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

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the Symphony No.1 extract is introduced by a repeated C to G pattern in
the timpani that helps only to make the mood more serious.
The problems of separating the temperament from the characteristics,
of these two themes have been dwelt upon here to serve as a cautionary
note about the pitfalls in rigidly categorising Lilburn's themes.
Earlier in this discussion it was also shown how one of his playful
themes from the second movement of Symphony No.2 displayed all the
surface characteristics of a lyric-pastoral thematic type (Ex. 11), and it
was only when this theme was placed in context that it revealed its true
temperament.
This cautionary note serves as a good introduction to the
remaining major category of Lilburn's themes. This is a category where
construction techniques are similar, but not even a loose agreement of
mood necessarily follows from this similarity.
Prominence of .;t single note themes
This category is a wide ranging one, containing themes as diverse
as the Suite for Orchestra themes (see Ex.30 and 31), the like-minded
themes from Allegro (see Ex.32) and Aotearoa Overture (see Ex.33) and
the matching themes from Landfall in Unknown Seas (see Ex.34) and
Diversions (see Ex.3S).
Both examples from the Suite for Orchestra seem to draw inspiration
from Maori chant. They cling resolutely to one dominating chant note,
particularly the viola theme from movement II (ex.30) which is comprised
almost entirely of a rhythmically varied single C-sharp. The violin
theme from movement I (Ex.31) employs only three notes: a central Band
its neighbouring notes a tone away.
Ex.30: Suite for Orchestra movement II, viola bars 10-18.
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1