"Mars, The Bringer of War" genre: Classical General
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	Gustav Holst, From the "Planets"
	Credits: Russell Vinick, Conductor
	Story Behind the Song From the start of the very first measure, Holst gives us a sense of the terror and strife to come, with a nervous and insistent rhythmic figure set up by strings and timpani. The rhythm is in 5/4 and augments the music's unsettling nature. The dark theme heard in the horns, along with brief fanfares in the lower brass and trumpets, propels us toward all-out battle. The rhythm and tension are unrelenting as the piece moves toward an explosive climax. A slower section follows with the tension letting up, but only slightly. This part is built on the phrase or motif first heard in the lower strings, then assigned to other sections of the orchestra. It gathers steam, pushed ahead by a repeated figure similar to the opening rhythm played in the percussion, then in the brass. Soon we are eventually thrown back into the violence of the first section. Form here on, the music becomes more ferocious and driven than ever, with no end in sight. But a sustained chord from the entire orchestra suddenly brings everything to a screeching halt and the movement comes to an end with stabbing fortissimo chords. --David Schwan

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