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

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unison by an instrument of a different timbral type is a common method
of variation used. This can be mo.st clearly seen when comparing
melodies as they first appear with their reappearance in the
recapitulation sections.
Take, for example, the main theme of the second subject group of
Aotearoa Overture. When it first appears in the exposition section (at
bars 72-81) it is announced in the clarinets only. When it first
reappears in the recapitulation section (at bars 144-52) it is announced
in the oboes, doubled at the octave by both the bassoon and the cello
lines. At bar 153, with the first repeat of the theme, the clarinets
double the oboes at the unison. At bar 158, the flutes are added,
doubling an octave higher. The theme reappears for a third time in the
recapitulation section from bar 163. Here, it is taken up by the first
violins doubled at the unison by the oboes, flutes and clarinets. The
accompanying textures for these passages in the recapitulation section
are light, therefore these doublingswere not born of the necessity to
make the theme audible.
Futher examples of this doubling of statements of the melodic
line and the mixing of colours in these statements are easy to find
throughout his works. To give but one more example: when the second
subject of Festival Overture first appears in the exposition section (at
bars 72-80) it is announced in' the clarinets; when it reappears in the
recapitulation section (at bars 181-9) it is again articulated by the
clarinets, but doubled at the octave by (two desks of) violas.
As Lilburn's· technique of orchestration shows signs of an
increasing complexity through his first period of composition, it is
worthwhile dividing discussion of his orchestration into two parts - the
earlier works, and the later works. Firstly, consider a representative
earlier work: the Aotearoa Overture.
In this work Lilburn seems to favour light or lean textures.
His scoring rarely goes beyond the employment· of two or three independent
lines. In tutti passages he usually thickens his textures not by the
addition of extra independent lines, but by octave doublings.
In his sectional writing for strings and woodwind he favours a
traditional placement of the sound of each instrument. The 'bass'
instruments use their middle and low registers, whilst the 'treble'
instruments use their middle or high registers. The first violin, for
example, rarely uses its bottom octave, whilst the cello and double bassrarely
climb above first position.
Sometimes in Aotearoa Overture Lilburn alters the traditional
placement of instruments in relation to each other's pitch. An example