Yesterday, on the Integral Pod, I saw a posting by Tely about ‘Imagining the tenth dimension'. I immediately watched it because I love this kind of video's, where people try to explain things like the universe, gravity, dimensions, particles, speed of light, the big bang, dark matter, black holes and all else, to people like me, who would have no idea how to get such understanding otherwise. 

So I have been watching this kind of video's often these last years, most of all Brian Green's ‘Elegant universe'. For me it is the best way to learn to understand such difficult principles, because he makes it very visible. At some points he goes a bit to far, but as a whole I so much enjoyed the series, which can be seen here.

The part I have watched the most, is chapter 3 from part 1. It is called ‘A new picture of gravity'. Here he makes visible how Einstein thought gravity works. I never could understand how that was supposed to work and suddenly, while watching the movie, I kind of understood it.

Also the part ‘Gravity the odd man out' I found very interesting. There he explains the search for a unified theory. Of how the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, electro-magnetism and gravity should come together in one simple equation.

Of course the overall goal of the movie is to talk about String theory, and that may or may not be a valid theory. But for me it was an amazing opportunity to see how, at this point in time, they think the universe works.

Another real amazing series of NOVA is about the discovery of a black hole at the centre of our galaxy. It a 7 part series called ‘Monster of the Milky Way' and it can be found here.

I loved watching this, especially the part where Andrea Ghez talks very enthusiastic about how they discovered that stars were accelerating to phenomenal speeds around a mysterious invisible object. 

The only conclusion that could follow from that, was that they were obitting a black hole in the middle of our galaxy, that had to be 3 million times heavier than our sun.

Andrea Ghez: A decade ago, you couldn't look at the center of our galaxy with high resolution, so you couldn't distinguish stars from one another.

Narrator: Ghez was able to correct the blurring effects of the atmosphere with a revolutionary new technology called "adaptive optics."

Andrea Ghez: So this little animation shows you the benefit of adaptive optics. You see the stars without adaptive optics; you turn the adaptive optics on, and all of a sudden, you see stars. And in particular, you see stars near the center of the galaxy. Without adaptive optics, you would only see one big blob. And those stars are, in fact, the most important for us to track. We track all of them, but these are the ones that are the key to the problem.

Narrator: Thanks to the new technology, the team could peer into the heart of the Milky Way with amazing precision.

Andrea Ghez: Our view to the center of the galaxy is absolutely superb. And our ability to position stars at the center of the galaxy is like somebody in Los Angeles seeing somebody in New York be able to move their fingers, like this, okay? Just two centimeters. That's the precision with which we can measure something that is 26,000 light years away from us.

Narrator: Once the view was clear, Ghez could start the hunt. If there were a black hole at the center of the galaxy, its paw print would be found in the rapid orbits of nearby stars.

Eric Becklin: The conclusive experiment to be done, that really demonstrated that there was a black hole, was to follow the orbits of individual stars in the galactic center very, very accurately and with the highest precision possible.

Narrator: When an object like a star approaches another, more massive object, the pull of gravity will make the star speed up. If it's orbiting close to a massive black hole, the star should accelerate to enormous speed and then whip around the black hole, like a slingshot.

Eric Becklin: Okay, so we have the black hole, here. The more massive it is, the more pull there is. The more pull there is, as it gets closer to the black hole, the faster it goes. And we are measuring the speed of these stars. That's the key to getting the mass, is measuring the speed of those stars.

Andrea Ghez: This is our road map, and that's the center of our galaxy. There's a large cluster of stars that are orbiting the center of our galaxy. And by measuring the motion of stars, and in particular, their orbits, we can figure out whether or not there's a central black hole. That environment in there, it's a crowded party.

Narrator: Ghez set out to monitor the partygoers, to track every movement of the central stars.

Andrea Ghez: Basically, the way this experiment works is you take an image; you see where all the stars are. And then you come back, some time later, and you take another image, and you look to see if they've moved. And so the second time we took an image, we knew we were golden. Those stars had clearly moved. This one moved to here, this one moved to here, this one moved to here, and so on.

Narrator: As Ghez continued to track the stars, she found some making dramatic hairpin turns.

Andrea Ghez: It made a huge jump to over here. So it went, whoop, all the way around. And it's moving on order 10,000,000 miles per hour. So it is just speeding away.

Narrator: Other astronomers clocked the stars with similar results. Not only were the stars accelerating to phenomenal speeds, their orbits were perfectly smooth. Ghez knew that they had to be circling a single massive object. Most black holes are thought to be about 10-times more massive than our Sun, but the object at the center of the Milky Way was roughly 3,000,000 times as massive. For Ghez and Becklin, that could mean only one thing.

Eric Becklin: All other physical explanations of what was at the very center were gone. The only thing left was a black hole.

Narrator: Not only was this black hole supermassive, it was millions of miles wide. Astronomers around the world admitted the evidence was impressive.

Brian McNamara: I have to say, when I first saw Andrea's video, I was stunned, when I saw that star come out of the left side of the frame and go zipping around, and go shooting off into the other end of the frame. And it moved around a point in space, and nothing was there.

Steven Ritz: That we could, with our instruments, effectively travel to the center of the galaxy, 26,000 light years away, and collect the evidence for such an incredible object, was really an amazing achievement.

Narrator: It seemed undeniable: a giant black hole and at the center of our Milky Way. But how could such a monstrosity come to be?

Here is a duet which Andreas Scholl sings with Anna Caterina Antonacci from Händel's opera Rodelinda.

I had never heard of the opera, I never heard the duet before and I also never heard of Anna Caterina Antonacci, but boy did I miss something. This is so breathtakingly beautiful.

Io t'abbraccio.
E più che morte, aspro e forte,
è pel cor mio questo addio,
che il tuo sen dal mio divide.

Ah mia vita!
Ah mio tesoro! se non moro,
è più tiranno quell'affanno,
che dà morte, e non uccide.

I embrace you.
And more bitter and harsh than death
to my heart is this farewell
which tears us apart.

Ah, my life!
Ah, my treasure! If I do not die,
then how cruel is that distress
which brings death, but does not kill.

I cannot stop myself from singing Ode to Joy, especially this part,

Deine Zauber binden wieder,
Was die Mode streng geteilt;
Alle Menschen werden Brüder,
Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.

Thy magic binds together,
What tradition has strongly parted;
All men will be brothers,
Dwelling under the safety of your wings.

I wanted to know the rest of the lyrics and I found a website which puts Beethoven's Ode to Joy, the last part of his 9th symphony, in a time line so that it can be better followed.

So here are part 2 and 3 of the 4th movement of Beethoven's 9th symphony, part 1 is already here.

I just found an interesting short listening guide to Beethoven's 9th symphony on Youtube. Here a guy named Luke Crookes gives a nice walk through the whole work.

He says "My absolute favourite part in the 4th movement is when the orchestra is going full tilt, but not only that, so are the choir and the four solosingers".

I so agree with that.  

Freude, schöner Götterfunken
Tochter aus Elysium
Wir betreten feuertrunken,
Himmlische, dein Heiligtum.
Deine Zauber binden wieder,
Was die Mode streng geteilt;
Alle Menschen werden Brüder,
Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.
 

Joy, lovely divine light,
Daughter of Elysium
We march, drunk with fire,
Holy One, to thy holy kingdom.
Thy magic binds together
What tradition has strongly parted,
All men will be brothers
Dwelling under the safety of your wings.

Today I heard my son listen to the Dire Straits. And it reminded me that there is more than classical music alone that I love. One of my all time favorites is Brothers in Arms, I find that so moving.

So I thought that I could look for the video and the lyrics. And found both.

These mist covered mountains
Are a home now for me
But my home is the lowlands
And always will be
Some day you'll return to
Your valleys and your farms
And you'll no longer burn
To be brothers in arms

Through these fields of destruction
Baptisms of fire
I've witnessed your suffering
As the battles raged higher
And though they did hurt me so bad
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me
My brothers in arms

There's so many different worlds
So many different suns
And we have just one world
But we live in different ones

Now the sun's gone to hell
And the moon's riding high
Let me bid you farewell
Every man has to die
But it's written in the starlight
And every line on your palm
We're fools to make war
On our brothers in arms

Did my son take me back in time with the Dire Straits yesterday, today I got even further back in time. I had to think of the Iron Butterfly drumsolo in their ‘In A Gada Da Vida', which was one of my favorites a long time ago.

Well, I found it on Youtube and I really loved hearing it again, although it is a whole lot more noise than what I uploaded here before. And it was very interesting to read that the title of the song was originally ‘In the Garden of Eden'.

Wiki gives some possible explanations of why it got ‘In A Gada Da Vida'.

"A commonly related story says that the song's title was originally 'In The Garden Of Eden' but at one point in the course of rehearsing and recording, singer Doug Ingle got intoxicated and slurred the words, creating the mondegreen that stuck as the title. However, the liner notes on 'the best of' CD compilation state that drummer Ron Bushy was listening to the track through headphones, and couldn't clearly distinguish what Doug Ingle answered when Ron asked him for the title of the song. An alternate explanation, as given in the liner notes of the 1995 re-release of the In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida album, is that Ingle was drunk when he first told Bushy the title, and Bushy wrote it down. Bushy then showed Ingle what he had written, and the slurred title stuck."

Here it is uploaded in two parts, the drumsolo starts after about 6 minutes in part 1.
You should use a headphone at that point, it is so amazing!

For the rest you might want to keep the headphone on but have it unplugged, it really is a lot of noise. But still amazing.

While looking for old rockbands I thought I also could search for Youtube video's from the rockband Camel. To their music I listened the most in my pre-classical music time. I have about all their albums and went to some of their concerts, when they where in the Netherlands.

And wow, did I find a lot already. One Youtube video which I find the most moving, Stationary Traveller, I uploaded here.  

But I also found an amazing blog today called Great anonymous albums, with a blogpost about Camel and their most famous album ‘The Snow Goose'.

Don't you just love the internet and Youtube? Well I do!

Then the lyrics start. So glad I finally found out what they are singing.

And in the middle it goes on even more energetic, it really makes you want to speed. 
Better than my morningcoffee!

Out of the mist rising,  
Ten thousand navajo braves,  
Shining like golden eagles in flight,   
Climbing high on the plains. 
 
Born of the Earth set free,  
To run away with the sun,  
So free to sing in tune with the world,  
Gladly high on the plains. 
 
So many moons have flown,  
Now all your ghosts dance the long shadows,  
War cries that died on your lips,  
Echo above the plains.

Also one of my favourites and from the album Stationary Traveller is Long Goodbyes.

Again the guitarplay of Andrew Latimer at the end, so amazing.

Down by the lake
a warm afternoon -
breezes carry children's balloons.
Once upon a time,
not long ago,
she lived in a house by the grove.
And she recalls the day,
when she left home...

Long good-byes,
make me so sad.
I have to leave right now.
And though I hate to go,
I know it's for the better.
Long good-byes,
make me so sad.
Forgive my leaving now.
You know I'll miss you so
and days we spent together.

Long in the day
moon on the rise -
she sighs with a smile in her eyes.
In the park,
it's late afterall,
she sits and stares at the wall.
And she recalls the day,
when she left home...

Apart from the concerts of Camel I have been to only one other rockconcert. It was the concert of Pink Floyd with a spectacular (for that time) light show.

Especially Comfortably Numb I always found impressive and again it is great to have the lyrics at hand with it.

Hello.
Is there anybody in there?
Just nod if you can hear me.
Is there anyone home?

Come on, now.
I hear your feeling down.
Well I can ease your pain,
Get you on your feet again.

Relax.
I need some information first.
Just the basic facts:
Can you show me where it hurts?

There is no pain, you are receding.
A distant ships smoke on the horizon.
You are only coming through in waves.
Your lips move but I cant hear what your sayin.
When I was a child I had a fever.
My hands felt just like two balloons.
Now I got that feeling once again.
I cant explain, you would not understand.
This is not how I am.
I have become comfortably numb.

Ok.
Just a little pinprick. [ping]
Therell be no more --aaaaaahhhhh!
But you may feel a little sick.

Can you stand up?
I do believe its working. good.
Thatll keep you going for the show.
Come on its time to go.

There is no pain, you are receding.
A distant ships smoke on the horizon.
You are only coming through in waves.
Your lips move but I cant hear what youre sayin.
When I was a child I caught a fleeting glimpse,
Out of the corner of my eye.
I turned to look but it was gone.
I cannot put my finger on it now.
The child is grown, the dream is gone.
I have become comfortably numb.

As I was goin over the cork and kerry mountains
I saw captain farrell and his money he was countin
I first produced my pistol and then produced my rapier
I said stand and deliver or the devil he may take ya

Musha ring dum a doo dum a da
Whack for my daddy-o
Whack for my daddy-o
Theres whiskey in the jar-o

I took all of his money and it was a pretty penny
I took all of his money and I brought it home to molly
She swore that shed love me, never would she leave me
But the devil take that woman for you know she tricked me easy

Being drunk and weary I went to mollys chamber
Takin my money with me and I never knew the danger
For about six or maybe seven in walked captain farrell
I jumped up, fired off my pistols and I shot him with both barrels

Now some men like the fishin and some men like the fowlin
And some men like ta hear a cannon ball a roarin
Me I like sleepin specially in my mollys chamber
But here I am in prison, here I am with a ball and chain yeah

I just came across a great video of Stairway to Heaven. Not only is it a fantastic song, the recording is also a beauty to watch. It definitely is one of those that will always survive, I guess.

And again this is one of those songs that I really love to read the lyrics with it.


"Theres a sign on the wall, but she wants to be sure, cause you know sometimes words have two meanings."

"Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run, theres still time to change the road your on."

Theres a lady who's sure
All that glitters is gold
And she's buying a stairway to heaven.
When she gets there she knows
If the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for.
Ooh, ooh, and she's buying a stairway to heaven.

Theres a sign on the wall
But she wants to be sure
cause you know sometimes words have two meanings.
In a tree by the brook
There's a songbird who sings,
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven.
Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, it makes me wonder.

Theres a feeling I get
When I look to the west,
And my spirit is crying for leaving.
In my thoughts I have seen
Rings of smoke through the trees,
And the voices of those who standing looking.
Ooh, it makes me wonder,
Ooh, it really makes me wonder.

And its whispered that soon
If we all call the tune
Then the piper will lead us to reason.
And a new day will dawn
For those who stand long
And the forests will echo with laughter.

If there's a bustle in your hedgerow
Dont be alarmed now,
Its just a spring clean for the may queen.
Yes, there are two paths you can go by
But in the long run
There's still time to change the road youre on.
And it makes me wonder.

Your head is humming and it wont go
In case you dont know,
The pipers calling you to join him,
Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow,
And did you know
Your stairway lies on the whispering wind.

And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our soul.
There walks a lady we all know
Who shines white light and wants to show
How everything still turns to gold.
And if you listen very hard
The tune will come to you at last.
When all are one and one is all
To be a rock and not to roll.

And she's buying a stairway to heaven.

This one from Camel is called ‘a song within a song' and it takes you through all kind of moods.

Although it starts lively, soon it is deep melancholic. The lyrics are so moving.

But then the energy goes up again.

The sun has left the sky
Now you can close your eyes
Leave all the world behind until tomorrow
The dream is like a song
It leads you on and on
The piper plays his tune so you must follow

So far beyond the sky
Not knowing how or why
You realize this feeling is forever
Though another day
May steal your dreams away
You and your song will always stay together

I just came across this video on Youtube, where someone made a voice and piano cover of a Camelsong called Spirit of the Water.

It sounds great and it seems to be made for the piano. If only I could sing and play the piano, I would immediately start practising this.

See the lights out on the water
Come and go, to and fro
In the time it takes to find them
You can live, you can die
And nothing stops the river as it goes by
Nothing stops the river as it goes

All alone and all together
Every day, come what may
By the time we find each other
We can live, we can die
And nothing stops the river as it flows by
Nothing stops the river as it goes

Another amazing song from the album Moonmadness is Air Born.

I just saw a reaction of someone who said "Air Born is a perfect representation of what Andy Latimer is all about, at once soaring, yet earthy."

This so covers it for me, the brilliant combination of raising your spirit but being rooted at the same time.

And I think Camel always gave me exact that feeling.

I noticed that this video is no longer available, so here is a link to the album Moonmadness where you can find Air Born on 6.

High flying glider, spread your wings
Flying high on a cloud
Born on the air, spiral around
So busy making circles
You never touch the ground
You see the sea, feel the sky
Don't know where you go when you die
Don't know the answers
To what's in my mind
Riding on the wind and turning with the tide

Life takes you up, it brings you down
Changes the pain that remains
Keep moving fast, though the wind and the rain
And if the world keeps spinning round
You'll be back again

Lady Fantasy is one of the earlier songs of Camel and it is rather long. I found several video's of that song, but it just did not sound as it did in my memory.

But finally I found one that, although it did not sound exactly as I remember, was really exciting to see.

It is a very old recording, 1976 it shows somewhere, but how very wonderful to see them all play here. At some point you can just watch Andrew Latimer make the guitar weep.

The whole video is a real beauty, although it is uploaded in 3 parts. This one really goes through all kind of moods all the time. Especially at the end of part one I really like the sudden change.

Listen very carefully, my words are about to unfold

Concerning a lady I've seen but I never could hold

I can see by your smile,

Take a long while,

The words that come through,

I see that they're true,

For she reminds me of you.

Don't misunderstand me, it's not always easy to say

The words in your head and your heart that you just can't explain

I can see clearly,

A face in the sky,

Moon's in your eye,

You're passing me by.

Tell me the reason why.

I can see clearly,

A face in the sky,

Moon's in your eye,

You're passing me by.

Saw you riding on a moon cloud,

Saw you walking on a whirlpool,

From the corner of my eye,

I saw you.

Saw you sitting on a sunbeam,

In the middle of my daydream,

Oh my Lady Fantasy,

I love you.

Yesterday I found a blog with a video of Lisa Gerrard. And I was completely blown away by it. She has an incredible strong, haunting and sensitive voice. Of course I immediately had to go looking at Youtube to find some more about here. I found a lot already and I uploaded one below.

I also found another one where she talks about her singing. There she says something like:

"You let the language grow by itself, your own language. You have the ability to create a dialogue to make you travel to places more beautiful then we were ever promised"

This got me very much thinking about music. I thought this is really ‘making music'. These past few days I was thinking about these same lines when I watched Andrew Latimer of Camel play his guitar at a young age. Here the band was playing Lady Fantasy and you could just watch the music develop.

In the first part it is as he is discovering his guitar as a way to express himself. Especially at the end of that part he is really exploring every edge of it.

In the second part, after a sudden change, you can just watch his most amazing wondering about the beauty he and his guitar are capable of producing. He is almost feeling and searching for the next note. As if it is already there but he has to catch it before it is gone. And then when he has it, he wants to hold it.

Then in the third part, immediately after the beautiful lyrics, there is this repeating ‘I got it and I want to play it over and over again', as in a sort of trance. And then after the last change there is this ‘expressing it to the universe'.

Well, anyway that was the impression I got from it. But it felt like the same growing and creating a language that Lisa Gerrard was talking about.  

I also uploaded a few of her songs to my playlist on my recently discovered music site Deezer, where I found 7 of her albums. Just to listen for free!

So great to hear this kind of music on demand and it finally takes me away from  Youtube (where I also could make playlists) and where I sometimes could not stop watching the amazing facial expressions.

This I can play in the background and be finally able to get on with my work on the computer.

While I was looking for material to write a blogpost about Camel's album the Snow Goose, I found a video where the original members of the band where telling about how they got the idea of making that album.

It is really interesting because I think it highlights what is art, what is inspiration, what is a creative process, but above all, how art can be a collective process instead of that of an individual.
 

You can listen to the whole album here (you have to click on the first track, but it takes about 30 seconds before you hear music, it first starts very softly with goose sounds).

Years ago, when we just got married, we discovered the music of Camel. We already had some of their music, but after being in London in a recordstore with lots of their albums, we both got addicted to their music. We loved all of their work, but the Snow Goose was our favourite. Of course because of the beautiful music, but also because it was an album that could be played easily with visitors. The music brings along many emotions but it is never to extreme, it is as in one ongoing movement. The parts go over from one into another and you just want to keep on listening.

Although we were Camel fans and we did go to two of their concerts when they were in the Netherlands, we both hardly knew who were the members of the band. And as time went by and I had listened to their albums numerous times, I switched to classical music. I got interested in the history of western music, listened to all kind of classical music and came up with some favourites of which I blogged about these past few weeks.

But then, a few weeks ago, I rediscovered Camel. I found a lot on Youtube, some great websites and a music site where I could listen to their albums again. And besides that I got to read about the people behind the band. And was really moved. I also got interested in the story of the Snow Goose written by Paul Gallico. I already read some reviews of the book and many people were moved by the story. So I thought I might look in our local library to see it they had it. And to my surprise (there are not so many English books in a local Dutch library) they did have it. So I read it in maybe an hour (it really is a short story) and was so very moved by it.

My intention was to write a blogpost about my perception of the music of the Snow Goose, but now I will try to also give my interpretation of the story, in three different blogposts. Here in this post there is a synopsis of the story, a video with excerpts of the Snow Goose, and a little piece from the book to get an idea of the sphere. And here you can listen to A Live Record where Camel played with the London Symphony Orchestra. The Snow Goose starts and ends with the Great March. 

The Story

The Snow Goose is about a man, Rhayader, an artist with a hunchback and a crippled arm. He is rejected by society and lives on a desolate marshland by the sea in an abandoned lighthouse. There he paints the land and wildlife and provides a sanctuary for birds over the winter.
One day a young girl, Fritha, comes to him, carrying an injured goose. She comes to the lighthouse timidly, for she is frightened of the strange man. But she has heard of his reputation for taking care of the birds. Rhyader cures the goose and Fritha comes to visit him often to see the goose. But when the goose is recovered and leaves, her visits stop and Rhyader is alone again.
As one day the goose returns, Rhyader sends Fritha a message and she returns to the lighthouse. From that moment on a cycle repeats, when the snow goose returns Fritha comes to visit and when the goose leaves, her visits stop. Then one day it becomes clear that the bird will stay for good. But what does this mean for their friendship, that of a crippled lonely man and Fritha, now a young woman. It confuses her and she leaves for a while.
When she returns again, Rhayader is about to leave in a strange mood. He is determined to go to Dunkirk to save as many soldiers as possible. Fritha is very sad because of his leaving but promises to take care of the birds in the sanctuary. Then Rhyader sails away with the snow goose flying above the boat. Rhyader saves many lives and will never return, but the snowgoose does and Fritha sees it as the soul of Rhyader saying farewell. 

Preface
"At low water the blackened and ruptured stones of the ruins of an abandonded lighthouse show above the surface, with here and there, like buoy markers, the top of a sagging fence-post. Once this lighthouse abutted on the sea and was a beacon on the Essex coast. Time shifted land and water, and its usefulness came to an end.

Lately it served again as a human habitation. In it there lived a lonely man. His body was warped, but his heart was filled with love for wild and hunted things. He was ugly to look upon, but he created great beauty. It is about him, and a child who came to know him and see beyond the grotesque form that housed him to what lay within, that this story is told.

It is not a story that falls easily and smoothly into sequence. It has been garnered from many sources and from many people. Some of it comes in the form of fragments from men who looked upon strange and violent scenes. For the sea has claimed its own and spreads its rippled blanket over the site, and the great white bird with the black- tipped pinions that say it all from the beginning to the end has returned to the dark, frozen silences of the northlands whence it came."

... half-submerged meadowlands ending in the great saltings and mud flats and tidal pools near the restless sea. Tidal creeks and estuaries and the crooked, meandering arms of many little rivers whose mouths lap at the edge of the ocean cut through the sodden land that seems to rise and fall and breathe with the recurrence of the the daily tides. It is desolate, utterly lonely, and made lonelier by the calls and cries of the wildfowl that make their homes in the marshlands and saltings ...

1. The great marsh

2. Rhayader

3. Rhayader goes to town

4. Sanctuary

5. Fritha

6. The snow goose

7. Friendship

8. Migration

9. Rhayader alone

10. Flight of the snow goose

11. Preparation

12. Dunkirk

13. Epitaph

14. Fritha alone

15. La princesse perdue

16. The great marsh

‘Rhayader' is the introduction of the main character in the story of the Snow Goose. His introduction is rather sensitive with the sound of a flute, but soon gets a firm grounding with the drums and keyboard, while the tambourine gives it a light and dancing touch. And it ends again with the sensitive flute in a repeating rhythm.

...his heart was filled with pity and understanding. He mastered his handicap, but he could not master the rebuffs he suffered, due to his appearance. The thing that drove him into seclusion was his failure to find anywhere a return of the warmth that flowed from him...

But then, with the start of ‘Rhayader goes to town', there is a remarkable change. The drums make a determined statement and the guitar comes in very strong. 

...he was twenty-seven when he came to the Great Marsh. He had travelled much and fought valiantly before he made the decision to withdraw from a world in which he could not take part as other men. For all the artist's sensitivity and woman's tenderness locked in his barrel breast, he was very much a man...

This is made very clear by the drums, keyboard and guitars, while they express the powerful spirit of Rhayader. Then the music changes again and while still holding this power, it starts to move. It sounds like a strong and determined walk as he goes to town. But in that movement he looses his power bit by bit, and takes him out of his centre.
And so he returns to his sanctuary, which he build for the birds but which he needs himself just as much. The story describes that he has a safe place for all hunted creatures.

... this made Rhayader happy, because he knew that implanted somewhere in their beings was the germ knowledge, of his existence and his safe haven, that this knowledge had become a part of them and, with the coming of the grey skies and the winds from the north, would send them unerringly back to him...

‘Sanctuary' is a very balanced guitar piece, the plucking of the strings that give a basic ground and the space to express the guitar.
So in this self created sanctuary, where he can embody his spirit by developing his skills of painting and managing his boat, he, one day gets a visitor, and ‘Fritha' enters.

... desperately frightened of the ugly man she had come to see, for legend had already begun to gather about Rhayader, and the native wild-fowlers hated him for interfering with their sport. But greater than her fear was the need of that which she bore. For locked in her child's heart was the knowledge, picked up somewhere in the swamp-land, that this ogre who lived in the lighthouse had magic that could heal injured things. She had never seen Rhayader before and was close to fleeing in panic at the dark apparation that appeared at the studio door...

This is expressed by the music which gives the feeling of something that will disappear with the slightest movement. 
And then there is another change as ‘The Snow Goose' starts and the guitar is showing it's most amazing moves.

...he told here the most wonderful story. The bird was a young one, no more than a year old. She was born in a northern land far, far across the seas, a land belonging to England. Flying to the south to escape the snow and ice and bitter cold, a great storm had seized her and whirled and buffeted her about. It was a truly terrible storm, stronger than her great wings, stronger than anything. For days and nights it held her in its grip and there was nothing she could do but fly before it. When finally it had blown itself out and her sure instincts took her south again, she was over a different land and surrounded by strange birds that she had never seen before. At last, exhausted by her ordeal, she had sunk to rest in a friendly green marsh, only to be met by the blast from the hunter's gun. A bitter reception for a visiting princess, concluded Rhayader. We will call her La Princesse Perdue, the lost princess...

This is the part that bears the essence of the story, but it is the part that is least played in live concerts. There are probably several reasons for that, like the use of wind instruments (Friendship) the non lyric-vocals (Migration) and the use of female voices (Preparation), which are not the regular ingredients of a rockband. And also does this part not so much have the brilliant and active guitar performances that are present in part one (Rhayader goes to town and The Snow Goose) and in part three (Dunkirk and La Princesse Perdue).

With ‘Friendship' there is a feeling of getting to know each other, which is reflected by the windinstruments that show the exchange of energy.

...they sailed together in his speedy boat, that he handled so skillfully. They caught wildfowl for the ever-increasing colony, and build new pens and enclosure for them. From him she learned the lore of every wild bird, from gull to gyrfalcon, that flew the marshes. She cooked for him sometimes, and even learned to mix his paints...

Then ‘Migration' very much gives the feeling of nature runs its course. The non lyric vocals make it sound rather unaware and just following the natural instictive circle of life.

...and Rhayader was heartbroken. All things seemed to have ended for him. He painted furiously through the winter and the next summer, and never once saw the child...

Here arises the awareness for Rhayader in ‘Flight of the Snow Goose' and the reconnection with his soul is expressed by the sound of water and female vocals in ‘Preparation'.

But at the same time this moment brings fear for Fritha, because she does not understand the power yet.

... and Fritha was suddenly conscious of the fact that she was frightened, and the things that frightened her were in Rhayader's eyes - the longing and the loneliness and the deep, welling, unspoken things that lay in and behind them as he turned them upon her. His last words were repeating themselves in her head as though he had said them again: this is her home now - of her own free will. The delicate tendrils of her instincts reached to him and carried to her the message of the unspoken things between them. The woman in her bade her take flight from something that she was not yet capable of understanding...

Part three starts with action again, but the difference with part one is that the action is conscious now. It is the action that is the result of the realisation of having a free will. A will to choose which direction to move the power. Not to let it be a destructive or dominating force, but to use it in a serving way. This awareness came over him while he watched the snow goose return.  

And so he decides to act and use his developed sailing skills to save as many men as he can in the battle at Dunkirk. It came upon him in excitement, but as he sees the fear in Frita's eyes, he explains it to her so she can understand his desire to fulfil his mission.

...they are lost and strormdriven and harried, like the Princesse Perdue you found and brought to me out of the marches many years ago, and we healed her. They need help, my dear, as our wild creatures have needed help, and that is why I must go. It is something that I can do. Yes, I can. For once - for once I can be a man and play my part...

This is beautiful expressed in ‘Dunkirk', which start off as a very determined active ongoing movement, which gives the feeling of something inevitable to happen. And now the strong spirit of Rhayader is capable of acting but also reacting within the same movement. During the battle he can stay in his own power, and at the same time do what is needed. And it only increases the power. This is brilliantly shown by the guitar and drums near the end.

He can immediately react upon what happens and save many lives. And with the snow goose flying above his boat it becomes an impressive story, to be told by many.

But Rhayader will never return, as he dies in the battle.

...when we turned our attention to the derelict again, the boat was gone. Sunk. Concussion, you know. Chap with her. He must have been lashed to her. The bird had gone up and was circling. Three times, like a plane saluting. Dashed queer feeling. Then she flew off to the west...

In ‘Epitaph' the feeling returns as in ‘Preparation' but now as a monument for the heroic act of Rhayader. Who just followed his strong drive to act in the knowledge of a world beyond his individual being.

In the meantime Fritha is waiting, roaming through the lighthouse. This is translated with a silent piano tune ‘Fritha alone'.

... she found the picture that Rhayader had painted of her from memory so many years ago, when she was still a child, and had stood, windblown and timid, at his threshold, hugging and injured bird to her.The picture and the things she saw in it stirred her as nothing ever had before, for much of Rhayader's soul had gone into it.

But deep within, she knows that she will never see him again, and becomes aware of her love for him as she watches the snow goose fly.

...the sight, the sound, and the solitude surrounding broke the dam within her and released the surging, overwhelming truth of her love, let it well forth in tears. Wild spirit called to wild spirit, and she seemed to be flying with the great bird, soaring with it in the evening sky and hearkening to Rhayader's message. Sky and earth were trembling with it and filled her beyond the bearing of it...

‘La Princesse Perdue', which reminds of ‘The Snow Goose', is a very melancholic goodbye on the guitar and a coming together of two souls.

...watching it, Fritha saw no longer the snow goose but the soul of Rhayader taking farewell of her before departing for ever...

Finally the lighthouse is blown away by accident and the sea has taken over again. This can be heard with the last song on the album, again called ‘The Great Marsh'.

...the sea had moved in through the breached walls and covered it over. Nothing was left to break the utter desolation. No marsh fowl had dared to return. Only the frightless gulls wheeled and soared and mewed their plaint over the place where it had been...