I'll admit it-I've been overcome by The Planets by Gustav Holst. I can't believe I've had it for so long and not really gotten into it. This is such an incredible piece of music- not just music but more like loud cosmic poetry. I noticed that the first four tracks weren't in order, but rather surrounded Earth....anyway, just som thoughts.

1. Mars- Obviously about War- it basically establishes that, in the beginning, death is our greatest inspiriation, killing our greatest motive. It ends with this giant, heay orchestral hitting that eventually just gives up to a timpani roll- it's surrendering.

2. Venus- Obviuolsy about Beauty- or in this case, the poignant spoils of war from Mars.

3. Mercury- it's all speed- jarring, beautiful speed that comes together once but stays very much independant throughout.

4. Jupiter is probably the most beautiful music I have ever heard- it contrasts a deep, serious processional type melody with this diverting, glorious skyward blaring. The effects cretaed from the instruments here would rival anything dome even from a computer- it's astonsihing.

5. Saturn- starts with this proccession, that early on erupts into this beautiful 'eruption' of the music, then gets heavier and hevaier into you can hear this chaos breaking through- this chaos eventually leads to the melody getting weaker and weaker, until the song slips into this other-world where the melody exists, but is later resolved. Really, this is a life- birth, youth, the droning of middel age, the cancer or sickness (chaos) that can end your life, and then heaven.

6. Uranus- I find this to be about a storm fighting the people of a small town. This melody, which is arrogant to begin with, turns totally menacing by the end and then stops, provides a conterpoint, and comes back full force, a la church organ. At the end we are revealed to sorrow and eternity from this strom, and with the plucking of the harp, we are told it will come ack.

7. Neptune- the waters of neptne are perhaps the waters of eternity from Uranus- this haunting death ends with an echoing chorus from singers, and basically fades out.

:rolleyes: Sorry, but I sound like a ramblin buffoon...i know...

Sounds groovy, I may have to find a copy to listen to.

I'll admit it-I've been overcome by The Planets by Gustav Holst. I can't believe I've had it for so long and not really gotten into it. This is such an incredible piece of music- not just music but more like loud cosmic poetry. I noticed that the first four tracks weren't in order, but rather surrounded Earth....anyway, just som thoughts.

1. Mars- Obviously about War- it basically establishes that, in the beginning, death is our greatest inspiriation, killing our greatest motive. It ends with this giant, heay orchestral hitting that eventually just gives up to a timpani roll- it's surrendering.

2. Venus- Obviuolsy about Beauty- or in this case, the poignant spoils of war from Mars.

3. Mercury- it's all speed- jarring, beautiful speed that comes together once but stays very much independant throughout.

4. Jupiter is probably the most beautiful music I have ever heard- it contrasts a deep, serious processional type melody with this diverting, glorious skyward blaring. The effects cretaed from the instruments here would rival anything dome even from a computer- it's astonsihing.

5. Saturn- starts with this proccession, that early on erupts into this beautiful 'eruption' of the music, then gets heavier and hevaier into you can hear this chaos breaking through- this chaos eventually leads to the melody getting weaker and weaker, until the song slips into this other-world where the melody exists, but is later resolved. Really, this is a life- birth, youth, the droning of middel age, the cancer or sickness (chaos) that can end your life, and then heaven.

6. Uranus- I find this to be about a storm fighting the people of a small town. This melody, which is arrogant to begin with, turns totally menacing by the end and then stops, provides a conterpoint, and comes back full force, a la church organ. At the end we are revealed to sorrow and eternity from this strom, and with the plucking of the harp, we are told it will come ack.

7. Neptune- the waters of neptne are perhaps the waters of eternity from Uranus- this haunting death ends with an echoing chorus from singers, and basically fades out.

:rolleyes: Sorry, but I sound like a ramblin buffoon...i know...

There are many other techno sounding space new age music out there. go to search google for: oozish
Metamorphosis sounds amazing from this band.

Holst's the planets is an old classic....try some Tangerine Dream which is cosmicy but with synthesisers.... Zeit is a brilliant album.

This thread was started in 2002...

This thread was started in 2002...

so what...

the past interests me as much as the current. The past carries within history, all the chatter of people, their thoughts, their conclusions, beliefs. It is like watching a star born...burn in cosmos...and die exploding in violent end, leaving space for new stars to be born

This thread was started in 2002...

Yes, that was when I still had my The Planets tape.
Now, I don't have it anymore, I never managed to listen through it in one sitting. I never liked it.

I like other of Gustav Holst's work. For instance, Saint Paul's Suite has always been a favorite of mine. I might have to check out the planets one too.

Isao Tomita recorded an all-synthesizer rendition of "The Planets." If you like Tangerine Dream you'll love it. It is one of my all-time favorite CDs. Tomita made a bunch of albums but in my opinion this was his greatest. His collection of pieces by Debussy is almost as good.

Jack Lancaster and Robin Lumley (sometime members of the rolling lineup of Brand X) did an album called "Marscape." A similar concept, all electronic. (All of this was back in the 1970s of course, music has turned elsewhere since then.)

I lived in L.A. back then and saw Tangerine Dream about six times. That music is really great live. And live it was, despite what you might think. They were quite capable of improvising so that no two shows were remotely the same.

They eventually got into film scores, which pay the bills, and now they're cranking out New Age ditties for the crystal-healie crowd. I'm sure glad I was alive during the 1970s. :)

Love the "2002 is ancient history" meme. http://www.sciforums.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

Holst's The Planets is great music.

Tomita's The Planets is also great music. 1976, if I recall. More ancient history.

It's not so much that 2002 is ancient history. It's more that there's little point trying to correspond with posters who are no longer present on this site.

I like other of Gustav Holst's work. For instance, Saint Paul's Suite has always been a favorite of mine. I might have to check out the planets one too.

The Planets is a good suite. So is St. Paul's.

Not too long ago, I heard his "Choral Hymns from Rig Veda". That was a pretty interesting work.

Love the "2002 is ancient history" meme. http://www.sciforums.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

Holst's The Planets is great music.

Tomita's The Planets is also great music. 1976, if I recall. More ancient history.

Isao Tomita. I've vaguely heard his version of The Planets. However, I bought Snowflakes are Falling on vinyl quite a few years ago, and used to listen to that very often. (music of Debussy) That was a surprising find where I bought it, along with Switched on Bach II, by Wendy Carlos! :p

I love the Arabesque/Star Gazer (used to be Star Hustler) theme song.

Those old synthesizers are quite interesting. Garsh! Trying to contemplate making music on such unwieldy instruments makes me think that all those people that criticized Walter/Wendy Carlos' "Switched on.." classic don't realise how difficult it must have been to work with those early synthesizers.

It seems that electronic music has always had people who are willing to shoot it down immediately as thoughtless, effortless, mechanical drivel, which is what, if I remember correctly, quite a few people branded Carlos' work when it first got out.

:confused:

Maybe I'm wrong.

It's not so much that 2002 is ancient history. It's more that there's little point trying to correspond with posters who are no longer present on this site.

Dear James R,

Do you hate Gustav Holst? Just kidding! ;)

Honestly, does it matter if the original poster is no longer available for comment? Maybe he was trying to correspond with the rest of us?

He really wanted to give me an excuse to make a post, I think.

Those old synthesizers are quite interesting. Garsh! Trying to contemplate making music on such unwieldy instruments makes me think that all those people that criticized Walter/Wendy Carlos' "Switched on.." classic don't realise how difficult it must have been to work with those early synthesizers.

It seems that electronic music has always had people who are willing to shoot it down immediately as thoughtless, effortless, mechanical drivel, which is what, if I remember correctly, quite a few people branded Carlos' work when it first got out.Walter Carlos came out in the 1960s. It was an irreverent era so his stuff was pretty well received by everyone except the most conservative Bach aficionados. The headbangers thought it was about time that somebody perked up that stodgy old music, the musicians thought all those new sound textures were really cool, and the hippies thought it was great spacey new stuff to get stoned to. There wan't much of an "alternative" music press in those days so the commentaries you might come across that were written at the time may well be negative, but the whole "counterculture" that was about to erupt was precisely about that sort of thing.

Yes, it was remarkable that people managed to get such astounding sounds out of such cumbersome technology, and on top of it managed to make them into a cohesive whole instead of just a clever exercise.

Still, difficulty of performance only counts in the Olympics. When you're deciding what sounds good to you, the unwieldiness of the instruments is irrelevant.

Music has turned elsewhere. Notwithstanding the computing power of my $200 Yamaha keyboard, the sounds of Carlos, Tomita, Tangerine Dream, and the synth-heavy progressive rock groups like Genesis were the high point in that line of experimentation.

It's not so much that 2002 is ancient history. It's more that there's little point trying to correspond with posters who are no longer present on this site.
Heck, that can apply to many of those who are still here. :)

I consider it more along the lines of an archeological meme: Bringing up the past to reinvigorate the present in hopes of a better future.

Holst's The Planets is a great classic, worthy of being reintroduced to the masses.

Sure, a new thread could have been created. But such a thread would lack the voices from the past that can provide temporal context to the term Classic.

Dude, you like the Planets?