Who Did it Best? | Mars, the Bringer of War

Four performances by three different corps over 30 years of "Mars" from Gustav Holst's "The Planets." Which one did it best?

0:00 Intro
0:08 1985 Cavaliers
2:23 1995 Cavaliers
4:38 2012 Santa Clara Vanguard
7:13 2015 Music City

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[elbear]

I'm biased, 1985 Cavaliers. Why you may ask? I'm the marimba player you see at the beginning. :) And of course, red cymbals.

[xiurong]

Cadets did Mars/Jupiter as part of our "No More War" show in 1972, a show waaaay ahead of its time.

[runningdude]

1995 Cavaliers - I have been watching this performance over and over through the years.

[Malburg]

This is missing Cavaliers 2017. We played it in the closer

[brianhale]

The 1995 Cavaliers won for a reason -- lots of reasons, in fact. And they are still the Champions in this matchup.

[abnerwilhelm]

Cavies did it yet again in their ‘17 show but only for a short time

[bbfelice]

I liked 1995 Cavaliers best. I like when the music is closer to the original score and I think that performance did a great job of doing that while notching it up for drum corps. The 2012 SCV was awesome visually but the musical score didn't connect with me as much. FYI, 1995 was one of my most favorite DCI years -- so many great shows!

[stevendratler]

Music City's is very underrated. Very true to form arrangement and great performance!

[tsmello]

1995 Cavaliers as far a legit transcription, 2012 Vanguard as far as unique arrangement.

[xaviercross]

I’m a big fan of scv’s performance. They had such a nice timbre and good clarity, however there was a lot of interpretation. I’m tied between 95 cavies and scv

[davidbruner]

Either one of the Cavaliers performances, but that's because I'm a little bias. I auditioned for the Cavaliers '85 season.

[MrDavegiven]

Enjoyed drill and percussion writing for SCV, but something about the rawness of that 95 Cavies show does it for me

[eagledad]

1995 Cavies with out a doubt. Both musically and marching.

[RickDawg]

I remember Thanksgiving 1995. I was 12. Family is over at the table. Talking. Hanging out. My brother, who was a drummer in high school told me DCI championships is on PBS. I had never seen a DCI show. Only heard them on tape. Saw Blue Devils, my favorite of corp. Then Cadets. Wasn't a fan. Then the Cavaliers. I was totally blown away. That set me on a path that I'd still be on to this day

[PonderousProse]

No one before or since has done this better than the 1995 Cavaliers. In fact, no one has done any of "The Planets" better. There is absolutely no contest whatsoever.

[benlemmings]

Love the writing of SCV’s percussion, and they played everything VERY well, but it’s hard to top the 95 cavies.

Also, it’s incredible how far MCDC has come in the past few years, the writing has gotten a lot better, they’re challenging their members more, and the members are meeting those demands year in and year out.

[jwillis]

95 Cavies. Total coordination. Also, that front ensemble is still one of the most influential in terms of arranging and performance. Since 1995, we all have wanted our front ensembles to sound like Cavies.

[charlessable]

95 Cavies hands down. Best music, drill and visual coordination . Total package!

[Nizerifin]

Cavies ‘95 was best. I actually prefer Music City’s arrangement over SCV’s.

[CVON]

95 cavs, just that impact did it for me.