Jupiter, The Planets, Gustav Holst

Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity,

The use of of semiquavers in the second violins quickly followed by the firsts was effective in creating a lively and jolly atmosphere. Even more so when joined by the brass, who had the melody which was syncopated. Holst used silence before the whole orchestra came in, with a crash of the cymbals and tremelos in the strings. Imitation between the brass and strings and playing around with the melody suits the title well. The accidentals did not sound out of place and the clash in the tremelo in the strings (second violins had an E and an F) worked. Holst repeats his use of silence before the start of another melody. The small accelerando made it sound jolly and the timbres of the flutes with the oboes and triangle in a relatively high register made it sound jolly.
I really liked the time signature, it changed to 3/4 and the horns had the melody with the strings playing chords at the beginning of every bar. Again, Holst puts in an accelerando. It gets exciting as the texture changes to polyphonic with the each instrument taking over the melody: the trumpets take over the horns, followed by the woodwind and then strings. The entrance of the tambourine was good too for creating a happy mood. The woodwind had triplets and then the strings joined them as well as, I think, the vibraphone whilst the brass had the tune.
The key change was very good and the timpani was really articulate which followed through to the woodwind who had the melody. Whilst they had the melody, the violas and cellos played really fast pizzicatos which created an interesting homophonic texture.
I thought the fact that Holst wrote a woodwind section which was then followed by strings worked really well in terms of structure.
The melody in the string section was really pretty and happy. I heard the modulation which was not abrupt or unnecessary. I liked that the strings were in unison and that the brass and woodwind provided accompaniment. He keeps changing that, as straight after, each woodwind instruments gets a little solo and the strings accompany them with trills. I particularly liked the oboe solo.
I also liked how Holst gave semiquavers, as in the beginning, to instruments who did not have the melody, to be played under those who did. What I especially like was the dynamics, the fact that it was kept piano told us something was coming.
The, dare I say, recapitulation (?) came back again nicely. The strucure worked. I liked how he changed the instrumentation. For example, the woodwind had the melody at the 3/4 which the horn had previously but then the horn took it again.
The next section was a little odd, with the rapid scalic passages in the violins and flutes (and piccolo?). The chromatic scale beneath the melody played by brass created a really nice almost polyphonic texture and then brought us back to the final section of the music, the end, where the time signature changes again and the upper woodwind and upper strings have the quavers with a B flat accidental and then brass have their last syncopated melody. It was a very happy piece of music and the last, forte cadence established that.