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

abstract movement of six dancers on stage, but
shadows in the sounds give premonition of the
seventh dancer who arrives with a rude shadow of
self-assertiveness. He is partly welcomed and
partly rejected, through a series of episodes,
and midway through the piece is left full of
maudlin self-pity, and gains sympathy. He rejects
this and again becomes aggressive, and the group
then mocks him and finally beats him up. He
revives from this and has an erotic pas-de-deux
with one of the girls, but she returns to the
group which retreats into unconcern, leaving him
disconsolate".27
145
On 2 November 1975, Lilburn turned sixty years of age. To mark
28
the occasion, the Composers Association of New Zealand, recently formed
through the instigating efforts of David Farquhar, organised a sixtieth
birthday concert for Lilburn. This concert featured works by other New
Zealand composers (some especially written for the occasion), along with
two works by Lilburn.
The programme comprised, in order of presentation,
Openers by William Southgate, Music Dari Jalan by Jack Body, Canticle 1975
by Ross Harris, Guitar Pieces by Lilburn, Where Sea Meets Sky by John
Rimmer, Essay to the Memory of Dmitri Shostakovitch by Robert Burch, ~
by John Cousins, Five Scenes for Guitar by David Farquhar, Flame Tree by
Noel Sanders, and Wind Quintet by Lilburn. 29 During the interval of this
concert (after the work by Rimmer), a tape of a prerecorded interview
30
with Lilburn by Jack Body, made earlier that year, was played.
In 1978 the Composers
Association further honoured Lilburn,
presenting him with a Citation for Services to New Zealand music.
Lilburn's composition output from 1975 to 1980 was solely
electronic, and included Lines and Distances (1975),. Carousel (1976)
Winterset (1976), Triptych (1977), Of Time and Nostalgia (1977) and
Soundscape with Lake and River (1979).
have all been commercially released on the Kiwi label.
The five last-mentioned of these
On 31 January 1980, Lilburn officially retired from his position
27 ibid.
28 The Composers Association of New Zealand had been established during
the weekend of 9-10 March 1974 wheri twenty composers from allover
New Zealand had gathered in Wellirigton for the occasion of the first
Sonic Circus. It was David Farquhar who had iriitiated the es'tablishment
of this professional organisation for composers, following his
visit to Australia in 1973 and attendance of a meeting of the
Australian Fellowship of Composers. For further details see
Appendix A5.
29 Douglas Lilburn's 60th birthday concert. CANZ Newsletter February
1976:4.
30 Jack Body interviewing Douglas Lilburn October 1975. Copyat
Alexander Turnbull Library.