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

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The only two that do not show evidence of overlapping are the two
extracts from Symphony No.2 movement IV (Ex.12d,12e). In these, the
arrival at the closing chord of the cadence is simultaneous. These two
extracts are variations of the same cadence. In example 12d, the unison
movement in bar 174 ascribes the outline of a subdominant chord. In
example !2e, the parallel third harmonisation of this equivalent movement
suggests a brief touching of the supertonic in the chord immediately
before the tonic is sounded. Interestingly, the movement in the bass is
from the sixth degree of the scale up to the tonic. This suggests a
process of chordal inversion, with a progression undertaken of IVb-(vi 7 -
iic)-I.
Another cadence that shows a sub-mediant to tonic movement in the
bass-line can be found in example 12g, bars 74-7 of Landfall in Unknown
Seas movement. I. This could be viewed as a vi7_I cadential progression,
if the inner harmonic movement of bar 76 is heard as a cadential
embellishment. If this harmonic movement is heard as further overlapping
of chordal change between the melody, bass-line and inner harmony, then
it could be viewed as some form of plagal cadence: either IVb-I or IVc-I,
depending on where one hears the penultimate chord as occurring.
In the other extract from Landfall in Unknown Seas (Ex.12h),
a similar degree of overlapping between chords occurs at the cadence.
The melody line cadences prematurely on the third crotchet be~t of bar 7.
Its melodic outline (with the parallel third harmonisation) suggests a
plagal cadence. However, the bass-line and inner harmony do not find the
tonic until the third crotchet beat of bar 8. The harmonic outline
immediately prior to this, coupled with the bass-line stepping down from
A to the G tonic, suggests a Vc-I cadential progression.
Example 12b from Aotearoa Overture and example 12f from Symphony
No.2 movement I both display a similarity of progression. This is
essentially a iib-vib-I movement, with the vib chord delaying the
sounding.of the tonic. Both the bass-line and melody-line strike notes
of the tonic chord at this point, but the inner harmony strikes the sixth
above the tonic. A few beats later this sixth is replaced by the fifth,
as the tonic chord is finally and fully stated~
In example 12a, from Aotearoa Overture, one can see Lilburn twice
anticipating the tonic chord on a weak beat before the cadence comes to
rest. The tonic is anticipated by a semiquver prior to the half-bar
pulse of bar 133, and at the end of this bar, Lilburn anticipates the
sounding of the tonic in root position by scoring the root to sound on
the eighth quaver.