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

Naturally enough, with such a large output for this period -
in excess of seventy separately titled works -
156
some compositions have
met with greater success than others. Often this success is unrelated
to the initial impact a composition may have made;
often it is unrelated
to a work's relative merit. With the benefit of hindsight, it is
possible to draw, from this corpus of works that comprise Lilburn's first
period of composition, a representative sample that reflects both the
instrinsic quality of his writing and the properties in his music that
have attracted audiences to his work over the intervening years.
Of the early orchestral compositions -
Forest, Drysdale Overture,
Prodigal Country (this is more a choral work, but is included here as it
makes use of an accompanying orchestra), Festival Overture and Aotearoa
Overture -
only the latter two have had a life beyond their initial
performances in the late-1930s. Curiously, these two works made the
least impact on music in New Zealand at the time of their completion.
Forest, Drysdale Overture and Prodigal Country were all works that won
first prizes in competition, and as such were given much pUblicity at
that time.
Festival Overture was, in fact, rated second to Drysdale
Overture in the orchestral class of the Centennial Celebrations Music
Competitions. Aotearoa Overture, although written 1n 1940 and performed
6
with relative frequency overseas, was not publically performed in New
Zealand until 30 March 1960.
noted, the overture:
As one reviewer of this New Zealand premiere
II ••• somehow was lost sight of in New Zealand,
so much so that for this first public
performance the parts had to be hired from
London ••• 117
Thus, for Festival Overture and Aotearoa Overture it was a case of
eventual success despite their initial impact in New Zealand.
That both
works have survived the test of time, whilst the earlier three works
have suffered from neglect, has been solely due to the fact that the
National Orchestra of New Zealand eventually-accepted them into its
performing repertoire. Festival Overture, of all of Lilburn's works,
was the first to be assured of a certain longevity of exposure by virtue
of its being the first to be reieased on a commercial recording -
1959. As it transpired, Aotearoa Overture was the second of Lilburn's
orchestral works to be released on a commercial recording - in 1968,
in
6 Mainly through the promotional work of Max Hinrichsen (Douglas Lilburn
in correspondence with author 29 July 1983).
7 Russell Bond, The Dominion 31 March 1960.