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

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any thematic material, and where they are, it is of only minor
importance. Rhythmically, their lines are uninteresting, the exception
being when they move in rhythmic unison with the melody. Lilburn's
horns seem to be primarily used for filling out inner harmonies and for
assisting in sustaining sound in the many pedal points of his music.
One of the few works in which Lilburn's use of horns is elevated
beyond these primary functions is Symphony No.2, especially movements
I and IV. In these movements one can hear Lilburn assigning a number of
secondary themes to the horns, as well as calling upon this instrument
to double successive statements of other themes.
The first thirty-three bars of the fourth movement of Symphony
No.2 (see Ex.13) show this increased importance of the horns.
Coincidentally, these bars also show some of the typical ways in which
the woodwind instruments interact with the strings. Bars 1-8 show the
fourth horn helping to sustain the pedal C that accompapjes the first
violin melody. Bars 8-12 show the first, second and third horns
articulating a secondary motif in response to this opening violin
melody. At bar 13, the fourth horn re-assumes its support of the pedal,
with the restatement of the opening violin I melody.
At bar 16, a typical example of Lilburn's woodwind writing is
heard. In this, a wind instrument (the clarinet) injects a little
counter-motif to sound against the violin melody. This counter-motif
moves in imitation of a figure from the violin theme (in inversion),
and is SCQred at a point where the melody is sutained on a single note.
Ex.I3: Symphony No.2 movement IV, bars 1-33.
Allegro (J .116-120)
IV FINALE