonesian school does that
@@BURZUMY3ah Saya di PIK, Jakarta. Kamu dimana?
It brainwashes them. If is such a badass poem
Saya di tangerang selatan
Mars: Theme song of WWII, played in 1939 when the Germans invaded Poland (When I listen to this piece, I can hear the loud wail of the air raid sirens and the whistling of falling bombs.)
Venus: When the rainstorm is over and the clouds open to reveal the sun
Mercury: Sounds like Peter Pan
Jupiter: I Vow To Thee My Country, played at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales (RIP)
Saturn: An elegy of mystery, suspense and fear of the unknown
Uranus: A festival of curiosity and eccentricity
Neptune: A piece to fall asleep to
This is absolutely brilliant! Informative and witty! I love it!
Thank you - cannot tell you how much those words mean to us! Be primed for more vids coming soon
You did it again, mates! Very on point.
This is so fantastic. Jupiter was used as the background music of a film that was shown every hour at the North Rim Lodge at the Grand Canyon back in 1974 when I worked there. The title of the film was "Wings in the Canyon" and this music fit the views of the canyon so perfectly, filmed from a small plane. I have loved this music for many years.
This is one of my favorite pieces, thank you so much for making these videos. Beautiful and educational!
Thanks so much! We love it too - keep watching and enjoying and listening :)
Absolutely loved that one, I never got around to really fully assimilate this oeuvre and now I'm looking forward to listening to it with these ideas in mind! Also 11:19, very good joke!
YESS FINALLY!
PLEASE CONTINUE THE VIDEOS!
Tell your friends then!
Thanks Benjamin et al! I have watched all of your videos over the recent years, and each of them is a gem. 3:49 your Venus is ....er...uh..... hilarious! Much admiration and appreciation for all of your excellent work.
I just rediscovered this series of compositions yesterday. It’s fantastic.
Thanks for watching!
Youre back! i was sad when i found you and then realized you hadnt posted in forever!
we are back :) and we'll be releasing new videos pretty often now - enjoy!
Was introduced to the piece by Mars, more specifically through the music game Smule. Then the fascination grew when i recognized the idea behind the piece in one of the songs in Hyrule Warriors (video game). Though not a perfect match, it gets surprisingly close, only changing the progression of a note or 2. Now i should probably hear the suite in full, as this video has given me a taste of the scope of the piece.
Thanks for your very interesting comment - and for watching :)
I’m in total binge! Watching and rewatching this videos and loving it! So smart, so funny so clever! Excellent work! Thanks a trillion !!
The Whole suite gives me Goosebumbs
I know - very ethereal!
You guys deserve at least 3MM views for this video!
Yay! Thanks
I’m binge watching these videos!! Love the simple art style and everything
much appreciated!
This video is so funny.
Fun Fact: When I played double bass, I broke a bow while playing Mars during the fortissississimo part. I guess I played loud enough...
Goodness! I'm not surprised though - sure there have been many broken bows over this
Did you say "ffff"
I love learning about the stories behind all my favorite classical pieces 😌😌 do one on Shostakovich plz!!
Thanks so much - and for your suggestion :)
Your videos make me appreciate these pieces even more!! Thank you so much😇
A new video!!! :O I subscribed to your channel half a year ago and thought you might never post again :"D Looking forward to moreee videos!
*Venus sprawled out, drooling*
Ah, yes. "Heavenly repose"
Venus is kinda sus
More like Heavy Repose than anything
my favorite piece of Holst’s is First Suite in Eb, close second is the iconic Jupiter. holst’s actually a musical legend
As a music and astrology lover, my heart is soaring from this video. Thank you for making this!!
Our pleasure! We certainly learned a lot about astrology writing this
These videos bring some of my favorite pieces more meaning and I love them
This is my favourite classics explained episode :D
Brilliant. Ive learnt so much
Great to hear that! Thanks for watching! there will be more videos soon
Exhilarating compositions a new spiritual renewal every single time I listen to Holst mesmerizing The Planets!
I have just found your channel very enjoyable, thanks
"Get in" ... haha. Loved this, thank you for making it.
Thank YOU for watching!
One of my favorite early 20th century classical pieces!
I always connected Mars to the Death Star theme but hadn’t heard it’s Imperial March!
Is the Death Star theme the Imperial Attack theme or are they different, because that one is also very reminiscent of Mars too
Mars is the Death Star theme. The Imperial March is Chopin's funeral march. Mars also shows up at the beginning of the movie Gladiator.
Excellent!!! I like your creative explanations of many of the classical music pieces I like! :)
Thanks so much for the support! And exactly the sort of thing we're aiming for :)
Arnold Schonberg was not the only avant garde composer behind Holst's Saturn! So too was Alben Berg and Anton Webern. All these composers developed a system called atonalism/ twelve-tone/ or serialism.
TH-cam's algorithm did its job well. Excellent video.
Greetings from Ecuador!
So excited to have you back. I always told myself as soon as they release a new video I will support them on Patreon. Is this still possible?
It's so sweet of you! Our Patreon page is still up but a much better help is to spread the word about us :) The more views and subscribers we have here, we better chances we have to get some external funding and keep producing videos forever (www.patreon.com/classics )
They’re finally back!!!
Jupiters Chorale is simply the most sublime piece of music I have ever heard
I watched this after seeing your video on Rhapsody in Blue. This great stuff, so I subscribed! 👍🏻👍🏻
Awesome! Thanks for the support :)
At the beginning the transition from Uranus to Jupiter to Saturn to Mars was insanely smooth
Suggestions:
Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain
Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue
Thanks for the suggestions! One of them is coming in a couple months
@@ClassicsExplained And the other?
What about pastoral symphony?
@@ClassicsExplained Add Saint-Saëns' Carnival of the Animals to the list too, PLEEEEEEEZZZZZ!!!!
@@ClassicsExplained don’t forget Bolero and Pines of Rome!👌
cool calm and colourful chords. someone likes alliteration too :)
We do try!
Yayyyyyy your back!
😊
you're
This is a very hilarious video. 5:50 made me laugh. "Holy donuts!"
Thanks so much!
I think this opus is just so inspiring to film music composers till today..
Wonderful video. Thanks!
Our please - thanks :)
INCREDIBLE!
Great video!
Thank you - much appreciated :)
I love your videos and use it a lot with my kids! Could I request some videos addressed to younger kids , maybe not too scary or adult language? Thanks so much!
Thank you for this warm feedback! If everything is going well, we'll be producing a series of videos aimed at 7-11-year-olds very soon! Fingers crossed!
This video is amazing! Thank you!!!
Thanks so much!
I remember one time in orchestra class, I was looking at a Chorale that I have never heard before and started to sight read. As I got to the end, I realized that the chorale I mentioned earlier was the middle section of Jupiter from Gustav Holst’s The Planets!
these are incredible work
Thanks so much!
::Searches for "The Rite of Spring"::
::Finds this channel::
Neat! I don't know much about the ballet itself!
::Sees The Planets in Recommended::
Sure I really like that one too! I'm sure that'll be the end of this dive
::Starts video, sees New Word Symphony in recommended::
Damnit, I was about to go to bed!
That said, New World Symphony is the only that I haven't had the opportunity to see performed in person. It is impossible to record the feeling that happens when a full horn section hits at once like in Mars (though when I saw it, the tympani in [fuck, is it neptune or uranus] was what I was really looking forward to seeing)
Coming a little late to this channel!! Great content both entertaining and educative, sublime script and editing! Keep this going!
I played mars in grade 9, the way my band teacher had us remember the main beat was "strawberry milkshake pizza pie" (it was a triplet, 2 quarter notes, two eighth notes followed by one last quarter note)
Awesome video! Came across it while doing some research on the full composition. I do photography for a living and have had good luck with photographing the planets this year. Every time I post one on Instagram I would do the accompanying song and most recently I caught Saturn and wanted to look up some more history
Our marching band plays that one part of mars, AND I START IT. Thank you for explaining the origins of my favorite classical piece
Thank you for explaining this!
Thanks!
This channel is so underrated
Yesterday was our concert for this whole piece!
This is a phenomenal video. Thank you.
Thank you so much for this lovely comment!
You mentioned Arnold Bax at the begining. He wrote works such as Tintangel, November Woods, & Christmas Eve.
Oh so cool! Your channels is awesome
The LA Phil recording of the Planets is the finest recording of the piece ever and I will fist fight you if you disagree. The engineering was superb, the mics perfectly chosen, the recording space ideal. On top of that, put it on a GOOD sound system and turn it up and you can hear the mid-range harmonies and lower tones with amazing clarity. Mars moves at a perfect pace, not rushing or dragging. Moving at an unstoppable pace and when the trumpets hit the big ostinato the low brass swoop in with the melody and that bass trombone/tuba combo hits you with the wrath of the gods. Jupiter is masterfully executed and the waltz drives itself faster and faster until the midsection where it absolutely sings and the bass accompanies it perfectly, not too long, not too short, not too loud or soft. The cut time section at the end charges up evenly with no bumping of anything or unintended speed changes until the trumpets call over the orchestra and the final note strikes and just reverberates there in the air. The recording is a masterclass on how to perform that piece. I'm big on being inventive with interpretation in score study and I've made huge edits for the sake of making a performance more engaging to the audience, but this piece I conduct it as much like that recording as I can. It's that good. Fight me.
Thank you for the passionate recommendation!
Is the "rite of spring" on the list?
Yes, it is! and will be with you very soon!
@@ClassicsExplained thanks!
@@ClassicsExplained I think you could do a lot with Mahler!
Cute storytelling, and it's nice to hear about the inspiration for the work and a little of its history, but it would have been nice to have some discussion of the actual process of composition and orchestration - the structure of the individual movements, the chord progressions, the melodies, etc., explaining why it works so well, what was so different about it.
Thanks Matthew. Whilst we would have loved to have done this (and we do talk in passing about chords compositional process and orchestration), the purpose of this video - as with much of the content on the channel - is a precis. We are really aware that there are many channels out there that focus on the minutiae of music theory and didn't want to replicate that, least of all because our mission is to talk about classical music in jargonless fashion that can bring in both classical enthusiasts and non-classical music listeners.
We hope our video would be something of a launching pad where people will be able to discover a bit more about the pieces of music in depth and at their own pace.
We spent most of the time cutting down the videos to under 15 minutes for easy of accessible watching. Were we to engage with the harmonic progressions, individual movement structures, the nitty-gritty, we could be here for well over an hour!
Perhaps we could do a short standalone video delving into some of the deeper musical issues posed by The Planets :)
When I saw this in my recommendations, I jumped! Great to see you back.
Also, didn't Ralph Vaughan Williams contribute to the creation of The Planets, too? I think I read something somewhere about him giving Holst money as a gift, which allowed him to take the vacation that inspired the planets, which I read was to Algeria. If you could clarify, that would be great. Thanks!
Hi there! Thanks for the kind words :)
Yes, that happened in 1907, 6 years before the Mallorca holiday. Holst had failed to win a music prize for his work Sita and really needed the money. Vaughan Williams stumped some up for Holst to go to Algeria. It wasn't that holiday that was the direct inspiration for The Planets but, undoubtedly, Algeria was immensely important insofar as it informed Holst's interest in other cultures and alternative philosophies. It led to Beni Mora: An Orchestral Suite in 1912, another fascinating piece because it was essentially a precursor to minimalist music.
Benjamin Levy Okay; thank you very much!
These videos are so great!!!
Thanks so much!
Thanks for letting me know how the history of this piece I love this musical classical stuff because I love the planets too
Your animations are simply amazing!
Thank you