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

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.rallentandi and ritardandi are used only sparingly.
Lilburn's orchestration shows a dependence on the full ensemble
string sound to form the background to his compositions. Throughout the
course of his first composition period, though, this string dominance
shows a gradual weakening as other instrumental sections are given more
prominence, and individual instrumental lines are treated more
soloistically.
Most of Lilburn's melodic material is announced in the strings,
particularly the violins, whilst the upper woodwind generally account
for the remainder of the material. The brass and percussion are, in the
main, reserved as impact intensifiers, although the brass are sometimes
strikingly employed for heralding fanfare figures and the timpani is
often effectively used in brief solo bursts. The horns.are usually
reserved for providing sustained inner harmonies, but are sometimes
given prominence with the articulation of slow chorale-like secondary
themes, or transitional 'hunting-horn' motifs.
In the earlier works in particular, Lilburn's sCQring rarely
goes beyond the employment of two or three independent lines in the
texture: octave doubling between lines is especially common. Instruments
are placed in their traditional registers in relation to other
instruments of their section. Wide voicings of tutti chords are common,
and a bright, high sound for the woodwind is favoured.
The above comments, then, are a summary of the salient features
of Lilburn's orchestral music from his first period of composition. . The
remarkable aspect of these works is that they show not only a close-knit
stylistic unity, even between divergent works such as Diversions and
Song of the Antipodes, but also a logical stylistic progression. Even
though, for example, the decade that separates the composition of
Aotearoa Overture from Symphony No.2 does not disguise the fact that
they were written by the same composer,-there is no feeling· of stagnation
- of a composer marking time or standing still. Asa generalisation,
this is due to the fact that whilst Lilburn's appr~ach to the elements
of melody, rhythm and form remained reasonably constant, his harmonic
vocabulary was slowly expanding and his technique of orchestration was
being continually refined.
However, to place his first period orchestral works in a world
perspective, the logical progression evident in his stylistic