DAVID GILMOUR talks to Neil McCormick from Telegraph.co.uk about PINK FLOYD, his new album Live In Gdansk and bandmate/keyboard player Richard Wright, who passed away on Monday, aged 65, bringing the long saga of Pink Floyd to a sad and conclusive end. Yet music, as ever, remains a potent force of life, even in the face of death.

Next week, by complete coincidence, the last ever live appearance by this most elegant and inventive of musicians is to be released on CD and DVD, on which Wright can be found singing and playing with real joy and creative exuberance on such Floyd classics as 'Breathe', 'Time', 'Astronomy Domine' and 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond'.

The album is Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour's Live In Gdansk, recorded in Poland on 26th August 2006 for the final date of Gilmour's 'On An Island' tour. After a long spell in the musical wilderness following a dramatic loss of confidence (perhaps brought on by the conflict with bassist Roger Waters during the making of 'The Wall' that led to Wright's sacking from Pink Floyd), Wright seemed to have recovered his old self again as a collaborator and guest on Gilmour's acclaimed solo project. "It's probably the most fun, most professional and easiest tour I've ever done in my life," Wright commented in 2006.

"Rick wanted to come and play on the record, to be part of what I was doing," Gilmour explained to me last week, speaking with no hint of what was to come. Although it was known Wright had been ill, his outlook had been optimistic and his friends generally hopeful of a positive outcome in his battle with cancer.

"He was very happy to be a sideman and that was a fantastically good decision for him and for me, we both benefited enormously, and he grew back into himself. His confidence had taken some poundings over the years but he was an absolutely vital, essential part of what Pink Floyd was. Whether through familiarity or serendipity we have a musical telepathy and vocal blend that is a little bit magical, I think. It was an absolute joy to have him along."

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