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

pffering (1956), Quartet for Brass Instruments (1957), Three Poems of
the Sea (1958) and Three Songs for Baritone and Viola (1958), the latter
half of the 1950s saw Lilburn experimenting with ways to come to terms
with the serialist's approach to writing.
It must be stressed here, though, that Lilburn's music of this
time is by no means all serial (in terms of pitch or other parameter
orderings). Certainly, in many instances he made use of note rows, but
in the main, his interest in the music of the serialists was concentrated
on their general precepts of composition.
These include: minimum·
gesture for maximum effect, organic rather than pre-set forms, harmonic
expression outside the confines of functional tonality, and an
independent life for individual lines within the texture. As Lilburn
himself explained the effect the exposure to serialism had on his music:
", •• it limbered up my bass-line which had been a bit salutary, led to
textures of greater counterpoint and brought more meaning to my inner
harmonies". 11
It must also be stressed that, in taking stock of world-wide
trends in composition, Lilburn did not turn his back on his music of the
1940s and early 1950s.
160
Rather than learning a new musical language, he
expanded the vocabulary and revised the grammar of his old language.
That such an expansion and revision occurred almost overnight tends to
obscure the fact that the music of his first and second periods belongs
to the same line of stylistic progression. The one important aspect of
the first period writing Lilburn forsook in the second period of writing
was his expressed intention of writing music that spoke specifically of
New Zealand.
The need to speak with an international, rather than a
national, voice became, for a while, important.
In the early 1960s, experimentation gave way to consolidation,
with the writing of a piece generally regarded as the pinnacle of
Lilburn's instrumental writing. This work is Symphony No.3 (1961),
a composition that summarises not only his second period of writing but
also his first. As well as this, it stands at the gateway of his
interest in the electronic medium.
Only Sonatina No.2 (1962) and Nine Short Pieces for Piano (1965-
6), of works of substance for traditional media, were composed after
Symphony No.3.
In these, the lessons learnt from earlier experiments·
with serialist techniques are put to telling use as his expanded and
revised musical language is further consolidated. Nine Short Pieces for
II Douglas Lilburn ~n conversation with author March 1983.