NZSO: New Zealand Composers - CD

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This double CD with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kenneth Young is a treasure trove of 'greats' from the New Zealand orchestral repertoire.

Beginning with Lilburn's jubilant Overture: Aotearoa the first disc then embraces the expressive anguish of Anthony Watson's Prelude and Allegro for Strings. Less dark, Anthony Ritchie's The Hanging Bulb also deals with themes of despair. Christopher Blake's Till Human Voices Wake Us was a NZSO commission for International Music Day in 1986, and incorporates notions of Peace. In Resurgences, Gillian Whitehead explores ideas of New Zealanders' relationship with the sea. The second disc contains McLeod's Little Symphony and Farquhar's ballet suite from Ring Round the Moon, and these early works from two of New Zealand's most progressive and sophistocated composers demonstrate neo-classical influences. Pruden's Harbour Nocturne and Carr's ballet music for The Snow Maiden are particularly colourful and attractive in their scoring.