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In Music Alive tonight we are inviting you, our audience to commemorate the spirit of ANZAC with your national orchestra and enjoy three inspiring works by composers from Australia, New Zealand and England

On Anzac Eve

On Anzac Eve Photo: Supplied

NZSO pays tribute to our ANZAC heroes

We begin with a salute across the Tasman to our closest allies. Sydney-born composer Ross Edwards’ Symphony No.1, Da Pacem Domine was conceived and partly composed during the Gulf Crisis. The Symphony evolves slowly and organically over a deep insistent rhythmic pulse.

We return to Aotearoa for Till Human Voices Wake Us, composed by New Zealand’s Christopher Blake. Originally commissioned by the NZSO and Radio New Zealand, for broadcast on International Music Day in 1986, its composition was also inspired by the International Year for Peace. Blake’s interest in historical and political issues reveals itself in both the title and text of this impressive work. Named after a novel by the pacifist Ian Hamilton, which was originally inspired by T.S. Eliot’s final line in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Blake’s libretto was gathered from anti-war activist Archibald Baxter’s autobiography We Will Not Cease.

This concert was recorded by Radio New Zealand