Jay-
Another amazing job man! This is my all-time favorite piece of music from any composer, at any time - a magnificent piece! I'm glad someone finally did a mockup of it. Your mockups are the most "alive" of any I've ever heard, so human and never mechanical. Have you heard the Blomstedt recording with San Fransisco? Your recording is slower, and reminds me of Hindemith conducting himself. Great work!
-Mvanbebber

Mike, Mathis, Dave and Polarbear-- Thanks for the encouraging words.

The recording I have (and studied carefully) was conducted by Franz-Paul Decker and was performed by the New Zealand Symphony on the Naxos Label. I haven't heard Hindemith's own version, but I'd love to hear it. Based on your reactions, I'm certain that Mr. Decker must have been intimately aware of it.

As always, I'm happy to make the midi file available to anyone who's interested. I'll post some observations about the articulations I used as soon I get a chance.

I also wanted to say how much I enjoyed William's rendition of Holst's Neptune-- subtle, natural and like almost everything musical that William does...haunting. I liked how he brought the harp and celeste to prominance-- highlighting their magical interplay. This was a detail that went unnoticed by me until this performance.

Best,
Jay

@JBacal said:

I also wanted to say how much I enjoyed William's rendition of Holst's Neptune-- subtle, natural and like almost everything musical that William does...haunting. I liked how he brought the harp and celeste to prominance-- highlighting their magical interplay. This was a detail that went unnoticed by me until this performance.

Best,
Jay

I have to agree with that - William's rendition was very effective. Even the choir sound, while less realistic, was well done. And it somehow thrills me that VSL composers are picking movements other than the overdone Mars to do. Congrats to both of you for keeping the demo section vibrant and interesting.

Jay-
I agree that William's mockup is very well balanced and technically accurate, but your mockups actually sound "alive", not at all mechanical. You seem to achieve it through your masterful use of subtle dynamic changes, slight rhythmic inaccuracies, and melodic voicing - no one else can do that, in my opinion. I have fooled other musicians by playing your mockups and they thought they were real. With most others', you can instantly tell that samples were used to create the mockup. Very impressive mockup once again!
-mvanbebber

Now I also listened to Holst and it´s really impressive! Beautiful piece of music with beautiful performance.

Very nice work gentlemen. Well done.

Thanks for the kind comments, and thanks to Herb for giving me the opportunity to do this. It was a lot of fun and reminded me of the incredible genius of Holst who was doing such original, advanced work in 1914. I'm not sure how it came to him to create such expression through shifting orchestral colors in a way that had never been done before, but I was filled with awe listening in close detail to the brilliance of his writing.

I also wanted to say how I really liked Jay's Hindemith- another example of his mastery of expressive performance.

I'm not that familiar with Hindemith - it reminds me of the sort of music that film writers used around the late fifties and early sixties, particularly in American style dramas, such as 12 Angry Men and many good TV courtroom dramas of which I forget the name. The one with E.G. Marshall springs to mind. It's a good example of Hindemith?

What I am impressed with, listening to Neptune again just now and looking at the score, is the way you got the harps and celestes so well. That's not particularly easy, when you look at the way it has to fit the 5/4 timing, especially 3 up and 2 down. The choir comes over really very well, and the overall ambience is pretty dreamy, which is Holst's main ambition re: mysticism, with this particular, lesser played in isolation, Planet.

So where did that choir come from William - please say it was an advanced copy of the VSL choir coming out shortly!

DTK

FYI Paul-- Hindemith's Mathis Der Maler symphony premiered in 1934. But it's likely his brand of neo-classicism influenced the next generation of composers.

--Jay

DaveTK
It was the VOTA "Angels" choir. Though I too am looking forward to a VSL legato choir.

@DaveTubaKing said:

So where did that choir come from William - please say it was an advanced copy of the VSL choir coming out shortly!

DTK

Most certainly not - this would sound better, hopefully! [+o(]

But seriously - "Neptun" was a joy to listen to. Congratulations, William!

/Dietz

William, Jay, outstanding work.
I'm a Holst fan, and think he's one genius who's deserving of much higher accolades than he gets against the more traditional heavyweights.
Yes, Mars is often recognised by the 'masses' as the definitive piece in this suite with Jupiter a close second. But Neptune represents the most difficult of Orchestration challenges, quiet and slow, thinly arranged. Dynamics are paramount, and William shows his class, and obvious skill balancing the layers of sound.
Jay, likewise. I've never been a real fan of Hindemith, often feeling he lacks colour in the wrong places. I can't really explain why i hear this, it's a strange thing, but Hindemith makes me feel, ...uneasy? (Hard to define). I sat through this one with enjoyment though and a credit to you for skills i aspire to. Your musicianship is obvious, and admirable.

And both of you have set a high standard, one which will test all of us in the future, I'm sure!

My respects to you both,

Alex.

@JBacal said:

FYI Paul-- Hindemith's Mathis Der Maler symphony premiered in 1934. But it's likely his brand of neo-classicism influenced the next generation of composers.

--Jay

Yes indeed Jay - it would have done. Just as Holst has been doing for almost 100 years. I just caught the end titles of a non descript 1966 western and it started off with the strings from Jupiter almost exactly - and then went into God knows what.

There's very little that's different in score writing through the ages for film and tv - all of it is generally derivative. That doesn't mean the notes necessarily - but more the style.