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

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The second movement of this symphony also contains a good
example of sequential repetition of a motif. Here the tension is
winding down at the completion of the first episode:
Ex.34: Symphony No.2 movement II, violin I bars 66-73.
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Several twists and turns to the rhythmic pulse are apparent in this
extract. In the phrase leading up to the beginning of the repetition,
3+3+2
the pulse of the melody is grouped as a 8 pattern. At bar 68,
this reverts to a strict grouping in a 2+282+2 pattern. From bar 69,
the coinciding of the ~6o~zando
marking with the semiquavers throws the
natural accenting onto the fourth and eighth quaver beat of each bar.
Much the same effect can be felt in Song of the Antipodes, where
a descending sequence has the accent thrust on the fourth beat of the
bar. Despite the downward motion of the sequence, the repetition of the
four-note motif is used to heighten tension •.
Ex.35: Song of the Antipodes, violin I bars 366-72.
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In Symphony No.1, a particular sequential repetition of a motif is
heard twice. It is an abrupt sequence, dropping a perfect fifth, for
each cycle, down to a timpani version of the motif. This sequence
presents no alterations to the pulse of the music; it plainly and
decisively concludes or 'signs out' the material under treatment.