Pluto, The Renewer; The Planets (A Continuation) – Colin Matthews Simon Rattle, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
25 Responses
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August 9th, 2011 at 4:53 pm
2:39 + 4:30 = Loud
August 9th, 2011 at 4:53 pm
If you ask me, I didn’t feel very renewed after watching this…
August 9th, 2011 at 4:53 pm
The Pluto for Planethood sign was really funny!
August 9th, 2011 at 4:53 pm
interesting from a socio-cultural & historical point of view… not so much from a musical point of view.
nevertheless, if the piece was composed, i guess it has the right to be performed from time to time. i wonder if it´s meant to be performed individually, or following Gustav Holst´s suite.
i don´t really see how this can improve the suite.
and concerning an individual performance… well, no comment.
as i said, interesting, but not from the musical point of view
August 9th, 2011 at 4:53 pm
All my respect to the orchestra, but as far the composition is concerned what a royal piece of crap this is compared to Holst’s suite!
August 9th, 2011 at 4:53 pm
@ghman98 Not completly, i knew he was still alive when pluto was discovered. and after whatching a BBC program I already knew he didn’t like the amount of attention the Suite got. I referanced Wiki for the exact dates.
August 9th, 2011 at 4:53 pm
@otm831 You got this directly from Wikipedia, didn’t you?
August 9th, 2011 at 4:53 pm
@sunimkoria The irony is, Pluto was discovered (1930) before Holst’s death in 1934. However, he didn’t want to write another movement, becuase he didn’t like the fact that the Planets Suite was getting so much attention, and he felt it was perhaps detracting from his other works.
I do agree that if Pluto existed in 1914-1916 it would have been interesting to see what he did. It would have been a shame if the ending of Neptune (as we know it) never existed!!
August 9th, 2011 at 4:53 pm
I think Colin Matthews was truly thrown into the deep end being commissioned to compose this piece. I think it’s an excellent work, but for ANYONE to “finish off” the Suite after Neptune would be an impossible task, even for Holst himself. I reckon that if Pluto had been discovered before Holst’s time and he was to have composed the movement alongside the others it would affected his own musical structuring and approach to the entire Suite – that ending in Neptune might not have ever existed!
August 9th, 2011 at 4:53 pm
Perhaps this is the kind of piece Holst would have written if he had been born in the 1960s. It has the trappings of his style but not the harmonic idiom. It deserves performances, but putting it at the end of Holst’s Suite would ruin it. “Neptune” is a perfect ending, and this does not improve on the original in that respect.
August 9th, 2011 at 4:53 pm
I like Colin Matthews’ music very much. And this is a decent piece that works well on it’s own in concert. But it is just too different from Holst’s masterpiece. The end of “The Planets” is just too good to tack on another movement afterwards. I’m sure Matthews knew that thinking that at least it might have merit as a composition by itself. Sure enough, it’s been performed over? 100 times and has been recorded at least 4 times. So there it is.
August 9th, 2011 at 4:53 pm
@JRFuerstFullSail Actually, John Williams took much of his inspiration from The Planets whent it came to writing the Star Wars soundtrack (compare the pattern in the kettledrums at the end of the Star Wars theme to the main pattern in Mars), and NO, I DID NOT GO TO WIKI-F******-PEDIA FOR THIS BIT OF INTEL!!
August 9th, 2011 at 4:53 pm
@Lupehkun (continued) The ending of Neptune can be heard from 1:36 – 1:46, and the ladies’ choirs and the celesta are used prominently in the work, as they are in Neptune as well. 2:38 – 3:08 and 4:31 – 5:02 are reminiscent of Mars and Uranus, and the scales Holst gives to the strings in Mars, can be heard in here, although scattered about at random.
August 9th, 2011 at 4:53 pm
@Lupehkun What are you talking about, “Not reminded of Holst”? The motif first used by the oboes at 0:42 – 0:51 is used countless times throughout the movement, just like the opening four notes of Uranus are used in the same manner, and right after that, the horns take up the same repeating patterns from Mercury. The quick ascending scales from Mercury are also heard from 1:47 – 1:50 (to be continued).
August 9th, 2011 at 4:53 pm
@JRFuerstFullSail Perceptive comment.
August 9th, 2011 at 4:53 pm
@SammiCat15 Yes, indeed. But Colin Matthews belongs to the 21st-century, whereas Holst belongs to the 20th.
August 9th, 2011 at 4:53 pm
@revoltz7 Very good, mate. Love your comment.
August 9th, 2011 at 4:53 pm
It would be interesting to hear this without prior knowledge and see if it would “fit” the rest of the suite . .. . . I’m not sure it would, but that is just me
August 9th, 2011 at 4:53 pm
Sort of a modern interpretation of Holst. Not bad, but shouldn’t be played with Planets.
August 9th, 2011 at 4:53 pm
scary
August 9th, 2011 at 4:53 pm
pluto the foreseener
August 9th, 2011 at 4:53 pm
This is a fine addition to the suite. Kudos. Pity about the reclassification.
August 9th, 2011 at 4:53 pm
somewhat discordant!
August 9th, 2011 at 4:53 pm
I’m not reminded of Holst at all. It doesn’t leave a lasting impression, and the imagery and feel of the planet is.. ehh.
August 9th, 2011 at 4:53 pm
except Holst sounds exactly nothing like this piece. Plus is it memorable like all the other sections of Holst’s original? No it isn’t.