LIFE

Nick Davies, Clarinet, Wesley Ducote, piano

A "cabinet of curiosities,” also known as a Wunderkammer, is an elaborate cupboard used as a repository of diverse and exotic objects, the assembly of which was a popular pastime for the affluent European of the 16th and 17th centuries. (The trompe l’oeil cabinet at left is by Andrea Domenico Remps, ca. 1620–1699.)

A typical cabinet would contain a wide array of small, rare and intriguing items drawn from the natural world (ornate coral and shells, bizarre insects), science (intricate clocks and toys, distorted mirrors), history (letters, relics, antiquities) and art (carvings, miniature paintings, figurines). imageCabinet of Curiosities presents a similarly diverse musical collection: six short pieces, each one with a somewhat peculiar and idiosyncratic character. The first imagines a still life painting in which one of the subjects is less than stationary. The second is a sort of vaulting dance, written as a musical palindrome. There follows an anamorphic fantasy on an old English folksong, a stately Baroque dance built on ascending and descending scales, and a billet doux for solo clarinet. The last movement is a set of rhythmic variations on the eleven-beat Bulgarian Kopanitsa rhythm.

Cabinet of Curiosities: 3. Early One Morning in a Convex Mirror

Moonlight Sonata, 1st Movement - Ludwig van Beethoven

Mozart - Rondo Alla Turca

Rachmaninoff - Liebesleid (Love's Sorrow)

Yann Tiersen - La Valse D'Amélie

This is a track we help promote because we find it pleasant! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0J7EFptNh6K6Qebrsrcx8d?si=ae32df247fdd4a1d


Ravel's Sonatine, II Mov.

Spring Fantasy by Shirley Ly  | Piano Quintet

Please, remember: listening without wired headphones results in the loss of quality of the sound. The use of cabled headphones or earphones preserves the richness of the sound of all orchestral sections. This is very crucial for classical music.

Prelude for Violin and Orchestra n1

Déjate envolver por la calma de una noche iluminada por la luna. Moonlit Serenity es un piano atmosférico que transmite paz y contemplación.

------

Let yourself be enveloped by the calm of a moonlit night. Moonlit Serenity is an atmospheric piano piece conveying peace and contemplation.

Moonlit Serenity

The Titan Atlas is well-known as the holder of the heavens. This was his sentence for his part in the war between the Titans and the Olympian gods for control of the heavens. He is also found in Roman myth concerning Heracles.
In one of the Twelve Labours, Heracles was required to get some of the golden apples that grew in Hera's garden tended by Atlas’ daughters. Heracles volunteered to hold up the heavens while Atlas got the apples from his daughters. When Atlas came back with the apples he tried to trick Heracles and free himself from the burden of his punishment. Heracles was no fool and pretended to agree, asking Atlas to hold the sky whilst he fixed his cloak. Heracles ran away with the apples. 
In some myths Heracles built the two great Pillars of Hercules to hold the sky away from the earth, liberating Atlas much as he liberated Prometheus.
Using this story as its inspiration, the piece is introduced with an orchestral tutti accent much like that used in Carmina Burana ‘O Fortuna'. This develops into a flowing melody over a reiterated ostinato. The music settles to a calm pastoral theme based on the initial tutti motif before returning to a recapitulation on the main theme.

Atlas

Studied Clarinet and Theory at the Gibraltar Music Centre. Played clarinet in the local municipal band, Youth Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra.  Toured with a rock band as lead guitarist. Sang in the Tenor section of the Calpe Singers. Founder member of the Band of the Royal Gibraltar Regiment rising to Warrant Officer 2nd Class, appointed BSM. Musical Director of local productions of West End musicals. Conducts the “Calpe Band” and the “Gibraltar Band and Drums Association”.
Studied Music Education in UK. Taught in local schools becoming Headteacher at a Primary school.
Have written some processional, concert and military marches, including one for His Majesty the Sultan of Oman. I have received special mention at the  International Maurice Ravel soundtracks contest. One of my pieces is available on Ablaze Records. Another was premiered in Dallas. Some of my work is featured at AudioSparx. My compositions cater for different ensembles and genres.
Open to commissions.

Atlas

JM Gomila - Contemporary Classical Composer

Related tracks