"The Planets" Now in Dorico. Enjoy!

Dorico
1

Hello everyone,

This is “The Planets” by Gustav Holst. Many of you might be familiar with this well-known composition, and now there is a nice open-source Dorico version available. It’s a large-scale work for a full orchestra—I suggest using the NotePerformer playback template unless you already have a well-configured orchestra playback setup. I have tried to stay as true as possible to the original 1921 master engraving.

Please share your thoughts. I have dedicated this to the community here.

The download is 14 MB, which is too large for the forum, so here is the OneDrive link:

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What a marvelous thing to share! Thank you very much!

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Just played it in concert last night… Amazing work, thanks so much!

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Very cool and obviously a ton of work to input! This would be a nice addition to @benwiggy’s Dorico Files site if you’d be willing to contribute it.

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Yes, I would be happy to “holst” it on my site.

However, it would need some of the fonts changed to standard Dorico / OS ones.

Also, there’s some wrong notes in the English Horn in bar 12.

6

This is brilliant thanks so much. I see you’ve helpfully added instrumental section braces. To make an observation, I find it curious the method by which and when systems get optimised in the original. Perhaps they needed to cut it down by only a few pages? Amazing work thanks again…

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I know what a massive undertaking this must have been. I’ve found a few errors in Mars so far. (Given that it’s c. 19,000 notes, that’s pretty good! I know what it’s like putting together large works like this, staring at the page for hours, and then some gurning fool comes along and points to something you’ve missed…)

But, in order to perfect a really lovely score:

  • 12- 13: English Horn, notes are Ab G, should be Bb A. (at transposed)

  • 77: English Horn: last note is F, should be D.
            Viola last note is Db, should be Eb.
            Double Bass last two notes are G, should be A.

  • 93: missing staccato on Piccolos.

  • 117: LV tie on Bassoon 3 should not be there.

  • 150: Penultimate note in Horns are Gn F#: should be G#, Fn.

  • 157: Some Wind staves have a quaver rest mid-phrase, instead of a dotted crotchet.

  • 161: T. Trombones have Db B, should be Eb Cn.

  • 171: T Trombone 1 has Gb, should be Gn.

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Thank you, well done!

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Wow! Thank you for this incredible effort! I have the bound score on my music desk because it’s such a great reference.

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Thank you for the feedback, Ben.

I certainly needed additional perspectives to review something of this magnitude. I will investigate the problems you have identified.

Indeed, this project was a huge challenge, like a Moby Dick or a dragon that had to be defeated. I came to see that reproducing a master engraving would be an excellent method to truly “master” Dorico.

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I’m on it! :slight_smile:

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There were plenty of “head scratching” decisions to be made. The original idea was to reproduce the original engraving in full. There just wasn’t anything out there for Dorico.

There workarounds are there for most engraving dilemmas that cropped up during condensing, but there are a few areas that I had to select alternatives as Dorico just couldn’t support them.

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A better idea Ben, might be for you to make the corrections needed directly on the copy you have then post it up here for community review, if you have the time. This way there won’t be any miscommunications/back-and-forth to deal with. I can take care of the font issues on final and use some standard fonts. What do you think?

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Of course he can host it! This is a work to be shared. :slight_smile:

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I have the inexpensive Dover printing. It’s dog-eared now and it might have a coffee stain or two.. :blush:

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OK: I’m working through it…!!

It’s a really impressive job. I love the way you’ve used hidden dynamics to improve hairpins.

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Thanks, Ben.

Take your time though, there’s no rush. Make it a labor of love. And be sure to add an Editor credit to it for yourself as well.

I’m in the middle of finally preserving my old family VHS videos and it is looking to be a several days effort. Unfortunately, tape has to be captured in real-time. Ouch!

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…well, that’s one off my list of things I was idly thinking of properly learning/learning Dorico by transcribing. :face_with_tongue:

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Wonderful! I had started work on doing this myself (an open source edition based on the Dover) but I had only made it near the end of Mars. Very glad that you have done this because it saves me from having to finish it.

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Thanks. Yes, it was a shame there wasn’t a Dorico project of it. I thought about it for some years, and then in 2024 decided to get serious about it. I worked on it on and off with large breaks over the span of a couple of years

Benwiggy is now pulling a fine-toothed comb through it, correcting some mistakes and omissions and giving it some real polish. Really though, I should have asked for editorial help long ago - something of this size is bound to have issues slip past a single individual.

I’m flattered by all the praise from the MVP’s here - I’m just a (well-versed) amateur… :grinning_face: