Mars, the Bringer of War - Holst | The Planets

Mars, the Bringer of War, the first movement of Gustav Holst's The Planets, note for note from the first printed full score (1921). It starts with the strings tapping the wood of their bows on the string (col legno), harps and timpani: a relentless rhythm in five beats to the bar, out of which the war machine grows. Bassoons and horns announce the theme, the woodwinds and brass build it up to the first crushing climax, a tenor tuba calls over trumpet fanfares, and a slow middle section creeps forward in 5/2 over a snare drum roll. Then the ostinato returns, louder each time, until the full orchestra and organ hammer out the final dissonant chords. Every part as Holst wrote it for his huge orchestra: piccolos, flutes, oboes, English horn, bass oboe, clarinets, bass clarinet, bassoons, contrabassoon, six horns, four trumpets, trombones, tenor and bass tuba, timpani, snare drum, cymbals, bass drum, gong, two harps, organ and strings. Chapters 0:00 The ostinato in 5/4 · col legno strings, harps, timpani 0:31 The theme builds up in the woodwinds 1:16 First climax 1:52 Second theme · organ 2:12 Tenor tuba solo and trumpet fanfares 3:05 Fermatas · the slow middle section in 5/2 4:06 Fortissimo triplets 4:43 The ostinato returns 5:31 The great climax 5:58 Hammered chords · ffff 6:18 Strings and woodwinds race upwards 6:25 The final blows About the music Gustav Holst (1874–1934): The Planets, Op. 32, I. Mars, the Bringer of War (1914–16). Public domain. Transcribed from the full score, Goodwin & Tabb / J. Curwen & Sons, London 1921, engraved by Breitkopf & Härtel, plate B. & H. 15970 (public domain; scan from the Internet Archive, item "Holst_ThePlanets"). Hall acoustics: concert hall impulse response from the 360° BRIR/FOAIR database (B. Bacila & H. Lee, Applied Psychoacoustics Lab, University of Huddersfield, CC BY 4.0, doi:10.5281/zenodo.2641166), converted to stereo. Artwork generated with AI for Synth Philharmonic. #holst #classicalmusic #orchestra