JOHN ANTILL (1904-1986): Corroboree, An Outback Overture.

Description: The Australian Rite of Spring dates from 1946 and is a 41-minute, eight-segment work which was based on certain aboriginal musical material. How much and what kind, we are left in ignorance of by the notes (where the statement that Antill notated much of this material at a Corroboree ceremony he attended in 1913 is either a misprint or proof of a very precocious nine-year-old). Antill claimed that, at the time of writing it, he'd never heard the Stravinsky. If so, he never heard any of the more obscure examples of machine-music, echoes of which are also present along with The Rite. This has long been a collector's item on LP and, if there has been a CD recording of it, it's not available now and can't have been easily gotten in this country. New Zealand Symphony Orchestra; James Judd.