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Mercury: The Winged Messenger | The Planets (Gustav Holst) | Behind the Score Ep. 48 (Patreon)

Published:
2023-10-11 21:55:55
Edited:
2024-06-04 22:34:57
Imported:
2026-06
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We're returning to The Planets by Gustav Holst in this episode. We're previously looked at Mars and Venus. Now, we're analyzing Mercury: The Winged Messenger. This is a deceptively difficult and tricky movement. It's full of spunk and buoyancy and light. And, there's bi-tonality all over it! A genius bit of writing. Enjoy!

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Mercury: The Winged Messenger | The Planets (Gustav Holst) | Behind the Score Ep. 48

Comments

Peter Tutak

Thanks for this continued journey, Doug. The sprightliness of this particular section is pretty infectious and the melodic 'hot potato' is such a great example of woodwind scoring. BTW, I think she's an excellent conductor. Her beats are crisp and well-defined, and her cues are bang on. Nice job, sir, and thank you !

Jim Reeves

I've always thought of this movement as syncopated, never realized it's so much more complex! Thanks for the education Doc!

John L Rice

Thanks Doug, good episode! And my apologies for mentioning in the live stream and Discord that ELPowell did Mars, thinking it was currently relevant! Due to poor hearing comprehension and memory, I had forgotten that Holst put the movements in the "wrong" order and hearing a movement that starts with "M" and knowing that Mars is the third planet from the Sun (excluding Earth and knowing that Holst didn't do a movement for Earth) I got it stuck in my hear that you were going to be doing Mars! 🤦‍♂️😊 Anyways, more relevant is Patrick Gleenson's all electronic version of The Planets from the mid 1970's, here is his Mercury for those interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV4PFoCehfg

Bill Brinkmoeller

Wow! What fun! It was reassuring to me that even you had a bit of trouble following the score at one point. And your explanations help even someone such as me, with my spotty and vastly incomplete musical knowledge, begin to get a grasp of what's happening in this piece. In my simplistic view, it struck me that the timpani ostinato could be a reference to the rhythmic backbone of the Mars section. Thank you, Doug, for continuing to open my ears, eyes, and mind.

Bill Brinkmoeller

Also, I hope that someday you'll do a video on the whys and hows of instruments that transpose. For me, it's a very mysterious thing, and maybe you can de-mystify it for those of us who have little understanding of it.

HeadStart

THAT ! WAS! FUN!!!

doughelvering
>>119699767

That's a good topic, Bill. I'll consider that for a future episode. The quick answer is that there are different reasons for different instruments to transpose...but the main reason is to get the bulk of their available notes as centered as possible on a bass or treble staff (to avoid lots of ledger lines)

richardcox13

One correction, there is no "BBC Orchestra", the BBC runs multiple orchestras. This was the BBC Symphony Orchestra at The Proms (the Royal Albert Hall is easy to recognise): https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ej6j5v.

Margaret Barnes

Hey y’all, if you’ve never heard Holst’s “the Planets Suite” played by just one person entirely on bass guitar (no kidding!!), may I introduce you to a very talented young man named Simon Fitzpatrick. He has been touring with Carl Palmer’s ELP Experience along with brilliant guitarist Paul Bielatowicz, who was tasked with migrating Keith Emerson’s keyboards to the guitar (that’s another story!). Here’s Simon’s version of Mercury, the Winged Messenger - Enjoy!! https://youtu.be/H_TJc5f_urY?feature=shared