In 1975 British progressive rock band camel released the instrumental, orchestrated concept album The Snow Goose, inspired by the Paul Gallico short story. The album's success led to a sell out concert at the Royal Albert Hall featuring the London Symphony Orchestra. Last year Camel came out of retirement with a concert at the Barbican Centre and subsequent European tour, performing The Snow Goose in its entirety for the first time since 1975.
Gallico's The Snow Goose is a parable on the power of friendship and love, set against the horror of war. It documents the growth of a friendship between Philip Rhayader, an artist living a solitary life in an abandoned lighthouse in the Essex marshlands, and a young local girl, Fritha. A wounded snow goose is found by Fritha and, as the friendship with Rhayader blossoms, the bird is nursed back to flight. It revisits the lighthouse for several years on migration. Fritha grows up, and Rhayader and his small sailboat are lost in the Dunkirk evacuations. The snow goose, which was with Rhayader, returns briefly to Fritha. A German pilot destroys Rhayader's lighthouse and all of his work, except for one portrait Fritha saves after his death: a painting of her as the artist first saw her—a child, with the wounded snow goose in her arms.
Camel’s Music Inspired by the Snow Goose – to give it its full title – opens with recordings of marshland birds, in a section entitled The Great Marsh. For the next forty minutes or so, the mood switches back and forth, tracing the emotional trajectory of the story.
Gallico's The Snow Goose is a parable on the power of friendship and love, set against the horror of war. It documents the growth of a friendship between Philip Rhayader, an artist living a solitary life in an abandoned lighthouse in the Essex marshlands, and a young local girl, Fritha. A wounded snow goose is found by Fritha and, as the friendship with Rhayader blossoms, the bird is nursed back to flight. It revisits the lighthouse for several years on migration. Fritha grows up, and Rhayader and his small sailboat are lost in the Dunkirk evacuations. The snow goose, which was with Rhayader, returns briefly to Fritha. A German pilot destroys Rhayader's lighthouse and all of his work, except for one portrait Fritha saves after his death: a painting of her as the artist first saw her—a child, with the wounded snow goose in her arms.
Camel’s Music Inspired by the Snow Goose – to give it its full title – opens with recordings of marshland birds, in a section entitled The Great Marsh. For the next forty minutes or so, the mood switches back and forth, tracing the emotional trajectory of the story.
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