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

60
lends beauty and strength to a composition".
three compositions as being characterised by"
The reviewer sawall
this evasion of musical
truth and beauty ••• " and postulated that "If Mr Lilburn could be
persuaded to make obeisance to melody his work might have a better chance
of entertaining posterity".28
Observer stated that Lilburn"
offers us original musical entertainment
of a very high order".
'Ben Bolt', writing for the New Zealand
'Ben Bolt' offered, as a riposte to Tyrer's
remarks about how Lilburn must see more of life yet, the comment:
" ••• that if Mr Lilburn never drinks another
half-handle, and never hears another quaver
of music, the work that he has already
produced will endure with a distinction long
after this profound observation has been
forgotten."29
By the time of this broadcast, the Centennial Celebrations were
all but at an end.
The bulk of the music content had been focused on the
months of May and June (before Lilburn arrived back in New Zealand),
during which period the proposed music festivals had been held in Auckland,
Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.
Gounod's Faust had been successfully
staged in each of these four main centres in a total of fourteen
30
performances.
Under the conductorship of Tyrer, the National Centennial Orchestra
had presented a wide variety of music in these cities. The orchestra's
itinerary had included the fourteen performances of Faust, two
performances of Elijah, two "Celebrity Concerts", three "Symphony
Concerts", and three "Choral Concerts".31
Although initially it was intended that the orchestra remain
together after the festivities were terminated, the Government felt that
the exigencies of wartime could not allow this. The orchestra was
disbanded, but the National Broadcasting Service String Orchestra nucleus
was allowed to continue func~ioning
orchestral body.32
as the sole national full-time
The importance of the National Centennial Orchestra's
activities in engendering enthusiasm for orchestral music in the Dominion
28 The Evening Post 25 November 1940.
29 New Zealand Observer 4 December 1940.
30 New Zealand Centennial News no.14, IS August 1940:32.
3 I ib ide p .29.
32 Peter Downes and Peter Harcourt, Voices in the Air Wellington,
Methuen Publications in association with Radio New Zealand, 1976:134.