A DARTMOOR composer has released a symphony deeply influenced by his life on the moors.

Nigel Shaw, from Postbridge, has released his Dartmoor Symphony on a double album CD with an accompanying DVD. The work was recorded at Postbridge and Chagford and performed and produced by Nigel, with the string sections performed by members of the Ten Tors Orchestra, conducted by Simon Ible.

Nigel also recently collaborated closely on the successful film 'Wild River, Cold Stone' about Dartmoor which was released on July.

Echoing some of the musical themes and melodies from both of his previous works, Dartmoor Journey and Dartmoor Roundhouse, in the Dartmoor Symphony, Nigel has developed the music into a symphonic composition that describes the landscape and our human relationship within it.

He said a sense of journeying, yearning, returning, and belonging were central to the feeling of the work as it travels through the five movements of Overture, Stone, Wood, Water and Sky.

Nigel handcrafted a unique set of Dartmoor yew wood flutes especially for this project and these instruments are constantly woven through the music.

Each of the movements also includes instruments made from the raw materials and elements of the land such as granite grinding rocks, wooden bells, water-filled bowls and air chimes.

Also featured are traditional whistles, small pipes, fujara, overtone flutes, piano, harp, celeste, bell, bowls and other percussion instruments.

Vocal parts are sung by Carolyn Hillyer.

The accompanying DVD is a film by Dartmoor photographer and film maker Chris Chapman.

Created and produced with Nigel, the film is a journey through all the seasons in the Dartmoor landscape and was created to flow alongside the symphony.

The Dartmoor Symphony will be presented in its entirety at a world premiere performance by Ten Tors Orchestra in the spring of 2010.