Mars, The Bringer of War

There are some big pieces arranged for flute choir but this project has to rank amongst the most ambitious. The individual movements are musically pretty faithful to the originals with most of the thematic content appearing. The most important material moves around the parts making it quite a challenge to keep together, especially when the writing is as intricate as it is in Mercury. Obviously the more bass instruments you have the better and Mars has parts for percussion in order to beef up the texture. Rick Pierce has given some quite detailed hints on how to perform these pieces with particular reference to doubling up the parts for maximum impact so this makes them ideal for large choirs and great fun will be had by all. But if all this seems either too ambitious or a bit daunting you can always opt for just the big tunes from the complete Planets Suite, which he has arranged for just 4 flutes!