Planet Earth - AM90 | Partitions

Planet Earth is the first symphony that De Meij composed directly for symphony orchestra: his first two symphonies and his cello concert Casanova were originally written for wind band, and later orchestrated. However, De Meij has always seen himself as a symphonic composer, because while his instrumentation is for wind players, the classical symphony orchestra has always been the guideline.
Because of the title, De Meij’s third may remind us of The Planets by Gustav Holst. In that work the composer ‘deals with’ all planets, except the Earth. De Meij: “In Planet Earth I continue where Holst stopped. Not just in a figurative sense, but also literally: where The Planets ends with a six-part female choir and a large orchestra, I open my first movement (titled Lonely Planet) with a similar instrumentation and atmosphere. After that, any comparison to Holst ends.” Now that we have mentioned the opening movement, we approach the ‘lonely planet’ through a big bang that launches us into the universe. The comets and planets are all around the listeners in the opening part, through speakers that are placed around the audience. For those electronic sounds, De Meij has used the expertise of Joris de Man, who knew perfectly how to transform his wishes and fantasies in impressive extraterrestrial and eccentric sounds. De Meij had further assistance when he discovered through the grapevine the ancient Greek Homeric Hymns, of which he used the ode to Mother Earth (Gaia in Greek) in the closing movement of the symphony, titled Mother Earth. “This ancient Greek was exactly what I was looking for,” says De Meij. “A classical text that I could use abstractly, but that intrinsically sings the praises of the life energy of the earth. Classicist Dr. Adriaan Rademaker has helped me placing the text below the notes; he turned out to be well-versed in music as well.”
The symphony ends with this cantata and a finale in which the composer pulls out all the stops. All musicians contribute to this hymn and brilliantly bring the symphony to a close; however, in the meantime a lot has happened. Out of the cosmic waste of Movement I, the second movement, Planet Earth, makes room for a pastoral, aerial view of the beautiful landscapes of our planet. De Meij: “In the second movement you hear the ‘big tune’ for the first time, a heroic unison melody in six horns from which much material is derived, each time in a different form and context, throughout the whole symphony; an endless hymn sung lustily, with which Homer was ahead of me thousands of years ago: ‘I will sing praise of the Earth, mother of all!’”

Iincludes:
1. Lonely Planet
2. Planet Earth
3. Mother Earth