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Picnic at Hanging Rock: Ascent Music played by Roger Woodward
Title:
Picnic at Hanging Rock: Ascent Music played by Roger Woodward
NFSA ID
291506
Year
1996
This version of the 'Ascent Music’ was recorded by Roger Woodward in 1996 and originally composed by Bruce Smeaton for Picnic at Hanging Rock.
The contours of the ascending melodic minor motif (embellished by arpeggiated figures) is mirrored through each successive harmony, providing the music with direction and unity.
According to Smeaton, the music was composed to help bridge the gap between the film’s use of the Romanian panpipes and its European classical music – such as Bach and Mozart.
The ascending music also correlates with the film’s imagery and themes – namely, the girls' ascension of the rock, some of them never to return.
Composer
Bruce Smeaton
Performer
Roger Woodward
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.