April 2025
View Past Events

Program Notes | Holst’s The Planets—An HD Odyssey

Holst’s The Planets—An HD Odyssey
By Laurie Shulman ©2025

This information is provided solely as a service to and for the benefit of New Jersey Symphony subscribers and patrons. Any other use without express written permission is strictly forbidden.


Program

Xian Zhang conductor
Nancy Zhou violin
Montclair State University Prima Voce | Heather J. Buchanan, director
New Jersey Symphony

Caroline Shaw The Observatory

Ralph Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending

Intermission

Gustav Holst The Planets—An HD Odyssey
        MARS, THE BRINGER OF WAR
        VENUS, THE BRINGER OF PEACE
        MERCURY, THE WINGED MESSENGER
        JUPITER, THE BRINGER OF JOLLITY
        SATURN, THE BRINGER OF OLD AGE
        URANUS, THE MAGICIAN
        NEPTUNE, THE MYSTIC

Caroline Shaw: The Observatory

Caroline Shaw rocketed into the international new music world in 2013, when she became the youngest composer ever to receive the Pulitzer Prize in music. Since then, her career has soared. The Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra co-commissioned The Observatory in 2019. She has written:

I always try to write for the environment in which the music will first be heard. Writing an orchestral work for a summer evening in Hollywood got me thinking about my favorite genre of film and storytelling: sci-fi. . .[The Observatory has] patterns and details of movements of patterns, motives that appear in diminution and augmentation simultaneously, like objects in orbit at different phases. . .are references to Strauss’ Don Juan, Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2, Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 and the arpeggiated chimes used to summon audiences to their seats at concerts. There is chaos and clarity. Welcome to The Observatory.

Ralph Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending

The Lark Ascending is a 13-minute work inspired by a George Meredith poem. Vaughan Williams originally composed it for violin and piano in 1914, then reworked it for violin and orchestra after World War I. Williams had studied violin as a boy and was deeply attuned to English literature. He included 12 lines from Meredith’s poem at the head of the score. His music transports us in the joyous swoop and soar of the lark’s aerial flight, momentarily suspending our earthbound existence in favor of a figurative birds-eye view of the lovely Cotswold countryside.

Gustav Holst: The Planets—An HD Odyssey

Gustav Holst wrestled with large forms, yet in his orchestral suite The Planets, he composed one of the most monumental pieces in literature. These seven movements are progressions of character: from war to peace (Venus); thence to a messenger (Mercury) who ushers in first jollity (Jupiter), then old age (Saturn). Finally, we are introduced to magic (Uranus) and mysticism (Neptune). In a way, Holst is taking us as listeners on a journey through life, not only from a temporal standpoint, but also from a spiritual one. Holst’s extraordinary range of mood, color and expression makes The Planets an engrossing and powerful listening experience.

These performances are complemented by stunning visual imagery of the more literal planets, the province of NASA astronomers.

Extended Notes and Artist Bios