jupiter, the bringer of jollity analysis

Comparing Holst's two recordings, the second obviously has richer sound. It could perhaps represent church bells at a funeral (as tubular bells are used extensively here), or perhaps its alarm bells that death is approaching. Its techniques like these that make this music sound space-age and very modern for its time. Even allowing her some degree of exaggeration, the technology surely did present daunting challenges the size of the orchestra had to be drastically reduced, instruments were hard to distinguish when shorn of their highest overtones, string basses couldn't register at all, and dynamics had to be compressed to dwell between a floor of surface noise and a ceiling of distortion. The Planets, Op. Indeed, Holst's working title for The Planets on its first publication (along with his name as "von Holst," soon to be changed in deference to anti-German sentiment) was Seven Pieces for Large Orchestra. Returning to the militant overtones, Kennedy, though, calls it not a rite of Spring but of Armageddon. He didnt submit to the conventional rousing finale (he used Mars at the beginning and Jupiter in the middle) but instead, he used the exact opposite. On his website Tomita lists a huge gamut of signal generators, oscillators, modulators, filters, phase shifters, mixers and more that were used to produce his Planets rather ironically, more pieces of equipment than the number of instruments that would be used by a traditional orchestra to perform the original. The middle section presents a surprising contrast -- a majestic flowing melody in 3/4 . And let me also say that, out of an abundance of fairness and as a service to my dear readers, I did try to emulate its presumed target audience by listening again to the Tomita Planets while stoned but the effect seemed just as meaningless and pretentious and way too long.). Sargent's reading is remarkably potent, from a downright spooky opening as Mars seethes toward a giant climax, to alarmingly loud bells that shake off any sense of torpor in Saturn, and earth-shaking organ pedal points and huge tympani that magnify the drama of Uranus. The end of the work comes to a much more delicate close, with the upper strings playing in stunningly high octaves. Opening with a flute rendition of Holst's Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity from The Planets, Cerberus's "IV.THE THUNDER" in both Japanese and English combines beautiful and emotional lyrics reflecting her love for Fenrir with an equally amazing orchestra. You may be wondering why this movement always feels a little on edge, well it may be due to the time signature that this movement is in. The colouring of sounds seems to be right at the heart of Holsts orchestration as he has the horns and flutes colour the harp chords at points, and the solo violin is coloured and blended with the lower strings to create a rich sound. Hutchings, Arthur: "Music in Britain, 1918-1960" article in Martin Cooper, ed., James, Burnett: notes to the Boult/Philharmonic Promenade LP (Nixa LP 903, 1954), Kennedy, Michael: notes to the Boult/BBC reissue LP (HMV Treasury ED 39 0725 (1986), Lyons, James: notes to the Steinberg/Boston LP (DG 2530 102, 1971). Before considering orchestral recordings of The Planets, we should briefly note the original two-piano version. Sargent salutes the essential clarity of Holst's scoring (derived in part from his admiration for Ravel), and notes that after a score had been written Holst routinely would go through it with an eraser to expunge inessential notes and even entire instrumental lines. This creates a percussive sound, which is very exciting and keeps with the theme of this movement representing war. It is the fifth planet from the sun and is another gas giant. Uranus, the Magician 7. Elegance is how the passage is composed of such a limited set of materials. Apparently referring to a rapid triplet figure, Sargent envisions the planet Mars, "laughing in shouts of exultant ferocity," as it soars over the turmoil of mankind's hatred, anger, violence and destruction. (Ian Lane) As with English madrigals and folk songs, Holst was fascinated by the use in Eastern music of non-Western scales, spare textures and unconventional time signatures of 5, 7 and even 21 beats (which he declared were more suitable for setting English words) and incorporated those features into two operas and dozens of settings of Indian religious texts. Bsn. This is a concept we can all relate to and the idea of growing old is seen differently by everybody, therefore when the solemnn procession enters it affects people in different ways as people will see it subjectively. Jupiter starts with covert excitement with a fast three-note figure played by the violins, which has been said to represent the rotation of Jupiter (as it has . The score is incredibly bare, which makes it sound like a piece of chamber music, which is significant as Holst would have had about 100 musicians to play with. Even as enhanced to bring out detail for its digital transfer, the recording is a bit crude and dynamic compression raises the noise floor to cloak the fragile interplay of harps and celesta in Neptune, a sorely missed effect, as Stokowski bloats the final movement to nearly ten minutes (compared to a "normal" seven or so) and thus trades its inherent gentle momentum for a far different but equally apt sense of timeless suspension. On a holiday in 1913 Holst became enamored of What Is the Horoscope and How Is It Cast, one of several books in which Alan Leo attempted to popularize, modernize and systematize astrology as a scientific practice concerned with the delineation of character rather than prediction. Holst writes this movement in 5/4 time, which gives the feeling of uncomfortable movement at times. This is the only movement of the whole suite not to use themes or any real melody, only fragments of musical cells that you can loosely call melodies. For the final movement Holst returns to the 5/4 time signature (which he specifies as 3 beats followed by 2, the same way the Mars rhythm is felt) that launched his Planets, but now, having probed the nobler aspects of the human condition, the militant hammering of Mars has fully ceded to a silken rustle. The work sounds just as it did when Holst used to conduct it before a Queen's Hall audience," even though she allows that by having to record each side straight through "there may be details which Holst would have liked to improve, but the performance as a whole is a magnificent achievement.". In theory the pipe organ can overcome much of this problem with its panoply of distinctive voices, awesome power and ability to preserve a sustained mood (especially in the atmospheric Neptune), but a version by Peter Sykes (on a 1996 Raven CD) all too often comes across as a homogeneous sonic blur compared to the original. Jupiter - The Bringer of Jollity is introduced by a genial syncopated dance, appropriately so since a happy and festive mood is maintained throughout this movement. Download 'Symphony No.6 in D major (2)' on iTunes, This image appears in the gallery:A beginners guide to Gustav Holsts The Planets Suite. The Planets Op.32 : IV Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity [I Vow to Thee, My Country] . Credits. The full orchestra winds up "in a bubbling cauldron of sound" (Crankshaw) only to vanish with a massive pained tutti chord as "a sudden deflated collapse into a dismal heap of nothingness" (James). Jupiter is the largest and oldest planet in the solar system, born about 4.5 billion years ago. Due to this, the music is very fast-paced with it being much more complex musically than the last two movements. This stunning movement, similarly to Mars, uses 5/4 time signature, although the groupings are different from that in Mars, with this movement being grouped 3-2 as opposed to either 2-3 or 5. It begins with a portentious brass fanfare that quickly evolves into a jaunty but somewhat erratic pair of tunes that careen through the orchestra in constantly-changing patterns of sound that seem to involve every instrument from tympani to piccolo in wildly inventive combinations, as though conjured by a shambling yet potent sorcerer, as if to suggest that, once untethered from reality, all becomes possible. Rare enough in Western music, Holst's rhythm is neither the smooth "loping waltz" of the Tchaikovsky "Pathetique Symphony" nor the teasing bounce of Paul Desmond's "Take Five" nor even the urgent thrust of Ginger Baker's "Do What You Like." The strings play col legno which means that the players play with the wood of their bow, not the hair. Even so, the balance favors the strings to the detriment of the other choirs, such that the rapid accompanying violin figurations swamp the majestic brass introduction of the rousing Jupiter melody, and the tympani are barely heard at all. By Posted jordan schnitzer house In strengths and weaknesses of a volleyball player The concept of the work is based not on the Roman deities that they may relate to, but the influence of the planets on the psyche, which consequently makes this work astrological, not astronomical (hence why Earth is not included). The swelling brass and slow waltzing strings are met with moments of poignant beauty in the glorious tune now known as 'I Vow to Thee My Country'. Or even it could musically represent the breakout of WW1 (as Holst was writing this movement in 1915). Jupiter - The Bringer of Jollity The fourth movement of the suite, Jupiter is perhaps the most famous of them all, especially the main theme that is heard in the middle of the movement. The ladies choir bring a human quality to the movement, again it seems Holst is trying to connect with us with the use of the human voice. Neptune, the Mystic Psychics revere Neptune as a primary influence that enables them to develop their skills to see beyond the visible. Yet Foreman notes that Holst's interest in astrology began to fade following The Planets, which perhaps was just as well, as Leo himself was convicted under the British Witchcraft Act shortly before his death in 1917. Flaws aside, Holst is an enormously persuasive advocate for his Planets and either set affords the incomparable thrill of eavesdropping on a composer supplementing the cold written score to infuse his creation with the essence of his personal creative spirit. Not only is this movement calm and tranquil, but if offers a rest and an answer against the war. All Rights Reserved. Holst's musico-spatial explorations may not be cosmic, but they are brilliant, dramatic, and picturesque enough to fit into almost anyone's concert hall horoscope. When war broke out, as James Lyons put it, he "tried to do his bit" but "no agency had any use for a fortyish musician who could not see six yards ahead of him with his spectacles on." The exuberance of this movement shows itself not only in its tempo and rhythm but also in the multiplicity of subjects. Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity. In the interim, Holst himself conducted just Venus, Mercury and Jupiter in April 1919 at Queen's Hall and Henry Wood led the same movements that December, setting a precedent that would be followed for several years until the full orchestral score was published in late 1921.