Description
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
FOR THE FIRST TIME, STREAMING AND DIGITAL DOWNLOADS OF THIS ALBUM, COMPLETE WITH ARTWORK AND LYRICS, ARE NOW AVAILABLE FROM BANDCAMP. GO TO MY BANDCAMP PAGE HERE.
CD of Judge’s second Songstory; the absorbing tale of an English mountaineer in the Italian Alps, featuring Norwegian male-voice choir The Fløyen Voices and truly memorable music.
The Climber is Judge’s second Songstory and is vocal music, sung by Judge and a male-voice choir, accompanied only by a Double Bass.
They Say:
…”This might just be another masterpiece”…”Great work, I’m really impressed”….
…”It is a real departure; wonderful story and lyrics as always, and brilliant tunes and diversions, and fascinating harmonies”…
…”This is one of the most extraordinary things I have heard in years”…”Really well done”…
…”Typically whimsical with a strangely dark and obsessive underbelly”…”The piece is fascinating”…
…”The choir, doubling as voice of reason and implacable force of nature, is brilliantly handled, and as exciting as a good book”…
…”Judge Smith tells us a tale about what it is like to be human”…”This is a real treat”…
…”A very fine work”…”Hugely memorable”…”A real thing of beauty”…”I just love it more and more!”
…”If you miss this one, you’re missing out on something very important”…”It is a diamond”…
…”Sounds fantastic”…”Little short of a triumph and one I will return to time after time”…
Samples
01. Chapter 1
02. Chapter 2
03. Chapter 3
04. Chapter 4
05. Chapter 5
The Story
A British mountaineer tells of his first visit to an unnamed resort in the Italian Alps, for a climbing holiday, sometime in the mid-Twentieth Century. He is a repressed and lonely man whose passion is reserved for the solitude of the high alpine snowfields, and his romantic and emotional view of a mountain as something to be wooed and conquered, is contrasted with the pragmatic and matter-of-fact attitudes of the local community, represented by the Choir, for whom the mountains are simply beautiful but potentially dangerous places of work.
His priggishness and essential coldness are contrasted with the warmth and friendliness of the locals, and contrasts of warmth and coldness, both physical and emotional, form a continuing theme of the piece.
The Climber is not easy to describe. It’s neither ‘Classical Music’ nor ‘Easy-listening Choral Music’. Despite the absence of guitars and drums, Judge himself sees it as being another aspect of his kind of rock’n’roll, with its emphasis on big tunes and insistent rhythms. Like most of Judge’s music, it’s in a category of its own.
The Climber CD comes in a high-quality ‘Super Jewel Case’ with a twenty-page illustrated booklet which includes the full text, and, as a ‘Bonus Track’, the CD concludes with a six-minute audio ‘trailer’ for Judge’s next album, his third Songstory, ‘Orpheus’.
The Climber, Judge’s second Songstory, is released a decade after his first, the epic double CD ‘Curly’s Airships’. Both Songstories are on Judge’s own Masters Of Art label.
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The recording of The Climber in Norway
Read the illustrated blog of Judge’s visit to Norway in May 2009 to perform and record The Climber in Bergen.
Reviews
Read reviews of The Climber.
