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£225.99Los Libros Olvidados - Johan de Meij
1. Barcelona 19452. Los Libros Olvidados - El Cementerio3. Las Ramblas - Els Quatre Gats4. Coubert - El Hombre sin Rostro5. Bea (Beatriz)6. El Inspector Fumero7. La Ciudad de las SombrasThis is a story wrapped within a story that unfolds in Barcelona 1945, following World War II. The protagonist, Daniel Sempere, is the teenage son of an antiquarian book dealer, who one day takes him to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a mysterious place with labyrinthine corridors where rare and banned books are stacked in massive dusty piles. His father tells Daniel to select a book, but it will be his responsibility to protect it. Daniel picks La Sombra del Viento (The Shadow of the Wind), a novel by a forgotten author Julin Carax. Daniel immediately starts reading the book, and the story unwinds itself into a compelling and complicated plot. As he reads, Daniel finds himself and his own life merging into the story's plot. It transpires that there is a mysterious man named Lan Coubert ('the man without a face') who is determined to destroy all copies of Carax's books. Daniel is threatened by Coubert and is determined to find out what happened to Carax, who fled to Paris and subsequently disappeared. Daniel finds that his own life has much in common with the author's. The book mixes magic realism, page-turning mystery, and Daniel's own real life. Daniel's once ordinary teenage existence is now filled with larger-than-life colorful and at times, terrifying characters. Among them are Fermn Romero de Torres, a beggar who Daniel and his father befriend and employ in the family bookstore; the evil police inspector Javier Fumero, who could be compared to Scarpia in Puccini's opera Tosca or Javert in Les Misrables. The corrupt Fumero uses the war as an excuse to practice his sadism and is widely feared in Barcelona. He is represented in the music by a fascist military march. The city of Barcelona becomes a character in the book and in the music. The Ramblas, the boulevard running through Barcelona's Gothic Quarter and the famous caf Els Quatre Gats (the four cats) come alive in the score through a Cobla, the traditional wind ensemble playing a sardana, typical Catalan folk music. Two parallel love stories turn up the heat: Julin Carax's passionate, forbidden love for Penlope, and Daniel's equally passionate and forbidden love for Beatriz (Bea). Bea's sultry love theme is based on the first three letters of her name, with the ascending intervals B-E-A. Johan de Meij New York, October 17th, 2023
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£392.50Seid - Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen
Seid (pronounced sayed was a divination ceremony practised by the Vikings which could be used to reveal knowledge of the future. During the ceremony, woman sang incantations and the Seeress (Vlva) passed into a kind of trance. In other arctic cultures similar ceremonies took place during which the Medicine man (Sage), or Shaman, would beat a drum covered with magic runes, and he too would pass into a trance, reaching the deepest part of his own sub-consciousness - a journey beyond time and space... "Seid" was commissioned by The Norwegian Band Federation and European Brass Band Assosiation for the European Brass Band Championship in 1996. The version for Concert Bandwas commissioned by Frode Amundsen and Borge Musikkorps in 2018. Supported by NOPA (Norwegian Society of Composers and Lyricists)
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£68.99Requiem Aeternam - Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini was commissioned to write a second opera after the resounding success of his first, Le Villi. However, the original four-act, grand opera Edgar, to a libretto by Ferdinando Fontana, received a rather lukewarm reception at its premire in La Scala in Milan in 1889 - initially, the work was only performed three times. Of all the planned performances in the subsequent two years, only one took place, in Lucca, Puccini's birthplace. There, the work was well received. Nevertheless, the composer decided to make drastic changes to Edgar the most radical being the reduction of the opera to three acts, as well as altering a few arias, charactersand instrumental parts. In its revised form, the work was even less popular than before. The discarded fourth act later provided material for Tosca (the duet Amoro sol' per te), but Puccini never felt the need to defend Edgar - as he did other less fortunate operas, such as La Rondine and Suor Angelica. On a piano excerpt for his female friend Sybil Seligman he even corrupted the title to 'E Dio ti GuARda da quest' opera' (may God preserve you from this opera). This did not prevent Arturo Toscanini performing the Requiem from the third act at Puccini's funeral in Milan Cathedral on 3 December 1924. The Requiem in the third act is being played when the long funeral procession carries the alleged body of Edgar - the confusedyoung man hesitating between the love of the virtuous Fidelia and the exotic Tigrana. The mass hails Edgar as a hero, but a monk claims that he has betrayed his country for a few gold pieces. When the soldiers try to desecrate the body, they discover that the armor contains none. The monk reveals himself as Edgar. He wants to leave with his faithful Fidelia, but the vengeful Tigrana stabs him and kills Fidelia. Edgar grieves over the lifeless body of his beloved, while Tigrana is arrested and the people submerge into prayer.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£98.20Golden suite - Lorenzo Pusceddu
In the Non Valley, during spring when the water of Lake Santa Giustina starts lowering, the old main traffic system and the steep terrain with the Groppello vineyards resurface. The majestic and uncompromising Mount Ozolo dominates this landscape and acts like a guard of the fertile valley. The people who had to walk along the Regiai road to leave their village in search of fortune keep those memories very alive. Their trip started by descending the valley along the Regiai road, walking through the luxuriant vineyards that were supported by dry stone walls, downright mosaics of stones built to help the growth of the vineyard. Those who left and casted a glance at their village for one last time could catch sight of the Ozolo, the mountain of the primordial man, of hunting and friendship. They also had to cross a bold stone bridge that still exists and is jealously safeguarded by the lake water, which has also sunken together with the bridge hectares of vineyards of Groppello, the vine of the traditional and vigorous wine produced in the Non Valley. Its name is said to come from the typical structure of the grapes, which are compact and resemble a thick tangle ("groppo" in local dialect), almost a defense against the shifting temperatures of the fall that gives the grapes a bright color and a honey-like sweetness. The production at the end of the nineteenth century was of circa fifty thousand hectoliters of wine, but today it has reduced to only five hundred hectoliters produced by about thirty courageous farmers who want to preserve an authentic patrimony of taste and flavor. These wine makers have the will to safeguard a vineyard that is at risk of extinction and work the land as they used to do many years ago: with hoe, shovel, and a lot of sweat! The Groppello vineyard extended to the bottom of Mount Ozolo, but on the higher slopes the more rigid temperatures allowed only for the growth of pines, spruces, larches, broad-leaved trees, and pastures. In the course of the years, this typical vegetation of the mountain has provided the population with the raw material to build houses, to keep warm during the winter, and to feed the animals. Mount Ozolo has also been since ancient times the "sacred" mountain of the valley, and today it has become a game preserve and a site of socialization for young people who know how to love and respect nature.
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£52.95
Tin Man Does The Iron City - Rick Hirsch
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£124.20The Man I Love - George Gershwin
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£151.80The Man With The Golden Gun - John Barry
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£115.00The Man in the Ireon Mask - Nick Glennie-Smith
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£124.20The Man Who Knew Too Much - Bernard Herrmann
Estimated dispatch 7-14 working days
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£116.40
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