Nothing says space music more than the most popular work of Gustav Holst: The Planets. It has become the textbook for outer space, its influence famously heard on John William’s “Star Wars”. Here I will take a look into the most triumphal movement of the suite, Jupiter.
As the king of the planets, more massive than all other
combined, Holst’s piece begins with a heroic fanfare of horns against
fluttering violins and winds. In response trumpets and timpani hit a
suspenseful chord foreshadowing what comes next. The melody is them played
across two sets of timpani over the rising strings heading into a grand monomythic
climax of seventh chords. This is somewhat jokey, reflecting the jovial attributes
given to the planet. These two ideas are developed a bit, rising tension, to a horn
solo followed by woodwinds.
Whilst his scoring briefly may seem a bit amateur, on
further investigation, Holst is a master of texturing. To be his palate, he
uses a truly huge orchestra, fit for the early 20th century style.
I particularly enjoy the compound time section with its huge
horn line and strings united in playing unison chords. It is just a really cool
sound. Violins I steal the melody as is custom, and the horns play syncopations
in the background. Those lines take a brass player to write them, and Holst
himself was a trombonist, go figure.
As the first section comes to an end, trembling strings provide
an uneasy backdrop to woodwinds of all types moving up and down the octaves.
This ends on a dominant chord, leading into the trio.
People unfamiliar with Jupiter may recognise the middle
melody as that of the patriotic British song “I vow to thee my country”. That
melody was lifted by Holst himself from this work for a poem by Cecil Spring Rice.
If I was to describe the middle section as anything, I’d
describe it as stately. It gains this trait from the sheer simplicity. It is just
a melody and a bassline, reminiscent of baroque counterpoint. Don’t worry
though, Holst fills in the gap with cluster chords and line doublings. The
progression is one of increasing grandeur as instruments are added. The grand
climax has immense empty space in the low end as the bass lumbers on in the timpani.
Often nothing amounts to much more of something.
Following this Holst repeats the beginning section in a very
sonata like fashion, with the B section not changing key like at the start.
This gives a bit more air to the section with the arrangement allowing a more
spacious low end. Then Holst puts in a short section of the middle section
before heading off into a fanfare finale.
Final Rating: 9/10
Comparative Ranking List:
1. Dear Prudence: 10/10
2. Rachmaninov Prelude in G (Original): 9/10
3. Black Sands: 9/10
4. Jupiter (The Planets): 9/10
5. Hollywood Heart: 8/10
6. Make It Easy on Yourself 8/10
7. Another Day in America: 8/10
8. Don’t Let it Show 7/10
9. It’s Your Move (Parkinson) 7/10
10. It’s Your Move (Vaporwave Version) 7/10
11. It’s Your Move (Ross) 7/10
12. Don’t Lead Me On 7/10
13. Rachmaninov Prelude in G (VSO): 5/10
Love the work fam, keep it up.
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