Score
3 laments : for solo piano / John Polglase.
Library shelf no. 786.2/POL 10 [Available for loan]
Work Overview
During 2002 Australia was an eager partner in a war of aggression engineered by the United States of America and Great Britain against a people brutalised by decades of vicious dictatorship.
With justifications based on falsehoods and exaggeration we as a nation proudly tugged our forelocks and did as we were bid by our masters, again. Weapons of Mass Destruction were never found but plenty of oil was. An army of occupation stood by as world cultural treasures were callously sacked while two city blocks away (and within site of the museum of antiquity) US tanks and soldiers with orders to shoot to kill guarded the Oil Ministry.
The result is a nation ruined, with essential infrastructure deliberately targeted by both the invaders and later by insurgents, a people ruled in turns by a foreign army (of which we remain a part) which tortures with impunity and armed thugs, violent religious extremists and a puppet government of dubious credentials.
On the first day of the second Gulf war I sat down and wrote the first of these three laments, dedicated to all who suffer in war. In the days which followed I added others to make the set.
And our reaction as a nation? To re-elect with an increased majority the political party who so willingly involved us, with most voters believing we were brazenly lied to by the incumbents but steadfastly voting for them anyway. Within only a couple of years Australians have gone from a people who could travel the world with impunity, greeted with affection wherever we went to fear, suspicion and mistrust through most places outside of Europe and America. Quite an achievement really.
Work Details
Year: 2004
Instrumentation: Piano.
Duration: 11 min.
Difficulty: Medium
First performance: by Leigh Harrold —
Subjects
- Has as subject/About: Anti-War
Performances of this work
Unknown date: featuring Leigh Harrold.
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