Category: Large Brass Ensemble Composer: Gustav Holst Arranger: Stephen Roberts
Scored for Symphonic Brass Ensemble :
Eb.Trpumpet,
9 Bb Trumpets,
Flugel,
5 Horns,
3 Trombones,
2 Euphoniums,
4 Tubas,
4 Percussion,
2 Harps and Choir.
The suite has seven movements, each named after a planet and its corresponding astrological character (see Planets in astrology):
Mars, the Bringer of War (1914)
Venus, the Bringer of Peace (1914)
Mercury, the Winged Messenger (1916)
Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity (1914)
Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age (1915)
Uranus, the Magician (1915)
Neptune, the Mystic (1915)
Holst's original title, as seen on the handwritten full score, was "Seven Pieces for Large Orchestra". Holst almost certainly attended an early performance of Schoenberg's Five Pieces for Orchestra in 1914 (the year he wrote Mars, Venus and Jupiter), and owned a score of it, the only Schoenberg score he ever owned. Each movement of Holst's work was originally called only by the second part of each title (I "The Bringer of War", II "The Bringer of Peace" and so on); the present titles were added in time for the first (incomplete) public performance in September 1918, though they were never added to the original score.
A typical performance of all seven movements is about fifty minutes long, though Holst's own electric recording from 1926 is just over forty-two and a half minutes.
To view 
