Bravo David, couldn’t agree more. Not only is it brilliantly scored, it opens the doors on all else he wrote. He was WAY ahead of his time, laying the ground for so much that followed: Mars - Star Wars; 2nd mvt of Beni Mora - The Ipcress File, written in 1912! A genius composer.
There is a perverse and lazy snobbery in classical music which seems to want to demean The Planets — because it's descriptive? colourful? popular? It's a magnificent piece of music, gorgeously scored, and I never tire of listening to it.
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@Ianskellyradio3
The planets was the gateway into the whole universe of classical music which I have loved ever since.
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@Ianskellyradio3
Absolutely. In many ways it's a shame The Planets outshine his other achievements — but, there again, as you say they also point the way to the rest of his work, where it might have been forgotten. Hammersmith, Beni Mora and the Cotswolds Symphony I'm especially fond of!
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@Ianskellyradio3
@DrDavidVernon
The same snobbery demeans great film music & the music by composers who "demean" themselves by writing for film. When Korngold's Symphony was broadcast on R3 last year, it was introduced as being written by 'Hollywood composer Korngold'.
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@Ianskellyradio3
I think you've also previously compared his Fugal Overture with "A Fast Ride in a Short Machine" (as I like to call it)...
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@Ianskellyradio3
Beni Mora was a really Avant Garde piece at the time and still remains so. Should be heard much more often...
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