Between two worlds: suite from the ballet 1914 (2014)

Between Two Worlds also uses a previous composition, the ballet 1914, the full recording of which is also available on ABC Classics. It is not a simple suite of movements from the ballet, as only one of the six movements shares its name and musical content with the original work. The selected material has undergone some reworking, for example, the fourth movement Sunset, based on the ballet scene Comrades in Arms, begins with the theme played on clarinet instead of the more martial trumpet, giving it a much more gentle feel. The ballet tells the story of a young man in country Australia joining the army, sailing for France and dying in the trenches. This suite uses none of the aggressive music from the battle scenes, and concentrates on the wistful and pastoral. As such, it stands alone as a beautiful and more contiguous work than the necessarily “bitty” ballet score.