Oh look, it’s a bunch of stuff nobody cares about!
THREE THINGS! Because lists are my jam, yo.
Item 1: I watched this video on Holt’s The Planets a while ago but was reminded of it again the other day when my mom and I were talking about…one of the movements? I can’t remember. Something about The Planets. Anyway.
Also, I’m an idiot. I always wondered why the movements were in the order they were (Mars is first and Mercury is third), but it makes sense now after watching this: he did it based on the order of the zodiac signs and their ruling planets instead of the order from the sun (ignoring, of course, the signs ruled by the moon and the sun and bringing in the modern rulers of Aquarius and Pisces – Uranus and Neptune, respectively).
Item 2: It’s the Fourth of July today, so this video must be rewatched, as per tradition:
Praise Reekris.
Item 3: It’s the Fourth of July today, so Twitter is rife with related tweets, such as this one:
DONE!
Waiter! There’s a Gas Giant in my Orchestra!
So one of my favorite composers is Gustav Holst, and like many people (I’m assuming), I was introduced to his music via The Planets. We played the Jupiter movement in high school because the grade above us had chosen it as their senior song* to be played at their graduation and it was one of my favorite songs I’d ever played.
Anyway, I have three different recordings of Jupiter because they’re all a little different and I like each of them for various reasons. However, I just found a new version that I really dig. Check it:
I’ve never heard a performance of this song where you can hear the French horns so clearly in that tiny little section from 1:58 to 2:03. That’s such a miniscule part of this song but it’s so dynamic and cool and different that I absolutely love it.
Anyway.
*And what was our senior song, you ask? The goddamn Pirates of the Caribbean theme.** Some of us petitioned for Holst’s Mars movement, but we were outvoted. Freaking Johnny Depp.
**It’s a good theme, but it ain’t no Jupiter.
It’s Anosmia Awareness Day!
So have something completely unrelated: saxophones!
I have mixed feelings about the sound of saxophones. A saxophone might be my least favorite instrument to hear on its own. I don’t know why. There’s something kind of grating about its sound, at least to me.
But this guy plays all four of those saxophones very well and I don’t mind how they sound. This is also one of my favorite Holst pieces, so yeah.
WOO!
WHO NEEDS STRINGS
Love it.
This brings me back to high school when our band played an arrangement of this song for the class of 2005 graduation ceremony (our 2006 class got something much less cool; I think it was a Pirates of the Caribbean medley, ‘cause that was super popular back then).
I wish I would have kept the sheet music. The 3rd clarinet part was super cool.
(Also, sorry not sorry for all the music posts lately. Blame the Sennheisers.)
Claudia’s Semi-Regular Music Dump
Yo.
So this year is still going strong as being an exceptionally good year for music, so you get some tracks ‘cause I’m a nice person who just happens to have absolutely nothing else to blog about today.
GO!
- It’s been a long while since I’ve picked up a Fireflies remix.
- Electronica Green Day? This one works.
- Have some Holst.
- HANS ZIMMER, WHY YOU GOTTA MAKE SUCH HEART-WRENCHING MUSIC???? Beyond 1:40, I cranked it so loud that I think I almost blew out my headphones. And, you know, my eardrums.
- And finally: I’ve already given this song its own blog post awhile back, but there are five-star songs, and then there are Five Star songs. This is the latter. I just love this song.
HOLY HEAVENLY BODIES, BATMAN
Everybody stop what you’re doing and listen to this right now:
This is one of my favorite songs in the solar system (HA! Get it?) and this arrangement is phenomenal. The slow section from 3:17 to 5:25 is just…nnnnnnf. Beautiful. If that doesn’t hurt your soul (in a good way), I’m pretty sure you’re dead.
Edit: Apparently, Holst originally scored all the planets (except for Neptune) for piano duet. Interesting.
Does |0| = −459.67?
So as you (probably don’t) know, one of my favorite composers is Gustav Holst. My favorite song of his is Jupiter, from the Planets suite. I’ve had my copy of it for about six years now.
Today, while backing up my thesis in case of catastrophic multi-hard drive failure, rather than digging through my music library to find Jupiter, I decided to search for it on YouTube instead so I could catch a quick listen.
This recording absolutely blew my mind. It is approximately 6,000 times better than the recording I’ve got of it:
Highlights:
– I’ve never heard French horns that sounded that good.
– If any musician in the orchestra made a mistake, I sure as hell didn’t catch it. Flawless.
– 3:07 = unadulterated beauty.
– I love how the conductor stops conducting at 3:47 and just emotes. The musicians know what to do.
I swear I was exposed to this song once when I was very little, ‘cause it speaks to my soul. It’s very familiar to me.
Anyway.
So today was also supposed to be “no dairy for a week starting today” day, but I remembered that fact just as I had dumped a buttload of cheese on my pasta for dinner. And because I’m not one to waste time picking individual chunks of feta out of a steaming pot of penne and broccoli, I decided to wait until next week.
Because starting in the middle of the week would be wrong.
Yeah.
Just go listen to Jupiter again. It’s far better than paying attention to my blather.
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