Picture Night Music

Invercargill

This was played at the very first march in London to commemorate Anzac veterans in 1916. Newspapers of the time called the veterans the “Knights of Gallipoli”. It was written in 1901 by Alex Lithgow, a Scottish / New Zealand / Tasmanian composer. Download Recording

National Guard

This march is also by Alex Lithgow. We don’t know too much about this march, but it has a nice tune! Download Recording

Australia Will be There

This song was very popular during WW1. It was one of the tunes regularly played on the quay as troop ships set sail for Europe. There are odd snatches of popular tunes of the time all through the song. We have reconstructed the band parts from recordings of the time and an old piano score. Download Recording

Hymn Medley

These three hymns were popular at the time – for the Navy “Eternal Father, Strong to Save”, for the Army, “Nearer my God to thee”, and for everyone “Abide With Me”. They are often played at ANZAC ceremonies. Download Recording

I vow to thee my Country

In 1921, Gustav Holst adapted his beautiful theme from the “Planets” Suite (Jupiter) to create a setting for the poem “I vow” by Cecil Spring Rice. This has been sung at Armistice ceremonies since 1921. We are playing a new arrangement by David Keeffe. Download Recording

Please note: apart from I vow to thee my Country, these recordings of Oakleigh City Band were made during normal band practice nights. Although made on modern equipment, they mirror the simple acoustic recordings that were current in 1915. Film makers – because this music will be performed live, you should take the tempos as indicative, and you should not expect to be able to synchronise to exact frames or cuts.