#standing stone

[danskjavlarna]

Source details and larger version.

My standing collection of vintage monoliths.

[thesilicontribesman]

St. Madoes Pictish Symbol Stone, Perth Museum, Scotland

[ambopteryxx]

Lover's Stone | Skyrim

Art piece I made for my girlfriend :D

[sgtpeppers]

That was... wonderful... to just hear it done for real, after... what? Four years of thinking about it? Wondering whether it would work, wondering if I'd written bits too fast, or too slow, or... to actually sort of... hear it done by real, professional people and the singers. It's... there isn't a word for it, actually.

Standing Stone, by Paul McCartney

Royal Albert Hall Performance (x)

Making Of Documentary (x)

Standing Stone is a 74 minute long classical piece of music, which Paul worked on for four years. It premiered at the Royal Albert Hall on 14 October 1997 with the London Symphony Orchestra and London Symphony Chorus, conducted by Lawrence Foster.

After his success with his first classical piece, The Liverpool Oratorio, Paul was commissioned to create some music to celebrate EMI's centenary. He came up with the idea of exploring "the way a Celtic man might have wondered about the origins of life and the mystery of human existence" and tied this in the with standing stones which to him symbolised something mystical and long lasting.

Photos by Linda McCartney, included on the album.

Paul wrote a poem to assist in getting the story he was trying to convey straight in his head, and it was printed in the booklet of the album. However, Paul wanted the music to work without the listener necessarily knowing the story, for the music to speak for itself, and so wanted to create a piece that "relies entirely on colours and effects drawn from orchestral and choral forces".

He also created two paintings to go alongside it:

I really recommend watching the documentary, Paul is absolutely delightful throughout the whole thing. It's the first time he'd used a computer and software to help him compose and he seems so excited to talk about it (and he has a Wallace & Gromit mouse mat!).

What's also interesting is how the rest of the team spoke about him. They all make a point that this was Paul's creation, and although David Matthews, John Harle, and Richard Rodney Bennet were brought in to assist with the composition, they all talk about Paul's talent, hard work, and the freshness of approach he brought. (The words 'benevolent dictator' may get used at some point, but they also speak of his kindness and generosity.)

It amazes me that someone with no formal music training could make a leap for pop/rock to classical. Composing for an entire 80 piece orchestra and 120 member choir is a completely different skillset to writing a song for the radio (and I'm not saying that's a lesser thing to be able to do, just different). The fact Paul was not only willing to take on the challenge and push himself, but created something so magical speaks to the sheer creative force that he is.

[rherlotshadow]

The Long Stones, Avebury, under a huge summer sky

[myrcenart]

[illustratus]

[orphanheirs]

trick or treat!

Treat!! (Hope you all don't mind if I keep doing these! I got a bunch and I don't want to leave them unanswered! Plus it's still All Hallows technically soooo...)

Have a spooky Lambswool mood board!

I don't think I've posted a board of *general* Lambswool inspo/vibes images before; just moodboards based on some specific element in the story. So here's a handful of pics from my pinterest! These aren't necessarily connected to anything in particular, they just give me a certain feeling or stir up a half-formed idea. I'm very visual minded, so I like gathering images I'm drawn to, not only for establish vibes, but to help me form the story itself.