The beginnings and development of a New Zealand music: The life ...

String Orchestra at the Wellington Town Hall Concert Chamber on
2 August 1959. The two reviewers for the Wellington daily newspapers
b oth agree d that L~
'lb' urn s mus~c
, was evocat~ve,
, 70 b ut t h at t h e m~x~ng
.. 0 f
poetry and music did not work satisfactorily. Owen Jensen, writing for
The Evening Post offered reasons for this:
"The rhythms of the poetry as read by Maria
Dronke, rarely matched_the rhythm of the
music and sometimes seemed to be almost in
opposition to it. Each tended to get in the
way of the other. At the climaxes, too, the
intensity of music and poetry both claimed
the attention, sometimes to the disadvantage
of each.
What we heard was fine poetry beautifully read,
and original and lovely music sensitively
played. But the two, unhappily, did not seem
to come across as a unity."71
116
In 1958, Lilburn also set poems by three New Zealand poets (Ursula
Bethell, R.A.K. Mason and James K. Baxter) in a collection entitled
Three Songs for Baritone and Viola.
These songs were written for the
baritone Donald Munro, and his wife, the violist, Jean McCartney.
In 1958 Lilburn received another 'shock' from hearing about
compositional activities overseas when Frederick Page returned from a
further sabbatical leave.
Page had included a visit to Darmstadt in his
itinerary where he had heard works by Boulez, Stockhausen, John Cage and
Luigi Nono.
As Lilburn .later noted:
,
If ••• Bartok, Schoenberg and Webern are relegated
to history, music began in 1950. My own house
of cards is in danger of collapsing again."72
On top o·f this, there appeared " ••• a zombie on the horizon": 73 a whole
new medium, electronic music, was being developed overseas.
"This situation had become alarming, began to
make me feel that unless I somehow kept up with
all the new developments I might be condemned
to a musical inconsequence or sterility. Of
course, in human or musical terms this would be
70 The Dominion (E.L., Alex Lindsay Strings in fine fettle, 3 August
1959) noted that the music was "most evocative". The Evening Post
(Owen Jensen, New Lilburn music by Lindsay Group, 3 August 1959) noted
that the music was "splendidly evocative".
71 Owen Jensen, New Lilburn music by Lindsay._group. The Evening Post
3 August 1959.
72 Douglas Lilburn, Christchurch Society for Contemporary Music address
p. 16.
73 ibid.