Staged in grand, sombre and moving style, on the 80th anniversary of the surrender of Japan in World War II, Greater Love was as much an experience as it was a concert. A poignant and historically enlightening experience, it also provided moments of exquisite musical beauty and pathos.

Involving over 120 instrumentalists, choristers, instrumental and vocal soloists – and no less than five conductors – it was also a logistical triumph, moving quickly and easily between various themes of remembrance and different musical moods.

Greater Love – Second World War Memorial Concert. Photo © Dalice Trost

A well-constructed narration, delivered with perfectly shaded, restrained cadence by John Bell, connected diverse themes and stories of place (the deserts of North Africa to the jungles of PNG to decimated cities), ideas (propaganda, fascism, democracy and the universality of human rights) and humanity (the heroes of bomber command, to women prisoners of war, to indigenous Australian servicemen, to the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki) almost seamlessly.

A thoughtfully curated slideshow provided a backdrop of works by Australian war artists, historic photographs and the still-staggering statistics of lives lost, injuries sustained and resources...