Overture: The Antipodes, completed in 1950, was one of a folio of works, including the Soliloquy for Strings and Children's Suite that gained Pruden a government bursary to study composition at the Guildhall in London. It was trialled at the 1951 Cambridge Summer School before being given a public performance by the Auckland Little Symphony Orchestra under Owen Jensen at the Town Hall Concert Chamber on 12 March 1951.

The lyric freshness of Pruden's style is evident throughout and the overture flows without complication. Its ebullient opening anticipates Taranaki Overture and the throb of the timpani creates the galvanizing tension that stirs us in Harbour Nocturne.