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The fireworks soundtrack producer was Jamie Greene.
9pm Family Fireworks
This 10-minute display was originally postponed to Australia Day (26th January 2003) due to high winds on New Year’s Eve 2002 but eventually was cancelled altogether on the 25th January 2003 due to a total fire ban & out of respect for firefighters. This display would have used 2 barges along Sydney Harbour (similar to the other 9pm Family Fireworks between 1999 & 2004). The fireworks soundtrack though was as follows with the duration of each track below in the fireworks soundtrack listing:
- Wax On – Kodo (00:38)
- Just The Way You Are – Milky (00:33)
- Ya No Hace Falta – Bamboleo (00:37)
- Sacré Français! – Dimitri From Paris (00:19)
- Oye Como Va (Santana cover) – Tito Puente (00:26)
- Love At First Sight – Kylie Minogue (01:19)
- Love Of Strings – Moby (00:58)
- A Little Less Conversation – Elvis Presley VS. JXL (00:33)
- Played-A-Live – Safri Duo (01:19)
- Tribute – Tenacious D (00:45)
- Give Me The Night – George Benson (00:16)
Midnight Fireworks
Fireworks soundtrack, quotes & a summary of the Midnight Fireworks’ narrative is below written in chronological order:
- The Bolt: Overture (Introduction) – Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (00:02 to 00:55)
Cry “Havoc” and let slip the dogs of war.
Spoken by the character, Antony, from ‘The Tragedy Of Julius Caesar’ by William Shakespeare (00:49 to 00:53)
- The Flying Dutchman – Wilhelm Richard Wagner (00:56 to 01:58)
- Speed – Matthew Hindson (01:58 to 03:19)
Red lights light up Fort Denison signalling that an alarm has been raised for approaching danger. (02:28 to 02:41)
Still raging, Hector with his ample hand, Grasps the high stern, And gives this loud command!: “Haste, bring the flames!”
Still raging,
Hector with his ample hand,
Grasps the high stern,
And gives this loud cammond!:“Haste, bring the flames!”
‘The Iliad’ – Homer (03:19 to 03:29)
A battle breaks out between a ‘tall ship’ & Fort Denison. The sequence was designed to depict conflict. The ‘tall ship’ is called the Temeraire. (03:29 to 04:47)
The Temeraire was inspired by a painting by English artist Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Fighting Temeraire, tugged to her Last Berth to be broken up, 1838. The real 98-gun ship , Temeraire, played a distinguished role in the Battle Of Trafalgar in 1805 after which she was known as The Fighting Temeraire. (03:29 to 04:47)
The Temeraire sails from Fort Denison to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. (04:25 to 06:40)
Fire answers fire & through the paly flames each battle sees the other’s umbered face
Spoken by the character, Chorus, from ‘Henry V‘ by William Shakespeare (04:32 to 04:41)
- The Year 1812 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (04:48 to 06:27)
The Temeraire collapses in flames. (04:44 to 06:40)
- ? (The Ring Of The Nibelung – Twilight Of The Gods?) – Wilhelm Richard Wagner (06:38 to 06:56)
Do you know the name of the Wilhelm Richard Wagner track that was played at this point (06:28 to 06:56)? If you do, please contact us.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge’s roadway & arches light up with white/silver stationary strobing flares. These pyrotechnic effects also appear on the water surrounding all 4 barges plus near the ‘remains’ of the Temeraire. These pyrotechnic effects either represent the causalities from the ‘battle’. (06:56 to 08:12)
The convoys of dead sailors come;
At night they sway and wander in the waters far under,
But morning rolls them in the foam.Dead seamen, gone in search of the same landfall,
‘Beach Burial’ – Kenneth Slessor (06:56 to 07:20)
Whether as enemies they fought,
Or fought with us, or neither; the sand joins them together,
Enlisted on the other front.
- The Ring Of The Nibelung: Twilight Of The Gods – Wilhelm Richard Wagner (06:58 to 07:49)
The Midnight Fireworks finale reflects themes of resolution (07:50 to 14:52)
- The Planets – Mercury: The Winged Messenger – Gustav Theodore Holst (07:50 to 09:14)
Turn now to images of tranquil skies, fresh meadows, cool brooks – and existence of soft and eternal peace.
‘The Red Badge Of Courage‘ – Stephen Crane (08:02 to 08:12)
- The Damnation Of Faust: Ballet Of The Sylphs – Hector Berlioz (09:14 to 10:11)
- The Ring Of The Nibelung: Twilight Of The Gods – Wilhelm Richard Wagner (10:12 to 11:59)
And I made a rural pen,
Songs of Innocence – William Blake (11:53 to 12:03)
And I stain’d the water clear,
And I wrote my happy songs
Every child may joy to hear
- Symphony No. 9 In D Minor – Ludwig van Beethoven (12:00 to 14:22)
The ‘Dove Of Peace’ (which is holding an olive branch in it’s mouth) re-appears on the Sydney Harbour Bridge – it last appeared in the Midnight Fireworks of Sydney NYE2001: Of Beauty Rich & Rare, Australia – The Land as a message of hope after the September 11 attacks. If you look carefully to the right of the screen, you can see the pyrotechnics coming off the north-eastern pylon! This was the last full use of the Sydney Harbour Bridge pylons for pyrotechnics -they were also used in 2006 but for golden stationary strobing flares only & in 2013’s International Fleet Review Spectacular but for flame projectors only. (13:56 to 14:22)
- Psalm 51 (Gregorio Allegri Setting) – From The Book Of Psalms, Writings, Hebrew Bible (14:22 to 14:52)
The ‘Dove Of Peace’ disappears from the Sydney Harbour Bridge to reveal the word ‘PEACE’, also on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, accompanied by 10 evenly-spaced searchlights (Space Canons) along the upper arch (14:22 onwards).
Quote Reading Performance Credits:
Male Voice Over – Tim Elliot
Female Voice Over – Kerry Walker
Child Voice Over – Pearl Herbert
Sydney Spectaculars 