Dear Horizon is one of four pieces from the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s 2015 production Salute: Remembering World War I, commemorating the 100th anniversary of ANZAC soldiers joining the ill-fated Gallipoli Campaign. Written for brass band and solo cello, Farr’s score for Dear Horizon evokes the heartbreak, anguish and violence that comes with war. Initially mercurial and mysterious, the solo cello is then introduced, its lamenting voice hanging in front of the brass band. Occasional conversations take place between the cello and other brass instruments, while interlaced percussive material alludes to the battlefield. Farr expands Dear Horizon’s emotional range with flashes of boldness and passages of sombre reflection, though what comes through most clearly is a railing against war’s terrible waste of human potential.
