A Beacon in the Cosmic Blizzard was originally conceived as a piece for a collaborative album titled Celestial Waters, in which five New Zealand-based composers came together to create a series of brand new original works inspired by unique surrealist visions of sea and space.
This short symphonic poem was chosen to open the album. It evokes visions of a gleaming lighthouse suspended somewhere in deep space, guiding spacefaring vessels through raging cosmic storms. The result of this fantastical imagery is a symphonic voyage which begins with an eerie and ethereal introduction, before shortly giving way to a whirlwind of fierce and thunderous orchestral colours.
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra/Hamish McKeich
2024 NZ Composer Sessions, recorded in Wellington's Michael Fowler Centre, 4 October, 2024 by RNZ Concert in partnership with the NZSO and SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music.
David Houston, producer & engineer
Marc Chesterman, assistant engineer
