The Planets By David Holst

The orchestra suite called “The Planets”, written by Gustav Holst, includes seven movements representing the planets in the solar system. Holst claimed that music speaks for itself and said that it speaks more if you know the history about it. By that being said, the video: “Holst’s ‘The Planets’: Other Worlds?” has been constructed to show how his music is being expressed in a more meaningful way. Further, I will look deeper into the seven different movements and discuss them in more detail as well as describe my perception of the video along with the music performed within it.
The video starts off by discussing the planet Mars which is described as “The Bringer of War” (Dutoit). When the orchestra is added, the movement starts rather sparse with a low pitch. The most meaningful instruments at this point are the violins and the wooden drums. It sounds similar to an army marching and you can tell by the name of the movement that it is about to be a war. The harp and the gong gong is added along with the trumpets, horns and the bass oboe, which gives the movement a darker feeling. When the complete orchestra plays together it is more dense and the tempo starts to become accelerando, continuing into allegro. At the time when the music is the densest, when the dynamics has gone crescendo and more towards forte, while the tempo is in staccato,
In comparison to Mars, this piece is sparse with a high pitch throughout the most of the movement. Everything harmonious has to do with Venus (Dutoit) which is strengthened by the high-pitched melody constructed in particular, by flutes, violins and harps. The most outstanding instrument in this piece turns out to be the violin, which plays solo for a while in a flowing rhythm, making the piece even more sparse, sounding like an angels voice. The video describes Venus as a mode to heaven (Dutoit) which is established by the flutes and harps playing in a soft,