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

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On 29 September J943, the first concert devoted entirely to the
works of Lilburn was staged, in the Canterbury University College Hall.
This concert was presented by The Christchurch Society of Registered
Music Teachers of New Zealand in conjunction with the National Broadcasting
Service, who assisted by lending the strings of the 3YA studio
orchestra. Admission to the concert was free, with donations invited to
the funds of the International Student Service.
The programme comprised
Allegro for strings, Landfall in Unknown Seas (the poem read by Curnow),
Five Bagatelles for piano (performed by Noel Newson) and the first
performance of a recently composed work, Sinfonia in D for strings.
Lilburn conducted the orchestral works. 32
The concert was an undoubted success.
'Marsyas', in reviewing
it for the New Zealand Listener asked the praising question, "if he can
do this already, what may he not do in time?"
wrote:
Of the Allegro,'Marsyas"
" ••• with its exhilarating rush of ideas it comes
to the ears of a New Zealander as the fresh air
of the Southern Alps might come to his lungs. To
hear the opening bars of the Allegro cleanly
played is like opening your eyes for the first
time on some challenging valley in the ranges;
as the work goes on, you may, if you wish,
remember ••• the mysterious hollows of the New
Zealand bush or the glimpses of wild beauty that
appear unexpectedly through clearings in the
beech forest •••" 33
Of the Landfall in Unknown Seas:
"As a work for an occasion it is truly remarkable,
when we think of the great ugly graveyard of such
things ••• what spontaneous inspiration could
produce anything more fresh and adventurous than
the bold tune that opens the first Tasman piece?
- Mr Lilburn's way of saying "On a fine morning,
the best time of the year." And the tentative
mood of the second, with its moments of tremulous
excitement •••• l have the same feeling about the
awestruck hush of the third ••• "34
However, 'Marsyas' found the fourth and final movement lacking in
conclusion:
32 Programme to concert, copy at Alexander. Turnbull Library.
33 'Marsyas', Music by a New Zealander: "if he can do this already,
what may he not do in time?1I New Zealand Listener vol.9 no.225,
IS October 1943:13.
34 ibid.